Well the day has finally arrived, it’s our last day at home before we head off in the early hours tomorrow morning for a day in London before we start the first leg of our journey to Australia on Sunday night.
I had a fantastic send off from work yesterday and I got some smashing presents, in fact they couldn’t have been any better. It has been a real pleasure to work with my colleagues in the Health, Safety and Welfare Team and I wish them all the best for the future.
Wendy and I also had our last send off, we had a lovely evening with Sandra and Uisdean and to get into the Australian spirt I managed to have a couple of swigs of Bundie and coke before bed!
31.10.15
What a lovely day it’s been in London today, the weather has been brilliant, warm and sunny. Wendy and I walked from Victoria up to Tower Bridge and back through Piccadilly and Whitehall. We had a few drinks along the way and watched some of the Rugby World Cup Final on TV and it was even on in Trafalgar Square where there was a big crowd.
Back to our room and we managed to watch Strictly Dancing before falling asleep at 20:15, it’s now 5:34 and I’m wide awake. Our flights start tonight at 10:05, first stop is Singapore.
Well we are here in Adelaide and everything has gone like clockwork.
We were a little delayed by the fog in London but at least we got away which was more than most people did at Terminal 3 that day.
Singapore Airlines, what can I say, brilliant!!! The service was exceptional and the food a delight, we had three main meals and two breakfasts and they were all lovely and all of the staff were really helpful and friendly.
We travelled at over 670 miles per hour, which is a first for me.
All the flights went smoothly, so did Immigration and even customs, and we haven’t lost any luggage either.
We never saw daylight on the 2nd, we left Heathrow at 23:30 and flew against the clock for 13 hours, which meant that most of it was in darkness and the only bit of it that we weren’t in international airspace was the hour we had at Singapore Airport.
We have the Campervan now and we have stocked up on provisions but we are shattered and in need of an early night. Its 19:30 now and I’m flagging. We are having a thunderstorm at the moment and the rain is tinkling on the campervan. It has been lovely and hot today, but the forecast is thunderstorms for the next couple of days. That’s fine as we have to get ourselves to grips with living in the van. We are nearly there and just need a few storage boxes to make life a little easier.
The Campervan is a little tired but we’ll make it our own with a bit of a spring clean in the coming days. It is lovey to drive though and comfortable too which with the mileage we will be doing is just what we need.
It's been a funny day...or two! ..I'm not sure even what day it is .
We got on our flight around 10:30 Sunday night at Heathrow and were served dinner. We settled down with lights out and woke a few hours later to see a wee bit of daylight and though it was early evening in Singapore we were served breakfast. Which by the way had an option of oriental chicken and noodles! We touched down in Singapore and got our connecting flight to Melbourne. By now it's late evening and we were served dinner again. I'm not sure what happened to lunch!
Singapore airlines food and drink just kept coming..
...me.' Could I get another glass of wine please?'
...stewardess.'of course..i'll bring you two large ones this time'
So the adventure has hardly begun and I'm already overweight and after around 20 hours of flying I've got cankles..not attractive.
I actually heard two women in Melbourne airport sounding exactly like 'cath and kim'.
Well we’ve had a very productive first day, after our first night’s sleep in Australia, although I was up most of the night with Jet Lag.
The vans all cleaned up and we have bought storage boxes for all of our stuff. Can you believe the shower and toilet has a clear plastic sliding door, it’s completely see through. Now you can imagine what Wendy said to that! Yes, indeed, it’s sorted now though, with a nice blue shower curtain.
We also bought some mountain bikes courtesy of Cash Converters and our first outing was along the beautiful south coastline, now we’re set for our adventure.
I’m living with a woman who is obsessed with creepy crawlers, she has covered every available hole with something or other in order to settle her mind. Now most holes have fly netting over them, but she’s inspected them all and she found a potential threat, so to keep her happy, it’s been sealed with double sided tape and polythene. We even brought our fly Trap from the UK, it’s working a treat, PHEW!!!
Its Thursday today and we are off to Adelaide for a quick trip and to take a look at the cricket ground as we will be back here at the end of November for the first ever day/night test match, I can’t wait.
But before that we start our first road trip tomorrow. We are off to Uluru, its 1,000 mile north and into the outback and we’re looking to do it over three days.
I’ll keep you posted, avid reader!
I forgot about how you meet so many decent people on your travels.
This morning I was out running, I found a man-made lagoon that’s filled by the tide, it was made in the 1970's and there are waterside apartments all around it, there’s also a walkway. Its circumference is about four miles so you get people, in the mornings walking around it for exercise. From the side I picked it up I could see a sports stadium across the water, I didn’t think I was near the Adelaide Oval but I thought I’d better check, so as I ran along I asked a fella what it was.
It’s an Aussie Rules Stadium and seats about 50,000 people. I told him that I was going to the Oval at the end of the month to watch the cricket and that I was hoping to find an easy way to get there. He stopped for a good ten minutes and told me where the train station was, how I could park up, catch the train and from there how to get to the ground. He was a really nice chap. I told him I had tickets for four days and he said don’t worry it’s all we’ll need.
As I ran off I said, “Oh by the way, I’ll be supporting Australia, I bet that’s a first for a Pom”, he laughed and said, “We’d appreciate that, good on you cobber!!!”
So later we went into the city on the train and had a lovely day, but we met someone else today, another really nice person but I’ll let Wendy tell you about this, when she’s over her jet lag of course!!!
We’re off north tomorrow so I called into a drive through and bought 3 bottles of wine, whereby Wendy gave me pelters as she’s worried it won’t last long enough.
Australia - 2015 / 16
Adelaide to Woomera - Mileage 304
Our first road trip was very interesting, we travelled along a coastal stretch for 200 miles to Port Augustus and then headed into the interior for a hundred miles. The first fifty of which was a dead straight road, the last fifty had an occasional bend, but only a slight one.
Wendy was so excited she saw loads of Emus but not any live Kangaroos, lots of dead ones mind, but none still hopping, she will though, soon enough.
We did come across a flock of Emus about to cross the road so we stopped and Wendy got the camera ready but a massive Road Train came along and they scuttled away, so we didn’t get the shot.
We are staying the night at an old missile testing station. It was released to the community in 1982 but it is still used for ballistic missile testing by both the Australian and US Government.
I’m sorry Avid reader, there is no update today as we have no internet, no 3G, no signal and only SOS if required. Never mind, before we left Adelaide Wendy called into a drive in liquor store and bought 4 bottles of emergency wine, the first of which as now been cracked open.
We are the sole traders on a massive camp site and there are free gas barbeques so we are going to have a steak supper as the sun sets. It’s such a clear sky maybe Wendy will see her first Outback night sky, and I’m sure she will love it.
Next day update – We met two German fellas who turned up after us and who are 4 x 4 ing through the Outback. Last night we shared a glass of wine with them, they were really good fun. Ollie and Klaus, one is a very good chef, (has worked for Bono) and the other is an event’s organiser, after we went to bed they went down to the cricket club as they were having a party and they got tagged along with some locals and ended up at an all-night party, boy did they look dog ruff this morning.
On the road from Adelaide to Woomera I have seen. Pelicans gliding into land on lakes, a field of camels and emus walking along the side of the road. Oh! And a lot of kangaroo roadkill!!
On the road from Adelaide to Woomera I heard on the radio..' A man has been arrested on the Jamestown highway for being drunk whilst riding a homemade motorised esky!!
The Stuart Highway is one of Australia’s major highways. It runs from Darwin, Northern Territory in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, in the south – a distance of 2,834 km (1,761 miles). Its northern and southern extremities are segments of Australia's Highway 1. The principal north-south route through the central interior of mainland Australia, the highway is often referred to simply as "The Track".
The highway is named after Scottish Explorer John McDouall Stuart, who was the first European to cross Australia from south to north. The highway approximates the route Stuart took.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service uses the highway as an emergency landing strip and sections of the highway are signed to that effect. These sections of highway have been specially selected and prepared for the landing of aircraft which only takes place after the piece of road has been closed by the police.
Road Trains
Massive Trucks called Road Trains use the Highway to move goods vast distances, they can have up to four heavy goods trailers behind them and can only travel in straight lines and park at specially constructed truck stops. They are up to 150 metres in length and weigh hundreds of tons. They have real difficulty stopping and you have to pull over to let them pass if you see one coming behind you. We had to pull over three times during both crossings, we overtook one just the once.
As you hardly see any other vehicles along the route, when you pass another vehicle on the opposite carriageway, its customary and nice practice to exchange a passing wave between you and the car you’re passing.
Solar Challenge - The Stuart Highway is the highway taken in the World Solar Challenge. The World Solar Challenge starts in Darwin in the Northern Territory and travels the Stuart Highway to Port Augusta and then via Highway 1 to the finish in the City of Adelaide in South Australia – 3000 km. The elite Challenger class is conducted in a single stage from Darwin to Adelaide. Once the teams have left Darwin they must travel as far as they can until 5pm in the afternoon where they make camp in the desert wherever they happen to be. Other classes have different requirements, but all teams must be fully self-sufficient.
Road Houses – These are fuel stops, come restaurants, come bars, come supermarkets and are spaced out along the route. They can be a very welcome sight after several hours traveling along the hot highway. There can be sections of the highway hundreds of miles long before the next Road House so it’s best to ensure you have adequate fuel for the journey.
Preparations
The Stuart Highway must be treated with respect, it can be an inhospitable place and it has apparently claimed many lives due to the harsh environment. Needless to say we were prepared for the trip. Our camper carries 20 litres of water in a tank, I supplemented this with 2 additional 15 litre tanks that I bought in Adelaide and we carried at least 4 days of emergency rations alongside our day to day food supplies. I didn’t take any petrol as I never intended to let the tank get below the first quarter so we topped up about every 100 miles, which after 2 hours traveling is quite pleasant.
There are very few telephones along the Highway with the occasional solar powered phone which connects you to a police call centre, but these can be 75 kilometres apart. There is very little mobile phone coverage and only sparse SOS service available. Basically, if you break down you’re on your own and you have to fend for yourselves.
The Highway has also been scene to some of the worst of human behaviour with kidnappings and murders along the way, not to mention people dying because of poor preparations.
I always had a contingency plan ready, what to do in case of breakdown or other eventuality, it’s too late to plan in 40 degree heat when something goes wrong.
Thankfully when we broke down, I was recovered within 4 hours, but I spent a very uncomfortable 3.5 hours in a very hot van, even though I drew the curtains and opened all the windows I could. It was also just too dam hot on the carriageway with no shelter at all, thankfully Wendy and Joe saved the day.
I loved the Highway, the Towns and Homesteads we stopped off along the route were very interesting,
It was a great adventure.
Woomera to Cadney Homestead - Mileage 319
I went for my morning run and came across the Cricket ground and bar Ollie and Klaus were in last night. Apparently, they have a function every Friday night so I am going to try to fit my return trip in for a Friday nighter! Can you believe there is a full size, watered and well-kept cricket pitch in the Outback, I was told that the Kangaroos go down after dark and lick the dew off the grass.
Well we are now two days into the Outback and its fantastic, we are sharing the Stuart Highway with Road Trains, wow are they a size. They are over 50 metres in length and you need a kilometre to overtake them, thankfully I haven’t had to do that yet.
We are now at Cadney Homestead for the night and we have about 360 miles to go to Uluru, there’s not much here but the site facilities are very good and we have satellite Wi-Fi, would you believe.
I hope we are in a dark area so I can show Wendy the night sky, it was too bright last night, I can’t see any lighting so hopefully we’ll see it.
We managed to see the night sky and what a treat it was. We had to walk out for a while to get away from the filling station lights, and we had to have a little squabble along the way, (Wendy thinks everything is going to eat her), but we got there eventually taking our camp chairs with us, we sat and wondered at the stars. It’s a completely different night sky, I used to be able to pick the Southern Cross, but there were just too many options for me to identify it, I’m sure it’s close to the horizon though.
I went for a run this morning at sunrise and it was beautiful, the sky turning from red to blue as the sun rose. I ran along the rail line, it runs north to south in an almost straight line, over 2,000 miles.
Time to shower and head out, Uluru is about 360 miles and I’d like to get there before nightfall.
After another entire day of more or less driving in a straight line, which is very interesting as we see so much of the Outback, we arrived in Yularu national park.
Another day passed without me seeing a live kangaroo. I'm beginning to think they're the Australian equivalent to Nessie!
At 2:15 this morning David elbowed me awake to tell me that the sky was clear so we should set the alarm for 5:00 and go watch the sunrise over Uluru. Yay😳!! I wish he'd mentioned it an hour or so earlier and I may not have had that last glass( or two) of wine...so if you've seen the photos ...that's why I'm looking particularly rough!
Anyway it was all worth it because not only was the fantastic sunrise but I also saw a real live actual hopping kangaroo!
Cadney Homestead to Uluru
Mileage 362
We had a really pleasant drive up to Uluru, stopping at Roadhouse Stations, (filling stations, restaurant, shop all in one), and enjoying coffee and cake. We got to Uluru National Park at about 16:00 and enjoyed a sausage sizzle on the BBQ before bedtime.
I looked out of the window at about 02:00 and saw clear skies so we had to get up early, 04:45 to see the sun rise at Uluru, and boy am I glad we did, it was fantastic. After sunrise all the tourist coaches left and we had the place to ourselves so we walked around the viewing area again and doubly enjoyed the experience. We then went around the other side of Uluru and started the base walk. What a delight that was, the local community ask for visitors not to take photographs, or climb Uluru so as respectful visitors we honoured their request, it’s a shame not everyone did but that’s the General Public for you.
What was saw was amazing, now I’m not saying I was spiritually affected but I can see how many generations have been as there are structures on the rock that appear to tell a story and it’s really wonderful.
We almost got to the finish, and as for the last few days I have been telling Wendy we are in prime Kangaroo land, guess what, one hopped right on by and sat on Uluru, right in front of her, she loved it.
Back to base, I went for a run and then we celebrated our adventure properly with a nice bottle of wine in the bar and then supper out tonight courtesy of Wendy on her YouGov concession.
Update – 10/11/15
What a lovely meal we had last night. We both had Susi starter and then for the main we both had Barramundi, it’s a salt and would you believe a freshwater fish, it was lovely. I was stuffed but Wendy Gill had to have the chocolate pud, it was huge, so I had to help, Wendy loved it. The meal, a bottle of wine and a whiskey all came to $A 118. However, my travellers card connects to an app I have which tells me as soon as the payment has registered how much in £’s its cost, so we had a slap up meal at the resort restaurant for £45, not bad when your 152 miles off the main highway.
This morning we went to Kata Tjuta which is about 30 miles from the resort. It’s a much bigger rock than Uluru and is just too big to have a base walk. There is a circular walk, around the Valley of the Winds. But It’s quite a hike though and quite tough in places. The Park Rangers close the walk at 11:00 each morning because the heat is so severe. So, we did it at 08:00 and by 10:00 when we had just finished the heat was roasting, I actually felt sorry for the coaches of people who were coming from the carpark as we returned.
I’ve had an epiphany; it was about three days ago in a Road House whilst I was looking at the road map. You see ever since I came to Australia over 32 years ago, I have always wanted to go to Darwin, it’s a city so remote that its begging for an explore. I had intended to go when I am in Cairns but looking at the map, I could see that I was just a little closer from Alice Springs and it will be the wet season when we’re in Cairns so I thought bugger, let’s go for it.
I’ve counted out the days, it’s another 2,000 miles on our trip, but I just couldn’t resist it, so it’s an Ice Cold in Alice tomorrow and then pushing north after that to Darwin, the Sweaty Sock!!!
I’ll keep you posted Avid Reader!!!
We decided to go to the resort restaurant for dinner last night.
I had barramundi for the first time and it was delicious. Then I had one of the best chocolate desserts I have ever had! Chocolate mud cake...a big slab of dense gooey chocolate cake topped with a big slab of dense gooey chocolate...I ate the lot, (mostly), and felt a bit sick after. But it was worth it.
Then we had a bit of a stand off because David wanted a Canadian club but they wouldn't serve it without a mixer added! (something to do with their liquor licensing), We told them that was a criminal act where we come from and after some discussion with the manager the waitress was able to serve a Canadian club with a side order of ice!!! As Mr Ashworth would say..' You couldn't make it up'.
The damn flies here are driving me nuts.
Uluru to Alice Springs
Mileage 278
What a brilliant journey we have had. We had to do a 152 mile journey from Uluru to the Stuart Highway to take us North. But it wasn’t any hardship as the countryside is constantly changing, would you believe we saw a herd of wild camels nonchalantly grazing in the desert, brill!
But the best of all was the trip through the MacDonnell Ranges, they’re not high, as in the Alps but they are quite stunning in the heat of the desert.
What can I say about Alice Springs other than blinking hot, it was 39 degrees, touching 40 when we arrived and before we set up camp I had to get Wendy an electric fan, or she was going to combust!
We have just got back from a walk into town and it looks quite nice, we had a very cold beer in a pub which was a delight. I think we’ll stay another night here just to get the feel of the place. I might be out of turn but I sense a cultural divide and I’d like to observe a bit more.
It’s such a shame if there is because we white people have only just set foot onto this wonderful continent and we possibly could do a little better in our understanding of a completely different, but also very historical way of life, (sorry serious head on).
Wednesday...Alice springs is sooooo hot!! And I'm not saying that in a show offy kind of way. I mean it is sooo hot! I don't know how people even exist here. I'm melting. It's all I can do to lift my wine glass...( and write this😉) my lovely husband( David) has treated me....to a fan! And I think I might love him for ever.xxxxxxx
There's no flies here. .........Well not many.
Local Time: 17:56 - Temperature 39.5OC
What an interesting day today has been. We have walked and cycled Alice Springs to death and it’s time for our well-earned supper, (left over curry).
Here’s an extract of a message I sent to Uisdean earlier today:
The town centre is about the size of Inverness. It's really nice and clean and lots of good shops, Wendy loves the nick-nac shops.
But there is this incredible race divide. It's like the Aboriginal people and the white people don't exist to each other. They do not communicate with each other it’s like two separate species co-existing. Apparently, this occasionally blows up into violence.
I don't like it, I like everybody. I was running this morning and exchanged brief words with a few white people but no Aboriginals, and there are a lot out sleeping rough. I said good morning to one old Aboriginal lady, you can't pass an old lady without being respectful, and she said good morning to me but from her reaction she didn't expect me to speak to her, how sad, there is never any eye contact.
We have been out all day and it’s still there, they even station police officers at the Liquor Stores and I asked one why they did this and also why are the mounted police in town tonight, (I know I’m an upstart), he said that they were targeting known offenders who drink to excess and then cause trouble and that the mounted officers are just out for a run tonight. Sounded to me that I didn’t get the full story, but he was a nice enough chap.
I’m going to follow this for the rest of my trip, it’s been 30 odd years since I have been here but I saw the same divide then and nothing’s changed. Imagine we had a history that went back thousands of years and then one day someone dropped anchor and said this is the way you are going to do it from now on, and oh by the way this is strong liquor, do you like it?
Just to add that we’re not taking sides, this is far too complex as Wendy and I have discussed, it must be as it would have been resolved by now.
Anyway moving on, I got pelters from Mrs Gill last night for sleeping with the big door open. She's convinced she's going to have a snake in bed with her, I know she already has!!! But it was too darn hot.
Heading for Darwin tomorrow, I know I'm mad but who can say they have travelled an entire continent and back? I have to be back in Adelaide for the 27th as we have tickets to the test match.
We're now on our 6th campsite, I think...and all of them have been really good.
No matter how remote or tired the site is the facilities have all been very clean.
Even I've been using the showers! And anyone that knows me even a little bit knows that I like my own bathroom!! I haven't actually used the shower in the van yet, though to be honest I think it's designed for an extrovert midget! (It’s tiny and it’s got a clear Perspex door!!).
All the sites have had a camp kitchen. All free of charge. Some just provide a washing up area and a gas BBQ. But the site we're on now has fridge/freezers, microwave, kettle and toaster.
I think it's fair to say that the Australians know how to camp. xxxxx
We seem to have an infestation of moths today which apparently is a sign of a storm!
Tennant Creek, Northern Territories
Local Time: 19:38 – Temperature 33OC
Mileage 318
We had another brilliant journey, we set off from Alice Springs at 09:20 this morning and I had a very excited women within five minutes as she saw two Kangaroos sat having a natter at the side of the road.
Furthermore to all this excitement, we also crossed into the Tropic of Capricorn at 09:40, 13 miles to the North of Alice Springs. Now that is an achievement. Its Wendy’s first trip into Capricorn and she’s loving it, although she did boil over couple of times today, both of which happened at the same place, the weird UFO Road House. UFO house says enough but also an Emu came up to us to try to steal her sarnie, it got short shift mind.
We did intend to go a little further than we did today but as we got further we saw a massive storm brewing ahead and so I thought best to miss it and have a relax in this township, which again is very interesting. We also saw an even bigger bush fire, boy was it raging, it was well away from us and we were in no danger as both sides of the road had been well and truly burnt out, but it is out of control, but what can you do as a fire crew when your nearest support is 300 miles away.
It’s been very hot day today and Wendy Gill, being a delightful English Lady isn’t up to it, she’s now holding her fan in front of her face saying, “Can you see the sweat on my forehead”.
I did a calculation today and found that we are due a service in 1,600 kilometres, (about 1,000 miles), so there is no way we will get back to Adelaide so I contacted the hire company who are arranging a full service on Monday in Darwin, Simples!!!
Tennant Creek - Mataranka
Local Time: 18:00 – Temperature 35.5OC
Mileage 346
Well it’s been another easy and pleasant day travelling. It’s really interesting to see the Outback constantly change with a wide variety of vegetation as we pass. Laterally it’s all getting quite lush and green. We stopped at a couple of interesting Roadhouses for fuel and coffee along the way, there are some great Aussie characters to be found in them.
Again we have seen loads of destruction by fire and some were still smouldering as we passed through. It makes me so mad as there are plenty of warning signs, and it’s the highest level of alert at the moment, Extreme!!!
We are staying the night at Mataranka Homestead which is basically a bar / dinner in a partly tropical forest and we are definitely in Wallaby country because we have seen about half a dozen so far.
There are some lovely hot springs here to swim in but unfortunately Wendy couldn’t bring herself to have a dip in the 38OC waters as there may be creepers about, so she sat on the steps while I had a lovely dip, then she saw the huge fruit bats in the trees and so now all her senses are on high alert.
There is loads of smoke in camp tonight, looks like there’s a bush fire close by, we’re ok as it looks like one passed through recently so there’s nothing left to burn, it does feel that I am back on duty again though.
When I was in the spring I met a man from Nottingham, would you believe, anyway he said come back down to the creek at sunset and see something very interesting. So we did, Wendy was even happy to come along. What we saw was the fruit bats swooping down to get a drink from the creek, in their hundreds and the crocodiles waiting for them. The crocs snapped wildly and we saw one croc get a bat, boy it was interesting. On the way back to camp we came across a family of wild pigs too, with very small piglets, it was lovely and then finally to top it all off a Wallaby hoped right across our path.
Now it’s time for supper, bush style in the bush bar!!!
Sunday
This morning I went for a run along the only road possible as we are five miles from the highway, in the bush. We had a thunderstorm at 04:30, so I waited for dawn and went out then, boy what wildlife I saw. I saw loads of Wallaby’s, they hop like the wind, now I know why the insurance doesn’t allow us to drive the van an hour before sunset and an hour after sunrise as they are at their most feisty. But my main glory was that I saw a dingo, it came out of the woods and drunk water from a puddle, I couldn’t believe it didn’t see me, I managed to get within distance to take a photo but as I went for my camera it saw me and scarpered, but at least I saw it.
When I got back I went down to the springs for a cool off, it was a delight!!!
Mataranka - Darwin
Local Time: 18:45 – Temperature 34OC
Mileage 268
Total Mileage: Adelaide to Darwin, (via Uluru) – 2,195 miles
We had to drive through smoke today as we passed a bush fire, it was miles from anywhere and not near the road so I can only assume that the lightening from last night’s storm must have had something to do with it.
We made it to Darwin and we had some bubbly to celebrate. We are staying at a lovey site just outside the city. I can’t believe the price of the sites and the facilities we have had, really good value and excellent facilities.
We are pitched just to the side of a mango tree, I’m thinking of climbing it for some free fruit as I love mangos.
We have a really nice warm pool, it’s got the perfect shallow end for Wendy and she had a nice dip with me this afternoon
Just off for an evening stroll into the city to plan what next.
That was some walk, the Reception Lady said it was 5 K, it was 8 miles if anything, Wendy was shattered, anyway it was pleasant enough, if not a roasting walk, but we did get taxi back.
So then we sit outside reading and having a glass of wine and the birds are going crazy in the tree behind usso I go to investigate and found a long snake, laid out soaking up the night air. I just had to show Wendy. Well, can you imagine what she did, she was back in that van in a flash, checking and re-checking the holes she’s plugged and hunkered down for the night with the quilt tucked up tight all around her, it was just a tree snake Wend!!!
No Traveling!!
We have had a nice day Up Top, we cycled into Darwin, but jeepers it was hot, and Wendy was melting again. It’s a nice enough City but not much of a shopping centre, it all seems to be in the roads leading to the city. Anyways, we had a drink at the harbour and saw some interesting stuff and then came back for some R&R at the pool. The pool is lovey and as I read my new Jack Reacher book Wendy, all by herself went in for a dip. But not long later a storm whipped up, it wasn’t too bad, but it was enough to warrant wine and nibbles under the awning!!!
Tonight its BBQ night, using our new Barbie, the one we hope to use on Christmas Day, call it a trial run!!!
Darwin
No Traveling
We had the van serviced today so we spent the day in town at the Waterfront Beach. I went for a swim in the sea and it was unbelievably hot. I have been in the tropical regions of the North & South Pacific, the Caribbean and the North Atlantic and this is by far the hottest, it was like stepping into a bath, even Wendy came in.
We had lunch in town, seafood pizza to share, it was bloody lovely with huge prawns and mussels.
We then cycled to Mindil Beach, it’s a long sandy beach just a short bike ride from the city centre. The tide was out so we walked all the way to the sea line for a paddle, again it was roasting and again Wendy came in too. I was watching for Box Jellyfish mind so we didn’t go too far, after this we cycled back to collect the van.
The van was ready, no problems and as we were waiting for the keys we were telling the Receptionist where we had been and I said it was such a lovely beach, shame we can’t swim in the sea, (meaning the Box Jellyfish). The Receptionist said people do, but they’ve been seen just offshore, I said, oh the jellyfish, she said no, the crocodiles!!! Wendy said oi, I’ve just been paddling in there you never mentioned crocodiles, oops!
Back at camp now, 17:00 and I think we’re off to the pool, I’ve been listening to the latest test match, looking like a draw, the next test is in Adelaide, it’s an historical game, the first day / night test match ever and I have tickets – Brilliant – Thank You Everybody who bought me them.
Darwin- the hottest place I've ever been to! I don't know how people live here. The heat never lets up. As soon as you put clothes on they stick to you. I'm sure at some point David will look around and just find a lump of melted fat beside him! You go for a cold shower and its warm water. Dip in the pool’ its warm water. Paddle in the sea at Mindil beach. It’s like a hot bath!( a beach, by the way, that we found out afterwards nobody swims in because of the box jellyfish AND crocodiles have been spotted out to sea!!!! Now you'd think they'd have a sign up somewhere for that? Wouldn't you?!?!?)
I've seen the most amazing birds that look like they should be in a cage at the zoo they're so exotic. There are white cockatoo type birds which when they fly show a Barbie pink body.
There was also a cockroach in the washing up bowl yesterday morning. X
Today we bought a portable air conditioning unit.....hoorah!!! I might actually get some sleep at night now.
We've had a very relaxing day by the pool. I've spent a lot of time submerged in the water....which again anyone who knows me will be surprised by because I NEVER go in ' public ' water. Yuk.
I've actually managed to burn my ears!? I know! This is the girl who used to lather herself in Tropicana chip fat in order to get a tan( it was the 80 's). Anyway burnt ears are quite sore.
Off now to a romantic sunset dinner cruise.......with David.xxxxxx
Jeepers even I’m feeling the heat, I had to break into my emergency money canister that Cath and Donald bought me while I was out running as I had drunk my water, (700 mls) and I had to buy a can of Red Bull and a large isotonic drink. Phew, did that hit the spot.
Then after getting Wendy a small air conditioning unit for the van we spent until 4pm in and by the pool having a relaxing afternoon.
In the evening we went on a Sunset and Champagne Cruise which was stunning. There was supposed to be a buffet but all we got was a constant drip of nibbles, the Champers however was flowing all night and I have to admit it sneaked up on me and I was maybe not in full control of my legs, thankfully Wendy got me home.
Darwin to Jaribu (Kakadu National Park)
154 Miles
Again, I had to break into my emergency money canister this morning, thankfully it had been refiled. It’s an El Nino Year and it’s causing a heatwave in Australia, it’s going to be in the forty’s in some areas today and even hotter tomorrow.
We drove to the Kakadu National Park. There’s not much to see in the village we are staying at but I can see snippets of the mountain ranges from the village. It’s a pity but we can’t spare any time to do any exploring as I want to be in Adelaide with a day or two to spare. However it’s no hardship because it’s such a lovely campsite with a nice pool and bar, maybe it’s time for a swim!!!
Jabiru (Kakadu National Park) to Katherine
192 Miles
I wasn’t caught out by the heat this morning as I was on my way before 06:00, it was great to see the sky turn from jet black to bright blue and to hear the wildlife coming awake although all I saw were birds, thankfully.
After a swim and shower Wendy wanted to have breakfast out so we went to a little café that we saw in the very small shopping precinct yesterday. You’ll never believe the guy, an old timer Aussie outbacker sold, wait for it………………Crocodile Pies, I kid you not, check the photograph, although it being 09:00 I opted for a ham & cheese toasty, maybe some other time.
I was faced with a dilemma last night, I am in the centre of a World Heritage National Park and we haven’t the time to see anything of its beauty, well dilemma over, I booked flights for a one hour trip around the Kakadu National Park, by very light aircraft, we’re in the airport now with Wendy who seems to be pacing the floor an awful lot!
Brilliant, absolutely stonking, Kakadu by air. It was a single engine plane with room for about six in the rear with two up front, we were the only two flying at this time so the pilot said one could go up front with him, and Wendy being a darling let me take it. Now that was brave, she’s not the best flyer at any time, but when James, our pilot said about ditching anywhere but Croc infested waters if he had to, I thought it was game over.
Well she did it and we had a fantastic experience but as its s at the end of the dry season, it would be best to see it in the wet, or at the end of the wet, but we hadn’t the option, but it was worth it!!! I’ll let the photos and the video talk for themselves.
Made it to Katherine, on our way south!!!
Best named place we've been through so far........Humpty Doo.....who wouldn't want to live there? X
Went for a flight today over Kakadu National Park...in a teeny tiny plane. The scariest thing I've ever done. The plane was so small it felt like it should have been on the end of an arm of a fairground ride! 😱
It was fantastic. But I'm still a bit wobbly.x
We have an en-suite pitch in Katherine, it’s our first, nice shower, sink and sealed toilet, for our protection! I just went for a wee and there’s a big green frog waiting to get me. To say it’s put Wendy off would be the understatement of the Century!!!
Katherine to Tennent Creek
420 Miles
By far the biggest distance we have done but it’s got us back on track. What a stonker of a hot night we had in Katherine, wow, it was 32oC in the van when I looked at about 02:00. We had both the fan and the air con on but it didn’t due jot to keep us cool. Wendy put a wet tea towel on my back to help me sleep, which with the fan pointing at me did help.
I had a nice enough run but that was at 05:30 and again I saw a lovely hot sun rise. People were out and about at their work, a market was set up and fully functional at 06:00, I went later and bought a lovely juicy mango for $1.20.
Traveling south the temperature was scorching and we passed far too many bush fires, thankfully none near the road, but they seemed huge in the distance. We are now staying at Tennent Creek Campsite, which we stayed at last time, it had a great camp kitchen with all mod-cons. So we decided to come back.
Wendy has made a new friend, Doris, an elderly Aboriginal lady who came into camp to sell her art work, we didn’t buy anything straight up as it was a bit expensive but she came back and we did a bit of bartering, she was a dear old thing. After the deal was done she asked for a glass of cold water, and she seemed pleasantly surprised when Wendy gave her a glass immediately.
We had a lovely supper, BBQ Chicken pieces and a first for me Chicken sausage which we bought from a butcher in Katherine, what a treat!!!
Now time to read my book before we set sail for Alice Sprigs in the morning, boy it’s still so hot!
400miles later......I think the frog prince is following me!
Tennent Creek to Alice Springs
315 Miles
We had a very pleasant drive down to Alice, a bit windy to start with but it did calm down later. We have now left the Tropic of Capricorn however no one thought to tell the weather as it’s still roasting hot. We did have a better night’s sleep though at Tennant Creek last night.
We called in at a place called the Devils Marbles, there’s nothing satanic about them just a strange outcrop of stones in the desert.
We also called into a Mango Farm and bought some provisions, Mango Wine, (just had to, its actually called Mango Magic), Mango Chutney, and best of all Mango Ice Cream, it was bloody lovely, creamy and Mangoy, yum yum!
We are going to have two nights in Alice just to do a bit more exploring, oh and see Spectre, as its now at the local cinema.
We are at a different campsite, its lovely, loads of grass underfoot, the lady at reception told me that it’s quite costly to keep the grass in good nick, I’m not surprised with the number of sprinklers they have on, but good on them as it’s very nice, more tomorrow Avid reader!!!
Alice Springs
No Traveling
Oh, it’s much cooler at night, but that all changes half an hour after sunup, then it gets back to just plain stinking hot.
I went for a very pleasant run this morning in a completely different direction and it’s soon easy to see how the other half live in Alice Springs, opulence and, as Uisdean would say, decadence is all around, some very plush houses.
Actually I quite like Alice Springs, its hundreds of miles from the sea, in the middle of a continent but I could see myself happy to live here, funy hey.
I took Wendy to see the original Alice Springs today, I found it when I was out running last time, there was a bit of feedback about lack of preparation, like lots of water, comfortable shoes, etc., etc., but we were only two miles from town so I didn’t worry too much.
Anyway, Alice Springs is named after the wife of the Head of the first Telegraph Company, the lead scout found it and named it after Alice Todd, who, apparently never came to Alice Springs in her puff. That was in 1870, just 150 years ago, how about that.
Then after a bit of shopping in town, in preparation for the next leg of our outback travels we went to see Spectre, the less said the better, they did forgot to dim the lights though and I had to go and tell them as Sam Smith was in full throttle so I missed him.
Off big bush tomorrow, were off Opal Mining…
Back in Alice Springs and although it's still really hot, it is at least a bearable heat. It's not so humid and sticky.
I still can't quite get over seeing budgies and parrot type birds flying about wild!! It's so strange.
We've been to the cinema this afternoon to see the James Bond film.....I almost lost the will to live! There were 3 of us in the cinema and the best thing about the film was that it was air conditioned in there. Even Daniel Craig couldn't save it he's looking a bit of an old perv with the ' bond girls'. Sorry Dan it's time to go.
Back in the real world, we're off to Coober Pedy, rhymes with needy, to maybe treat myself to some opals. X
Alice Springs to Coober Pedy
428 that was a long drive, but very interesting and the time flew by.
Oh and we lost an hour as soon as we passed the Sate line. No one tells you, you just loose it from the Sat Nav and your IPhone. In my head I’m thinking jeepers we never had such a long stop at that last Roadhouse, that was until the penny sunk and I checked my phone. The thieves, an hour lost and I never knew, it’s a good job our mission isn’t time critical.
Do you know about 20 miles north of Coober Pedy there is a fence that runs the length of Australia, it’s there to stop the Dingo’s migrating South to the fertile areas, I think it’s a couple of thousand miles in length, naturally I had to pull up and inspect it for myself, very impressive.
Coober Pedy – What can I say - What can I say – Very interesting!!! It’s a small mining town, mining Opals. As a retired miner myself I am quite curious as to how they work and I have managed to work it out, it follows the three basic principles. 1. Extraction - 2. Transportation – 3. Shifting, see I remember. The major difference is that the mines are small and therefore instead of using conveyor belts they suck the deposits to the surface using large vehicular fans which deposits outside the mine and lays it in piles for sifting. The other two principles are bascialy the same as we used.
There are mines everywhere, some abandoned and going back to the end of WW1, so it’s quite dangerous to wander around in the bush.
Now like all mining towns, people, mainly men, work hard and live fast and from the short time we have been here I have seen enough neon lights to know that they are living fast, and so would you 500 miles from the nearest city, in a town where half the population live in caves to escape the heat.
Wendy bought herself some very nice earrings from a shop out of town, we did a very thorough assessment of worth and authenticity and then settled on a price, and Wendy is chuffed. I can tell you now Wendy never impulse buys, in fact she doesn’t buy and then later regrets, well she snapped these up and I’ll tell you what, they are quite nice.
Coober Pedy to Coober Pedy
67 Miles
After a very pleasant run this morning through the mining town, boy it is so strange, everyone seems to have an opal mine in their garden, we set off for Port Augusta. It was very hot and we were late setting off, but that wasn’t a problem as it was only 300 miles away.
We were plodding on nicely, when at the 67 miles mark I heard a noise, felt the air con get hot and saw the temperature gauge rise, to bursting point. I manged to pull over on a safe place, as there is no hard shoulder and you have to get out of the way of the Road Trains, stopped the engine and assessed the problem.
On lifting the engine cover I saw the fan belt had come off, but it was too hot to examine. The heat of the sun was unbearable and I knew we were in a spot of bother. I checked my phone, no signal, not even SOS, so we were buggered. I gave it five minutes and had another look at the engine to see if there was anything I could do, but on closer inspection I could see that one of the pulley bearings had failed, catastrophically!!! So that was it, it was beyond a simple repair.
So we had to flag a car down and one of us had to go for help, I didn’t fancy leaving Wendy alone with the van in this heat and on her own, so she had to go and get help.
I tried to flag one car down but they didn’t stop, eventually after about twenty minutes a young lad stopped and he met the correct, safe criteria.
So off she set with her new found friend Joe to get some help.
Three and a half hours later back she comes in a pickup with Sunny an Indian Man who is only too happy to help. Just over an hour later we are deposited at Dusty the Mechanics yard, back in Coober Pedy where the pulley is promptly mended, two hours later the fan belt is still not on. The problem is solved, the wrong fan belt had been fitted and a pulley had been taken out and then reinserted to allow an incorrect belt to be put on, thus resulting in the pulley being subjected to the wrong lateral movement whereby it would eventually fail, and it did.
So the best they could do was to fit me with a temporary belt which would not be able to drive the air con but it would do until we got to Adelaide.
So after another night in Coober Pedy and a very early start on the road, it did and we are here in Adelaide and, I am forever in those two mechanics debt and to show it I shook both their hands most vigorously. There’s a lot more to this story and I might include it in another update.
The Hire compnay have been in touch and have apologised, given us back a days rental and will affect a proper repair tomorrow, great!!!
On Wednesday we set off down the Stuart highway to Port Augusta. 300ish km. We planned to stay the 1 night then on Thursday we would arrive back in Adelaide ready for the cricket on Friday. Simple....except 100 km south of Coober Pedy we broke down.
It was hot, really hot. We were just pulled off the road. Road trains stop or slow down for nothing. We had no phone cover. Very few cars pass by. I'm not worried though. I'm with David Gill. And you know the reason why I married him? Cos when I first met him he explained to me how to make the water in the car engine drinkable if ever we were stranded in the desert.❤. I knew this was the man for me.
The plan was to flag down a passing motorist and if they 'looked safe', then I was to travel back to Coober Pedy with them and get help. Hmmm. Not quite as romantic as I imagined being stranded in the desert would be.
Anyway, luckily for me, along came Joe. My new hero!
Joe was an 18 year old bundle of joy! He was lovely. I got in the back of his car( the passenger door was broken) and I said, " now joe, just think of me as your mother in the back, and don't drive too fast". Which as it turned out wasn't a problem because he had very sensibly fitted a device to his radio which beeped at him every time he went over 120 kph.
Joe was heading back to Darwin after going to an ACDC 'gig' in Adelaide. On the backseat with me was a 4 pack of bottled water and one or two empty red bull cans.
He very politely asked what kind of music I liked. We settled on listening to Bon Jovi. Me n Joe, travelling the Stuart highway, living on a prayer.
Anyway to cut a very tiring story short. An hour or so later, Joe left me at the police station. It was closed for lunch. I used the phone in the jewellers where I'd bought some jewellery from that morning. The very nice Greek lady took me through to the back of the shop and let me stay till the pick-up truck arrived. She regaled me with tales of the various ways in which travellers had perished on the highway.
Coober Pedy to Adelaide
529 Miles
Well it was an early start, 07:45 we left Coober Pedy and we got to Adelaide at 18:05. It was a long drive but still very enjoyable. We have crossed the continent of Australia, twice, there and back and have completed 4,233 miles of travel, up and down.
It’s been a fantastic experience, we have also been to Uluru and Kakadu National Park, now we are set for five days of Test Cricket, Australia V New Zealand in the very first day / night test match.
We are finding it cold here in Adelaide so we will have to wrap up for tomorrow.
Adelaide
No Traveling
Lovely morning sun!!!
Got the van fully repaired again this morning, no problem and back on site in time to cycle into the city to see the cricket. Wendy found a brilliant cycle ride into town.
We are about 8 miles out of town and there is a riverside cycle ride all-purpose built all the way into town with a network of interconnecting routes. There is one thing the Aussies are poor at and that is signage. We over shot by about 2 miles and had to back track to get there in time, which we did but Wendy didn’t half have a dab on!
The Oval is fantastic and the atmosphere was brilliant. It was sad day for the Aussies as it was the first anniversary of the death of Phil Hughes, who not only played for Australia but for South Australia too.
Anyway the game was great, the Kiwis were skittled out quite cheaply, just over 200 runs but Australia made hard work of the twilight session losing two wickets early on. David Warner was out for 1, I was hoping to see him get a Daddy Hundred. Never mind Steve Smith looks set to knock on at start of play tomorrow.
Adelaide
No Traveling
Before I go over yesterday, I forgot to say that on day one at the Oval we sat alongside some young men who are from around these parts. They were quite good natured but boy did they hit the bear hard. Anyway they only went to try to make the world’s longest beer snake. They collected hundreds, nay thousands of empties all day long and at about half an hour before close they asked me to help, I naturally declined. They started, they had boasted all day long how they were going to smash the record, they got about 1.5 metre high, then they fell all over the seats and got kicked out for drunken & disorderly, they seemed quite pleased with themselves!!!
So to yesterday, we moved camp site to be closer to town and yet again found another great cycle track which this time took us all the way to the Oval. There’s even a train bus that runs along the cycle track, a bendy bus sits on tracks and chugs along and when it gets to the city it gets off the track and carries on as a normal bus, brilliant!
The match was a other great day, 13 wickets going down, the Kiwis on top for a while and then a very controversial third umpire decision goes against the Kiwis and Nathen Lyons is allowed to carry on, he was out for a duck and then went onto get a massive partnership. To top it all Mich Stark, who with his broken foot goes on to smash 25 runs, two of them massive six’s.
The Kiwis second innings then suffered an early collapse and they are now about 100 runs in front with 5 wickets down. Will it be all over today?
We cycled back though a very nice district of Adelaide, Melbourne Street. It was very lively but quite nice and relaxed. It looks the place for a pleasant night out.
Adelaide
No Traveling
I went for my run this morning and as we are now in North Adelaide I found it very interesting. Melbourne Street was buzzing with activity, there are cafes and shops and people we’re well into it even at 08:00 on a Sunday morning. On my way back I came across a bottle shop which opened at 09:00, suddenly an idea came to mind. So an hour later Wendy and I are having ham and eggs outside in the sun sipping on bucks fizz, now that’s the way to start a Sunday morning.
Cycled to the Oval and had a brilliant last day at the test match, Australia wrapped it up on the 3rd day. It was an interesting game, no big scores, not even many big shots, I think I counted four, six’s in the entire game There were very few pull shots, only one hook shot and no cover drives. They were almost all played down the pitch or through the covers by driving.
We upgraded our seats to the first tier where we had a better view and also so that we were well away from the riff, raff. I don’t know why some people go to sports events, they hardly watch the game, they just drink themselves into oblivion and then get carted off by the police.
Back home nice and early for a shower, as it had been a very hot day and a tin of emergency food, chili meat balls and bread.
Just into bed when I saw something large moving across the ceiling, Wendy was out of bed in a flash, and covered up an insect that was only seconds from killing her, insisting that I do something with it?
Adelaide
No Traveling
With the cricket ending premature we had an unexpected day in Adelaide so we went for a very relaxing coffee with our new friend Mary, boy is she a character and she’s had a very colourful life.
I managed to get some video of the train bus for our avid readers, I am fascinated by them.
We spent an afternoon in town shopping for a few things and then came back and made supper in the camp kitchen. We have been very impressed with the standard of facilities on the campsites we have stayed at. But also there are free gas barbeques in parks with tables and benches. We have seen groups of friends out enjoying themselves having a Barbie in the sun, it’s great.
We have had a brilliant time in Adelaide but tomorrow we start our Pacific tour, slowly mind we have five months get to get to Cairns.
Adelaide to Mount Gambier
282 Miles
Well that’s Adelaide done, and so we headed down the Princes Highway on the Southern Coast of Australia. We started out heading over Mount Barker where the weather closed in and we had a fair bit of rain, but that soon cleared as we hit the plateau but the wind grew considerably.
We found the Coast at a small township called Meningie where we stopped for coffee in a small café and we had the most delicious caramel slice, I just put it on my tongue and let it melt, mmmmmhhhhh!!!
We travelled the coast road and came along townships and small places called, Glenelg, Glencoe, Pitlochery, Stirling and Banockburn, we also came into forests of Scots Pine, masses of them, so someone’s been here leaving their mark on the land. We even found a town called Kingston, where Bradley, Robyn and I come from. All of which were very nice.
The land seems a lot greener here and more fertile, we have also come across our first encounter with fields of sheep.
Funny when we set off over the hills we saw a sign warning that Koala’s are around for the next 45 kilometres, we didn’t see any, but we did see a small grey fox being foxy at the roadside.
We are in Mount Gambier tonight and have just had a walk into town, our campsite is literally in town. Its lovely old ranch type of place and its full of women doing Christmas shopping, apparently it’s a charity event, and the ladies get 10% discount on all they buy. Wendy bought new expandable trousers!!!
We have some exploring to do tomorrow, so it’s an early night in the van tonight.
Mount Gambier
No Traveling
Well this is a very interesting town, a great High Street with loads of independent shops and a lovely feel to it too.
After a bit of shopping for essential items we went up to the Blue Lake, it’s in an extinct volcano and apparently it changes colour between summer and winter, I thought it was blue and Wendy thought it was grey, avid reader, you decide from the photographs.
After the Blue Lake we went and bought some cycle helmets, we have been warned by the police and other concerned people that it is the law in Australia so we went and bought some, Wendy is not happy, apparently they are not a good look!
After lunch we drove to the coast, about 16 miles away and saw some lovely beaches, Port MacDonnell was really nice, we parked the van and spent time just admiring the view, it was Stunning.
Later we ventured into town for a beer and then had supper in the camp kitchen and chatted with our young German friends, which was nice. We both set off tomorrow, them West and us East, we have no plans we’ll see where we end up.
Mount Gambier to Portland
65 Miles
I ran up to the Blue Lake this morning and into a heard of Kangaroos, who I wasn’t expecting at the time, I don’t think they were expecting me either but they kept on chomping on the lush grass.
Short drive to Portland, a small coastal town with a mid-sized port. The weather is quite nice, a bit of a breeze, which Wendy likes to complain about, but like someone told her, it’s not London.
We crossed the state line and I watched as both the sat nav and my IPhone changed time and we lost half an hour, it’s the weirdest feeling. I have travelled the world a few times and have even crossed the International Date Line a couple of times, but that was in an aeroplane and it’s quite unsettling to lose time by crossing six yards of earth.
The vegetation is so UK like, its lush and green so they are definitely in a wetter environment, but the ground is still rock hard.
We had a bike ride into town and she’s still not happy about the helmet, but at least she looks the part. We came across a memorial wall where relatives have put plaques about the early settlers, its very interesting, but a little further on the coastal walk there is a very tiny plaque from an Aboriginal tribe detailing the massacres that have occurred since Europeans came to Australia. Its funny but I haven’t seen or spoken with an Aboriginal person since I left Coober Pedy and we are in the most densely populated area of Australia.
We later walked along the beach, its lovely and we met the most delightful black labs, I had to have a play with them in the sea, they were brilliant, they were called Mac & Shatchmo and I could have brought them home with me.
We have a very nice campsite, and we have just had a sausage sizzle for supper, it was lovely.
Its seems that Christmas is in full swing as soon as its December in Australia, so we have decorated the van, I hope you like it!!!
Portland to Port Campbell
102 Miles
After breakfast we set off for what has been described as the most beautiful beach, it was about 11 miles away in a small homestead called Cape Bridgewater. Wow, what a stunner it was, well worth the drive over. We had coffee and cake outside watching the tide roll in, then we had a wee stroll up to the tide.
We called into a small town called Port Fairy, it was a very nice town, but there were far too many ladies shops and even more cafes, which were full to the brim, we spent a very pleasant hour just strolling along.
Then we headed further east and we have now hit the Great Ocean Road, boy it’s another stunner and we have to keep stopping at lookout points to take in the stupendous views.
We are staying the night at Port Campbell, it’s a little township along the road and its quite nice, small bars and restaurants and a small cove / beach. We are camped just on the fringe of the town along a creek, the suns setting and we have just had a steak and king prawn barbie, it was bloody lovely.
It’s now time for wine!!!
I did not buy expandable trousers!! I bought a pair of 'comfy' harem pants. I need them. You should see all the different flavoured Cadburys chocolate that you can get here! They're really selling us short at home. I will be sending an email to Mr Cadbury shortly. AND you can get 'brownie' mars bars! X
Port Campbell to Lorne
98 Miles
I was out running and I had to go along the Great Ocean Road as the place we are staying is about a kilometre square. Well what a delight, I got off the road down an overgrown farm track and saw loads of kangaroos, again I tried to get a snap but again they outfoxed me.
Back on the main road again and I came across another track leading to the Ocean. What a find, fantastic!!! It’s not on any tourist route but it’s a brilliant find. I took Wendy back when we were on our way along the coast. Please avid reader you have to see this video, just look at Wendy’s body language, and she was so brave too.
We went along the Great Ocean Road and stopped for a walk and lunch at Apollo Bay, it’s a really busy tourist spot but we found a quiet beach where we had corned beef sarnies and tea for lunch, how very British!!!
The drive along the Great Ocean Road is fantastic, I love it and I’m back in love with driving for leisure, like I did when I was twenty years old, just driving for the view and the leisure of just passing the day easy as you like.
Further along the coast we are now staying in Lorne. It’s another popular tourist site with loads of beach front and the campsite is full. We have a nice spot, under a gum tree so we might get a Koala Bear, maybe not if it’s so busy, but we have loads of Cockatoos. Wendy is fascinated by Australia’s birds, I don’t understand it myself, it’s the same thing with Christmas, she keeps saying how can they have Christmas when it’s so warm, just like why do they have very colourful birds here, what does she expect in a hot country, I just don’t get it.
We bought some Barramundi in Apollo Bay, were having it for supper. I’m on cook duty, I hope I’m up to the mark!!!
For those of you who thought I looked a Woosy on the cliffs....read about what happened to the two tourists on the 'London Bridge' rocks on this coastline. I had just read about them the day before! X
There's a sign in town here that says ' don't feed the cockatoos. It makes them sick!! What a noise they make here in the late afternoon.
We've just heard kookaburras!!
"Kookaburra laughs in the old gum tree. Merry merry King of the bush is he, laugh kookaburra laugh, how gay your life must be.'
Anyone else learn that at school?!?
I've just eaten 'Top Deck' Cadburys bar -V Yumm. X
Lorne to Bacchus Marsh
102 Miles
Well it’s been very pleasant Sunday, but going back to last night, the Barramundi was delicious, I cooked it in olive oil, the juice of half a lemon and black pepper, along with rice and salad, it was bloody lovely!!!
After which we had a stroll around the bay and then came back to camp to read our books.
Guess what????
The Kookaburras were out in force, what a racket they made, I loved it. I haven’t heard that call in over thirty years and it brings a smile to my face every time. We weren’t fully convinced as I didn’t know they came this far south so Wendy went to check with fellow campers and it was confirmed that yes the Kookaburras were in town.
And they sang all night long……………………. all night long!!!! I still loved it though even when they penetrated my deepest sleep.
So we travelled out of the Great Ocean Road and inland a little to a very small town called Bacchus Marsh. There’s nothing here, it’s a small farming community that has everything for the farmer but nothing else, but that’s OK the sun is out and we lazed out in our chairs along with our books again and the odd glass of wine.
It’s a nice site with a very comfortable BBQ area, but there’s one sad thing, there is a big bird coup at the back of our site. Wild birds, local to Australia are caged and it doesn’t seem very fair. A lady is looking after them, she’s always in there feeding them and showering them, but it’s just not right. Other local birds come down to see them and chat, what a shame.
Anyway, there are still loads of other wild birds of varying colours around and my very own David Attenborough is keen to capture them on film, as you will see avid reader, she is captivated by the birds, I just don’t get it!!!
Anyway , we have had a delicious BBQ, with burgers we bought along the way, they were very tasty and now were are going to relax because we are booked into a site very close to Melbourne for three or four days, and from the outskirts as we passed, Melbourne looks a very big city!
Bacchus Marsh to Melbourne
55 Miles
We’ve had a really steady day, we left Bacchus Marsh after 10:00 and drove around the city on the freeway. The SatNav is working a treat and dropped us right outside our new camp.
We are about seven miles out of Melbourne and we have bought our bus passes for a trip into the city tomorrow, jeepers it looks big.
The camps set for four days, we have the awning up, the Christmas tree up and the Christmas lights flashing merrily along the awning, it looks very Christmassy.
Guess who said, “It doesn’t feel like Christmas, it’s too hot!!! (We have flown over 24 hours, through 11,000 miles into the Southern Hemisphere and she still expects it to be cold at Christmas!!!)
The weather has been quite warm but also quite overcast so we took a day out to give the van a good fettle, and a good fettle its had, everything’s been out and we have Jiffed it to within an inch of its life, (hey its just dawned on me, it’s still called Jiff here).
After that we had a walk up hill, downhill, uphill and downhill to a brilliant shopping centre, almost out in the bush, there it is, as bold as brass and selling anything you need. I think we’re going to find that Melbourne is a very hilly city, if the suburbs are anything to go by.
Tonight we have had a lovey supper, cooked in yet another great camp kitchen and then we went for a walk into the bush along a well-defined track for about 4 miles.
Guess what we saw? Kangaroos, four of them all chomping away happy as Larry, “Get the camera out”, David Attenborough says, “Oh, you’ve missed it again”. Of course I’m going to miss it, as soon as I put my hand in my pocket it’s off, “You should have been ready, David says!!!”
I checked the camera this morning and it seems David A as taken to videoing yet more birds, take a look avid reader, she’s bird bloody mad!!!!!!
It rained a little today, a little more than drizzle which was quite welcome as it’s the first we have seen since Kakadu.
Looking forward to Melbourne tomorrow, and as a bonus we are going out for supper with Kim and Darren on Thursday night.
Its dark in camp now and the kookaburras have started to laugh!
Melbourne
No Traveling
Well my day started with a thunder storm and a downpour during my run and ended with a heatwave with 35 degrees.
We have had a really nice day in Melbourne, which isn’t as hilly in the city as I first thought. We caught the bus in and walked around the harbour and took a ride up the Melbourne equivalent of the London Eye, which was, would you believe, eye opening!!!
From there we took the circular tram, which is a free service around the downtown city area on a most delightful old fashioned tram. We got off at the Queen Victoria Market who were just starting to pack up, don’t worry because we took the opportunity to have a drink in a traditional city bar.
From there we walked for miles and miles and only came home due to Wendy’s tired feet, (and inappropriate shoes I might add).
The city is clean, friendly and very, very interesting, there are parks and cathedrals, all notably named after UK places and the city is in full Christmas swing, “it’s still not right”, guess who said that avid reader.
Its curry night tonight and Wendy is on cook duty and she is using the curry mix we bought in Alice Springs, I am looking forward to that tonight, to refill my batteries for tomorrows jaunt, back to the city!!!
Melbourne
No Traveling
I really like Melbourne!!!
I was out on my run when I came across a Kookaburra, the first I have ever seen. I’ve heard them plenty but never seen them, but as luck would happen as soon as I reached for my phone the bugger was away.
But, David A was on the ball, while I was away she was stalking and shooting them left, right and centre.
We then went to see the birds get their feed, 09:00 the Rangers put food out for them, Wendy was in her element, her IPad was flicking away nonstop.
A lady told us in Adelaide that there were no beaches in Melbourne, well that’s probably right but take a 20 minute walk and you are into Prince Philip Bay and there’s as much beach as you would like. Admittedly it’s not the Caribbean but at least it’s hot and close to the sea.
We must have walked about fifteen miles today and it was great. We walked from the City to the Bay and back through the suburbs. We saw some really nice, old Melbourne properties of which Wendy was very envious of. It looks like I am having to make cast iron fancy work for new verandas when I get home.
After the epic walk we boarded the central tram for a well-earned rest and got off at Docklands which is a retail outlet area, full of bloody clothes shops.
Back home and I’m on cook duty, so it’s my speciality, pan fried chicken in tomatoes, mushrooms and onion, oh and my sous chef is doing the pasta.
We are so tired it will be supper, half hour with my book and a well-earned bed.
Oh and a large Bundi and Coke, Tina, Fiona and Uisdean MacLennan (I just thought you would like to know).
Melbourne
No Traveling
Today we took a day off. After breakfast we walked up to the local shopping centre to get a few items, mainly 3 bottles of Bundi Rum, 2 bottles of wine and a case of XXXX, which all had to be carried the mile or so to the site as its too darn difficult to decamp the van from our current spot. I think I prefer caravanning!!!
But I’m sure it’ll be worth it as we saviour our purchases in the coming days.
After an easy lunch we spent the afternoon lounging by the pool. We had the pool to ourselves and 28 degrees of wall to wall sunshine, it was lovely, and we both read our books and even took a cup of tea as a relaxer.
And then the fun part started. We were collected at 5:30 pm by Darren and Fearghous the dog for a night out with Kim and Darren.
It’s been at least seven years since we last saw Kim, maybe longer for Darren but we have had such an enjoyable evening it was well worth the trip just for tonight.
We went to a local restaurant where the food was brill, (I had the least good looking plate when they came out, why does that always happen to me?). We all had different mains but we opted for the same desert to share, well what a treat that was. Hot Chocolate Marshmallow pudding with biscuits was what we ordered, what we got was something that wouldn’t be too far removed from what an erupting volcano would produce. The chocolate sauce was beneath the hot marshmallow and was burning hot, Kim got some on her hand and needed treatment for third degree burns!!! But the strange thing was that as soon as you took a spoonful it instantly set either on the spoon or in your mouth with the adhesive qualities of sticks like S**t, we could hardly talk! Oh and the biscuits were good old fashioned digestives, would you believe?
What a laugh we had!!!
Seriously, it was a really lovey night and one I think we will treasure from our trip, it was great to see them both, oh and Fearghous too, who does a really neat trick about pretending to be shot! You just have to see it.
Melbourne to Somerville
40 Miles
At the sake of stoking the wrath of our avid readers I have to say that today as been very cold, with a biting Southern Wind all the way from Antarctica. Honest it has been, Darren will verify it. It’s been that cold that the cricketers in Tasmania have had to resort to using pocket hand warmers in the slips.
Ah, but what of today? Well today avid reader as been a game of two halves……………….. wildlife and exploration.
Wildlife started with me meeting a kangaroo on this morning’s run, (see the video), then we saw Pelicans, which Wendy adored, and then we saw our very first Echidna, (I know, I’d never heard of him either but check the video he was just so cute).
For the exploration we have travelled the coastline of the Mornington Peninsular, down the rugged East Coast and up the West Coast, along the beautiful coastline of Phillip Bay, all along with that cold, bloody Southern Wind!!!
We stopped at several places along the way and our turning point was Port Sea, where we very quickly arrived at Sorrento. Now Sorrento is just the loveliest small coastal town at the start of Philip Bay and it has some really nice shops. However one in particular boasted that they had the famous Sorrento vanilla slices, it had to be confirmed by practical application of course, (tasting avid reader), and I can confirm that on a yummy, scrummy cake scale of one to ten it was an ELEVEN………..it was like a symphony on my tongue, a presentation that even Mary Berry would have been proud to have produced, and I loved every morsel!!!
The coastal journey from Sorrento to Mornington is absolutely beautiful, wind or not and I am so pleased we took time out to see it, and so is Wendy, as we now sit in the van me writing, her bimbling on her IPad before we head for yet another well-equipped camp kitchen for a BBQ supper.
One thing I would like to add before we dine is that I am most impressed with the Australian campervan /caravan equipment which our southern cousins have developed for their environment. They have such a great range, easy to tow, quick erect, off road and stay forever types of traveling accommodation, I’m obsessed with them and I’m gathering pictorial evidence for possible future procurement, enjoy the photos…………………… time for supper!!!
Somerville
No Travelling
Did some sightseeing in two small towns close by, one Frankston which is just within the Melbourne City Area and Mornington, which is just outside the City area.
You could not find two differing towns, both coastal with lovely beaches.
Frankston was a dilapidated and depressing place with lots of cheap shops and the people around looked miserable. It might have been due to it being quite cold, overcast or simply because it was early, but there was definitely something about it. We called into a local MacDonald’s for a coffee and cake to warm us up and what a laugh that was, they kept mucking the orders up. I nearly got two muffins and an old bloke nearly got two full breakfast, it’s the most inefficient MacDs I’ve seen.
Next onto Mornington. We parked a little out of town on the coast and walked in past a bowling club in full match swing. There was a farmers market set up in a park. This had a nice feel to it and there was some nice produce on sale. Then we went into town, it was lovely. One very long high street with lots of small independent shops and cafes. The atmosphere was nice and people were out and about, and the cafes were full. The sun had come out by this time which might have helped, but you couldn’t help feeling they had the best deal of the two towns.
We bought some barramundi, giant prawns and some garlic prawn skewers and retreated back to camp for a late lunch, early dinner. We cooked in the camp kitchen which was being readied for a big party today, (the day we leave!!!). We set outside and had our meal, it was lovely. After a while it started to get cold so we went to bed, it can’t have been six o‘clock. We woke at 9:30 pm, grumbled a bit and promptly went off to sleep. I was up at 5:45 feeling great and ready for our next adventure.
Somerville to Venus Bay
77 Miles
We had a very pleasant drive to Venus Bay this morning, the countryside was lush and green and not unlike many areas of the south of England. We went over hills and valleys and through two very pleasant looking towns, one of which we might stay for the night on our way back.
Venus Bay is lovely, miles upon miles of beach, but a tad too windy for Wendy so we had an hour at the pool with our books until the heat died down. We then had a stroll on the beach, and upon our return we happed upon some creatures which caught our attention, it turned out they were large moths engaged in what I will politely call heavy petting.
Around five-ish we had a bike ride to the next village which boasts a traditional Aussie pub for a glass of beer. We sat outside and admired the evening and got chatting to a couple of friendly old fellas and a dog named Bailey.
We might be heading to Wilsons Promontory tomorrow, it’s the most southerly point of mainland Australia, we won’t be able to get to the point as it’s a days hike in and another days hike out, but as far as we get will be Wendy’s most southerly point, oh and there a beach called Squeaky Beach that Wendy’s also keen to see, I’ll keep you informed!!!
Venus Bay
No Travelling
We did actually travel, but more later.
I was up for 06:00 as it was a lovely clear sunrise. After breakfast I went to the beach on my bike and ran barefoot for four miles and back. It was a treat, I saw no one and came nowhere near to the end of the beach. I wish I could have gone further but at least I did my bit. I saw loads of birds, no rubbish nor any flotsam, just a nice clean beach.
When I got back to camp I found a whiley fox pinching someone’s food that they had left out. Being a newly discovered wildlife photographer I thought nothing of my safety, nor the food, but I did get a good shot of the fox. Anyway bugger the campers, how silly is it to leave any food outside, especially when your car plates say you’re from the Northern Territories!!!
After my second breakfast with Wendy, ham, eggs and toast we set of for Wilsons Promontory. It was a 100 mile round trip and the first 30 miles were just as yesterday, but the last 20 were fantastic. We went over large hills of rain forest and saw fantastic scenery. I would love to have walked into the point but alas, we aren’t prepared for such a journey.
We found beaches of white sand one after the other. The southerly wind was blowing which took the edge off it a bit, but it was still all very nice.
I thought to fill the vans fuel tank before we left as there aren’t any filling stations along the route. I put in 20 litres which was exactly $26.00 dollars. Had I paid for the same fuel in the UK at £1.20 a litre it would have been about £24.00, but as its £00.46 to one Aus Doller my fuel came to about £11.96, less than half the price…………….how do they do that then???
We got back to camp at about 3:00 pm and found a very nice Australian family of Oriental descent join us on the next pitch. I thought best to tell them of the fox as they had their food outside. They are lovely, and had two young girls with them. But, it’s there first camping trip and boy can you tell, Mums not too keen on it although Dad is keeping a brave face, it’ll be interesting how the night goes.
I hope to be able to take Wendy to the beach to see the night sky, she’s not keen, (spiders, snakes etc.), but if it’s a clear night it will be good.
One last thing before I close. We have not seen one Aboriginal face since we left Coober Pedy, we are in the most populated areas of Australia as well….. food for thought I would say!
Venus Bay to Canberra, (Via Melbourne)
520 Miles
Well last night was fun, walking to the beach along the dark road, something big stirred in the bush, Wendy was all over me like Shaggy jumping onto Scooby Doo! What the eck am I supposed to do with her griping hold of me, in a vice like, desperate grip? Anyway the sunset and the stars were lovely, when we eventually got there.
So we set off to Canberra this morning, we had to go back to Melbourne as the roads down the south end didn’t help any, neither did the sat Nav!!! I was on a chock a’ block freeway and its showing 6 miles to the next turn off, when she changes her mind and tells me to leave at the next junction, obviously I missed it so she politely told me to take the next junction which I did. She then took me about five miles, through roadworks and then decided to recalibrate and then turn me around and put me right back on the freeway, from the very same junction that I had got off! Ggggrrrrrrrrrr……………not even a word of apology.
Anyway the journey to Canberra was great, the scenery was stunning in places, mainly dry, farming land with lots of healthy looking cattle.
There was a very green fertile valley that had loads of weeping willows in, how interesting.
We filled up a couple of times with fuel and had brief stops as we did but my main worry was getting to Canberra before sunset as that’s when all the Kangaroos and Koalas come out to play chicken on the freeway. Well it was like a vampire movie, desperately trying to get safe before sunset. Phew, we just did it, just in time, although it was nip and tuck.
The campsite is nice enough and Canberra was lovey and warm.
After we had settled on our site we both went to the toilets, they are side by side as much like all campsites. We had a key for the toilets so I opened the ladies for Wendy and then I went to the boy’s room. After I had completed my routines I found Wendy outside in a state of shear panic, hopping from one foot to the other, about to burst. “There is a massive spider in our toilets” she screeched. Thankfully the men’s was empty so I let he go in there. I was duly shown said spider, yes it was bigger than a normal house spider, but it didn’t warrant the carry one we had. In fact I cannot possible convey in the written word, the tantrums and discussions I have had with her to date, it would take Shakespeare himself to accurately reflect her current state of mind. And yes she did ask the Janitor to remove it as we went out that night, but by all accounts he was, pardon the language, “Shit Scared of It”, so it’s still there.
Anyway, we walked into the city, about 3 miles and saw the Christmas Tree that Robyn told us to go and see and yes it was quite nice, (The Tree with the most Christmas lights on it in the world – OFFICIAL)
Back at camp I’m outside reading my book with Wendy bimbling inside when, would you believe Mr Possum came and sat alongside me. He was great!!
I tried to catch Wendys attention but her mind was on other matters so he went walkabout. About an hour later as we were both reading in bed we heard a noise, well she went straight into lockdown and began an immediate sweep of the area. Guess what? Mr Possum was back and he sat and chatted for a good half hour, the bugger even climbed onto my bike seat for a bit more comfort. I took loads of photos as he wasn’t shy, but all I picked up was the mesh of the fly screens. I’ll try again tomorrow.
What a night!
We left Venus Bay yesterday morning and I was glad to leave. It was a beautiful place with stunning beaches, though very windy, but the “amenities” weren’t too clean. And a fox chewed my hush puppies!
The plan yesterday morning was to “slowly ”head towards Canberra , stopping for a night or two on the way…..we drove 500ish miles in a oner!!! And arrived at 9:30ish yesterday evening😏
We did pass some fantastically named places on the way. Bobalong Creek was a good one. My favourite though was ‘Violet Town’, where you could live on ‘Dahlia St’, ‘Daisy St’, or ‘Lily St’, and shop at the honeysuckle store. We also drove over ‘Dahda Dahda creek’. Then a bit further on’ Dihda Dihda creek!....they’d obviously had enough of ‘discovering and naming’ that day!
When we arrived at the campsite I was very happy with how clean and stylish the ‘amenities’ were…until😳… I saw ‘the spider’!!! it was huge!!! AND IT MOVED..FAST.
Fortunately there is a very nice disabled bathroom I can use.
Canberra, on first impressions, was a wee bit disappointing. We walked in late to see the record breaking lit up tree. Canberra all looked a bit scruffy and ‘rough’. We’ll go back in tomorrow and see it in the sunshine.
When we got back to the van we had a visit from a possum. Really cute. xxx
Canberra
No Traveling
I was having breakfast outside the van this morning when several birds, came down to chat. They were a new type to me so I woke Wendy, (defacto D. Attenborough), to authenticate as they were quite nicely plumed!!! They were, apparently, “Parroty Things”!
We cycled into town and had a very good look around. We first went to Parliament House, which is a very welcoming way to run a Parliament. Inside we strode around at leisure, (after security of course), had coffee in the Terrace Lounge and looked everywhere else.
Our main aim was to see a painting by Thomas Roberts who painted the opening of Parliament in 1901. It is a very good painting and he painted all of the main crowd’s faces, it took him so long to do that his work never recovered after that, it was so intense that it drained him of his art, there you go!!!
We then cycled around the Parliament area, it’s away from the rest of the city, over a bridge, over a large lake, (I think, man-made) and it was a treat, cycling along well laid out paths. We came to the Old Parliament, the new one opened in 1983, and we saw a protest camp outside. It was like all of those types of camps that you find in cities, smelly looking and a bit of an eyesore actually. They were protesting about Aboriginal Land issues, apparently on behalf of the Aboriginal Nation as there were none present, just scruffy looking layabout types!!!
There was thunder in the ar so we cycled back into the shopping area, just in time as the heavens opened. We had to seek safety in a bar while it stopped.
Back in camp, the rain having stopped we planned our evenings activities, but it rained again so I cooked supper in the van, and I think I did a dam good job of it, well there weren’t any complaints.
After which we cycled into town to see the Christmas Markets, which unfortunately due to the rain, didn’t open, we saw three open out of fifty. We did, though, get some cake from one stall, it was baklava. Back at camp now, with a glass of wine, the baklava was a delight’ shame it’s all gone.
Oh we did go through the Christmas Tunnel, not Wendys cup of tea though, and they have their mistletoe mixed up with holly!
It’s dark now, so we are waiting for the Possum, Possums!
STOP PRESS – The Possums here!!!
Canberra to Narooma
205 Miles
We only spent two days in Canberra, the Capital City of Australia, except it’s not really a Capital City, it’s a sop because the leaders in the 1900’s couldn’t decide between Sydney or Melbourne. It’s such a shame because the Capital area is quite nice, but the rest is not really a City and it just reeks of compromise because the two others couldn’t agree!!!
Never mind, we drove over the Great Dividing Range, which seemed quite not so high, or dividing at 1;110 metres high over the pass, but coming down, boy what a roller coaster, I thought the brakes were done for!!!
We are in a lovely place called Narooma, it looks like a man made inlet where it’s safe fishing and nice bathing, actually its really lovely……..apart from……………………………………….school holidays!!!
Tomorrow the schools close for six weeks so its $45 tonight and $85 tomorrow for six weeks, I told the lady that its profiteering, she says she can fill this place 3 x over, I say not with me you can’t!!! So we’ll be staying elsewhere, (hopefully), over the Christmas period.
We only stopped to fill the van with fuel, but on the spur of the moment I saw the camp site and thought to stop. It’s such a lovely place, shame about the price!!!
Remember I am from Barnsley!
Narooma to Dalmeny
3 Miles
What a find, this site is the most stonking find ever. Just three miles down the road and we have the most fantastic beach. However it’s now 21:30 and buzzing/flying things are upsetting Wendy, (she’s not yet a fully-fledged Aussie, she’s definitely a Pom-Pom!!!).
We have miles of beach and are booked in until the 27th. The last mob wanted $85 a night……., the scoundrels, its only $36 here!!!
We just had Gummy Shark and King Prawns for supper……Mmmmmmmhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Anyway, enjoy the beach pictures, its amazing!!!
We left Venus Bay yesterday morning and I was glad to leave. It was a beautiful place with stunning beaches, though very windy, but the “amenities” weren’t too clean. And a fox chewed my hush puppies!
The plan yesterday morning was to “slowly ”head towards Canberra , stopping for a night or two on the way…..we drove 500ish miles in a oner!!! And arrived at 9:30ish yesterday evening.
We did pass some fantastically named places on the way. Bobalong Creek was a good one. My favourite though was ‘Violet Town’, where you could live on ‘Dahlia St’, ‘Daisy St’, or ‘Lily St’, and shop at the honeysuckle store. We also drove over ‘Dahda Dahda creek’. Then a bit further on’ Dihda Dihda creek!....they’d obviously had enough of ‘discovering and naming’ that day!
When we arrived at the campsite I was very happy with how clean and stylish the ‘amenities’ were…until… I saw ‘the spider’!!! it was huge!!! AND IT MOVED..FAST.
Fortunately there is a very nice disabled bathroom I can use.
Canberra, on first impressions, was a wee bit disappointing. We walked in late last night to see the record breaking lit up tree. It all looked a bit scruffy and ‘rough’. We’ll go back in today and see it in the sunshine.
When we got back to the van we had a visit from a possum. Really cute. xxx
Dalmeny
No Travelling
It was works night out last night, (our morning) and I was delighted to receive so many photos of the fun and frolics. Modern day technology is fantastic. I can see my friends at the other side of the world in an instant, partying the night away.
Then I got a phone call from Tina, the last one standing. She’s a naughty girl, out in the Phoenix at turned midnight, what a minx!!!
After breakfast we walked along the beach for exactly two miles, had half an hour relax and then walked back. It was still miles to the end, I have to get to the end before I leave as its such a stunning beach.
The Office Party set us in the mood so we went to Narooma for our work Christmas do, it’s an annual evet that Wendy and I undertake. However after the five mile walk, in nice hot weather everywhere was closed. Well apart form one large bar that doubles as a bar and gambling den, I have never seen so many TVs tuned to different sports events, mainly horse racing. Apparently Australians are well known for their love of gambling. Wendy did get her photo taken with her latest obsession, the Sports Utility Car, she would dearly love a convertible one for towing our van in France, maybe in a few years time.
Anyway, all wasn’t lost we came back (by taxi) and bought steak and fish at our local shop and had our very own barbeque, with a very nice salad and then as conciliation we knocked back rather a large bar of cookie flavoured milk chocolate, a happy ending after all!!!
We have several fish mongers in town and they have some great fish, we had gummy shark the other night it was lovely, they also have some massive mussels in some kind of chili dressing, we like them for lunch with red wine, of course.
We have also found Antons Restaurant, about 3 miles away, we called in for a beer but it’s a BYOB restaurant and we weren’t loaded, so perhaps a mid-week treat might be in order.
We have no Wi-Fi and 3 G is quite bad where we are so be patient avid reader, instalments will be published, they may just be a little sporadic though, but they will come!!!
Dalmeny
No Travelling
Sunday, it’s been glorious weather but as often happens the wind gets up a bit after sunset.
After my morning run we started out late as we had slept in to a very dozy 07:00.
We headed down to the beach and settled at the lagoon out of the breeze and just enjoyed the sun and read our books. I would occasionally nip in for a dip and swim with the fish. I must say at this point that Wendy was very brave as she had to paddle through a stream of sea water to get to the sand bank which sits in the middle of the lagoon, which to my mind is usually uncovered but it did seem to get quite crowded as the tide came in, time to leave I think. But not before I had found a Ray fish swimming happily in the lagoon.
We have decided that we won’t be getting a camper van anytime soon. The one we have is great for what we are doing, but they have far too many drawbacks.
1 – It’s not that big a van but it’s too big for nipping around town, we struggle to find parking spaces even in the biggest of car parks.
2 – Once you are on site if you need to move then everything has to be put away, everything. The first few days when we were finding our feet I would be driving along and a sauce pan would coming flying from nowhere and bash me on my head.
3 – This is what’s done it for me. We are on a sloping site, no problem the very nice man gave me loads of wood to use. Well it’s not easy I’ll tell you reversing a camper onto blocks, well it’s not hard but when it’s done, it stays done!!!
So the caravan comes out best in all arguments, when its pitched it stays pitched and you can use your car whenever you like.
It’s been roasting hot today and the local Fire Crew came and posted a, “Total Fire Ban”, notice on the office wall, it’s too hot to risk an accidental outbreak, so that’s it we are cooking on gas. Seriously there has been some serious fires in Melbourne so they are right to be cautious.
Oh, we’ve been invited to a sausage sizzle on Christmas Eve, I’m up for that, it’s a family event with fun and games, bring it on, it’ll be the Ashes all over again!
We had a late lunch, early tea consisting of pan fired chicken thighs cooked with olives, garlic, mushrooms, chillies and lemon sauce, Wendy made the rice. It was a delight, oh and the prosecco and ice cream that Wendy nipped to the shop for went down a treat too.
Later we cycled in to Narooma to go to yesterday’s pub to get Wi-Fi. It’s a 6.1 mile cycle ride and would you believe it their Wi-Fi wasn’t working. I did enquire at the bar but the best I could get from the disinterested waiter was that I should keep trying, “Its free you know”. Yes I do know that but even free it’s no good when it’s not bloody working. Poor Wendy, no Wi-Fi to get the strictly gossip.
Coming back we stopped at the Narooma Lagoon. It’s much bigger than ours and it is beautiful. Maybe we should head out there one day this week and explore.
It’s getting dark now, its 20:42 and the last of the light is fading fast and our Christmas lights are nicely illuminated. Tomorrow is our longest, and Europe’s shortest day, it’s my second on a trot as I’m owed one from 1983, I have a very long memory you know!!!
Dalmeny
No Travelling
Well what a night that was, blinking eck!!! I went outside to read my book as it was quite warm when the wind picked up, big style! There were things flying past me like The Wizard of Oz. I helped a few people get things together and then thought about taking our awning down when a monumental gust almost blew it way. Quick sticks Wendy was out helping me unravel myself from it before it got damaged too badly. It made for a rocky night mind!
This morning it was raining, our first real encounter of dreak weather and its remained overcast all day, so much for the longest day. It’s been quite warm though at 25 degrees.
We caught the bus into town and did a bit of shopping. The darnest thing though is the bus we caught was the 13:08, which got us in town at 13:30, I ask the driver is there one available for, say 16:00, no mate is the reply, I go back at 14;00 and that’s it….so it’ll be the six mile walk back then.
After Wendy had surveyed several shoe shops we had a drink and a bite to eat in our now famous lack of Wi-Fi bar, would it surprise anyone to know the Wi-Fi wasn’t working, ah but it is free though!! The owner must be from Yorkshire.
So I get the drinks and Wendy orders a pizza to share, which was the Ocean Bounty. Oh yes, boy was I looking forward to this……………you’ll never guess avid reader…..not in a million years.
I kid you not, it came to our table deep fried….who in hell serves a deep fired Ocean Bunty Pizza, a massive disappointment.
On our way back we called into our favourite fresh fish supplier and bought….massive mussels, (again), some massive monster king prawns, (again) and some Butter Fish, (a first, for tomorrows supper.)
Anyway as we walked home, along the boardwalk, which is over the sea, Wendy found the biggest ray yet. It was a beauty, it must have been over two feett wide, lurking there right under our feet. I have him on video but I’m not sure if I’ll get it uploaded though.
Tonight’s been a bit of a laugh……to finish our ration of chicken thighs I bought some chili sauce. I cooked them nice and slowly with mushrooms and sweetcorn and we had them with noodles……….jeepers, this was the hottest chili I have had since Nick Wrest cooked for the watch in 1988 (Nick was an 18 year old fireman who had never cooked a meal in his life, he put some many hot chilies in we had to sit bare chested drinking jugs of water whilst sweating profusely, thankfully we didn’t get a shout until several hours later). Wendy is still not over it!!!
It’s late again and the dam wind is picking up, never mind the awning has been repaired, let’s hope my cross stich is up to muster!!!
Dalmeny
No Travelling
I managed to get a full run in on the beach this morning, its 4.10 miles long from end to end. I couldn’t get around the corner as its all rocks and surf. It was great to get to do it though, I don’t think I’ll get another shot for a day or two as its now high tide, I was just lucky that I caught the last of the tide before it became fully in.
It wasn’t a bad start to the day weather wise and I wished I had took my sunglasses with me, but alas I wouldn’t have needed them for long because as soon as I got back it started to rain……………heavy!
After breakfast the rain had turned to fine drizzle, you know the type that gets you wet through. Anyway not to let it spoil the day we donned our wet proofs and cycled into Narooma to see the seals. And boy what a treat we got!!!
But first we had the best bag of chips I have ever had in my life, it was from a chip shop who did all weird and wonderful things with fish, but we just had a bag of chips. They were lovey, hot and very well cooked.
We then met the biggest seal I have ever seen, he was a beawt! I saw others frolicking in the surf, and tumbling along, it was a joy to see.
To get out of the rain for a while we went to Narooma Beach Club for a bottle of wine and to while away some time. It was nice to sit and see all the telly’s going with every type of gambling there is on earth, I didn’t partake though, I wouldn’t know what to do.
The rain had stopped as we left the club and we cycled back to camp and had supper, tonight’s feast was Butter Fish and salad. We got the fish from our trusted fish monger and it was a delight, Wendy thinks it’s the best fish she has ever tasted, more meaty that Monk Fish so she says.
We later went for a walk as it was a nicer evening and on our way back we came across some older folk across the street sat out under a gazebo. One of the men gave me a wave and when I waved back he gave me a big thumbs up, so I went over and said to him, “I have to shake the hand of the man who gave me such a great welcome”. Wendy joined me and we were promptly sipping red wine and getting to know everyone. The main mans name was Tony and he really likes cricket, he’s going to the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, he sets off tomorrow. Anyway he told me that he had an original Donald Bradman cricket bat in a display case inside the house, so he took me in to show me. There it was proud as punch on the wall. Well I never!!!
We had a lovely hour sat chatting and getting to know everyone. Tony is the Principe at the local High School and he has given me his Business Card to contact him when we get to Sydney as he has a boat at his Sydney apartment that he would like to show me around in, brill eh??
Dalmeny
No Travelling
Well the weather was a lot better today, quite warm actually.
After breakfast I got a call from the jewellers in town to say Wendys ring could be collected, (she had the ring she got in Coober Pedy made smaller), which was quite appropriate as we could cycle into Narooma and get all our Christmas provisions.
There are some very well provided sinks along jetty’s and the fishermen wash their catch there. As we passed there a fisherman thew some cast offs to the pelicans and I saw one swallow a whole bones set, all in one go.
We got to Woolworths and we and bought fillet steak, chicken thighs, beef sausages and brandy sauce for our Christmas pud. Then we called into the fish mongers, (of course), to get some gummy shark, butter fish and giant prawns, boy this is going to be some Barbie!!
It’s good to see people making a go of Christmas, and why wouldn’t they, (I had to chastise Wendy for being anti Christmas yesterday, she’s not at all in the Christmas Mood, I don’t understand how an intelligent person can’t see that Christmas is celebrated all over the world and that it doesn’t have to be freezing cold to be good).
After lunch we had a walk on the beach and then I came back and decorated my meagre tree with shells and long pine cone type things. A little girl called Stella was comparing my tree against hers so I had to go check it out, we came to a compromise, I have the best tree and she has the best camper Christmas lights.
We have a Korean man next door in a small tent with his two sons, William 11 and Ryan 8, he doesn’t seem to have much of a clue about camping but he is trying his best. William comes and talks to us, its funny how they seem to be. William doesn’t read books, he knows everything he knows from either his iPad or watching films. He doesn’t know much about Christmas but he thinks Ryan as seen a film about it. Oh and he likes to play mine sweeper, A LOT!!
Dalmeny
No Travelling
Today has been really lovely.
The weather started off great but when I got back to camp it took a nose dive. We had planned to go to the beach but after Wendy had applied her factor 30 the clouds loomed and it got very gloomy.
So we sat at camp and even went inside to read our books it was so blustery.
After half an hour I checked outside and, surprisingly it was clearing. So we had lunch at camp and then the sun came out. We went to the beach and it was hot and sunny and we just really had a nice time. We had to be back for 16:00 for the sausage sizzle. Sure enough it was a delight. We did it a bit back to front, ice cream first and then sausage sarnies. Santa turned up and gave presents out, we had races, I helped Archie in the 3 legged, we didn’t win, but we didn’t fall over either.
The sun was shining all afternoon and the atmosphere in the camp was great, the kids were buzzing. Brian from the party the other night came by, he brought us a big rocky road cakey thing, Tony gave me it but I left it behind as everyone keeps giving us stuff and I thought it bit impolite to take something from someone who I had just met. But Brian found us, had a couple of beers in the sun and left the rocky road with Wendy, who was quite pleased!!!
The local Fire Unit came by at the end of the party, four appliances with Santa on one of them, the kids loved it. He threw sweets for them and gave loads of big waves, well done to the local crew!!!
The kids are buzzing as the sun sets, the moon is out and camp fires are all around us. Stella and the boys from next door are here with us and it’s just such a nice Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
Dalmeny
No Travelling
We have had a brilliant Christmas Day
As I was off to the shower at 06:00 I saw Ryan next door out of bed and gave him and his brother, William a bar of chocolate each for a Christmas present, they were so excited, it must have been their first ever. I don’t think Koreans have Christmas.
First I ran on the beach which I love doing and them home to scrambled eggs and smoked salmon with bucks fizz. After an eternity on the phone to Vodafone I manged to buy some extra data for my phone, however reception isn’t great and I can only use it early in the day when no one else is using it!!!
Then it was beach time. We spent about 3 hours down the beach, around the corner on the lagoon. It was lovely we had almost wall to wall blue sky.
We went for a bike ride upto the lookout, but Wendy wouldn’t go any further as the wind had picked up, fair point, back to camp then.
We came back and had a chat to people and I saw the Korean kids at a loose end so I introduced them to “Jumpers for Goal Posts”. We used to play when I was a kid. I made one set of posts with towels and then explained the rules. As there were only three they played against each other. I was the goaly and they had to score but they could only shoot from a line ten yards out. Well it was great, especially when William joined because they could then have two teams and it introduced passing. We had a good time and by the end I was buggerd, although I had only let in a few goals. After the kids mums thanked me and the kids brought me things. I got Korean biscuits and Korean Cake and a bottle of water to cool me down.
Then I lit the barbie which was a little challenging as the wind had picked up. Never mind, what a huge success it was. I now know the ingredients of the best Barbie, ever!!!
After we had a lovely Christmas pudding and brandy sauce, after which Wendy introduced William and Ryan to it, I don’t think there is any leftovers for me now.
Then to cap it off the kids came and dragged me for another game of footy, I think they are trying to kill me!
After calls home we set by the fire and relaxed before climbing into bed, it was a really lovey Christmas day.
Dalmeny
No Travelling
Well what a contrast.
Today started pretty well, lovely sunshine and quite warm. As I got back from running I called into see Jim and he told me that there was a 90% chance of rain, upto 20 mls. I thought never, it’s lovely. So I got back to camp and as soon as you could say Adam, the weather changed, so much that I had breakfast in the van. Then it started to rain, and rain and rain.
So we ended up having lunch outside, under the awning as it rained, and rained.
How could two days be so different, it’s like Inverness!!!
William and Ryan left too but we did get a chance to say goodbye.
Anyway, I persuaded Wendy to go for a walk on the beach, we managed half a mile.
But when we got back things shaped up, the rain stopped and the sun came out.
A Korean lady from the next tent came and gave us some Korean Pancakes that she had just made, they were bloody lovely!!!
Kim and Stella called by, (Kim is Stellas Grandpa, he’s called “W-P”, which stands for Wonder Pops!), Anyway, the new guy behind us, a bit of an obnoxious fella called in on “OUR” conversation. Kim told him that we come from the UK. Wouldn’t go there was obnoxious’es reply, he followed it up with this statement after Kim challenged him. “I made my money in Australia and I spend my money in Australia”. I’m not really sure what that means or what to make of it. I did check his vehicle though later on and would you believe he has a great big Nissan 4 x 4. How Australian is that???
Anyway we went for a walk around the site to see the new arrivals as its getting busy and we took Stella with us, what a darling she is, (Wendy painted her toenails today!)
We got back to our camp and it didn’t look good, more very dark clouds came by, and then Armageddon came, jeepers it was a biblical storm, thankfully we were ok, but our neighbours didn’t fair too well. It soon past but it left a fair bit of devastation – Welcome to the Australian Summer!!!
It’s pretty stable just now and Jim just put his head through the door and said, “Famous last words Dave”, yes I did tell him that I thought it would all be to blow over!!!
Update – It did eventually blow over, Jim brought me some of his curry which Wendy and I shared, more curry!!! The his daughter sent me a cake she had decorated with fruit and syrup over, which was lovely, and then the Korean lady next door gave us a zucchini pancake which she had made on a camp stove, again it was lovely, but please no more food. Then finally it was round to Jims place for a nightcap in his zipped up tight tent, a nice chat and then off to bed.
Dalmeny to Moss Vale
149 Miles
A much better morning today, back to sunshine, such a difference.
We left Dalmeny today and I must admit it was with a heavy heart. I just got to love the place and we met some really nice people. So after we readied the van we went and said our goodbyes, first Jim, Jo and the kids, then Kim and the kids. Thankfully Stellas Mum and Dad managed to get away from providing food for the firefighters and came to camp overnight bringing her and Aidens little sisters who were really bonny kids, oh and Percy the Jack Russel. Their parents were quite nice, in the short time we got to meet them, but bugger, bum their dad brought a good sized boat to go out fishing, I could have bummed a ride!!!
Finally I said goodbye to Warren and Heather, the campsite keepers. They are both really nice people and we got to know their grandchildren too, Georgia, (3) and Mighty Man himself, Mitchell (0.5), who is a little powerhouse! Warren lives in Bundaberg and as said we should call in and stay with them when we pass through, that would be great but they may or not be back home before March. We have their details anyway.
The drive north was thankfully uneventful for the first 120 miles however the south carriageway was absolutely choc a’ block with traffic, I was worried at one point that we would encounter the same but we didn’t. Phew!
We left the Princess Highway to come over the mountains to get to Moss Vale. Well actually we went over one mountain and then went up another, which we are still on. We went through some beautiful towns and villages along the trail before ending up here at Moss Vale, (Elevation – 2,500 feet).
It was a lovely sunny evening as we got here but the wind was a bit grim.
We are hoping to do a bit of exploring tomorrow, Fitzroy Falls and the best of all, the Sir Donald Bradman Museum of Cricket. I’ll get some good photos for Andy.
I’m in the Dog House tonight, I very accidently left the toilet block key in the toilets when I was in earlier and some very helpful person as removed them. Why would you do that? I am trying to redeem myself by leaving a note in there identifying myself, hopefully it will be returned before we get too desperate!!!
Moss Vale
No Travelling
Phew, thankfully someone came last night to tell me his son had handed the toilet keys in at reception, unfortunately it was now closed until 08:00. That’s Ok we could hold out!
It was bloody freezing this morning, I woke at 05:40 with Wendys lovely Cockatoos beaking at full belt outside the van, not that she heard of course!
So off I went in half of my Highland running gear and I was perished, it was that cold I barely touched my water bottle, in the Van it was 13.5 degrees. I know you’re not feeling at all sorry, I did see two Kookaburras making such a racket sat on telephone wires though, how funny are they at 07:00 in the morning - Oo’ Oo’ Oo’ Ha’ Ha’ Ha???
So when I got back we had breakfast inside and after Wendy had retrieved the toilet keys I got showered, she had sneaked in and had hers whilst I was out the lucky bugger.
First we went to Fitzroy Falls which were stunning. We met some nice people who we happened to be with at the same time on the trek who told Wendy about Black Cockatoos, another bird which she has now identified.
This was a four mile round tour with views over the canyon where we are staying, (on top of), and it was lovely, it became a little hazardous in places but Wendy managed it all.
After we went to Bowral which is a very nice town with lots of small shops and cafes, but more importantly has the Sir Donald Bradman Museum of Cricket. I got a photo of the man himself and they even have a pitched size pond with stumps at each end where you can bowl coins in for charity. I did a douserer, but the coin wouldn’t turn on the grass so I had to revert to pace. So my next one was very full of a length which nipped out Brian Lara, it was a very good old fashioned Darren Gough Yorker, under his right foot, middle stump out of the ground! My next one was short, which Steve Waugh attempted to pull over midwicket but he nipped it and was solidly caught behind by Alec Stewart!
Well worth two dollars for the fun.
After this we went to Mittagong which was supposed to be a nice town, but lacked a certain niceness, but on the way out we went up Mount Gibraltar were we saw some stunning views, and looked into some poor persons back garden 1,000 feet below.
We got back to camp at about 16:30 and had the last remnants of our Christmas dinner, Fish and Meat Curry, which was quite tasty.
We then went for a walk into town, it was closed so we came back and had the last of our brandy sauce, by dipping mars bar into it and licking the pot dry…..another delight.
After which as the sun hid behind some trees we headed inside for an early night as we set off in the morning for an exciting few days in the big city………….Sydney!!!
Moss Vale to Sydney
99 Miles
It was very misty this morning in Moss Vale but it soon cleared as we headed out to Sydney. Funny we went over mountain passes to get to Moss Vale but the road to Sydney was just a 99 mile slope down, hardly noticeable.
We had to drop into a Camperman garage on our way in to have a water leak fixed. The staff were great, really helpful and just got on with the job and we were away in no time. This was really helpful as although it was a little out of our way it did put us due south of Sydney and so we had to travel along the full coast of Botany Bay which was stunning. We stopped for lunch on the beach front and it was just lovely, wall to wall sunshine.
On our way up to Sydney we saw a large factory fire, but even more exciting, we went under the runway of Sydney Airport. It has an underpass as the runway goes out into Botany Bay. I flew into this very airport on my first visit to Sydney 32 years ago.
Wendy was getting over excited as just before we went under the Harbour by way of the Harbour Tunnel she briefly saw the Opera House and the famous Harbour Bridge.
We are staying at Manley Travelodge, 4 days of luxury. The room is fantastic, we have a big bed, of course, a bathroom, well I never…….but also a fridge, a kitchenette, a massive TV, iron and board, ice on tap and a laundry room. I told the receptionist to get onto her UK colleagues and tell them how to do it, shame the two companies are’nt connected!
We then walked into Manly to see how we get the ferry into the city as we are six miles away. It was a 3.5 mile walk and the weather was hot so when we got there, after we had done our reconnoitre we had some supper.
We found a nice beachside restaurant and ordered. Wendy had Flat Head Fish, chips and salad, I had…………..wait for it………………………….wait!!!...................Kangaroo Steak and Crocodile Tails!!! It’s a first for me. It was OK, but the Steak was tough and the tails tasted like chicken.
For pudd Wendy had the best Warm Chocolate Brownie and Hot Chocolate Sauce and I had the best Flaming Creme Brulee I have ever had, it was a treat.
After walking the 3.5 miles back, along the coast Wendy was flaked and so after a shower she is on her bed with a look of delirium on her face, (Oh and she had too much to eat!).
Early to bed as she wants to hit Sydney big time tomorrow!!!
Tuesday afternoon and we've just checked into our travel lodge room!😀😃😄😀
We have a huge bed....which we can walk around !!!
A sofa
A big TV..we haven't seen any TV since we left home.
Full length mirrors (not so great as I can now see how much weight I've put on in 2 months....Ignorance is bliss!)
A small kitchenette with fridge ( for wine)
Wine glasses..real ones, not plastic!
Bathroom which I don't have to wear flip flops in , or as they say here 'thongs'. Yuk!
Carpet🤗
Walls 🤗
Doors🤗
Windows🤗
Ahhhhh....
If you'd been living in a van for 8 weeks you'd be excited about these thing too!!!
We're off to find the Manley ferry into the city!!!
X
Sydney
No Travelling
I ran to Manley this morning, what a beautiful place it is and it was busy as bugger at 07:00 with surfers young and old looking for a “Tube”, (yes I know what it means, do you avid reader?)
After which we caught the bendy bus into Sydney, which was a bit of a laugh as it bends both sideways and up and down on the hilly roads.
From there we were around the Opera House and onto a boat tour. Well that was an event, it was supposed to be a two hour trip but it turned out to be over three hours due to the large number of boat movements on the harbour in preparation for the firework tomorrow night.
Yachts were vying for the best spot, apparently one yacht anchors and holds the area and then their mates tie up alongside and create a floating pontoon of boats, it’s called rafting and it’s done in the harbour just for New Year’s Eve.
On the trip we took in some stunning scenery and saw unbelievable property, wow we were so jealous.
After the boat trip we tried to get info on tomorrow nights events, especially transport. Well we may has well have been talking to ourselves, the organisation is a bit wishy, washy to say the least, Lord knows how they pull it off each year.
We then took a long walk to Darling Harbour, which is really nice and then into town to see Central Tower. It’s all changed since I was last here but I guess everywhere does after 32 years. It’s still a lovely city though, great buildings, a fantastic mix of young and old architecture and all very clean, no rubbish around at all.
From there we walked over the Harbour Bridge and saw a large cruise liner pull out and head into the Pacific.
After a full day of sightseeing we caught the 19:30 ferry to Manly, which takes half an hour and on our way home we shared a pizza and Italian salad in a little restaurant. It was lovely, tasty and fresh and with a bottle of wine, all coming to just over £30!
After our three mile walk back to the hotel, Wendy is flaked and I’m really not doing justice to our day out…….so maybe a more interesting report tomorrow of our adventures in Sydney.
Sydney
No Travelling
We sorted all our travel arrangements yesterday so we were going full pelt for New Year Sydney Style and we started early getting to Sydney Opera House for 10:30. After two bag searches we were in, but we had to find a spot with a good view, which we did. However we did have to have a diplomatic incident with some Chinese people who had secured a large area with bin liners as markers. I says I’m sitting here and checked with the people who we would be in front of, and yes they were fine, but the Chinese said that this area was for their friends. So I asked where are your friends, are they in yet. They seemed to have lost the ability to speak English at this point so after me asking again where these friends are, and are they through security yet one of them stepped forward and asked me how many spaces were needed, two is fine he says.
Hours later their friends turned up and there was still plenty of room.
So we sunbathed on our beach towels on the hard floor of Sydney Opera House and it was a tough gig as the bar was quite expensive, (My tan is very much improved though!), I mean very expensive, so we limited ourselves to £25.00’s worth, which bought us six 35ml cans. In fairness I saw no drunks, in fact the bar was mostly empty!
After a bit more territorial activity we secured front row places for the firework display, we did have a four hour wait mind. But, thankfully there were other organised events and we were directly above a private party and they had two very good groups booked. The first was an all-female bad, “Alpha Mama”, and they were very good. But the second band were even better, (Furnace and the Fundamentals), they had the energy of a Saturn Five Rocket, the lead singer never let up, he literally danced himself dizzy! They were brilliant and when they had finished we had half hour to wait.
And so the countdown came and then the fireworks………………………..they were suburb, goosebumpingly so if I may say. We loved it. The 14 hour wait we had was well worth the 12 minutes of excitement we received. Well done Sydney!!!!
Happy New Year Everybody!!!
Sydney
No Travelling
After our late night, we had a late morning not rising until about 08:30 when we heard kids having their breakfast through our open windows, two floors below. I knew it was too late to run as the sun was high and it had the smell of a hot day.
So after breakfast we headed off to Freshwater Beach.
We had to circumnavigate Curl Curl Beach first which is a lovely beach but has no infrastructure, we needed a vibrant area with shops as we had no food, we certainly got that at Freshwater and it was buzzing.
The swell was good so after a bottle of wine I decided to do a bit of body surfing. I have to admit I’m not as good as I was in my younger days, but I did try. Needless to say I didn’t catch a tube!
On the beach I saw something that I have never seen before, a helicopter pulling an advertisement banner, I didn’t think it was safe to do so, too many rotors. Well they did it, but it didn’t look safe, especially when they needed to turn. Maybe it was a pilot run, maybe I would drop the idea!
We got back to our room for Wendy’s last night of bliss in the late afternoon, it was still hot so we did a very English thing, we took tea, it was lovely. I was in two minds about having a late run so I did some deciding. I went to explore a little further, by means of a short run whilst Wendy took a shower and glammed up.
I’m glad I did as just over the hill from us is a delightful beach called Dee Why Beach surrounded by lots of small restaurants. So that’s where we headed and we found a lovely little restaurant where we could see the South Pacific roll in.
It was about 8:30 pm and places were buzzing, but ours was just going off boil but we both had a really nice super, I had chicken and Wendy had beef, it was a tossup whose was best. We were the last to leave!
After which we walked home and settled with a bottle of wine and one of Wendy’s chocolate bars, tonight’s was Milky Bar with cookies. She is in her element as Australia has the widest chocolate bar selection she has ever seen, she’s now halfway through the range and would you believe she actually has created an inventory!
Sydney to Lithgow
98 Miles
Well we have left Sydney after a most fantastic New Year, and our stay at a five star Travelodge.
I have a confession to make, we were bit naughty at the Travelodge, I know it’s difficult to comprehend but we indulged ourselves. You see since we started our adventure we have developed an appetite for toast for breakfast. We usually take it after my morning run, I have vegemite on mine and Wendy has hers with lashings of butter. But as there wasn’t a toaster in our room we snook ours up. So to avoid setting off the fire alarm I would take it into the bathroom, run the cable under the door and put the bread in. As it toasted I would waft away any products of combustion by flapping a towel over the toaster, we did this for four days and never set the fire alarm off. Now I don’t condone this kind of behaviour, but we do have an addiction!!!
So after four blissful days we left our Travelodge and set off to show Wendy Bondi and Coogee Beaches. The trouble is though is that it’s so damned hard to park a campervan. We could only breeze past Bondi, but Wendy got a good look as we passed, and at Coogee we had to drive around the houses to find a spot that could only just take us. But I guess we were there at the wrong time of year as both places were mobbed.
From there we drove over the Blue Mountains and what a delight that was, much more interesting than the Snowy Mountains.
We took a little detour to a picnic spot, but unfortunately it was off road and I suddenly came to a halt whilst 3 point turning my way out. Wendy had a look and one of my rear wheels was 8 inches off the ground. A bit of a dilemma because as much as I packed the wheel with stone the more it wouldn’t bloody move. After ten minutes I’m covered in rock dust, Wendy is in the back of the van giving extra weight and still the damn thing won’t move. Thankfully a German family passed and the chap got out and gave us a push, Phew!!! Had he not come along we might still be there!
So now we are in Lithgow, which I believe has an old mining history. We are about 2,000 feet up and its cold again, but never mind because after tea we went for a walk and came across a herd of Kangaroos, hopping about as happy as you like, Wendy nearly wet herself she was so excited.
Back at camp we shared a glass of wine with our Dutch neighbours, Verny and Daniella which then turned into a dram or two of my finest Scottish Whisky.
A very pleasant way to end the day!
Lithgow to Mudgee
78 Miles
It was a bleak start this morning in Lithgow, cold and very overcast, but then we are 2,000 feet up a mountain, but then this is Australia in summer!!! However I did discover more of the mining history when I was out on my run. I was following a track in the woods when I came across a seam of coal, not six inches underground, it was visible because the landowner had driven the path through using a digger/ blade, he told me so himself. I took pictures but my IPhone was on the sepia setting, yes I know, not good for shots of coal. I even collected some lumps for when I have my next camp fire.
I did also see Wendy’s herd of Kangaroos, there were about 15 of them and when a car passed they all set off hopping off out of the way, it was a Sunday morning treat!
After breakfast back at camp we decided to move a little further north but before we did we went to a lookout post at the highest point of the Blue Mountains. Again my camera doesn’t do the views justice but it was well worth it. After the lookout we had a stroll in town, it’s a lovely place with a very interesting High Street and one very noticeable thing we have found is that all of the towns and cities we have been to are immaculately clean and tidy, no litter anywhere, Lithgow being a prime example.
Ah but there is one fly in the ointment, and it’s becoming an obsession of mine…..shopping trollies, they get left all over the place. I have seen them in very posh residential suburbs, and at one of the nicest areas there were four all placed together, nice and neat as you like but on the bloody pavement miles from any shops! We started to see it in Sydney and now we can’t stop looking for the phenomena!!! I’ll keep you posted!
So now we are in Mudgee and again it’s a very pleasant and clean town and we are nudging the far west of the Great Dividing Range, in very close proximity to the Outback, the Great Interior and guess what………………..Wendy wants to go to………………Broken Hill, 575 miles further west to one of the most remote outback, dusty and arid areas of New South Wales. I can’t wait, we are planning to set off on Tuesday!
Earlier this afternoon we went for a bike ride on a new cycle track which was very impressive and we came across a new sports centre and it has, would you believe, 9 netball courts all laid out side by side. 9! - 9! can you believe that, 9 netball courts? I cannot believe that netball is that popular?
It’s now 17:30 and raining quite hard, and it’s turned quite cold, but the awnings up and we are sat outside, wrapped up. I’m off to camp kitchen shortly to BBQ our chicken thighs taking with me a bottle of wine, so the weather can please itself!
So off I go to camp kitchen with my bottle of wine and walked straight into a full blown party!!!
The folks have been having get together for years as they met each other whilst Line Dancing. What fun we had. The original plan was I was going to cook chicken and Wendy would set the table and get the salad ready at our camp.
As soon as I started cooking a chap told me about some non-stick material you can put on a camp BBQ so you don’t need to wash away other peoples left overs before you use it. The next I know I’m in a shot drinking slammer contest and so I go get Wendy. Within minutes we are made extremely welcome and it cracks off a great night.
Wendy was engrossed with Helen, whose son, wife and grandchildren live in London, you can tell she misses them lots and it was nice to talk to her about them.
I got talking to Brian who had just retired from coal mining. He was flabbergasted when I told him I was a coal miner in my youth and we swapped tales of days gone by. He was most impressed with me being a shearer driver, especially in the thinner coal seams where we had to crawl through the coal face. From our conversation I learned that we used pretty much the same techniques, although they had much thicker seams and preferred to use retreat longwall face techniques.
I told him the story of when I got transferred to Denby Grange Colliery and as I had just started on my own there I was put in the Market Team, (These are coal face workers who make up shortfalls on all the coal faces when a regular team member is off).
Well one day the Deputy asked me to lead a scratch team to cut a new coal face as their main one had been hit by a fault and all the men were making repairs. It was a great honour to be asked and I set off pretty well. One big difference though was that at this mine they had extended hydraulic supports that push against the coal face, here they put every third one out after I passed with the shearer and I had to crawl in front of the machine and keep pulling them in before I passed again.
Well in the last hour of the shift I missed one and hit it with 5,000 horse power of both the cutting disc and the tungsten carbon tipped picks. Bugger there were sparks everywhere and I was almost shook to death and both the cutting disc and the steal support became entangled. I manged to get the power off and shout the Deputy who came along. I apologised but he said don’t worry we had done more than enough by getting the amount of coal we had got out, and that the nightshift could bring some extra picks down the pit and replace the damaged ones and then get back to it. Phew!!, but the real story is the old boy who was watching my cable, (the shearer is powered by electricity and someone has to guide the cable along so it doesn’t get trapped and damaged, it’s often quite lonely as they are often away from the main team, but it’s an easy job and that’s why it’s usually the oldest who does it. Well as he passed me he jokingly tutted at me, took his glasses off and said, “I reckon you’ll be needing these then son” and handed me the glasses, it was quite funny at the time and eased the guilt I felt. Anyway Brain thought it funny.
The shots they were drinking are called Bronnies – as devised by Brian and Ronnie. It was a mixture of Sambuca Liquor, Butterscotch Whiskey and Baileys on top, very potent!!! I gave them a few pelters about Butterscotch Whisky but to be fair I tried it on its own and it was quite nice. I later took Ronnie a dram of my Glenfiddich, which nearly choked him!
After more merriment we were given a line dancing demonstration, thankfully I didn’t join in.
We had a really lovely night and to top it the weather cleared up too!!
Mudgee
No Travelling
So Wendy and me are sat having breakfast in camp kitchen this morning and a song came on the radio, I says, “I haven’t heard this in years”, Wendy says, “I’ve never heard this”, I say, “Course you have” and then the penny drops and I do a little googling, the songs called, “Send me an Angel”, and it’s by Real Life, it’s by an Australian Group and was released in1983, most likely during my first trip down here when I had four months in Oz and New Zealand, It’s never been released in the UK, I did apologise, honest I did!
After breakfast we walked into town and did some shopping, Wendy had a right old bargain hunt buying a nice thick fleece and some sandals to replace her comfy ones the Fox ate in Venus Bay, she’s very happy with them.
After lunch we did a bit of cycling down to MacDs so Wendy could get some Wi-Fi. We got back to camp and did a bit of reading and booked ourselves into tomorrow nights’ accommodation, (we have to now its school holidays as the sites are quite full, and EXPENSIVE!!!).
We had a good chat with one of our new friends from last night who very kindly talked us through some interesting places we should visit on our way to Broken Hill. I wish I knew his real name, I was introduced to him as Eeyore, (they say he has big ears), anyway I can’t call a grown man by that name. I didn’t get the ears either, they looked normal to me!
After supper in camp kitchen we had a good walk in town, this place is beautiful, clean and with very nice buildings. You could eat your dinner off the pavement. But, as mentioned before, there is a blight, of which I will say just this once, as Wendy says I’m going on – Shopping Trollies!!! I have taken a few photos, look at them at your leisure as there are a few but I think it’s my duty as a journalist to report the truth, (I’m actually thinking of going to see the Mayor tomorrow morning, I bet Wendy won’t let me).
We got back to camp just as it started to spitter, but we are sat under the awning Wendy proudly wearing her $15.00 bargain fleece!!!
Tomorrow we hit the road again, I must remember to check my fluids, as per the agreement!
Mudgee to Dubbo
79 Miles
It rained a lot through the night but was clear when I got back to camp. I had a great run around a circuit of wine fields, (not Vineyards!). But as we set off it grew dark and we went through torrential rainfall, it lasted about 30 minutes but at least we passed through it. Sydney has been getting battered since we left, so has the East Coast so I am really pleased we are heading inland.
Chris Gayle has been a bit naughty too, and is getting some stick for his alleged sexism with a lady reporter, its big news here.
We stopped for coffee at the edge of a forest as the rain stopped and it was quite nice.
As we were making camp at Dubbo it started to rain again, but it quickly passed through and it has been warm ever since, we have even seen the sun most of the afternoon.
We were checked into our new camp by, (would you believe), Stacy Solomon!!! Or it was her double!.
After lunch we walked into town and I must admit there’s not much to it, it’s very clean as we have come to expect but it’s just a long high street. I did manage to buy my bargain priced Bundy Rum though from the local Aldi Store.
The River Macquarie runs through town, its ok but not as clean as some we have seen, but at least there is a good amount of fish in it, or there should be as there were plenty of folk fishing it.
We had a glass of wine as we got back and then went for a walk around the river, (Wendy didn’t mind at all), the sun was out now and it was really quite pleasant. We got back just after 7:00 pm and had supper, cooked at yet another great camp kitchen, we had chicken, mushrooms and rice, it was a delight!!!
We got back to our camp and had a chat with our new neighbour Robin, (Robin with an I, not like my Robyn with a Y!). She is 78 years old and house sits around Australia. She lives in a smaller campervan than ours but travels thousands of kilometres going from house to house, her next assignment is for 9 months. Wow, she is some lady!!! Her husband died when he was 53 so she is very independent and maybe a little bit deaf.
We are off again tomorrow, destination unknown, but that’s OK, it’s all part of the adventure.
That's us on the road again.....the luxury of the Sydney hotel behind us. It was great for a few days, but it's sort of more exciting to be travelling.
I looked at the map yesterday and said to David.......' We're not a million miles from Broken hill'.
We both sort of wished we had gone there before.
So that's our next trip,dad!!!!
There's a couple of myths about the 'aussies' that we've busted these last few weeks....
...the weather.....not as hot as we imagine it to be all the time. It does get really hot, but not all the time.ln fact today I bought a fleecy jumper!!!
...drinking....they don't actually ...or at least not as much as we do!?! They're pretty lightweight. They don't seem to give a xxxx for alcohol!! They certainly don't make it easy to buy!
They're also obsessed with the sun.... It's almost impossible to buy anything less than 50 factor lotion. Don't get me started on the oriental folk!! ...they are nuts when it comes to sunlight, they wear rain jackets and keep brollies up all the time!
Cadburys have a limited edition bar......vegemite.....it's sounds disgusting but actually it's quite nice !
Dubbo to Cobar
183 Miles
What a great journey as we travelled the Barrier Highway. We saw kangaroos, loads of emus and goats and we also saw the weather change from the coastal rain and wind that’s affecting Sydney and the east coast to lovely outback blue skies with a hint of white fluffy cloud.
We passed a house called Buggame and another called Bitchalot and even a town called Nevertire!!
It’s hot here in Cobar, which is just fine, the fan has come out and made an appearance, there’s even talk of trying the air conditioning unit, but I think let’s give it a day or two.
After lunch I took the awing to camp kitchen to get out of the heat of the sun and make some repairs to it. It’s standing up well but every now and then I have to stitch in an eyelet from another tarp as they keep wearing out. Whilst I was in the kitchen the TV was on and there was a programme called Kangaroo Dundee, it was about a man who rescues kangaroos, it was so cute, especially when he took them hoping for the first time.
Cobar is another mining town that is actually currently working, mining Copper, Zinc, Lead, Silver and Gold, so I guess it’s a pretty prosperous place and it seems to be. Lord knows how you can get so many precious metals in one place, I thought precious meant rare!
Our camp site is quite nice, lots of space and shade and sunshine, a delight! Oh and new birds for Wendy. We fed some today, its naughty I know but they were very tame.
Cobar is a lovely small town, and it has a great Hotel which has the longest lace iron veranda in the southern hemisphere, so we nipped in for an afternoon pint. Uisdean would love it, it’s steeped in history and has a clock that’s shows the world time, five O’clock all the time!
We had supper, you guessed, in camp kitchen, steak and sea food salad, another delight and then we walked into town as the sun set for yet another pint in the Great Western Hotel.
We are now sat in the heat, outside the van and a young girl is playing her guitar and singing along in camp kitchen and its rather nice. After publication we are going to sit in the dark to see if we can see the night sky.
We love the Outback!!!
Cobar to Wilcannia
162 Miles
I ran out to see the gold mine this morning as there is supposed to be a viewing platform, I found it easily enough and it must have been shift time as the trucks started to wind their way down into the mine entrance. They mine, on average, enough ore to make one 15 KG Gold Ingot every two days, I think that’s pretty impressive, no wonder it’s a prosperous town!
We left Cobar heading for Wilcannia and as Wendy was picking some supplies from the shop before we left town I got talking to a man and I told him where we were heading and he said” It’s not much of a place and if not much has changed it’s not worth stopping”, interesting.
So we went along the Barrier Highway with nothing in-between the two towns except a filling station over 120 miles away and lots of bush! The sun was out and it was stinking hot and we continued to see lots of wildlife we must have seen hundreds of emus by the side of the road.
On entering Wilcannia I could see that there wasn’t much to it, it did have two camp sites and we chose the one by the river, closest to town. It’s a council operated site and we had to pay and collect the toilet key from the Council Chamber. Wendy wasn’t keen as it was like bush camping, she had a fit about the state of the toilets, and refused to use them, they were disgusting. So off I went to look at ours and they were perfect, very clean and freshly painted. So I took Wendy to see our toilets and she agreed with me, but she said, “But all the upper windows are open”. Well they were but they had fly screens on them, which she hadn’t seen in her panic, thinking somethings going to fly in and bite her bottom. So I asked her to show me the ladies, again they were clean and tidy, oh apparently some lady had not flushed after having a wee! Anyway now satisfied she was happy to use them.
I heard some kids playing in the river so I went down for a paddle, it was the greenest river I have ever seen with a nice sandy bottom. The kids were all aboriginal and there were three girls and two boys. The girls came to talk to me as they were interested in my underwater camera. Their names were, Jasmine, Barbara and Hedge. They told me about a big snake that lives on the river and I asked them if they had seen it. They said they hadn’t but that it doesn’t hurt Aboriginal people, I said would it hurt me and they asked me if I was Aboriginal, I guess my tan is so dark it’s hard to tell!! I told them no, I wasn’t but that I was a nice person, one asked me if I was nice to children and I said yes, another asked me if I was nice to my wife, I said yes of course and they all laughed.
Wendy and me went for a stroll into town and to say it’s a dying town is an understatement, it’s on its last legs with only a shop and a bar, which wasn’t too appealing, keeping it going. All other signs of industry are all run down and abandoned. It’s a shame as it used to be a thriving town many years ago with large ships coming into the port to load up bales of sheep skins. That was a long time ago as the river is barely knee deep in places now.
We had a barbeque of sausages and chili baked beans and then kept the fire going to roast marshmallows, which were a delight.
Would you believe this is the first time we have seen Aboriginal People since we left Cobar Pedy! We have been to Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney and we never saw one, not one, even more interesting!!!
Wilcannia to Broken Hill
122 Miles
What a delight, best morning going!!!
I woke at 06:00 and made a cup of tea, as I was drinking it I looked out of the window and saw the most amazing thing. Ten Kangaroos all around the van grazing and playing on the lush grass of the caravan park, pure brilliant!!!
On my run I went four miles down a straight road and bumped into about 200 other kangaroos, all enjoying the morning sun, I saw a big red one sat in the middle of the road as easy as you like.
So after breakfast and a nice hot shower we set off for Broken Hill, the road was hot, blinking hot and we had to wind the windows down and put our arms out to cool off, even the air con didn’t do it.
Sadly I counted 24 dead kangaroos 99 miles out from Wilcannia, these were freshly killed too as the birds don’t hang about feasting on them, what a shame!
We got to Broken Hill at lunchtime and checked into a nice camp site, after lunch I made yet more repairs to the awning, ably assisted by Wendy, it should now stand up to a typhoon.
Boy it’s hot here, Wendy who said she would never complain about the cold, or hot ever again is complaining about the heat, would you believe. The fan is going full belt and now the air conditioning unit is hard at it, will it make any difference, who knows?
We walked into town, it looks very interesting, again nice and clean. We haven’t seen any shopping trollies, so that’s a good sign.
Do you know Broken Hill is the only town in Australia that does not conform to the State Time zone, we are still in NSW but as soon as we entered Broken Hill we went onto South Australia time, I don’t know if I am coming, going or been there and done that!!!!
More tomorrow!
We're heading west on the barrier highway towards broken Hill...first stop...Wilcannia.
Talk about one horse town.......this towns horse left long ago!
We pulled on to the campground after collecting the toilet block keys from the council hq, and my heart sank a little.
It was beside the river and the ground was a little rough and unkempt. SNAKES. SNAKES. SPIDERS. LIZARDS. The place must be teeming with them.
The only other people camping there came straight over and warned us not to leave anything out as the local aboriginal children were likely to come in and steal from us....!
As it turned out I didn't see any spiders or reptiles but I did see kangaroos!!!
We knew they must be around because of the amount of poo everywhere, and sure enough as the sun set we saw one or two grazing on the edge of the camp...then this morning when David got up for his early morning run, we looked out and we were surrounded by them!!
They were yards from our van and they were even boxing! They are the strangest creatures! It was fantastic! I knew it was a good site the minute we pulled on to it. X
Brownie mars bar...yum.
Black Forest Cadburys dairy milk (CDM)..v.yum.
Broken Hill
No Travelling
The weather was lovely and sunny this morning so we cycled into town to have a good look round and get a few essential items, WINE! All went well until we were almost there when Wendy had a puncture in her front tyre and so she had to push the bike the last block.
Broken Hill is the cleanest, nicest looking town I have seen so far and most of them have been very good. The architecture is interesting with mix of old and even older outback and there is a good range of interesting shops.
There is a war memorial in the towns centre and it’s for soldiers from World War 1. There is a plaque on each face of the base and they are about 2 foot square and each of the four plaques as the names of the towns men killed in action. It is unbelievable, how many men were sacrificed from this town alone in a war so far from home. It must have had a devastating impact on the local townsfolk. And, the most amazing thing is they could have dodged it quite easy, even if they weren’t drafted they didn’t have to go and if they were they could have gone walkabout, no one would have been the wiser it such a huge country. Such a sad loss.
At the same site there is also a memorial to the soldiers who went to Vietnam. On the memorial there is a story of a battel fought by the Australian Army. Basically a unit engaged the enemy and fought them off and they were immediately relieved by another Australian platoon.
Not long after the enemy engaged this new platoon again, but on three sides and they were massively out numbered. They fought them back but the battle raged for a long while and they ran low on ammunition. Thankfully a chopper got them some bullets as the pilot risked his life flying through and landing close by in a monsoon. Also the platoon who they relieved came back, but they first had to fight more enemy who were trying to get around the back of the main force and surround them. They successfully fought this new group off and when they got to their comrades they fought fiercely and repelled the main attack.
After the battle, the Australians had lost 17 men, the enemy had lost 245 and 3 were captured.
This must have been a fierce fight and either the Australians were far superior in their capabilities or the enemy commanders didn’t value the lives of their own fighters as much as the Australians did, I suspect it was a combination of the two!
So we shopped a little longer and then I did the honourable thing and let Wendy take my bike back, whilst I pushed hers in the stinking hot sun, (Our anonymous contributor, take note, Wendy gets all due consideration). Boy was I due a beer when I got back, and a dip in the pool, so that’s where we headed.
After a good cooling off I repaired Wendy’s tyre, it had a very large thorn in it! We went for an evening bike ride to road test the repair, phew the patch held good.
Then it was a barbeque down by the pool where we were joined by people we had met earlier it turned into a bit of a session and we didn’t get to bed until turned 2:00 AM.
Broken Hill
No Travelling
Bugger it’s been hot today!!! I know Avid Reader that its winter in the UK but we have a responsibility as travel writers to tell you what we see, and what we see is 430c.
It was a late start to the day after last nights party. It was 08:00 before we got out of bed and I went for my run at 09:00, it was real Hunter Killer temperatures, but I took my water with me and I just managed to make it back to base, (RTB).
We later went to the Mining Memorial which is overlooking the town, boy what a structure, overlooking Broken Hill, it was brilliant, but at the same time it named every man who had been killed in the mines history so it was also a bit sorry full.
We then went for a drive outback and came across loads of kangaroos who were suffering from the heat. They will hide anywhere, we caught 3 in a ticket booth, but two legged it and left one poor wee fella who just couldn’t manage to get up, poor bugger.
Back to the pool where we had three hours in the shade, no sun whatsoever and then BBQ of beef and fish, again, such a delight.
As the sun set I went for a chat with Marios, he is from the Netherlands and he told me such a lovely story about his community digging up a plane from Bomber Command and having memorials for the crew every year, he said it is goose pimpling, I think it’s nice they have such gratitude.
It’s late now and I need my bed, but it’s so dam hot, Wendy is having a little try at sleeping but I can hear moaning about sweats and so forth, maybe I need to stay out a little longer.
We are going deep bush tomorrow so we may be out of radio contact for a few days, but fear not Avid Reader we will be back!
Broken Hill
No Travelling
Change of plans, I was running this morning and it was a stinker, it was 300C at 07:30 and the forecast is the same for the next 3 days. So as we intended to rough camp by the roadside tonight I didn’t think it such a good idea as Wendy needs her electric fan on all night when it’s so hot. Anyway when I got back to camp I told Wendy my idea, we would still visit the place we wanted to, but I would drive back as it wasn’t so far. So we walked to reception to pay for the extra night, I stayed outside being a bit on the stinky side and Wendy came out and said I have some good news, we don’t have to pay, have three nights and get one free, Woser!!!
As it was so hot we spent the morning by the pool, most other campers had left so we had the place to ourselves, but by 12:30 we needed a cooler so we walked a mile to MacD’s and had an ice cream.
We came back and had another hour at the pool, a spot of lunch and then we set off on our trip. First though we went to an area of town where we hadn’t yet been, it’s basically a street on the south side with some interesting, quirky, shops. There was a 1950s milk shop where you can buy all kinds of milkshakes, it was really retro. The juke box was playing tunes by an Elvis Impersonator, but here’s the catch he was singing modern songs in Elvis style, like Maroon Five and Lady GaGa, they were fantastic. Anyway I had a Banana Shake and Wendy had a Lime and Soda Spider, (whatever that was)…..mine was ripper, I could have had 3!
Then we drove 15 miles to Silverton. This is the place where Silver was first found in this area and it’s now gone from a population of 300,000 to 90, that’s what you call Industrial Decline.
However they have a view point there from where you can see the open Outback for miles and miles, it’s so big you can see the curve of the earth. It is phenomenal, there was so much space I just couldn’t take it in, and neither could my camera, which is a bit of a disappointment.
This view has been used in quite a lot of films such as Mad Max and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Would you believe as we drove there Tina Turner came on the radio singing, “We Don’t need Another Hero” – The Sound Track to Mad Max Three, Beyond Thunderdome!!!
Boy it was hot there, but the clouds were gathering so we hot footed back and had a beer in the Palace Hotel back in town. The Palace is also iconic in that it has murals on the wall painted by an Aboriginal man years ago. He used to stroll into town do some painting, without any real plan, get his pay and go walkabout again. After his last commission at the hotel he was never seen of again.
Back to camp, I repaired yet another tyre puncture, my bike this time, (It’s the thorns of some bloody tree, nasty as bugger).
Then it was supper, the wind is getting up and we may have a storm coming due to the heat, but not to worry as we are all packed up ready for the off in the morning.
We have new neighbours this last two nights, Retired Police Officers with their wives, one of whom, Ron, writes books about his exploits. So now we have two of them for our travels, aren’t people nice, (well sometimes!).
Broken Hill to White Cliffs
180 Miles
I went for a cooling dip to the pool this morning after my run and Wendy came for a paddle, but any hopes of her putting a toe in the water were very quickly dashed as I saw a huge great spider lurking at the bottom of the pool. I must admit I kept my eyes on it during my very brief immersion.
So after breakfast and goodbyes to our neighbours we set off for the inhospitable corner of the Outback that is White Cliffs, an Opal mining village, in the Out, Outback.
We travelled 122 miles back to Wilcannia along the Barrier Highway where we filled up with fuel and then set off along the single track, tarred road, for the sixty mile trip through the hottest part of Australia there is. We saw not one car or any other road vehicle, except the one we passed as we entered the Village.
We are having yet another dalliance with decadence as tonight we are staying at the White Cliffs Underground Motel. Now this is interesting, dug in the late 1980’s it has over 30 underground rooms with a constant temperature of 23 degrees, Wendy is beside herself with delight as last night was terribly hot in our none air conditioned van.
We checked into our room at 15:00 and we seem to be the sole guests. The chap who checked us in, also runs the bar, does decorating and tonight is cooking our supper, I do hope he isn’t a Jack-of-all-Trades, (His names Peter)!
After check in we went for an explore on our bikes, it nearly killed Wendy, it was like cycling in a blast furnace, it’ll do her the world of good. We saw quite a few of Wendys hoping kangaroos too, she did like that at least.
We found the worlds first solar power station, how interesting. There are about 15 satellite dishes that have reflective mirrors on them and they concentrate the heat onto a central point, much like a traditional satellite dish, each dish can provide enough power for 15 homes. WoW!!!
We then found the golf course, we found the tees but no greens.
After a little more exploring we nipped into the local bar for a well-deserved beer, what a delight it was, ice cold, and he had the cricket on TV, India were knocking the ball all over the ground.
After cycling / pushing our bikes back up the hill to the hotel, whilst sweating profusely, we had a relaxing hour at the pool before the delights of our supper were to be served by the plumber, sorry Peter!
Relaxing in our chilled room we had a glass of sneaked in wine, which always seems to taste that bit sweeter as we got showered and cleaned up.
Supper, as prepared by Peter was nearly very nice, it was actually not rare as per our request and most likely not Scottish Fillet, but nice none the less. I asked for English Mustard and was thrown the largest, catering pack of mustard going, it was a 2.5 KG tub and was out of date by about 5 months, it was nice though, but it’s also not yet half empty!
After supper we went for a walk and saw loads of kangaroos and then we climbed to the top of Smiths Hill to see the bestest of sunsets.
Back in our room and its 21:50 and Wendy is flaked, me too, it’s been a great adventure of a day, I hope you like the photographs! Oh and I’ve got a wee Bundy and Coke as Wendy is out for the count, I snook back to the bar and got a large one for the road, I mean night!
White Cliffs to Bourke
321 Miles
Well I made a bit of a faux-par this morning forgetting that I had lost half an hour when we left Broken Hill. So I got up for my run at my usual time only for it to be pitch black outside. But that was ok, I lost the half hour of darkness has I got locked out of the hotel, (I went for my big mug from the van, there was no inside lock on the door but it locked none the less), but by using my fire service qualifications on breaking in, I got back in fairly quickly.
So off I set and I saw the most amazing sunrise, the sun came from out of the ground and dazzled all before it, it was lovely.
I also saw 342 kangaroos, they were everywhere. They were under trees, under canopies, in peoples gardens, they were just everywhere, some hopping, some chomping, it was such good fun to see them.
After I got back I had yet another lovely dip in the pool before we had Peters Breakfast that was lovely too. We did a little more exploring of the underground hotel and then set off for a long day on the road.
But it was good none the less as we saw more kangaroos, loads of emus, foxes and even giant lizards.
We also had to physically get off the road on three occasions as massive abnormal loads came through, they were all sections of the biggest bulldozer I have ever seen. Thankfully we were on the opposite carriageway and only had to pull over, had we been behind them we could not have got past them.
We got to Bourke at 16:00 and it was scorching hot. I have to say here that during this trip I have discovered that my wife as a very narrow comfort zone when it comes to temperature as it’s always either too hot or too cold. Well when we landed today she went into immediate melt mode, “I can’t help it” she says! I call it her LTR, which means Low Temperature Range!
After setting camp we went for a cycle to explore and we didn’t like what we saw. First of all I should say that the camp is surrounded by an electric fence, yes I know that is a very big clue.
Next clue is a drive in drink store where all the drink is behind bars, locked solid. We’ve never seen it before, you normally go to the fridge or shelf and take it to the casher, but not here.
Clue number three, most of the shops have roller shutters, in fact not most, all, bar the public ones like Post Office and the Town Hall. All others have shutters, down!
Last Clue, more plate glass armor around the drinks in the local supermarket, and burley great bouncers.
We think there is a cultural clash in this town and we also think that’s there are enough clues for us to move on pretty smartish tomorrow!!!
Bourke to Lightening Ridge
191 Miles
Well where do I start, from the beginning I suppose.
We didn’t get murdered in our bed, so that’s a relief but I did see some more clues during my morning run in Bourke, you see a morning run is quite good for exploration and seeing things, namely every garden had a dog loose in it and I’m not taking Poodle, I’m taking Great Dane, Alsatian etc., big dogs!!! (I also saw four kangaroos, 2 x man, 2 x lady, both couples brown and black in someone’s front garden eating their lawn, double dating I think). I also saw vandalism, loads of it. Lastly I saw ants everywhere, I mean everywhere you can’t sit anywhere without having to check your pants for ants! That’s done it we are going!
So off we set for Lightening Ridge, (Will I see Clint Eastwood?), its 191 miles away but that’s ok as we like to see the landscape change and it surely did, from barren plains to lush green fields, which was very strange as we are now going North.
Anyway bugger me not 45 miles from our destination we had a blowout, front tyre my side, but being a skillful driver I brought the van to a halt safe and sound and then with the help of Wendy changed the tyre in double quick time as it was roasting outside.
As we were only 4 miles from a town I drove in and found a tyre repairer. I won’t go into detail but I will tell you their hospitality was of the highest level, Wendy was treated to the air conditioned office and had chitter chatter with the owner’s wife and we were on the road with temp repairs in no time at all. They will come to our site and make a good repair tomorrow, how brilliant is that!
So we are now in Lightening Ridge and strangely it’s an Opal Mining Town, and even stranger its Wendys destination choice, (We take turns).
Boy it’s hot, and the campground is so hard you even get a loan of a mega hammer drill to put your awning pegs in, I kid you not, it a first for me!
We have a nice pool and 200 metres down the road there is a spa pool with a temperature of 41oC, bugger it was hot. I had a go but I could only get to the top of my swim shorts, the heat was too much for my more delicate parts!
Camp Kitchen is a delight, we just had a steak super and it was lovely. A storm is approaching so hopefully the 40oC + temperature we have had for the last few day will blow away. Maybe Wendy will feel a little better, she is so English!
It’s 20:34 and the thunder has started, how cool would that be to see Lightening in Lighting Ridge, (Google why it’s called that, Avid Reader!)
Lightning Ridge
No Travelling
We had a fantastic storm last night, thunder and lightning, and lots of rain too, I loved it!!!
We also slept really soundly as it was much cooler. I got up at six and saw the weather and got back in bed for another hour as it was windy and cold, I knew I would have to get my sweat shirt and jacket out for the morning run.
After which we had breakfast and it started to rain, but not too much to start with and it didn’t matter as we were waiting for the tyre company to come nd fix the tyre.
After lunch, and yet more rain we went into town to see what happened to the tyre repair, the man in Sydney forgot to load our tyre so now we have to wait until Monday!!! Ah well there could be worse places to be holed up in.
We found an old house, made from metal sheeting, I tought it was a derlict until I took a closer inspection showed me that its a home!!!
Back at camp I asked Wendy if she fancied the Hot Pool, but she didn’t, so I went on my own and had ten minutes to myself in the pool. I must admit I did sneak my shorts off and it was lovey, but I had to nip them back on when more people turned up. But that was ok as we did get to chat.
After an hour I went back to camp and found Wendy having a glass of cold weather wine.
Ah that’s OK as it was just brightening up.
So we had super in yet another brilliant camp kitchen and then went for a walk on the Opal trail, we found bugger all, would you believe.
We them cycled into town and had a drink in a bar, at another camp site where we will head tomorrow, as its closer to town and nearer to the kangaroos, I saw loads again this morning.
The winds getting up again but the rain is off just now, I’m watching Cricket in the kitchen while Wendy is reading her book, I guess Australia will win, we’ll see in the coming hour!
Lightning Ridge
No Travelling
Well that’s not strictly true as we moved camp closer to town, a movement of approximately one mile.
As we turned a corner onto the main street there was a police car in the middle of the road with an officer stopping traffic in each carrageway. I was directed to the side of the road and wound my window down. I was approached by a female officer who asked me if I had had any alcohol this morning. Well it was Ten Thirty AM but I think that’s pushing it, so I said no. Without any further introduction she thrust an orange object, which was long and rectangular in shape, into my face and said, “Count to ten”, I thought I was about to be taken out! But I maintained my composure and I said, “What whilst holding my breath or blowing for ten seconds”, she said “Doesn’t matter you spoke to me, you passed”, she turned around and said, “Enjoy the rest of your day”! I guess I had just been subjected to a random breath test!
So after booking into our new site we went for an explore in the van as it was still a bit overcast. We were heading North to dip our toes into Queensland which is about 40 miles away. Apparently there is a town steeped in history called Hebel, so that’s where we were heading.
I must admit it was a bit of a disappointment when we got there. There was one shop, one pub and three houses. But we persevered and went into the shop, now this is interesting. The shop floor is very old wooden planking and it as uneven as you can imagine, it nearly made you seasick as you walked across it. The building was the original village dance hall from the 1800’s and this wasn’t any ordinary shop, this was a shop and bar and a café and on special today was homemade pie, chips and salad, how interesting. As it was lunch time, I thought let’s give it a try. I had the beef pie, Wendy had a chicken and honey mustard pie. Well I will tell you they were both a delight, lovely chips, very nice salad and a great pie. I told the lady I could have eaten three they were that nice, she said, “Good, I just made 24 more”.
We had a look at the pub but it was closed, they did have some interesting signage though and the toilets were appropriately named!
We stopped by the local river picnic spot where they were some very convenient, public conveniences, so being a good scout and knowing we are heading back I nipped in for a wee and came face to face with what I will call a very interesting spider, Wendy lost the desire to go after I told her.
During our brief foray into Queensland, we gained an hour, we spent an hour and we lost an hour, all in an hour! I didn’t know if I was coming, going or was lost in translation!
On the way back we stopped at a ghost town, now that was a disappointment, in fact I think I might sue the tourist board for wrongful description!
We got back at about 15:00 and had a brief walk into town to the local supermarket and as the sun came out we did a bit of reading back at camp. But our adventures weren’t finished yet as Wendy had read the local cemetery was an interesting place. I know where this is, it’s a bit out of town so we cycled there.
It’s an astonishing place, out of respect I didn’t take many photos, just one or two. There are many graves of unknown people, it’s full of cross markers and there are some really unusual graves. If I had been delivered blindfold, not knowing what country I was in I would have said the Wild West of the USA. Very strange indeed, but well worth the ride.
We went a little further into the bush to see the operational Opal Mines. They do it differently here than anywhere else I have seen so tomorrow we are going to a mine to see how it’s done, how exciting.
Back at base, we have just had supper, Chili Tuna sarnies, boy they were hot, thankfully the glass of wine did the trick, but I just might have to nip over to the campsite pub just to make sure the fire is out!
Lightning Ridge
No Travelling
Sunday and the sun came out.
After breakfast we went to the Walk in Mine, how interesting. After checking in and been issued our hard hats, we walked down some steps which took us about 15 metres underground, it was like going into a cellar. That’s not how they access a working mine, a shaft is used, in fact two are used, one for access and one to get the clay out, our steps was just a public access.
It was quite good, we leant about how they have mined opal in this area for quite a few years.
Here’s the rules, each person is allowed to own two areas of land 50 metres x 50 metres and they can mine within the confines of that area only, they must not encroach an adjacent pitch. The opals are found in a band of clay which is about a foot thick and is found between two areas of sandstone and the opals are very rare to find.
Lightning Ridge is the only area where Black Opal is found in Australia.
Apparently 1 in 10 miners can make a living out of it and in 1 in 10 of those who make a living make a very good living. There are quite a few mines here in the town and it’s all privately mined on a small scale, there is no commercial mining here, not like Cober Pedy where it was done on a very large scale.
After we came out of the mine we got talking to a real miner and he told us how hard it can be. They use small barrows, called Rickshaws to move the clay to the bottom of the shaft where it is hauled up with a small hoist. The clay then gets taken in a truck to a place where all the miners are allowed to wash the clay off the potential rocks, the water runs away and the clay deposits onto the land, they have to move the site every now and again and then restore the old site. They use old and adapted concrete mixer trucks and this washing takes about 30 hours. It takes 160 Rickshaws to fill the truck and the complete process from start to finish takes about 4 days and at the end of it you might end up very rich, or with nothing.
He told us lots of stories but two that stand out are the one where a miner found a small seam of opal in his mine but it lead to the end of his claim area and so out of decency he told his neighbor that this vein ran into his plot. His neighbor wasn’t working that area of his claim at the time and so brought in a large auger, (it’s a 30 inch drill) and drilled down. Apparently the opals that came up with the drill dusting was enough to make him a millionaire!!
Another story was about the Ratters, these are men who sneak into a mine at night and dig out the claim when they know someone’s onto a rich vein. Apparently they even sneak into the washer if it’s not guarded and steal the rough stones. They are very sneaky and listen into conversations in pubs as everyone seems to work together and help each other out and it gets discussed around a beer. The Ratters are not very well liked!!! Guns are often used to protect the mines and the police are reported not to get involved in disputes.
There is no mines rescue team, if there is a collapse, if your well liked everyone will pull round and help out, if you’re not you’re on your own.
We spent a good couple of hours at the mine but the best bit was chatting with the miner.
After lunch we had a bike ride and came across a house made from glass bottles, we didn’t go in though, I’d had enough interesting action for the day already.
As the sun was out we went back to camp to take in some sun, I also took the opportunity to listen to the one day match between Australia and India and Australia won, again!
We are staying at a site where the only pub in town is located and it’s quite nice. There is a covered outdoor area where the miners sit and chat. As there are lots of people from all corners of the world there’s a sign hung there that’s says, “WOGS CORNER”, this was put up as a sign of gratitude by the incoming people to show the locals their gratitude for accepting them as friends into their community.
Apparently Lightning Ridge is one of the nicest, from a race point of view, places in Australia as all are welcome without question.
I cooked supper on the bbq, it was bloody lovely!!!
Lightening Ridge to Moree
164 Miles
So after breakfast we break camp late to go and have our new tyre fitted before we head further east to Moree as the delivery truck doesn’t get in until 10:30, WRONG!!! The dam thing was not put on the truck at Dubbo, someone forgot about it, again! I spoke with the owner of the tyre company and he was really apologetic and a bit sweary about the shipping company, apparently it happens quite a lot. I told me him were leaving and he was fine about it and said not to worry he’ll sell it on when it arrives, eventually.
So off we sets and it’s a very pleasant journey, passing through some very lush and green pastures. We stopped for a sarnie at lunch time to break up the journey which was quite nice.
We did 164 miles on the same road and passed one very small community, one filling station and three or four houses and another community of about three houses and before we knew it we were out the other side and done with it. Distance is amazing in Australia.
We got to Moree at about 15:00 and checked into a very nice site.
Moree is pronounced More-E as in a bit more E, I said to Wendy do you think it’s called Moree as they have an extra E, she still doesn’t understand the joke six hours later.
Well this is a lovely site, we are camped on lush green grass and there are not 1, not even 2, not even 3 thermal pools, that’s right Avid Reader there are FOUR thermal pools, and one big swimming pool.
The thermal pools are at 340C, 350C, 370C and 390C, respectively, what a delight!!!
It’s been a beautiful day, maximum temperature of 32oC which is just perfect, and very little wind, so as soon as we get set up I’m off to the shop, (Alone as Wendy as picked up yet another puncture, it’s those darn burrs, (a small ball with 3 monstrous spikes and they just love bike tyres)).
To start with I called at the tyre shop across the road and was assured both front tyres will be changed tomorrow, fingers crossed!
Anyway after my mission to Woollies the barbie was lit and it was a feast of delights, marinated chicken breast Scots beef sausages, spicy chicken kebabs and a couple of large prawns. Cooked to perfection I might add!!!
After a desert of strawberries and cream I had to try out the pools, alone again naturally as Wendy is not too keen on public bathing, (Someone told her years ago that hot pools are a harbinger of bacteria, and he should have known he was a hot pool designer).
Anyway, is was a pleasant way to see the sunset, after which we walked up to MacD’s for an ice cream, (I know where do we put it all).
Now this was the most amusing part of the day because the bugs had come out in the dark and all I could hear behind me was Wendy hoping and skipping along out of the way of the cockroaches and “Ooh and Haring” as she did so.
Back at camp and it’s now 10:45 PM, its 26oC and it’s very pleasant indeed!
Night Night Avid Reader!
Moree
No Travelling
It was quite nippy and breezy this morning and after a poor nights sleep, (a local business has been broken into so now 3 large dogs patrol the grounds barking at the moon, keeping me, but not Wendy awake), so I ran in my sweater and jacket, and do you know it was just right.
After breakfast we took the van for two new tyres and we were treated like royalty, well it was two tyres! As the tyres were changed we had a chat with the manager and supervisor, I had a coffee and as we left we were given some delightful fruit cake, it was very moist and tasty.
We had a walk around town, which is not much more than a high street, but yet again it was very clean and tidy. Wendy couldn’t find the belt she now needs, even after trying 32 shops.
A lunch of cold sausage sarnies was followed by an afternoon at the thermal pools, boy the sun was so hot and we needed a dip so we tried the cooler and the hottest pools, even Wendy, yes even WENDY had a dip, and she got right into it because at no point was she out of her depth.
I had a very tiny nap in my lounger but as I had the audacity to utter a minor snore I was very rudely awakened so as not to offend anyone, (I had been up most of the night with those dam dogs by the way!).
We spent about two hours at the pool but the heat was too much for Wendy who retired to the shade of a coulabah tree. I however braved another 45 minutes, and would you believe in the absence of the manners monitor a man from the south seas did the most humongous belch whilst in the pool, right under my location, where was the manners monitor, slacking I’ll tell you!
So after repairing yet another bike puncture we set off for a bike ride and ended up in a bar where we were, I kid you not, served by a three year old child, (girl of course!),who pulled our beers, rang up the till and took our money, it’s another first for me.
The bar was full of TVs with yet again every type of sport you can bet on, showing even Ten Pin Bowling, I mean how desperate can you get for a bet?
Back at camp it was now supper time and so we cooked together lemon chicken and rice by use of an electric cooker, which didn’t seem to want to respond to any normality of control setting, but we managed all the same and had a lovely supper.
The sun having just set, after such a beautiful sunny day, we headed for one last dip in the thermal pools, Wendy is getting the hots for this!
Wendy spent 25 minutes in the 370C pool and loved it, she wouldn’t get in the main pool though to quench the heat, but still she gave it a good go.
I met a new friend at the pool, Tyreese, a young Aboriginal boy who was with his Granny and a few of her friends. We had a race and he beat me, fair and square, only by a yard mind. Tyreese is from Dubbo and he was telling me about the pools there, he also told me that his uncle showed him how to make scrambled eggs, which he seems quite proud of and why not I don’t think I would have been trusted with the cooker at 8 years old.
Anyway after a further half an hour Tyreese was whisked away to his bed with grateful thanks from Granny to me for keeping him entertained, I actually think it was the other way around, I enjoyed it more than he did!!!
Moree to Inverell
88 Miles
Well that was another sleepless night, no not the dogs, I was ready for them with ear plugs firmly implanted. No this was all down to Wendy Gill!!
She thrashed all night long, sheets on, sheets off, too hot, not cool enough. I wouldn’t mind but she had the fan firmly pointed in her direction. What a performance, I was knackered and I still am, how did I get through the day?
Well I did because it was a short beautiful trip through some very lush farming country. We stood at a view point where truckers stop and what did we find on a bench at this very nice view point? A naughty magazine, yes a naughty magazine of all things, Wendy was quite disgusted! No I didn’t get a photo!
We stopped at a very nice town, it had a nice campsite and due to tiredness I did consider going off plan and staying but we only had 30 miles to go so we continued, after a nice cup of coffee mind.
We are staying in Inverell, it’s such a beautiful small town, very clean and tidy and also very hot, well it was today.
We have booked in for a whole week. There is method in our madness, we are going to have Burns Night and Australia Day the day after and it’s still kids summer holidays so the east coast resorts are still mobbed. I have put feelers down for haggis but I’m not hopeful, it looks like we might have to improvise.
After setting camp Wendy did some repairs to the awning, I can’t believe it’s lasted this long, and then we had a walk into town and we bought some Afghan biscuits from the Reject Shop, (Chocy bics that are a delight, but the name Afgan leaves a bit to be desired).
After town we had a dip in the pool, where yet again Wendy showed her adventurous spirit and sat waist deep on the pool steps, (that’s how hot it was).
I’m now sat in a new camp kitchen watching a great game of cricket after a lovely supper cooked by Wendy. She is fighting creepers everywhere so I guess I’ll have to turn the lights off and watch telly in the dark.
Night Night Avid Reader, I do hope I get a better night’s sleep.
Maybe I’ll tie her up!!!
Inverell
No Travelling
............Much better!!! No wriggling and no thrashing and I didn’t have to resort to tying Wendy up. I had the air con on, the fan on and it was a much better night, phew, same again tonight I think.
I had a mission during this mornings run, to find a shop with the potential to sell sun loungers as they don’t seem to have them at the site pools. Needless to say the mission was a success and I found a shop where we later went and bought two.
So after breakfast we had a morning by the pool. The pool is small but nice and chilled and we had it all to ourselves for a good hour or so. We were then joined by someone whose son runs a local hotel and put me onto a hot trail in my haggis mission, more to follow.
Lunch was a delight, in camp kitchen, hot dogs and a glass of wine, just delightful.
There is a bird around camp that mimics a humans whistle, it’s quite annoying, but interesting at the same time. It’s a called a Friar Bird, we’ve read it up and it’s a honey eating bird. It’s a very plain looking bird so it most likely blends into the local habitat, Wendy is on the lookout for it, it’s her new mission.
As the sun got hotter we retreated to the safety of the shade close to the van and read our books for a while. It was a nice way to pass the afternoon.
Wendy has now got a personal issue, it’s not funny. STRAP MARKS. She got them today, and yesterday from two different bikinis, I daren’t take a photo, I like my life far too much.
We went for a cycle into town about 6’ish. I know I go on about cleanliness but I have to tell you the cities and towns we have been through have been litter free, but yet I haven’t seen any street cleaners. People must be inherently tidy, whatever it is it's a pleasure to see.
We are now back in the kitchen, trying to watch the Big Bash, it’s the semifinal but Wendy is gassing to a couple who keep dragging me into the conversation.
Adelaide aren’t doing too well, hopefully they will bowl better than they are currently batting!
Stop Press – I just turned the lights off as the bugs are attracted to the light and Wendy didn’t like it. But then she takes to her IPad. Dooh!!!!! Well didn’t they like that, check the video, I didn’t get the tantrum but I did get the bug, (What a tantrum, I thought she’d seen Count Dracula!)
Inverell
No Travelling
After breakfast we set off in the van in my quest to find haggis. I had been given very strong intelligence that it can be obtained from a butcher in a town called Glen Innes, it’s a 40 mile drive, yes that’s an 80 mile round trip, but hey, it’s got to be done, we like our Burns Supper we Gills.
So off we set on a beautiful morning and it was like traveling the countryside of England, the countryside was so lush and green, had it not been for the Eucalyptus Trees you’d have thought you were in Derbyshire, (the area is actually called New England).
But it wasn’t for any connection to England that we needed as we were in pursuit of our Scottish Delicacy, it was because we were heading for a town that’s steeped in Scottish heritage, well it is called Glen Innes!
With road names like Inverness Road, Pitlochery Road and towns called Ben Lomond, Glen Coe and Dundee how could I go wrong?
Well it certainly looked promising, a very nice looking town, with all the right ingredients, Tartan covered waste bins and Tartan road furniture, we even came across a man wearing a Kilt, a Glengarry and carrying a Claymore.
So we immediately sought out the butchers, Campbell’s, it just keeps getting better, or so we thought.
“Haggis why would I sell such a thing”, the butcher says, “no one likes it” Wendy persevered, “But its Burns Night on Monday”, “Look Lady you’re only the second person within a year to ask for it, now move along”, Oh dear!
Ah but two doors down the street is a butchers called Bruce, this must be the place, but alas no, never had it, nor likely to. So just how close to their Scottish roots are the people of this town?
As luck would have it I happened on the man with the Kilt in the high street, so I asked him, “Where can I buy haggis mate”? “Oh nowhere here” was his reply, “No one likes it”. In fact a lady who he was taking to chippered in and said, “I’m a direct Scottish descendent and I’m ashamed to say I don’t like it either”, ah well there’s honesty for you.
Anyway all was not lost we did manage to buy some swede and tatties from a grocer and a mile down the road was a national monument to Australia’s Celtic Pioneers.
The monument had 40 stones, each 3.7 metres high set around the points of the compass and it was all quite interesting. Wendy took a shine to two of them immediately!!!
Back in camp and it was still quite hot so whilst Wendy stayed in the shade I continued my mission on my bike into Inverell, sure to find tinned haggis, a whisky sauce and cock-a-leekie soup. No such luck, I trawled every aisle of every supermarket without any fortune.
So it’s now down to Plan B!!!
When I got back to camp I had a wee Bundy and Coke to help get over the disappointment and then we headed to the pool for a dip and some afternoon sun. After which we settled under our awning where we got chatting to a man and his sons who had spent the week here fossicking for Sapphires.
It turns out the chap is from Sydney and he cuts his own stones that he finds and that’s how he makes his living. He showed us his catch of the day and it was quite impressive. Wendy is keen to go and give it a try, thankfully he also showed me, being a bit of a geologist, how to identify the rough stones. This time next week we will be millionaires, hopefully!
After supper we retreated to our awning as storm clouds were gathering and the distant sound of thunder could be heard, but it’s still quite hot and Wendy has had to resort to that old Australian method of keeping cool, a wet towel around her neck!
Oh and the creepers are out again tonight, maybe we’ll get another good tantrum, I’ll keep you posted!
Inverell
No Travelling
Well we had a good old thunder and lightning storm last night with a fair bit of rain, but more importantly we had another critter drop into camp to give Wendy yet another fit. I think the local insect population have her marked down for a dam good laugh, they must gather around out of sight and send one in to get her going while all the time the rest of them are having a good old belly laugh. Jeepers you have not seen anything until you have seen Wendy Gill spooked by something tiny with wings, or something lizardy, or something snakey…………frogy…..or hoppy, it’s a sight for sore eyes!
Plan B is now in full swing. I have to say for an area that bangs on about its Scottish heritage I’m a lot disappointed. I don’t like to give in so I dragged Wendy into town for one more hunt for my elusive haggis. It started promising enough with more homage to the old country with yet more monuments and plaques to their Scottish Ancestry but that evaporated when asking for haggis in yet another butchers shop, “Haggis mate, no never have it here, you’ll not get it in town either” said my final hope.
So plan B is in now in full swing and a tour of all of the towns 3 supermarkets was required to gather all of the necessary ingredients, needless to say Wendy is now losing the will to live.
Back in camp we had a spot of lunch and went to the pool for a bit of sunshine. It turned out to be a very nice afternoon. After a while I went to put some beers in the camp freezer to chill them as our fridge doesn’t cope quite so well in the heat. On my way back to the pool, which is no more than 20 metres I nipped into the toilet. As I came out I could see Wendy dashing over to the van with all our gear. I asked what’s up and she pointed to the sky, crikey it was black!
Within minutes we had a severe thunderstorm, we just managed to lash everything down and even got someone’s dry washing off the line before it hit. I have some good video of it and my camera even captured the lighting, it was stonking!
If you look carefully to the left you can see some poor fellas awning abut to take off. I couldn’t do anything about it at the time, but me and another fella managed to get it something like after it died down.
The storm lasted 20 minutes and within 25 the sun was out again and within 30 we were back at the pool roasting, it was that hot even Wendy went in for a dip.
Then bugger me, it happened again, we had to get someone’s washing back in after we had just hung it out, thankfully it was dry now and that was it, we left it in the laundry room.
So as it was after 6pm we had supper. The sky cleared yet again and we decided to go for a walk and…………………you’ll never guess……………………….we got p*ss wet through as a shower came thundering in like a train and caught everyone unaware, we were soaked, so that was the end of the walk.
RTB required, (Return to Base), under the awning for a glass of wine and some of Wendys chocolate, if I can prise it from her hands!
Inverell
No Travelling
WoW, it’s been a stonker today, roasting hot after yesterday’s storms.
I woke up to wall to wall blue skies, not a cloud in sight. But at 06:00 it’s quite nice as the sun doesn’t come up until a little later and I can get on my way before it gets too hot.
We spent the morning at the pool, Wendy reading and me plotting our next trip, most likely near the beach on the east coast.
After lunch we went for a bike ride to a lake, about 2 miles away, jeepers thankfully we had a bottle of frozen water with us.
Do you know the Aussies know how to do outdoors, they have free barbies, (I know I have mentioned this before), but most importantly they have drinking water taps where you can take a sip or fill your water bottle which was a godsend with our now half frozen bottle.
The lake was lovely, lots of pelicans and there were even two black swans. The swans started fighting, I think Mr Swan wanted to have a play wrestle with Mrs Swan, she wasn’t too keen though, just too dam hot.
After our walk we headed into town for a cold beer and we tried the Empire Hotel and I’m so glad we did. The place was virtually empty but the owner was as large as life, an Aussie through and through. It helped that I know a bit about cricket as he is a big fan, and I mean big in support and belly too, (his son was even bigger, phew he was enormous!).
We had a good chat to him and we told him about our travels so far. We talked about cricket and how the scores have changed over the years, with the last Aussie One Day Series teams going for over 300 an innings. I said they most likely take care of themselves a bit better these days, what with fitness and nutrition.
He agreed with that comment and told us about the pub league he played in years ago. The away team would take a keg of beer for the game and during one game there was a mix up, each team thought the other team was taking the keg. Consequently the keg never turned up and so the game never got played, it was that simple, no beer no cricket.
We were that engrossed we had another drink, he’s a very good barman as you’ve gathered.
We have been invited back with the allure of complementary T-Shits, being suckers we are up for it.
Back at camp we rested in the shade for an hour or two and then went to the kitchen hoping to cook supper and watch the Big Bash Final, Kevin Pietersen is playing for Melbourne.
KP just knocked 74 from not many, Sydney need 179 to win, my moneys on Melbourne!
Inverell
No Travelling
I set off this morning to get our provisions for the next few days leaving Wendy at Camp as I get the impression she’s had enough of my quest.
So after a good shop I got back to camp but as I couldn’t carry it all I needed to go back to town, (I needed another pack of beer). So this time Wendy came along but halfway along the route we came across a rain storm and Wendy not realising the urgency of the situation couldn’t keep up so sought refuge across the road from me. Boy did it tip down.
When the rain stopped we stashed the beer into my backpack and cycled back to camp.
I did my prep for tonight’s supper and we took an early lunch which consisted of last nights leftovers, and they were just as tasty second time around.
We did a bit of reading and then went for a bike ride as the sun was out. We managed an hour and saw yet more storm clouds gather and so decided to hot peddle it back. Phew we got back just in time before the rain, but luckily the big part of the storm passed all around us.
So after another rain delay we set off on our bikes again, this time I took Wendy around the housing estates to take a look as she likes a good old nosey. Well she got her fill because I happened across a back street that took in all the back gardens.
We called into town and got a few extras as we remembered tomorrow is a bank holiday.
Back at camp yet another storm rolled in and passed us by, we got the rain, saw the thunder, heard the lightning but didn’t get the devastation. After the storm we got a beautiful rainbow, most likely the best I have ever seen.
So onto Burns Supper!!!
I cooked and listened to the Chris Evans Breakfast Show as I did.
Wendy set a lovely table and I warmed up the Cock-a-leaky soup and as knock up goes it was very tasty.
And then………………Haggis, Neeps and Taties……………bush style.
Wendy had made a lovely whiskey sauce then had made the haggis from my assembled ingredients and I’ll tell you it was a good as it gets when your 10,500 miles from Dingwall, (Cockburn’s).
After which we settled back with wine, whisky and chocolate and enjoyed the rest of the night.
Inverell
No Travelling
Today is Australia Day, it marks the exact day in 1788 that the Union Flag was raised in Port Jackson, (Sydney Harbour), when the first convict shipment arrived on the continent.
The day is marked with great pride by a large number of the population as a very positive event with pageants and prize giving across the Nation, with an Australian of the Year Accolade amongst other awards.
The same cannot be said for the Aboriginal population who view the day as a day of great regret, it’s called Invasion Day or Survivors Day by them.
Both Wendy and I have been reading quite a lot about Australia, its history and cultures and we have observed much more taking in casual conversations in bars and observations of how the indigenous population are treated on a daily basis, and how they themselves seem to live their lives. I think it’s too early yet to come to any conclusion but I hope to be able to do so at the end of this journey. However it is my view that if a country wants to support a national day of celebration then it needs to be centred on being all inclusive and a date has to be found where one nation together can celebrate together, so today I’m celebrating Togetherness and as its 17:45 I’m doing so with a nice Bundy & Coke, enough said.
I was a wee bit late out of bed this morning rising at 06:45, having been at kip since 10:15 the night before, so I slept longer and later than usual which always seems to happen with me, early to bed, late to rise!
As I passed Victoria Park I could see droves of people gathering at the park to celebrate Australia Day. There was to be a community Barbeque Breakfast and people were encouraged to take along their own seating for a big extravaganza. There was even a Pipe Band which I could clearly hear, (but alas no haggis). I also saw Aboriginal people who were at the fringe of the park who looked darn gloomy to me and not at all impressed with the celebrations.
On return we had a fair dinkum breakfast and set off for a day out at Copton Waters. What a lovely place about ten miles out of town, and what a find. It’s a big lake which covers a huge area. They had a campsite but more importantly we bought a day thicket for £2.50 which allowed us to take the van in and please ourselves.
So now we have found one positive with a campervan, you can set up impromptu when you like, (But you can’t have more than one tin of beer!).
Anyway we had a very pleasant afternoon, the water was lovely and warm to swim in and there were loads of speed boats and water skiers enjoying the day.
For lunch we cooked garlic chicken sandwiches which you especially need more than one beer with and then we generally lounged about.
We did have one bit of excitement when Wendy found a spider climbing one of the curtains, what a kerfuffle!!! Now even I can’t get a spider off curtains with just two hands, so the most reluctant help was needed, but we eventually managed it. Boy it did have some big teeth though!
So back at camp and the weather turned wet and so we had to resort to the sanctuary of camp kitchen whilst listening to the Chris Evan Breakfast Show, (I have 2.7 GBs of 3 G to use in 24 hours).
Boy it poured it down but thankfully cleared up for our Together Day BBQ which consisted of Chicken, Tiger Prawns, Steak and Barramundi Fish and what a delight it was too followed by Vienetta Ice Cream, how 80s is that!
We are now listening to Ken Bruce as Wendy winces at being bitten to buggery by critters that seem to enjoy her blood. I’m sure they can sense her insect insecurity of all things creep crawly!!!
Back on the Road
Inverell to Broom Head
181 Miles
We have had a really nice relaxing week in Inverell but it’s now time to move on and so after breakfast we set off bound for the east coast.
We have had a pearl of a journey, after Glen Innes we started to get into the rain forest of the Great Dividing Range, but not before an encounter with cattle.
We are on a main highway, single carriageway mind, but still a main route and we came across a massive herd of cattle grazing along the roadside and generally pleasing themselves. There must have been a hundred of them, talk about traffic disruption, the road was brought to a standstill.
I loved it, I have no idea how they got there, but they weren’t half filling their bellies on the lush roadside grass. There were that many that it took an age to pass them and at the very end there was some poor lone man on horseback trying to round them up, I didn’t rate his chances and we exchanged a quick wave, mine saying, “Mate I don’t fancy your chances”, his reply was something like, “Bugger I’ve got my work cut out here!”.
We stopped for lunch at the top of the Gibraltar Range, in some scabby little layby, but as I was starving it just had to do. Anyway Wendy made a lovely sandwich and we polished off the last of the Vienetta from last night.
However back on the highway and not 400 metres along the road we came across a fantastic view point. We had a terrific view of the rain forest of the Range. It was spectacular!!!
We spoke with a young man who was taking a group of young adults from Sydney to Cairns in a kind of backpackers bus. We had a chat and he told us he is originally from the west coast of Ireland and that he now lives in Oz with this Aussie Fiancée and that they do coach tours, in Australia in our winter and in Europe in our summer. He said he hasn’t seen a winter in six years, what a life!!!
I can’t describe the drive out of the mountains it was just great, through the forest and down hair pin bends with loads of lush greenery.
But we eventually stopped at the city of Grafton, (if you can call one high street a city), and did a little extra shopping as we were heading for an out of the way beach.
Grafton was a nice looking town with some interesting shops, Wendy found a vintage dress shop but apparently they only catered for the larger vintage lady!
After our little detour we set off again to our destination, Broom Head, which is a very small hamlet about 12 miles off the Pacific Highway. Well what a treat that was too as the road passed through lush green fields with loads, and I mean loads of kangaroos dining on the greenest of grass. They were even laying on their tums they must have gorged that much and as we came into a township you could even see them, by the 4’s and 5’s grazing as happy as you like in peoples front gardens, Wendy was almost delirious!!!
And so onto our site which is just off the beach with the South Pacific rolling in with high breakers.
After supper we went for a good long beach walk and came back for a spot of pudding and its a good job we did, boy did the heavens open, it was like a tropical storm, but thankfully the awning did its job and kept us nice and dry.
Heres hoping for some sun tomorrow, but if not who cares!
Broom Head
No Travelling
I saw the sun rise as I had my cuppa this morning and then I had a stunning run along the beach, it was great I went five miles out and saw no one. I did however get my feet wet as I just didn’t manage to beat the tide back.
It was a lovely morning until I got back and had breakfast with Wendy and then it tipped it down, bugger!
But that’s OK I had to go to the village of Maclean to get some internet access which was 12 miles away and it might be interesting anyway.
But before we got out of the village we came across the biggest kangaroo we have seen to date, he was massive. Sat as bold as you like nibbling on someone’s front lawn. Wendy was beside herself. “Get some video” was all I could hear from the passenger seat. He didn’t mind one bit, he was as happy as Larry munching on!
Maclean was quite nice, in the wet and I’m sure it’s nice when the sky is blue, a bit like Skye and it does have the very impressive River Clarence run through it.
So after my internet action we went back to camp for lunch and the rain had stopped so we went for a cycle along the beach which was a first for both of us. We went two miles along and it was great, we went to the cliffs where I found a seam of coal outcrop, wow! We then then carried our bikes up the steps to a gravel road which would eventually, (4 miles later), take us back to Broom Head. The sun was out big style and we both were hot, I was down to my shorts, lucky me!
Guess what?
Yes, you got it, more kangaroos, it’s my new obsession. I just love these animals, they are so graceful and cute!
I want to bring some back!
The sun was still out when we got back to camp so we did a bit of reading and then as a treat we went to the local Bowlo, (Bowling Club) for a glass of wine. You guessed right again, it’s another gambling den, but the atmosphere was quite nice.
After our supper of meatballs and pasta we went for another walk and met some nice people who were looking in a tree as they had found a Frog Mouthed Owl!
Well he didn’t care that 400 people took his photo, he seemed quite happy with all the attention.
We did speak with the nice people though, Wendy spoke to the man and I spoke with the lady.
The ladies Mum comes from Tickhill and her dad comes from Maltby. Avid Reader for those of you who don’t know these two towns are no more than six miles apart in South Yorkshire, but yet they both had to travel more than 10,000 miles to meet each other on a beach in the 1950’s in Brisbane, how romantic!
Broom Head to Yamba
26Miles
Well as the crow fly’s it’s about 8 miles but we did have to detour around two headlands and 3 of the 26 miles was one junction up on the Pacific Highway.
We woke up to lovely sunny weather this morning and what a treat, that’s more like it Australia! After my run I went for a dip in the sea. I didn’t go out too far as its quite disconcerting to have warning signs saying beware Great White Sharks about, I just went up to my tum and no more, Wendy didn’t even take her flip flops off.
After breakfast we set off and as we left the Pacific Highway I came across a sugar cane plantation. I haven’t seen one in 30 years and now I know I’m getting closer to Queensland. Queensland is the Australian Yorkshire, the best of the lot and I can’t wait to get there!
Yamba is a really nice small town at the estuary of the Clarence River. The river is the second largest on the east coast and Yamba has been voted the nicest place in Australia and I can see why. It’s just so compact and clean, it also has 4 beaches.
After lunch we had a couple of hours on the beach and I did a little bit of frothing about in the surf which was quite pleasant. I did also see the best example of surfing that I have ever seen, it was a young women and I could see her ride the wave and step onto her board with great skill and she elegantly rode her board right up to the beach, it was a treat to see.
Alas as predicted the weather turned poor and thunder could be heard not too far away so we came and got our bikes and did a little sightseeing.
Just at the end of our ride the heavens opened and we made it back just in time to see both the thunderstorm and some very oriental people park their campervan on our doorstep. Wendy was not impressed. It’s funny but the old fella hasn’t a clue, he stuck his hose pipe feed into the tank and left it on, well as soon as the tank was full there was water everywhere. So being a good neighbour I turned it off but Wendy was worried I was interfering, well yes I was no one should waste water, especially not in Australia thunderstorm or not. The man should have connected it to his direct feed, not his tank supply. Anyway when he came back I showed him and not one word of understandable conversation occurred between us, he did lot of nodding and I did a lot of demonstrating, it eventually worked and he turned it off himself, phew!
Wendy made a lovey supper which included a dessert of strawberries, thick cream and crumbled Afghan biscuits, what a delight!!!
As the rain had stopped we went for another bike ride and came across a beach called Pippi Beach, it’s a beauty. If we stay another night, (dependent on our neighbours and the sun of course), we’ll have an hour or two there tomorrow, if not who knows where next.
It’s now 20:50 and it’s raining hard again so that makes me feel a little less guilty as the Highlands get battered by Storm Gertrude.
Yamba
No Travelling
I am loving this trip so much, it just keeps getting better!!!
We have had brilliant sunshine, massive thunder and lightning storms and torrential rain today, WOW!
It was a lovely warm morning and I happened upon a training run by the local ladies running club this morning, I was buggered keeping up. They weren’t half fit mind!
We spent a delightful three hours at the beach in the sunshine where I did a wee bit of swimming and attempted to body surf, I just don’t seem to have the coordination I did 30 years ago, or was it the waves?
Anyway after our beach lunch we did a spot of shopping where Wendy eventually bought something. It was a very nice light sun top, but she was actually looking for a belt, but after 197 shops who cares!
The weather closed in very quickly and we had one massive thunderstorm, we sat and watched it come in whilst having a glass of wine. What a downpour, but it was done and dusted in ten minutes, and then the sun came out again.
We went for a bike ride to the shops, a four mile round trip which was nice in the afternoon sunshine.
As we had a late lunch we decided to go for another bike ride. I took Wendy along a track which shortcuts to a lovely riverside beach, she looked lovey in her new nice new sun top, a picture of loveliness in fact, until…………..
Well did it pour down and we had a thunder and lightning storm that would put Dracula to shame, it rained much more than it did this afternoon, how lord only knows but it did, we got soaked and so did the new nice sun top. It was a laugh mind!
After the storm passed we had supper which consisted of kangaroo burgers and kangaroo bangas, they were bloody lovely and they taste as nice as they look cute.
Its creeping near to bed time now and me thinks there’s a chance of one more storm which would be a nice end to a lovely weekend here in Yamba.
Yamba as lived up to its reputation it’s a smashing little seaside town!!!
Yamba to Lennox head
69 Miles
I had the nicest run so far this morning, I went to Pippi Beach which is 1 kilometre from the camp ground. Yamba is a hammerhead peninsular and the kilometre is along the hammer head, straight through the main street.
Well Pippi Beach is stunning, its 3 miles long of the best sand and views ever of the South Pacific, a complete delight. But boy was it busy, even at 07:00 people were out and about vying for a spot. Wendy, my little sweetie, was all tucked up in bed after the exhaustion of last nights storms and her new top getting wet.
We left Yamba and I must admit I had a heavy heart, I could have stayed longer, but I could have done the same at Uluru, Darwin, Alice Springs, Broken Hill and most other places.
But where next…………..Lennox Head, that’s where, and it’s quite nice although it was a bit breezy this afternoon.
We got here after a lazy drive where we stopped at two very nice markets, Wendy didn’t buy anything despite there being a very wide range of ladies wear everywhere!!!
Our new camp is quite nice, we have grass underfoot and a great camp kitchen and guess what………? Another stonking beach called SEVEN MILE BEACH, WoW!!!
But it was a bit blustery so we didn’t spend a great deal of time there. I did do a bit of surfing on my new boogie board though. The waves weren’t perfect and it was a struggle to get out there but I did manage to catch a couple of waves. There is life in the old surf dog yet!!!
We got back to camp after 5pm and had a walk into the town. As usual we missed happy hour by five minutes but we did have a nice jug of sangria in a bar whilst a group played easy music.
Supper time was in camp kitchen and the sunset was spectacular, honest it was beautiful, my chicken in plum sauce was quite nice too!!!
We met a couple from Wolverhampton whilst cooking and it was nice to chat. They are doing the same as us but only have 12 weeks, poor buggers! Their daughter has just got a job at The Daley Waters Pub which is a very famous pub on the Stuart Highway heading north to Darwin.
We might stay here a day or two so I can perfect my surfing techniques, eh! I have seen older men than me take to the surf, I’m sure I can do it…….watch this space Avid Reader, more to follow!!!
Lennox Head
No Travelling
Seven Mile Beach, I don’t think so, maybe five, I’ll double check tomorrow and let you know!
We have had an easy day today starting with a bike ride around the lake, both ways, and then after lunch we headed to the beach where the wind was gusting and the surf was pretty poor, I did try to get out but the cross current was a concern to the lifeguards and me too so I knocked it on the head.
Unperturbed we went to the lake and spent a couple of hours there reading and sunbathing. The wind was non-existent there and it was quite hot. Wendy managed to get under the shade of a tree as other people did. There were at least two mums and tots groups there taking to the water with their nippers or hiding under the shade, chatting away as only mums can do. Me being a top beach bum sat in the sun with my coconut oil of factor 15, I’m beginning to feel 21 again!!!
The lake is very interesting as its quite large but very brown in colour, quite like the river at Talisker on Skye, peaty brown. This brown colour is from the Tea Trees that surround the lake, apparently the water is very good for the skin. Well it must have been 26 degrees in the lake which is all very nice but the darkness of the water certainly put me off anything more than a five minute dip.
After a while we went back to camp and then went for another bike ride.
At this point I have to say that I may not be fully up front with my intentions, so when I said shall we go for a bike ride Wendy prepared for a nip into town, me I had other ideas, so we head up top, to the head of the cliffs. It was a bit of a struggle I must admit as both of our bikes seem to be stuck in fifth gear. But the views were stunning when we got there. We saw loads of bush turkeys, I have to admit it was on my mind to catch one for supper but then I thought they might be a little tough!!!
Back in camp Wendy made surprise supper, her turn. What a delight, potato wedges, salad and pork loin, it was yummy bloody scrummy.
As Wendy cooked we manged to get the Chris Evans Show on Wi-Fi as he did a tribute to Terry Wogan. It was all round nostalgia, especially when Janet and John came on, Terry was in stiches laughing!
We met a very nice Australian couple in the kitchen who told us of a hundred and one places to go in Queensland. Boy they must have cooked for Queensland themselves, they did enough food to feed five thousand, I have invited myself to breakfast as I am sure there will be leftovers!!!!
Lennox Head to Broken Head
10 Miles
What a stunning morning we had, it was clear blue skies all around.
I have completed my survey of Seven Mile Beach and I have to report it’s actually Five and Three Quarters in length. I know I’m being a bit spoil sporty as they very likely didn’t have a Nike+ App with GPS reliability when they first established the Township but it didn’t look like Seven Miles to me from the outset.
However it is a truly stunning beach no matter what size, and at the very end there are some really beautiful homes, I would love to stake a claim there to see out my days. A bit out of my price range me thinks though!
I try to listen to the local radio station when I’m running and these last two days I have been offered advice on how to avoid a shark attack, please see below:
We broke camp at 10:30 and we were signing into our new one at 11:00 after a drive of a just ten miles. We are camped at the end of the beach and are literally a stones throw from the sea. Wendy got bitten by a big critter type thing in the van, (Its OK Gran I got her to bleed it and push out any poison), boy did she go to town when she later caught it, I have never heard her swear so viciously, she flip-flopped it to death!!!
Now this beach, Tallon Beach, is long, it’ll be interesting to see how long tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll get to the end.
After checking in we drove to the most Easterly Point on the Australian Mainland, that’s now two points down and two to go, will we achieve them all?, who knows but the next two will be the hardest!
It was quite a hike to get there as A, The Car Parks were full and B, It cost $8 to park, (that’s two bottles of wine from Aldi in Wendys financial considerations!). What a sight it was though, looking out into the vastness of the South Pacific Ocean. I take my hat off to those girls who have just rowed the Pacific, now that’s a significant achievement, well done girls!
We also came across a Kangaroo type marsupial, it was very small and its facial features were quite thin, I don’t think it was a Wallaby either. He wasn’t bothered by the camera though he just kept on munching his lunch.
We then had a walk into Byron, what a find, its fantastic. It’s a real old surfer dude / hippy town. I saw Elvis, large as life dressed in blue and no this wasn’t an impersonator, this man was Elvis, well at least he thought so. I also saw the most hardest looking convict type man, dressed as a women, he looked as hard as nails but was sporting a nice dress, gold painted toenails and a very fetching bandanna on his head. Hey no problem from me mate, each to their own I say. I wouldn’t like to upset him!
Talk about shops, wall to wall ladies shops, I guess we will going back there for a more prolonged shop tomorrow. There is even a rainbow shop where everything is rainbow coloured and they have a fantastic line of everything, yes you guessed right, all in rainbow colours.
We had a beer and watched the world go by from our barstools, the windows of the bar were all pulled open and it was lovely.
We did some shopping for supper and we had a delight of a meal tonight, I got some Californian flavoured Pork Steak and it as very tasty. Wendy also bought me some lip balm as the salt from the sea is irritating them, the balm is zinc based and it’s BRIGHT………….. BLOODY…………… BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Back at camp we had the awning up in no time as we are now so slick at it and then we had lunch. It became quite overcast but that wasn’t a problem as we have had quite a few sunny days and one off wouldn’t hurt, so we walked along the beach to find the local Spar. Yes we are a bit isolated and have to use the beach to get around. We can’t use the path as it’s through a bush area and the recent storms have brought the local snake population out and Wendy isn’t game on meeting them.
Even though it was overcast the surf was up so me and my board took to the sea. Jeepers it’s hard going being a dude, having to batter your way through the waves. It was worth it though as I caught a couple of good ones. My technique is slowly coming back, I just need to keep in front of the crest of the wave, easier said than done though!
You should see people look at me with my bloody blue lip balm, they think I’m crackers!!!
Before supper we found a little veranda someone had very kindly made which jutted out on to the beach side. It was lovely, we sat and watched the evening surfers, me taking in points of good practice and Wendy taking in a glass or two of wine, (OK so did I!).
Broken Head to Urliup
42 Miles
Avid Reader what a fantastic day, one of the best….I’m writing this and I should be in bed but I have to keep my diary upto date as best as I can and I have my army of loyal readers to consider too!
I ran Tallon Beach this morning and it wasn’t as long as I thought, it’s strange how we perceive distance, it was 4.75 miles from end to end exactly! My blue zinc on my lips worked a treat and only did my lips begin to suffer later in the afternoon as the laughs started.
After we decamped and as predicted yesterday we went back for a good long browse in Byron and I liked it just as much as I did the day before. There is such a positive energy from the community, mainly surfers and hippies, oh and the locals, it’s just so tangible, I loved it.
Around 11:30 we set off for Urliup, this is where my long-time friend from Operation Raleigh, Rachels parents have a banana farm. It’s been nearly 30 years since I first met them so we were both excited. But first we stopped for lunch along the way and then had coffee in a most interesting Roadhouse which is a haven for motorcyclists. I can see why, the coffee was lovely.
We also stopped at a town called Murwillumbah which is the most delightful little town and by then we were only five miles from the farm.
So off we set on the last five miles and I was getting a wee bit worried as I can see we are heading into the mountains and although I don’t mind hill running with ups and downs, I'm not too keen on mountains which go down and then you have to go up! But it’s not too bad I have only 1.5 miles of climb on my return leg, yes I did clock the distance, wouldn’t you?
Anyway it was fantastic to see Rachel again and I have been so longing to see the farm and Rachel’s parents, Bob and Kate, it was lovely to see them all again.
Now I have to set a scene here. The homestead is on a long steep drive that opens down to a beautiful house that is elevated with a continuously running veranda with the most spectacular of contrasting views, close woodlands, open spaces of a valley and mountains. Oh and lovley grounds that have some real Australian wildlife with birds such as Kookaburras and Parrots and also Gecko’s, and even Lizards, (with names!). It’s just perfect!!!
After cuppa Bob showed us his pride and joy which is a 1912 fully resorted Argyle motor car. Bob was given it when he was a young man and has looked after it for many years, it’s even driveable and was taxed and insured this very day, all for $50!!! Well we just had to use the photo opportunity we had and jumped aboard. It is such an interesting vehicle and the engine, at over 104 years old is in immaculate condition.
So now we have set camp on Kate and Bobs lawn and we have the most amazing view from my bedside window.
You think the excitement is over yet? Well I’ll tell you now we had the best time I have had in years, I was like a little boy on Christmas Day as Bob took us for a drive in his four wheel drive vehicle, “Suzie”. Suzie is a utility truck with two seats so with Wendy and Bob in the front and Rachel and I on the flatbed in the back we set off for a tour of the farm. Well what laughs we had, an absolutely amazing experience. After a while Wendy exchanged seats with Rachel and sWendy loved it, well almost! The farm is hilly and I mean very hilly in places but good old Suzie took it all in her stride. Bob even secretly arranged for a challenge for us to overcome, a bloody great branch from a tree had fallen and had blocked our route. But with my now sturdy bush girls and a bow saw we sorted it out in no time, under Bobs watchful supervision at all times mind.
Back at the farm we had the most amazing supper on the veranda and I was given the honour of cooking the most delicious Porterhouse Steaks on the barbie, needless to say they were cooked to perfection and the whole meal, including salad, oh and the Weis, (Kind of a mango sorbet), was an utter delight!!!
So it’s getting late now and after another chat we headed to bed along the lawn lined with at least 50 cane toads!!! Wendy wasn’t fussed about this so Bob thoughtfully cleared some away so Wendy could be away to her bed safe and sound!
We are both looking forward to tomorrows adventure, who knows, how can today be topped!!!
Urliup
No Travelling
I was up at 06:00 but didn’t manage to beat any of our hosts out of bed as they were feeding the wild birds as I trudged across the lawn.
We had the most amazing sunrise from the back garden, which Wendy missed as she was fast asleep in the van, but at least I have the photographs!
I did my morning run and the mile and a half up the hill was actually quite good, I enjoyed it, maybe all of my Highland Cross training came in handy after all. I even saw a nimble Wallaby as I took my last drink stop, boy was he fast on the hop!
Did I say yesterday that there is a python that lives in the roofs rafters and every once in a while he comes out and takes a bird for supper, yes he takes a bird from the bird table and eats it! The python did this last week so he is now sat upstairs quite content digesting his last meal. Bob is onto the python though and is making arrangement to cease this criminal activity.
Rachel took us to see a surfing championship tournament on the coast which was a 30 minute drive away and it was such a shame as there was very little surf for the contestants, and there was the odd fauxpas. It was during the ladies semi-final, the girls had been briefed that it was a 25 minutes contest when the timekeeper actually stopped it after 20 minutes, no one had informed him, but they had the girls. The poor girl from Portugal was distraught, (yes she had come all that way to take part and there was no surf and they even made a cock up of the timing, (she was actually just about to ride a wave when the match was stopped)).
So the match was restarted with 5 minutes on the clock to go but of course she wasn’t on top of a wave with a chance of winning the match, the poor girl was gutted.
So we went for a cup of coffee, I had a coffee and a mango muffin whilst Wendy and Rachel had some other cake. Guess what??? My cake was bloody lovely, soft, moist and full of mango, the girls was tasty, thin and a lot less nicer than mine, oh dear.
We also saw some water dragon lizzardy things, they were catching moths as happy as you like and then licking their lips. Boy was I glad not to be a moth.
We nipped into Queensland again and yet again the timings put me all out of sorts, my phone and Rachels phone showed the wrong time ten miles inside the wrong side of the border, how does that help the local community, how can you say sorry boss I’m late for work as my phone is in the Queensland time zone?
Back home I went for a lone walk around the safer areas of the farm and saw some lovely things, Wallaby’s, fantastic countryside, banana trees, mango tress and Papya trees. I didn’t go off the beaten track but I did walk into a massive spiders web which pretty quickly prompted reverse gear until I found my way through it. I’ll tell you the web was as strong as fishing line, I could feel it tighten around my neck. Thank goodness Wendy wasn’t with me!
We had a really nice chat around the table under the veranda over a glass of prosecco and Bob showed us his other pride and joy. It’s a collage of photographs from all of his previous cars. There are some stunning vehicles of long ago but more importantly each has its own story, like the red open top sports car he proposed to Kate in.
Kate made a lovey supper, I have been waiting all day for it as I a given an initial brief this morning but all I could get was the meals name, Jackie Kennedys Chicken. Well I will tell you it was really nice, chicken thighs cooked in a lovey mushroom sauce and with a very fresh salad, apparently Jackie loved it!
As most people know the Gills like their tucker and are appreciative of anyone who feeds them, well I’ll tell you now my appreciation of the hospitality we are getting in Urliup just now means I might just stay one more week, maybe even three!
It’s been another lovely day spent with some really lovely people!!!
Finally Wendy yet again had to hot tail it across the lawn with Cane Toads nipping her ankles, it’s a wonder you didn’t hear her screeches in the UK!
Urliup
No Travelling
After a lovely breakfast on the veranda which consisted of cereals and gorgeous tropical fruit Wendy, Rachel and me took the van into town to shop for Saturday nights dinner as we have offered to cook a full Sunday roast as a thanks for the great hospitality we have been given here at Urliup Farm.
At the top of the drive we took a right and went along the road which took all of Urliup in. It was a brilliant journey as we saw some fantastic houses, but more importantly we passed through the thickest area of the rain forest which was really interesting, it was more like a scene from a Vietnam Movie!, it was that thick.
Back at the farm after the quickest of shopping trips and a spot of lunch Wendy and I set about doing some much needed chores. Wendy borrowed a vacuum cleaner and gave the van the biggest fettle to date, by the time she had finished it was spick and span and in top order.
I did the other jobs, both bikes needed attention to the gears, I got on top of the van and did a better repair to a damaged vent, I repaired an engine shield with cable ties and most importantly I took the bug killer apart and gave it a dam good clean, jeepers it’s been doing a good job as it was chock a block with dead bugs of all descriptions.
After afternoon tea Bob asked me to go with him and collect finger limes. Finger lines are the seeds of a pod that grows on bushes. The Lime bushes have the most wicked of thorns and they nipped me along my bare arms. Bob wasn’t happy with the crop as they weren’t as ripe as they should be for this time of year. However what we did get was taken to Kate who acted as our quality control and she weeded out the unsuitable pods. Thankfully we did ok for our labours and we managed to get a decent tubful.
Not long after Bob and Kates friends, Gill and Andrew joined us for the weekend and we had a very delightful meal and evening sat around the dinner table on the veranda where I was introduced to a new concept in pudding, Ice Cream and Mango fruit topped with Grand Marnier, I’m hooked, its bloody beautiful.
It wasn’t the most exciting of days on the trip but it was lovely to be able to chill and feel quite at home at Urliup Farm.
Urliup
No Travelling
We have had another very relaxing day at Urliup Farm, spent with some really lovely people.
We have had a fair bit of rain today mind, I got soaked to my skin during my morning run. But it wasn’t a problem as it was quite warm rain, I was wet through and I didn’t feel cold, in fact it was quite nice.
After another fruit feast breakfast I spent a lot of the day trying to get access to the Six Nations Rugby Match, Scotland V England. It’s on here at 03:50, so If I did get it, it would be a very late night or early morning for me. But then I haven’t missed this match for many, many years.
But alas FoxTel who provides Bob & Kates Satellite TV wanted two months minimum subscription for their version, which at $40, (£20), wasn’t overly pricey but it was the fact that I had to take two months that I objected to, so I declined the offer. Then I went online and I have trawled every area of the internet and I eventually, at 20:00, managed to buy a months online subscription for beIN TV, I’m actually watching The Keys & Grey Show as I type this and so I am all set to watch the game, jeepers I do hope I wake up in time!!!
I then helped Wendy prep our dinner as we were making it for everyone, a full Sunday Roast, with a Gordon Ramsay chocolate pudding
From the veranda, which gives us a fantastic view across a valley below us where sugar cane crops grow, we can see far off into the distant mountain range and we can see the weather approach. The view is so stunning you can see and monitor the rainfall as it approaches and today it came in waves, rain then heat, all very interesting.
At a suitable break in the rain I took my bike down the hill into town to buy wine. The hill is 1.7 miles long and is a bugger to run up, what it’s like to cycle I was about to find out. I videoed my ride down which was very naughty as it was a bit distracting whilst trying to brake at the same time, but I got down safely nonetheless! Wendy and Rachel went down in the car to bring the wine up the hill for me, so I really went on the bike for the challenge to get back up.
Having handed the bottles over I set off and left the girls and I saw them pass me as I cycled along. Then just as I approached the hills they passed me again, so I called them back. I grabbed Wendy’s window and was pulled along for a while but Rachel ditched me, yes she did, as soon as she could and so I had to do it myself. And I did, it was in first gear all of the way with my little legs going round like crazy but I did it.
When I got back to the farm, drenched from head to foot in sweat, I had a much deserved beer, before I commenced my next venture, which was a first for me. What I did was an externally based fire risk assessment for Bob due to the prevalence of forest bush fires in the area.
I quite liked doing it, the main consideration was the woodland to the south of the house, there is nothing on any other face of the building other than open areas, but the woodland is about 10 metres away, and it’s pretty thick woodland with palm and eucalyptus trees, which burn like bugger!!!
Anyway confidentially prevents me from going any further on the matter but as I said it was quite interesting to do.
And so onto supper!!!
As I was typing my fire risk assessment up I could hear a level of flapping emanating from the kitchen from the mouth of my choux chef, my own Wendy Gill. So I had to down tools and go all out Gordon in the kitchen, I didn’t swear mind!!!
The food was a delight and there was not even a morsel left on any plate, the Yorkshire Puddings did suffer from a lack of a hot oven, but that was more lost in translation rather than bad cookery, the puds were still quite tasty mind and the pudding, I mean dessert was a delight!!!
And so we come to the close of another lovely day, it’s time for Kip, but Avid Reader, I’ll be bright as a button in 3 hours time, well hopefully so!
COME ON ENGLAND!!!
Urliup to Nimbin
36 Miles
Thanks to Jenn I was up in good time for the rugby having received her txt at 03:14, so I was in fine fettle when the game started at 03:50, NOT! The bloody website forgot to start the game and still had the introduction to the game on loop!!! However I managed to get into it at -22 minutes with the score at 3-7.
Well I think it was a nail biter, England played out of sorts, George Ford was nowhere to be seen. Dylan Hartley kept getting on the Refs nerves and Owen Farrell kept missing the posts, so how we won The Lord only knows.
I must admit to having a beer and some rum to calm my nerves, but thankfully it went our way, just! Scotland played well but as often seems for the team they just don’t seem to get a good break.
Back to sleep having my, now celebratory, rum at 06:00, with Wendy nipping at me as I have to drive today, but we won Wend, oh yes get to sleep please, she says.
So I had a wee late rise but still I went for my run and loved it, nice and cool to blow away the cobwebs. Then back to the farm and our very special veranda for fruit and cereals for breakfast.
After a few chores we upped sticks and left Urliup Farm.
I have to say that we have had the best time so far staying with Bob and Kate. I met Bob and Kate for the first time just under 30 years ago, but it was a first for Wendy and we were made to feel as if we were part of the family. We had the most wonderful time and it will be an experience we will treasure. I even got to see the Argyles engine running before we left.
Oh and I also go a full packet of Nudgel Nuts and I'm eating them now as Wendy sleeps!
Ah but it’s not over for Rachel as we will be tracking her down by the end of the week in Brisbane.
And so onto Nimbin, as advised by Darren Scott as the place to visit! Nimbin is a bit out of our way but we just had to come and see it, did we really?
Nimbin is reputed to be the Hippyest town in Australia!, but I have to say, personally it’s each to their own and Hippyness isn’t for David Gill. In fact you could not get any further removed from a Hippy than me, nor Wendy Gill for that matter as she thought they were all scruffy and in need of a good wash!
Oh the place is nice enough, but you see scruffy looking people all over the place, spaced out on goodness knows what.
After our traditional camp supper I insisted on taking Wendy for another walk into town, it was an eye opener. We met some darlings, they were spaced out, off their head and somewhere between Mars and Neptune, absolutely crackers.
Thankfully we have only booked for one night so I can get back to the coast tomorrow and continue my exploits as an aging surfer!
Nimbin to Pottsville
60 Miles
Well we had a nice sleep at the site in Ninbim, up until I got up at 05:45, when the Hippy families kids started to wake up and be let loose to riot around the camp, how very rebellious, spoiling travellers sleep. They didn’t bother me I was up and about, but Wendy was disturbed as she likes several cups of tea in bed and piece and quiet, so that’s why she was gurney when I got back!
I ran up a glen into the wilderness. It was misty when I set off and I ended up at the foot of some lovely mountains, with Wallabies grazing all around me. I was almost scuppered at the 3.6 mile mark as I came across a very flooded ford, so I nipped into the “Black Sheep Farm”, with a sign saying, “Private Property do not Enter”, again not very Hippy Like, Love and Peace Man!!!, after a bit further I came across a sign saying Dingo Ridge, enter at your own risk, so I just had to……anyway nothing happened apart from me going up a big hill for the last quarter of a mile.
Coming back the mist had gone and the views were stunning.
And that’s when I got back to camp and the screaming kids, Love and Peace Man………………..NOT!
Nimbin, never again!
(Oh I forgot to say, last night we met some right darlings, one man was so out of it he was crying and his T-shirt was wet with his tears. He asked me something which I didn’t get, so I asked him what he said, and he said in a very crying, childlike way, “Stand me a beer”, (I don’t do it justice in the written word), I just said, “Mate you’ve had enough, go to bed”, Wendy didn’t like it at all and was glad to leave the scruffy place!).
We set off for the coast and had a very nice journey.
We are now at a very nice site with plenty of room, a lovely pool and no Scruffy Hippies!
After lunch we had a walk into the village which looks brand new as if it’s all just opened. It’s quite nice and not far from our site.
Then we spent the whole afternoon at the pool catching up on some sun and relaxing.
As we had good Wi-Fi I listened to UK radio, which I quite like, I was hearing about the soft southerners complaining about Storm Imogen on BBC Radio 2, even Ken Bruce was at it, how funny!
Just before supper we went to the beach, yes it’s another stunner, and the surf was up. Thankfully I had my board and took in some good surf, Groovy Man…..hey it must have rubbed off on me!
Supper was a delight again and then we took a walk around camp looking for Koalas, but alas we didn’t see any as they are quite shy creatures and it was pitch black! Wendy didn’t like that as she thinks there’s always something lurking out for her!
Pottsville
No Travelling
The day started off nice enough with a lovely sunrise. I stared running on the beach at the outlet of a river, but as it was getting to high tide the water was flooding into it. It would have made a great dingy ride in, but a hard boat ride out.
Then I ran along the beach and I had to cross a road bridge to get to another beach which was a wee bit hard on my bare feet, but well worth it. I got to 4.5 miles and had a drink before turning round and I checked the time and guess what??? I was in Queensland time yet again! The sooner we get to Queensland the better now as it’s driving me nuts. Oh and it rained like bugger for about ten minutes soaking me even more.
I got back to camp and Wendy and I debated staying another night, which we did thinking if the weather was bad we could always go on a long bike ride.
The weather was lovely, the clouds cleared and the sun came out, it was a bit breezy, but that kept us comfortable.
After breakfast we cycled along the coast for quite a way and ended at the beach where the surf competition was last week. It’s a shame as the surf was great. We had a good walk around and went up a board walk upto a rock formation which projected out into the sea, it was a bit of a slog but good fun and the views were breathtaking.
Back to camp for a late lunch and then a quick shop in town where yours truly bought the bestest, longest surfer dude shorts a surfer dude could get. Obviously I had to go to the beach to catch a few waves.
The beach was deserted and I had the ocean to myself as Wendy stayed at camp reading. The waves were good and I managed to get a good few rides in, but the cross current was a bit strong and I had to keep an eye on my drift, but I was ok and enjoyed the surf. It must be the new shorts as I did get a quite a few good waves.
I must admit though battling through the waves is hard going and I can manage an hour and then I need to rest, so it was off to the pool for a couple of hours.
At 16:30 we nipped on our bikes to a local nature reserve where we thought we might find some Koalas, but alas even by going deep into the forest, much to Wendys dislike, we didn’t see any at all. My only photographic opportunity of a Koala was of a picture of one on the notice board.
Never mind we sought solace in the local “Bowlo”!!!
No matter what size of community there is always a bowling club called a Bowlo. All we have to do is sign in as temporary members and Bobs your uncle you’re in and getting beer at clubhouse prices, can’t be bad!
So supper loomed and its Wendys turn with chicken thighs and a pumpkin that Kate gave her from Urliup Farm, both to be barbequed! I’m looking forward to that.
The wind is getting up just now and tomorrow we will be off, Queensland bound!
I’ll keep you posted avid reader!
Pottsville to The Gold Coast
36 Miles
Wendy cooked a delight last night using Urliup Farm Pumpkin, using the method as prescribed by Kate. I have to say the pumpkin was much tastier than we get in the UK, but as we only, (Gill family), have it at Halloween I am beginning to think that they are forced during growth in the UK for the scary market as opposed to being produced for the tasty market, which last night’s certainly was. We have a good deal left too so more treats to come.
As planned we headed north today and we called in at the coffee house Rachel took us to. I was hoping to have another mango muffin but alas there wasn’t any available. However I did have the biggest, fattest slice of chocolate banana cake I have ever had and it was divine. I had a wedge the size of a large door stop and it did me for the rest of the day, well until supper anyway.
We think we crossed the Queensland border just after Tweed Heads but it was a bit disappointing as there was no welcome to Queensland sign, there was on the opposite side of the road for welcoming to New South Wales, but not Queensland!!!
I was gutted as I was hoping for a big sign saying Queensland welcomes back David Gill, it’s been a long time! But no such luck. We did come across a concrete structure but it wasn’t as welcoming as I had hoped. Never mind at least I was back!
From there we had a great journey, along the coastal road into the skyscrapers of the Gold Coast, and in the main Surfers Paradise. Oh I am just going to be at home here.
I was getting a bit worried about finding a camp site as I didn’t want to miss out on the Gold Coast, when one dropped right into my lap and its dam fine I might say. We have the biggest, golden’est beach across the road and downtown is a short bike ride away, what a find!!!
So as soon as we made camp we were off, downtown here we come.
It’s fantastic, I didn’t realise there were so many waterways, it’s like Venice!
We walked ourselves to exhaustion and then we took a Duck Tour, well kind of because the amphibious vehicles here on the Gold Coast actually look safe and fit for purpose, not like the ones we use on the River Thames which are WWII landing craft.
We had a fantastic hour bobbing along on the water. However the weather did turn and we had a wee storm come in, but it didn’t dampen our enjoyment of the trip.
By 18:30 we were starving and before we got onto our bikes we nipped into Liquarland to get a bottle of wine where we were served by a very enthusiastic young man. He asked us, very excitedly, if we had had a good day. Wendy replied, “We have, how was yours”? His reply had us in stitches, he said, “I’ll not sugar-coat it, I’ve been here since 07:00 and to be honest I’ve had enough”. But it was the manner in which he said it, it was just as cooperate as his welcome, very funny to me and Wendy, but I guess you had to hear it for yourself!
Back peddling along the coast we got back to camp full of good intentions to go for a long walk after supper, but then we realised that we had gained another hour, (Are you as tired as me avid reader?) and so we settled for supper in camp kitchen after a nice relaxing shower.
And, do you know what? It was a treat!
I cooked supper, well it was camp knock-up. I fried up some mushrooms, chilies, tomatoes and onions and then added the last bit of beef from our weekend meal and we had chili sarnies using Turkish bread, it was bloody lovely even if Wendy did think they were too spicy, (they weren’t).
The kitchen was busy and we sat with an Italian couple who are trying to make their life here in Australia. Fabio and Janda both speak very good English, but as Fabio has been sponsored to stay in Australia by his boss, (he is a very good chef), he needs to pass an English test. Janda speaks English very good, Fabio needs to improve, but not too much and he’ll be fine. Anyway we spent an hour with them trying to help out. Fabio now knows some choice words from Gordon Ramsay.
The reason Gordon came up was because there was a Chinese mob who took over the kitchen and I kid you not cooked enough food for 36 people. They had that much I thought they had a restaurant going using camp kitchens gas! But, and here is where the choice words came in, they didn’t clean down, now that’s a big sin in any of Gordons kitchens, mine too!
Back at camp, we are shattered, we have an hour of jet lag to kill before we bed down and I honestly don’t think we will make it.
It must be our age!
Gold Coast
No Travelling
Another lovely morning where we went for a bike ride to the Point, the area of the Gold Coast where the inlet for the sea and all of the lagoons meet. It was a lovely ride but we were up early due to, can you believe this, jet lag from the New South Wales!!!! I know it sounds ridiculous but we have been through so many time zones of late, I don’t think its jet lag parse, I think we are just completely confused as where the sun should be in the sky in relation to the time of day, or when our eyes should be closed and when they should be open.
The point was brill, loads of big waves crashing over the sea wall, scaring Wendy into an early retreat, silly old sausage as if I would put her at risk, of me cashing in on her life insurance!!!
Wendy also saw the warning signs for the Boa Constrictor that has been sighted in the area, I mean how can she cope with this news, very badly I’ll tell you!
We then had a ride along a very posh designer shop street, which didn’t prod Wendy into any more purchases! We did find a post box to send something to Dave Lane though, I hope he’s not disappointed but we both think it’s very appropriate in the circumstances!
I then took in a few waves on my board, in my surfer dude shorts, I got a bit of a battering as the waves were, as described by the Lifeguards, “Lumpy and out of sorts, with cross currents biting and nipping! I however managed to catch at least three good waves, which is more than can be said of Wendy with the camera in my moment of elation, she missed the lot!
Lunch was fancy sausage and pan fried pumpkin which was really yummy. We bumped into our Italian friends and it looks like they both now have jobs at the Gold Coast whilst Fabio studies English at a local college. They are a really nice couple I do hope it works out for them both.
I also read a copy of the local paper during lunch where my eyes found some rather disturbing adverts. I’ll say no more avid reader, but if I were a resident of this area I would make sure my Centurion Granny is kept on a very short leash.
After lunch we had a long walk, a very, very, very long walk, (according to Wendy) along the beach of the Gold Coast. It was a walk of a lifetime, honest it was. The beach, the high-rise buildings and the people enjoying the surf where just in perfect harmony. Not like Benidorm, (Which I also quite like), but more well planned and easy going.
Wendy was pooped by the time we got back to camp which was a shame as we were planning a night out, romance, music and food, etc., etc.!
But after a wee lie on the bed she still couldn’t pass muster so I went for a ride into town and bought the ingredients for a delight of a meal, a fine one at that, oh and MaltEaster Rabbits for pudding, which is a particular favourite of Mrs Gill.
And there we come to the close of another lovely day, its 25 degrees sat under our awning, I can see skyscrapers all around me and I can hear the roar of the South Pacific Ocean. It’s getting late and Wendy is double pooped, (I’m just getting my second wind mind), but I think it’s time for bed as tomorrow we are going to see our friend Rachel again but this time in her own town of Brisbane, we both cant wait!
The Gold Coast to Brisbane
47 Miles
Well we did have an early night, and a very early morning, 03:00 to be precise. So I slipped into my shorts and gave the two Swiss young men behind us a piece of my mind, slamming car doors and chatting like its 3pm was not on. Be quiet or bugger off were a couple of the words I used, I recall.
Back to sleep and up at 05:50 for my run which today I took in Chevron Island, which was quite nice. So nice in fact I took Wendy back there after breakfast when we had booked out of camp. We left the van near the site and cycled into Surf City to see the sand sculpture competition that had just started. It’s a shame we will miss the end as they all looked pretty impressive.
From there we cycled to Chevron Island and had a nice walk down the small High Street and then had a coffee in a very pleasant café on our way back.
As Rachel wouldn’t be home until 16:00 we took a long route to Brisbane taking in the outpost of Redland Bay and Victoria Point which was quite nice. These are small communities with ferry services to smaller outer Islands, they remind me of Shetland actually as there were a number of Islands out just offshore. We even passed the Rock ‘N’ Roll Café, but declined to go in as we had already been to one other local café, for a banana ice cream don’t you know, another delight!
The drive north was delightful, I just cannot get over how green and lush the countryside looks, they obviously have the right combination of sun and rain, we saw green fields of grass and hay and even banana plantations
And so to Brisbane!!! We arrived at 15:00 which was an hour early so we went for a wee walk around the block and can you believe Wendy took in a shampoo and set, I cannot get my breath, one minute we are walking along a shopping centre the next minute she is in the high chair getting done over. I sloped off to meet Rachel who very kindly gave me a bottle of Bundi Rum. This was a very nice relaxer as it was by now getting into Friday Night and time to start to let my hair down.
Rachel’s flat is lovey, we have front and back balconies and a very nice bed to sleep in.
So as I was sat on the balcony, with my Bundi and Coke Wendy shows up gasping for air and in need of a stiff drink, the haircut, shampoo and set cost over $90………….It looks lovely mind, stiff drink definitely required!
I cooked supper, what a delight, it was, honest! We sat just inside the veranda in the front room and it was lovely with a gentle breeze rolling in, perfect.
As Wendy and Rachel washed up I saw the darn’est thing……………a Possum crawling rather quickly along a telegraph line, bold as you like. I called Wendy as I thought it interesting and then Rachel came and confirmed it as a positive Possum siting. What a splendid sight, in such a built up city area, brilliant. I’ll be on the lookout for more in the coming days.
I’m getting a wee bit excited now, its Six Nations Weekend again and I have my online subscription paid and consequently I’ll be watching the game on Sunday, (my Monday), but I’m also a wee bit worried as Italy at home isn’t as easy as it used to be, just ask France!.
And now we are about to settle down to our first TV for over 3 months, Second Best Marigold Hotel, I’m excited as I loved the first film, but to be honest I have not missed TV one bit on this trip.
It’s been great, (well apart from the Walking Dead! Hopefully Bradley has it recorded for me).
Brisbane
No Travelling
I’m beginning to think that Brisbane is the city of the trip so far. I have been before but spent such a short time here I couldn’t really remember much about it other than I liked it. The other cities have been lovey, in their different ways but Brisbane as a lot going for it. More to follow in the coming days.
There is one thing they have got completely wrong, Period!!! Boat journeys on the Brisbane River. I cannot believe the stupidity of the City Council.
Rachel suggested we get a day trip ticket on the river and hop on and off as we like. So we catch the River Cat a mile or so from Rachel’s apartment and when Wendy got the tickets she said we have to be back on the boat for 13:30 or we have to pay again. As we bought the tickets at 11:24 and we get to our destination at 12:54 we would have half an hour in our destination before we had to catch the return boat and that’s without being able to hop on and off at any of the other 12 or so stops along the way. It gets better, there is no café, nor bar, or any other means of sustenance on the vessel. You can’t even bring anything on board, its true, I saw a lady with a takeaway coffee and the Steward gave her pelters as she boarded with it, “I hope that’s nearly finished”, he said rather rudely.
As a result of this ludicrous policy we didn’t get off for our half hour stop as we couldn’t have managed a cup of coffee in the time allowed. So, we spent close on four hours on board without any opportunity to eat or drink let alone be merry!!!!
I spoke to the Steward and asked to upgrade the tickets thinking we had bought the wrong ones, but no, “All we sell is a 4 hour ticket, 2 hours each way”, I asked him about the sensibility of this and fair enough he sort of agreed without exposing himself to being accused of descent, of course.
I’ll put this into perspective, you can buy a day ticket on the River Thames and hop on and off all day long, buy food, wine, beer and spirts and do it all day long. It attracts people from all walks of life and it’s a great way of seeing the city. Someone needs to have a word with Brisbane City Council, they are missing such a trick and spoiling the enjoyment of visitors, (OK rant over, but it made me seethe).
All that said we did have a smashing trip, the weather was overcast with a bit of drizzle at times but it was quite warm, about 27 degrees, so actually a heat way by Highland standards.
The River Cat cant half motor along too. We hit a submerged object at top speed, that gave Wendy the willies I’ll tell you, but no harm done so we carried on our way.
After the boat, (we got off before our final destination as we wouldn’t have had time to shop, GGGGrrrrrrrr), with the ladies starving to death, and I mean that, so we had a lovely bite to eat at a riverside café. The sarnies, were lovely, the coffee too!
We then went walkabout and came across a city beach with a pool, it was crammed full of kids all having fun, and all free of charge, brilliant!
We crossed the river to the north side of the city and did a bit of shopping. The city is lovely and clean and the architecture is fantastic.
By the time we got back to the car we had done about 4 miles, well you would think we had done an ultra-marathon, I was almost faced with mutiny.
But I managed to weather the storm and we are now sat on Rachel’s balcony having a glass of wine with the ladies trying to bend my arm into a Chick Flick, WHAT!!!!
Brisbane
No Travelling
Jeepers that was purgatory, I had to sit through 2 hours of a Cameron Diaz film last night that these two loved! It wasn’t too bad I suppose, it just could have been an hour shorter.
Well I said yesterday that Brisbane is the city of the trip so far and I can tell you I am totally in love with the place, and this on Valentine’s Day!!!
This morning I cycled into town, (3.5 miles), so that I could run along the river. What a superb experience, a topper, one of my best runs ever, even beating my infamous run over the Brooklyn Bridge in February 2012.
Brisbane Council have to be applauded for this!!! They have created a river walkway / cycle track along the north side of the Brisbane River, accessed by a pedestrian bridge which is called the Goodwill Bridge, it’s a smashing bridge, it even has an open air cafe at the top. Where there is no room for the track they have run it out onto the river on piles. I ran for five miles through rain forests and over the river taking in all of the cities sights. I can’t describe how great it is, it is that good.
Later on I took Wendy and Rachel and we walked the five miles where I had ran and then caught a ferry back. The weather has been brill, loads of sun and high temperatures.
We also took in another Bowlo, a riverside one at that. We had a drink and shared a seafood meal, chips and fishy bits with salad, it was bloody lovely.
I found a massive, mega sized spiders web just outside the Bowlo with a very big spider in the middle waiting to get someone, Wendy almost wet herself with fright! “See that’s why you don’t sleep with the windows open”, (She’s not happy that I have the window open at night at Rachel’s flat, it’s over 30 degrees and we need air Wend, come on!!!), “Well I’m not very comfortable with it” she replies!
I have to expand on my previous update, as the City Council do provide a free hop on / off ferry service, but it only goes a short distance, however it does cover the main area of the city. It’s crammed packed, a bit like a London tube, but at least it’s there. There are still no catering facilities though!
Back at Rachel’s at 6ish we relaxed and I had a beer on the balcony. I did also try a nap as I hope to watch the rugby tonight, (00:30 our time), but I think I managed only ten minutes.
And then for another delight, Rachel cooked a stonker of a supper, pan fried salmon and a delightful salad.
We are now sat with the windows wide open, these open at least 3 metres wide and we get a lovely cool breeze coming though. As I write this we are listening to Steve Wrights Sunday Love Songs, (Valentine’s Day Special). Isn’t the internet fantastic!
It has been a very delightful day!
Come on England, (Be careful Italy are not to be taken lightly, especially at home).
Brisbane
No Travelling
A great result last night for England, it wasn’t the best of starts as Italy were strong and onto them, but patience wore them down, eventually, oh and lots of lucky breaks. Boy I was tired by the end of the game, straight to bed for me.
And so to today, what a day!!!
Wendy and I took our bikes out to explore Brisbane and boy did we, we did lots of miles in the sweltering heat.
I, being sensible larruped myself with the sun lotion, top to bottom and I took a cap. I had to issue Wendy with an instruction to larrup too as she thinks she’s hard!!! And she doesn’t take a hat either.
Well we set off and I have to tell you Brisbane isn’t a flat city, it’s not even a hilly city, it’s a mountainous city and by the second hill I was getting pelters, big ones. “Buts its Ok Wendy”, I said, “When we get to the river it’s all flat”, and it was.
We followed the river trail all the way to Hamilton, it was lovely, it was over ten miles but it was great, the sun was out and we were seeing very interesting things. We stopped in a park and had a sarnie and a cup of coffee in a riverside café.
We got to the end of the track, actually the Ocean Liners tie up there too, and that’s where I found out that Wendy had had too much sun.
We had the most surreal conversation, it was very confusing. Wendy had completely lost all of her bearings and was talking like a silly person. I knew I was right about our location as we had only travelled downstream along the river. But no, she thought we had crossed the river, (we had crossed a small creek about 10 metres wide, the Brisbane River at that point is a quarter of a mile wide, so how she got that mixed up the Lord only knows). Anyway she started rubbing her head in a strange way and got all hot and bothered. Being smart I recognised the symptoms and calmly, explained our location, would you believe by use of a rubbish bin and thankfully she eventually got it.
From this point on she was instructed to wear her bike helmet, (she doesn’t wear it but carries it). I then took her to the Bowlo Club for a cool shandy which thankfully did the trick. The helmet stayed on all day long from this point on!
We got back to the city and Wendy had an idea of following the river further round so we can avoid the hills and get back to Rachel’s flat easier. I should have known better!!!
The Brisbane River twists and turns so many times but by the time we realised the mistake we had done an additional six miles. We then diverted away from the river and had to push our bikes up the steepest hill I have ever seen. Well this did for Wendy, she was buggerd, and I mean buggerd. I had to get my bike to the top and then go down and rescue her. But it gets better avid reader, the direction we then needed to go had, yes you’ve guessed, another big hill.
By the time we got back to Rachels we had done 27.2 miles and Wendy was in need of an immediate shower. Thankfully this worked and I asked Rachel to take us all up to the RSL Club which is a couple of hundred metres from the flat.
Well that did the trick, a nice cold XXXX Gold worked its magic.
And so on to the RSL, (Returned Soldiers League), which is quite like the British Legion but with Pokies, lots of them!!!
I’ll have to investigate this a bit more as I found that Rachel was very well known, and liked at the club as she seemed to be the centre of attention. It was funny as everyone commentated on her suntan, which she got from walking with us over the weekend.
And so to supper, which was down to me as Rachel had been working all day and, well we all know how Wendy is!!!
We sat on the veranda as dusk arrived and it was lovely.
It will be an early night tonight as Wendy is buggerd from today and I’m shattered from last night.
I hope to get the bikes out again tomorrow, but I haven’t yet dared approach Wendy about it!!!
It great listening to Sara Cox and Michael Ball on BBC Radio 2 in the evening as the UK wakes up in the morning!
Brisbane
No Travelling
Well it’s been a stinker today, 36o Centigrade without any real breeze so it was Hot, Hot, Hot!!! We knew it was coming so I biked into town and did a long run and when I got back Wendy had been to the shops, we had breakfast and then we caught the 11:00 train to the City.
In town we planned to have some time at the beach and then take a boat ride and see how it goes.
Jeepers the sun was hot and I had to have regular dips in the pool to keep cool, not that it helped me much as the water was quite warm, Wendy never moved from the safety of a shady tree.
The beach got busy and Wendy was becoming overcome with bodies seeking shade so we hopped onto a Ferry Hopper up to its most downstream point, which just happened to be where the Bowlo is, just by pure chance of course. So we had to nip in for a beer as it would have been rude not to.
Last night Rachel’s Mum, Kate sent us a photograph of Sam the snake, the python who lives in the rafters of her roof. We were lucky as he didn’t come out when we were there as he had only fed the week before and he only shows when he’s hungry.
So now his tum was rumbling and he made an appearance. He slyly hides in the rafters under the veranda and waits for a bird to fly by where he nips it in mid-flight, he then holds it in his mouth and then somehow crushes it whilst opening his jaw and swallowing the bird whole. Quite impressive, unless you are the unlucky bird of course! Anyway there is a graphic photo included in this update, so Robyn you’d better not luck!
After getting dropped off back at the ferry terminal we walked back to Rachels nice and slowly, (3.5 miles), thankfully we now had a wee bit of cloud cover, Wendy did melt a couple of times though.
After very welcoming showers we were off out.
We went for dinner to the home of my Expedition Director from Operation Raleigh, I haven’t seen him in 30 years. Bradley and Robyn, (joint effort), tracked him down for me, here is his reply to Bradley.
Hi Bradley
I remember David well, he was a very popular and successful member of the Cape York Expedition (Raleigh). It would be my greatest pleasure to catch up with him and your mother. I live in Brisbane, Queensland though my work has me travelling a bit overseas and in Australia. But with a bit of advance planning I can sort out some mutual dates.
Thanks for contacting me. Raleigh is a very good memory for me, and I appreciate that the Venturers as the title went, would now be in their late forties and early fifties. My time flies, so it is important to take every chance to make contact with old friends.
Well we had a most enjoyable evening, Mary, Davids wife made the salads whilst David cooked the steaks. The salads were the best I have ever had, they were bloody lovely, an absolute delight, I took some lessons I’ll tell you.
Davids steaks were very good too, fillet/ribeye. They were massive, poor Wend could not finish hers and I’m sorry to say I could not help her out.
It was good to catch up with David, we spoke about Operation Raleigh and some of the things David had to deal with, some not pleasant.
But both of our overall impressions of the project had been very favourable and I told David the impact it has had on others too, such as both me and Rachel and many others.
We had a cracking night, we met Cruz the dog who sings along to Marys whistling, now that was a treat!!!
I’m really glad we got to meet David and Mary, after such a long time, it’s been another highlight of this journey!
Brisbane
No Travelling
We had to take the van to north Brisbane today for some maintenance and after we did we had a loan vehicle and so headed to the Redcliffe Peninsular and I am so glad we did what a fantastic day we had.
We got there around 11:00ish and had a coffee and muffin in one of the many local cafes, (Australians know how to do coffee time!).
And then we came across The Bee Gees Way, what a find! It’s a tribute to the Bee Gees who were born in Redcliffe. It’s such a brilliant thing. It’s an alleyway about 10 metres wide and totally dedicated to the Bee Gees. There are photographs and anecdotes and even a big screen where Bee Gee music and interviews are playing on a very long loop. It was brilliant, such an amazing concept. We both loved it. I even went back, (during the flossing episode).
Then we had a wee stroll along the shops and bugger me she was off again, this time, Eyebrows!!!
Eyebrow flossing? And tinting? What the hell is all that about? Anyway she was gone for 30 minutes and came back laughing, it cost $15, (which is £7.5). “That cost me £15 the last time I had that done in the Eastgate Centre”, what a bargain!
After Wendy re-joined me we had lunch which was a sarnie in our replacement camper and then we strolled all the way to the end of the peninsular to Scarborough. The sun was out and it was a lovely walk, of about seven miles all in all.
We came across some pelicans who were perched at the top of a lamppost. I didn’t see them but I stopped to check my bearings and then I saw the poop fly down, loads of it. I scanned the floor and saw the pavement clarted with it. I then looked up and saw the offender, what a monster it was. I think he had placed himself strategically so that he and his mate could poop on humans as they passed by. There were even two more on the next lamppost, bomb bays at the ready.
But through sear luck I was onto the scam and so I walked under matey number one, who had dropped his bombs too soon and then skipped around the others, quite pleased with myself that I had outfoxed the local mafia!!
I enjoyed an ice cream in Scarborough and Wendy just had water, and then we headed back to the van, in the heat!
We got to the van and did some supper shopping in Aldi and then headed to Nudgee Beach which is again out on its own at the head of a river delta. We loved it, you should see the houses that adjoin the beach, they were stunners. I even saw my first coconut palm tree, now I know I’m in Queensland!
With the van being repaired we got back to Rachel’s at 18:30 and as Wendy was pooped I cooked a simple supper, stir-fry wraps and we pulled the table out onto the balcony and are now having a lovely evening, listening to BBC Radio 2.
I think we are both shattered and we will be in our bed by 21:00 at the latest!!!
Good Night Avid Reader!
Brisbane
No Travelling
Not too much of an exciting day today as we went for a drive to Toowoomba which is 75 miles to the west and inland of Brisbane, so we were in the van at least 3 hours traveling.
It was a lovely drive and we could see the vegetation getting dryer and browner the further away from the coast we got.
We did have a good find en-route as we saw signs for a roadside fish monger. Boy he had some real treats. We settled on three Barramundi Fillets, (big buggers) and Tiger Prawns, that’s supper organised then.
We had a great experience as we got closer. We had driven for 71 miles on the flat and then we hit a brick wall, (virtually), it was to be yet another skirmish with the Great Dividing Range!
The road headed up into the sky for 3 miles and climbed to about 2,300 feet. Trucks were crawling on the way up, in fact some were going no faster than walking pace. I wasn’t looking forward to coming back down.
We got to Toowoomba at about 1pm as we had stopped for a coffee break along the way. Toowoomba was very hot but relay nice. Its Australia’s 16th biggest city, which means it’s not that big, maybe slightly bigger than Inverness, but not by much.
We strolled around and Wendy bought a few items of clothing as she now seems to be in the swing of it.
We called into a hall run by the Queensland Country Women’s Association and had a sausage roll and a drink. We were served by a nice little old lady who was in a kitchen behind a very small serving hatch. I asked for a black coffee, Wendy got juice. My coffee came as white, the kind of coffee that you would give a small child, like half milk, half water. I didn’t have the heart to tell her, but when I was halfway through it she realised her mistake and insisted she make me a new one. But I was OK, it was fine, I’ve had much worse. She must have apologised about five times, the dear thing.
On our way out she asked me where I was from so I said, “Barnsley” and she appeared to recognise it. I asked her if she knew it and she said no but that she read a lot about England. She then told me I had a lovely accent. I thanked her and told Wendy outside that that was a first for me, no one has ever said that anyone from Barnsley has a lovely accent, see I said she was a nice lady!
On our way back we tried to find a view point to look at the view over the Range, but it eluded us. The ride down was fantastic though, 3 miles in third gear all the way, breaking hard and still going over the speed limit, jeepers that engine roared.
Back at base and supper was yet another delight, Barramundi is such a lovely fish to eat, meaty and easily filleted.
And then as the night came in we went for a drive to Kangaroo Point which is along the river overlooking the City. The views were stunning, the lights shone brightly and the bridge was lit up with green lights.
I had Wendy and Rachel crammed in the front with me, both windows rolled down and I thought I was in my 20s again cruising with chicks. Rachel chuckled at this and so I asked her who she was cruising with, she replied, “One Chick and One Hot Dude”, that’ll be me then Rach!!!
Brisbane
No Travelling
We’ve had a fairly steady day today, full of fun mind.
There were a couple of storms pass through as I was out running but I manged to get out of them and find shelter. I actually got soaked waiting for darling Wendy to chuck the garage keys down for me to put my bike away in the garage. Funny I have been doing it all week, but from the front window, but as its peeing rain I went to the back window as its nearer the garage, so I shout, “Wend”, mind its peeing down, so she comes to the window asks me what I want and then takes an age to get me the keys, I was soaked from head to toe!!! No rush Wend!
We did a bit of shopping at a massive shopping centre, Wendy bought two pairs of canvas shoes, (She seems to be over her reluctance to buy these days).
After lunch at the flat I prepared a salad for supper which is going to be a BBQ at Kangaroo Point. I then did a few chores around the van. Wendy and I went for a walk to get some wine but took the long route and passed the filling station, fuel in Australia is now under $1.00 a litre, that’s 47p per litre Avid Reader!!!
As soon as Rachel got home we left for Kangaroo Point, yes it’s another night cruising with Dave’s Chicks!!!
The weather was on and off, 30 degrees mind, but the sky was full of showers. We found a good spot along the river and set too with the cooking, and then it rained. But that’s OK as Wendy ran and got the sun shade and that was that, no more problems.
The food was lovely and the setting great, and thankfully the shower passed through pretty quickly.
After supper we cleaned up and went for a walk, we went over the Story Bridge, it was a first for me and Wendy, and Rachel too, who has lived in the city 40 odd years!!! The views were stunning.
We walked over the bridge to the north shore and caught the Ferry Hopper back to collect the van for the full on chick cruise home, with the windows fully open, the radio on loud and giggling chicks, boy it was my lucky night!!!
Brisbane
No Travelling
I woke to find Wendy with her dressing gown pulled over her head, she looked just like an old lady. I later found that as we had the pedestal fan on full power due to the heat, her hair was blowing all over her face and waking her up. I wish I had thought to take a photograph though!
Whilst out running I saw a nice looking market set up behind the Rowing Club on the south bank so on my return I told Wendy and Rachel who promptly left the flat and headed off for a shop. They were gone ages!!!
On their return I asked if they had found it OK and they said yes, I asked if they liked it, they said, yes, had it got some interesting stuff, yes, did you buy anything? NO…………….Eh?................Women!
As Rachel was heading to the Gold Coast for her brother, Andrew’s, 50th birthday party we headed out for a day in the city, shopping and breezing along. It was a lovely day so we walked it.
Within minutes I was melting, but stripped down, Wendy on the other hand had her clothes stuck to her, poor thing.
However, into town we arrived and headed for our favourite café where we had large coffees, Wendy a chocolate brownie and I had a humongous fairy cake topped with Nutella chocolate sauce, oh such a delight!
From there we took the Hopper over the river to do some shopping in the city, we needed some presents for two little girls who we will be seeing tomorrow, ah we got just the things, perfect, well I do hope so.
From there we took a very long, slow, interesting walk to the Bowlo, yes we did, it’s our local.
The Bowlo was Chock a’ Block, what with private parties and other revellers, who had squealing little girls, (yuppie types, in the Bowlo too!)
We ordered supper, I had steak and Wendy had fish and chips and they were lovely. We spilt the fish and steak in a surf and turf kind of way and they were yummy. The wine was lovely too.
We then walked romantically along the river as the sunset and the lights of the city came on. The, almost, full moon rose and it was all very lovely dovey and I was on my best behaviour. Ah it was divine!
We boarded the Hopper but had to sit apart from each other as there weren’t any double seats available, but that was OK as we sat across from each other…………….and then it all went wrong!
I saw a very important looking man come up the stairs wearing a reflective jacket, oh no!
An announcement was made, “Excuse me the sign says 16 people only on the top deck and they must all be seated, as there is 17 of you someone will have to go below”. (Side track – Isn’t it funny how everyone chatting in English suddenly lose the ability to understand it at time like this).
Being a helpful person I ask everyone, “Is anyone getting off next “, as we were approaching a drop off. Well the penny dropped and a man and his wife got up and went downstairs. Phew, disaster averted!
As there was now space Wendy and I moved to another seat. I then did a head count and saw that there were 18 seats available but only 16 were allowed on the top deck, how strange!
As the boat filled, sure enough he appeared again, “Excuse me the sign says 16 people only on the top deck and they must all be seated, as there is now 18 of you someone will have to go below”.
No one moved, I’m keeping quiet………….., honest. “If no one goes below I will have to pick two people to go”.
Well I’m sorry but he sounded too much like a Nazi to me so I had to open up, with Wendy tugging my sleeve saying, “Keep out of it!!! But I have to say avid reader there is only so much bullshit I can take on my romantic night out, so I says, “What’s the problem mate”, “Ship stability there should only be 16 people on top and there is 18”. But mate use some common sense there are three nippers on here who don’t add up to an adults weight” “I am a safety officer who has the safety of the public to consider and the sign says 16”, “Please use some common sense” I say again.
By this point someone chickens out and goes, funny enough it’s the lady with the two nippers.
Matey now comes and orders me downstairs, “Why? Are you throwing me off”, (I’m paraphrasing here – Wendy has his monotone accent down to a tee). I hear Wendy saying to him something about spoiling her romantic cruise as I disappear below.
So I go below and he chats with the skipper and then ignores me. I’m just about to go back up and he comes back in my direction, so I say, “Have you done with me”. “Yes, I just wanted to remove you as you were becoming angry and I was only applying the rules of safety”, So I say, “I wasn’t angry, just use some common sense please, do you understand ship stability”, “Yes, I do”, he says, so I say, “OK so we can have 16, 22 stone people upstairs, is that right?”, “Yes” is his reply. So I ask, “But we can’t have 15 normal sized people with three nippers who don’t make up an adults weight?” “Ah, well, er”, was his reply. “See my point, just use some common sense please”.
Funny enough, as Wendy then kept telling me we had 22 and 23 people on the top deck from thereon in but he never came back up to tell anyone!
And so our romantic cruise continued and it was nice, with an almost full moon in a mostly clear sky.
We looked to catch the train back but track maintenance prevented that but we did get the courtesy bus which dropped us off outside the station, free of charge too, what a result.
We called to get a big bar of chocolate from the shop to conclude tonight’s romance, how lovely, Wendy scoffed most of it.
We got back to the flat and darling Rachel had beat us back and had bought us a most delightful present for our onward journey which we start tomorrow.
Brisbane to Caloundra, (The Sunshine Coast)
63 Miles
We have recommenced our journey from Brisbane but I feel I have to indulge in a few observations before I move on. Brisbane is my most favourite city of the trip so far and to cap it all we have had a brilliant time with our very good friend Rachel, who very kindly accommodated us for just over a week.
Melbourne and Adelaide were very nice, but the temperature swings didn’t go down too well. Sydney is, well just too Sydney. I liked Darwin but I can see Wendys point about the heat and humidity and Canberra, well Canberra is the capital city that just isn’t. So for me Brisbane is the tops……….to date!
And I’ll tell you why!
Obviously the biggest thing going for the city is the climate. With a minimum average year round temperature of 16oC then that’s a massive positive, jeepers that must be close to Inverness’s average maximum. Honest the weather is superb, you get a shower of heavy rain, it clears and then it’s wall to wall sunshine.
The river and the river boats – apart from my little altercation with the H&S Official last night we have had a great time hopping on and off the ferry boats, with one exception every official we have come across, (One man skippered boats) has been very positive.
The riverside walkways – This as done it for me. There must be at least 12 miles of walkway on the north bank and at least 7 on the south bank. The city council have invested into this infrastructure and it’s great to see it get so much use. I have run on the walkway 6 out of our 9 day stay, having to bike over some pretty big hills to get there and I’ll tell you it was worth every inch of hard slog. Wendy even put in almost 30 miles in a single day it is that infectious. I now know the river system and its walkways and bridges like the back of my hand. Good on Brisbane City Council, yes credit where it’s due. I did 86 miles running and 69 miles on my bike and I loved every one of them
Did I mention Kangaroo Point, the parks, cafes and markets, jeepers I could go on and on. But seriously if you ever are fortunate enough to get the chance, seize it and visit Brisbane, you will not be disappointed.
And to top the week off we had a smashing supper with my Expedition Leader, the very capable David Hudson, (Major), one of the most inspirational men of my adult life, and his wife Mary. And we have spent a fantastic week in the company of Rachel Gibson.
Rachel and I go back 30 years, Rachel and Wendy go back a little bit shorter in time but the affection is just the same. Rachel has been a very good friend to the Gill family for many years, in fact Robyn talks to her, (via Facetime like she saw her yesterday and it’s been 16 years).
We stayed at Rachel’s flat which has a most impressive balcony with very wide opening windows, we both just loved sitting there at night chatting with Rachel, at the end of the days heat, it was just magic.
And so to today I got back from my run, (I did have a funny chat with a drunken man as I locked my bike up at the riverside – New laws have been passed to restrict alcohol use at nights, (just the same as the old lock out in Inverness), apparently there is this stupid craze of punching someone you don’t like on the back of the head and its killed too many young people so the lock out laws have been introduced. Anyway this man, about my age, comes up to me and says, “Hey I’ve told the cops this lock out law isn’t any good, I can take 10 punches, I won’t go down, I’m hard me”. Well I’m clearly in the company of an intellectual man at 06:45 so I say, “Oh yes mate, I can see, I won’t argue with that, but best you get moving and off to your bed, you look like you need it” and with nothing further said he wobbled off on his way!), and showered and then we were out for a brunch at our favourite café, in town. We all had something tasty but Rachel got the best, a mango smoothie. Thankfully that and the smoked salmon sarnie she had did for her and I had half of the smoothie.
We left Rachel at about 12:30 and I must admit it was it was a bit emotional all around, but DG/WAG will be back……….I’m aiming on five years, give or take a month!
And so we set off…….to see Alison and her family.
I used to take Alison to school when she was five years old, I loved it as she used to talk my ears off as I held her little hand. And now she is a beautiful young woman with her very own family, two little girls who are just adorable. We had a lovely couple of hours with them and I met Matt her husband who is a very friendly young man. I was introduced to the world of Elsa during my visit who seems to be very popular with little girls, I also did some colouring in and I loved it.
And so now we are at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast, the site is lovely and quite but there is a wind blowing, however I am now sat outside and it’s still 26oC. We did have a very quick shower this afternoon but it soon passed.
It’s been a smashing day, it’s been a brilliant week, the best week of the trip so far!!!
Caloundra
No Travelling
Jeepers did we have two or three storms during the night, not that I noticed that Wendy noticed, though she swears she did notice, but I didn’t notice her notice!
The morning was breezy and overcast but being determined we got ourselves ready for an exploring bike ride when it started to rain again. We didn’t need any excuse, it was under the awing with our books until we were sure we could go without getting drenched. So 20 minutes later we were off, and what an occasion it was, (I need more words to use instead of delight, any suggestions avid reader?). The breeze was still quite stiff and we did get the odd spitter but eventually the weather brightened and we had a stonking day.
We cycled about 7 to 8 miles to the north along yet another well-constructed cycle path and it turned out to be very hot and sunny, still breezy but that helped with the heat.
We are, I believe at the bottom of the Sunshine Coast and from what I have seen so far I do not think it’s anything like the Gold Coast. For the Gold Coast think Benidorm, for the Sunshine Coast think Eastbourne. Don’t get me wrong it’s a lovely area but it’s definitely geared for the, let’s say, more relaxed lifestyle, i.e. older years. However its early days and things may change as we head north.
I heard on the news today that a young man has been stung by Box Jellyfish in the Cape York Area, from my mind this is far too early in the season for them so I’ll have to be careful where I swim as we get further north. Box Jellyfish are by far the most toxic creature on earth and need a very wide berth. The poor fella suffered an heart-attack before they could get him off the beach, I hope he’s OK but I should imagine it will be touch and go.
Our cycle ride was lovely, we had lunch on the go and then nipped into a shop/café for coffee and we shared a scone, (jam & cream of course) and a cheesecake, well we had earned it as there were some very big hills.
I went for a walk on the rocks as the tide receded, I didn’t ask Wendy as I know she’s not keen on such adventurous activities. Well the rocks were slippery and I nearly went head over arse, I could feel her laughing at me for the shore. “You nearly came a cropper there didn’t you”, she says sympathetically when I got back.
We also came across a mass of spider’s webs with some topping sized spiders lurking menacingly. I didn’t see them first up, Wendy saw them and jumped about 13 feet into the air even though they were looking to catch fly’s in their webs and not Wendy Gills!
We got back to camp at about 14:30 and had a wee rest up as the sun was hot and the breeze was still blowing. But after about 15 minutes we set off again, this time in a southerly direction. We came across some very nice, ah, elderly accommodation, I might check in myself in a few years’ time.
The cycle track went for a couple more miles and the scenery was stunning.
Back to base at 17:00 for a dip in the pool, Wendy couldn’t come in too far as the automatic self-cleaner was in operation and she was scared it would suck her up, see what I have to put up with!
Supper was made in camp kitchen and eaten at base as they are about ten metres apart, BBQ sausage and pork with a lovely salad knocked up by Wendy. I have to say we are eating quite well, maybe a little too well but with an abundance of fresh fruit, salad and veg you can’t help it. We are loving the fresh avocados and I am very much into fresh mangoes for my second breakfast of the day, (I have F&F before my run and mango, toast with vegemite after, I know I’m a porker pig).
Its early to bed tonight as we have a very exciting day lined up for tomorrow, I may not sleep tonight it’s so exciting, I hope it lives up to expectation.
See you tomorrow avid reader!!!
Caloundra
No Travelling
My intuition has been confirmed we are in retirement land, nothing wrong with that mind! I have found a radio station called Sunshine Radio that plays 50’s a 60’s music all the time, we only needed Glen Miller to get us, “Into the Mood”. They even advertise retirement homes on the station, now that’s proof pudding!
Well what a day, brilliant, stonking and magical don’t describe it, as we have been to Australia Zoo!
More important we went with Ruby and Abby who are the most delightful little girls you could meet.
Australia Zoo was Steve Irwin’s Zoo before he was tragically killed. But it’s been continued in keeping with his wishes and it’s brilliant. Wendy and I don’t do Zoo’s, as we don’t like to see caged animals. But this is different, these are endangered or rescued animals and boy they have such freedom.
It’s such an interactive experience, we saw a bird display where beautiful coloured birds fly around a stadium in a fantastic display and a crocodile display that had to be seen to be believed.
The girls, were fantastic, they made it such a great experience, they were interested and excited, well behaved and extremely polite and well mannered, my kind of child!
We saw, Kangaroos, Koalas, Dingos, Crocodiles, fancy birdy things, Tigers, Camels, Wombats, Dragons, Zebras, Giraffes, Rhinos and even a Tasmanian Devil. The Wombat actually goes for walks on a lead just like a dog and she loves it.
All of the keepers are great with the animals and there is such a high level of respect for them it’s great to see.
Abby and I shared a very special moment when a small Kangaroo hopped up to us, out of the blue and let us both stroke him. The look on Abbys face was one of pure delight. It’s a shame none of us got a photograph as Wendy and Alison were a little in front of us. Other people were taking our photo though, the scene was so lovely.
We came across some Giant Tortoise and they were cute to start with, then they put on a show that really should have been conducted in private, shocking behaviour, Wendy nearly wet herself at the grunting he was doing!!!
We have had such a lovely day, I would need William Shakespeare to put it into words, so I will not try anymore, but please look at the photographs they speak volumes.
We are back in camp now and in need of some supper. In keeping with our day we are treating ourselves to a steak and salad meal.
I’m knackered, Wendy is knackered and hopefully the girls are tired too because I also think Alison is in need of a good night’s sleep as well!
Night, Night Avid Reader!
Caloundra to Tin Can bay
105 Miles
We set off for Noosa Head and called int Coolum on the way for a leg stretch, it was a nice place with a beautiful beach and we did consider staying over but it just didn’t fit the bill. It could have been any number of similar places so we kept going, onto Noosa Head.
Bugger me if Noosa head wasn't the same type of place, well slightly different, but there weren’t any campsites nearby either so after a quick bite to eat we were off again heading for Tin Can Bay, where in Marys kitchen does that name come from?
So were are off again, on the road and our very good lady friend Miss Sat-Nav says she is happy and knows her way, and as good friends we are happy to follow. Until the cow takes us to an area in the middle of nowhere, where the road turns into one of two options, a, a gravel road, (The van isn’t allowed, insurance issues), b, up a hill where there is a very stark warning, this hill is very steep and the only vehicle that is safe to travel is a very small reasonably priced car.
I suppose there is option c, go back and try again but it must have been a 30 mile detour so bugger that.
So with the two cab occupants calmly telling Miss Sat-Nav how they feel they decided to take the hill and turn off Miss Sat-Nav.
I must say at this point that the countryside is phenomenal, green lush and hilly, just like Gods Country, The County of Yorkshire, (That’s the biggest and best County in England by the way!).
And so to the hill, what a big one it was, I got worried signals from the co-pilot when she saw 15%, (what does that mean by the way?). But we managed, it just. The wheels slipped a little losing traction but with nerves of steel I managed to make the climb.
The rest of the journey was awesome, (more than a delight) and we called into Gympie to get supplies as we are going off road.
And so we made it to Tin Can Bay. It is beautiful, it’s a peninsular with the sea on both sides, somewhat like the Black Isle and the sea goes out for miles just like the Beauly Firth.
After setting camp we went for a bike ride and found yet another walk and cycle way, (just how do the Australians do it?). It’s fantastic, we did it all in an afternoon so we now have to set our sights further afield tomorrow, Rainbow Beach maybe?
It’s getting late now, 19:30, (well we do get up at 05:30, well I do anyway), and we have had a most delicious meal at camp kitchen, Barramundi and Prawns in Kakadu Plumb Sauce with salad, Yum, bloody Yum.
Tin Can Bay
No Travelling
Whilst running around a very well-constructed walkway this morning I came across a gang of Kookaburras in some woodlands and they were having the time of their life. They were laughing with such gusto it was a pleasure to hear, I even chuckled along myself until an old couple came upon me and thought I might have been in the sun too long!
I also came across one very sweaty Wendy Gill too who after four months has finally found her pedometer. She did 9,884 steps today, she says she’s going for the big 10,000 tomorrow!!!
I forgot to say that I have had several blow outs with my thongs and I am now onto my fourth pair. I bought some double pluggers yesterday so hopefully they will last a little bit longer. Thong blowout is the bain of any surfer dudes life!
We’ve had a day at the beach today, Rainbow Beach as recommended by Darren Scott and Alison White, and I’ll tell you this it did not disappoint.
But before we went down to the beach we did a bit of shopping, well Wendy did, one dress and one top, both very nice, she’s really into shopping now, I think she is changing her entire wardrobe!
And so to the beach and it went on for miles and miles, in both directions. In fact the south end of the beach can be utilised by 4 x 4’s for fun and frolics, we saw about 20 or 30 take the plunge and head off for some very exciting rough and tumble.
We however being very sensible stayed within the Lifeguards flags as we are having the after effects of Cyclone Winston from Fiji. The waves were fantastic and I had the time of my life rolling in on the surf. Needless to say I had my blue zinc on my lips, I looked like Adam Ant!
I caught at least 4 tubes, at the crest and then came in on the surf it was brilliant. The only thing was I had no one to play with, I would love Robyn and Bradley to have been with me today, we would have had a ball out there.
The Life Guard got into a spot of bother on his jet-ski too. I suspect he may have been doing a bit of showing off for the bikini girls and came a right cropper. The waves were at least 2m in height and they looked a bit daunting when I was at the bottom of them, but I could see matey Lifeguard bouncing over them and leaping into the air periodically. Then I saw him fly off and into the big surf, he was struggling to get his machine under control and in the end he had to let it go. Well it came bouncing by me in a quite uncontrolled manner, I being smart though gave it a very wide berth.
It was interesting to see that no one came to the rescue of the Lifeguard, he had to get himself to shore and put his machine up and get it started again. I’ll tell you what though, that jet-ski was put back on the beach and never moved again all day.
We had a very civilised lunch as provided by my good friend Rachel Gibson, bread and a variety of nice cheese, supplemented by Australian Black Pudding. Yes, that’s right Black Pudding, I got it from Coles Supermarket. I had a conversation with the young lad at the counter and it went like this, “Do I need to heat this black pudding or can I have it cold”, “Well it should be cooked”, was the reply. “As it been cooked already” I ask, “Yes”, was the reply, “Is it OK to eat cold then”, “I guess so, but I wouldn’t”. It was bloody lovely and no ill effects so far!
As we were parked quite close to the beach we got out the table and chairs, under a shady tree and took our luncheon quite respectably, with one glass of wine each.
Then back for more surfing, a nice walk along the beach with Wendy and then a bit more surfing. I’ll tell you something I sometimes forget my age, all that tumbling about in the surf takes its toll on my middle aged bones!
Supper was a nice affair, again in camp kitchen with the Kookaburras laughing, it must have been my cooking!
After dinner and as it was a very clear night sky I took Wendy to the point of the peninsular to see the stars. I thought it would be a nice romantic occasion, Wendy had other things on her mind. It was dark, as it needs to be, so everything creepy and crawly is out to get her. So we are walking in the dark, along a path and as we pass some bushes Wendy goes into stamping mode. She stamps her feet so that anything waiting knows she’s coming. She is crackers, quite illogical. I even took her to a very nice jetty but she wouldn’t come within a metre of the edge in case something jumped out of the water and got her.
The sky was wonderful though, we could see millions of stars, and better still we have the full moon to come up in an hour or so, but thankfully for Wendy we can see that back at camp!
Tin Can Bay to Hervey Bay
66 Miles
Wendy continued her health kick start this morning but having forgot to have breakfast she could only manage a paltry 8,800 steps. I have told her times many breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day, second only to lunch and dinner. She had to cut short and devour a banana!!!
We set off for Maaroma this morning to stay at a campsite owned by the same site owner we stayed with at Inverell. It sounded just great with beach access and supposed kangaroos roaming the beach. But as it’s a Six Nations Weekend I sent Chris, the owner, an email a couple of days ago asking about Wi-Fi connectivity, (priorities), but he didn’t get back to me.
That was OK as we would have been passing anyway so we took a two mile detour and stopped by. No mobile signal at all, SOS only. As 3G is my back up internet supply because site access isn’t always great we just had to go elsewhere.
Side Track – I got 12 megabytes of 3G with my last top up, that’s a lot, I’ll be able to listen to Chris Evans all day long!
So Wendy, our famous co-pilot took to her travel books and come up with Hervey Bay, I’d never heard of it. Wendy also found a good campsite in her books and I checked it out on Wiki Camp and it had good write ups. So after a shopping stopover in Maryborough we headed onto Hervey Bay.
Well here we are fully installed and it’s brilliant. The lady on reception, who is English and married to an Englishman who likes his sport gave me a spot close to the Wi-Fi sender and we have top notch reception, the site is really nice with a concrete base for the awning and very lush grass, and I have 5 bars, 3 G on my phone.
The only downside is the game starts here at 03:50 on Sunday morning!!!
After lunch we went for an explore, first things first, we have a Bowlo right next door, Check, (Big Check), we are within 100 metres of the beach, Check, the beach is, again, stunning, Check!!!
The beach is a beauty with a very good walking / cycle track running along it. Its goes for miles and miles.
Wendy thought that there was a Friday market about 2.5 miles away so off we went, a very nice walk but bad intel, the market is every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month, bugger.
On our walk we came across a very long wooden pier, it was over 1,000 metres long when first built in the 1900’s to take sugar cane to waiting ships. But it ceased to be used in the 1980s and the government started to dismantle it. There was an outcry and they managed to stop the demolition, however they are now down to 800 metres.
The pier is a fantastic asset to the local area, it was full of people fishing and just walking taking in the late sun. Who on earth, or more likely which committee thought it a good idea to demolish it, City Hall is always full of Plonkers, believe me.
Today has been really hot with little or even no breeze and it looks set to stay for the weekend.
We walked back as the sun set and it was still quite warm, Wendy was running on empty as it was now turned 18:30. We got back right enough and I had a dip in the pool, I tried to get Wendy to come in to cool off but there were too many bodies in the water for her liking, 2 young women and 1 small boy!!!
It’s now 19:50 and supper is on in our new and very modern camp kitchen. We are sat outside while our chicken cooks on the hob and it’s a lovey evening.
Hopefully I’ll get Wendy to take an evening stroll on the beach to see the stars again!!!
Side Track 2 - Supper was a delight, chicken in a Chinese sauce. We went back to camp and was just going to press when a very drunk English, (West Mids), Lady came to chat, could we get a word in edgeways, no! Funny enough I did hear a very serious political discussion earlier today at a campervan near us, it was quite surreal!
Anyway she’s just gone and I can’t describe the stuff she has told us, we know her life story and some.
So, time to print and I must get Wendy Gill onto the beach, it might be a struggle as she has now collapsed on the bed, her 8,800 steps must have done for her!
Hervey Bay
No Travelling
It’s been a day of activity today, I did my run, I went North, Wendy did her walk (11,244 steps) and went south. She’s into it now, I came back from the amenities at about 06:00 and she was up sipping tea and then getting her trainers on.
Today though, despite a very promising weather forecast, was very overcast.
So after breakfast we went for a bike ride, 21.9 miles actually. We followed the cycle route south, past the Marina, turned around and called in for coffee, and cake. Boy it was some cake, I had Mango Cheesecake, an utter delight, Wendy had a cookie!
We then cycled along the route north to south and in total that was ten miles so by the time we got back and called to the IGA Supermarket we had done the 21.9 miles.
It may have been overcast but it was hot, 30OC and Wendy was doing her melting routine. Wendy is always too hot, or melting, she melts that often and that much it’s a wonder she is not the teeniest, tiniest, teeny person in the world, I mean how can she melt that much!
Along the route I showed Wendy the water park. This is a local authority attraction that is aimed at young people, little people actually. It’s free of charge and it looks great fun, I might go myself tomorrow if the sun is out. Wendy tells me I have to have children, I’ll find some!!!
On our way back we came across a huge brood of fruit bats hanging in the trees, what a racket they were making. I pulled off the cycle path to get some pics and then I heard a man swear at Wendy. She had not fully pulled off the cycle path and he had to make comment. He said something like, “Keep clear of the bloody path”. He was an older man and I would expect something better from him, I did consider chasing him but he was obviously obnoxious so I let it go. Now lets put this into context, this is a 2m cycle and walking track, north and south, that is for pleasure use. If you want to do over 10 MPH, then go to the velodrome, this cycle track is not for time trials!!!
And so after this minor altercation we did a bit of shopping and headed back for lunch, well it was 15:00ish so we had supper kind of late lunch. BBQ Beef Burgers, they were lovely, MMMMHHhhhhh!!!!!
By now the sun was out, the clouds had gone in an instant and we had bright sunshine, so being romantically inclined we went of an evening stroll on the beach as the tide slowly receded.
We even managed to sign in, get this, at the Lifesaving Club for a beer in their beachside bar, $8 for two beach side beers, thank you very much, and thanks to the very eccentric Lifeguard who invited us in!
We continued with our walk and in total we did over 4 miles.
So Wendy has walked 8 miles and cycled over 20 miles today, and melted 72 times!
Its evening time now and we are sat in the kitchen area and two Dutch girls have just cooked a pizza, bugger! Boy it smells so good.
It’s another 6 Nations night and I have to be up at 03:40 in the morning. I think if the sun is out tomorrow will very likely be a full beach day, hopefully nursing a winning hangover – Come on England!!!
Hervey Bay
No Travelling
Well my alarm went off at 03:40 but could I long onto the Wi-Fi, could I hell, grrr. I tried everything, restarting the laptop, it took an age to start up. I opened the van door thinking the metal body was screening the signal, still no joy. So then I went upto camp kitchen where the signal comes from and hey, got it, well sort of. It must have been a poor signal as it kept doing the odd catch up. But in the end I got to see England beat Ireland, convincingly too!
When I got back to the van after the game Wendy was bimbling on her IPad, she said that I had made too much noise scrambling about, and there’s me thinking I was tippy toeing!
We got to sleep but didn’t rise until after 09:30. I felt fine but Wendy doesn’t do disturbed sleep very well and looked shattered.
Wendy went for her walk and I set off for a good ten mile run to clear the cobwebs, I felt great and got back in good time. Wendy was just in front of me in getting back and had done her 5,000 steps and had immediately turned around and headed back, no extra steps today for Mrs G!
It was windy day so we decided to stay by the pool for a while and read our books. I have been reading a book Wendy gave me, she actually recommended it!!! It’s about 3 generations of women from a family in China before and during the revolution. I tell you it was purgatory to read, such wickedness and nastiness all in the name of one man. It took me an age to read it but I’m glad I did as it was quite enlightening.
We thought we would have an afternoon of decadence and found a very charming tapas bar about a mile away. We ordered 9 tapas and a bottle of fizz. The waiter tried to dissuade us as he thought it was too much, but not for me I was famished. Anyway as it was also a takeaway we could take what we didn’t eat.
The food was lovely, plentiful and tasty. Wendy was done in by the barramundi and chips, well it was almost a meal in itself. The pork belly was a dream, I tell you it was fantastic, Wendy was getting very nervous as she thought that I was tucking into her half.
So after our feed we went back to change Wendy’s shoes as we fully intended to go for a walk.
Well that didn’t happen we changed the shoes walked back to the bar and then took in some cocktails, I had an Australian Gold, it was so nice, I had two.
Wendy thought I was getting a bit in over my head and so took me back to bed, perhaps it was the sensible thing to do as I was asleep by 21:00 and slept through until 06:00. It was a roasting night though and we had several skirmishes over the fan, I won!
Hervey Bay to Bundaberg
72 Miles
I passed a milestone today as I have now completed over 1,000 miles running on the roads, tracks and beaches of Australia, 1006.74 miles to be precise. It’s been great as I have seen some brilliant sites, such as a dingo, kangaroos, gold mines, beautiful beaches, deserts, rain forests, birds of all descriptions, rock formations, PEOPLE, ways of life to mention a few.
Here’s to my next 1000!!!
Wendy got back from her walk a little after me and we set off for Bundaberg to stay at the home of Heather and Warren who were our site managers at the site we stayed at over the Christmas period at Dalmeny.
On the road we saw that the vegetation is still quite lush and green, in fact the Bundaberg region is known to be the garden of Australia for its abundance of good growing soils and its massive variations of crops and fruit.
On the way we stopped off at a small town called Childers. It’s a lovely small town but it has a very sad recent history as 16 backpackers were killed there in recent years, (not many years ago), following a serious fire at the hostel they were staying in. It’s a shame the town has this stigma, but some good is coming out from it. I have heard on the radio that an Independent Member of the Federal Parliament has had a heart attack last week and he is a known supporter of the Government and often votes with them. So the Opposition Parties have said they will not contest any legislation due to his inability to vote as he is recovering in hospital. In response to this gesture the Government has said that they will not drive through any controversial measures and that they will put none contentious issues forward to match the spirit of the Opposition. One of these new measures will be an improvement in fire safety legislation in response to the incident at Childers, which is a good thing. Now don’t go thinking Australia is a backwards country when it comes to fire safety, the issue of hostels has been quite an ongoing saga in the UK for many years and its only as recent as 2010 that legislation was implemented so that hostels could be standardised to the same standard as modern hotels, and there are still some horror stories still out there just waiting to unfold!
And so onto Bundaberg.
Before we went to Heather and Warrens place we called into town to have a look around and I have to say that I am a little disappointed. I had the impression that it was an old outback town with interesting architecture, well it’s not. There are some lovely buildings that have been ruined by the introduction of shop fronts that go back to the 1960’s and 70’s and I guess any character they had as now been lost. There is the odd one or two original building, but it’s not as nice as I imagined it to be which is a shame because I have wanted to visit Bundaberg for such a long time.
Maybe I’ll have to give it a second chance tomorrow!
Heather and Warren live about 15 miles out from the town and they have a really lovely house and grounds. Warren designed and built it himself and it is terrific, it is actually fantastic. The grounds are extremely interesting too with fruits of all descriptions grown here.
Today we have been introduced to dragon fruit and monstrous delicious, (I need to double check this name). They also have passion fruit, mangos, citrus fruit, tropical pears and many others. We loved them and we received a full lesson about how they grow and how to eat them from Heather and Warren.
I am really looking forward to staying a couple of days as they are both really lovely and interesting people. Their hospitality is fantastic too, I’m sure we are going to learn a lot in the coming days.
Bundaberg
No Travelling
As we are quite close to a Highway and out in the country Wendy didn’t go for her morning walk, she came on her bike with me when I went running. The country is very interesting as we are deep in sugar cane farming lands and we are surrounded by cane fields.
On our way back I saw what looked like a long stick in the road and as I hoped over it I thought it was a bit different from a stick and so I stopped, prompting Wendy to stop, but not before both bike wheels had gone over it.
Well the mystery was solved, it was a long chain of what we think were caterpillars stretching the width of one carriageway. However the chain was now broken as Wendy had squashed one of the links. This seemed to have caused some confusion as they stopped in their tracks and appeared at a loss as to what to do next. This prompted me and Wendy to scarper as we knew that within the next 5 minutes a huge UTE would be tearing down the road causing caterpillar carnage.
Back at base we had breakfast and both Heather and Warren were astounded at how much Vegemite I put on my toast, I love it though and I am helping the Australian economy.
After a walk around the garden gathering photographs of Heather and Warrens fruit we set off for a day out exploring.
First up we went to the shop at the Bundaberg Rum Distillery and I was like a child in a sweet shop. I was good though and left all the purchases to Wendy.
Next we went to Bargara which is a small resort on the coast about six miles out of town. It was a really nice laid back resort with a few small cafes and restaurants with a few smaller beaches than of late, but the surf was still good and so we got out our deck chairs and just passed an hour by in the shade watching the surfers and the tide roll in.
Our next stop was Hummock Lookout which is the highest hill in Bundaberg, it’s an extinct volcano and as has some great views of the surrounding countryside. Lastly we went down to the marina where I fell in love with a yacht from Jersey, I did think about asking the owner if he needed crew for the return journey, but I don’t think Wendy would approve!
Back to reality as Wendy as offered to make one of her stupendous curries for supper therefore some additional provisions had to be obtained from the supermarket and now it’s on the stove simmering away and making everyone feel doubly hungry.
I am extremely interested about how Warren manages his water supply around the house. Water being very scarce in Australia is utilised much better than we do in the UK. The house is not on mains and so drinking water is collected in very large tanks from rain water which comes from the roof. The water is not treated at all, it’s very tasty mind and its supply is dedicated to taps, bathing, and drinking supplies. Water for toilets, washing and gardening is supplied from a borehole which is 18 metres deep. The bore water can be used to supplement the rain water if it ever runs dry, it is potable, but not as nice as the rain water.
Warren as some ingenuous ways of saving water. One such example is the toilet! There is a tap and a sink on top of the cistern, after flushing the tap operates automatically, you wash your hands and the runoff water fills the cistern, it’s fantastic.
Addition – We just had a delightful supper, the curry was wonderful but more importantly we were introduced to ice cream and Bundaberg Rum Chocolate Liqueur by Heather, now this is a game changer. I am having an ice cream party when I get home, it’s going to be a trend setter!
Bundaberg
No Travelling
We have had a really lovely day today, as we mostly do!
This morning Wendy joined me again with her bike for my morning run, but this time at the pub we went left, not right, (where it’s all nice and flat). We didn’t see the first uphill for the first mile but we soon saw the second, third and fourth. At turnaround Wendy was sweating like bugger and cursing. I even had to select first gear for her she was too tired to do it herself.
On the way back she left me on the second hill and kept going, I could see her little legs peddling in the distance. She didn’t wait for me at our agreed rendezvous point, oh no bugger him, she thought, I need my shower.
She’s not game for the same treatment tomorrow, you know!
There was one thing we did both agree on though and that is that the countryside was stunning, I think it was well worth the effort, Wendy not so!
Back for breakfast and then we had to say goodbye to Heather as she was going to Canberra for a prearranged visit to her daughter. Heather has been really kind to Wendy and I, she and Warren opened have opened their home to us and made us feel very welcome, we even learned quite a lot from them both about some more aspects of life in Australia.
Then we went into town for a tour of the Bundaberg Rum distillery and it was a most enjoyable experience. The tour was very informative, we now know how to make rum, but we’re not that interested in that aspect of it, we found the tasting element to be much more a rewarding experience. Wendy loved it, she’s not normally a Bundy fan but with Heather introducing her to the Chocolate Liqueur last night she was prepared to give it a go and boy did she do just that. I think anymore and she would have been shot for the rest of the day.
I have been a Bundy fan for over 30 years, it’s hard to get in the UK, so for me it was a great pleasure to tour the factory and to get to know the nitty gritty of this great product. I wish them well and continued success, just please open a franchise in the UK.
After the tour we left the van at the distillery and walked to a fish monger that Warren had recommended, to get some barramundi for supper. Warrens recommendation was spot on and we got some lovely barramundi, but we could have bought the shop out, there was a feast of different fish that we never set eyes on in Europe, such was the range available.
So with our catch we went back to drop them in the fridge, have a bite of lunch with Warren and then head to the small town of Gin Gin, about 16 miles to the West.
As we left Warren after lunch he called to us to visit Kookaburra Park, which is a private ecological village about 1.5 miles this side of Gig Gin. He told us this for a very specific reason and he was right, Kangaroos!!! There was heaps of them, lounging around in the grass and in people’s gardens without a care in the world. We filled our boots just watching them, I could do it all day long they are such interesting animals.
Continuing on the journey we saw about forty Kangaroos on the Gin Gin Golf course, munching on the fairways, no trimming required here for the green keepers, he as his own private pack to do that for him.
Gin Gin is a very quaint, small town, (village most like), where we found some interesting shops. One was a small gift shop in the old Court House. They sold the works of local artists and we bought some very nice wooden coasters with Australian animals etched onto them as keepsakes of a lovely visit to the Bundaberg area.
The Court House had the old dock still in place, it’s made of timber and it is a work of art. I had to stroke its timbers and imagine the hardship felt by some of the, highly likely, desperate people who had been placed in it.
On our way back we called into a mango farm and met a very dear old lady who, with her husband aged 68 years had just bought this large fruit farm just to do something else. They also farm cattle in a town called Roma, now these are hardy Aussies!!!
The lady was lovely, we bought 4 mangoes and 1 paw paw, and she ended up giving us an extra mango and two passion fruit because she was nice!!! How sweat was she!
Back to Warrens and after a bit of prep by both Wendy and I we had our supper with Warren on the patio. It was a lovely meal, we chatted and saw the sun set, we chatted some more and had a really enjoyable time.
We haven’t told Warren or Heather about our five year plan, which is that we aim to be back in about 5 years time!!!
Bundaberg to Agnes water
83 Miles
Well would you believe, Wendy came out again this morning, there was some moaning when I again turned left but she stuck to it and with a bit of a motivational speech from me at the halfway point, which was obviously a massive boost for her, she was home and showered in no time at all and with not a curse word to be heard! Well done Wendy Gill!!!
After breakfast we had a leisurely morning and chatted with Warren as he went about his chores, Heather has left him a list and Wendy is making sure he sticks to it!
We left after a nice long coffee on the veranda with Warren and it was yet again with sadness that we departed.
I was thinking on my drive today, what lovely people Heather and Warren are and then I came to a conclusion as to why I like them so much. Well the reason is we spent three days with them in their home, us on a kind of holiday but them going about their daily business and there was not one aspect of negativity from either one of them, not a one. Now that’s 3 days mind, you might keep an appearance for an hour or two but not 3 days, days that start at 05:30 and go up until late night, it’s not possible. In fact Kate and Bob displayed exactly the same positive attitude at Urliup Farm which is an attitude that I can tune in to.
Also like Bob, I found Warren to be very inspirational in his outlook, nothing phased him, he just took it in his stride and carried on regardless, and believe me in the latter day he had more to contend with, (and without Heather), then he bargained for.
But like I said yesterday, we didn’t let on about our five year plan!!!
And so onto our intended destination which was to be the Town of 1770, which is the first place Captain Cook set foot on in Queensland, (his second in Australia). Well it turned out to be a bit of a damp squid for us so we back tracked a couple of miles and set camp on a site in Agnes Water. Which was fortuitous actually as Agnes Water as the most northerly surf beach in Queensland which will give me one last chance to use my board. The reason being is that we are at the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef which although is somewhat further out at sea it does has a calming influence on the surf.
The site is nice, very close to a lovely beach but one thing miffs me!!! They have Wi-Fi around the site of a small café which opens 07:00 to 16:00, we pay $40 a night, which is quite expensive, and they turn the Wi-Fi off when they close the cafe, how mean is that!!! I was going to stay a couple more nights, but I don’t like meanness so that’s that, we will stay two nights and then we’re off, north bound.
In Brisbane I bought a solar shower, it holds five gallons and is heated by the sun, so before we went for a nice long beach walk I filled it and put it out in the sun to warm up.
We had a lovely walk along the beach, the sun was out around us and the sky was blue, but up front a few miles into the distance we could see a very severe storm beating down. We are about 100 miles south of the Tropic of Capricorn so I guess it’s to be expected!
The Campsite has some lodges for rent, one is the Honeymoon Suite which is on stilts on the beach, they have cracking views out over the South Pacific Ocean, but funnily enough its marketed as a 4 person suite, how romantic!!!
Back at camp we went for a walk off site and I came across my first real coconut tree, needless to say I nabbed one and I intend to retrieve the milk, maybe I’ll try it with a little Bundy Rum.
I showered, very successfully I might add using the solar shower after I had got the coconut out of the husk.
Supper tonight is a simple affair, we have had a fantastic few days so we will celebrate with a bit of steak cooked by me and devoured by Wendy, well she is really into her training now!!!
Agnes Water
No Traveling
We slept in late this morning, reveille was 06:12 and do you know why? I managed to convince Wendy that we would be safe to sleep with the large back door open and receive some very refreshing cool air, which we did and it was most agreeable!!!
I ran on the beach, which was most satisfactory, Wendy walked it. The beach was 3.6 miles from end to end and had the best conditions of tide and firm sand that I have come across, Wendy beat me back though.
At camp there is a large storm drain between us and the next camp spot. This is ideal as we can’t be too close to our neighbours, however as I came back to camp I saw a very large lizard sat on the drain soaking up the sun. Wendy had not seen him as she relaxed in her deck chair. She’s seen him now though so I guess the back door open routine is cancelled after a one night only event!
I had breakfast of, get this…………….mango, passion fruit, monstrous delicious and vegemite on toast, wow now that’s a way to start any day, it was very pleasurable!!!
We went for a bike ride to 1770 to try to soak up the events of those days over 200 years ago, and I bet that on seeing the coastline it’s not changed at all since Captain Cook sailed in. How he did it I can’t imagine as at low water there are break waters everywhere due to sandbanks lining the entrance to the bay. He must have done it at high tide with the fullest of full moons, that’s all I can think.
As it was a hot morning I took a swim, it was enjoyable but I did get the willys as Wendy shouted something most urgent to me as I swam. Thinking she said “SHARK”, I was out of that water in double time. She said “Ray”, (sounds like to shark to me when you get it from a very excited Wendy).
After a most arduous cycle back, uphill, we took lunch which consisted of Bundaberg mussels from the shop where we bought the Barramundi, and bread. I am not exaggerating if I said it was delectable, well it was. It was made all the more special as I opened my coconut and took the juice and mixed it with a wee bit of Bundi Rum, now that’s the way to start a weekend.
After lunch it was beach time with my body board for some last time waves. We leave this area tomorrow and start another adventure, which I think will be just as good as any so far, keep tuned, don’t miss it avid reader it’s going to be beguiling.
Anyway surf was up and I was into it, I got some great waves. I got one and it was a beauty, I rode it in from first up on the top, into the surf and all the way in and it was exhilarating. However such was the intensity of the wave I lost my shorts, they were around my ankles, but being the dude I am I still took the wave all the way in and then very discreetly slid them up my legs. I did think the old lady I passed on my way in though did not avert her eyes which I am sure made for a most satisfactory experience for her.
Wendy was on the beach, on her sun bed, under the shade of a coulabah tree, reading her book whilst all this excitement was taking place and missed the lot.
On our way back to camp we saw that the site has filled to capacity, it is choc’ a ‘block!!! There are kids everywhere and little ones are playing on the drain at the side of us and there is this one wee tot who is absolutely charming, he is so good on his skate board he is enthralling, he is beating the rest of them hands down.
I cooked supper whilst all this merriment went on around me, I did chicken, risotto rice in a very yummy sauce, it was most enjoyable.
I think the lizard might be hunkered down with all the children activity so I might try to blag my way into getting the back door open again tonight.
Ah well here’s hoping…….!!!
Oh by the way, I used the solar shower again tonight, it was a, “Delight”!!!
Agnes Water to Rockhampton
141 Miles
I had a change to my breakfast routine, Paw Paw, or was it Papaya from the nice lady’s farm. She couldn’t tell the difference and as I am from Barnsley I can’t tell the difference between Paw Paw and Pee Wee! It wasn’t as nice as Mango though!
And so we set off for Rockhampton, well what a disappointment it is, sorry but it is. Warren did tell me, but we had to look for ourselves, sorry Warren, you were spot on.
On our approach I was looking for the monument to the Tropic of Capricorn, we never saw it, it was hidden behind a tree.
The journey was very interesting and the landscape started to get a bit browner as we travelled north.
And so onto Rockhampton, it’s not such a nice place, the river is very muddy, it’s wide but very muddy. Maybe it’s the time of year but I don’t think so as the creeks on the approach didn’t seem to have had much rain water.
After setting camp we went for a walk and we could not find the city centre so we asked a lady for directions. Well you would think we were talking Martian. There is no town centre, just a few streets with shops which were all closed on Saturday afternoon, well they would wouldn’t they!
So we hopped onto our bikes and went looking for the Capricorn Monument and we found it, hidden behind a tree. There is a Visitor Info centre there and we went in for a look. The lady behind the counter was very helpful which was quite nice as it was the highlight of her day.
Apparently we are in the capital of beef production with many thousands of cattle in a one mile radius? There are plastic cows everywhere!!!
When we got back to camp I dropped Wendy off and I explored a bit more and I found a bowlo!!!
I nipped back to camp and told Wendy of my discovery and she treated me to supper out, what a result.
The bowlo was something else, not as salubrious as Brisbane more like Bettyhill, but at least the food was nice.
Never mind we are off on route 96 tomorrow, hopefully things will perk up thereon in, if not I’m heading inland!
Rockhampton
No Travelling
Well I didn’t think that Rockhampton could not get any worse and guess what, it did.
As we walked back to camp from the Bowlo last night we could see the sky clearing and the stars coming out, so we went to bed feeling positive about the coming day.
Well that was dashed at 05:45 when the heavens opened whilst I had my breakfast.
However its mother’s day in the UK and so we are having it here in Rockhampton too. In the absence of her children I made Wendy a couple of cups of tea and then she opened her presents from Bradley and Robyn and was very pleasantly surprised with her very rich pickings. Then she took facetime calls from them both, although Robyn admitted to a bit of confusion to the very, very simple instructions about calling times I sent them last night.
So as the rain lashed down we took time out to relax and chat and laugh at the rain. I waited and waited to go for my run, Wendy gave up, without any real effort, on her morning walk detailing such reasons as a poorly foot, the rain and its mother’s day as any one of a number of I am not going power walking today reasons!!!
I went, but I left it too late after my first breakfast and was starving within minutes of leaving, it got so bad that I became shaky hungry, but thankfully I shook it off after the 4 mile mark.
Well to say I got wet is an understatement, I was soaked from head to toe, my trainers felt like deep sea divers lead boots as they were that wet. But every cloud and all that as it was 25 degrees and the rain was reasonably warm so I guess there was no real hardship, well apart from the hunger.
I got back to camp and Wendy did not appear to have moved from the position that I had left her, although she does contest that she had a very leisurely ablution in my absence, I’m not so sure myself.
We were going to drive the Capricorn Coastal route but as the rain was that heavy and the visibility that bad we decided against it. We prepared for the worst, a day in the van and started to make the most of it.
Wendy read one of her presents, a celebrity magazine from January where everything was out of date, (It was a present from Robyn who sent it by Royal Mail in January). I did some research via Google. Do you know that the tropics move north about 15 metres a year over a 40,000 year cycle? No neither did I. So I am guessing that if the Tropic Monument was built in the 40’s then I am still subtropical and not in the middle of a tropical downpour, and consequently the rain currently falling is just a figment of my imagination.
As lunchtime approached I made an executive decision, an early supper would be taken at 14:00.
I cleaned the prawns, made a salad and realised that I was short of several items, WINE, onions, butter and bread, oh and pudding!
So being the martyr that I am I got wrapped up and cycled to Coles Supermarket to get said items. I got drowned. A car, who in fairness could not avoid it, went through a mega puddle and wet me through, top to bottom. But hey, it’s still 25 degrees so who cares!
Back to camp with the goods and I realised that the very small amount of dry space under the awning was not going to be enough to keep us dry, not with the banquet I was preparing so I asked Wendy to ad-lib in the van, which she very skilfully did and with very little movement. (Do you know I do not think this lady as moved one inch all day? – I know, I know its mother’s day!
The rain was a bit of a worry as we are close to the river and Crocs like to get out and about which an abundance of rain allows them to do, so it’s all eyes on the rivers rise, which does appear to be much higher than yesterday, possibly due to the tide I tell myself so has to not cause undue worry.
Dinner was superb, we had a very nice diner and pud was a double delight, Profiteroles with, get this, very thick chocolate custard.
We have also listened to Heart FM all day via my mega 3 G allowance, thank goodness for Vodaphone.
At 16:26 Wendy was flat out enjoying an afternoon, mother’s day nap, so I guess I have done quite well as stand in child for the day and I hope that I can now be relived of my duty to take in the delights of a wee Bundi and coke.
Hopefully I will be able to raise her from the dead in time to call Granny Mavis later.
Ha, the rain stopped, Wendy roused, we got excited and started to prepare for a nice evening stroll, but the weather had the last laugh, its chucking down again, its 18:02 and I have given up on the day.
I went to toilet earlier and met some very nice German travellers, younger people, who are staying in a tent, the tent is soaked through and so they have taken refuge in the camp recreation room, (now that’s a loose term I can assure you). Hopefully they won’t get kicked out at closing time as its heading that way.
Tomorrow is a day of two options, 1, Head East to the coast trail, - dry option. 2 – Head West until its dry – wet option!!!
Night, Night Avid Reader!!!
Rockhampton to Emerald
170 Miles
It rained for most of the night as I heard its tip tap against the roof of the van. I woke to the sound of the morning birds and struggled to hear the noise of the rain above the din of the birds and the reason being was that it had eventually stopped raining.
The sky didn’t look good though, it was still quite dark so it won’t be long before the rain is here again!
I took a facetime call from Donald and Cathy which was quite nice, although Donald did abuse Wendy’s lack of exercise. Which, by the way, I was thinking about today. There must not be many active Mums in the entire United Kingdom that did less movement than Wendy Gill did yesterday. She says she showered, well that’s a 20 metre trip to the shower block, (I’m sceptical mind!) and then never got out of the van all day, she never moved her bum from the bed. But she was happy being pampered so that’s OK!
I managed to get my run in and got back just as it started to rain. I got back to camp as the spittle started to move towards the heavy side of a downpour so we quickly got the awning down and away. Then it started again, bucketing down. Well it is the wet season so we can’t complain!
So we set off due west, destination Emerald.
The countryside was stunning, and it’s obviously beef farming land and as we saw quite a few cattle farms, but not many cows strangely enough.
We outran the rain and entered reasonable sky at about 130 miles out of Rockhampton and we even managed to dry everything off in the sunshine at our new camp.
On route we saw loads of white fluff at the roadside, it was either wool or cotton. I think it was cotton as I saw what looked like cotton blowing from the back of a passing truck. There was that much around that they must be empty when the trucks reach their destination!
We set off for a bike ride to explore the town and we came across the biggest Vincent Van Gough painting in the world. It’s at the edge of a football field without any explanation of why it’s there, how bizarre!
Soon after we saw looming dark clouds and then the rain hit, it had caught us up!!!
As we needed a few groceries we split up, Wendy went back to camp to get the washing in and I set off for the shops.
The rain didn’t last long and the sun came out again, briefly, and then it rained yet again. So we took a, “Wine Out”, well what else could we do?
As the rain cleared we took a walk around the nearby botanical gardens and we saw a turtle swimming in the Narboa River. It’s a shame we saw it from the bridge and my photo isn’t great, but it did look much better in real life. He was sat there happy as Larry catching flies until Wendy moved too quickly and so he scarpered.
Back to camp and we have a dilemma as Emerald looks quite nice and there are some great lakes to see about ten miles south of the town. It’s a weather issue, do we hold out one more night or do we move on……………….I’m game for another night but Wendy isn’t so keen, we will decide in the morning when we can see what the weather is doing.
By the way, Emerald was reputed to be a very large Aboriginal settlement before the Europeans came, many massacres occurred with some brutal activity between 1859 and 1897 which resulted in over 24,000 deaths. I haven’t seen any Aboriginal people since we came here, OK it’s only been 5 hours so I’ll keep a look out tomorrow!
Just had supper, my turn, again!!! Chicken thighs with knock up Kakadu and garlic sauce. Mmmmhhh it was an extravagance, followed by leftover Profiteroles and chocolate custard.
It’s now 20:30 and I’m listening to Pop Master with Ken Bruce, Wendy has sneaked off to bed and I won’t be long as I am now into a new book and I’m hooked on it.
Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow and we will stay a bit longer, if not we will be further westward bound!!!
Emerald to Longreach
260 Miles
We have come a collective decision and that is to go to Mount Isa, how exciting!
We want to take the opportunity to explore as much of Australia as we can and by doing this journey we can take a good look at outback Queensland and following our drive today it’s not going to disappoint.
Wendy managed a good walk through the botanical gardens in Emerald while I was out running and then after a walk around the town we set off further west.
The drive was fantastic, I know it was 260 miles but it’s so interesting to see the landscape slowly change. We went through cattle lands of lush greenness with heaps of cattle grazing in the heat and went over the hills of the Great Dividing Range- Again!!!, (Is this the 3rd or the 4th time?).
We stopped for lunch in Alpha which was nice. Whilst Wendy made sandwiches I sat at a bench and watched the magpies jump onto the front of the van and gobble up the fly’s that were stuck there, the crafty buggers. One even snapped up a big cricket that was wedged into the grill, it took him an age to gobble down!
After lunch we set off again and came across a view point at a height of 1,600 feet called the MacDonald Range. It was a great sight looking out into the wilderness, Australia never seems to amaze me with its vastness, I love it.
And so we continued!
Our next stop was at the town of Barcaldine where we had to do a double take at the cemetery where we found a group of kangaroos in the shade of the trees chomping on the lush grass of the graves, some kangaroos have no respect! I shouldn’t imagine anyone would begrudge them though as they do save on grass cutting.
We also found a monument to the Trade Union Movement. There was a sheep shearer’s dispute in the 1800’s which resulted in Union Leaders being put in prison. This started a major dispute which resulted in the formation of the Australian Labour Party. They held a meeting under a tree which has since been immortalised. However the tree was set on fire in the 2007 and the major suspects were supporters of the Liberal Party, some Liberals!
The tree is now surrounded by a massive wind chime structure and it’s brilliant, it’s a shame you can’t here the chimes over the road noise, Wendy loved it.
The town was very interesting with quite a few pubs. However what struck me was the plaques put up by the Heritage Society. They gave details of building history, you should see the number of fires they have had over the years. I think there is work here for me in my Fire Safety Capacity.
We got to Longreach just before 4pm and set camp. Boy is was hot, maybe 35 degrees, the receptionist said we should cool off in the pool, , the she said, “but maybe not as it’s not so hot today”, what?
The site is nice but there is a big drawback, FLYS!!!
Take a look at the video of Wendy with her improvised fly killer, she’s such a laugh.
They are everywhere and they give us both the pip.
So we went into town and we found a very pleasant town with some great architecture. Unlike Bundaberg they have kept their original shop frontage and it looks really good. Its only small, one High Street but its good and it has a bit of a Cowboy feel to it.
Back at camp we had a dip to cool off and thankfully the flys left us alone when the sun set.
Supper was in a very nice camp kitchen, which was nice and hot. I helped an old boy get the TV working. Jeepers he was messing about and then I realised he couldn’t see without his glasses and he was too stubborn to go get them, once I realised that I had the telly on I no time at all.
It looks like its cold showers all around tonight with the fan on all night it’s that hot still!
We have had a smashing supper, chicken again, different sauce mind but it was still quite nice.
But more importantly we had a very clear sky and the stars were out so we sat out in the dark for an hour just looking up it was mesmerising. Wendy has only ever seen one shooting star in her life but none showed, until Wendy went to bed and one instantly shoot across the sky, she missed it again!
Longreach to Winton
112 Miles
Well today as been a day of contrast, we have had both good and not so good experiences, more of that later as I set the scene.
This morning saw Wendy not moving from her bed, the biggest JCB on earth cold not have got her from her bed, I recognised the look, made her a cup of tea and was on my way. I had a great run, really interesting and hot!
We had to call into a café for coffee and cake so that we could get some Wi-Fi. The coffee was lovely the cake delicious but the Wi-Fi was slow, in fact almost non-existent! But I did manage to publish my copy, phew!
So off we set on a reasonably short journey to Winton.
I was talking to a man at the pool last night who was doing the journey we were but in reverse and he said this journey is boring. Well I’ll say it’s extremely interesting and we loved it. We liked the wildlife, the countryside and most of all the sky, the sky was beautiful. I know it sounds mad but the small white clouds against the blueness of the sky was a delight to see. The patterns formed were like nothing you every see in the UK, oh and the brightness of the sun must have helped too, stunning.
So we get to Winton and Wendy is so excited as it has the biggest outside deckchair in the world. It has the Waltzing Matilda Museum and an astounding wall that has to be seen to be believed, we couldn’t wait.
Explanation - Waltzing Matilda, the unofficial national anthem of Australia was penned in Winton in 1895 which tells the storey of a traveller who is resting at a water hole when a “Jump Bug” comes to the water for a drink, (I was always led to believe a Jump Bug was a rabbit, but apparently its a sheep). He grabs the sheep and puts it into his swag bag when the landowner comes by with some policemen. To evade capture and a very severe punishment the traveller jumps into the water and drowns himself. His spirt then haunts the waterhole for ever after.
Camp – Not good, Wendy does not like it. The internet let us down it would not load the reviews on wiki-camp and so we were not forewarned. Never mind, it’s the worst, and by far but it’s only the one night. I later found a connection and saw that the reviews were shocking!
The fly’s, we thought Longreach was bad, these are twenty two times worse, but that’s the outback for you and we have our hoods, they’re not a good look but who cares, not me, Wendy to start with but she quickly changed her mind.
And so off to explore and we found:
The Waltzing Matilda Museum- Burnt down, and why not!
The Deck Chair – Nowhere to be found
The Wall – What a heap of S**t!!!
We also found the Musical Wall - Look at the video and photographs, enough said!
During our stroll through town I thought it would be nice if we had a beer and a sarnie in the pub where the first recital of Waltzing Matilda was sung.
Me to Barmaid – Two beers please and can I buy a sandwich.
Barmaid – Beers yes, sandwich no, we don’t sell them.
Me – Ah, I came in for a sandwich for lunch with my beer.
Barmaid - You can buy one from the café next door.
Me - Can I take my beer with me.
Barmaid – No.
Me – Can I bring my sarnie in here.
Barmaid – Yes.
Me – PHEW, (Blood and stone comes to mind).
During this conversation the girl managed not one pleasant facial expression, she is obviously in the wrong trade.
So, we walked a little further, we found a bottle shop at another pub and bought some wine. The girl serving us was lovely, warm and charming. I asked her if she owned the bar and she said no but she managed it.
As we got on our bikes I thought we should take a drink with her and see how it goes.
In the bar she very kindly put the wine in the fridge for us to keep it cold and made us feel so welcome. She was chatty and interesting and it just made for a pleasant visit. The bar was great too and I have improvements for my bar at home in mind now.
I asked if she had any connections to the bar across the road and thankfully she didn’t. I explained how we were served and she said she had heard similar reports. She also said that in her view if your serving the public you have to make an effort, I fully agree, I know where my supper is coming from tonight.
We went of a bike ride out into the bush and came across the strangest thing, someone had tied two fish to a road sign, no explanation, it was very creepy!!!
The town of Winton appears to be surrounded, say within 100 miles, of dinosaur attractions and so the local council in its wisdom has placed dinosaur foot rubbish bins around town, they look such tat!!! It must have been a committee decisions that’s all I can say!
Back at camp and the power is off, bugger no fan for Wendy and boy does she need it, it must be 380C. I went for a swim in the mucky, fly infested pool but could only manage 20 minutes as it seeped into my head what diseases I could be catching.
Thankfully the power came back and Wendy managed a shower in the amenities block, how she did it I don’t know but she was there and back in record time, dripping wet mind!
So off we set to the Tattersall Hotel for supper and we both had a lovely meal, Wendy had the barramundi, what a beauty it was and I had a pasta seafood dish which again was really tastey.
We had a good chat with Amy the barmaid, who topped up our glasses with a half empty bottle of wine which she said she just had to get rid of. Amy is an asset to this hotel, the place was reasonably busy whilst other bars we passed were almost empty and its all down to her attitude.
We walked back without incident and there was the start of a lighting storm in the sky so back at camp I asked Wendy if she wanted to sit outside and watch it. She never answered me so I got my chair out of the back, which was tricky as we were parked under and close to bushes.
Anyway, Wendy now wants to join me so I have to get the back door open again and when I do two crickets, one white and strangely one black hop into the van. Well you have never heard such a commotion that these two little critters caused. I thought Wendy was being murdered, I honestly did, what a performance!
So I had to get them out and then Wendy conducted a fingertip search of the van just to make sure nothing else had hoped in, meanwhile I sat in my chair and watched the most dramatic lighting storm I have ever seen, it was sheet lighting that entirely lit the night sky up.
Wendy went to bed and wouldn’t come out again!!!
Winton
No Travelling
Well, where do I start?
Well I’ll start with the lightning that lit up the campervan all through the night, it was stunning. I heard rain but I didn’t think it was much, until I stepped out of the van after breakfast. The first thing that happened was that my feet were well and truly underwater.
OK, I quickly grasp the situation, we need to spilt, and fast.
So we do and we get 5 miles up the road and come across a torrent of water flowing across the road. As we would have another 200 miles to go we decide to head back for more info.
There is none, the road website had not been updated for several days, the radio didn’t shed any light and so after an hours wait we checked at the Police Station where we were told by the very nice receptionist lady that the road was open, and she actually said get out now while you can!
So off we set again and bugger me the road is now closed. I spoke to the man from the council who had just closed the road. First he told me that he had tried to call the police but they weren’t answering. Then he said that as usual no one would make a decision about road safety, so he did it.
And he was right, he told me that even if we got through this section 12 miles up the road it was 0.6 metres above the road and impassable so we headed back to town again and checked into another, nicer camp site.
We went for a walk, in the continuing rain, jeepers it was chucking it down now. We went to the Visitors Centre and we found the long lost biggest deckchair in the world. To say it was a disappointment and a complete waste of $6.00 is a massive understatement. Thankfully the girls were funny and made us laugh.
More walking, in the rain and we saw the road we had cycled the day before, under 0.4 metres of water, things were not looking good.
By now all roads into Winton are now closed and there is no way out, it’s getting exciting now, a bit of a Blitz Spirit is developing.
At about 3 pm the rain eased and we had a bite to eat in the van, by then the sun was out and I went for a belated run.
I went out bush and I saw the last of the rain clouds disappear, things are looking up!
However at 17:00 all roads are still closed, will we ever leave?
So after checking the water levels again we headed to the Tattersall for a beer and then back for supper an hour later.
Supper was stonking!!!!
Wendy had steak, cooked to perfection, I had, get this Bugs and Prawns. What a DELIGHT!!! But it was a bit of hard work on the fingers with all the shelling. We did swapsies and it was all very nice, apart from the jumpy things that scare Wendy!
After finishing our wine with Amy we headed off back to the van to listen to Ken Bruce on the free Wi-Fi, with fingers crossed that the water levels will have dropped in the morning, I’m actually now feeling local!
It’s been a very interesting Outback Day and I’m actually glad we saw it. I have to say though that the flies are the worst to date, they weren’t bad during the rain but they made up for it when the sun came out.
Thankfully they are only day dwellers and scarper when it gets dark.
Winton to Cluncurry
389 Miles
My plan today was to go for my run, get back, check the roads out and escape the safest way we could. First I checked the river level on the Jundah Road, as it was at the 0.4 metre mark yesterday and I had a suspicion it was rising slightly. I steeled myself for the worst and it was much worse, in fact it could not have been any more worse than the most very of worsts. The river almost covered the depth marker and the road vanished into a lake of vast proportions.
I carry on with the run and chat with a lorry driver who made it through last night, but it was a bit hairy he tells me. I then manged to grab a council fella who was erecting even more road closure signs. He got on his radio to base to enquire about our main route out and the reply was that it was currently being checked and the status would be known in an hour. That’s OK so I continue.
Back at Camp I briefed Wendy on what the conditions where like and that we may have to face several more days here, the update wasn’t received very well!
At 10:00 we went to the council and found the latest update, all closed bar one. Next update 13:00.
So as its just after 10:00 Wendy says we should drive out on the road to where its blocked, about 30 miles away and see what it’s like and maybe join a queue for when they shortly open it. OK, I’ll go with that, its optimistic mind.
We got half a mile out and came to the North Sea…….and the tide was not going out.
In fact a couple of local men, who thought it funny, said we may be here two weeks, not if I can help it mate!
We head back to town and went into the library where it’s nice and cool and with no flies around.
I was doing some doodling on my laptop and I heard the receptionist talking to a young man about the road closures and so I chipped in. It turns out the only road open may be an option.
We seized the opportunity and not a moment too soon as the library had the local mothers circle in and their little darlings were making such a racket, I was at breaking point!
So we set off to Hughenden, 133 miles to the north east, it’s not an easy route, mainly single track but we made it. Then we went due west passing through several small towns heading to Cluncurry which is about 70 miles east of Mount Isa.
Along both of these roads we encountered biblical proportions of locus jumping at us from the road, there was millions of them. I had to stop on two occasions and clear the grid and more importantly the radiator as they were both covered solid with the dam things, in fact some were still alive and it wasn’t a very nice job to have to do. The biggest ones even smashed into the windscreen giving Wendy the shivers.
On this leg of the journey we saw some tremendous rain showers, the vastness of the Outback and the fact that the land is so flat gave us such a panoramic view of what we never see in the UK, the weather at large, and large it was.
We passed through one stretch of the road that had a covering of water over it, my co-pilot wasn’t over excited but we got through with no trouble and then we were away.
Several hours later we arrived safe and sound at Cluncurry as it’s just getting dark, and it’s raining, very, very hard. We set camp and it rains even harder and the van is now an island. Wendy takes over cook duties and I head to chat with the staff. Thankfully I met someone with some sense and he explained that we will be ok as the road slopes away pretty quickly after us. He also said go and see for yourself so you’ll have peace of mind, so I did.
Doing my very best Christian Slater impression I was wading in knee deep water in nothing but my swimmers, that’s OK the rain is reasonably warm, and I did indeed see the slope of the ground, so if we are in danger many others are first in line!
The rain has subsided now and I have checked the road status on the not very helpful Queensland Council website and see that conditions in Winton have not changed but that all roads in both directions for us are all fully open……for now!!!
Another great Outback adventure of a day!
Cluncurry to Mount Isa
76 Miles
The rain didn’t trap us, well not so far.
We left Cluncurry and the weather was overcast but thankfully dry. As I was running I saw that we were indeed on high ground and I also saw the devastation that the run off had caused further down the hill, it was carnage, funnily enough it was all drying out in the 30OC heat.
We set off late as we were staying at a holiday park that doubled as an accommodation site for mine workers, with free washing machines, so we bought into that and did two loads.
The trip to Mount Isa was uneventful from a weather point of view as it’s in the hills but through stunning scenery all the same. We did stop at the Burke & Wills Memorial, there were two early explorers who tried to find a route from Adelaide to the north coast. To say they were amateurish is a bit disrespectful, but they did take items of luxury that they didn’t need, such as a huge writing bureau and 3 tons of sugar! Most of the team died trying in the attempt and there were only one or two survivors.
It’s all very interesting and for them to get this far in those days without any tracks to follow was a massive achievement, but I mean a writing bureau of all things!
Mount Isa is a really interesting place and as I need to watch the rugby tonight on a secure internet server, and also that that Wendy needs a bit of pampering I have booked us into a fully automated Motel!
We had automated check in, our door lock code is my phone number and we have Wi-Fi and FoxTel TV!!! Wow are we living it up. We also have a kitchenette where I cooked our supper tonight, but not before we had a good stroll in town.
Mount Isa appears to be in the rim of an extinct volcano and dominating it, massively, is a mine. The Mount Isa Mine, it’s such an imposing feature over the town that it overshadows everything, my photos do not show the scale of its dominance, but I tell you it is massive.
Strangely there is an abnormal amount of lead in children’s blood around these parts so annual blood testing has to be conducted, for the record, zinc, lead, copper and gold is mined here!
We called into a supermarket for some supper items and I saw that fresh produce was running low, I even joked to Wendy about it being a bank holiday rush. Then when I tried to buy todays paper did I realise why. I could only get yesterday’s paper because the roads are all closed due to flooding!
Ahhhhhh, the rain yesterday was enough to finish the roads around us and so we are yet again stranded, thankfully though in a small city and not the backwaters.
I cooked supper and I set up our camp table outside our room as it was too nice to eat indoors. Whilst supper was on Wendy and I chatted with two younger fellas, Nathen and Shaun, who work for TV companies repairing transmitters throughout the north. They have a massive area to cover, much bigger then Bradley Gills even! Their six peson team covers from Townsville on the east coast to the Northern Territory border, about 100 miles west of Mount Isa all the way north to the tip of Cape York, now that is a massive area and they are away from home for weeks on end. Shaun’s wife is expecting a baby shortly and he is worried about getting back home in time due to the flooding.
Well did the heavens open and it chucked it down with thunder and lightning to boot, it was and still is a massive downpour.
It’s not looking good, but we have two nights here in the lap of luxury and so we will take what comes on Monday and see how we go.
I’m in bed now and Wendy is fast asleep and I am making the best of Dave Ashworths Foxtel catch up, (thanks Dave!), as I wait for the England V Wales Six Nations Game. I do hope it will be our day, but I know Wales will come strong at us.
Good night everyone – PS it’s still bloody raining!!!
Mount Isa
No Travelling
The rain continued into the night whilst I watched the rugby.
What a game it was, England were all over Wales in the first half but seemed to lose their way in the second half. I was waking Wendy with my grumbling at the ref so I dispatched myself out onto the porch and watched the rest of the match as the rain tipped down.
I nipped in for a drink and came back and Wales had pulled two tries back, I might have this wrong as it was 03:30 for me and vodka with mango juice is very nice, but the new score still gave me the willies.
Thankfully this time the team held their nerve and we won. Now we go over to France as Grand Slam chasers, I cannot wait! I have asked for a very early birthday present, a return flight to Paris, I’m not hopeful though!
Today I was woken by Wendy kissing me goodbye as she went for her morning walk, it was 10:00 and I could have turned over and slept again. But I didn’t I stayed in bed and caught up to episode 9 of The Walking Dead, it was brilliant.
I had to wait for Wendy to come back because the silly old sausage dog cannot remember my phone number. She is the silliest old sausage dog as it’s the easiest number to commit to memory – 0426-297-100 now how hard is that to remember?
When Wendy got back I left for my run and as I set off the rain started, but that was OK it was only drizzle and then it tipped down again and I got soaked. There seems to be a common theme here and it revolves around rain and road closures!!! All of the roads are closed again with the exception of the road to Cluncurry which if flooded would most likely bring Noah out of retirement.
I got back to the Motel and Wendy took all my gear and some other washing to the laundry room. But as she’s not good with her memory she kept coming back to get my phone number in order to gain access, I’m not positive but I think I did hear the utterance of the odd swearword.
As we needed a few supplies we cycled into and out of town to the first and last shop in Queensland. It was a 3 mile ride as the larger supermarkets are all closed on Sundays so that small independent shops are not driven out of business. Well they ought to be, it cost $10, about £5.20 for one sliced loaf and a pint of milk. To get over the shock Wendy took me to, get this name, The Buff Club for a glass of XXXX. The Buff Club is a private members club so we had to become members, how exciting we are now both members of the Buff Club for the day, don’t tell Granny Mavis!!!
As we cycled back, we could see the skies darkening and we just got back as the heavens opened again. Thankfully it wasn’t a long downpour, but quite heavy nonetheless!
Dinner was very nice indeed, mango curried sausages, hot chili baked beans with two teeny tiny fried eggs each. We ate outside again in 26O heat, whilst it continued to rain!
The Rain – We can’t really complain and we are not, these parts have not seen rain for over two years and the ground really needs it. We have seen cows in fields that are half the size of the stock in the UK so they could do with some greener grass for nourishment. In fact when I was paying for fuel the other day an old lady asked a farmer, who was stocking up on loads of fuel, if he had had good rain. He said no unfortunately he hadn’t had a drop, such is the distance from civilisation some of these farms are located. But he did say he was pleased that others had.
Some of the camp sites we have stayed in get their water from bore holes which go down to the Artesian Basin hundreds of metres below ground. The one at Winton comes up to the surface at 99OC and has to be cooled before use. It tastes terribly of sulphur and for me it is undrinkable so we bought botted water, but that’s all the local community have. Wendy and I both hated showering with it as it smelled just like turpentine due to the high level of the sulphur content in it.
The IT lads just called by after having their subsistence supper, yes, thankfully they get well looked after as they are on the road so long, it was Chinese food tonight, steak and oysters last night, they should both look like Billy Bunter but Nathen does triathlons and Shaun plays rugby league so they are both quite fit on all the food. They are now away to bed as they have to be back up at 23:30 so they can close a transmitter down to work on it. They are both smashing lads, I tried to get them to support England next Saturday but I’m not kidding myself it worked!
Early to bed tonight, it’s now 20:00 and I have just two more episodes to catch up on with the Walking Dead!!!
Oh, by the way, it’s still raining here at Mount Isa but the roads are mainly open with caution, but we will have to see what tomorrow brings!
Mount Isa to Hughenden
323 Miles
Not so much a great escape as a get out of jail free card as all the roads were open and just the Cloncurry to Julia Creek was signposted as requiring caution.
But before we set off though I saw the coal mines chimney stacks belching out thick yucky smoke in the early morning sun, I’m thinking that Mount Isa isn’t the healthiest place to live in Australia, so it’s time to move back east.
There seems to be an anything goes attitude to car registration plates in Queensland but this has got to take the biscuit, I saw an I, (heart) Robin, front and back plate, and nothing else on a car this morning, lucky Robin.
After stocking up with a weeks’ worth of provisions, just in case, we set off for what was a very pleasant journey. We left the hills behind us at Cloncurry and the sun began to move out from behind the clouds. The water surrounding the roads was still high but not on the road, thankfully.
We started to pass fields of termite mounds so we knew we were back in the heat again, but the weather did have to spoil itself again with one last massive downpour.
The rain didn’t affect us but it started out in the wilds when we were about 30 miles out from Julia Creek and it looked very heavy indeed. Now the roads around Julia Creek can’t take much more rain before they get closed again but thankfully we manged to get through before the rain came running through.
Apparently there is a monsoon developing in the Gulf of Carpentaria on the west side and a low pressure system on the east so we are in for something or other in the coming days, so it’s best to make tracks east
And then the journey was much more relaxed as I knew for sure the road further east was clear.
We did have one thing to contend with though, another swarm of locusts, with even more this time than last. I tell you these are suicidal creatures, as soon as you get near them they hop right into your path and then its curtains for them and lots of work for you. I have seen trucks pass us with their entire front area absolutely covered with them, it’s a wonder there are any left alive.
We stopped at Richmond, a small town along the route that is famous for someone finding a huge dinosaur in the 1930s. It was 130 million years old and so the Americans very kindly offered to take it off Australian hands and ship it back to the USA where is took 23 years to reassemble it in one of their museums. What’s left in Richmond is very tacky plastic replicas so I think I know who got the better deal!
Wendy took the opportunity to nip into the local toilets but was out before she got a chance to sit down as there were too many, “Jumpy Things”, in them for her to be entirely comfortable and relax as required.
And so to Hughenden where we arrived in very bright sunshine and even hotter temperatures at about 17:00.
We checked into our site and quickly made camp where I sat at the back of the van enjoying the late sun with my book, Wendy on the other hand took the shade option at the side of the van under the awning.
About 20 minutes into our relaxation I could hear Wendy whispering me to come around. When I did I saw Wendy surrounded by Lorikeet’s just playing around her.
The birds had no fear, take a look at the pictures and the videos, these were magical moments.
Wendy was beside herself with excitement!
Supper was Wendy’s turn tonight and she thinks she may have overdone the chilli and garlic, mmhhh, I think so too if my mouth is anything to go by.
Its now 20:30 and we are in for a very pleasant evening as its warm and clear so we should get a good star light show, maybe Wendy will hang around to catch a shooting star tonight, but I bet she misses it once again!
Hughenden to Charters Towers
153 Miles
What a beautiful sunrise we had this morning, it was absolutely fantastic, the sky was clear and the sun came out, rising from the east against a stunning blue sky, it was lovely.
Last night we had a lovely night sky as well but even I didn’t see any shooting stars, it must have been the new moon, but that in itself was a delight.
Today I thought, personally, was a poor news day, until the last 30 minutes where you would have wet yourself avid reader!!!
But first I’ll continue. I took my run and bumped into Wendy on her morning walk. Hughenden is a small town but yet again they have tried to make it good for exercise and made a 10,000 steps walk. We are now finding these on a regular basis. As I passed Wendy I told her which way to go, I did however neglect to say that if she went left she would encounter heaps of locusts as I knew it would spoil it for her. She went right instead and when she got back she complained about the jumping things. They weren’t half as bad as they were if she had gone the other way, they were bouncing off my legs and thighs and even my chest in places!
And so we were off again heading further east. No worries with the rain as we started with blue skies. But we were both tired due to having a very hot night in the van, so we stopped for a coffee at a rest spot, at an outlook to the White Mountains. It was lovely and yet again we were at the top of the Great Dividing Range. We have now traversed these hills at least 8 times and it’s different every time.
We headed further east and came headlong into a locust storm. It was unbelievable they were in full flight mode and I thought we were in Starship Enterprise without the benefit of shields up!!!
They were so intense it was like we were the forward gunners in a Lancaster Bomber under heavy flak conditions. Wendy was ducking and weaving as they hit the windscreen. I think we may have sustained some forward damage such was the intensity of the attack.
The van was absolutely covered with them when we arrived at our destination. I had to defy orders, (no washing of cars on site), as the front was covered with so many that they were a health hazard. It took me an age to remove them, even Wendy helped me out as there were that many. I must have left a thousand of them on the grass hoping that the birds would come for a feed, luckily they did!
After a bit of R&R we cycled into town and found it to be quite pleasant. We thought to pamper ourselves with an exotic supper of beef and reef, (steak and fish), which is a very Australian expression.
Back in camp we listened to the Chris Evans show as it’s nice to touch base with Blighty. We heard from Eddie Izzard who is undertaking some marathon event in South Africa, good on him!!!
I cooked supper in camp kitchen and that is when the night started to kick off as some small creatures made an appearance. Wendy took on the look of a person with Toretto’s on steroids. Well you would think that we were under a Martian invasion. But as much as I tried to reassure her she would not stay and insisted on taking the washing up back to the van.
Within five minutes she was back and as over excited as I have ever seen. Apparently a dinosaur had jumped into the van and threatened to eat her. It turned out to be the tiniest of grasshoppers who I happily evicted.
That’s not him she said, it’s much bigger, he’ll be out later you mark my words, she said!
I’m in camp kitchen now, alone reporting today’s fun and it’s all very quiet in the van, she did say she would come back and join me so I had better check on her. I do hope I can report a positive outcome tomorrow avid reader!!!
(Don’t worry I just checked on her and she’s fine, she is in bed all tucked up and is not fully convinced that there isn’t one in there waiting to get her – I myself, avid reader are being subjected to a blitzkrieg attack by them as I file my copy in camp kitchen, it’s really interesting and not at all scary!)
.....when David says ' we were tired after a hot night in the van'!! He doesn't mean..' a HOT night in the van'. Just wanted to make that plain! X
Charters Towers to Clermont
232 Miles
Drizzle was pattering against the awning throughout the night not that it bothered me or Wendy as we were both soaking up additional ZZzzzzzz’s following the previous, “Hot Night” in the van.
So I got a wee bit wet when I went for my run, Wendy stayed in bed, never heard me get up, have breakfast, boil the kettle, go the to amenities or come back and get my gear on and go, all the while operating the sliding door, locally known as a Whizz Bang!, several times.
I got back and Wendy said, “I never heard you this morning”, no I guess not Wend!
We set off for Clermont which looking at the map may seem an unnecessary detour but whilst we wanted to go to Mount Isa we also want to go to MacKay, so this is the best option with the least double tracking.
So it’s due south we go for over 200 miles and although the road had some very long straight sections it was reasonably interesting, but admittedly a bit monotonous in places, but an experience non-the-less.
We stopped to fill with fuel at the only building on this road, the Belyando Crossing Roadhouse where we also had coffee and cakes. This is one remote station, nothing for 100 miles in each direction. If you don’t buy anything there is a $2.00 charge to use the toilet, fair enough, I got a free go!
We got to Clermont at about 14:30 and checked into a very nice site where it wasn’t raining and there was a nice warm breeze.
We set camp and went off to explore on our bikes. The main purpose was to find Wi-Fi so I could get a message out as we have no phone signal or Wi-Fi at camp.
I cycled down the High Street checking all the public places out for a signal but didn’t find anything until the very last building, it was a pub! Brilliant.
We went in and ordered a drink, there was one man in and the bar tender so we doubled the bar population. Having got the drinks I asked the barman, if he had Wi-Fi, “Yes”, can I uses it, “Yes”, (Have I not had this very same conversation somewhere else?), Do I need a password, “Yes”, Please tell me before I keel over!!!
And then guess what, I saw cricket bats on the wall, went to admire them and we started talking cricket and got along like a house on fire, even the other customer joined in.
I checked the menu and the food looked interesting and so I had a brain wave!
As we are in small town Australia, and a very nice one at that, why not bring Wendy’s birthday supper a day forward, enjoy the food here and help a small business.
Wendy agreed so we hopped back to camp and had a wee preload, as we are still with it, and got changed and made our way back.
One small fly in the ointment was the toad that Wendy found in the toilet block. She came scarpering back to tell me about it, and that she had been very brave and used the toilet as far away from Mr Toad as she could get. I asked her to be double brave and get me a photograph, which she RELUCTANTLY did, well I do have an interested audience Wendy!
Supper was superb, I had, get this, Carpet Bag Steak, that’s steak with oysters, a DELIGHT and Wendy had a seafood crepe which was just as nice. But more importantly we met a really lovely couple and we have been invited to Smoke-O tomorrow morning, (see tomorrows update).
Don’t fret about the real birthday meal, we hope to be on a beach front site tomorrow and I’ll make something extra special.
Clermont to Mackay
183 Miles
This morning we were up bright and early as someone was birthday girl and it wasn’t me. After the opening of cards and presents we both set off on an exercise mission.
We had seen the 10,000 step walk and it led to a lagoon which we had been advised was a beautiful place to visit.
Well it was!! It was a mile to the lagoon and a mile and a quarter per lap and each lap I did was different and fantastic. I did bump into the birthday girl on two occasions and it wasn’t until my second one that I was introduced to the piano in the tree by Wendy who had purposely sought it out.
The lagoon was absolutely lovey. But even more so the town was lovely itself, small and perfectly formed I think is the term. Wendy loved it.
I should give bit of a history lesson here. Clermont town was established close to where it is now in 1861. Pure copper was found and then gold and then the town was flooded with prospectors which lasted for many years, until 1916 when a cyclone passed through and brought a massive flood wave through which killed 63 people.
The flood was so rapid no one could escape it and when the flood water receded three pianos were found lodged in trees at the height of the line of the flood, hence the token piano in a tree.
As is always the case great acts of bravery were performed that night but due to the severity of the damage and the fear it would happen again the entire town, or what was left of it, was moved lock stock and barrel.
The Leo Hotel where we had last night’s meal was jacked up onto logs and pulled by a traction engine to its current location, on much higher ground. The original hotel still stands on this new site after all this time.
And so Clermont is now known as the town that moved.
During breakfast Wendy had some visitors of the feathered variety call by and so many came I thought the Police would be called and we would be evicted!
After breaking camp we went to visit our new friends Marion and Gordon who kindly invited us to take smoko with them.
So off we went and knocked on their door, Marion was ready and waiting, Gordon had nipped to the bank as part of his duties with the RSL Club. Gordon was a conscript into the Australian Army and saw action in Vietnam.
I asked Gordon if he was a Tunnel Rat, these were an elite group of Australian Soldiers who went into the Viet Cong Tunnels and fought hand to hand with the enemy in very confined spaces underground. They were extremely brave men. Gordon said he wasn’t a Tunnel rat and that he was just an infantry man. Jeepers I couldn’t think of anything else I would rather not want to be in the Vietnam War. I take my hat off to him and his comrades, whether justified or not they performed heroically often suffering terrible conditions.
Smoko was a delight, we had coffee and a selection of cakes, consisting of Christmas cake, Milo Biscuits and truffle, and they were all lovely. I came away with a large amount of frozen mango, for my wellbeing of course!
Gordon showed Wendy and me his collection of gold that is found locally on the ground and not mined in the traditional sense and he also had a collection of sapphires which Wendy just loved.
We spent a really nice couple of hours with Marion and Gordon and we learnt so much about the local area, it was fantastic and again we have met thoroughly decent Australian people who have welcomed us into their homes. I love this country.
We drove over the Great Dividing Range yet again, (we must have sneaked back over by a slowly rising road yesterday), and it was fantastic, the scenery was stunning.
Whilst Wendy made coffee at a pit stop I walked over a road bridge of the Isaac River to look at the almost dry river bed and tried to imagine it in full flow following a downpour, I bet it’s an amazing site.
And so into Mackay we rolled, set camp and did some exploring.
Birthday supper was cooked to perfection, chicken and rice in a plumb sauce followed by yummy sticky chocolate cheesecake further followed by a glass of sparkling wine care of Bradley Gill whilst listening to the Ken Bruce Show.
It’s been a lovely birthday for Wendy and me too, I’m glad I came along for the ride and thanks to everyone who dropped a line or made a call, Wendy loved hearing from you all xx
Mackay
No Travelling
We are staying at a lovely, clean, well equipped campsite with a clean pool and at a very reasonable price, however it has two, big drawbacks.
1. The road outside is a bit mad, there are no paths and you take your life into your hands if you go out walking, running or even on the bike. The connecting road about half a mile away isn’t much better so Wendy won’t go out walking, she’s not happy about the bike either but she will go out on it, reluctantly.
2. Wi-Fi – Its rubbish. The site is virtually empty so we should get some bandwidth but it’s the worst we have had to date, well the sites that have it and not everyone has, but at least we knew that when we booked, here it’s a big selling point. As a consequence my plans for the rugby on Sunday morning have had to be altered and preparations have been made to secure my front row seat.
After a leisurely breakfast we went out on our bikes into town and found a very clean and tidy town, Wendy says it’s quite, ‘Art Deco’ in style. I think it’s just a very nice town, a bit light on shops but there are several large shopping centres out of town to get that all important shopping fix, especially when you have birthday money to spend.
We found a brilliant cycle path which again doubles as a 10,000 steps walkway.
We have come across so many excellent cycle paths that local authorities have to be commended again. I appreciate that Australia gets the weather to be confident about them getting used, but I think we in the UK would use them almost as much, especially if they provide such good cycling. Maybe I’ll enter into cycle politics when I get back.
There was even a cycle repair stop with heaps of spanners available and even, yes even a tyre inflator, how cool is that!!!
We stopped off at the shopping centre as Wendy wanted some new shoes, I thought I’m buggerd here so I found a collection of well-placed comfortable sofas and settled down for a long wait. Well, surprise of all surprises it only took 20 minutes for her to find some, it’s a record, nay a world record, for Wendy anyway.
To give us a bit of a rest we took the van out to explore the wider area after lunch and we came across some delightful beaches and they were mostly empty of anyone apart from us two.
We found a new marina with loads of boats in and there are a few new bars and restaurants to choose from, but it’s a bit of a shame as its about five miles out of town and the main access is from a duel carriageway, and with no pathways, now that bad planning!
And then onto the rugby challenge, now we're are talking about a Grand Slam opportunity for England this weekend so I have to see it, it’s a matter of national importance.
So we are sorted, I get to see the game and Wendy gets a full sized bed with air-conditioning, we can take the room from 11:00, I bet she’s under the sheets by ten past!
We have just had a stunning sunset and we could hear the fruit bats setting off from their perches which are in nearby woods. We can see them from the elevated road section and there are thousands of them all hanging from trees waiting for the sun to go down, it’s a very eerie sight.
We finished the night with a walk around the site which is much bigger than it looks as there are lots of permanent owners at the back end.
Jeepers it’s hot out tonight and yet another clear sky and yet again no shooting stars for Wendy. If it’s this hot throughout the rest of the night I might actually beat Wendy into the motel bed in the morning, with the thermostat right down on the air-con!
Mackay
No Travelling
Another hot day to start with, boy the sun was out nice and early this morning first up into the sky from sunrise with very few, if any clouds about.
After breakfast we decamped and went, at 09:50, to stock up with wine at Dan Murphy’s. We bought 24 bottles as its $3.70 per bottle at the store compared to $12.00 we were buying it in Mount Isa. So 24 bottles of quite nice wine cost $88.00 which is about £44.00, a bargain.
They have to last until we reach Thursday Island mind you!
Its funny buying drink in Australia as you cannot buy it in supermarkets you have to go to bottle shops. I asked someone why and they said it makes it harder to buy, as it’s not casually loaded into your shopping trolley as you shop.
Well Dan Murphy’s is open at 09:00 every day of the week and it’s like the biggest off licence in the world. People were taking carts of the stuff out, making us look pathetic with our weedy little shopping trolley, that’s not making it very hard to buy though is it.
The Coral Beach Motel, what a beauty!!!
We have a great room, a lovely pool and really nice staff, oh and the Wi-Fi works a treat, so does the air con.
After check in we went for bike ride on the Blue Water trail that includes sections dedicated to some people. One section is the Catherine Freeman Way, (who is she?). Cathy won the women’s 400 metres final at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and she is from Slade Point which is about 5 miles north of Mackay. Cathy was a fantastic icon of the Sydney Games and lit the Olympic flame, (where does time go these days). So to cycle her track was an honour, however, we got lost, badly!!!
Her High School Record still stand as I guess it will for some years to come!
It was ok on the dedicated cycle route but on the section where we have to use the roadway we got completely lost, not once but several times, and in the heat of the tropical sun. It was all down to three things, me not paying full attention, the signage for the route being absolutely rubbish and Wendy losing the map of the route.
However we eventually found our way back, sweating and swearing and dying of thirst, PHEW!!!
So it was down to the pool for the rest of the afternoon and it was lovely, even Wendy had a dip, but not much of one as it was deep all the way around and she doesn’t like to be out of her depth.
After a wee poolside nap we went for a walk into town as the sun set and we found it to be very cosmopolitan town with bars, restaurants and clubs filling with people going about their Saturday night. The birds, Wendy’s favourite ones, Luaratkeets, were making such a racket, it was unbelievable.
We ventured onto the large bridge and just about caught the last of the sunset which was really beautiful in the tropical night sky.
Back to base we went and cooked supper on the complementary BBQ, although it did need a good clean before we used it.
It will be bed time soon as it’s early to rise to watch the last game of the Six Nations Championship, I do hope for a good outcome, its Le Crunch!!!
Mackay to Midge Point
65 Miles
I woke up at various points throughout the night to check on the time as I would have been gutted to have missed any action. But all was well and my trusty I-phone woke me at 05:30 in time for a bite to eat before the match started.
What a game, to and fro, us & them and then thankfully we got it together about 15 minutes from the end and bagged it, well done England. This tournament hasn’t set the world on fire but at least we got the Slam. The Wi-Fi was superb and apart from the occasional green screen I saw everything from start to finish.
As soon as it was over Wendy came back from her walk and I set off for my run, timing was crucial as we had to be out of the room for 10:00, we managed it at 09:58! I did consider staying another night but the Six Nations has cost me a fortune to date, it would have been cheaper to have gone to watch the games live, and better for my mental health too.
After stocking up with food at the local supermarket we hit the road north and ended up at Midge Point as planned. I guess it’s called Midge Point for a reason!
The small village is about 10 miles off the main highway and on the coast, the site is very close to the beach and is inside a tropical forest. It’s fantastic, we have the place to ourselves along with the wildlife.
As soon as we were set up we were visited by two Kookaburras. I cannot believe how close they came to us. I think they were after food but we can’t feed them as it’s not fair on them and on the locals as it sets a pattern. They didn’t give up though and kept coming back, just to check.
Then we saw a few red kangaroos just chomping the grass and minding their own business, it was great.
After lunch we had a long stroll along the beach. The tide was way out, most likely 500 metres away.
We walked to the creek, where it is reckoned there is a 20 foot saltwater crocodile in waiting. We eventually got to the creek and I must admit it’s the kind of place I would hang out if I were a crocodile, but we didn’t see him, I’ll try harder tomorrow.
So we walked back and down to the waterline for a paddle. The sea must have been 30O C, it was roasting and we saw millions of little spider/crab like things scurrying along the beach even Wendy was curious about them.
You dare not do anything other than paddle as the sea this far north contains Box Jellyfish from December to June, one of the worlds most toxic creatures and if that isn’t bad enough there are sharks and crocodiles to contend with. So any kind of sea activity apart from paddling is out of the question until we get a little further north where specially constructed Jelly Fish proof nets have been installed, (Now that’s a confidence filer!).
On return to camp we went for a bike ride, (I know we never tire), to find out if the myth of the local Tavern is a myth or not. We searched and searched and was about to give up when on asking a little old lady, she pointed us in its direction and the myth was eventually busted. We didn’t go in though as it was just a reconnoitre mission, maybe tomorrow if we stay!
After the bike ride Wendy was, as she puts it, “Melting” and so we took a dip in the pool which was really refreshing. Now it’s getting to 17:30 and it’s starting to get dark so supper prep is in hand while Wendy showers. I then shower and cook supper, in a beach side camp kitchen, our first.
Supper was lovey but then the midges came out and as often they do, they tried to ruin a good night. Ha Ha, we had the last laugh as we are sat here covered, both, from head to toe in the highest concentration of DEET that money can buy. It smells and feels like nothing on earth but at least it’s working.
I think with all the excitement today we might be in line for an early night, and its feels like a hot one too as its been roasting all day long!!!
Midge Point to Airlie Beach
37 Miles
And so as we were in bed nice and early last night, despite it being a hot night, we got a good night’s sleep and I was up before first light hoping to see the grounds full of kangaroos. Well it was disappointing as there were none around, not a one!
After breakfast off I set and came across a very dead female kangaroo at the side of the road in the village that looked very much like the Mum with the two Joey’s yesterday. Wendy saw it being dragged into the bush by a man as she approached it on her walk and disputed that I could tell it was the same Mum. I didn’t say it was the same Mum, I said it very much looked like her, and I think it was too, poor Joey’s! Wendy was in denial as she loves kangaroos!
Back to base and as I was showering I could hear the heavens open so I didn’t bother drying off, I just stepped out of the shower, wrapped my towel around me for modesty and got just as wet walking back to the van. It was lovely as there is nothing like a tropical downpour to make you feel alive. No, I guess I’m wrong there, a run along the prom in Aberdeen with the wind in your face and hail to boot does just the same!
After packing the awning in my swimmers as it continued to rain we headed off north. But I stopped about 4 miles out of town to get an email out to the Camper Company as there was a good 3G signal there. Wendy made coffee and would you believe Mr / Mrs Kookaburra joined us and would not leave, it’s a conspiracy, they are joining us for the rest of the journey, I tell you!
On route we stopped at a town called Proserpine which was a really nice stop over and we saw yet more interesting birds, something like Swallows nesting in the eaves of a building. We are officially turning into a David Attenborough programme as we seem to be compiling a catalogue of the bird species.
And so onto Airlie Beach, which is stunning, but full of young backpacker type people. Loads of them. It’s like a Thai Resort without the Ladyboys, although I cannot confirm that as I am not looking too closely.
After making camp we found yet another cracking, yes cracking cycle path that is made up of walkways and elevated boardwalks that go over the sea where the land doesn’t lend itself to the path. You know we could do the same along the Beauly Firth, that would be fantastic and what a selling point for visitors, Walk – Run or Cycle the Beauly Firth. We could be the east Coast Ben Nevis. What would that do for tourism?
Airlie Beach is really nice with some stunning beaches, although again you cannot swim in the sea, there is however one or two jelly fish nets so I might manage a dip tomorrow.
We also found yet more birds, Black Cockatoos that seem to eat nuts whilst holding them in their claws, how interesting!
We then came across an island that appears to dry out at low tide, I’m thinking about going across tomorrow I have yet to convince Wendy mind but I think she might be game if I can convince her of her safety.
We spent an hour at the pool, me dozing, Wendy reading, whilst drinking wine from her camouflaged bottle, the schemer!
Supper was in a very crowded camp kitchen and as Wendy says, “Last night we had the site and kitchen to ourselves and tonight we were almost crowded out”, but the food was again another suburb stonker, chicken thighs, cuscus and oyster sauce, yum, bloody yum!!!
After supper we took a walk along the board walk in the near full moon without a breath of wind, it was lovely.
Wendy has bought some new shorts today, she is getting into her walking big style now and needs to look the part, I’ll keep you informed of progress avid reader, but as for now it’s steady as she goes!
It’s yet another lovely night and we are sat outside with woodlands behind us, guess what I can hear? The Kookaburras settling down, it is them, they are following us, because they know we love them and their laugh, Oo, Oo, Oo, Ah, Ah, Ah – That’s it, laugh perfect!
Airlie Beach
No Travelling
Today has been a very good old fashioned day in the tropics consisting of rain, sun and extreme heat.
The rain started in the early hours of the morning. I heard the first drops on the awning but decided to give them a minute to see if it was a flash in the pan before getting out from my comfort zone. As the drops got bigger and faster I got out of bed and slid the door open to get the towels in that were hanging form the edge of the awning and to pull the table and chairs closer to the van. That done I got back into bed with the slurred words of Wendy asking me, “What are you doing”, “Not hearing the rain are you sweetie-pie”, was my reply, she then slid back into her stupa whilst I closed all of the windows to prevent us being flooded out. And then the rain really started, boy did it chuck it down!
The rain lasted about an hour or so and then it settled down and I fell back into a nice blissful sleep again which was shattered at exactly 05:00 by the massive and I am sure agreed combined laughter of every Kookaburra within a 25 mile radius of the camp and…………I loved it, there is nothing better than the sound of a Kookaburra laughing extremely loudly in the early hours of the morning, what a delight it was.
And so after my mornings bird song I snook off to camp kitchen for my early breakfast, mango/orange juice, 2 x Weetabix and stinking hot tea. This was all completed safely and to my complete satisfaction in the first light of the morning.
I went back to camp and found a very sleepy Wendy Gill in demand of a nice cup of tea please which I duly supplied.
Wendy and I crossed paths a little later on, on our exercise routines and decided to stay one more night at the site.
After big breakfast we set off to cycle to the artificial beach but before we did I wanted to dip in the sea at the netted area. We got there at the net and the tide was fully up but there were no signs to say that it was safe to swim, so taking the safe option I decided against it and we cycled on.
We got to the pool but we found an invasion of ants everywhere and although I can stand most things I cannot stand ants in my pants so we went for a walk in the very hot sun around the marina and then headed to a bar to celebrate Brittany’s birthday with a stonking Barrier Reef Pizza and a bottle of wine. Whilst we were dining the rain absolutely bucketed it down so we stayed safely undercover, sweating in the heat of the afternoon.
Luckily it stopped and we headed back and spent an hour or two with me dozing again at the pool and Wendy reading her book whilst taking the odd dip to cool off.
I may have neglected to say that we are at the foot of the hills of a tropical rain forest, that’s why we get the odd skirmish with the odd rain cloud. The hills are quite high and are very thick with vegetation, I did ask Wendy about pulling on our walking shoes for a yomp, but I got a most negative response.
It’s now dark but not yet bed time for the birds and the Kookaburras are in full swing saying their good nights to each other as only Kookaburras can. I love Kookaburras, you might have guessed, and I can happily hear their laughing at any time of day, however early it is. If you’re not up with the Kookaburras then you’re not game for a laugh, that’s my motto!
Supper is in camp as we are experimenting with some fancy mosquito smoky things. A young women who has the Zika Virus has been admitted to a hospital at Bowen, which is next, or next but one on our list of destinations and the Health Authorities have said that we should be avoiding all contact with mosquitos, I think that’s more easily said than done when your virtually living outside!!!
We have just had a nice walk along the boardwalk under the full moon’ish and it’s still quite hot, we are just listening to Ken Bruce and the news from Belgium isn’t very good so I guess nothing has changed in the outside world, the wicked buggers!
Airlie Beach to Hydeaway Bay
31 Miles
Well not quite a disaster but the fan has been accidently knocked over and the switch has been broken and so Wendy got an electric shock when she tried to operate it tonight and that isolated all of the vans electrical supply, but that’s all, I manged to get it back on though.
We left Airlie Beach just after breakfast and headed down a peninsular to a remote out of the way area where there is no phone signal nor internet, or 3G, so we are well and truly isolated.
However we have some stunning beaches and the landscape is brilliant, nay fantastic.
So we are booked here until Monday. But with the sudden loss of the 21st Century we have both had to make an admission, we were going to buy the Easter Eggs on Thursday! Bugger a chocolate less Easter for once, it will kill Wendy.
We are at a pretty basic site, they have toilets of course but you cannot empty your vans chemical toilet, which I did think to do before we left Airlie, but as it wasn’t quite full I didn’t. So Wendy was fretting about her through-the-night requirements so I managed to find a public toilet in which to empty it, big PHEW!!!
The site also has no camp kitchen but is does have a BBQ / fire pit area, which is a real boost as I haven’t managed to use my BBQ since Australia Day due to total fire bans everywhere.
So after making camp and having lunch we took a walk to the very stunning beach which I think I recall is stinger free from March, I’d best check, and I did, technically it’s the 1st of April, but do the stingers know that? I guess not and I won’t tell them……so I might just chance it.
We then took a drive of about 12 miles to get a phone signal to let family members know we have no communications and so to expect radio silence for a few days. From there we took a detour to Dingo Beach. Now this is double stunning and it has its own bar, and it sells drinks at really reasonable prices, Top Dollar!!!
Don’t worry, we have checked they have a courtesy bus to get us there and back should we feel the need to participate in some festivities this coming Easter, they even have a shop so the chocolate egg situation is looking up, (but how do you sneak an egg there and back when you both live in the main means of travel?, I’ll let you know in due course).
Back to base and we spent the afternoon on the beach, with it all to ourselves with absolutely no noise at all apart from the ripple of the sea, no waves, (Barrier Reef – Get it Barrier Reef!!!).
Supper was a real treat, honest it was, marinated chicken thighs cooked on a wood burning BBQ under the full moon and stars. It was delicious, stonking and a delight all wrapped up in one, (this was about the time Wendy was causing meltdown in the van).
Bed time looms, well its 20:34 and we can’t get Ken Bruce’s Popmaster so it looks like it’s a very early night.
Oh, by the way did I mention the Kangaroos we have on site. So far we have seen one big red and two wee Joeys and they are a treat to see. Minding their own business, eating grass and lounging in the shade it’s definitely the way to live. Maybe I’ll return as a Kangaroo one day, and hopefully I’ll remember the Green Cross Code!
Hydeaway Beach
No Travelling
Jeepers it has been one stinker of a hot day today, very hot indeed!!!
I got back from my shower to find Wendy had been electrified again from the fan, up both arms and it had yet again isolated the power to the van. I had told her to use the dry tea towel when operating it but as she had only moved it she didn’t think she needed to, no, I didn’t either……..Oops!
So the fan was outside ready for the bin, ha, looks like a job for DG the budding electrician.
We didn’t have a second breakfast this morning, after we got back from running and walking we cycled to Dingo Beach Café who do a special, coffee and cake for $8.00.
Oh, and I have also found a spot where I can get a 2 bar, 3G signal on my phone, it’s very precise, 2.6 miles from camp on the main road, so I bungeed my camp chair onto my bike and took my laptop with me and sat at the side of the road and uploaded my copy, as I realise I have a very wide readership who are anxious for their report of the day’s activities and nothing stops publication!
And then onto the café where we had the treat of the week, Wendy had a large slice of chocolate cake, obviously, and I had the mango cake. Mine was meant to be mango cheesecake but someone got the order wrong, but that’s ok because it was double yummy, especially with a double dollop of cream and ice cream. The coffee was great too, I’ll be back.
Back at base is where I realised it was going to be hot today, as Wendy Gill was about to have a heart attack with the heat.
Wendy has had to have a telling off today, she will not wear a hat, I’ve told her, everyone else has told her but she won’t wear one. I told her today, this is Northern Queensland not the South of France, you don’t muck about with the sun here, it’s very unforgiving, so she put my blue cap on!
So off to the beach we went and I went for a long walk beachcombing and loved it. I chatted to a man who is running a guest house and he is expecting a very busy Easter Weekend. We got talking and he said how good it is to live in paradise, I said, “I know mate I’ve come from Scotland”, he said “What with that tan”? I said “Yes, it’s funny isn’t it I should have been transported with you long ago”! And on that he laughed his head off, well almost!
Wendy and I both did a bit of bathing in the lovely warm sea, forever on the lookout for stingers but thankfully none showed up. I did a little underwater swimming with my goggles and came across a massive sting ray who was sat quietly on the sea bed. Jeepers I hadn’t noticed him but he saw me, he lifted from the floor and shot off like a lightning bolt, I didn’t know they could be that fast. Needless to say I have neglected to tell Wendy about the incident as she would never set foot in the sea again!
As the sun was still sinking hot so I considered the options and the best one, with the falling tide was to walk our way round to Dingo Beach and have a cold beer at the pub. The walk was a bit treacherous in places and went on a bit further than Wendy Gill expected but we made it, eventually, and had a very nice cold beer.
The walk back wasn’t half as bad, it never is, is it? Maybe it was the beer that helped.
We got back to base at about 16:00 and kept out of the last of the sun, which went down fighting to the last ray.
I mended the fan properly, to the satisfaction of Mrs Gill, and with the help of a little duct tape and a bit of toing and froing! It doesn’t now have an operating switch, nor speed selector but it works, on top speed only of course.
Supper was a quadruple delight, Salt Water Barramundi, Asparagus and Corn Cob on the BBQ with a tomato and aubergine salad. It was a joint effort and an outstanding success.
The camp is now filling up, which is a shame as we have had it to ourselves for the last two days.
Just as we finished eating we were joined at the campfire by Brad, a young man out for the holiday weekend with his wife. Brads job was to get the fire going and to get the meat on. Now we’re are talking bushman!! Brad got the big fire going big-style and brought a fair sized Billy pot in which he commenced cooking a leg of lamb.
Brad is an electrician in a coal mine so we chatted about mining issues for a while, which was quite interesting, especially when I told him I worked in a seam 3 1/2 foot thick. He said yes mate ours are 4 ½. I said what feet or metres, metres was the answer, 4 ½ metres, 15 feet, that’s luxury mate!!!
And on that note we left them to it and headed back to camp to find new neighbours everywhere. I think this is going to be a very interesting camp over the Easter Holiday!!!
Hydeaway Beach
No Travelling
We have had a very relaxing day!!!
I left for my run and followed the dirt trail to the two holiday resorts that Wendy found on her walk yesterday. She told me about one hill, which was a stonker to climb but she had not been has far as the second hill which was the Granddady of them all. Thankfully that was within the first mile and a half and things got better from then on in.
The second resort is really nice and I nipped five minutes on a bench which is exclusively for residents only. Hang on, no one was around so I had the place to myself. I think it’s called the Gloucester Resort, so google it and see paradise, which it is!
I got back to camp and it’s now starting to fill up and Wendy is not happy as there are only 3 toilets each, both men and women’s, and only 2 showers as well!!!
After breakfast I cycled the five and a bit mile round trip to file copy for you avid reader whilst Wendy attempted to remedy one of my infrequent Fuax Pas! The sell by date – yes I am out by four days with the steak and five days with the beef chunks!!! But I’m sure it will be ok as it’s been in a good cold fridge and we have hardy constitutions!
We them hit the beach for a lazy day taking with us one hell of a cool bag full of ice, wine, beer and rum, oh and some very nice beef sandwiches that thankful were not out of date.
The beach was hot and we sat at the high tide line and dipped in and out of the sea to cool off periodically. We ate lunch and had the odd tipple and it was just divine. Even Wendy had a good old soaking. I did scare her though, I know I shouldn’t, but air was trapped in my shorts, (no not that kind of air), and when I frolicked it came out and so I jumped up and ran, Wendy thought I had been bitten by a whale and screamed and screamed. She was not happy when reality dawned on her. “Why would you want to do that she said, WHY!!!” hrrrr “Because it’s funny Wendy, Sweetie Pie”!
It took some coxing to get her back in, but eventually she came in again.
The beach was very hot with the occasional breeze, one of which took our brolly about 100 metres down the beach, thankfully little Stella was on the mark and saved it for us.
We went back to camp at 16:00 and found it mobbed, now the toilet block is not going to cope and someone is getting very grumpy, especially when she went for a shower and came back empty handed because they were all full.
I tell you this site is so full the pips are squeaking and so it’s going to be an interesting few days!!!
Wendy cooked the curry, from the beef chunks, which will have to last at least two meals, sell by date or not and I’ll cook the steak tonight, maybe a little more than just rare, perhaps a wee bit well done to avoid botcholisum!
Well that’s super done on a stonking camp fire, the steak was overdone and quite nice so I guess we will make the morning.
We made the fire and cooked with it but no one else out of the other sixty campers came to use the fire, apart from the odd marshmallow roast, how un Australian and un-bush like, maybe they are all city slickers!.
Brad called by but cooked at camp, he washed his pots at the sink though and I think we might be in, fingers crossed, for a Coral Trout in the next day or two.
We met some lovely people at the fire, who called by to chat and then we headed back to base. The site is now choc-a-block, heaving actually and to tell the truth it’s quite nice and as long as Wendy gets her morning shower on time everything will be just dandy!
Hydeaway Beach
No Travelling
Well we manged to survive the night after our out of date steak, that’s good as its five days out of date curry tonight!
Wendy was up with the birds this morning rising just after me at 06:00, as you may have figured Wendy isn’t a morning person at all but was excited as she was going to surprise her Mum and Dad on their wedding anniversary by either facetiming or telephoning them.
So after a very dashed cup of tea we set off for the, what’s now known as the Wi-Fi Zone, our very own 3G connection area, 2.6 miles from camp, at the side of the road. It was a reasonably hot morning and we got their in about 25 minutes, me running and Wendy cycling.
Wendy facetimed her brother, Andrew, but he was back at home and had been since 19:30, so she telephoned Mum and Dad instead. She got Dad but Mum was fast asleep in bed, poor Wendy all that effort too, it was only 21:05 when she called so it must have been some party and Granny has been known to throw some good ones too!
We got back and showered with reasonable ease as the site owners had all hands on deck mopping as visitors came and went. On my way out I passed the son of the owner with about 10 rolls of paper hoping to replenish the cubicles before someone got themselves into a pickle or two!
As planned we set off for the nearby town, (50 miles away) of Bowen which is supposed to be the best growing area of mangoes in Australia.
The journey was nice and went without event although the speed cameras were out in force.
I must say we were a bit disappointed with Bowen from a shopping point of view, a, Because they were mostly all closed, b, Even if they would have been open there weren’t many shops to shop in, c, Because mangoes are now out of season!
We did though buy a mosquito net so we can cover the back door and hopefully get some cross ventilation throughout the night, here’s hoping. It has took us almost five months to come up with this solution mind.
Then we went beach hunting as the second string to Bowens bow are the beaches. Now I must admit there were no failings in this area, they were stunning.
We found a drive upto a look out which had a café at the top, guess what? The café was closed, as it was a bank holiday of all reasons, and why not? The roadway upto the point must have been 1:1, I thought we were going to roll backwards! But the views however were stunning looking out across the Coral Sea to several Islands.
At the top end of town are the main beaches and these were very busy with local people enjoying the bank holiday with BBQ’s going all over the show. More stunning beaches awaited us to stroll along and then we found another high level viewpoint, this time though with a health warning as it was only for “Experienced Bush Walkers”, this gave Wendy the willies as she thought pythons were awaiting but as I pointed out the path was called “The Lions Walk”, as in provided by the Lions Association, now they aren’t going to kill anyone are they?
The walk was a bit of a challenge with the last leg being a near vertical steel walkway upto a steel platform on very, hopefully, sturdy legs.
The views were breath-taking and with a nice cool breeze to boot, I loved it.
We were joined by two young girls a bit later and they were both really lovey and took our photos for us. It’s nice to meet nice people and these two girls would be about 17 to 18 and were just so refreshingly nice!!!
We were back at base for 16:30 and so I set about putting the mozzie net up with Wendy assisting, she’s not over keen but she’ll give it one night, I hope!
Then I very carefully placed my solar shower in a tree, it had been out heating up all day and so I had to put cool water into it to make it safe to use. Wendy thought it hilarious as I have to kneel down to get my body washed, but it’s all good fun and it keeps me out of the madness of the shower block.
At the camp fire, just as darkness fell, we found several families all together making supper consisting of two large pots of lamb which had been slow braising for about five hours. The Mum in charge of proceedings helped me make a bit of room in the embers so I could get my frying pan to work and warm the curry up. As we cooked along we got chatting and had a good laugh with them all. We even learnt a couple of things, one good one was how to repair a thong blowout with a sliced bread packet sealing clip, which is an ingenious tip if it works!
After our delicious curry we got the marshmallows out and my sticks worked a treat. We received lots of Australian advice on how best to cook them which basically all revolved around setting them on fire and burning your tongue, advice we didn’t follow this time. Soon enough the fire was invaded by parents and kids all with marshmallows and sticks of various forms, there were so many I worried about safety as it looked inevitable that one of them would fall in the fire, luckily not though.
As the roasts were removed from their pans we took our leave as the smell of it all was beginning to reawaken our appetite and so we headed back to camp for a bit of reading before lights out at 21:30.
Hydeaway Beach
No Travelling
This morning I ran to the resorts as I can get a very good mobile signal there, the trouble is though that it’s over a gravel road for 3 miles and the dam hills! I needed the signal as I wanted to get a message back from TFL so I just had to do it.
Actually I did the round trip with a miles per minute record of 8.27 which is great, my recent best was 8.26 and that was on the flat so I was well chuffed with today’s effort.
After breakfast we cycled to Dingo Beach café for an Easter Sunday treat. I had mango cheesecake and a mango smoothie, both were bloody lovely, Wendy had coffee and carrot cake, and again both were very nice.
Just the one downer on this and I know it sounds silly, the other day two coffee and cake specials cost $16, (£8.00), for today’s delight I was charged $13.50 and I had the more expensive smoothie. I asked the lady, because she is very nice, if she had covered everything, the trouble was someone who did not serve me, who was washing up chippered in and confused the older lady, I did question it, I didn’t think I paid nearly enough but I wasn’t going to cause a scene to pay more, or more importantly embarrass the lady in front of other customers. It was a real Easter treat mind and I was stuffed solid!
We got on our bikes to explore a bit more of the Dingo Beach area as the houses there are stunning. I came across a little girl with a beach ball who was lagging behind her mum somewhat, Mum was pushing a baby in a buggy and had a big dog on a long leash.
I didn’t want the little girl to come in front of me so I sounded my bell, she collected her ball and stepped away from my path, so that’s OK. I passed mum and the bloody big dog jumped me and got hold of my left ankle in its mouth! It got me solid and I just pulled my ankle away as the young women pulled back on the leash.
Jeepers that did hurt, the dogs jaw was like a vice on my ankle and I only had my sandals on too. The women apologised, it wasn’t her fault so I kept going, but boy did it hurt. It nipped my skin a little too but I’m not too worried as I have had all my tetanus injections.
We got back to camp and we borrowed some antiseptic from the office to clean the wound and that was ok, but it did swell up later. However after bathing in the warm sea it seems to have gone down a little.
The nasty dog!!!
We headed to the beach for some last afternoon relaxation and it was quite nice, we also went for a long walk to the end but as the beach is made up of shells and soft sand it was pretty hard going and by the time we got back we were pooped.
Supper time got me at the camp fire and I was first up so I had to get it going. We are now onto day 32 with the out of date beef curry but we have had no ill effects so far so we should be ok with the last lot!
The curry was a delight, no it really was. I had the fire to myself and got it going nicely and took my time in thickening the curry up. It was only towards the end that we were joined by people who had marshmallow roasting intentions.
Will came up again with his daughter. Will is from South Africa and has lived in Australia for four years. He thought it might be better for his children if they didn’t live behind 8 foot walls with an electric fence and armed security on each entrance, I think I see his point.
It was good to chat with Will as he likes cricket. Do you know he wagged off school to watch the 1992 semi-final World Cup game, South Africa v (I think) Australia. South Africa were looking at winning the match and then the rain arrived. The officials used something like Duck-Worth-Lewis and had the South Africans needing about 30 runs off one over which obviously they never achieved. It’s interesting for me as I was a course director of a breathing apparatus course in South Yorkshire Fire Service on the same day and I put myself on the BA Board, (Outside duties), so I could listen to the game on my little radio. It was an exciting time as it was South Africa’s first tournament since their international return to sporting events.
After our discussions at the fire we returned to the van and was asked by Shaun, who we met earlier this week with his wife), to come over for a drink. Thinking, as they had small boys, it would be a five minute affair, two hours later its midnight and I am shattered and ready for bed! Night-Night everyone!
Hydeaway Bay to Alva
121 Miles
Thankfully all of the out of date meat as now been consumed and I am happy to say without any symptoms of food poisoning!
The camp emptied of revellers pretty quickly this morning with most people packed and gone before my run, some not very quiet about it too!
So after 5 days at Hydeaway Bay we have moved further North, our furthest so far in Queensland, in fact we are very near to Townsville which I think is considered to be Northern Queensland. Either way it’s been a very nice, hot and sunny day.
We tried to buy supplies on the way up but with it being Easter Monday a lot of supermarkets were closed, we did eventually find one though about 20 miles from our destination which was a huge relief.
We had a really nice lunch stop over at a great little layby which is something the Australians know how to do, it puts us to shame!
We are on a campsite surrounded by coconut palms, my favourite tree and we have a very clear starry sky which Wendy is gazing at in anticipation that she will see another shooting star.
We have a very interesting beach which we walked along as it has several spits sticking out and big sandbanks too, however we won’t be doing any bathing as it’s full of jellyfish. These aren’t Box Jelly Fish but they do pack a nasty sting so the lifeguards are advising swimmers to use anti-sting suits, whatever they are. Now this does not appeal to me at all, I like to get my swimmers on and cool off in the sea, not roast as in boil in the bag!
There is a really nice old man next door in a caravan on his own, his names John. We got back from our walk and he must not have seen us as he came knocking to make sure we were alright, he said he was worried as he and his wife once got caught on the sand bank as the tide quietly came in a around them. He then offered us his magic midge repellent to try, baby oil, he swears by it!
He told us he was injured during army training many years ago and he spent time in hospital, where he was visited by a very beautiful English Women, guess who?
It was Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth of Australia, our very own and much loved, shared Queen!
Super was cooked in yet another very good camp kitchen but there is one wee disappointment, the Wi-Fi doesn’t cover the kitchen so we couldn’t listen to Radio 2 and get the news updates about Hurricane Katie and the devastation she’s causing.
I think it might be early to bed tonight as we had such a late night last night, I mean midnight, we were, as my Granny would say, “Dirty Stop-Outs”!
Alva
No Travelling
It has been a very full day today. I started my run on the beach and I thought I would see how far I could go. I got two miles and then came to the Mangrove Trees which had a handmade sign hanging from one of them saying, “4 x 4’s - Do not go any further – Mud”!!! There was indeed mud and I managed to get a little further and came across, yes, you’ve guessed right, a very badly embedded 4 x 4, axle deep and abandoned. It must only have been there a week or so, but it is completely ruined. See they aren’t indestructible.
I got back just has Wendy had showered and changed from her walk and we hung about camp for a while just chilling. We had two options for the day, a long beach walk, or cycle to Ayr, which is about 9 miles away. As the long beach walk was now not an option it had to be the bike ride.
We set off and took plenty of water and had one midway drink stop arriving at Ayr after 59 minutes of cycling, in very hot conditions.
Ayr is yet another very clean and well maintained town. There are loads of small, interesting shops and we had a very nice hour or two. We stopped and had a coffee and scones in a family run bakery. The scone came with some really lovely jam and fresh cream. Had the lady got our order right and brought black coffee instead of white coffee it would have been just perfect.
After almost five months, that’s included a trip to Darwin, summer in the South of Australia and a good deal of time in Queensland Wendy has bought a hat, well done Wendy, about time too!
Cycling back took its toll on Wendy and we took an extra fifteen minutes to get back and when we did eventually get back to the van I had to revive her by pouring a bowl of cold water on her, fully dressed, as she was about to pass out, she’s not very good with the heat these days!!! But she soon recovered after that. It actually turned out to be a 21 mile round trip!
Whilst cycling back we came across a Joey in a roadside field munching grass. He saw us and got scared so he hoped over the fence and dashed straight across the road into the path of an oncoming, very large 4 x 4. He escaped by a whisker, and I do mean a whisker. He was one very lucky Joey. We were also quite lucky because had he been hit he was very likely to be heading in our direction such was the closeness of the situation. As he hopped away Wendy gave him one of her very best motherly telling offs, calling him such a silly thing and what like.
To help with Wendy’s recovery we headed to the pool for an hour which was just what the doctor ordered and in no time at all Wendy was back and all full of pucker.
So I thought a walk to the creek would be good for moral which it wasn’t!
We had to cross a muddy path, I went first and got over no problem but you had to hop onto a soft-ish section of path to make it across. All this was fully and carefully explained to Wendy who at the first sign of sinking tried to hop immediately off and landed slap bang on her knees in the mud. She also suffered a catastrophic right foot thong blowout as well.
As you can imagine photographic evidence was not collected, the air was blue with profanities and the walk ended there and then.
I must admit I did have a wee chuckle, out of earshot though!!!
I collected an un-ripened coconut from a tree on the way back and did something that I have never done before, sliced the top off and drank the milk. I tell you it was delicious. You see the coconut hasn’t formed yet so the inside of the husk is full of fresh milk and it tastes much sweeter than the milk of the nut. It’s funny I have seen people chop the tops off of the husks with a machete in the West Indies but never Australia, the only person who has ever mentioned it is Warren who has his very own machete just for the job!
I neglected to tell the story of the S.S. Yongala yesterday, this will interest Granddad Bryan!
In 1911, the S.S. Yongala was travelling from Melbourne to Cairns carrying 122 passengers, one prize bull and a race horse called Moonshine. This was its regular route and it had done so on 99 previous occasions.
As the ship travelled through the passage between the mainland and the Whitsunday Islands it was seen by the watch keeper at the lighthouse. The vessel was never seen again.
The ship had run into a very severe cyclone and was missing with all hands.
A search of the area was conducted but the only body every found was that of Moonshine who was found on the mainland shore line.
The mystery remained until the boat was located in 30 metres of water just along the coast from Avra in 1958.
The wreck is now an artificial reef and is a haven for divers from all over the world. Although I dive myself I have never been fond of wreck diving, I would just image the suffering of those poor people who perished that night and for me it would like getting enjoyment from such a terrible tragedy.
The thong has been repaired by use of a sliced bread packet clip as advised recently and it seems to be working, so all’s well at the end of the day.
Alva to Townsville
62 Miles
I was a bit chuffed this morning as I did a personnel best on this trip of an average run rate of one mile every 7 minutes & 58 seconds, that’s just a second or two over 8 MPH. The last time I dipped below an 8 minute mile was two years ago in Cape Verdi, the heat obviously works for me.
We set off for the short drive to Townsville and it was a beautiful journey. Green landscapes and as we approached Townsville the hills got closer to us and now into Townsville they are all around and its fantastic and very hot!
Our site is 6.2 miles from the heart of the town, as we now know. But we were given the understanding that it was much closer by the check in Chappie who said 4.8 miles!
We are also quite close to both the Airport and the RAAF Airport and there are aircraft coming and going in every direction, it’s great. I have seen Wasp Jets and Chinooks and all other types of very loud military aircraft. Wendy is hoping it’s not going on all night, but I quite like it.
We cycled into town, all 6.2 miles which just about did for Wendy, I must remember that she doesn’t like the heat as much as she once did! But she soon recovered with the beauty of Townsville which is a stunning town. Yet again it is spotlessly clean and has great architecture, that and a great promenade and a very nice shopping area.
There is a tall ship, it looks like a brigantine, which has sunk in the marina. It’s hard to tell as the decks are awash but she looks an old vessel but I suppose she could be a looky likely for the tourist trade. I think I need to do a bit of investigation into this matter as she is really causing bit of a bottleneck.
To help with Wendy’s recovery we called into a bar, Cactus Jacks, and would you believe they have a happy hour that lasts from 15:00 to 18:00, that’s a hilariously happy three hours!
The Barman was fantastic, we didn’t recognise any of his draught beers so he gave us tasters of them all, everyone with at least half a schooner to share per beer. We settled on one, Cactus Lager, but I think I had had that much they were all delightful.
We did some window shopping but it was hot so we set off back to base again, with just 2 mangoes, and a bottle of water for sustenance purposes.
On the way back we called into a fish mongers and a green grocers that were side by side and about 3 miles from camp. We bought two small Coral Trout and I specifically asked for four large prawns. It came to about $42 and we both winced, but the fishmonger, who was of oriental origin said something about us buying the most expensive fish. OK then we will eek it out over a 4 day period, it won’t be the first time!
After buying some Dragon Fruit from the green grocer we set off back to camp. It was after 5pm but still very hot.
We got to camp and we were in the throes of having a beer when Wendy, who was putting the fish into the fridge said, “Why did we buy these?” and produced 4 very large BUGS!!!
How on earth can Prawns sound like Bugs………I’ll never know, you could not get two more different sounds, I mean Bugs / Prawns, worlds apart!!! Anyway that’s what we had, there wasn’t a prawn in sight.
Ah, it’s now past 17:30 and they close at 18:00, but that’s not stopping me. I was on my bike and covered the 3 miles in double quick time. The poor girl could not apologise enough, the sight of me drenched in sweat was enough for her to give me $14 back, 2 extra prawns and a free lemon, no hard feelings then, even if that was the second PB of the day.
We have had supper and I must say, Coral Trout is just divine, it’s meaty and tasty and very fishy, mmmmhhhh a delight!
We are now tucked up in the van as the mossies are out in force. I’m listening to the ladies 20 x 20 game, England V Australia on Five Live Extra and Aggers is in full swing. Wendy is into her book.
I hope to listen to the men’s game too but that starts at 23:30, so I might not make it, hopefully we will make the final and then I’ll have to book another room!
Townsville
No Travelling
And so England men reach the final of the 20 x 20 World Cup with a top dollar performance. It’s a shame the women’s team couldn’t make it but they seem to have lost steam when they were cruising to a win. Anyway the mens game didn’t finish until the small hours and maybe I had had a glass of wine too many as I didn’t get up until turned 09:00 when the heat of the van was beginning to get unbearable. Needless to say Wendy Gill didn’t disturb me as she took full benefit and indulged herself in several cups of tea.
Wendy drove us to the Rock Pool which is an outdoor bathing area very close to the beach. Sea water is used to fill the pool and its emptied and cleaned every Wednesday. It’s a great feature and completely free and safe from stingers for kids to use. There are a couple of stinger nets at the beach but who wants to swim surrounded by thousands of jellyfish who with a single sting will cause a heart attack and most likely death, simple answer – Not Me!!!
After a suitable sobering period of time Wendy nipped to the van and made some lovely sausage sarnies which we ate on the grass bank. We then went for coffee and cake which was lovely but too much in size and far too expensive, it was our most expensive to date!
We went for a walk along the beach front to walk the cake off and ended up in town. This is a most delightful walk and pleasant with it, in fact a most enjoyable walk and I felt fine after it, fully reinvigorated actually.
You may have got the impression that Wendy has an issue with anything, small, bitey, jumpy, flyie, stingy or creepy. But she outdid herself today. There is a big decorative spider which spans lamp posts across the road near to the museum. It’s on a kind of mock spiders web. We have passed it now two days running and both times she has said, “I bet that thing moves along that web”. She actually thinks it’s scary. Wendy it’s a bloody piece of plastic, that’s all, and how can it move when there are knots in the web which would prevent any mechanical movement along the dam web!!!
The round trip took us a good easy couple of hours, Wendy bought a lovely green skirt, I actually really like it and it looks lovely on her so everyone was happy.
We got back to the van after 16:00 and took a drive up Castle Hill which is a very high hill bang in the centre of Townsville, its actually 284 metres high. The views were stunning, we could see out to Magnetic Island, (this is a large island a couple of miles offshore that was reported to have caused some issues with Capt. Cooks compass as he passed this area – I think this is an excuse as he got stranded at low water on the Great Barrier Reef a few hundred miles up the coast! – a bit of an embarrassment for a major Sea Lord).
We got back to base after a wee grocery shop and the RAAF airfield was in full flow. Personally I just love the sound of a jet engine on take-off with full after burner, its brilliant, the sound reverberates around your body. I also love the “THUD – THUD” sound of a Chinook Helicopter, now this is a really meaty sound and again it’s brilliant.
I went for a late run and it was much cooler in the dark at 19:00 than it is at 07:00 in the morning. It was actually dark during the run and it made me feel at home, only the darkness mind not the 30o heat.
Supper was a slice of toast with brie cheese, we had had that much cake we were still stuffed from it.
Tomorrow we head further north, but I would like to say how much both Wendy and I have enjoyed Townsville. It’s a beautiful town, very clean, and very well laid out with great community facilities free of charge for all to use.
Finally, we both agree that the kids in Australia appear to be much better behaved and respectful than their UK cousins. We see very little evidence of litter or vandalism and whenever you interact with them they are very easy going. It’s a great thing and we both like it!
Oh – sorry just to add the boat in the harbour is an old sailing brigantine, it’s very old and is reported to have been scuttled, by, (I’m contradicting myself here), vandals – I won’t bore you with the details but just in case your interested follow this link!
Townsville to Lucinda
81 Miles
On the road again after filling up with additional supplies such as gigantic prawns from our oriental lady friend, for a curry courtesy of Wendy. That’s supper sorted then!
We were going to head to a small village campsite called Rolling Stone but we changed our mind as we received some last minute intel on something quite stunning that we just must see. We did however take lunch at Rolling Stone and it’s a really nice peaceful place.
The journey north was yet again interesting, from a countryside point of view, with the tropical rainforests and their hills to our west all the way up.
We eventually settled our camper in a small village called Lucinda which is ten miles east of the highway and very much off the beaten track. We got here and I was still hungry so I had a wee sarnie and we shared some Dragon Fruit, now that was a lovely treat, mmmhhhhhhh!!!
The drive off the main highway was stunning itself but Lucinda is something else, it’s peaceful, quiet and has a very beautiful beach, (which does however boast Sharks, Deadly Stingers and killer Crocodiles but these can be easily avoided, just don’t go into the sea!).
Lucinda does however have a very big secret tucked up its sleeve, it has the Southern Hemispheres longest jetty. Yes it does, its over 3 miles long, (actually its 5.76 kilometres in Australian measurements). It’s not possible to walk it as it has a conveyor belt that transports sugar out to waiting ships and millions of tons are sent out every year from local cane farms.
The jetty is that long it had to be engineered to take in the curvature of the earth and so it dips over 2 metres across its entire length to accommodate this – WoW!!!
Ah, but that’s not our main attraction to Lucinda, this is just an interesting side issue, avid readers will have to wait 24 hours for the next copy to find the real reason of Lucinda’s attraction for us.
After a stroll on the beach we spent some time in the company of the owner of the one and only gift shop, Evelins Gift Shop. Well Evelin is something else, she is a 100 MPH person and always on the go, chatting I mean. Jeepers, I saw what was coming and just sat down and absorbed it, I took it all in, all of it very interesting mind. Evelin was very ably assisted by her friend, boy what a double act. After half an hour I needed the bar and, phew, we found the only one and it’s a good one too, thankfully.
After a drink we headed back and Wendy made a lovely prawn curry and as she headed off for her evening shower we were treated to a stunning Lorikeet show, noisy but fantastic at the same time.
Wendy was gone but just a few minutes and came back in a scurry as there were forty five million green frogs just waiting to see her take her shower, so she did it in double time!
There are quite a few other interesting birds here too that Wendy likes the look of, and thankfully they seem to be nice and quiet.
We have great Wi-Fi in this remote tiny village so we are listening to Michael Ball who is standing in for Ken Bruce. It’s April Fools Day and Michael is trying constantly to fool us, and failing miserably, he’s going on about a naked calendar with the stations presenters.
And so to close todays copy but before I do so I would like to wish a very happy birthday to two lovely people, Granddad Bryan, who is either 76 or 77 years old today, (possibly 78 too) and to my very nice friend Tina Robertson. Brian enjoy a nice sedate day, Tina give them merry hell, its Friday so I know you will!!!
Lucinda to Mission Beach
94 Miles, (+60)
We were going to stay another night at Lucinda, but two things put Wendy off, the taste of the drinking water which I must admit wasn’t great and the tiny green frogs in the showers which weren’t harming anybody, but the fear of them jumping at Wendy was just too much. We had a morning swim and the outside shower substituted for her morning ablutions as she wasn’t game to go back into a cubicle again, not with green jumpy things about!
We bought two slices of Cheesecake from the lady at the gift shop before we set off. We were going to have coffee and cake but the water put us off, it tasted like it had been desalinated. YUK! So we had carry out Cheesecake, I had Rum & Raisin and Wendy had Cherry something.
We set off for Willaman Falls which when we returned to Ingham gave us an additional round trip of 60 miles, on top of the 94 we were going to have to do to get to Mission Beach, but we are on a travelling expedition after all so who cares.
As we drove we went through sugar cane land and then we started to climb after about 15 miles. Now the climb wasn’t as steep as some we have been up but it had lots of tight bends, however the views were great.
There were warning signs for the Cassowary bird but we never saw any, apparently they are endangered and there are only 1,000 left in the wilds. They have been known to attack people and they are extremely large so I guess they might have brought it on themselves.
We reached the car park for the falls and had lunch before venturing further. Lunch was a beef sarnie followed by shear gluttony, you’ve guessed, it was cheesecake time. Mine was absolutely delicious, and belly busting too. Wendy’s was nice as well but in my opinion not a patch on mine, but having said that I’m not big on cherries, now rum I do like!
We walked to the viewing platform for the falls and my breath was taken away. The sight was awesome!!!
The Willaman Falls are the longest falling in Australia, so they’re something special. The fall is 268 metres and it is stunning. You can actually see the water fall apart and form stands which later turns to spray and finally to mist as it falls to the ground, it was spectacular and well worth the additional mileage. There were other views of the gorge and the range as we came down which were fantastic in their own right, but having been spoiled they seemed to be second, or even third rate to the falls!
The drive from Ingham was brilliant, we went through rainforests, coastal areas and hills it was great.
We stopped at Cardwell for a walk and the beaches were lovely, we even found yet another jetty which we walked along in the afternoon sunshine.
We arrived at Mission Beach just as the sun was going behind the hills so we nipped for a walk on the beach to get our bearings. Wendy is in luck, the market is tomorrow, bad news is it starts at 06:00!!!
I have checked with reception and it’s OK for me to watch the cricket final tomorrow night at 23:30 in the games room and so I guess we will be staying another night.
We seem to have a problem with the van, no internal lights. I don’t know what it is but I managed to get all the other electrical items working and thankfully the table light works from the socket. I’ll have to work on it in the morning.
Supper was very tasty, we finished the Coral Trout off, I cooked it in lemon sauce, what a treat that was.
We cooked in, yes you’ve guessed, camp kitchen and we got talking to a couple from Cairns. Sometime later their son and his girlfriend came to join them. At the same time a very big flying, jumping thing camp into the kitchen and bothered them a bit. The girl grabbed it and threw it out, but the thing instantly came back and settled on our side, promoting Wendy to scan it constantly and make the girl laugh. Apparently English people never get used to Australian Critters!!! I don’t think Wendy ever would no matter how long she was here.
And, we have just remembered our friend from this mornings café gave us some truffles as a treat with our Cheesecake, but as Wendy pointed out it’s only four though, how many do we need Wend?
Mission Beach
No Travelling
What a laugh we had last night.
As we had lighting issues with the van we stayed at camp kitchen for a long while on our own as everyone else had left. I took some food down to the van and as I came back I saw a big rat nip out from near the toilets and hide under a BBQ in the kitchen, I didn’t tell Wendy.
A little later I saw said rat now nip behind the freezer and I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer so I told Wendy, who didn’t believe me. So I rattled the fridge thinking it wouldn’t move and bugger me the rat shot out, ran over my foot and scarpered off into the night. Wendy was on the ceiling and took some scraping off.
I must admit I didn’t like his little claws running over my foot as I had my sandals on and felt every one of them.
And so off to bed for another hot night!!!
Mission Beach is on a loop road from the Bruce Highway with a few other small townships and is surrounded by Tropical Rain Forest, it’s where the Rain Forest meets the Reef, or so they say.
I went on my run and followed a track through the forest for a few miles and then eventually came out at a beach. It was a great run but I could hear creatures ruffling all around me and I had to dodge several large spiders’ webs, in fact I missed one and ended up dragging it and the spiders along with me.
The views of the morning sunrise on the beach were beautiful.
I got back just after Wendy, who wasn’t as game about going through the forest and stuck to the road instead.
We showered and then went to the market across the road from camp. It was quite small but interesting and I bought some mangoes and some mango chutney. We had the chutney with our beef sarnie and its lovely, a shame I can’t bring any back.
After breakfast we walked around the shops and there are some nice ones too, just local craft and dress shops but all tastefully done, no tut at Mission Beach you know!
I then did further investigations into our lighting issues and eventually found a damaged fuse tucked away. I cannot understand how it blew as it had nothing to do with whatever tripped the RCD, but that’s vehicle electrics for you.
So having found the problem I had to cycle about 8 miles to get the solution, a new fuse. Wendy declined my invitation to join me as she was feeling a little under the weather.
On my return I am pleased to say that all lights are now fully operational.
After lunch we went for a nice long romantic stroll on Mission Beach. It is miles long and absolutely beautiful, we must have been out for two to three hours and we never got anywhere near the end.
Wendy started to feel a little unwell again and went for a nap, I must admit I had half an hour snooze too as its going to be a late night tonight.
As Wendy was fast asleep I went to swim in the stinger net with my body board as strangely the wind was making a wee bit of surf. It wasn’t enough to get me riding tubes but it was a bit of fun.
Wendy was still sleeping when I got back so I took my bike for a ride on the beach as the sun was going down and the tide was now coming in, it was also great fun, I think I’m revisiting my youth!
Wendy is now fully refreshed and feeling fine, maybe a bit too hot for her today, but tonight its treat time. The rats done for her so we ate out.
Well we dressed up, I was dapper and Wendy looked divine and the restaurant was nice. We ordered and waited, and waited, and waited, we drank our bottle of wine and we waited some more and an hour later the food came.
It put a bit of a damper on the night, my steak was OK, my chips were cold and Wendy’s mackerel was quite tasty, but a little cold too.
So on paying the bill, when asked, we told the waitress, who in fairness was on her own apart from one chef, and she was really apologetic. We told her it wasn’t her fault as we could see they were busy for one person. However the place wasn’t anywhere near capacity, most tables were empty.
Anyway, the poor girl didn’t even get the bill right, she charged us $54, (£22.00), when it should have been about $80. I didn’t notice as I had lost interest at that point, it was only when we thought about it later we guessed she had made a mistake. I don’t think she made a conscious deduction, she was just exhausted running around.
It’s a shame, I know we got a cheap meal, but we didn’t go out for that, we went out for a nice evening out, if we had wanted a nice meal we would have cooked it for ourselves.
Anyway, no more Mr Grumpy, its 21:00 and I have a game of National Importance to watch in 2 hours’ time, England v West Indies and I need to find Brad who as flown to London to watch Barnsley FC in the Lakeland Cup Final, it’s going to be a late night avid reader!!!
Mission Beach to Innisfail
37 Miles
I must admit to being both gutted and delighted at the same time, gutted because England came so close in the cricket and delighted because Barnsley won the Lakeland Trophy after 9 minutes of nail biting extra time. I don’t know why I was so worried it was Bradley who was there.
The cricket was really quite good, talk about ebb and flow. But the difference was one man, both sides had one stand out man each, putting in a great personal performance, however the West Indies had a second one up their sleeve who stood up to the plate and saw his team home. Good on them, well done!
And the same to Barnsley FC too, a new trophy for a very bare cabinet.
By the time I got to bed it was almost 04:00 but me being me I was up at 06:00 for my run and I am glad I did because I met the most stunning Kookaburra minding his, or her own business. I also bumped into Wendy Gill too on my travels who was very much enjoying herself by nosing at people’s homes on her walk, something which we both like to do, doesn’t everyone?
And so onward with our journey, just a short hop as I knew I’d be tired, (I didn’t know how tired).
We are now at Innisfail and we are camped alongside the Johnstone River, which is crocodile infested don’t you know, (well everyone keeps telling us!). We are virtually on the river bank, we have our back door wide open with our mozzie net on and that’s about all we have to protect us from the marauding monsters, I’m sure we will be fine.
After setting camp we had lunch and I had to grab a couple of hours sleep, it was roasting but I was so tired. I even recall waking and turning over and finding a little girl in a blue dress alongside me, but then I woke up and she had gone. Was I dreaming, no, it was Wendy Gill sneaking in for a half hour nap herself hoping I wouldn’t notice, well the heat does get to her.
After a nice reviving cup of tea we went for a stroll in yet another town that is spotlessly clean. Innisfail is slightly different from other towns as it was badly hit by a cyclone in the 1920’s and has been rebuilt in an Art deco kind of way, even the fire station is quite nice and appealing to look at.
Our camp site is the cleanest and the best provided for so far, we have spotlessly clean toilets, a really nice spot and the most wonderful, yes wonderful camp kitchen you could want, Wendy wants to stay two months!
We have just had supper and it was much better than last night, yummy, hot and on time and we have even indulged in a bit of pudding.
But tiredness is catching up on me and Wendy and I think I might just mange to sneak in some TV courtesy of Dave Ashworth before lights out, which won’t be too long!
See you tomorrow avid reader!
Innisfail to Little Mulgrave
47 Miles
I woke up at about 05:00, having heard the banana pickers who are billeted at the camp having breakfast before they went off for an extremely hard and hot days work. We had camped at the side of camp kitchen so it was to be expected, but it wasn’t unnecessary noise they were just making their breakfast. I had had a good nights sleep anyway and was feeling on top of the world.
I got out of bed at around 05:45 and was struck by the level of the river, it was lapping over the side making it easy for any hungry Croc to come and get his breakfast, phew a very close shave.
After exercise we had breakfast in the kitchen which has everything you could possibly need and more. The kettle is a smart one, really it is!!! You fill the kettle, put in onto its holder and the display tells you the current temperature of the water and how long it will take to boil. The temperature display changes as the water heats up. You can also set it for the perfect temp for coffee, green tea, black tea and Darjeeling would you believe. I bet Bradley Gill will go find one now!
One thing struck me when I was looking at the river, there is a complete absence of bird life on it. It is quite a wide, slow flowing river and I would expect to see birds settled on it at some point. I checked all of it when I was running and saw not one bird land on it. Do you think they know what lurks beneath?
So off we set and when we were going over the bridge, just outside camp, I saw a Crocs snout, large as life going upstream against the current. You can tell a salt water Croc by their bulbous nose.
I turned the van around and pulled up but it had gone before Wendy could see it, well I’ll be darned!
Just before we left Innisfail we bought some bananas from a self-service shed on the main road, just 200 yards out of town. It had its own honesty slot. How many UK towns would be able to operate such a method of retail? I have seen it many times in the Highlands, in the Isles of Scilly and even in some more remote areas, but never a town. That’s brilliant and shows a very trusty and mature attitude from the local community, I’d say something to be proud of. We bought 800 kilograms for two dollars – Just kidding!!!
We also bought some tropical fruit from a roadside vendor. We bought mangoes, prickly pears, dragon fruit and custard apples, oh and a bulb of garlic and an avocado. We had the fruit for lunch and it was delicious!!!
And so onto the Mulgrave River.
The Mulgrave River project was the second phase of my expedition with Operation Raleigh in the UK summer of 1986, some 30 years ago.
Margot, one of my friends from that phase helped my with directions, it took me a while to figure it out but we got there and it was a real trip down memory lane for me.
I found our old camp, the site where our huge tent was and even the camp fire was still ready to go, it was brilliant. We were a wee bit naughty as we had to take the van 3 miles off the main road and travel high into the hills on an unsealed road, we took it steady but the ride down was something else and in second gear all the way.
The project was set in the heights of the tropical rainforest and we were constantly wet through with regular downpours. Thankfully it was a very hot and dry day, so Wendy never got to see the conditions we had to endure.
Our exercise, conducted over 3 weeks was to survey the profile of the river and explore its tributaries. It was a great adventure and I spent some very happy hours traveling along the river in a Wobbygone Canoe.
It was really good to be back, so good I actually donned my swimmers and took a dip.
I would like to have camped at our old camp but I couldn’t trust the road conditions. If it should have rained overnight we would never have got back down safely.
But we have found a site a wee bit down the hill and it’s just lovely. It’s on small fish farm where the owner stocks a pond with Barramundi and you can fish it for $50 an hour and I can tell you you are guaranteed to catch something as it’s stocked to the brim.
David, the owner is a very dear old man and he has set Wendy and me a challenge, we haven’t managed to do it yet, and I don’t think we will!
We met our only neighbours for a good long chat, Sue and Barry from Western Australia. Its funny but we seem to have been in all of the same places as they have been and almost at the same time.
Supper was cooked in the van as the creatures were out in force. I managed a walk in the dark to see the stars for a while but Wendy could not be prised out of the van, no way!
We think we are incompatible, I love the Tropics, Wendy has concluded that she is not a Tropical person……………at all!!!
Funny how she likes it when it’s all inclusive!
Little Mulgrave to Cairns
30 Miles
We had a really beautiful morning in the Mulgrave Valley. Wendy skipped off for her walk before I was ready as I like to have the sun out and it took a little time for it to come over the hills. But when I got going it was stupendous! The beauty of the countryside with its height and its greenery was stunning. I even came across two Kookaburras laughing their heads off whilst perched on a telegraph wire, it made it feel good to be back.
I met Wendy en-route, she was heading back as I was heading out and we exchanged pleasantries about what we had seen.
And then onto Cairns which was a lovely drive. Cairns is surrounded by hills and forests all around, from the west, both north and south and it as the sea to the east and the huge tropical sun in the sky.
We went for a quick walk in town so I could get my bearings and then we went for lunch upto Yorkies Knob, (Why do I always find this name amusing?).
The beach at Yorkies Knob is lovely and mostly empty so we had it to ourselves, apart from the bathers in the stinger net, which was reasonably full.
There was a baby boy with his mum and his sister and he loved the sea. I stopped to ruffle his hair, but Wendy chatted to his Mum, apparently it was his first time at the beach and he took to the sea like a duck to water, you could see from the smile on his face he was loving it.
And then we went off to see Diane and Dave Ashworth.
Diane and Dave very kindly allowed me and three of my fellow Ventures from Operation Raleigh stay with them a few nights in 1986 so we could get over jet lag and get used to the climate. They were very brave, they had two young children at the time, one boy and one very young girl and they invited four strangers into their home as part of our introduction to Australia, and I must admit out of the 200 of us we got the better deal. We were very well catered for!
So since then we have kept in touch, we have been visited twice and now it’s our turn to call in.
And, so I’m back, with my wife and yet again we have been made extremely welcome, in fact Dave has been following the blog and has had air con installed in our bedroom just for Wendy, what a star!
Thy have a super house in the hills with stunning scenery and get this, a very private outdoor shower. As Dave says he as the biggest shower in the world, I’ll check it out tomorrow!
To the front of the house there is a balcony where Kookaburras come down and have become so friendly they will accept food from Diane and Daves hands, it was great to watch.
Supper was a lovely BBQ with the biggest and tastiest steaks so far and it was yummy.
So after a lovely day, Wendy and Diane went off to bed, but within 5 minutes a desperate plea for help was received from Wendy as a spider was found on the ceiling hovering just above her and ready to pounce.
Sorry mate as harmless as you might be my life would be hell if you stayed, so he was humanely removed to a more appropriate location, the back garden.
Cairns
No Travelling
We have had a lovely day of rest today, which started with me running up to Crystal Cascade and Wendy doing her 10,000 steps.
I went along the route Diane told me which included running up very serious steep paths that left me starving hungry when I got to the top, (this was never mentioned previously of course). Thankfully Wendy had got back and had showered before I returned so she managed to feed me a scrumptious breakfast, in the nick of time, consisting of mango followed by vegemite toast, my usual of course.
From there on in it has been a very relaxing day.
Dave had some work to do, heavy industrial stuff in his workshop that included welding and fabricating. I kept a close eye on things and he seems to be doing things properly, just the way I like them.
Dave needed some clamps for the job so we had to nip down to get some from Andrew, his son. Now I haven’t seen Andrew since he was 10 years old and it was great to see him, all big, strong and tall and running his own building firm. He looks just like small Andrew but a much bigger and stronger version. It was really good to see him again after all these years, and most importantly he remembers me for what I am, which is a topping Englishman, (just like his dad) and an even better Yorkshireman, (thankfully unlike his dad!).
Diane took us cruising in her car, seeing the downtown sights before a scrumptious lunch at the Coffee Club. Hey don’t knock it, it was a really nice snack.
We also examined the “Cannon Ball Tree, which is well worth a look at, or even a Google!
Back at home and after a coffee break which turned into an extended leisurely afternoon whereby we chewed the fat for at least an hour, Wendy and I went for an afternoon bike ride, but not before Dave brought a massive Grasshopper type thing for Wendy to see, she didn’t like it, not one bit.
Yet again we have found a very good cycle track, I know I go on about it but how can the Australians do it so well when we can’t!!!, anyway we cycled through woodlands, parks and cane fields which was a treat. It was an 8 mile round trip that seemed to be over in the blink of an eye and so we got back and chilled some more.
And then I did something which I really liked………………..I used Daves shower, the outside one.
I was hot and sweaty from the bike ride and I was going to shower indoors but then I thought bugger it. I walked out into the garden in my modesty towel and instructed that no one should peep, not that they would, I mean why?
But I was nervous mind!
However I had the most magnificent shower that I have ever had, outside with just me, the forest and the kookaburras and it was such a great feeling. I had just showered in the biggest shower in the world and I thoroughly recommend it.
Now it’s really hard to improve on that, but guess what, we did.
Myself and Diane worked together in the kitchen and produced the meal of the journey. Pan fried salmon, potatoes and salad. Jeepers it was lovely. And what was even more lovely was that Diane and me did it together and it was just such a nice experience.
And so we ate our meal and sat outside a while chatting further until we had a rain break, a much needed rain break at that too. It was only mizzle, but at least it cleared the air.
It’s been such a lovely day spent with great people and it’s been such a delight, see Linda, I said it again, I just can’t help it!!
Cairns
No Travelling
As stated in yesterday’s copy it started to rain last night. Well it appears to have rained all night and got increasingly heavier as time went by.
I woke at 05:30 to hear the downpour, but that didn’t stop me………….. from having breakfast!!!
The rain stopped and then started and stopped again, and then started!!!
So both Wendy and I set off, no rain, ten minutes later a downpour.
But it is really good to be outside in the rain in Cairns. I still sweated, profusely, as the rain came down, how weird is that? You see the rain would stop, the sun would come out and dry the rain causing steam to rise and pester me and then it rained again and so the process continued, meanwhile I am getting steamed to death.
Back to Dave and Diane’s and we did lots of pottering, catching up on things and then deciding what to do, but that’s OK it’s still 28 degrees outside.
Eventually we settled on a ride out, we bought some Afghan Biscuits from the shopping centre and got some sound advice about travelling North from the RACQ, (Queenslands AA) and then after buying fruit, oh and a short stop over at Helens, Diane’s friend for a nice chat, we went back home for an afternoon snack.
Dave, who is helping Andrew renovate a house drew plans for the works on his C.A.D. and I tell you I was most impressed, jeepers it’s so easy to do, if you have the right programme. The trouble is Wendy Gill saw what Dave was doing and is now most keen for me to obtain this magical software and refurbish our house too, thanks Dave!
After doing further admin, domestic stuff that still needs to be done while we are away, we had a ride in town, and got lost, well just a little, just a tiny bit.
But eventually we got there and the clouds looked like they were going to explode so we hung around the shops, oh and we had a beer in a bar, a backpackers bar which made me feel like I was 382 years old.
Cairns is a lovely town with lots of great architecture, but they cater for backpackers on a massive scale. There’s nothing wrong in that, apart from the fact they don’t seem to do too much for the Saga Brigade, of which Wendy and I seem to be distinguished members.
For supper Dave cooked prawns and bugs, they were fantastic, and with my salad and Dianes fried rice we turned out a most delectable meal.
And so after a hugely tiring day, of which we didn’t seem to do too much we are all now in bed, and its lovely…………….and its stopped raining, phew.
So as we settle down, B.G. and C.W. are hurtling through the channel tunnel on the Eurostar for a very secret, romantic weekend in Paris, well done Bradley on keeping this secret all to yourself!!!
Cairns to Port Douglas
41 Miles
The day started nice enough with a clearing sky as I ate my Weetabix and then as I was donning my running kit the rain started, lots of it. Where did it come from, every direction and any direction, that’s Cairns and its hills for you.
But thankfully it didn’t last long and I waited it out, as did Wendy and we went and got back without any further issue.
Breakfast was a treat of a mixed fruit, tropical of course, smoothie as mixed in Daves blender the appropriately named ‘Ninja’. We had Pawpaw, Kiwi Fruit, Pineapple and Coconut water. It was lovely and the Ninja did the business pulverising the fruit without any pulp left at all.
This was followed by vegemite on toast and a hot cup of breakfast tea, of course.
Later Dave helped me sort out our proxy voting forms, so now it’s all down to Brad when the time comes.
After a cup of coffee with Diane and Dave we set out for our last trip in the van as we have only three weeks left with her, where has the time gone?
But before I continue I would like to say we have had a lovely 3 days with Mr & Mrs Ashworth, I have especially enjoyed our evening meals in the lovely setting of their open patio at the back of their house. Boy have we stuffed ourselves these last few nights with delightful food, and wine!!!
One last thing, and it’s a secret mind! As I was in Daves office, Dave pointed out the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life at the top of the wall, it was massive, in fact massive does not do it justice. I told him there and then, if Wendy knows that is there she will be out of this house and not coming back, ever!!!
Apparently it’s called, quite appropriately, a Man Hunter, (no not a Huntsman!) and they are harmless, try telling Wendy Ann Gill that, she would not listen!
And so we left, but not before Diane gave Wendy some smoked salmon, cream cheese and the most delicious crackers ever.
After grocery shopping we headed north to Port Douglas along the stunning Queensland Coast.
I was here in Port Douglas almost 30 years ago and it seemed to be a booming area with buildings going up everywhere. Wherever you looked you could see a tower crane in operation so I was dreading the worst when we got here.
But I am really pleased to say Port Douglas has retained a lot of its old character, which is a small coastal town with a very well integrated tourist community and with the most fantastic beaches.
We didn’t arrive until 15:00 and then we had a late lunch so we haven’t done too much exploring but from what we have seen as helped us to decide to stay 3 nights, that and the stay 2 nights get the 3rd half price offer helped too.
After lunch we had a quick walk in town and there are some lovely shops for Wendy to get her teeth into.
We had a drink in a bar, The Iron Bar, where they have Cane Toad races every night, would you believe, no I am not going, it costs $5.00 entry fee!
From there we had a long stroll on the beach. This beach as the most palm trees I have ever seen along the beach line and they are mostly coconut palms, which I just love.
As darkness fell we got back to camp and cooked supper in camp kitchen just as the heavens opened.
It’s still chucking down now as I write this entry, but its lovely to hear, (well I am safe and dry in the van with the awning up and the door wide open but with Wendy still roasting), and it doesn’t look like its shifting anytime soon.
It will be an early night then for me and Wendy as we have lots to explore tomorrow, we might even take in a boat ride, Croc hunting!!!
Port Douglas
No Travelling
Well blimey did it rain during the night, it was so hard it was spitting through the fly screen and wetting my head. So I closed the window and promptly went back to sleep, and overslept.
I never heard a thing until 06:15 when the Lorikeets started to sing in the tree above the van and it was quite nice.
I went for a run along the beach and it was great, the tide was about 2 hours from high water so I had loads of firm sand to run along. The beach goes from end to end for 3.2 miles with a Crocodile infested creek at the south end and a Crocodile infested river at the north end, so it pays to be Croc aware when you’re in their neck of the woods!
On my return I saw Wendy striding out and told her to beware of the topless lady doing here routines as any one of her high kicks could take your head off.
After breakfast we went to the Sunday Market, well what a treat that was. Port Douglas Market has to be the best market I have ever been to, and believe me I have been around a few with Wendy Gill.
There were loads of stalls and all selling very unique stuff. We bought T-Shirts for young boys and a very cute little shirt for a very tiny boy. I had a small pot of the most delicious mango ice cream which was lovely and tasty. We bought mangos and red dragon fruit too. Wendy even got briefed on how to tell the difference between red and white dragon fruit from the nice young fella running the stall. It was a really nice way to spend a Sunday morning.
We walked back to camp through the main street, there is only one street, hence it’s the main street and it has loads of shops, boutiques, cafes, restaurants and bars. It's a very well laid out town and I have to say, we have both concluded it’s the resort of the trip.
Upto now Yamba was the front runner, but it had one massive draw back, no bars, now that is a massive draw back. But Port Douglas has it all and with a very nice long beach. It even has a steam railway that takes passengers to and fro to the end of the peninsular for a very pleasurable ride. I might even take a shot myself if we come back through this way, which we very just might.
We dropped our shopping off at the van and had a quick bit to eat, the last of Dianes smoked Salmon and cream cheese which was lovely and then having been rejuvenated we went for a bike ride to find our bearings.
The weather was a wee bit overcast now, (the clouds can come and go in minutes in the tropics, it can be gloriously sunny and then two hours of rain or cloud cover and then hey, as if by magic the sky is clear and the sun is out.
We found the Port Douglas Sailing Club bar where we had a drink and relaxed a little bit more, we also sought intel on their menu and it looks like it might be the place for a little treat as they cook fish caught locally that morning from the ships that use the marina. Today’s offering sounded lovely, but it might be different tomorrow!
Our last afternoon activity was to take the bikes for a wee ride along the beach. The tide was now falling and the sun was shining again so off we went and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
As it’s a relaxing Sunday I came up with a plan, how about an early supper, 4ish and then walking into town and having the odd beer or two and enjoy the Sunday afternoons festivities and get some Wi-Fi for Wendy.
So it was pan fried chicken in a plumb chilli sauce and fried rice for the main event, all done at camp kitchen which is just behind the pool as the kids frolicked in the sun. It was bloody lovely!!!
After super Wendy was feeling a bit tired so I left her in the van and went for a bike ride along the beach. The head wind was a bit harsh but I manged to get to Crocodile Creek without too much trouble.
I headed up the creek and you will never guess what? A bloody big Croc came sliding down the river bank and into the water. Jeepers it was on me in seconds, luckily I had my camping knife with me.
He had hold of my bike immediately in his huge jaws, thankfully, as I was just about to plunge my knife into his ribs, he skunked away, phew!!! I guess my bike was a bit too tough for his teeth!
Only kidding, my bikes tyres sank into the soft mud of the creek and I couldn’t go any further so I went back to base in double time with the wind at my back.
I found Wendy fully refreshed and after a bit more R&R, with me finishing my book, we went for a drink in town in search of Wi-Fi so Wendy could check her messages.
This was not an easy task, its took about 63 hours to find a suitable hotspot, but thankfully we did and it worked OK, as did the bottle of wine we had to buy in order to log in.
Back to base and I am a bit disappointed, I told Wendy to buy some chocs from the shop as we passed but she declined. But I thought that’s OK I have some cheese in the fridge, no I haven’t it’s in Dianes fridge back in Cairns, Wendy forget to get it!
The moral of the storey, don’t ever marry anyone who doesn’t like cheese!!!
Port Douglas
No Travelling
It’s been yet another lovey day today, absolutely lovely, apart from the ants, those pesky, nippy, bitey Green Ants.
But before we get to those buggers, we both exercised on the beach with me rudely slapping Wendys bottom as I passed her, I’m sure people around thought it was a bit of an assault but its ok we are married. It did wobble mind!
After breakfast in the sun we walked up to Lookout Point which is the highest point of Port Douglas. Jeepers this was a very steep walk, up and up we went, sweating all the way. But to say it was a disappointment is a bit of an understatement. Some, very rich chappy has built a massive house just below the eye line of the view, it looks a very nice and impressively expensive structure but it does spoil the view and his bloody satellite dish spoiled my photos.
We walked back down the hill which was a little bit easier and a lot cooler than going up and we ended up doing yet more shopping in town with Wendy buying a new shirt and shorts. This is turning into the biggest shopping trip in history.
Back to base we went and we got back just in time for lunch where we had the most lovely luncheon ever. It wasn’t anything fancy but it was just nice. The camp had almost emptied after the weekend and so we were alone, well almost.
So we pulled the table under the shade of a nearby tree and had a medley of beef, mussels, cheese and bread, oh and wine. It was lovely, we were just chilling out in the sunshine like the Grey Nomads we are, or as Wendy says, “Golden Nomads”!!!
As I was eating my lunch I saw them, the ants, those nippy bity things that are quite nasty. They were climbing up the guy lines and up onto the awning, in their thousands, the buggers.
To stop them getting into the van I hosed the awning down and everything else affected as you cannot afford to get them into your living space, let along your bed as they bite like hell, the buggers.
After lunch we headed to the beach and we had a nice couple of hours in the sun.
I have to say I am extremely grateful for the lifeguards of northern Queensland who not only look out for our general safety, but they also operate the stinger nets as the tide comes and goes and they watch out for sharks and the odd crocodile all the time we are enjoying ourselves. It must be the toughest gig of any lifeguard on the planet!
I had a swim in the stinger net and guess who sneaked in and joined me, Wendy Gill herself, on her own volition and without assistance, she even came in knee deep, what a shock.
I had a wee nip of Bundy Rum at the beach which in turn ended up with a wee sleep on my sun lounger. It was lovely!!!
But as happens on the east coast, the sun quickly goes behind the palm trees and we set off home after a most enjoyable time.
We got back to camp and that’s when we saw we were under a massive attack.
The ants where everywhere, they had climbed up both guy ropes and had set up base camps at each end of the awning. This was an intense and sustained attack which needed firm counter measures.
So armed with the hose pipe I washed everything down, the awning, the ropes, the table and the bikes. The buggers had swarmed all over my bike.
For those who don’t know, green ants are the nippiest buggers around, probably second only to electric ants, (which we have yet to engage) and they must be avoided at all costs.
So everything got washed down and put away, no more chances for the buggers, I even washed the side of the van down to get rid of them.
So far neither of us has been nipped, but we have found the odd one or two climbing over our skin. They particularly like to entangle themselves in my body hair, (as I type I just found one in my left armpit!!!).
And so to supper, which is burgers, salad and fried onions, and lots of them!
The camp is filling up and it’s quite nice. This is the best camp we have been to so far, apart from the green ants. There are very nice, and clean toilets for Wendy, camp kitchen is very well laid out, the camp is both close to town and the beach and the staff are really very friendly, so we have both concluded it’s the best to date.
Don’t fret Warren, you did set the bar for the best staff and that’s not been breached, yet, nearly mind!
Later we walked into town and I had the most delicious ice cream, Jaffa and rich dark chocolate, it was lovely. Wendy didn’t want any but took the top off of mine.
Port Douglas is a really nice resort to visit, it has the perfect blend of resort, shops, beaches and night life. I’m thinking I might just check in for a couple more nights on my way back to Cairns!
Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation to Newell
49 Miles & 33 Miles
I was having the sleep of my life last night, (03:00 ish), when suddenly I was being shaken violently. It wasn’t a dream, someone physically had me in an extremely tight grip, what a shock it was!
And then I found it was Wendy, who for some strange reason only she knows blurted out, “You’ve stopped breathing”, well I never. I just looked at her in that kind of what are you doing you crazy women way and she gave a huge sigh of relief and promptly went back to sleep. I never did get an appropriate explanation the next morning.
I came across the nastiest, dangerously bitey snake you have ever seen today during my morning run. I was going down a path alongside the railway line, in the bush when it came out from the undergrowth. It slid sideways, spitting and being all snakey. I gave him a wide berth but I did try to get a photo, however the blighter was far too slippery for me and he legged it!
We left camp with the intention of spending the night at Cape Tribulation but it turned out to be a really nice day trip.
We reached Daintree and found there to be very little there apart from a few tourist shops and a crocodile tour – we are into deep croc county now. So we continued and caught the ferry across the Daintree River, a journey of ten minutes and we then took the road northbound.
We travelled through really thick rainforest and climbed high into the hills. We took lunch at a high viewpoint and chatted with the local plod who seemed to be having their very own day out.
Moving on we stopped at an Orchard where they grow a multitude of tropical fruits and make their own ice cream. I had their ice cream special, it was four flavours and I only recognised one of them, you guessed it, mango!!! It was really lovely. We took a walk around the orchard and saw fruit that we have never seen before, some of it appeared very strange to us.
We also found some really nice beaches with small islands a few hundred metres out and it all looked just divine, apart from the fact that you cannot swim in the sea, due to the deadly stingers and cheeky crocs.
I met a man along the beach and we exchanged pleasantries, I mentioned about it being a beautiful beach and he said yes it is, it’s just a dam shame we can’t use the ocean! I see his point.
We got to the end of the road, well not the end end but the end of the tarmac as the road turns to a gravel road which heads about 60 miles north to Cooktown, so we turned around.
We were about 20 miles north of the ferry and slowly drove back and caught the afternoon boat.
As we liked Port Douglas we are going back as there are a few things we found we would like to do.
In the meantime we are staying at Newell, which is a very small place with another stunning beach.
There is one drawback, we are sat in camp kitchen and it is teaming with Cane Toads, Wendy is yet again on high alert and keeps mustering the courage to chase them away.
It’s not working though as four more have just turned up!
Newell to Port Douglas
16 Miles
No it’s not all bad, I mean how it can be in paradise, I’ll explain:
The day started nice enough, the sun was shining in Newell and we had a clear blue sky as we started our day.
We decided to go back to Port Douglas because we really like the resort. The resort has been very tastefully put together and there is a good even blend of society where backpacker rubs shoulders with top of the heap resort type people, without incident. The beach and the climate are great too.
But firstly we thought we would stop off in Mossman – Disappointment Number 1 – There is nothing going for this town at all, to say its drab is an understatement. Admittedly we only walked down the High Street but it confirmed what we had read on Wiki Camp about the place and as I have said previously in another life, when so many people make the same comment over and over again not everybody can be wrong, so we can take it or leave it, we left!
Ah, but then there is the Wednesday Market in Port Douglas. We checked back into our old camp ground as it is really good and we set camp, no problems – Disappointment Number 2 – If the Sunday market was the best ever, well Wednesday market can only be the opposite. In fairness to the stall holders who turned up they sold very up market, market stuff, such as jewellery and more jewellery. But that’s all there was, not much other variety. So I never got any more mangoes and I am running short. Wendy didn’t get what she wanted either, it’s a kind of surprise. Diane has something that Wendy really likes and we saw the same thing at our camp last night in Newell and Wendy enquired where they were obtained. Port Douglas Wednesday Market was the reply, but alas they weren’t there.
Ah, but all is not lost, it’s a fantastic day, still wall to wall blue skies and the sun is burning brightly so lets go and walk to the low level view point. Well thankfully that was not so bad, there were no signs to say we got there when we got there, we had to work it out ourselves, but when we did we did enjoy both the view and the breeze, so all is not lost…………………..until!!!
Disappointment Number 3 – We had a drink at the Sailing Club last week and there is a sign that says boat owners will take members of the public out for a couple of hours sail on Wednesday afternoon. The instructions are, turn up at 16:00, sign the safety declaration and wait until a skipper calls your name. It’s glossed up as sailing with the skippers.
Being an old sea dog I’m up for this.
Wendy came with me as she was going shopping whilst I sailed and wanted to see me off.
To cut a long storey short, it was like Yuppie land, with buckets of ice and carryout’s galore. The event had very little organisation and boats were leaving with skippers who were:
A, Uptight due to the stress of the situation.
B, Unfit to sail as they had been in the bar all afternoon.
Not for me, what was billed as sailing with the stars looked more like Hurray Henry Night.
I was very disappointed, not with the event, but that I had wasted my afternoon looking forward to something which was not as advertised. But as Wendy said, it was an activity undertaken to bring punters into the bar, and boy did it do that, bucket loads of beer in ice buckets were taken aboard. Some of the boats were cramped beyond capacity and I think the Coast Guard should have had something to say, unless of course a blind eye is being taken.
But the day wasn’t a complete write off as we had a glorious supper at an outdoor Italian restaurant. Well we did need a pick me up.
I had Spanish Mackerel and Wendy had some kind of fancy dancey Lamb Shank. Both meals were terrific as was the wine, so all was not lost.
Tomorrow I am having a take it or leave it beach day, weather permitting of course, with my book, my sun bed and some swimming in the stinger nets!!!
Port Douglas
No Travelling
Well did it rain during the night, twice actually but did Wendy hear it, did she get up and close all the windows? Now you know the answer to that don’t you, a big fat NO!
She never stirred.
It was still overcast when we set off on our exercise jaunt. The sky was fantastic, we could see the sky out in the Coral Sea all grey and angry with massive downpours but we got nothing but an occasional light drizzle.
I quite often pass Wendy on the beach and give her enormous bottom a big slap as I pass her but she caught me out this morning and stepped aside just in time. I know she likes it mind!!!
Wendy went shopping in town, there is one main street and it’s full of shops. I did some research on future plans which took about an hour and agreed to meet her for coffee after. When I found her she had not done one half of the High Street and now needs to go back tomorrow for a second shot!!!
A fantastic little, fully restored VW Camper is parked across from us tonight It’s a really good specimen but I have yet to get a good look at it as the owners have been out all afternoon. I’ll have to introduce myself tomorrow at an appropriate time and see if I can get a look inside!!!
After lunch the skies really brightened up and we took ourselves off to the beach, with our sun beds and did some very nice relaxing. I had a swim in the stinger net and read my book.
I have to add at this point that it’s not all been lardy-dar holidaying on this trip, we have been doing some very serious studies about this fantastic country. Wendy and I have read numerous travel books about Australia and its social history.
I am currently reading the full storey of the Burke and Hare Expedition, jeepers what wallies they appear to have been. Needless to say the wrong man appears to have been chosen to lead the expedition. A man with no previous experience of the inhospitable interior and absolutely no experience of leading an expedition full stop.
It was of course a politically motivated appointment, by a committee nonetheless, how could it possibly go wrong! I’ll let you know in due course.
As the sun started to go behind the palm trees I thought I fancied a bit of a stir and decided to go for a jog along the beach, from end to end, barefoot with minimal gear, none stop.
I invited Wendy to join me on her bike which she did and it was quite nice.
The tide was coming in and was getting fairly high so I ran in the surf from time to time. That was until Wendy spotted the stingers along the shoreline, boy that got me out of the water PDQ!
Supper was, Mangrove Jack……………it’s a fish, a very meaty fish and it was lovely.
However I have to admit to doing yet another silly thing and getting my kilograms mixed up.
It was only when I saw the price on the ticket that the penny dropped. So we have enough fish to feed the 5,000 but we had better do it over three nights so that’s it’s within its sell by date!!!
Port Douglas
No Travelling
I’m ever so sorry, did I say Burke and Hare in yesterday’s copy? Yes I did what a wally I am, they were grave robbers in the 18th Century, from Edinburgh I believe. No I meant Burke and Wills, how silly of me!
Blimey what a tiring night we had, Wendy did her too hot and then too cold routine and kept taking the bed sheet off me, exposing me to the cold fan. I was up at about 06:15, (it gets later as we head north as the mornings are later and the birds don’t stir until its light), and when Wendy woke she said, “What a terrible night I have had”, Eh? Not half as bad as me Mrs Gill do you recall pinching the bedsheet, ah but I get cold was her reply, so do I, was mine!
It’s strange how can you be cold at 24OC, well you can when you have Wendy’s fan on full blast in your direction!
It’s been an indifferent day weather wise. It started with clear blue skies and it was great exercising on the beach in the morning sunshine, but then we saw the storm clouds looming, but that was OK as Wendy had some shopping to conclude.
So after breakfast off we set on a shopping expedition. Me being quite smart took my book with me and dodged into the first bar I saw. I didn’t need a drink, but if you go into a coffee shop you will drink your coffee in five minutes whereby at 10:30 I can nurse a schooner for at least half an hour. So that’s where I ended up.
Off Wendy went and I settled down on a nice settee in a bar on the High Street. In no time at all I was engrossed in my book and sipped my beer as I read. Rain started but I was undercover so it was OK. Just at the point I had almost read myself to sleep, due to you know what, Wendy turned up with shopping bags aplenty!
Wendy Gill has shopped this town dry. There are very many shops and she knows each one of them intimately, she even recalls things she didn’t buy in each specific shop, I mean is she a top shopper?
She is definitely making the money Brad and Rob gave her go far, I’m beginning to think she’s into my travel funds!
After a very nice lazy lunch we headed to the beach but when I was snoozing, I was disturbed by Wendy, again, who wanted to go back to camp as the sun was not coming out to play today.
On return to camp, the sun came out to play so I read a little longer on the sun lounger.
After a while, I persuaded Wendy to take a bike ride along the beach, jeepers the wind was upto almost cyclonic levels. It was a tough ride out but a great fast ride back.
Supper was in camp kitchen, which is a very well equipped place apart from there only being three tables to sit at. But that’s ok as you get to share the table with other people.
Tonight we sat at our table and met Chris, his wife Caroline and his sister Lena who is visiting them from Germany as they both work in Australia for a short while. We had a good chat about this and that and Chris asked me if I like coconut water. Of course I do was my reply whereby I was quickly supplied with a nice fresh coconut husk full of water which I will have in the morning.
Chris had climbed a tree and had got far too many for his constitution, (did I ever tell you coconut water is excellent for assisting bowl activity, well it is, try it if you need any help in that department).
Tomorrow we set off for more travels. It’s been great staying in Port Douglas, it’s a lovely resort but more importantly this site is brilliant, it’s close to the beach and the town, it has great facilities but and most of all the staff are fantastic.
I may return one day………soon!
Port Douglas to Lakeland
117 Miles
Well it certainly rained during the night, bucket loads of it, but that was OK because we didn’t need the fan on as it was quite cool and I slept really well.
I was up quite early as we were leaving our site and moving on. I was up at first light and it was still raining, drizzle mind but it was windy nonetheless.
The tide was up during exercise and it made the event a test of durability as we had to pass through streams that at lower water are just minor inconveniences whilst on high tide they are raging rivers that need to be respected. But we managed it, even Wendy waded through them, although the one I saw here at gave her her biggest challenge, well it was upto her thighs.
We got soaked to the skin as the rain increased but it was ok, it was still 250C.
After we decamped we were about to set off when we were joined by 2 of the camp staff who wanted to say goodbye, thanks for coming and to wish us well for our trip which I think is a very nice gesture.
So we are on the road again and we headed to Lakeland, calling in at Mt Carbine for lunch along the way, (Not much at Mt Carbine, 2 houses and a Roadhouse!).
This was a stupendous journey, again we were traversing the Great Dividing Range, its must be our tenth time, and it was a real treat.
As we climbed into the hills the sky cleared and we saw yet more beautiful countryside.
We stopped at two look outs, one not so good, and one very good.
At the second lookout we met a couple who were returning from Weipa and we chatted for a good 40 minutes and they were great fun, the old boy was a very typical on the road Aussie who was quite funny.
We headed off to Lakeland and got here at about 14:00 and set camp. Our site is not the most salubrious in fact it’s a bit rough, but we are in Lakeland so it’s to be expected. There are few campers, in fact there is only one more apart from us but the place is teaming with noisy backpackers who are working as fruit pickers.
I have finally got myself a Telstra Sim card and a decent bundle of data and call time. Vodaphone is good in built up areas but is non-existent in the bush. So here I am in the middle of nowhere with 3 bars and a full 3G service, how good is that? I bought the card from the one and only shop for about 80 miles in each direction. The shop keeper as everything you could ever want and he was really helpful to me in getting the right item.
Get this, it cost me only $2.00 for the sim card and then I had to load it up, on line, which was a right chore, but all he got for his efforts was about 80 cents!
We had a wee bike ride around the village and Wendy bought some finger bananas, as they are her favourites, from a roadside honesty vender. They had some stonking looking jars as well, but we are now running stocks down and we didn’t want to add anymore to our provisions box as its bursting at the seams.
Supper is on at this very moment as its just getting dark. More Mangrove Jack but this time done on the BBQ. I asked permission to light my own BBQ which was granted by the site owner who then went on to tell me how to cook the fish.
So just now it’s steaming away on hot cinders in a foil packet of butter, garlic, lemon juice and white wine with a good pinch of pepper.
I’ll leave you for now and let you know how it went later avid reader!!!
Well it’s now 20:48 and super was yummy, it is certainly a recipe I’ll use again, simple but effective.
As the embers were dying on the BBQ the wallabies came out to graze. There are about 5 to 6 of them and they are so peaceful and happy munching on the grass. They don’t half move though when anyone passes.
There is one wee drawback about this site, cane toads!! There must be thousands of them, some small and some massive. Wendy is not moving from the safety area of the light of the van. There is no way on earth is she going anywhere near the toilet block again tonight.
And on that note avid reader, I’m away with my book and a wee Bundy Rum, well it is Saturday night.
Oh, by the way – Happy Birthday Caroline Whitson, one of our most avid readers!!!
Lakeland to Cooktown
50 Miles
I was on the road running a different route from Wendy on her walk today but I doubled back to check she was ok. I was on the Cooktown Road, (The road forks east to Cooktown and west to Laura at Lakeland), and she was on the Laura Road.
I found her and she was on the opposite carriageway but suddenly deviated onto my side, looking a wee bit disturbed somewhat. “Snake” was her first words as she got within earshot.
So after a brief chat I carried on and went over to look at the snake. Now I may have previously said that I am bush trained by the one and only Bush Tucker Man, Les Hidins, so I am sensibly respectful of snakes. Well this mid-sized fella looked to be asleep to me, (they often crawl onto the road to warm up after a cold night, and it was cold last night). So from a safe distance I took his / her photo, whereby Wendy from the safety of 200 metres proceeded to shout “BOO” at the top of her voice, how silly!
Yes avid reader, imagine if I had done that to her, the bugger.
And so we continued our journey, Cooktown bound.
It was a fifty mile trip and I have to say that it was one of the best we have completed to date. Notwithstanding we loved the Stuart Highway but the journey to Cooktown was stunning in its greenery and its undulations, it was magnificent.
We came across the Black Mountains which are an interesting geological rock outbreak about 15 miles south of Cooktown where we stayed to take some photographs and get a closer look.
On recommendation from yesterday’s encounter we took a detour of 2.4 miles to see the Lions Den where we had coffee and cheesecake. The Lions Den is a very famous pub and we intend to go back and savour their delights so apart from todays photos I’ll save my narrative for the coming days, so as to maintain suspense!
And so onto Cooktown.
I came to Cooktown 30 years ago at the request of our Project Leader, Ian Shanks as he was undertaking a trip from Old Laura to either get supplies or receive a communication from HQ. My memory cannot recall the exact detail of Ian’s purpose but as he was having to take the 4 x 4 people carrier he invited anyone along who wanted to go. Well it was a full days journey over gravel roads, 1980’s gravel roads at that so not too many of us we’re interested, apart from most of the girls.
Well Ian being a decent chap wanted to give the girls their opportunity but asked me and another couple of young men to accompany him as he would not be able to chaperone the girls all the time. Well we thought he was being a bit over cautious, I mean these girls were Operation Raleigh Venturers they would cope, easily. That was my opinion anyway, until we got to Cooktown.
Well never I had never seen anything like it, nor have I since.
Image the wildest Wild West type town, with saloons filled with whiskey drinking, bar brawling, womanisers and you don’t even have half the picture. All I remember was walking down the High Street and seeing and hearing total commotion coming from the bars that lined the street.
Thankfully since returning to Australia I have been informed that Cooktown is now considered the last frontier town and that it has now cleaned up its act.
And, thankfully it looks like it has. There is a nice blend of hotels, resorts and very nicely maintained old colonial buildings. The estuary esplanade is being redeveloped and it’s hoped that it will bring many more visitors in, hopefully so.
The High Street is looking quite splendid and we spent a nice couple of hours walking around.
We called in at the Tourist Information Office and we have now been supplied with enough information about the walking paths so that we will be suitably entertained tomorrow, that is if we set off and get back before the thermometer hits 35OC again?
Cooktown takes its name from the explorer James Cook, who, as I have mentioned previously manged to get his ship the Endeavour stuck at low water on the Great Barrier Reef and he had to jettison over 50 tones of equipment in the hope that the ship would re-float. It didn’t, not immediately, not even at high water. It took lots of men lots of hard work to get her afloat.
As the ship was badly damaged she was brought into the safe waters and beached at Cooktown so that repairs could be made, hence its name Cooktown!
However it was not until the Palmer River Gold Rush of the 1800’s, that saw Cooktown take off as a great pioneering town. Sadly as the gold raun out, so did most of the towns occupants.
Changing the subject to the here and now, supper is to be lamb chops and salad and as I am starving I hope it lives upto expectation.
Well it did, it was lovely.
We were however joined by some rednecks in the kitchen who are staying in the vans below us, who were making a right racket this afternoon watching or listening to the rugby. Boy they made me mad, they were so inconsiderate.
But when they joined us in the kitchen you could see why, they were bladdered. Men in their fifties, with a jack Russel called patsy, I know it’s very suspect and jeepers what fat bellies they had!!!
They could hardly string two words together and one of them went and got a large carryout from the local bottle shop!!!
Oh and to top it all a huge green frog hopped in to make an entrance.
But they were ok’ish after Wendy left camp and tensions ended, one didn’t like the swearing in front of a lady and the others didn’t know they were swearing, etc, etc!
So we’re back at camp and it’s now blowing a gale, I think the cyclone has eventually tracked us to Cooktown.
One last word before I sign off. I was desperate to watch the old Firm Semi Final tonight, it’s on at a reasonable time but no one seems to have it on, bugger! Oh well good luck Rangers, I’ll check the score first thing in the morning!
Cooktown
No Travelling
Last night I ended up following the Rangers v Celtic Semi Final via the BBC blog. When it got to penalties I knew Rob, who I worked with at Inverness Leisure, was watching so I asked him to update me with the situation via messenger. Rob did a brilliant job, his descriptions were fantastic, I thought I was there. Oh and Rangers won too, what a bonus!
You will never believe who I bumped into on my run this morning, not in a million years, no you won’t.
I’ll tell you it was none other than Lieutenant, Captain James Cook himself adorned in his fine garments looking all Captain like, yes he was.
There were TV cameras all around but I don’t know what was going on but it was the very man himself. He even had the odd cabin boy tagging along. Obviously not being the star struck type I just jogged on by and tried to look all disinterested, meanwhile I am scanning everything in sight.
I also went to the beach at Finch Bay which is about a mile and a half away, this as to be the most Crocodile infested place about, I didn’t see any Crocs but boy could you tell from the absence of wildlife that they were about this area. It was a small beach and I didn’t hang about too long, or go anywhere near the waters edge.
I asked Wendy if she had seen the Captain on her walk but she had gone in the opposite direction so she didn’t get her opportunity to see a real life hero. However later as we walked down the High Street for morning coffee we bumped into a Red Coat who was about to cross the road, and thinking nothing of it, (as we knew something was afoot) we just walked on by. As we passed a women she said, “Only in Cooktown can you see something like that and not be surprised!” and we all chuckled. A little later we came across the camera crew and there was an aboriginal man close by all painted up looking like a scary warrior.
We will most likely see a version of Cell Block H with Captain Cook in it and me running past him at some point in the future!
After coffee we returned to camp and put on our walking shoes and headed up to the Look Out Point.
Blimey this was some climb, it nearly did for Wendy!
The Look Out Point was where Captain Cook rode ashore in a dingy and climbed the nearest high point to see for himself how he could safely bring his stricken vessel into the river without further grounding. It’s a very high point with views out to sea and far inland too. It’s a brilliant look out and on a clear day, with binoculars,you can see the Great Barrier Reef all the way out in the distance of the Coral Sea. We didn’t have any binocs so we had to imagine. It was a stunning view though and we savoured it long enough to regain our composure.
On return to camp we had a wee rest before taking a bike ride along the road which leads to the Endeavour Falls, (yes everything here as some name association with Captain Cook) . But the terrain did for us, the road was too hilly, so we turned back into a massive headwind where I am sure I heard Wendy cursing under her breath, probably swearing at me!
So we decided to take the van and check out the falls, but unfortunately the road turned to a gravel road about 10 miles out so we had to turn back. We did call in and see Cooktown Airport though which has to be the teeniest, tiny airport in the entire world, it’s even smaller than the airport at Barra!
Well having had a very full day we went back to cook an early supper, (we didn’t have lunch as we had a massive almond croissant with coffee), of chicken, and pasta which we did in a packet of honey and soya sauce.
The sauce was described as mild on the packet but blinking eck it burnt my lips, and I don’t normally mind spicy food. Wendy was sweating and sneezing all over the place. We both drank a vast amount of cooling wine as an antidote.
It’s now 19:00 and I think we may have an early night but something’s happening at BBC Radio Two as they have been off air for over half an hour now and they are playing loop music! I hope it’s nothing serious!
Cooktown to Helenvale
19 Miles
We are back at the Lions Den Public House, Restaurant, Hotel and Camp Site, established 1875.
WoW, that is a long time in remote outback history.
The Pub is named after a young stowaway who was found aboard a boat in Cooktown. The young man, Danial, was sentenced to work in a new coal mine in the Helenvale area and the mine owner came across him looking bewildered at the mine entrance when Danial first arrived. The owner thought the lad also looked like Daniel, the biblical person who somehow ended up in a lions den, (now I am showing my lack of bible study here because that’s all I know of the bible storey). Anyway the pub was built not long after this occurrence and the name seemed to be appropriate and hence the Lions Den started its long and illustrious service to the local and travelling community.
The pub was in the same family until 1963, which is pretty impressive in this part of the world.
The pub is found 2.4 miles from the main tarred road which runs from Cairns to Cooktown, about 20 miles south of Cooktown. It is also on the more direct road from Cape Tribulation, but unfortunately this road is only tarred so far either way with a very difficult 4 x 4 section for about 30 miles in the middle, which is supposed to be one of the best 4 x 4 routes in Australia, ah well that will have to wait for our return visit.
So as soon as we arrived we had coffee and cheese cake and then set camp.
We then went for a bike ride along the roadway for a couple of miles.
The road goes through what’s called the Wet Tropics and it is stunning. The rain forest is really thick and apart from the road there is nothing, no industry, not many houses and certainly no noise, apart from the wildlife.
We had a lovely bike ride and only turned back when we started to hit the hills.
Back at camp we resisted the urge to go back into the pub to spend the afternoon and we had lunch under the shade of a very big eucalyptus tree.
The camp site is just perfect, we have the field to ourselves along with the wildlife which at nightfall is loads of insects buzzing around a lamppost with bats nipping in and out and taking a leisurely supper.
We spent a fantastic afternoon at the creek, about 100 metres from the van. You have to go down a slight hill and through long grass and you are at a lovely waterway, with falls either side of the waterhole. Which is a bit reassuring because it is supposed to be Croc free. However there are Crocs reported to be at the upper end of the river in some guide books so I don’t understand how they can be there and not here.
My thinking is that there aren’t any Crocs this far upriver in any direction, this is based on:
A, The rapids are too big, no Croc is going to be interested in the effort to get up here because;
B, The fish are minute, they wouldn’t feed me let alone a hungry 30 stone Crocodile.
C, There are much better pickings down river.
So based on a very thorough and sufficient risk assessment I deemed it safe to swim. Needless to say none of this was discussed with Wendy Gill, until she had had a wee paddle.
I did have to give a word of warning to Wendy though because in her panicked state she ran through the track with the high grass alongside, as she has a long grass phobia, the path is about 3 metres long! My point being that if there had been a snake about she would not have been able to pull up in time and the snake would have had her by the ankles!!!
The afternoon was a real treat, the sun was out and we had the river to myself. I took my body board in and had a shot or two at riding the rapids. This wasn’t a great success as I kept getting trapped against large rocks which I had to faff around in order to make progress.
We had supper at camp as the sun set and then headed to the bar.
There seems to be a contingent of motor bike type chaps in, not rough types, yuppie, off roader types actually but they seem be behaving themselves so that’s OK.
I went to buy a bottle of wine which duly came in a plastic bag and no glasses. I wasn’t going to complain as it only cost $22, I think she thought I was taking it back to camp and charged me carry out prices, so she was a little puzzled and too far down the road with the transaction to enquire further when I asked for wine glasses - Once a Yorkshireman!!!
We were both a wee bit disappointed with the bar at its height. The music was blaring out from a juke box and the food all appeared to be either precooked, such as lasagne or grilled, such as burgers. Most of it got left, in fact from the food left on plates there was more left than eaten. Ah well at least the beer was cold!
We sat out for a while at camp before turning in for the night, the sky was nice and clear but the moon is getting pretty full again and it takes the edge off the night sky. It is still pretty impressive mind.
Helenvale to Laura
75 Miles
If you happened to notice from yesterdays photos I had the solar shower out yesterday, and as it happened it was made full use of today too.
The amenities at The Lions Den were, let’s say, not fully committed to keeping out critters and so Wendy did full ablutions at camp, including a bikini shower. I must say that the shower worked a treat, after only two hours in the morning sun the water was warm enough to not be chilled but also for it to be nice enough to refresh. I have to admit I didn’t hang around the showers either, things were flying and hoping everywhere.
And so we drove to Laura.
Old Laura Homestead which is 15 miles to the north of the township of Laura was my first posting when I was on Operation Raleigh almost 30 years ago to the day.
It’s very nostalgic for me to be here as we used to come to Laura to get provisions and play soft ball with the aboriginal children on a Thursday night, (that’s important, remember that for a later date).
The Homestead was a pioneering farm from yesteryear and was deemed too important to let it go to ruin and as it met the right criteria of community service and environmental hardship we were drafted in to sort the place out, under the excellent Leadership of Major Ian Shanks of the Australian Army. Now this man was a great leader and it was a privilege for me to have been under his command, even for such a short space of time!
Before I go any further, the campsite we are staying at as to be the worst ever of the trip. The site is a tip, the amenities when we got here were disgusting. On seeing the mens I nipped into the ladies as I knew Wendy would not be impressed and guess what I found………………a massive spiders web inside the entrance with Mr / Mrs Spider, of large persuasion, sat directly in the middle holding court. I didn’t tell Wendy, of course!
What I did do was tell her that the facilities may not to be to her liking and that she should check them for herself.
She never crossed the threshold, she took one look at the spider and said, “No way am I going in there!!!
Thankfully they had been cleaned later that day and we did mange an uncomfortable shower just before supper.
Getting back to Old Laura, which is however only accessed by an unsealed road and we cannot take our van off the tarred road, so I am stuck. But being all this way out I thought I would give it a shot.
Now the road is closed, officially.
I have asked a few local people, four actually, can I hire a 4 x 4, or a motor bike but no one does it, it is that small a township.
Wendy and I had a wee cycle along the road but it was quite hot, roasting in fact, but then it was only meant to be an investigatory skirmish
However I later want to the Police Station and I had a good yarn with the bobby who told me that I can get to the Homestead. The road is closed only after the Homestead as the wet season was so heavy here that the embankment of the river, which is behind the Homestead, has been washed away. Apparently not even the biggest winch will pull a 4 x 4 through the soft sand. He did say that I could bike it though if I can’t get hold of a 4 x 4.
So I went, alone for a better look on my bike.
I have previously reported about reading books on Australia, the last one was about Burke and Wills who set out from Melbourne in an attempt to be the first to cross the continent, South to North.
They never made it, falling short by about 27 miles and both died horrible deaths trying.
What they did do is they passed the PNR – The Point of no Return, which, I personally think is a silly thing to do.
Robert Falcon Scott did exactly the same and died too, as did all his men.
Sir Ernest Shackleton, of whom I am widely read, avid reader, did not pass PNR. Shackleton got to within 110 miles of the South Pole, being the first to do so, and turned around as he knew he could not get all his men back alive, he was not willing to go to the PNR to fulfil his own ambitions.
So after the sun started to cool a little I set off alone on another expeditionary ride and went five miles down the road. It was reasonably flat and without any serious corrugations, but it was still dam hot. So having got within a third of the way I turned around having made my mind up the bike route was not an option. I’m pretty sure I could do it without hardship but I know Wendy suffers the heat quite badly and really wants to come with me to see the Homestead, even though she told me to do it by myself.
But no, we have come almost 12, 000 miles on this road trip together, if we ever get to Old Laura Homestead it will be together and not by going beyond PNR!
Laura to Ravenshoe
209 Miles
What a night we had last night, but before I get to that I need to add something from yesterday.
During the day we talked to two prominent white Australians, I won’t identify them but they do hold positions in society and would know what they are taking about.
The first person, I was talking about being here 30 years ago and playing softball on the school field with the local kids. I said I wonder if any of them are still around. He said they are most likely dead. He said that the aboriginal lifespan is very low as they suffer badly from diabetes, compound this with lots of alcohol consumption and they live a much shortened life.
I asked him if the men still spend the family dole money on drink every Thursday when they received it. He said that some got their cheques today, (Wednesday), and had headed off to Cooktown in their cars to buy their grog. The local landlord as barred them all due to fighting, he gets a $10,000 levy on his licence after any fight that is reported by the police, so he can’t take the risk to supply them.
The second person told us how much trouble there is from Wednesday, until Saturday when the money runs out. He also confirmed that what they called the grog runs had already started.
Anyway after supper we went to the local bar for a drink and as it was warm we sat outside. As we were just about to leave a drunken Aboriginal women joined us, she was called Maureen Bramwell. We did actually have quite a reasonable chat, well as best you can with someone dearly hanging on to two beer cans.
She talked about her pride that one of her sons had been in the army, sadly her second son was in prison. She was really nice and I asked her if she knew an Aboriginal Tracker called George Musgrave, (George taught us basic tracking techniques in 1986, he was fantastic). Well Maureen’s face lit up that I knew him, but sadly as to be expected he had died. However his daughter is a Ranger for the Queensland National Parks and lives close to Maureen, so she made something of herself, I bet George was as proud as punch!
George was a topper, a real true Australian Aboriginal Gentleman!
As it was really dark we walked Maureen home and she insisted we come and meet her family, but as it sounded like the party was in full swing we declined and headed back to camp.
Well what a racket was heard at our campsite all night, actually well into the morning, jeepers it seemed like the entire Aboriginal nation was partying.
I state this as fact, not as comment. We were there, we saw and we heard it.
Moving on, I saw loads of Wallabies this morning on the Old Laura Road, they were very interested in me and waited until I was very close before they hopped it. I also came across a very hot Wendy Gill at the six mile mark, without her hat on, again!!!
So where to next? We did really consider going back to Port Douglas as we really like the resort and the campsite.
But as we were driving I nurtured a thought, can we make it to the Gulf and get back in time?
We rested at the famous Palmer River Roadhouse and I checked the map and crunched the numbers and concluded, that subject to checking with the hire company, (as I would need to have the van serviced, or they could waive it), we can make it without any problem.
The service was duly waived!
So I put this to my co-pilot and she was immediately on board.
So the sat-nav is set and we are heading for the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the west coast of Queensland, how exciting!!!
But to get there, guess what? Yes it’s yet another crossing of the Great Dividing Range.
We are currently camped at the highest village in Queensland and we have been into the highest pub in Queensland for a quick nip and are now hiding in the van as the mist and rain are all around us.
This must be our penance as its below 20OC outside.
We entered the cloud at the top of the range where it was pouring down and it’s followed us here. But that’s OK, this is a great site, its only $15 a night, (£8.00) and they have a great camp kitchen with a covered fire place directly in the middle, (yes it does rain that often).
There is a great atmosphere in camp, sat around the warming fire, but if the rain persists I’m heading westward tomorrow, free sausage sizzle or not as advertised for supper!
Ravenshoe to Croyden
254 Miles
We had to get the duvet out last night as it was quite cold by our tropical standards anyway, but we were OK all snuggled up for the night. But it was 20.5OC on the thermometer in the van this morning and that’s just not what we are used to.
I had to get my cold weather running gear out, consisting of wicker shirt, sweat shirt and waterproof jacket. It wasn’t raining but it was still dam cold, for a while anyway until I had warmed through.
Wendy on the other hand decided to have a PAMPERING morning, whatever that is, and she was on her third cup of tea by the time I left!
It just started to rain as I got showered so both Wendy and I concluded that as nice and cheap as the site was it was time to move out of these dam mountains.
So off we set for a bit of a jaunt to get to Croyden which is about 100 miles away from the Gulf Coast, our ultimate destination.
It’s ANZAC Day on Monday which I believe is a bank holiday so we are expecting a busy weekend, but by the occupancy of the site we are on just now it’s not looking good as there aren’t very many customers around.
We have had yet another terrific drive through the outback and once we got out of the hills the heat really turned on. We travelled some difficult roads, one minute they are duel track, then single track with a dirt runoff road at each side. So when you pass someone you have to half share the road and each of you takes the dirt runoff. I tried to slow down as much as I could because the amount of red dust that gets chucked up is terrible and we end up with a very dusty bedroom.
Most Aussie campers are pressurised so that the dusk is kept out whilst traveling, not so our camper van.
During the trip we got some great views of the outback and boy you can see for hundreds of miles. If aliens had landed in the outback they could have been here fifty years and no one would know. It really is that big!
We arrived at Croyden at 15:30 and the sun was just nice, but bugger me what did Wendy say……I know, you know, “It’s too hot!!!” It’s a shame I’m not able to describe exactly how she says it, her inflection and what not but she does seem to mean it. But how can I cope, I mean it was too cold this morning and now it’s too hot tonight, I mean how do I cope!!!!
Anyway, the site is lovely, it has a great pool which we had a dip in just to cool down which was just the ticket. However Wendy found a toad in the shower, well she would wouldn’t she!
We went to the local bar for a beer as the sun set and it was terrific. The sun set in the midst of clear blue skys and it was a great sight, with us sipping on our nice cool beers.
We also saw local boys stocking up on their beer supplies, and the music as already started to fill the evening air, so watch this space.
Supper was in a very nice camp kitchen and we chatted to some very nice New Zealand people or Wendy did.
The moon is very full tonight so I guess we will sit out and enjoy the night sky. I’m currently reading a book about a women who lived the hard life in the north of Cape York. Its great reading and its making me think, now that might be just the challenge I need!
Croydon to Karumba
137 Miles
Wendy went north on her walk and I went south. I saw 3 small Wallabies and one very big Red Kangaroo. Wendy saw two big Kangaroos and more importantly a lake and a look out. Oh and a warning sign for Fresh Water Crocodiles at the lake and another sign saying be careful swimming. Of course Wendy says, “Why on earth would you swim there!!!”
We set course from Croydon to Karumba at just after 10:00 and stopped in at Normanton for lunch. We saw two huge lizards sunning themselves along the road, which I just about managed to swerve around and one massive eagle who was feasting on a dead Wallaby. The bird would not let go of his food and we almost hit him as we went past. Had we hit him it would have caused $100s of damage as he was that big.
Normanton was bloody roasting. We stopped to make a quick sarnie and we hid under a park shelter to eat it. I thought it best to get going before Wendy had heat exhaustion.
The journey to Karumba was pretty good what with all the wildlife and the scenery.
Just as we entered Karumba a bloody big Red Kangaroo hoped across the road just in front of us. Had I been 20 seconds earlier I would have had him. The blighter, this is the first time this has happened in over 12,000 miles of travel.
Oh, by the way, happy Saint Georges day to everyone in England!!!
Welcome to the Gulf of Carpenteria!!!
Now this place is hot, very hot, in fact its 37OC Hot, too hot for you know who!
But it is a very interesting place, we are at the end of yet another 500+ mile dead-end road, but this time we hope to see a sunset at sea, but maybe not as it will be touch and go.
After setting camp we had a bike ride out and found the water front. We walked along the beach for about a mile or so and we both found it very peaceful and relaxing. There doesn’t appear to be any surf at all and the tide runs out pretty quickly leaving a very muddy bottom. There are loads of shells too. We even came across some very small hermit crabs, who pretended not to be there when they heard us walk by.
It’s getting close to sunset so I’ll let you know how we get on, will it or won’t it be a sunset at sea?
Its 17:34 and still 34OC and Wendy is now not only hot but she is hungry too, and she is on cook duty would you believe!
Update – It’s now 20:04 and I have had the most stunning sunset of my life, it was STONKING!!!
The sun went down into the Gulf and from the moment it set it just got better and better.
We had supper at the Sunset Tavern, so Wendy is relieved of duty, the food wasn’t great though, nice but not fantastic, but the beer and the wine was OK, but it didn’t matter as the sunset was out of this world, (actually it was a shame as the barramundi wasn’t well cooked and we are in Barra land. Wendy said that I can cook it better, is that a compliment?).
It’s now 29OC and Wendy is still hot. However she has rigged the mozzie net over the back door of the van so with the fan on we might just make it through the night without too much rolling around and sweating.
Here’s hoping!!!
Karumba
No Travelling
I found Wendy Gill this morning on her walk wearing my Cape Verde baseball cap, my best baseball cap that I look after. She didn’t use her own hat as she doesn’t want to make it dirty, but it’s Ok to get mine dirty, the only one I like to look after as I got it from Cape Verde. A very red bottom is required I think!!!
I asked our neighbour, Phil, if he had a tyre inflator this morning as Wendy’s tyre was a bit down on air. One tyre inflator was duly produced and off we set.
Before we left I gave Phil a fishing lure that I had found on a beach in New South Wales, it was a big one, and Phil thinks it’s for Mackerel which is much bigger than our Mackerel. He was as pleased as punch with it, he had it all cleaned and sharpened in no time at all.
We went on the cross country route to Karumba town and there must have been 42 million locusts around all intent on making Wendy Gill scream, I tell you my ears were almost bloodshot by the time we got to the end, and on getting there we found bugger all anyway.
So we set off back and Wendy found she had a puncture!!!!
So I had to make a hasty retreat to get the van and pick her up from the roasting heat.
Back at camp I tried to mend the puncture, which I thought I had done. Then we noticed mine was flat too. We seem to have hit a collection of nasty needles as we did in Broken Hill.
But that’s OK as I have three patches left. Only that on inflating the newly repaired tyre, the tube had become trapped on the opposites side from where I was and proceeded to blow out, with the biggest noise ever just as Wendy got close to say, “I think there is something wrong”!
Well this brought Phil out and he laughed a bit as the tube was unrepairable.
But he asked Wendy the sizes and told us we would have trouble getting hold of them in the outback, which we will as there is 500 miles between us and the next bike shop.
So there is nothing else to do except go to the pool to cool down and fall asleep, which I duly did.
It’s been over 39OC today, not the hottest of this trip but hot enough for you know who to comment on it………… all………….. day…………..long!
I was woken by Wendy who said, “Someone wants you”. As I opened my eyes there was Phil with two new inner tubes for our tyres. Where the hell did he get those in the outback on a Sunday afternoon? Connections that’s where.
This is Phil from the Victoria / New South Wales border who on doing the round trip of 3,000 miles to his sons wedding last week brought back 200 slabs of beer for his mates on the camp site, (as its quite expensive here). He also has a stash under an awning at the front of his caravan which I had the privilege to see today.
So then I had to repair the tyres again and found many more punctures so Phils tubes were needed. I have one more hole to repair on my bike as I have run out of patches. But I should pick some up from a local filling station easily enough.
After the bike fiasco I just had time to nip into the showers for a scrub up so we would take in another sunset.
And what a beauty it was!!!
If I lived here for one thousand years I would come down to the point and see the sun set every day, it is spectacular, apparently, it’s said locally, that it is the best sunset in the world. Well they would wouldn’t they, but if it isn’t its pretty dame near!!!
Supper was a delight, cooked by Wendy, left over chicken curry.
Its 20:45ish and she’s inside, there are too many creatures out tonight for her comfort, it’s still 30OC mind!
Karumba
No Travelling
What a stonking day, absolutely brilliant.
But first, what a hot night we had, it was roasting. It was so hot I got up at midnight and sat outside alone and drank a can of ice cold beer, it was lovely.
Today as been ANZAC Day, Australia, New Zealand Army Corp Day.
It started off in camp with loads of cars leaving at 05:00 for the sunrise service, it was a pleasure to see.
And in the mid-morning Phil took us out on his boat, a 150 HP speed boat no less.
It was brill. First we explored the River Norman and went up creeks looking for Crocs. Blimey it was scary. I don’t care how big a boat is the thought of being anywhere near a Croc on any boat is scary enough. Thankfully we didn’t see any. Nor did we catch any Barramundi, as best we tried.
I did get two good nibbles though!!! But alas that’s not good enough.
And then we went out to sea, into the Gulf of Carpentaria. What a delight that was, bloody fantastic.
Phil took us to a small sandbank out into the Gulf. It’s about 3 miles out and it was fantastic. The sandbank was dry and there were loads of Pelicans on it.
I actually ran around it and frolicked in the water, well it was Croc free wasn’t it, hopefully.
We then set off back to shore and Phil opened the throttle. I think, I could be wrong, but I think we were doing 75 KPH at some point. We were flying.
It was a really great treat from yet another great Australian!
After we went for a beer at the Sunset Tavern and bought Phil a nice slice of Pena Calda Cake to take back for him. Well what else can you buy the man who as 200 cases of beer tucked away?
After a couple of hours at the pool we went to the ANZAC Day sausage sizzle, its amazing what you can do with one slice of bread and one sausage, oh and a few onions.
We nipped off to see the last of our West Queensland Coast Sunsets, which was yet another beauty and gave Phil his cake, he is as proud as punch with it too!
Wendy is very tired and has gone to bed, I on the other hand am thinking of taking a rum and coke to get together with Phil and his mates at the sausage sizzle.
I’m back, the party is a still ongoing but I thought it best to leave while I still can. Phil’s fine and he had a lovely day taking us out, he quite likes his cake too. But one fella was getting a bit too off his trolley so I thought it best to leave. His wife thinks he should too but he thinks he is the party animal, it’s a shame no one else thinks the same!
Karumba to Mt Surprise
289 Miles
We have had kangaroos sniffing around the camp during the last couple of nights. You can tell they have been around sandy areas as their tails leave little trails as the walk through the sand, (they use their hands to walk, but when they run they are upright). They use their tails as a stabiliser when they are running don’t you know!
We left Karumba this morning and said a fond farewell to Phil, who was so happy with his cake, he had some last night and saved some for breakfast this morning.
I think that this will be our last long drive in the campervan, I don’t think we will be going on anymore Bush outings of any substance now, but you never know.
We had a largely carefree journey stopping at Croydon for a bite to eat. We did however see quite a few Wedge Tailed Eagles. They are some size of bird and are reputed to be the largest eagle in the world.
We came back through the single track section of road and this time we, or rather I, counted them with Wendy being a very reluctant score keeper.
Here are the results:
Number of single carriageway sections: 19
Number of times we got though without passing anyone: 13
Number of times we had to pull over to pass: 9
Number of big bloody Road Trains: 4
So all in all we did ok, but I never realised that there were so many. If you ever travel this road, the single track section is from Croydon to Mt Surprise being distributed along both side of Georgetown and they are quite bad to travel as you need to be concentrating fully all the time. The longest section is about 5 miles and the shortest about 2. You have to be careful as you would not want to come nose to nose with a great big fat road train!
So we are in Mt Surprise, (interesting name), and we are staying at, get this, “Bedrock Camp”, yes it really is Flintstone themed and even the toilets are named, yes, you guess right, “Fred” and “Wilma”.
But apart from that it’s quite good and the toilets are up to Mrs G’s requirements. They even have a separate light in each cubicle so she can very closely inspect, which she very much appreciates.
We had a stroll into the village, well it’s actually two filling stations, one hotel and one café and a few houses. We had a drink of nicely chilled red wine in the bar of the hotel until the café reopened at 17:30.
We had to laugh, the lady behind the bar is a lady of older years and a man came looking for a room for the night. She said, sorry there are no rooms available as they were all full last night and I haven’t cleaned them yet. The man then, in desperation, asked if he brought his own sheets in could he make the room up and stay. She said no and had him on his way. How’s that for a welcome? The poor bugger might have been driving for a thousand miles.
We had to go to the café as they were quite good at bigging up their burgers. So after our wine we went in and introduced ourselves to the most miserable looking cook going. Jeepers her face was a misery. So, I asked her if she was happy in her work, which was most likely not a good idea when she was about to cook my supper. But she said she was OK apart from severe toothache. Phew!!!
Wendy nipped back to the bar as I ordered to get more wine as it was a BYO establishment!
So I asked very nicely for two of her top quality burgers and guess what………..they were a delight!!! Indeed they were. I have no hesitation in saying they were the best in my puff! I make good ones but these were much better, hands down!
Mt Surprise to Palm Cove
194 Miles
It was a chilly night in Mt Surprise with the morning temperature being 21OC in the can when I woke up. I know it’s not cold but having been used to 34OC for the last few days it is a big comedown. So it was cold weather running gear again this morning.
A few facts about Mt Surprise:
I must admit to being David Surprised this morning when I inputted my destination in the SatNav as it was 70 miles further away than I had estimated. So before we set off we went for a coffee and an ANZAC Cake with the lady who cooked our supper last night, her mood was much better as she had had a decent night’s sleep.
The journey was quite good back over the Dividing Range, with rain yet again in Ravenshoe and mist to boot so we didn’t stop.
We did stop in Atherton, thankfully between the rain, and we bought a new inner tube for Wendys bike. The lad who served us is from Salsbury and we chatted a short while about his love of biking. Well you would have to love it as that’s all there is to do in the Tablelands, cycle in the hills and the rain and mist. He was a really nice young fella who clearly does love cycling.
I looked for a suitable place to repair the tyre and found a nice Lions Den, complete with canopy to keep me out of the rain. With the tube being replaced I had to find an inflator to get it upto 50 PSI. I managed that in Marreba where I filled the tank and secretly charged the tyre in a filling station after provision shopping.
And so onto Palm Beach which is about 10 miles north of Cairns. What a hill we came down to get here, I stopped briefly as I could smell the brakes, blimey they were red hot. I had the van in low range coining down too, it was that steep and bendy that it took it out of the van.
We are staying at Palm Beach on the recommendation of Kristy who is my contact person at Camperman, (our van owners). Wendy wants to go back to Port Douglas for the Market on Sunday so we will stay here for a night or two and head North about 20 miles so it’s an ideal spot to explore.
It’s a very nice resort and the campsite is almost on the beach, but we are at the foot of the tropical forest hills and we keep getting rained on, it’s warm, but wet at the same time. I do hope to get some good beach photos tomorrow as I know everyone in the UK is suffering the wind, rain and snow and it will bring a nice warm glow to them!!!
Palm Cove to Port Douglas
27 Miles
It was a fairly pleasant night in Palm Cove, a wee bit cool but it was ok. What was not OK was the man who decided to leave at 05:25 this morning and made a hell of a racket connecting his caravan, and he started his engine and left it running. I was OK, it didn’t bother Wendy and it was time I was up anyway, but he should spare a thought for others. I mean people in the main are holidaying there, the selfish git. He could have connected the night before and just quietly lifted his back legs!!!
I had to dodge a car on the road this morning whist running and nipped on the verge around a parked car close to bushes, this was a bad idea as I ran directly into a huge spiders web. I swear it went over my head, around my arms and down to my knees. The lord only knows which spider made it but rest assured I did a very thorough dust down afterwards, but I never found it, hopefully it’s not in my shorts waiting for me tomorrow.
After breakfast we had a walk around Palm Cove, but there were'nt any shops to interest Wendy. Don’t get me wrong it’s a nice place with a lovely palm beach and it also has a good number of restaurants, but I think one night is enough.
So off we set, north bound and while on the road I like to listen to the talk show on AM and today it was Leone Delanie, a favourite of mine. Well the topic of debate was that the Green Party want to put a $3.00 levy on every ton of coal exported in an attempt to combat global warming and the coral bleaching that’s happening to the Great Barrier Reef.
Now I am no economist so I don’t know how this levy will impact, but I have a few observations myself. There seems to be a very lackadaisical approach to vehicle emissions in Australia. For example I have seen no end of guys who start their huge 4 x 4’s only to let them idle for at least an hour at a time while CO pollutes the planet all the time they are chatting to their friends. I will shortly detail about todays weather being overcast, ah but what does the environmentalist do when his massive solar panels don’t charge his battery because its overcast, (he didn’t opt for a powered site did he!!!), I’ll tell you what, he runs his engine for two hours to charge his batteries, what!!! Now don’t get me started about Air Conditioning in caravans, now I accept its needed but it doesn’t need leaving on all day while you’re out rambling and looking at the endangered flora, does it for havens sake.
And so we are back to Port Douglas. We both love it here and Wendy gets the added bonus that she will get to shop at the Sunday Market again which she really likes.
The weather was a bit overcast, but we had lunch and was going for a walk into town when the sun came out and we ended up with two glorious hours at the beach, until the cloud came back in again.
Its Labour Day weekend, another bank holiday, and the site is teaming with backpackers. But the beach was closed today, well the swimming element of it was due to stingers being in the water.
I don’t know how they did it but the Lifeguards retracted the stinger net out of the water and closed the beach to swimmers. That did it, everyone but Wendy and I left.
It reminded me of Jaws, the movie, do you remember? The Police Chief wanted to close the beach because of the shark, but the Mayor, and more importantly the retailers wanted it open for a bank holiday weekend? Well the beach was opened and one little kid got eaten by jaws, snatched off his air bed in front of his old mother. Does it bring back any memories?
As the sun was lost for the afternoon we went for a bike ride along the beach which is always good fun. It was quite blustery on the way out but yet again we got a great ride back.
We have just had supper in camp kitchen, fried chicken and chilli sauce with mushrooms and onion. Wendy inhaled the chilli and almost died there and then at the table. I swear it was a mild chilli, she just overreacted.
As previously stated there are loads of backpackers in tonight and they make for a good atmosphere. As long as they don’t smoke weed and take my shower in the morning I don’t mind.
The first one is very likely to happen, the second not so likely as they will be in bed still stoned!!!
Port Douglas
No Travelling
Today as been what can only be described as Scabby!!!
It was extremely overcast at first light, although still remarkably warm with a temperature of 27.5OC registered in the van.
All was well until I went to sit down for a drink during my run and I felt my back go. I knew it was coming on as I have had a few twinges in the preceding days.
Well an electrical current travelled across my back at lighting speed which almost crippled me, (as it has done before). But thankfully I was half ready for it and manged to prevent it going into complete lockdown.
I managed to run the 3 miles back without too much difficulty but the pain increased as the morning went on.
I got back to camp just after Wendy who was all washed and ready to start the day, and then the rain came, lots of it.
Thankfully the awning was just about upto to holding the water back with the odd minor leak so we sat in relative comfort for an hour or two. It wasn’t wasted time as I had some admin to catch up on and I also arranged accommodation for our continued plans.
At about 11:00 the rain stopped and the sun shone. My back didn’t take too well to siting down in a canvas camp chair so we went for a nice stroll a couple of miles down the beach. It was actually quite nice and we had the place to ourselves. After a good walk we turned around and headed back.
Blue skys were breaking out and it was getting much better. But before we could say, “Boo to a Goose!” the clouds quickly came back and yet another downpour ensued.
I know I am not getting any sympathy from my UK audience as I have been hearing about heavy snow fall and biblical hail storms, so that is excepted.
On days like this there is only one thing to do, refer to the wise words of Uisdean MacLennan and engage in activities of decadence.
So off we went for a nice lunch at a High Street Restaurant and it was a lovely treat.
I had, get this….Chilled Rare Steak with an Asian Salad, Wendy had a Mexican Pizza which was topped with all things Mexican and Pulled Beef, (I snook a couple of slices too, it was bloody lovely).
All this was quaffed down with a nice bottle of white wine and finally with a desert of Tim Tam Chocolate Cheesecake, (Tim Tam is a popular Aussie biscuit).
Well I never, what a treat, pure unadulterated decadence, we did Uisdean proud!
After a gentle walk back I got out the sun lounger in anticipation of a lazy afternoon whereby it immediately poured down, yet again.
I consigned myself to the inside of the van with a wee Bundy Rum snorter and listed to the Chris Evans Breakfast Show via the World Wide Web, (isn’t technology great?).
Wendy read her book and I gently drifted in and out of a lazy slumber.
At 18:30, after Chris had finished drastic action was needed. My back was still sore, but not as bad and so with the rain still pouring I suggested a long walk around the block.
Minimal attire was required, swimmer bottoms and a vest top each and off we set. As we stepped out the drizzle turned to rain and finally rapidly moving onto a monsoon. But apart from Wendy slipping on the towns floor tiles we suffered no ill effects and I must admit my back is a lot better for the walk.
No supper is required tonight, but I’m off to camp kitchen to cook a few sausages that are about 3 days out of date for tomorrows lunch!
I think we need to scarper too as an older lady is camped two doors down from us and she has been under her awning all day, boozing like Armageddon is upon us and is now laughing uncontrollably to herself which in the darkness of a tropical night is somewhat disconcerting.
I feel it may be a long night!!!
I will keep you posted avid reader.
Port Douglas
No Travelling
Well I had a reasonably comfortable night, my back was ok until I got out of bed and then it suffered quite badly for a while when I got up. I took three paracetamol and started running but it wasn’t until I got upto a mile away that my walk turned into a run, and then it eased off and I was away.
I got back and decided that I must keep going, no sitting down. So after a dip in the pool we cycled a few miles to a local store to get some prime Porterhouse Steaks, in lieu of celebration as this is the last night we will use our awning, oh and sleep in the Camperman, Campervan too!!!
The awning has been great, I think I may have mentioned that it was my design, and Wendy knocked it together on her sewing machine back home. I didn’t think it would last a month, well it’s done six. It’s had some attention to it but it as lasted the distance, by a long way.
So tonight we had steak and fizz in celebration of the awning.
But before all that, after our bike ride looking for steak we had planned a morning of decadence, a brunch nonetheless! It was to be a bacon roll with smashed avocado, however the avocado we bought organically about 4 days ago wasn’t ripe enough so we had the simple version instead, a bacon sarnie which was nice just the same.
Then to keep things moving we went for a walk on the beach, all 6.68 miles of it!
Wendy was buggerd at the end of it and refused to help me carry the coconut husk that I had selected along the way, (actually I picked it up at the far end of the beach and I had to carry it over 3 miles, with no help from Wendy at all).
Back at base, as celebrations had started I opened the husk of the coconut and took the water out and I had a Bundy Rum and coconut water drink, it was lovely.
We went for a wee shop in town, at a more leisurely pace, whereby I had a beer in a pub and Wendy went on to buy bugger all whilst shopping, thank goodness I had settled down in the pub.
On return we shared a bottle of wine at camp kitchen as I prepped the veg.
Supper was a massive delight, under the awning with a bottle of fizz, it was lovely.
By now we desperately needed another walk so off we set, (Wendy reluctantly) for a quick walk around the block.
We are now back, its 20:30 and that’s close of play for today, it’s been much better weather wise, my back is now slowly coming back from the dead and it’s been a lovely last day for the van and the awning.
Here’s to new adventures!!!
What next avid reader, I’ll keep you informed!
Port Douglas to Cairns
42 Miles
Well did it rain during my run, lots and lot of it. I did miss it by nipping into a bus shelter to wait it out only to have two buses stop and try to take me on board!
I got back to camp and found that the rain had just started as Wendy was thinking about getting out of bed for her morning walk, you guessed right, that’s where she stayed nice and snug.
So after breaking camp we binned the awning, its purpose royally served and off we went to not one but two Sunday Markets, Port Douglas and Palm Cove, and we bought zilch, nothing at all!!!
We did stop for our last lunch in the Campervan though at a very nice clifftop spot and chomped our cold sausage sarnies whilst looking out over the Coral Sea.
And then we continued to Cairns and back to the sanctuary and safety of Dave and Dianes where after a coffee and a natter we set about emptying and cleaning the van. Boy did we sweat, it was darned hard work. After a while Wendy went missing in action and was found on the front veranda with Diane and Dave, chatting nicely over a glass of wine, well I never.
As darkness fell I just about managed to wash the van off and I must say she’s looking good both inside and out. Some lucky bugger is going to reap the benefits of our hard work, it’s a shame that never happened to us at the start.
Here are some Campervan Stats:
Hire Period: Six Months
Distance Travelled Between Camps: 12,787 Miles
Total Mileage for the Trip: 15,247 Miles
I might add a bit more mileage as we still have about 35 hours left with the van. I think I might also do some more stats, maybe regarding fuel consumption and cost, if I dare as I am sure its cost a small fortune, but it’s been well worth it!
Diane prepared a suburb supper which was expertly cooked by Dave on the Barbie, pork belly, potatoes and salad. Well talk about a sight for sore eyes, the meal was bloody yummy scrummy, and we had a lovely evenings chat to boot.
Diane is 6th Generation Australian and is keen on her heritage. She told us the storey of how she and Dave travelled to Northern Ireland to seek out some info on her family a few years ago. They went to a very small church in a small village and found a lady tending to the Church garden, by good luck this lady put them in touch with another lady who could help with computer records on family history. Out of the blue they found a relative, who lived close by, (there’s more to this but I’m trying to get the gist of it over).
They phone this relative but there is no answer and so they return to England where they are staying with Daves family.
A few days later they get a phone call from this relative of Dianes and yes there is a family connection, (apparently they had just missed them when Diane had telephoned as they went out to get their mower repaired).
So now Dave drives Diane to Liverpool and puts her on a flight back to Northern Ireland where she is reunited with this relative of her Grandparents and low and behold they actually have a photograph of Diane at two years of age, how fantastic is that!!!
So now Diane has a piece more of the jigsaw of human life and knows a little more of how she became a 6th Generation Australian!
Oh, by the way, I almost forgot to mention that I had to undertake emergency surgery on a very delicate part of Wendy tonight. It looked like some creature had either stung her or had left a sting in as I had to dig it out and bleed the area, of course I took absolutely no pleasure in it at all!!!
Well she did leave me to finish the van on my own, didn’t she!
Cairns
No Travelling
It’s been a stinking hot day here today in Cairns, the best so far on this north east coast. Blue skys and temperatures of 30OC, and without too much humidity.
We spent most of the day arranging our stuff, blimey have we collected some gear along the way. I am looking at shipping a bag back but it’s not looking cost effective, it’s cheaper to dump our cloths and buy new on our return, oh dear!!!
It’s been Labour Day in Australia, a public holiday where everything, well almost everything closed down.
So Dave went golfing and I was tasked with, A, Finding Supper - B, Finding Beer.
I managed both, although it did take me a couple of hours, thankfully Dave won his golf match.
After lunch Wendy and I set off looking for new equipment for the next phase of our adventure. Now this is going to be a good one, I hope so anyway.
We set off on Friday!
After we got back it was time for supper and after I had prepared the fish, Dave cooked it on his gas barbie. We should go into business togther, it was lovely.
Wild Salmon, Sweet Potatoes and Salad, mmmmmmmhhhhh!
After a wee chat around the table well all headed for bed, at 20:30, well it’s been a long day.
I did set the alarm in my head for a wakeup call at 01:00 this morning so that I could watch the Leicester match with Dave but unfortunately it didn’t go off until 02:30, by then the game was over and it was a 1-1 draw.
Hopefully we will have a more rewarding day tomorrow, one which doesn’t involve hard work!
Oh and Come on Chelsea!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
It’s all they are talking about down under as well, Leicester, Leicester, Leicester!!!
I got up at the start of the second half as Dave was well into it by now and I dipped in and out of the game whilst having breakfast and getting ready to run. But I saw the last 15 minutes and from that short section alone I could see that the game had been quite feisty.
Well good on Leicester, not a ball kicked today and they are Champions of England.
I have come across this smashing Sheep Dog these last couple of mornings and I give him a nice big stroke which he loves. But this morning he gave me something back, a nice big leach! He’d been swimming in the Creek and had picked some up, one of which he dearly passed onto me. Thankfully I saw it slithering along my arm, just about to attach and gorge on my blood but I got him in time. Sorry I didn’t get photographic evidence, but I was preoccupied at the time.
And finally the mornings come, an end of a short, but a fantastic era, we set off to Cairns to hand back our beloved Campervan. But not before we did a bit of shopping and lunching at a small eating establishment, well actually a café where it took an age to get ours and one other persons sandwich out in 30 minutes. It was tasty mind, when it came!
Our overall total Camperman mileage in exactly six months was, Ta Da!!!! – 15,268
We dropped the van off at the Cairns Depot and met Kristy. I have had correspondence with Kristy for over a year and she has been brilliant. She has been a great source of comfort knowing that despite being miles from anywhere and in remote hostile territory she was always at the end of the phone to help sort out any problem. It was really nice to meet her and put a face to the person.
We did a wee bit more shopping and had a pint in a bar to mark the occasion and then we cycled back to Dave and Dianes, a mere matter of 10 miles. There were two teeny, tiny hills involved, but the sun was out and Wendy nearly melted!!! Oh she was not a happy little bunny. It was the joint hottest day on record for May yesterday, 31.3OC, in winter too, it was quite hot today as well!
When we got back we found Dave on the front balcony having a chilled beer as the sun set, my first didn’t touch the sides but the second one was savoured. Wendy showered and joined us as Di made supper. As I had started the blog my computer screen was attracting too many critters so I went into the lounge. Wendy and Dave carried on chatting and then all of a sudden Wendy went into a total and frenzied meltdown. A moth had flown at her and she didn’t like it, in fact she screamed like a silly person. Dave kept his cool and all I could hear was, “Wendy it’s just a moth just a moth that’s all”. Ah Dave, but to Wendy Gill it was the Grim Reaper himself and out to get her!!!
Di made a wonderful lasagne, it was bloody lovely, Dave and I had two portions and then is was quickly removed from the table before there weren’t any more leftovers.
Bedtime – 21:30, and boy is Wendy Gill ready for it!!!
Night Night Avid Reader.
Cairns
No Travelling
It’s been a smashing day all around today.
First the weather has been fantastic, hot sunny and overcast just when it was needed.
I did some research for our next adventure by planning fuel stops along the route. We are going Defo Tropo up Topo!!!
So we need to be fully prepared as there is very little help around in hostile country if things go wrong. I don’t think Wendy fully knows what our next adventure actually entails. It’s a complete traverse of the Cape York Peninsular, the Worlds last great unexplored frontier. Don’t worry Granny Mavis I’ll look after her.
More of this tomorrow avid reader, as we are still in a fluid and dynamic situation.
At 11:30 Dave and me set off for a days golf. Not with me playing, I was there only in an explority capacity only.
It was a great afternoon. I met Butch, Daves partner. Now this man is the most curse, sweary man I have ever encountered in my life. Boy did he swear, every next word was a profanity. I liked him for the word go!
He was the skinniest man I have ever come across in my puff, but yet he could smash a golf ball farther than anyone else. Jeepers though when he didn’t perform as well as he thought he should he called himself all sorts of nasty names. He didn’t blame anything other than himself and boy did he go to town. It was quite amusing actually, in an interesting kind of way.
The course was great, it’s in a tropical setting, obviously, but it was set within the hills of the tropical rainforest, the views were stunning.
It was so hot I was melting. I was walking the course though whilst the players all rode around in buggies.
Dave and Butch played against Steve and George.
Well to say they had a bad start would be an understatement, they were terrible. And their opponents were doing quite well.
But by a miracle that I do not fully understand rolls were reversed and Dave and Butch won, (I still do not know how they pulled it off).
After a little time celebrating at the 19th hole we left for home and a delight of a meal as cooked by Wendy, Uncle Ades Coronation Chicken.
Jeepers it was lovely, no it really was.
By 20:30 I was buggerd and went to retire, but having got my breaky stuff ready I had 15 mins of second wind, but that’s all and then I had to retire to bed where I am now listening to the Jeremy Vine show with my eyelids rapidly closing.
It’s been a fantastic day, I’m no closer to taking up golf but I do see how to some people the sport can be quite infectious, but I really don’t think that it is for me,
Oh, Wendy and Diane have had a lady shopping day, they seem to have enjoyed themselves as we didn’t get a bolocking when we go back late from the golf!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
Today was a big step into our next adventure.
We went into town and bought our new, (second hand), camping equipment from Pascale, a young Canadian women and her boyfriend who have travelled the East Coast and are now heading to Thailand. Jeepers did we get a bargain, a tent, a gas stove, plates, pans, chairs and lots of other essentials, all for £38. We are now only missing a camp lantern but we have enough torches to get Wendy to the toilet block and back so we should be ok.
We had a trial run in the garden to make sure we are proficient in putting it up together and it worked a treat.
After lunch we went for a cycle up the Glen to the Crystal Cascade Waterfalls. It was lovey and hot but as there are loads of trees we didn’t see much sun.
We got to the falls and I just had to take a dip. It was a bit tricky to get into the water as the rocks I had to walk on were quite slippery, but I got there in the end. It was lovely, I managed a selfie or two at the bottom of the falls. I had to be quick as the current was washing me back all the time. Wendy didn’t join me, she wasn’t game for it.
On our way back down we came across a team of students who were jumping from the rocks. They were not lacking in nerve, they had climbed about 20 metres high and leapt from the rocks, safely into the river. I must admit it didn’t look safe, but boys will be boys, and boy were they boys.
I have to admit to a bit of youth jealously here as I am a bit of a boy at heart, but I also have to admit to being past the ability to be a dare devil. It did look a tad dangerous though, have a look at the video, it doesn’t do the height justice but believe me it was very high.
En-route back we called into a café for coffee and cake. Well my eyes were bigger than my belly because I had the Mars Bar Cake made of thick chocolate, toffee and more thick chocolate. It was sweet and sickly all at the same time and I ate the lot!
We went to fill the car with fuel for the trip tomorrow but we had issues with the LPG, as it’s a duel fuel vehicle, but thankfully after 20 minutes we manged to resolve the issue and we were on our way, the problem wasn’t with the car, it was with the pump would you believe!
I didn’t think I could eat again today until I got a whiff of Dianes slow cooked corned beef. Now that was a sight for a greedy belly. From start to finish it was a treat to eat. With very nice vegetables and a lovely white sauce as well.
I feel well and truly stuffed after yet another lovely meal.
Cairns to Musgrave Road House
318 Miles (Via Old Laura Homestead)
Well this morning came and after exercise, (whereby I saw a massive snake squashed on the road, don’t tell Wendy), we packed the Land Cruiser and set off for the North.
The journey to Laura was lovely and without any delays and as soon as we got there we headed for Old Laura Homestead which was a slight detour of 62 kilometres and our first taste of gravel road driving.
The gravel road was fine not too many corrugations and we made good time, we were at Old Laura before we knew it. We did actually go a kilometre or two down the New Laura Ranger Track before I had realised.
Old Laura Homestead was fantastic, it had been completed perfectly by my fellow Venturers, but more importantly the Queensland Ranger Service have done us proud as the Homestead is looking great and it has been preserved perfectly for future generations just as we had hoped.
I looked around and saw us all 30 years ago, Andy’s camp oven, Ian Greens bloody swimming pool, my boxing ring and the muster station where we all took our meals and the row of tents. I could almost hear Rachel chuckling at something Ronnie had said. I even found a bed frame that we made under Ian Shanks strict instruction. Oh it was great to be back!!!
The sun was a demon, just like I remembered it too.
We spent about a half an hour there, which was fine as we had to be on our way if we were to make Musgrave Roadhouse before nightfall.
Again we travelled gravel roads, most were fine and we made good progress, some were in need of attention and we had to slow down to avoid the judders but on the whole I was quite pleased with the progress. I estimate we have done about 120 miles on then so far and it’s been fine, hopefully we will get the same tomorrow.
Jeepers though you don’t half chuck up some dust as you travel along and you enter a massive dust cloud when you pass someone. I slow down and let the dust settle before I move on as it’s like being on Mars.
And so we got to the Musgrave Roadhouse as the sun was going down. Thankfully after our trial run yesterday we had the tent up in no time and supper was cooking nicely as it stared to get dark.
After her check of the toilets Wendy was lukewarm to the site. The amenities were upto muster but the doors were open and with no nets on the windows, she wasn’t overly happy.
In fact we had a wee team talk about how nice it was to be under the Milky Way and enjoy the freshness of camping. It didn’t help much.
So after supper I washed up and we went over to the bar to write my copy for tonight.
Well bugger me, if there was one Cane Toad in the bar there must have been 300, maybe 400. Not even a large glass of wine and a bar of Cadburys chocolate could keep Wendy with me, she’s off to the safety of the tent, only after she gulped them both down mind.
I must admit there are loads of toads, hundreds actually all around the open bar floor.
I think this might just be a very testing time for us both, hopefully we will come back together!
But I must indulge though myself avid reader, after so many miles of sedate Campervaning, it’s really great to be back to the bush, properly once more!!!
Musgrave Road House to Bramwell
210 Miles
What a fantastic easy driving day we have had, it’s been brilliant.
But first, as I completed my copy last night alone, as Wendy had escaped the clutches of the killer toads, I got back to camp about 21:00ish only to find Madam Muck fast asleep in the tent. But as the night was crystal clear with very little light pollution around I hooked her out of bed for the night of her life, (from a starry night point of view). It was fantastic we could see every star in the Southern Constellation but could name only one, Oriens Belt, or so we think!
I went for a run up a track today and when I got to my four miles mark I sat down and had a drink and took in the sounds on the bush, no other sounds penetrated my environment, just the sound of the bush and I loved it. On the way back I passed a 4 x 4 with some young people in, student types who passed my with mouths wide open as if to say, “What is this man doing?”
And so we packed up and headed further north.
And the roads for the first 20 miles weren’t great, we travelled slowly as we were passing through, yet again, the Great Dividing Range, there were tight bends, corrugations, potholes and immensely steep dips!!!
But then it all changed and for the next 180 miles we had perfectly graded roads with hardly a ripple on them, we glided along and really enjoyed the scenery.
We passed through Coen and saw the Sexchange Hotel, and took a photo!!!
We had lunch on the move and took coffee and cake at the Archer River Roadhouse where we felt we had been fleeced by Dick Turpin, or more so Ned Kelly!!! $2.20 dollars for a litre of fuel, that’s almost full UK price and $21 for two coffees, one piece of Carrot Cake and one piece of Chocolate Cake. I’m feeling very uncomfortable right now and may not sleep so well, ah but I am from Yorkshire.
And so we continued, on lovely graded dirt roads and we went across the famous Wenlock River just south of Telegraph Station. The river was low and the bridge was quite safe to cross, but we saw a sign in a tree on the river bank, it must have been over 20 metres high and it said, “We tied a boat here in 2006”. Jeepers that must have been some flood. I’ll try to get a photo on the way down, we couldn’t do it this time as I had only just passed someone who had pulled in for me and I didn’t want to make him wait. We have to be courteous in the Cape you know!
As we have travelled Australia we have seen the same sign time and again which has been handmade and stuck on trees throughout the bush, and it says, “The Lords Return is Soon”. I cannot believe someone has gone to so much trouble to convert anyone!!!
So now I am over 400 miles into this Cape York Experience and I think, ah, the Lord isn’t returning soon here, only to find two miles down the road the same bloody sign attached to a large eucalyptus tree, now that is some Missionary!
We got to the camp site at Bramwell just after 15:00 and we went to check in. Wendy asked the old boy about the cooking facilities and he said he had none, nothing at all, “We sell meals here if you like”. But Wendy persisted, can we freeze water in a freezer or put stuff in the fridge, “No, you won’t get that here in Cape York”, Doh!!!!
OK, so I try to explain that I take the frozen water with me when I’m running. Well he could not understand me, me, a perfect English speaker, so Wendy had to interpretate for me. I mean do I not speak clear English or something! Thankfully the water is in the freezer now!
We have set camp and as there are camp shelters I have, so far, managed to persuade Wendy to sleep without the fly sheet on the tent so we are simply sleeping in a big mosquito net. It will be brilliant as it’s a nice clear night. But as bed times gets nearer she is losing her nerve, I mean our closest neighbours are 100 metres away and are old enough not to want to snoop on us two so we should be fine?
Supper was tinned Beef Curry and Rice, yes we are now true off roaders and living as simple as we can.
At 17:30 we went to happy hour where the barman gave us a talk about the local area which has been colonised since the 1900’s. It was very interesting and do you know we are staying on the most northerly cattle ranch in Australia tonight, no I didn’t think so!
Bramwell to The Tip of Cape York
164 Miles
The Tip of Cape York to Seisia
22 Miles
I abluted in the Bush Toilet & Shower today and it was lovely, with all that fresh air swirling around me. I did have to share it with a large critter type thing though, but he didn’t mind.
And then we set off for the last leg, well here’s hoping, all the way to the Tip of the Cape York Peninsular and the very top of the Continent of Australia.
Like yesterday, we had a bit of difficulty for the first 20 miles and then the dirt roads became better graded and we made good progress. Fuel was a stinker of a price, $2.45 a litre was the norm, jeepers!!!
The scenery was fantastic mind, we saw endless jungle and very thick bush. Lizards roaming and even the odd snake. We chucked up a fair bit of dust en-route but it never seems to come out on the photographs.
The ferry also set us back a Kings ransom, $99 to travel about 20 seconds, it’s like we are being targeted for daring to come this far north.
We crossed the mighty Jardine River which puts the most freshwater into any ocean in all of Australia and it can only be accessed at certain times of the year, in the Dry!!!
We made camp in Seisia at about 14:30 and headed off to the Tip a little further up north.
Well the road was narrow and we went through real think tropical jungle, it seemed to take an age but the road was pretty reasonable. We came to stop at a fantastic beach. It was stunning, alas no swimming can be undertaken as there is a 4.5 m croc in the area and a young lad was stung badly today by a Box-Jellyfish. Apparently he jumped from a boat as it was landing and landed on one. It stung him across his chest and neck.
His Mum jumped in to help him and was stung across the legs. She managed to hold on and gave him CPR until help arrived. He had two heart attacks before they got him stable and off the beach. He and his Mum were flown to Townsville as soon as they could get a flight together.
Now that concentrates the mind. There seems to have been a lot of rainfall lately and it’s flushed the stingers out from the mangroves and into the open seas and onto the beaches.
We met a Torres Straight man at the carpark, strangely carrying a large axe, but he was good enough to direct us up over the hill to the Tip. It was a climb over the hills for about 1km, but it was well worth it.
And then we were there, at the very far north of Mainland Australia, that’s 3 down 1 to go, the farthest West!
We had the Pacific Ocean to our East and the Gulf of Carpentaria to our West and the whole continent of Australia to the South. For a good while I was the most northerly person on this entire continent, think about that avid reader!
We spent about 30 minutes there and it was brilliant, worth every hard mile of that 600 mile journey. But we had to get moving as sunset was due and there isn’t much twilight this far north, as we are only 10O from the Equator.
We called to a local bar to see the sunset and were duly charged $12 for two 33cl cans of XXXX Gold. The barman asked me if we had had a good day, I said yes we seem to have been fleeced every inch of the road today!
The sunset was grand but the after show wasn’t as good as further down the Gulf and the darkness falls too quickly.
Supper has been taken, another can, this time curried beef, from our extensive range of bush tucker and Wendy has now gone to hide in the tent as she is convinced that she is going to come a cropper from a critter.
I think she’s overreacting a wee bit, she is you know!
Seisia to Thursday Island (Return)
28 Miles
Well what a night, jeepers there was a right racket as I got into bed. It sounded like fireworks and lots of laughter, this went on for a good while. Then dogs barking mainly all night long, horses coming through the camp ground, (yes they are owned by the locals but are allowed free passage on anyone’s land who hasn’t got a big gate). Oh and the loudest snorer you have ever heard in your puff. Jeepers I thought he was next door, he must have been 100 metres away.
Now camping is suddenly not as romantic as it used to be.
And on my run this morning I saw loads of devastation, broken bottles everywhere, the place looked like a riot had taken place.
Now I am going to detail what I have experienced, it’s not proof positive or by any means a scientific, analysis but I have to say there does seem to be a problem with the Aboriginal culture. There is trouble and strife wherever we seem to come across it.
We are now in an alcohol restricted area. We can have no more than 30 cans of beer or two litres of wine, Wendy is not happy about this as we can’t buy it either, nor am I actually.
But to say that the aboriginal people are the custodians of the land doesn’t live up to my observations. Now I am pretty fair minded and I will conclude, again, based on my own observations later in this expedition, but as a means of an interim report they seem to have a huge chip on their shoulder and its does no one any good, but as I say it’s an interim report and more will follow.
And so to today, I went for a very early run, 05:30, it was quite dark but warm nonetheless. The reason for this was that we were going to visit the islands of the Torres Straights.
What a fantastic day we have had.
We went on a 300 HP speed launch up the Torres Straights to Horn Island and then onto Thursday Island.
It was great, the skipper was brilliant, he gave us a very personnel tour and we learned quite a lot.
He got his charts out and showed us where we were going and it was very informative. I asked a very good question which had a very simple answer and blow me down it was so simple, but no one else knew the answer either.
He then asked me to take the helm while he did the same chat to the people at the stern.
Now I was in my element, powering a 300 HP boat across the Straights. It got a bit choppy but Skipper told me it would OK and I managed it just fine.
After about 15 minutes I had to hand over back to Skip but I did enjoy my time at the helm.
The first place we stopped was Monument Point, on an Island we cannot recall!!! This is where Capt. Cook came ashore and raised the Union Flag in proclamation of naming these Island in the name of Great Britain. He then had a 3 gun salute, followed by a 3 cannon salute aboard HMS Endeavour. Everyone on board was riveted by Johns lesson, it was brilliant.
And on to Horn Island which was interesting in a museum visit kind of way, but not riveting.
Thursday Island was much better, more to see, more shops, (Wendy bought Pearl Earrings with her birthday money), oh and we had a fish and chip lunch, with a complementary drink, at a local bar.
We got a taxi tour by the worst tour guide you have ever come across. It was so bad it was comical. People asked him questions, say how many islands are populated. He had to stop and count on his hand. How many kids board at this school from outer islands, at this point he asked that no more technical questions be asked!!!
Bill took us to the Island Graveyard where there are over 700 Japanese divers buried, without any mark. These were the first pearl divers and they died from either the bends or shark attack. Apparently the Japanese Government pays several thousand dollar a year for the graves upkeep, look at the photographs, its clearing not being spent in the right places!!!
He did take us to the top of the highest point where we had some stunning views of the islands mind.
And so we returned, the journey was brill. The wind got up and sea spray was pounding us at the front. I was the only one left getting the full tropical ocean treatment at 50 Knots and it was great.
It was a brilliant day, made all the better by our Skipper John.
On landing we did some chores and then watched the sun set again over the Gulf.
It’s now 19:25, Wendy has showered, in daylight, so she is happy and we are now sat close to the beach watching the new moon in the sky.
Tomorrow we set off for yet another four wheel adventure, heading slowly south back to Cairns.
We have done the Tip and the Torres Straight and it’s been amazing!
All thanks to Dave Ashworth, a Lancastrian of all people!
Seisia to Weipa
242 Miles
We had an uneventful night apart from Wendy getting severe calf cramp at about 03:00. That’s OK I got her into position and massaged it until she was pain free. And then I settled back down to sleep with my ear plugs in, and I could hear the drone of him, Mr Bloody Snorer, what a racket he made. I looked at the distance and it must be 200 metres, how on earth can someone snore so loudly. He as a wife too, she must be a deaf as a post. I got up for an early run, 05:30 and he was still going strong. Is the man on steroids?
I saw what looked like a dead, death adder on the main street in the village this morning and then the largest green frog in my life in the sink unit of the toilet block. Wendy is very happy to be moving on!!!
And so we did, heading south.
We retraced our steps back and passed Bramwell Station for another 60 kms and then we headed west on a vert delightful track.
The route was a 4 x 4 track but was really easy going. We headed through a long line of what looked like Scots Pines, it was like we were driving down the Champys-Elyse-Eh, it was stunning.
And then the road got even better, it was like driving on a gravel M25, it was wide, flat and without corrugation.
We saw several road trains and pulled over to allow them to come through so we were not eating their dust trail, jeepers they don’t half chuck the dust up, and you can’t see as they go past. So it’s best to give them fine minutes, let them go and let the dust settle.
There is a lot of heavy industry around these parts, Aluminium Ore mines etc. and the roads are built accordingly.
In fact Wepia, or what we have seen of it is very cosmopolitan, just like Cooktown!
After making camp on the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, again, we set off for some provisions, wine and Bundy Rum, oh and something to eat.
We found a nice sized Woollies and bought them out, phew it’s like being back to the future.
We also found a Bowlo for a pint just to cool us down.
Now I’m sorry here as I am having to rush as creepers are all over me due to my flashlight, they are in my ear and all over my chest and arms.
Anyway, supper was a delight, cooked at sunset close to the beach and I’ll be back tomorrow if I am still alive!!!
Weipa
No Travelling
Well we had a very relaxing day today, I didn’t get out of bed until 06:30 and I didn’t get running until turned 08:00, big mistake, it was bloody hot. Very hot in fact, but I managed to get by.
I slept soundly and occasionally heard the sea lapping at high tide against the shore which was nice to hear as I drifted back into oblivion.
We booked onto an evening’s wildlife cruise for 16:30 and then we went for a wee tour of Weipa. Weipa has very little to it, there is one very small shopping centre with a largish Woolies and a Bottle-O, a butcher, a chemist and a fishing / camping shop. That’s it, well apart from the Servo, that’s petrol station to you and me.
Back to base we had a nice fresh lunch. We have been living on tinned tuna sarnies for lunch until now and so we delighted in smoked salmon with cream cheese on Turkish bread, what a feast we had.
After lunch we went for a relaxing walk along the shoreline, which was actually quite hard as the tide was miles out because the beach is so shallow. We did see loads of Pelicans but alas no crocodiles were to be found.
An hour was then spent at the pool which I must say is one of the best we have seen so far, it was nice and clean, it was nice and cool and it had a wee rockery with flowing water on which to sit and chill down. Jeepers Wepia doesn’t seem to know its winter!
Wendy was in her element, in the shallow end of course, chatting with a couple of Grey Nomads, (Ladies). They covered a multitude of subjects but Wendy always seemed to manage to get back onto the subject of life on the road. I sat in a lounger trying desperately to get a video message to Robyn as it’s her birthday today. I think we can officially say that Robyn Gill is now a fully grown up women!!!
I had to nip to the Bottle-O to get six bottles of wine for our return leg. The man at the shop had to give me a lecture about taking alcohol onto Aboriginal land and he explained to me the penalties. I told him that our route didn’t go near any reservations but he said that if I get stopped by the police the fact sheet that he gave me will show the police that I have had it all explained to me and that will help to continue my journey unmolested?
I got back to camp just in time a take a quick shower and then we headed out for the sunset cruise.
Well what a treat, it was two hours long on a very small intimate boat, I don’t mean romantically intimate, just that the boat was small enough so the guide could chat to us all and we could hear it perfectly.
We went out to sea and then up one creek all the while Dave, the guide was giving us intel on Croc lifestyles. Boy we learned quite a lot.
One stunning fact is that Steve Irwin would come and tag Crocs with a satnav tracker and monitor their movements, one went 20 kms out to sea and did a massive tour of the area only to return to his stomping ground sometime later. Another one, who was pestering people on the east coast was flown in a cargo net by helicopter and released at Weipa. This Croc then proceeded to swim along the Eastern Coast of the Gulf, around the Tip of the Cape and back down to the area where he had been taken from, just to be pesky again to the local community. How interesting!
We went up a second creek and eventually came face to face with our first wild Crocodile.
It was a small female and she was sunning herself on the bank of the creek. She looked as happy as Larry lazing there looking at a boatful of humans with dribble running down her chops, time to go and so we did getting back to camp just as the light went.
Supper was emergency rations, tinned sausage, veg and beans and not at all delightful!!!
Today it is Robyn Gills Birthday, happy birthday Robyn!!!
Weipa to Coen
161 Miles
What a fantastic journey we had today, well apart from missing the turn off and finding ourselves at the wrong end of a dead end, in the outback of all places. There were only two ways you could go and we both missed the junction!!! Well that was a waste of 12 kms.
Back on track we pulled over immediately for a road train, jeepers don’t they travel on these roads, they just don’t care.
But in fairness the roads have been a delight today, they were corrugation free, well almost and we didn’t have any issues at all, ah, apart from the cattle, oh and the fire!
You must look at the videos avid reader, they are awesome.
I was driving along, happy as you like and I saw this disturbance in the distance and then thick dust, or was it smoke.
Well the disturbance was a huge heard of cattle coming down the road, which thankfully was a tarred section, (yes there is the odd mile or two of tarred roads). They were being driven down by farmers on quad bike or trial bike and they did a very good job.
I stopped to allow them to pass, in fact I stopped well in advance so they wouldn’t be scared by us, but as they approached they weren’t game for passing us. Well we are quite a big vehicle compared to a quad bike.
They actually turned around, they would rather squabble with the quad bikes then us. But then a quick thinking women drover doubled back and got them back on track and they passed without any problems. The video is terrific, well I think so.
When they had passed we came across the roadside fire. It wasn’t going anywhere as the grass across the fence was lush and green but on this side of it it was dry and very combustible.
I think, being a fire investigator, that the fire was started by either a quad or a trial bike exhaust, my evidence is that there was so much cow muck on the road before the fire that they would never have got the cattle through it. I didn’t get any pics of the fire, I thought it best to get through and let it be, I mean the fire service weren’t coming anytime soon were they!
And so we continued with our journey, stopping at the Archer River Roadhouse for cake and coffee and to take a look at the Toots Memorial. Toots was a female truck driver who was a hardy type of a women who lived a colourful life. She ran trucks upto Cape York before the roads were graded and was highly respected. She was killed in an accident while unloading in Wepia in 1992, hence the memorial.
After coffee we set off again without any issues and moved on to the small township of Coen.
There is a small hotel / bar called the Exchange Hotel, I think I may have detailed this before, someone as put a big S at the front the hotel sign, on the roof of all places!
Well Wendy is a happy bunny, the toilets have fly screens on and they are very clean, I’m happy too as its only $10 a night, I could live here.
I asked the barmaid, (who is also the campsite owner), if they had a menu as I fancy supper in here tonight. Well she was such an Aussie Trooper, quite the Outback type.
“No we don’t have a menu”, was the answer, “You have three options, Chicken, Beef or Fish”. I’m even more intrigued now so its supper at the bar tonight.
After making camp we had a pint in the bar which was quite nice, it really is a lovely bar, I want one like it.
I walked down the creek at the bottom of the campsite and it was great, Wendy wasn’t game, especially after seeing a real life Croc yesterday so I went alone.
It was lovely, I swear I could see gold glittering along the creek bed, I wished I had taken my frying pan and done a bit of gold panning, I might have become a millionaire!
I got to the point where the creek met the Coen River which was lovely, I was in a forest at the meeting point of a creek and a major river and it was quite impressive.
We have a little shelter with electric and lighting at the side of our tent so we have set up our own camp kitchen. I was starting my blog and Wendy was with me and we were joined by a fellow traveller, Paul who is on the road for 3.5 months with his wife and his 15 year old grandson, who is loving it. He is a real nice lad, I chatted to him about my trip along the creek.
It was good to chat with Paul, who is also going upto the bar for supper.
Well we are back from supper, where do I start?
Well the food was good, the pub was lively, there must be 40,000 French letters available for use in both the mens and ladies toilets, (what do they get upto here?), I got beat at pool by a young Aboriginal Man called Lance and the man in the tent next to us got bitten by a black snake and is currently being flown to Cairns by the Flying Doctor Service.
I have managed to scrape Wendy from the ceiling and settle her in the tent with a glass of wine to calm her nerves.
All in all a very good night in the wildness of Cape York, boy how I have loved this trip!!!
Oh in all the excitement I forgot to say the owners dogs are smashing, they are three English Staffies and one has a dickie bow on and finally, when I asked for an ice bucket I got a pint of ice for my troubles, again I lost something in translation!
Coen to Laura
153 Miles
Snake Bite Update – Wendy bumped into the bar owner this morning who said the man was well and that it had been confirmed that the snake bite was a black snake, how they do that I don’t know. However he is expected to remain in hospital where he should be allowed to come back. Now as cairns is several hundred miles from Coen, does someone fly him back or is he expected to make his own way back. There is no rail or regular bus service so how does he get back? Well I guess I’ll never know.
Seriously though I have seen posters on shop walls offering a lift to Cairns or that someone with a minibus will be arranging a ride to Cairns and that it will cost a small fortune for anyone to travel with them.
And so onto this morning, as I tromped off to the showers Paul called me over for a coffee so after washing I went over before my run. They have a fantastic, and new, off road caravan that is filthy on the outside and spotlessly clean on the inside.
What a smashing fella Paul is. We sat and chatted about this and that and it turns out he was in the Australian Army, first in the Engineers and then as an MP. I asked him if he knew my project leader at Old Laura, Ian Shanks and he did, “Yes I know Shanksy” was his reply but alas he hasn’t seen him for over twenty years.
He also told me that he booked Les Hiddins, The Bush Tucker Man, for not wearing a helmet as he rode his motorbike around Townsville. Les was a Major and outranked Paul, but as Paul was an MP he outranks even the highest of Generals when it comes to discipline and so old Les got what was coming to him and the more he protested the more Paul put on the charge sheet. What a cracking bloke!
I left for my run before Paul and his family left but they passed me on the road and he stopped to say farewell.
And so we set off on our journey to Laura and it all went swimmingly and without incident, stopping off at the Hann River Roadhouse for a very nice cup of coffee and a homemade muffin, Wendy had a chocolate brownie, well she would wouldn’t she.
Back at Laura we set camp, in the other campsite, only to find that there is a school disco in the large hut on the campsite tonight, a school disco for junior school kids. Is that going to be a blast or not? I bet there will be some serious noise coming our way tonight.
Well at least the toilets are a lot better than the other village campsite.
We paid one last visit to Old Laura as I wanted to spend a little longer there and take a look at the creek as I didn’t get a chance to do so last time. As we were travelling I said to Wendy that I hadn’t seen a kangaroo for a day or two, well blow me down, one jumped out in front of the truck not 10 seconds later, I thought it was a gonna as it passed directly in front of the truck and just manged to get by without being hit, the lucky Roo!
Now at Old Laura, the creek was how I remembered it and I could even visualise the Aboriginal Tracker, George Musgrave, finding Andy the Medic down by the waterside after tracking him for an hour or two, it was pure magic.
One more tour of the Homestead and we set off back to camp.
Well that’s us done with off-roading. Now more gravel roads for us, its beautiful bitumen from now on all the way back to Cairns. No more corrugations, no more steep dips and high crests and thankfully no more dust trails. For the last eight days I have looked like a Saturn Five Rocket on steroids as I drove along the gravel roads, the amount of dust chucked up is immeasurable.
We have to clean the truck before we take it back to Dave, it needs at least a blast of a pressure wash before we get back and then we will need to give it a dam good fettle, one of our finest
If there is ever a vehicle to travel the roads of northern Queensland it’s a Toyota Landcruiser, now they are really made from Girders!
After a walk to the local bar for a glass of wine we got back to camp for supper as the disco exploded, jeepers it is bouncing and good on them, it’s the first school disco ever in Laura and I hope for the sake of the kids it continues.
Wendy is in bed as its snake time!!!
1,463 Miles Round Trip – In 8 Days
Laura to Cairns
191 Miles
It was a very windy night in Laura and we hadn’t manged to get the tent up properly so Wendy had a bad night with the tent blowing onto her. I never noticed anything and had a darn good sleep.
I had my last run in Laura and it was fantastic, I covered every road in the village and did two laps of the airfield to get my mileage in, I stopped one last time at Laura River for a drink stop and saw a kangaroo speed past me, how appropriate!
We had a full breakfast, not in the English or Scottish sense for that matter but we did finish the last of the eggs as they were the only source of protein we had left.
The drive south was brilliant, very enjoyable actually. As we approached the Tablelands we could see storm clouds all around but we didn’t get anything like heavy rain, just the odd bit of drizzle.
As we approached Mareeba we started to look for a power wash at car filling stations as the Beast was in need of a good clean, bugger me there wasn’t any around to be had.
So we headed back to Daves, and thankfully manged to give her a darn good clean. It took 3 hours mind and I’m not sure if we have gotten all of the red dust off of her. I think I’ll have another look tomorrow when she is dry to see how clean she really is. Thankfully we didn’t get a the full Top End dust treatment.
The weather in Cairns was overcast with a bit of drizzle which was just perfect for car washing, although the Green Ants biting my ankles didn’t help much.
Supper was a delight, Dave and Di cooked pork slices and despite Dave thinking they were overdone, Wendy and I thought they were bloody lovely, in fact they were.
Everyone was pooped so it’s an early bed.
But before I go I will have to say that we, most probably me, has had the most fantastic travel experience of my life. I have been to the far north of Queensland, in country that has no radio coverage, no breakdown assistance, no medical service and no camp facilities to suit my wife. And I have loved every minute of it, actually every second and it has yet again proved to me why Australia is such a fantastic country. The country is ruggerd, it’s hard and it has people with the fortitude to get by with a smile on their face in the worst of conditions. It was just brilliant.
And thanks to Dave Ashworth who let us take his Toyota Landcruiser on this trip, The Beast. She certainly lived upto her reputation and made such a difficult journey like a walk in the park.
But like Dave said, we have had weather and road conditions that are unheard of at this time of the year in far North Queensland, thank goodness for that.
One last mention as to go to Wendy Gill who has been completely out of her comfort zone for over a week but managed to hold it all together, well apart from Thursday night, the night of the snake bite!!!
It’s been great fun Wend, hasn’t it???!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
Today has been a fairly steady day, but I did do a ten mile run to blow the cobwebs from my hair this morning but that’s OK as I have eaten Di’s Malteasers at supper and I am now in bed chomping Wendys fruit and nut bar, it’s delicious.
Today has been a bit of a consolidation day, we did originally plan to bike into Cairns but as Wendy had started to wash and sort out all our stuff we decided to keep at it and so as Wendy consolidated all our belongings I helped Dave with some gardening and took two trips to the dump.
It was hot but enjoyable work.
Now as it’s been a quiet news day I’ll give you a couple of interesting bits of info about life in Australia.
Number One: - Everything is Rego – In Australia you have to tax your car, your caravan and even your trailer. A caravan might be £200 and a trailer upto £100, Lord knows what a car is?
Number Two: - You have to pay at the dump! We took two trailer loads of lopped bushes and Dave had to pay over £5.00 a shot. The buggers have the cheek to mulch your cuttings and sell it back to you at more than what you had to pay in the first place.
Please, no one tell George Osbourne or well will all be paying Rego this and Rego that and tip fees to boot!
We completed duties after 14:00 and sat and had a well-deserved beer or two and then the Kookaburras arrived on the veranda. Avid reader you must see the video of Dave feeding them it is fantastic, I have never seen anything like it in my puff!!!
Supper was yet another stonking delight, slow cooked lamb and after a nice long chat it was early to bed, where I am just now and about to sign off todays copy as I am very pooped.
I must be tired from the trip north. It was a once in a lifetime event and it took everything out of me and Wendy.
Me due to excitement, Wendy due to fear and I guess it will take a day or two for us to get it out of our system.
Night Night Avid reader more tales exciting tomorrow!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
I had a thought this morning while I was running, why don’t I look at hiring a car as Wendy isn’t upto biking in the heat. So I did, when I got back and I was amazed at how cheap it was, so I hired one from the airport so that we can use it to get us there when we leave Cairns, good thinking.
As I had a couple of hours before I could pick it up I did a few chores, 1, I put the bikes on Gumtree, free to a good home, 2, I put the camping gear on Gumtree for $120.
Well within 30 seconds my phone was buzzing, I had so many txts that my phone almost run out of battery power. It did the battery no good at all saying sorry the bikes have gone. No takers for the camping gear strangely though.
So to get the car I took my bike on one last trip, it was off to the airport, in 30OC sunshine and one hell of a big breeze pushing me back. It took me an age to get there, and when I got there I was at the wrong bloody terminal and had to cycle back again.
I took my bike inside the airport as I didn’t want to start a big security scare and when I had the car I took the front wheel off and put the bike in the boot, easily as you like.
By now I was absolutely starving and in need of food, thankfully Wendy had a big corned beef sarnie ready for me to devour.
Whilst drinking coffee I attempted to respond to all my bike txts to tell them they had gone, they have actually gone to Mr 30 second txtr, boy he was fast off the block.
We then took the car into town to A, Post some gifts to the UK, B, To walk along the esplanade, C, To get some fish for Wendy’s fish curry.
The post cost a fortune, the walk was lovely and the fish curry was a delight.
I had arranged to meet the lad who was going to take the bikes at the bottom of the road, but we had a few issues and he was 30 minutes late. It was also a tropical downpour where I got soaked to my skin.
But sure enough he turned up with his mate, who was very apologetic and so our trusty bikes that have almost covered the continent have gone to a new home.
We have had a cracking time with them and we have covered a great number of miles, it was with sadness that I let them go but I do believe that they have gone to a good home.
Ah well a car with air conditioning is much more Wendy Gills style anyway!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
Today as been a bit of a leisure day, well sort of as I did go with Wendy shopping for shoes in the city today.
Jeepers it took more than 10 shops for her to be happy with the pair she found, even though they aren’t quite what she wanted. I tell you the Australians have it made as there is a couch and easy chairs outside every female shop type place in the shopping mall, so I could kick back and relax whilst the said shoes where being located.
After we had made the successful purchase we had coffee and cake in a small outside café on the sea front which was quite nice.
I had also undertaken a successful shopping mission, buying a wall map of Australia, a pair of socks and an IPhone cable, which took a fraction of a second to do compared to the shoe palaver!
Grandad Brian told me many years ago that he would never go shopping with Wendy for shoes ever again, and boy can I see why!
After our snack we nipped back and picked Diane up who took us to Trinity Beach, which is a very delightful beach about 10 miles north of Cairns. We walked along the prom, actually Wendy and Di did, I walked along the beach. But it was all very pleasant anyway.
We didn’t go into the Sail Club at Yorkies Knobb, (Stop sniggering), as I had my singlet on, which is not appropriate for such a fine establishment so we went back home, but not before calling into a future feature where we hope to go high into the hills. Bugger me I found, in the car park, the biggest spider’s web in the world. There were three spiders in residence and they had cocooned their prey for later and they were on the hunt for further morsels, but not me as I was away at the sight of them.
Supper was another Diane delight, which was pan fried salmon, rice and veg, it was a lovely meal.
And that’s when the fun started. Wendy and Diane started talking about old times and then the wedding photos came out. Well what a sight for sore eyes they were.
Dave Ashworth is the spitting image of Oliver Reed in that film The Werewolf. I kid you not, he must have had Diane well and truly under his spell for her to marry him as he sacred me to death.
Tomorrow we are on a really exciting adventure avid reader, look out for the next instalment!!!
Lizard Island
168 Miles North of Cairns
17 Miles from the North East Coast
Well the day came for us to complete my journey, a flight to Lizard Island and it was stonking, brilliant, a topper actually.
Our flight out wasn’t brill due to low cloud but the weather improved when we got there. Wendy wasn’t overjoyed at the flight as we did have the odd bit of turbulence, which you would hardly ever notice on a Piper Chieftain, 8 seater plane, would you Wendy???
We landed very nicely and set off for the short walk to Watsons Bay, where our old camp used to be. Blimey what memoires it brought back and all of them good.
I’m really pleased we have made this journey, Wendy has now seen every station I was at and I have explained what we did and it’s been great.
I saw the walkway we built, I saw the dunnies we made and I saw our old campsite even though it’s now over grown.
I took Wendy to the dunny down the beach but she refused to even give it a go, what else can you do on a remote South Pacific Island, go in the sea? YES! Was the reply!
We went snorkelling, not Wendy obviously, and it was really interesting. We went to the reef just off the shore at Watsons Bay. It took about an hour to get around. On one side there was a lot of coral bleaching but on the other the coral was quite good. So I don’t get it, if coral bleaching is down to warmer oceans, why isn’t it evenly spread?
One downside was that my bloody waterproof camera packed in mid swim, but luckily I had enough pics by then.
Back on shore we had an utter delight of a gourmet lunch, (Did I say that Wendy had already blagged her first glass of wine before we went into the sea?).
It was a delight, King Prawn, and meat salad and wine, on Watsons Bay, how delightful.
After lunch Wendy and I went for a walk to the Blue Lagoon which is a beach at the opposite end of the island. This was an area I remembered me and Takako doing a reef survey and when I look back in my mind I could still imagine us doing it 30 years ago.
The beach was stunning even Wendy went in for a dip.
The sun was now out and it was a beautiful occasion.
We walked back to Watsons Bay, me in the hope that I would see a Lizard and Wendy in hope of more wine, alas neither of us got what we wanted.
Not the Foot Note – Foot Note – When I was on Op Raleigh I made a beach bothy and I slept in it for three weeks, with me and the Pacific Ocean ringing in my ears, it was a fantastic time and here I was back again.
I had one last dip in the sea and then we set off back for the plane.
I have only one regret about my revisit, I didn’t see a Lizard. When I was here before they were all over the place and they were great. Someone must be culling them as I only saw a very tiny one and one large one nipped into the bush as we approached. They used to be everywhere maybe a name change for the island is required, No Longer Lizard Island!
The flight back was worse and Wendy did an extra double scary face but we eventually made it back alive.
It’s been a lovely day, and now my trip is complete and my wallet is empty as well but its been a brilient trip down memory lane!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
I got up at 04:45 this morning to watch the Liverpool Europa Final with Dave but I wished I had stayed in bed. Liverpool were brilliant during the first half but never emerged from the changing room for the second and consequently got well and truly beaten. As Dave said the better team won and there was no denying it.
So after the game I went for a sleepy run which did the trick of blowing the cobwebs away.
After breakfast and a wee bit of travel admin we went for a day at the beach, Trinity Beach to be precise. Diane took us there a few days ago and it’s quite a nice relaxing beach. Hardly any traffic noise and just a nice feel to the place in general.
We were going to have lunch out but opted for a sarnie along the beach front which was quite pleasant and tasty. We did however take refreshment in the form of a XXXX Gold each at the local bar. It wasn’t actually a bad place, on the opposite side of the road but facing the beach.
We then took our sun beds onto the beach which I don’t think we will get much more use out of. We have only had them since Inverell, in January, but we have made good use of them. One is held together now by anything small and round that I can get to keep it from falling apart.
The sun was nice and hot and the temperature a pleasant 29OC however when I went for a swim in the stinger net I found the water decidingly cooler that it has been in the previous months so I didn’t hang about, I cooled off and hoped back onto my bed.
We must have had a good four hours out so we packed up and headed back, but not before we restocked with food and other essentials on the way back.
We shopped at Smithfield Shopping Centre which is about 8 miles from Cairns. It’s massive in a compact tidy kind of way and I think you could just about get whatever you need without breaking sweat as it’s all very nicely air conditioned.
After a quick wash up to get the salt off my bones we took an evening drive into Cairns.
We saw a beautiful sunset as we approached the city.
Cairns has a lot of oriental people who staff gift shops and it gives the city a very international feeling, along with the multitudes of backpackers who come north to see the delights of the Great Barrier Reef.
Cairn was bustling but we didn’t stay too long as my early morning footy match was now beginning to catch up with me.
But we did have time to go to the night market where I managed to buy myself a smart new Australian T- shirt and a couple of stubby coolers.
We also had a small plate of oriental food. There were varying prices for the differing sizes available, they went from small to extra-large, well there would be extra-large wouldn’t they. Wendy and I opted for a small size costing $11.50 each. Well we managed to get a good feed onto our plate and I’ll tell you it was bloody tasty. We scoffed the lot and left nice clean plates like all good Gills do.
After our tucker we drifted back to the car and drove back to Dave and Diane’s.
Wendy is with them both on the back porch chewing the fat and I think I’ll be joining them for a night cap before I hit the sack for the night, which I don’t think will be very long.
I’ll be up early enough tomorrow though to try to follow the latest play off semi-final, I do hope Barnsley win tomorrow and we have another exciting day at Wembley.
It’s been a lovely relaxing day, Nite Nite!
Cairns
No Travelling
I followed the Barnsley match via the BBC website this morning and it was fantastic, 2 goals up before I had abluted, and then to finish 1-3, stonking!!! I just hope they haven’t shot their bolt too early like Liverpool did, here’s hoping for the 29th anyway.
It was an overcast morning with drizzle in the air so I donned my long sleeved wicker shirt and jacket for my run this morning. It didn’t rain but the sun didn’t show either but I did an almighty sweat anyway.
I showered in Daves outside shower and a little black and white Wag Tail joined me, he was hopping in and out of the shower and having great fun. I must look into installing one at home, maybe the swallows will join me there, maybe I won’t get 30O heat either!
After breakfast we headed into town, and as we parked it tipped it down, just for five minutes mind. So we had an early lunch of prepared tuna sarnie and as soon as we had finished it the rain cleared and we set off, straight to the Reject Shop across the road to buy two small brollies as it was going to be that kind of a day!
As it was a miserable day and so with spittle and 27OC temperatures we decided to walk Cairns to death.
First we walked into the fruit and veg market where I swear you can buy any fruit on the planet, it was fantastic. I took in lots of free samples too, in the name of quality control I’ll have you know, and they were a delight.
We both loved the market and Wendy later bought some lovely bananas for her breakfast.
I think a return trip is required, maybe with the intention of a nice fruit salad in mind, tropical of course.
And then we went to the old wharf where I immediately recognised it as a place I used to try to find work 29 years ago. I would come down and join a queue whereby a skipper would pick a number of men who would get work for the day. I never got picked, Ah well it was their loss.
Then we walked along the riverside and took coffee and cake in a small café. Jeepers the coffee was hot and lovely, the cake, which was Mango Cheesecake by the way, was lovely too. I will be back for more in the coming days, mark my words, (said Mr Piglet!).
We then set off on an epic shop.
As the weather was a bit iffy we covered every street that Cairns has and we loved it. Wendy had no idea where she was half of the time but I knew what we were doing.
The Aussies are good at blocks, like in the USA, so we walked parallel along the Avenues and then did up and down the vertical Streets. It took all day and the odd schooner of beer but we managed it none the less. Wendy still has no idea how we did what we did or where we went when we did it, but thankfully I did.
But I bought a new camera, waterproof mind meaning I will now have to go back to the reef. But, I have also put a claim into Argos, well the camera isn’t 9 months old and it really let me down when I needed it so I think I’m fair game for my money back.
We waited until the night market opened and bought Dave an Aussies shirt as he quite likes mine and then we headed back for the evening.
And what a lovely evening it’s been.
Gordon Gill cooked a stonking supper, we sat around the table for a while after with a glass of wine and then we all headed for bed. It might not seem much but to me it’s been a lovely end to a perfect day.
Oh and Wendy has just devoured a big bar of fruit and nut in bed, I did manage to help a little, but not much.
Cairns
No Travelling
I didn’t get out of bed very early as it has rained all night and it was still chucking down when I woke at 06:00. So I settled down and had breakfast in bed followed by a general lounge around.
And before I even got out of bed I had to put up with two ridicules discussion issues, please see below:
The previous night I had contacted Argos to tell them about my faulty camera as its not yet a year old, please see their response:
1. “All of our items have a 12 month warranty which is valid in the United Kingdom, however once it is took out of the United Kingdom the warranty is void so unfortunately on this occasion we would be able to assist you further”, (Can you spot the typo?).
I have never heard such rubbish I mean if I bought my camera on Thursday and took it to Paris for the weekend it would have no warranty when I brought it back, what claptrap!
2. The next one was from my darling wife, who whilst reading the news on her IPad asks me, “What’s Brexit mean”? Err, it’s Britain Exit the EU Sweetie pie, was my answer, “Oh” was the reply. And then I said, “I can’t believe you didn’t work that out yourself Wend”. “I know it was a bit silly wasn’t it”? Wasn’t it, a four year old could have worked that one out, she’s such a silly sausage sometimes!!!
Well the rain never abated so I bit the bullet, got wrapped up and took the car near to town and did my morning run there. Needless to say I got soaked, but it was OK as it was still quite warm. I was that wet mind that my seat was soaked, despite me sitting on two large beach towels as well.
I showered in the outside shower again which is yet another experience altogether when it’s chucking down with rain, it makes it much harder to get dry!
So an early lunch was taken and we went for a ride to get some information about the Sky Rail which is a cable car which goes high into the tropical rainforest. Not today mind as there is no view to be seen apart from mist!
After obtaining sufficient intel about the Sky Rail we took a look at the Barron Gorge which is quite impressive. The gorge is about 5 miles off the main road and has very steep valley walls, there didn’t seem to be enough water coming down though especially after the amount of rain we have had over the last 24 hours. Maybe it needs a little longer to get it from the smaller rivers.
Back at base I got to know my new camera which is a fair bit sharper than the old one, and was cheaper than the old one too, so when I get my money back I’ll have made a small profit.
Whilst I was busy, on the back patio I was joined by a Kookaburra who later moved to the front to join his mate in anticipation of getting a good feed from Dave.
Well the sun never came out, it just tipped more rain, in fact I retreated to the comfort of a nice warm bath, the first in over 8 months, it was delightful. I even pampered myself with a bit of talc and moisturiser, well I was going out to dinner and boy was I starving.
Dinner was an absolute treat, we all had different meals but they were all good, Daves Duck A LOrange was a bit too orangey but apart from that everything else was great.
The rain continued to tip down and I am considering building an ark, even the temperature has dipped to 24OC and I had to resort to my hoody, (I am so going to hate having to get used to UK temperatures).
On the drive home we were infested with Cane Toads on the highway, they were everywhere, mostly dead from Uite injuries but nonetheless its not nice running over them, pest or not.
We had a drink or too on the back porch, where yet more rain came, in fact it intensified.
I’m now in bed, with no aircon on as it’s too dam cold and its still bucketing down. The rain is supposed to last, get this, until Thursday by which time I think I just might have webbed feet and I’ll be talking a load of quackers!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
What a downpour we had last night it absolutely bucketed down, and it was still at it when I woke at 06:30. But I went for my run, I didn’t hide and try to wait it out, I now know it’s here for a day or two and we have to make the best of it.
I got soaked to the skin whilst sweating at the same time which is something of a very strange sensation.
We headed to town for a coffee in our favourite café, I had a blueberry muffin and Wendy had carrot cake, along with a cup of stonking hot, fresh coffee each, it was bloody beautiful!
A cold wet bird tried to get into the café for some warmth but was roundly chased out by the young waitress. Poor fella all he wanted was somewhere warm and dry.
We then set off for the impossible mission to find Wendy some blue trousers that do not exist. Hear me out here please?
She knows exactly what she wants, but she has never seen them. Right I understand that, but she needs to go to a tailor and explain that to them and they will make them. Ah but no, we have to search endlessly, shop after shop, after shop for something that may or may not exist. Nothing else will do, she wants the imaginary trousers from her head. So can someone please hurry up and invent them so that I am not dragged around endlessly in her quest.
I nipped into a mans shop to look at ruggerd mens shirts and a very strange thing happened. An older lady stopped me and said, “My son is in Brisbane and I want to send him a shirt down, he’s about your size, will you try them on for me to see which one would be best fit”. I looked around immediately to find Jeremy Beadle but alas she did really need my help. So to oblige I tried a large size and then an extra-large. Now I am only small to medium generally but these both fitted me so she was happy with the fitting procedure and chose to send the extra-large.
Now as if that’s not interesting enough she kept apologising to Wendy for the disruption to her day she was causing, but not to me!
Thankfully Dave then came to my rescue with a very appropriate text message telling me that his son, Andrew and his wife were bringing their two small girls to see us. Phew thanks Andrew!
We got back just before Andrew and Narelle and two darling little girls came. They were lovely, about 22 month old twins who were shy to start with and then once they warmed up they had us all chasing them around, such cuties.
I last saw Andrew when he was about 11 years old and he is now a strapping lad with his very own family and do you know what? I would have recognised him if I had passed him in the street he looks exactly like his younger self.
Two hours later and a big run around our peace was restored, no they weren’t bad at all, they were just two little bods with energy to burn. Lord knows how I would ever cope with grandchildren, but Diane seems to be able to keep up.
Wendy and I went to get some supplies and we called into the gorge we were at yesterday to see if conditions had changed after all the rainfall, and yes they had. Much more water was coming down the falls and you could not only see it but you could hear it too, lots of energy!
Back at base we had a lovely snack supper with the most necessary of snack supper ingredients, garlic bread. We then chilled out before taking to an early bed.
I think the weather is draining me as I have been yawning all day, I think I caught it from Narelle early this afternoon and its stayed with me ever since.
Oh, by the way it’s still raining!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
The rain continued to pour as we went to bed and I was woken at 05:30 by the loudest downpour to date, jeepers it was like rocks were falling from the sky. But by the time I was ready for running it had stopped and would you believe I had only the briefest of drizzle whilst I was out, things might be looking up but I must not let my expectations get too high, it’s nothing like beach weather yet.
Dave told me that it was a record for rain for May on Saturday, the most rain in a day since 1920 having 118 mm in total, well it was a lot of rain anyway.
We set off for Mulgrave River today, for two reasons, 1, to see the river in full flow, 2, to check that I could get the little car up the dirt track to the campsite as I was hoping to camp there on Tuesday night.
Before we got to Mulgrave we called in at Gordonsvale and had coffee and cake, I had a custard pie Wendy had a large biscuit. My pie was huge but I thought I’ll eat half and save half for tomorrow, like hell I did!!!! On a yummy scrummy scale of 1 to 10 it was a 15, it was delightful, I scoffed the lot!!!
And onto to Mulgrave, bugger the river was over the bridge, it was in full spate conditions. I could get the car over, just, but I would be worried if I was spending the night across the river as the water might come down the from the hills overnight and raise the level over the bridge making it impassable and as much as I love the camp at Mulgrave I would not want to have to spend more than one night with Wendy Gill there, that would be pushing my luck a bit too far.
After Mulgrave we headed to Yarrabah which is about 15 miles south of Cairns and 19 miles back to the coast.
I thought it was a coastal resort, maybe with some bars and hotels, how wrong I was.
It was over large hills, at least 280 metres high but it was a beautiful drive, lovely in fact.
At the top I saw the sign – Alcohol Restrictions Apply within this Community.
Ah this will be interesting.
And it was, jeepers what a fantastic beach. Even though it was such a miserable day the beauty of this beach shone through.
However the community was less than caring of their personal circumstances and I would say that at least 85% of their homes were, what I can only describe as being in poverty. No that’s not right, that doesn’t paint the picture, if it was poverty it was self-inflicted poverty, they were slums, most of the houses had been abused by someone and I can only assume that they were done by the resident, if not they have had one almighty big crime wave. But I don’t think that was the case as there seemed to be a police car patrolling all the time we were there.
Strangely the sign on approach to the township said welcome to Yarrabah, Paradise by the Sea. It’s not, it could be but there would have to be a huge change in attitude for it to be so.
So far I haven’t mentioned the litter, the filth strewn around all the lovely scenic spots, the dogs roaming the streets, the number of bitches hanging around with teats like they are swollen to buggery as they have had, or are still having such a large number of pups, oh and the horses free to roam whilst defecating all over the place.
Now this is the real romantic side to the life of Indigenous Australia that no one sees, apparently they are the Custodians of the Land, now that’s a real contradiction in terms!
After our cultural digression we headed back to Cairns but as we still had a good amount of light left we drove up into the hills to the Coppaload Dam, which is 10 miles along a track that rises above 500 metres. The cloud cover surrounded us pretty high up and it was very thick in places but we still got great views of the Lake.
Lake Morris was created in the 1970s to supply drinking water to the city, it holds 45,000,000 litres of water. The river was dammed and now there is a huge area of water high in the hills but boy it was nippy, it was 20OC but it felt like it was winter. But I manged to find the free coffee station in the open area café, which raised my temperature to a barely acceptable level.
We spoke with one of the dams Rangers who was really helpful and informative.
The light was fading and the drive down was going to be tough going so we cut our visit short, but we will, if we get the chance, go back and see the lake in better conditions, hopefully with the sun out.
Supper was cooked by Dave, with the help of Diane who was on vegetable duty.
We had BBQ pork cutlets and they were bloody lovely. Dave was highly critical of them as he thought they were over cooked, I don’t think so, as I said they were lovely, but he’s the chef and I guess that’s what counts most.
I’m thinking he might just give them another shot just to show he can do it right, and I’m thinking I’m looking forward to that already.
We haven’t had too much rain today, loads of low cloud though but the sky was slowly clearing as darkness surrounded us.
I’m thinking about topping up my tan on the beach tomorrow and having a dip in the Coral Sea as time is now running out and I need to get my full quota of tropical heat. I’ll let you know how I get on tomorrow but as the temperature is still quite low tonight this may be just wishful thinking and I best prepare a backup plan!
How about a trip back to Mount Isa?
Cairns
No Travelling
But it did rain on me when I was at the 4 mile mark on my run, it chucked it down actually and I got sodden, but it has got slightly better as the day went on.
We have had a bit of a poor day, not of any major proportions, but just bad luck as it goes.
First Up – Wendy’s IPad went gaga last night, it seemed to go into update mode and then no charge mode and then bugger you I am not playing mode. Wendy was quite upset as she as grown attached to it. So I have thought it through and done the following, rebooted, hot booted, used my laptop to hot and reboot and it didn’t work.
Then we tried three computer shops and two wouldn’t look at it but one did, they did a restore but it didn’t work. It’s not looking good, but I am having one last shot. So as of now Wendy is uncontactable by email or facetime and she is not happy!
Second Up – After running around town for computer shops and running out of options, we went over the hills to Kuranda which is high up into the hills via a very challenging twisting road to go and see the daily market. We got there at 15:30 and the place was almost closed!!!
Fancy, they market the place as a market town, come and visit, come over all these hills use lots of fuel in doing so and find us closed as we only do the half day. Well that’s fine, I just wish they had put this down in all their promotional information. Like don’t come after 2pm, as we have buggerd off for smoko!!!
But we did find some small solace as we went to the Barron Falls, they weren’t brilliant, but at least the gorge was worth a look. The walkway through the tropical forest was stunning. I take nothing away from the Australians they certainly know how to make walkways and cycle ways. Brilliant and of course all free of charge!!!
I cooked supper which was nice enough but not as stonking as I would like and so after a good laugh and chat we went to bed, me trying to mend Wendy’s IPad, (it’s still not looking good), and Wendy reading her book as in old technology!!!
Ah, I almost forgot to mention the massive, hairy super spider that almost took Wendy from the veranda to feed her young. It must have been 15 feet wide and has hairy as a ships stocker!!!
Funny though as no one else saw it!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
Well would you believe it was still overcast and I even got the odd spot drizzle while I was out this morning. I set off with Wendy running with me, it lasted half the length of the Avenue and then she was gone, lagging behind.
After breakfast which I had on the front balcony, the sky did start to break up, it was about 10:00 and there was a definite attempt for the sun to shine through although with the thickness of the cloud I didn’t think we would get any clear skies today.
It was going to be a big day for Wendy, one she’s been waiting for for a while, pampering day! Hair cut & colour and something to do with eyebrows. It was going to be at least a 2 hour affair.
But before we left I had the enviable task of contacting the bank in the UK about sorting an issue out. Why are their procedures not straight forward I must have been talking to a computer for about 30 minutes before I got through to a member of the human race and then I had to re-go the security checks only to be told that I could not do what I wanted to do, (reduce a standing order) as that’s no longer allowed with this account. Gggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
So after I dropped Wendy off for her appointment I headed to Yorkeys Knob Beach for a walk along the shore line.
I got there at 12:30 and found the sun had not only broken through but that I had an extremely large area of clear blue sky. Time to fill my boots, so out came the deck chair, my sarnies and a tin of XXXX Gold to wash it down. My sarnie was a delight, garlic prawns in mayonnaise and boy did that make me thirsty, thankfully the XXXX was at hand.
After lunch I read for a while but I started to feel my eyelids get very heavy so I set off to walk the beach and I am glad I did as it was beautiful.
End to end it took me over an hour, there is a rocky outcrop at the north end and a croc infested river mouth at the other, between them there must be about a mile and a half of lovely soft sand.
I saw maybe 3 other people and one Labrador dog who stopped for a chat and a stroke.
I dipped my feet in at the stinger enclosure and carried on back to my chair where I promptly nodded off.
I must have had about 10 minutes snoozing when I was woken by my phone ringing. Pampering time was over and Wendy wanted collecting from the beauty parlour!!!
Well her hair looks lovely, her eyebrows look the same and her colouring is about right, have I said the right things?
I’ve been trying to buy a used iPad today from sellers on Gumtree but what a hassle it’s been, everyone seemed to be dodgy so I didn’t go through with it, the last one would only sell it if I took it in the box as a pick up, she even knocked $50 off the price if I took it like that, as if I’d buy a used iPad without seeing it operate. I wanted to get a cheap used one until we get back in the UK so we won’t have warranty issues and also because she is missing her online bimbling!!!
After a lovely spicy meal made by Diane Wendy and me nipped into town to find out where we need to be in the morning for our next adventure. And boy am I glad we did, we could not find the place at all.
I ended up on the quayside driving the car along the waterfront. Well Wendy didn’t like it one bit and did a wee bit of flapping, I mean what the eck can go wrong with Mr Careful at the wheel?
“Anything”, she says through gritted teeth, “Get me outta here”.
We eventually found where we need to be and so we should be fine in the morning as it’s an early start.
After a wee drink in the RSL we came back but too late for Dave and Diane as they had retired for the night, I suspect Daves tired has he’s had a good long walk on the golf course today.
I think I have a buyer for the camping gear, but you know nothings easy on Gumtree, I’ll keep you posted.
Oh and the girl with the iPad came back to me but it was too late as we had left the City and we were on our way back. Why do people mess around so much, jeepers if she has something to sell and someone wants to buy it why make it so difficult, maybe I smell a rat!
Cairns
Moore Reef 31 Miles East of Cairns
We arose nice and early as we had an exciting day in front of us, a day trip to the Great Barrier Reef.
And just for today, the weather was perfect.
We boarded at 08:00 and set sail aboard Magic II at 09:00. Magic II is a motor cat which can zoom across the sea, our destination was the Moore Reef which is directly east of Cairns. Moore Reef is a Patch Reef which means it is a standalone reef as opposed to the main reefs which are called Ribbon Reefs and finally the fringing reefs which usually surround an island.
Just a quick word on the Ribbon Reefs which stretch over 1,620 miles from Bundaberg in the south all the way up the east coast to Papa New Guinea in the north. They form the bulk of the Barrier Reef and stretch for miles themselves with the occasional break in them. They prevent the wave surge of the South Pacific bombarding the coast line as it does in the south.
Our journey took about an hour and a half and it was relatively calm to start with but once we rounded the headland we did get the odd swell which was quite fun for me, not so the people holding sick bags.
Our destination was a floating pontoon which is sited just over the reef.
Moore Reef was a delight to snorkel and I loved each of my three trips out.
The first one was a kind of get to know the conditions and the layout for the reef snorkel, oh and to see how the gear worked.
Everything was fine and I had about 45 minutes plodding along. I saw a small reef shark and loads of parrot fish amongst many others. The reef looked to be in good condition and there was plenty of colour around.
I got back to the marina and found Wendy relaxing nicely in a deck chair.
I had a couple of chuckles along the way as the oriental people, who formed the bulk of our fellow passengers, got extremely excited.
After a breather I took back to the water for a pre-lunch swim and caught up with a huge, friendly Maori Wrasse. Jeepers he was everywhere, poking his nose all over the place. He even caught me out coming over my left shoulder when I wasn’t expecting him. I thought he was going to kiss me he was so close.
Back aboard we had a nice lunch and a glass of sneaked aboard wine in our camouflage kiddie flasks.
After lunch a crew member gave a fish feeding presentation and loads of fish must have known the time as they turned up in their hundreds. The Maori Wrasse was taking centre stage even swimming onto the pontoon floor. The Orientals were getting even more excited and kept touching the Maori Wrasse and they ended up giving the crew the pip as we are not supposed to interfere with the fish.
Wendy and I took a tour in the glass bottom boat which is about as close Wendy got to getting wet. This tour was quite interesting and we saw more fish and even a green turtle which was quite special.
My last dive saw me swim the entire circumference of the reef which was some distance and by now the tide was dropping and the reef was getting much closer to the surface so there was a wee bit more colour on show.
It’s been a fantastic day, Wendy had to pry me off the pontoon as the afternoon sun was bloody lovely.
Back on land I arranged to meet with the girl from last nights iPad debacle as she came came back to me, and so a clandestine meeting was arranged, a cash transaction was made and both parties separated, she went very quickly. Wendy now has a nice new, secondhandish, iPad!
We stopped in town for a wee while and went to the night market which was bustling.
On my travels to and from the car I saw an engineering feat, copper pipes which must be 100 mm in diameter, were used in some water infrastructure and would you believe they had soldered joints, huge ones at that too.
It’s been a cracking day both on the Barrier Reef and in Cairns and we had a brilliant sunset, it was 26 degrees as we drove back to Dave and Di’s and it was delightful.
I wish I could stay here a lot longer, as I’m sure I was meant to be here!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
Today started with Wendy Ann Gill in a state of delirious madness as she had lost her glasses, “I had them last night at dinner where could they be now!!!” Was her constant utterings.
After an hour of such utterings they were found in the car, along with my wallet, in the car where she had left them at 7pm the previous night, she’s such a silly old sausage dog.
After exercise I completed ablutions in Daves outside shower, as I did tonight actually, and it was such a delight. Showering in the open air with bright blue skies and wall to wall sunshine is such a lovely treat. I did it this morning and I did it tonight and I loved it, that’s done it, I’m having one and I don’t care if we don’t get 300C temperatures, - 5OC will be fine I’m sure, hopefully!!!
We spent the day at Trinity Beach which was lovely. The sun was out and it was 300C and it was a real treat. We had lunch on the beach and then nipped into our local bar for a drink on the terrace, what a nice way to start a Friday!!!
I had a walk on the beach, I had a swim in the stinger net and I lounged around with Wendy on the loungers, how lovely.
I also did some stock exchange activates, well it seemed like it, buying and selling stuff on Gum Tree, well selling actually, I did the buying last night. Well the deals been done but more of that later.
After a sunny day at the beach where we both topped up our tans we did a little shopping for our home made Sunday Roast, I’m head Chef and it’s going to be delightful, hopefully, but more of that later, this week.
Back at D&D’s I had to get the tent ready on the front lawn as Yasmin was keen to buy it, Jerry was keen too but he wanted it at a rock bottom price, so Yasmin won the day and Jerry is yet to get back to me and be abusive. But Jerry, or so I will tell him, it’s a dog eat dog world and if you don’t eat dog when you get the chance you go hungry!!!
The camping equipment was bought from a lovely girl called Pascal to start with and was sold to a lovely girl called Yasmin who seemed quite excited to have it, (as I type I have just got a message from Jerry, he’s not happy – Dog eat dog Jezz!!!)
Supper was a topper, roast duck, vegetables and mashed sweet potato, it was a real treat.
I know I go on about food but this journey is as much a foody delight as it is a cultural one and I am loving the food, actually it’s all about the food.
After a good chat around the table, which was interrupted at the front by a nice firework display, I retired to bed to write my diary only to hear Dave talking to Wendy and Di about the state of Origin Series.
My ears pricked as I have picked up from the radio about this. So I’m off back at the patio grilling Dave and here is the gist of it:
The State of Origin is a rugby league tournament where players from the States of Queensland and New South Wales leave their league teams and go back to their own state and play each other over a three match series. It sounds fantastic, the media is going wild about it so is Dave, I’m very excited too as I think it’s a great concept. I won’t be available to watch it with Dave which is a bit of a disappointment, but I’ll try darn hard to see it on TV, if I can!!!
Nite Nite – P.S. Jerry is still sending me emails, well he should have bought it while he could have!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
Well we have had a lovely day today, I know, I know, yet another one.
It started with me coming across a very long python down the track while I was running, jeepers did it stop me in my tracks, it must have been 3 metres long. But by the time it took me to get my phone ready for a photo he was almost in the undergrowth. He was long but he was the skinniest python I have ever seen, OK I have only seen one other, but he did seem skinny, perhaps he was hungry.
After breakfast Wendy and I did some shopping for tomorrows meal and we almost got all we need, I nipped to another store to get the rest while Wendy paid at the supermarket, I arranged to meet her at Liquarland to buy a much needed ingredient but she took a detour via a ladies cloths shop and stood me up for five minutes, the bounder.
After dropping the goods off back at home we went down into the City for a day out and we had a lovely day.
We stopped at the Lagoon and made camp with our sun loungers and cool bag of sarnies and had lunch. I striped to my swimmers and had a dip and Wendy went shopping, for two hours!!! In the end she bought more shoes and more shirts, tops or whatever they’re called.
I rested my eyelids for a while and then did a bit of strolling in the sun, I had another sleep and Wendy came back, eventually!
The park next to the Lagoon was filling with people and it was a very nice atmosphere, a band was playing and they were quite good but the next band was better.
People were gathered around the BBQs having parties and really enjoining themselves.
At about 2:00 pm we nipped to a bar for a nice cooling drink. It’s actually a backpacker’s bar with a swimming pool and loud music but as me and Wend are down with it we fitted in quite nicely.
Back at the lagoon the park was filing up and it was a great atmosphere. Alcohol is banned in the park, in fact it’s banned in all public places in Queensland and I think that made the day. If it had been allowed the young people would have hit it hard and there would have been hassle, but as they had to abstain, they played footie, listened to the band or cooked food and it was just lovely.
After 16:00 the sun was heading behind the hills so we took our stuff back to the car and went for a walk along the marina. We saw the sun set over the hills and the clouds gather over the Mulgrave area, jeepers they were very big clouds and I bet its raining there at this very moment.
We walked around town for a while and then had supper at the market, it was Wendy’s turn to choose and so we had Thai tucker and it was bloody lovey. Wendy had a $13.50 plate and I had a $10.50 plate, guess who had the most food on their plate?
After supper we strolled back to the car, but not before taking a drink at the Cairns RSL, well it is Saturday night isn’t it!
We got back to Dave and Di’s and had a glass of wine with them before I took a shower, yet again in darkness in Daves outside shower. Well at 27OC it was lovely, it was pitch black, just me and nature and the hot shower.
After one more glass of wine we all settled down for the night, Wendy is fast asleep and I’m listening to Mix 102.3 on the internet, it’s an Adelaide Station that I like and it’s actually very good.
You should listen to the Jody and Soda Breakfast Show its brilliant, but it would be about 10:0pm in the UK, but still worth a listen anyway avid reader.
Cairns
No Travelling
On return from my run this morning, which was exceptionally hot by the way, Wendy leaned over the upper floor balcony and said, “Have you seen the damage on the back wheel of the car?”
“No”, was my reply.
And bugger me there it was, actual damage to the wheel arch, the door and the cill. Some very not nice person has reversed out and pulled their front bumper and wheel along the back, off side of the rental car. I could see by the marks that’s what they had done.
And as I didn’t take out the CDW on taking the car I will have to pay for the damage, (It was $30 a day extra, whilst the car was only $37 a day). I have one more day of hire, tomorrow and so I will have to try to get it fixed before I take it back as I am sure there we be an over the top quote for it.
I’m mad as I have been exceptionally careful whilst driving not getting too close and keeping my distance all around.
I do hope the person who did the damage and left pretty smartly as some dreadful event befall them!
I had such an accident over 25 years ago and I left my number for them to call me which they did. They were very nice about it and I went over to Sheffield and replaced the wing mirror that I had damaged. You could easily do that I those days as things weren’t so darn complicated. It’s a shame the gesture wasn’t reciprocated to me!
Ah well, worse things happen at sea!
After breakfast I helped Dave cut down two nasty trees on his drive. They are quite strange trees which drop berries that have a very sticky glue like substance weep from them. They are also a haven for green ants who have really nasty bites. In fact there were two nests in the tress so I was constantly wiping myself down to check they weren’t after me.
Jeepers it was hot, both Dave and I were drenched in sweat. Thankfully the strapping young lad next door, who was cutting the grass, helped toss some of the bigger logs into the trailer or we would still be at it.
When we had done Dave took the cuttings to the dump and I showered and took Wendy to town, to:
A, Change some cloths from yesterday’s shopathon.
B, Buy some new specs for me as mine broke last night.
C, Find a car wash - this was a failure as I couldn’t find one.
I also got some last minute provisions for todays meal which is a full Sunday roast of pork, Yorkshire pudds, sweet potato, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, parsnips, roast spuds and stuffing.
The gravy will come from the vegetable stock and dry cider, boy am I looking forward to this although Diane has been pressuring me to use her oven guide book and not Delias recipe, now there’s added pressure!
So in keeping with tradition I was going to take Dave down the pub for a beer but as this mornings activities had taken their toll on him I had to take Wendy and Dave got left in his favourite chair fast asleep. His first words on our return where, “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
When the roast was in the oven I nipped down to wash the car so that a better assessment of the damage could be undertaken, yes more sweating in the heat!
It’s not looking good, I will have to bite the bullet and take the pain, now that’s not how a Yorkshire Man should take it but what can I do????? It’ll be a very restless night tonight I’ll tell you!!!
Ah but there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon, Barnsley are at Wembley again, for the second time this year, this time for the 1st Division Play Off Final. And Bradley Gill, having just got back home from Miami, is flying down as I type.
Good on you Brad you’re a Top Tyke!!!
Here’s a joke – Bradley Gill walks into a pub in Wembley and the Landlord says, “Do you want the usual Brad?”
I’ll be watching too with Dave at midnight, come on you reds!!!
The pork is out and as I always say in tense situations, “Hold Your Nerve”, I did, and it worked, it’s a beauty with delicious crackling. It needs to rest for 30 minutes now, but I’m already into the crackling!!!
Well that’s supper done and dusted and it was absolutely divine, we just needed some custard and sticky toffee pud to round it off, but alas we didn’t have any so Wendy had to settle for some of Di’s dark chocolate Malteasers.
Its 20:04 and we have all retired, my alarm is set for 23:55 so I do hope I hear it. I have spoken with Bradley Gill who is in London having his usual, in his regular as he always does when Barnsley FC are at Wembley.
Come on you Reds!!!
Cairns
No Travelling
Well they did it, and Dave and I watched it, 3 stonking goals and well done Barnsley, we are Championship, (it doesn’t have the same ring as we are Premier League but at least we are back where we belong).
And good on Bradley Gill doing the round trip yet again. Did I tell you about Brad going into a bar in Wembley? Yes I did, it’s a cracker.
There was a croc attack last night and a women is missing believed to be eaten. It’s a bit stark but that is the long and short of it. The lady is 46 and was with her female partner when they went for a swim in the sea near Daintree, at 10:30 in the dark, now that is asking for trouble.
The croc took her and she managed to say a crocs got me to her partner before she went missing. It’s a shame but you can’t blame a croc if someone puts themselves in such risk. I wouldn’t go in croc areas in the day time let alone night time.
I did an early run this morning so that I could get the car sorted. When I got back I ablouted and was off again in search of a panel beater.
The first mechanic said that he could do it, but it would cost $1,000 and take 3 days, oh dear!
He did give me the details of another guy who would be cheaper though and so we went looking for him.
Nico, is the man and he looked at it, he hummed and harred and said bring it back at 3PM and I’ll see what I can do.
So to kill time Wendy and me went for a couple of hours to Trinity Beach and got the last out of the sun beds. Actually one of them is held together by old nails and bits of strimmer wire and even needs a major sand bank at the back to give it support.
We had a lunch at the bar, it was meant to be a snack but Wendy’s eyes were bigger than her belly and so along with the sliders we were going to share she ordered some sweet potato chips too. Well what a potion they turned out to be, we were both stuffed.
We waddled back to the sun beds for one last hour and then headed back and I dropped Wendy off at D & D’s to start packing and I dropped the car off at Nicos garage.
To pass the three hours it took to do the car I walked 3.5 miles into town and took a dip in the Lagoon. Jeepers the sun was hot and I was sweating profusely when I got there and so the dip was very welcome indeed.
After drying off I snook off for a schooner of XXXX in Gilligans, only to receive a txt from Wendy Gill complaining that I was drinking without her, the bugger had been tracking me through my iPhone!
I got back to Nicos just before 18:00 as agreed but the car wasn’t finished so I had to wait just over 30 mins and to pass the time I took a stroll along the road and you’ll never guess what I found?
A brothel, yes the first brothel to open in Cairns, and it’s on an industrial estate of all places. The building is styled like an industrial unit apart from one long window at the side where there is a female dummy dressed in saucy underwear with a red light shining above her head, a wee bit tacky I might say!
And it’s called, get this “Northern Belle”. Take a look at their website, it’s very reviling, but alas it’s not my cup of tea. In the time I was there I never saw any punters arrive or leave, business must be slow at that time of night, but it must get busy as they are open until 06:00, those poor girls they must be shattered after a shift that long!
In the end it was well worth the wait because the repair is stunning. I have no Idea how they did it without using paint but they managed to pull out all of the dents and realign the door and the result is perfect.
So having thanked and paid Nico I was on my way back for a stonking lamb cutlet BBQ with Dave, Dane and Wendy.
The food was a delight, in fact Dave and Diane have feed us some exceptional meals during our stay and boy have we drunk some wine too!!!
After a short chat about our travel plans we were all off to bed and I was asleep in minutes!!!
Cairns to Sydney
1224 Miles by Air
We were both up and out pretty early this morning as we had a flight to catch and would you believe it was overcast and raining!!!
I met Wendy coming back and told her to watch out for the python, she didn’t appreciate it!!!
Back at Dave & Di’s we did our last minute packing and said our goodbyes.
We have had a brilliant time with them, I can’t believe 30 years have passed since I first met them and they have both been exceptional hosts. Diane is a great cook, she doesn’t seem to know it but she is and Dave is a top, dependable Englishman, through and through. He gave us the loan of his treasured Landcruiser to take it over some of the most gruelling roads on the planet which I think is pretty decent of him. I looked after her as my own and brought her back safe and sound, but it was one hell of a journey even though, both in its ruggedness and its beauty and I am eternally grateful to Dave for giving Wendy and me the opportunity to travel in style to the very top of Australia.
And we met all of their lovely family of which they have four beautiful granddaughters, how lucky they are.
We dropped the car off at the airport without any issues, so thanks to Nico for all of his help.
The flight wasn’t a problem although our weight scales are, one bag weighed 28 KGs but the receptionist let us through without extra charges.
I fully intended to buy Wendy a bottle of wine at the airport but at $60 a bottle she had to make do with half a lager, which she sipped like a budgie as any more would make her want to wee and everyone who knows her, knows she will not go to the toilet on an aircraft. I know she’s crackers, (the first thing she said when we landed was, “I need a wee”, it happens every time no matter what length the flight is).
The flight was a cracker, we saw most of the east coast and lots of the barrier reef.
We were given a delightful meal of chicken and rice which just did us both nicely
And I had an occasion of meeting someone who did me a random act of kindness. I was out of cash but I had topped my travel card up so I thought I would be able to buy things on the flight using the card as we do in the UK. But on ordering 3 small bottles of wine at $24 I only had $10 cash and they didn’t take cards. So I told the attendant, sorry I can’t buy them and he said, “What have you got”, so I gave him my ten bucks and he did a bit of messing about like looking for change and then gave me three bottles of wine.
I knew what he was doing so I looked him in the eye and he smiled and I smiled back. The deal was done and we both enjoyed our wine.
The rest of the flight was great and we landed bang on time.
I made a point of waiting until last off so that I could personally thank my flight attendant mate and so we shook hands and said our goodbyes.
The weather in Sydney is quite poor, raining cats and dogs and freezing bloody cold, well 14OC, that’s cold enough for me I will be heading back to the tropics ASAP!
After check-in we went for a walk down to the city centre but the rain got the better of us, it banged it down so we headed back for a carry out Pizza, but not before finding a Liquorland so we could buy some wine for Wendy and I just had to get a bottle of specially produced, ‘State of Origin’ Bundaberg Rum, well its game on tomorrow night, I do hope I can find a TV to watch it as I think it’s a fantastic concept and of course I am Queensland through and through.
We are in a very nice Travellodge, quite close to the train station but we have had a few issues with the room. The TV doesn’t work without shaking the picture, the interconnecting door isn’t locked, (She’s not happy), the toilet takes an age to refill, the bedside clock doesn’t work and the heating is quite poor, but apart from that it’s quite cosy. Don’t worry I have had staff around now on four occasions and I will be making strong representations in the morning.
So its bedtime for the travelling Gills but not before we have caught up with, get this - an episode of Britons Got Talent, I mean, really, in Australia!
Sydney to ?
? Miles
I woke t 03:00 this morning, I am such a school boy when it comes to excitement.
I couldn’t contain myself any more and jumped out of bed at 05:30, had tea and went running as the sun rose. I have planned this run in my mind for ages and I knew exactly where I was going and only construction works at Darling Harbour put me off track, only by a wee bit mind. It was fantastic, the rain had stopped and I had the city to myself, well for half an hour or so anyway.
I bagged the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, South to North and back and then most of the run into Darling Harbour and I was pitch perfect with every step of the way. It was a dream run.
Back at the hotel I showered and we went to check on our train movements as we had been given conflicting info, but thankfully we found the right person who told us we could drop our bags off anytime we wanted to. Phew that was good news as we have two very large bags and our cabin bags so it was good to dump the big ones and leave the smaller ones in left luggage at the hotel whilst we did a bit more sightseeing.
We snatched a bacon and egg sarnie in our room and set off to see the Harbour one more time.
We managed it and we saw the Sun Princess at Dock which was stunning in the winter sun. I did manage to keep my shorts on despite the colder temperature, Wendy opted for 9/10s leggings though, she’s such a southern girl mind!
It was lovely to be back together and we walked around the Opera House and gazed at the Harbour Bridge, which is, in my mind, the best bridge in the world with the Forth Rail Bridge in 2nd place and Brooklyn Bridge in 3rd Place, (Tower Bridge isn’t placed as nice as it is).
We walked back to collect our cabin bags but not before we had a beer in the Sydney RSL, our last east coast treat.
And then we walked to Sydney Central Train Station to catch the Indian – Pacific Train which goes east coast to west coast over 4 days and 3 nights, 2,704 miles to be exact and as it’s a treat to Wendy we are going Gold Class, it’s not top notch but it’s pretty near!
We have our own cabin, which by magic while we are at supper turns into our bedroom and it’s all very exciting.
This is the second longest train journey in the world, second only to the Trans-Siberian Railway, but who wants to do that anyway? Not me!
We were greeted by our hostess who booked us in for dinner and then I went to explore and I found the bar and the dining car. So with two glasses of wine I went back to the cabin to wait for our meeting with our tour rep and so now we are all fully booked up.
We went to the Lounge Bar for a while to mingle and I had some cheers and some boos as I was wearing my Queensland Rugby Shirt, all in very good fun mind, not like Millwall fans at all. It’s the State of Origin opener tonight but unfortunately we can’t see it as there is no TV.
After retiring to our cabin to watch the nightfall we headed back to Lounge Bar for our supper and it was lovely, I had sword fish and Wendy had beef wellington and it was a delight on a Richter Scale of 9.4!!!
By the time we had finished everyone else had gone to bed, well they do appear to be 103 years old, but we hung around for a while and then headed to our cabin where by magic our beds have been made.
It’s now 20:47 and we have crossed our first time zone. This is like an Agatha Christie novel and a James Bond all wrapped up into one. I just hope that jaws doesn’t eat me in my top bunk tonight, or that I fall out of bed!!!
Night Night Avid Reader!!!
Sydney to Adelaide
1046 Miles
Oh what a night, what a laugh!!!
We went to bed just after 9:00pm, Adelaide time but I couldn’t change my phone as I wasn’t technically into the South Australia time zone, but at least we knew we were a half hour behind.
I snuggled in the bottom bunk with Wendy but I couldn’t last as we were like squashed sardines so I offed to the top bunk and settled down
I dozed off to the gentle rocking of the train as we glided majestically over shinning steel rails and at some point in the night we must have gone off road because I feared for my life.
What a bumpy noisy night it was, I thought we were in imminent danger as we were all over the place, lord only knows what state the rails are outside. I must have slept though as I woke fresh as a daisy at 03:00 and it appeared that the journey was that bad that it had actually incorporated itself into my dreams.
I got up for a drink of water and found Wendy wide awake too and we had a good old laugh as we continued to bounce along. We gazed out into the outback night sky which was slightly illuminated by the waning moon, which must be in its last quarter and I saw small off road townships pass by, I even saw one man alongside the track with a very bright torch, he must be out early morning hunting.
I nipped along the carriage to the refreshment station where you can make tea, coffee or hot chocolate and made us both a cuppa, which was quickly guzzled and so we had two more.
As we were in a state of turmoil in the cabin with both beds down I went to the Lounge Bar to do some work on my laptop. There was one old boy there and we chatted about last nights game, he was a NSW fan, fortunately Queensland won the opener 4-6 so he didn’t have too much to say apart from something about missing a goal or they would have had us, (I purposely put my Queensland shirt on for the mornings encounter).
Then the other passengers came along two by two and what moaning they did. Worst journey of my life they kept going on to each other, whilst I chuckled quietly to myself. Everyone had forgotten to change their clocks too and when they presented themselves at what they thought was breakfast time they had to wait an extra half hour, prompting yet even more moaning.
Jeepers we must be the youngest people on this train by a country mile, it makes me feel like a spring chicken!
And so the bouncing continued until we reached Broken Hill, our first stop of the journey.
I went running and Wendy went for a walk, we had a two hour stop over so we had plenty of time. We could have gone on an organised tour but we had seen the places they were going to visit during our summer stay.
Jeepers it was cold, only 6OC, I know I can hear you all chuckling right now.
Back aboard we both showered before the train moved off and we had a delightful breakfast of smoked salmon and poached eggs, I also managed to snaffle two glasses of bucks fizz from the barman, only for a couple of old dears on the table across from us to talk under their very loud breath about it being a bit early for that kind of drink. Maybe they ought to try one it might help them lighten up.
We ate as we travelled through the outback and watched the Kangaroos stare at our passing.
Train Facts
We spent most of the morning in the Lounge Carriage just gazing out of the windows and watching the bush roll by, it was lovely.
We took a very delightful lunch with two dear ladies, Lynne and Audrey. Wendy had beef and it was lovely, I asked for something light as we had not long had breakfast, and I got a massive ham and cheese sarnie which I promptly snaffled into Wendy’s bag.
We had to have an early lunch as we are booked in for a big trip this afternoon as the train has to have a five hour service in Adelaide.
So off we set for the Barossa Valley at 14:00
It wasn’t a long journey as we were dropped off about 30 miles out of Adelaide and then the train continued. We were dropped off at a small village called Tanunda for 30 minutes which was a nice leg stretch for us after so long jiggling along the rail tracks. Apparently the track is in much better condition from now on in, here’s hoping.
After our stroll we went for a wee wine taste at a very famous vineyard in the Barossa Valley which was quite nice. I settled on just the three tastings and they were all nice, all based on red wine, mainly port type drinks.
From there we went for our last excursion which was to a famous celebrity chefs restaurant and demonstration kitchen, she’s called Maggie Beer, (no I’ve never heard of her either).
The demonstration was quite good, it was a mushroom themed snack and the sample I got was quite tasty, we also had our evening meal there too but that left a lot to be desired and was not upto the standard of our rail service meals. The senior staff member at the establishment was quite rude when I asked for some butter for my cheese / bread snack, she gave Wendy the full pip as she thought she was quite rude to me. I think I must have caused some huge cuisine type insult, I don’t care I only wanted a wee bit of butter and I’m the paying customer so she should have been professional enough to respect that.
After the meal we were back on the bus heading back to Adelaide where once on the train we hit the bar, big style only to be told that the bar would be open an extra 90 minutes as were we now officially on Western Australian time, lords knows why as we are still in Adelaide, but who cares, 90 minutes of extra bar time is worth two in the bush of anyone’s money!!!
India / Pacific Train – Day 3
Adelaide to ???
Miles & Miles & Miles…………..
I had a fantastic sleep, thankfully! In my top bunk, but I was rudely awoken by Wendy Gil at 05:30 who was as merry as you like flouncing around on the ground floor.
So I lean over my bunk and say, “What are you doing Wend”, “I’m going to get showered”, was the reply, “What at 05:30?” “No its seven O’clock”, was her merry reply. “Wendy we had this chat last night, we had 90 minutes extra in the bar because we are now on Western Australia time, its only 05:30, what are you doing?”. “Oh bugger I forgot”, was her reply.
So Wendy went back to bed and I, who was sleeping soundly had to go and get the morning tea!
I saw the sunrise over the winter outback sky as I headed along the carriage for the tea and it was a treat to see.
We had a lovely morning on the train, breakfast was a delight, I had pork sausage, beans and fried egg, all of which was very nicely cooked.
The morning was spent in the lounge just chilling and having a glass of wine when the bar opened at 10:00, no we didn’t start that early, many others did but we only started with lunch, well maybe just before.
As we travelled we saw the landscape change several times from bushes to scrub, with the odd tree to lots of trees and then to just grass.
Lunch was a game of two halves and I have to say it wasn’t refereed with any great skill! We changed crews at Adelaide and we got the bottom of the barrel with this one. When I was in the fire service, (I know its Grandad chat time), I used to say a fire stations crews attitude reflected the capability of the Watch Manager, get a good one and you had a good crew, get a bad one and you invariably had a bad crew. Well both the train manager and the refreshment managers are both useless and could not organise a drunks convention in a brewery.
It’s such a shame as the previous crew were the best you could have, which is stark in contrast to what we have now, but thankfully it’s not taking anything from the fantastic journey we are having.
So lunch was all upside down, Wendy and I settled down at 14:15 along with some of our new friends for lunch, which was yet another culinary delight.
It was topping, we shared a selection of smoked Australian meat, Emu, Crocodile and Kangaroo, wow what a stonker it was, followed by snapper and of all things mushy peas, I was in haven. Jeepers am I going to have to hit the road in Perth!
As we travelled we entered the Nullarbor Plain which is an endless desert known for its flatlands. It also has the longest straight stretch of track in the world which travels for 477 Kilometres from Nurina to Ooldae without any bend at all. Apparently, so the crew say, it’s in the only rail line that can be seen from space. I personally think that’s bunkum talk aimed at the simple tourist.
The train stopped at Cook to fill with water and diesel and we had 30 minutes to stroll around. Cook was a very busy town until the railway was privatised in the 1990’s when the new company decided they didn’t need so many people. Overnight people shipped out until the population dropped to 4, yes 4 and they are there only to refill the train when it passes through.
There is also some living accommodation for the train drivers as they shuttle the country. We met one driver who had been dropped off the previous night and he was just getting up from his rest, we chatted briefly and he was such a nice chap and very grateful when we told him we were very much enjoying the journey.
After lunch I retired to our cabin whilst Wendy chatted with our new friends.
I laid on the lounger and watched the Nullarbor Plain roll on by and drifted off to sleep. At some point Wend joined me and we top and tailed until I woke at 17:00.
I exercised, whilst you know who continued her sleep.
At 19:00ish we rolled into Rawlinna for super on the platform of the railway station. This was yet again an organised disaster which was only saved by the skill of the chefs and the dedication of the crew. We heard, loud and clear over the managers walkie talkie that, “We’ve got to get them off now as we are running out of time”. Presumably, “Them”, is us, the paying customer!
We had the most amazing supper of roast lamb and roast vegetables which was toped of by hot chocolate gateau and as I didn’t want mine Wendy snaffled it all up.
Andy, our resident singer kept us entertained with his singing which eventually turned into a barn dance by lots of our more elderly passenger friends, they had the time of their lives.
You can’t knock the hospitality of the service and and the wine flowed and flowed!
We headed to the lounge carriage for a night cap after we had boarded the train where we found Andy and just a few other fellow passengers. We chatted with Andy and thanked him for his singing which as brilliant. He sang old songs, from the 60’s from groups like the Beatles and Bob Dylan with the odd Aussie outback jingle chucked in for good measure.
As it had been a lovely but long day we headed back to bed and steel in for the night.
??? to ???
Last Day
Well today Wendy manged to stay in bed as the time had correctly adjusted on my phone when we crossed the Western Australia border sometime during the night. I had a smashing sleep!!!
We had the early breakfast as I was first up, 07:00 and ready for parade.
We had breakfast with an elderly couple who we hadn’t spoke with during the trip and what an extremely interesting couple they were, married for 48 years.
The chap had been in the Korean War as a sailor and he spoke very well of his Australian brothers who he had been with at the time, as he did of the Scottish Regiment he had spent a weeks R & R with, apparently it was some week and it was with the Argyle Regiment. He said they were topping men.
His wife was really interesting too and spoke of how she used to kill snakes with the shovel as she didn’t want them nipping her kids.
Sadly the fella’s dad had been killed in the Second World War when he was 14 years old. He met the policeman at the door with the telegram, the bobby asked him to bring his mum to the door and she knew what was coming as soon as she saw him. Do you know what came across to me was the acceptance they had that dad had been killed in action for his country and they were rightly proud of him, that’s why he joined the navy. He told me that his neighbour had four sons and that 3 of them, all fighter / bomber pilots had also been killed.
Anyway, although it’s obviously not the most pleasant of conversations it was an insight to one Australians family life.
We got back to our cabin and I shaved without incident, I have now got used to shaving whilst jiggling along, bumpity bump, although I did nick myself behind the ear?
We sat in the lounge carriage all of the morning until lunch time at 13:15.
We chatted to a wide range of people, I got in conversation with a lovely lady who has travelled the world and loves visiting the UK as it’s so steeped in history. She is coming back one more time next year and she is going to treat herself to business class flight travel as she is 70 this week and believes she deserves the treat. The strange thing is although her husband was with her on the train he didn’t speak one word, he doesn’t like foreign travel so she goes alone or with her sister in law, and even more strangely they were the most mismatched couple I have ever come across.
I also spoke with an old fella from Townsville who is going to Perth for a family wedding. This chap liked to drink Bundy Rum so we got on like a house on fire.
During dinner we shared a table with yet more new people, this time a couple who have a small farm having sold their fabrication business a few years ago. Again it was interesting talking to them and we had another good yarn.
Lunch was delicious, I had an Australian nibble board to start with, then for main I had the Jew Fish which was lovely, finally and because it was our last day I had pudding which was an orange and almond cake with fresh cream, it was extremely tasty!!!
Our last drinks were taken in the lounge carriage, Andy our singer joined us and we all got along swimmingly. Our conversation could have nosedived as someone told me that I wouldn’t have seen many aboriginal people on my travels and I told them that I had and that I had been very observant about their lifestyle and their integration into mainstream Australian society.
Apparently the conversation that followed was thought by one very friendly lady we had chatted regularly could turn nasty, what did Wendy hear her say? “I’m going as this conversation is only going one way”, I didn’t hear her say that though.
I believe that it was first thought I might be a bleeding hearted, do-gooding liberal who was going to say how badly treated I thought aboriginals were. But this could not have been further from the truth and we did have an interesting conversation about the issue with no hard feelings.
I have mentioned before I have been researching this issue and I think I have a pretty good handle on the matter but I will only put my consideration down after I have completed my journey and seen how things differ, if at all, on the West Coast, a full report will follow in due course.
And so our journey on the Indian – Pacific Train ended in Perth Railway Station and we said our goodbyes. This has been one amazing journey and I have loved every minute of it, it was the rail journey of a lifetime and I’ll remember it as long as I live, hopefully a very long time!
A short taxi ride took us to our hotel where by darn good luck we have an executive suite for the price of a normal room so its 2 days of pampering for Wendy Gill before we hit the road one last time.
I went for a run and got back to find Wendy fast asleep in bed.
She reluctantly got out of bed and after I had showered and changed we went to find some supper.
Thankfully we found just the right thing, an oriental noodle takeaway and so armed with supper and a bottle of wine we headed back and just chilled in the room.
Tomorrow we hope to see a little bit of Perth and take it easy, well it will be Sunday morning!
Perth
No Travelling
We had a most wonderful sleep last night in a massive, cosy bed. You know the type, it was one where you sink deep down and snuggle in, bliss!
I woke up and went for my run and this time I went east and not west and ran bang smack into Perth City Centre. It was early Sunday morning and no one was around so I had the city to myself. I got as far as the WACA and that has now completed my tour of Australian Cricket test match Grounds, starting at the Adelaide Oval, the MCG, the SCG, The Gaba and now the WACA, yet another delight.
I got back and had to nip back out for a spot of breckie, so I bought some Banana Cake to have with my tea.
After showering we hit the town. We walked into the City and found a very clean, tidy and nicely proportioned city.
But before I go on I have to allude to the latest happenings on the west coast, as I have actually only just arrived and it’s a bit worrying. About 3 days ago a young man who was out in the surf waiting for a wave with his surf board was attacked by a shark. The shark cut his leg off but his mates managed to get him ashore and gave him emergency treatment and got him to hospital. Sadly two days later he died of his injuries. That was a few miles south of Perth.
Today it’s been confirmed that a diver has been killed by a shark, about 20 miles north of Perth. Sharks don’t normally bother divers when they are underwater but the lady, in her 60’s must have been attacked on the surface as it was witnessed by some fishermen. Her dive partner got her ashore but she again died of her injuries.
I have brought my much loved Boogie Board over 5,000 miles so that I can ride the waves of the Indian Ocean on the West Coast of Australia, and for some strange reason I seem to be losing interest in undertaking this activity!
We walked all along Hay Street which goes from West to East Perth and takes in the city so it’s quite a long street of at least 3 miles. We stopped for a bacon and egg sarnie in a café in the East End and we were served by a young girl from Huddersfield, would you believe. There was a slight lack of toast, although the bread was lovely, but the eggs were cooked to perfection and there was heaps of lovely, well cooked bacon. It filled me nicely to continue our exploration.
We made it to the WACA again and to get there we walked through a most delightful park and then headed down to the Swan River.
The route along the Swan River was great, yet again a combined walking and cycle track which took in stunning views of the cities sky scrapers and the river.
Having walked the length and breadth of the city, we were:
A, Better informed of the lie of the land so when we come back we will know what we are doing.
B, Knackered as we must have walked over ten miles.
We got back to our room at about 16:00 and then after a brief rest we walked in a Westerly direction to find a sarnie for supper and something for breakfast in the morning.
We got back to the hotel at about 17:30, Wendy Gill showered and climbed into bed and will not move, she is on strike!!!
Apparently tomorrow is WA Day. I have no idea what that is, but it’s a bank holiday and when Wendy thought that the shops might be closed she had a bit of a meltdown, “But I need to stock up on wine as there is nothing north of here for 2,000 miles”. Thankfully our favourite bottle shop, Dan Murphy is holding restricted shopping hours tomorrow, I bet she has me at the front of the queue.
Night Night Avid Reader - Tomorrow is a new adventure!
Perth to Paynes Find
263 Miles
We woke to a dry morning despite the warning of a downpour from the weather bulletin last night, so after a wee bite to eat I was off running. This time I knew where I was going and headed down to the river for a bit more exploration.
Jeepers it was cold on my lovely brown legs, it must have been about 4OC. However the sunrise was stunning and so was the view along the Swam River. It’s a beautiful river and I can now see why Perth is always spoken about with such affection. However I can now conclude, having visited all mainland Australia State capitals, that my favourite is………………………….Ta Da…………………Brisbane!!!
But I also have to mention that every other State Capital comes a very close second, I mean, Sydney with its bridge and opera house, Melbourne, with its Trams and Philps Bay, Adelaide and its stonking architecture, Darwin and its climate, and now Perth, what’s not to love? Ah well there is Canberra, enough said!
After showering we did the last of our sorting out and headed, by quite a pricey taxi, to a location close to the airport to collect our new home for the next 3 weeks, which is a very large, roomy, nice toilet and shower Camper Van. Oh how we are living it up in our last few weeks.
The hand over went quite well and we headed to Coles to stock up on provisions as we are going big time - small town, in fact very tiny town!
From Coles we headed to Dan Murphy’s to stock on other necessary provisions and that’s where we hit our first snag!
The engine diagnostic light came on!
So armed with the drivers manual I established that it’s not a serious problem, just a fuel delivery type thing, it could be an airlock, or a recycle is needed. So following all of the instructions in the book I continued our journey. It didn’t work, within ten minutes the dam light was back on. But armed with the knowledge that I couldn’t do any harm to the engine I continued onto Dan Murphy’s, well these really were essential items.
In Dan Murphy’s car park I called the help line and was asked to perform a new procedure which appeared to work. So loaded with said essential items we set off north and within ten minutes that bloody, bleeding light came back on.
So, stay calm Dave I told myself, try one more time with the over the phone instructions and low and behold it worked. So I am now 263 miles away and just about to enter the most remote and inhospitable landscape in Australia and I bet that bloody light comes on again, when I least want it to!
We are heading north to see the northern beaches of Western Australia, apparently they are a delight to behold.
However we are not going up via the coastal road, we are going up the little used outback road, Highway 95. We are going this way to see as much of the countryside as we can, so if we take this route we see more as we do not double back.
And so far the countryside is green and lush. We have seen fields of nicely fatted lambs frolicking and gambling and they are quite similar to any farmers fields you would find in most parts of the UK.
It’s rained a little bit too, but no massive downpours as predicted. Sydney seems to be getting lashed just now.
About 200 miles into the trip I thought I would fill up with fuel. No problem there an automated fuel station in a small town called Milling, this should do the trick.
No it didn’t. The darn automated thingy took my credit card details but it would not switch on the pump. So I am now light of $50 and still no fuel.
So I call the help line, ten minutes later the girl says a technician will call me, 20 minutes later I call the helpline again. Oh but she’s passed the message to the technician and I will have to wait. Can I just have my money back please and I’ll be on my way to the next town? No, speak with the technician, was the reply.
Thankfully a young lady called me back ten minutes later and cancelled the transaction and I was on my way.
Only 20 miles further to be confronted with yet another automatic filling station thingy! It worked, phew!
The roads have been a wee bit on the poor side with corrugations in the tarmac, I thought we only got them in off road conditions. Well apparently Western Australia, just to make a Queenslander feel at home, have incorporated corrugations into the tar. And I’ll tell you something else it doesn’t half make the camper van rattle as you trundle along.
So we travelled a little further, well into darkness and settled in a roadside truck stop for the night. I was going to go into the camp site but for some strange reason the $10 charge seemed to go up every time I opened my mouth, so when the price hit $30 I shut my mouth and decided to park across the road.
Well we are almost all inclusive now, so why not?
Paynes Find to Newman
471 Miles
What a stormy night, rain and high winds struck during the night, but I was in my cosy campervan so I was OK. I woke at 06:00 just as the night was ending and I had my breakfast and readied myself for the journey without once leaving my gaff!
I did check to look at the state of the ground before we drove off as I didn’t want to get bogged down, but the ground seemed solid enough so we set off hoping to put some ground behind us in an attempt to get to warmer weather.
The land must have changed whilst we were driving in the dark last night as we commenced todays journey in the scrub of the thickest kind. Surely it’s not possible to farm cattle on this kind of ground, and it appears it wasn’t, or until we saw our first cattle over 400 miles away.
The weather was grim, it was dark, very bleak, overcast and the rain started not long into the drive. I managed to find the outside temperature reading on the vans display after an hour into the trip and was surprised to see the ambient external temperature as being 11.5OC, jeepers I’m only 400 miles south of the Tropic of Capricorn surely it should not be this cold at this latitude.
The rain continued as we drove north and I had to fill the van with fuel in Highland like conditions, with my shorts and thick hoody on.
We took lunch very early indeed, at about 10:30 in a small town called Mt Magnet. Mt Magnet is a mining town. There does appear to be an awful lot of mining going on in the wild west of Australia. The town was quiet and still dam cold but Wendys tuna sarnies and hot tea was a sight for sore eyes, after which we set off north again in hope of finding some warmth.
The weather began to clear but the vegetation was still scrub bush and still not fit for cattle. Further fuel stops took in yet more mining towns. It seems if you’re not in the employment of a mining company in these remote towns then you’re not in employment, well other than the bar or the filling station. And there are loads of people who appear not to be in employment whilst others are flown in from afar to do the work in the mines. Maybe the local people aren’t capable of doing a hard days work, they didn’t seem to mind missing out from what I saw though!
As the afternoon crept on Wendy took a turn at driving so I could grab 40 winks. After a rocky start in the much bigger vehicle Wendy drove like a trooper and I snoozed quite nicely.
After she had done 60 miles I took back the reigns to take us the last 100 or so miles to our destination, the town of Newman, which is about 300 miles south of the north coast and 7 miles north of the Tropic of Capricorn.
Thankfully the roads were much better today then yesterday and we had a much smoother and less noisy drive.
We saw a larg number of Land Rover, 4 x 4 vehicles on the road and they all had this very strange central antenna which extended for about 3 metres. There were heaps of them chugging both north and south. I have no idea what they were doing but I do hope it is productive.
At about 3:00pm we encountered our highest temperature of the day, a stinking hot 18OC, wow stick the aircon on!
At 16:02 we passed the Tropic of Capricorn for our 4th time on this trip and the temperature was 17.5OC. Now this is really interesting as I would never have thought that any tropical region would be capable of producing such low temperatures at what should be the hottest time of day. And there I was thinking global warming was out of control! No seriously, this is an extremely interesting trip we are having, almost scientific in its findings.
For instance, how can I go to Gran Canaria in the depths of the northern hemispheres winter to balmy warm temperatures when they are situated hundreds of miles from the Tropic of Cancer yet be beyond Capricorn but stuck in my campervan with the heating on? I’m looking forward to seeing tomorrows temperature with great interest.
We rolled into Newman, a very large mining town at 16:30 and as soon as I set up camp I was away for my run. The wind was howling and it was a bit nippy but I found a good track and followed it into the hills. I must have been trapping it as I was covered in sweat on my way back, and I did a pretty good time to boot.
As I returned to town I saw loads of the Land Rovers buzzing about, their antenna now lit up by a bright red light. It looked like a scene from Close Encounters. Hang on perhaps they have found Martians in the outback after all.
Back at camp I showered in the shower block and it was lovely, lashings of steamy hot water.
Supper was cooked by me, something new to us, Basa Fish Fillets and they were a delight, cooked in garlic and white wine, stonking, although I am a wee bit dry now, maybe a glass of wine might help!
Newman to Port Hedland
284 Miles
I woke at 05:20 this morning and the van was freezing, actually it was 10OC inside and 9OC outside, but it felt freezing to me, so much so that I put the heater / come air con on which quickly raised the temp, but the downside is that it’s like a jumbo jet on take-off with afterburners on, obviously Wendy never stirred, only joking she was already awake.
After breakfast a collective decision was made that I should do my run now instead of tonight. I do like to run first thing and so does Wendy as she gets over an hour to pamper herself and prepare for the day. So despite the cold I was up and away.
What a beautiful sunrise met me, it was fantastic, against a backdrop of perfectly clear blue skies. Things were looking up.
After a shower and a bit more breaky we broke camp and had a very brief tour of town. It’s a massive mining town with both accommodation for, “Fly In, Fly Out” miners and miners who have decided to bring their families here and make the best of it.
And the Land Rover vans from last night were still buzzing all over town. If you substituted the white markings for camouflage you would think we were under martial law, there were that many running through town.
So after our brief tour we hit the road and it was a brilliant journey with our intention being to make it to the Indian Ocean, or bust.
As we left town we started to climb, high into hills, and then a thought hit me! As I have an altitude meter on my new camera I thought to check it and found that we were well over 700 metres above sea level. A little later I Googled the elevation of Newman and found it to be 544 metres, that’s over 1,600 feet. No wonder it was cold, Doh!!!
We seemed to climb and climb and the temperature never moved beyond 12 OC. The hills were beautiful red sandstone, and dusty. This would tie in with the mine workings as they are all mining iron ore.
We passed heaps of mines along the route, some with private airfields by which they fly their workers in.
We stopped for lunch along the way, smoked salmon and cream cheese on………………..sliced bread!!! We didn’t get any crusty bread in town before we left, another Doh moment.
As we travelled the road we came across a great many road trains. Their drivers must have been to a different school of driving than their Stuart Highway colleagues as they seem to both stay within the speed limit and more importantly be much more considerate to other road users.
We passed and overtook quite a lot. I asked Wendy to video one such occasion but she has yet to get to grips with our new unsophisticated camera, if you look at the video you’ll see that she stopped halfway through the shoot!
We passed through a ravine which was stunning and then started to slowly drop down and the temperature started to rise.
We stopped for fuel at the last filling point and the generator for the filling station shut down. The chap on the other pump was complaining to his wife about the cold so in the break before the generators restarted I asked him where he was going and where he had come from. He said he had come from Port Hedland, where it was very much warmer and that he was heading to Newman, where I told him it was very much colder. I was the happier of the two when the pumps restarted.
We reached Port Headland at 15:15 to 25 OC temperatures and set up camp at a Big 4 camp site, (they are supposed to be the best, but we don’t agree). We set camp quickly and went for a walk to see the Indian Ocean, which is both a first for me and for Wendy too.
As we were shattered we didn’t get much time to paddle, oh and the tide was out. But I’ll be there at some point tomorrow to give you a much better report on what is reputed to be the warmest ocean in the world.
This being an extended stopover we have finally moved into the van and we love it, we have a lounge and a separate seating area where we sit during our driving to grab a bite to eat.
We are having a try at sleeping in the top bunk tonight, there’s bound to be an accident, mark my words!
There is a safety rail but will I remember to replace it after my nightly trip to the toilet? I do hope so.
After supper, which was a collective effort in our immense kitchen, we strolled along the lane to see the sunset. It wasn’t an ocean sunset as we are on a spit of land that looks back inland, it was lovely none the less.
That’s it, its 18:40 and we are in the van, all snug and ready for bed, well maybe in an hour or so listening to Ken Bruce on Radio 2.
We have had a beautiful journey and we have completed the Great Northern Highway which is another string to our explorers bow. We are now 1,018 miles north of Perth and 300 miles north of the Tropic of Capricorn and thankfully it’s a lot warmer!
Nite, Nite Avid Reader!!!
Port Hedland
No Travelling
Last night after I had filed my copy I managed to find Call the Midwife, Christmas Special online and boy was Wendy Gill a very happy women. She loved it, babies and false snow galore!
And then we slept in the top bunk which went without incident. I had to do the 2 O’clock shuffle to the toilet but I managed the ladder to and fro without accident or injury. As I put my head to pillow I thought to myself as I drifted back to sleep, “Ah, I made it”!
This morning we woke at 06:00 to yet more clear blue skies and after breakfast I was on my way. Wendy stayed in bed, stating she didn’t have warm enough cloths for her walk, Wendy it was 15OC for heavens sake.
My way out was without incident and then I thought, hang on I’m going too fast, too easily and then it hit me, the wind was right on my back, and then in my face as I returned, with cyclone like speeds. I found a beach path on my way back and I asked two young women, out walking, if I could get back to the camp site this way and they both said yes you can. What they didn’t say was that I would have to take in an extra two headlands putting on an additional mile to my run, against this bloody high wind.
But I made it back and Wendy made tea and toast. Now you may or may not know that Wendy Gill is the most nervous person I know, she jumps at the sound of the microwave that she is expecting to beep! Well this morning she surpassed herself. The smoke alarm set off by the toast and both her legs lifted at least half a metre off the ground. You had to see it but I nearly wet myself with laughing!!!
After breakfast we took a ride into town, packing this big beast of a van up before we left, a big drawback!
The town isn’t great, it’s nice enough, but very small and without the bars and bistros that our copy of the travel book, The Lonely Planet suggested we would find. We did however take coffee and a nice warm muffin in a roadside café served by a lovely Polynesian lady.
What this town is though is that it is highly dependent on mining. Everything revolves around mining, the railway, the road trains, the port and the ships. I saw huge ore carriers out at sea this morning and we saw several loading in port. We also saw a massive one leave port under the protection of 3, yes 3 large tugs. Granddad Bryan would be in his element here, ship spotting. I saw two that I think I have seen before, The Leviathan and the Brandenburg. The Leviathan was the one to leave port and it was a sight to behold as the tugs left it to carry on its way northbound.
We strolled along the coast and took in a few further coastal sights before heading back to camp. After parking up at base we strolled along the beach where we found some amazing sea shells, Wendy taking a few as souvenirs.
The wind however was still blasting us so we cut our walk short but not before dipping our toes into the Indian Ocean, which was bloody freezing. I doubt if my body board will see water again this side of Portugal, unless it warms up pretty smartish because what with the sharks and the cold water I’m thinking it’s time to pack it away!
As we had had a coffee and cake stop we took a late lunch in the sunshine outside the van with nibbles and a nice bottle of red wine, whereby Wendy hid from the sun and I soaked it up in my camp chair. I did have a wee doze and woke to find Wendy hunkering in the van as she was feeling a little under the weather.
But that soon passed and we enjoyed the sunset sat in our camp chairs at the edge of camp with a nice glass of white wine. As the sun set I could hear some rustling in the scrub just beyond the fence. Wendy hadn’t tuned into it, but when I quietly told her she soon grasped it as being a real and present danger and as the rustling got a wee bit louder, it prompted an urgent move indoors under the guise of her being extremely hungry, its funny how that suddenly came on.
Wendy is on cook duty, pork chops with a fried veg is her efforts for tonight’s helping and it smells lovely.
It’s going to be an early night tonight as we have some miles to travel to get to our next destination tomorrow, it will be further north to the Land of the Grey Nomads, yes Broome here we come!
Port Hedland to Broome
381 Miles
I managed to get out of bed and off running just before sunrise and thankfully I caught it, it was lovely, picturesque actually.
I got back to camp and we had breakfast and after a full routine we set off before 09:30 and called into Woollies for a few minor provisions, i.e. chocolate!
And then we set off on a 381 mile jaunt to the Capital City of the Grey Nomad, Broome, far away on the North West coast.
It is to be the end of our journey north bound, I did fancy completing the circuit by continuing to Katherine, but that would be just a flight of fancy, for fancies sake. Had we made the journey from Mount Isa to Tennent Creek I might have been tempted to go the extra distance but other than visiting the gorge at Katherine there is no other reason to add additional return mileage to this trip. Maybe next time!
The wind was quite bad in Port Hedland again as we set off so I was thinking we would have a rocky journey, but thankfully we didn’t.
The journey, I have to admit was a wee bit boring, miles and miles of straight road and little in the way of interesting scenery. We stopped several times to fill with diesel at a Roadhouse and the further north we got the more expensive the diesel got. But in fairness we are in the most remote area of Australia, we are over 1,399 miles from the nearest state capital, Perth, so they must have additional road costs, but I still don’t think it warrants $1.60 a litre compared to $1.20 a litre in Perth, that’s 80p, against 60p respectively, I know such a rip off!
Wendy had prepared lunch before we set off so it was a sarnie on the go, with the odd cup of coffee grabbed from a Roadhouse.
Our only real item of excitement, and danger was when we were about 80 miles from Broome when a kangaroo ran out at double pelt in front of a Landcruiser on the opposite carriageway and across the road directly in front of us. We missed it easily, but it only missed the Landcruiser by a whisker. He must have been trapping as he could not have got going so fast from a standing start. As he passed I heard a big gulp from Wendy who was worried it was a goner, phew thankfully he lived to hop another day.
We travelled 360 miles on a single straight road, (before taking a 21 mile turn off to Broome), with only three buildings in between, and these were the Roadhouses. The last Roadhouse was 200 miles away from Broome. Now imagine being over 100 miles from a filing station in the UK. I know we have a large enough fuel tank not to have to worry, but should anything happen the Roadhouse is our only sanctuary. At one point we were 180 miles from anything like a township with the ability to provide some level of hospital care, that’s a longer journey than Barnsley to London!
We entered Broome just after 17:00 and had to find a campsite that gave us a good Seaview so we could see the setting sun. It took a while but as we missed tonight’s sunset, hopefully we are in the right place for it tomorrow night.
Supper was quickly, but nicely cooked, it was chicken thighs in my favourite, Kakadu Plum Sauce. Oh I wished I could bring several bottles back home with me.
We are just listening to Jeremey Vine having a Euro Debate with such halfwits as Ed Miliband and John Redwood, I mean put both their brains together and you wouldn’t even get close to a Phil Tufnell, so the level of debate wasn’t up to much, just the usual nastiness.
After the debate we nipped off to find the beach but it was a bit too far so we briefly toured the camp site and I can confirm we are at the Capital City of The Grey Nomad as there are heaps of older people who seem to be well dug in for the winter, and it’s quite nice.
Grey Nomads are mainly retired people who have sold their homes, or leased them out while they tour the country in the campers taking in the top end heat during the southern states winter months. We have met quite a few on this trip and some have been away from home for over 7 years, now isn’t that a great concept.
It must be 28OC outside and the site is buzzing. We have all the windows and the door wide open, with flyscreen’s closed, of course, and it’s still quite warm inside the van.
I do hope we don’t have to put the air con on!!! We seem to be at odds with each other, I like the heat, Wendy likes to be cooler, so it looks like we are in for an interesting night!
Broome
No Travelling
We had a pretty decent sleep last night, we had all the windows open, every vent and even the door, all with fly screens of course. So it wasn’t too bad, not too cold for me and maybe slightly too hot for you know who.
I ran on the beach this morning, when I found it, and it’s a stonker. It has beautiful white sands and a very warm turquoise coloured sea and it goes on for miles and miles. To the right is 4x4 territory where vehicles are allowed and to the left is the bathing area.
A marque was being set up at the end of the beach and I was thinking wouldn’t that be a nice place for a wedding.
After breakfast we had to take the van out of camp to go to town as its 4 miles away and that is a bit of a performance, not as bad as before with the smaller van as we now have an electronically operated awning. It’s just the dam size of the thing. It’s as big as a fire engine and where I could just park that anywhere I have to obey the rules of the road with the camper. I did find somewhere eventually and we had a very pleasant walk, in 30OC heat, lovely.
Broome is another nice Australian town with plenty of interesting shops, it isn’t the easiest to find your bearings around mind.
We found the market and it was a big one so Wendy gave it a good look over but didn’t buy anything, and then guess what when we got back? She said, “I wished I had bought that……………..”
Back at camp we had lunch of fried garlic prawns which wasn’t the best idea as we were going to spend the afternoon at the beach and we were now going to be very thirsty.
We settled on the beach as work continued on the marque and it was very pleasant indeed.
The sun was roasting and so I had the odd dip in the ocean. Wendy did a wee paddle but that’s all.
The sea was lovely and cooling.
After a while we had a stroll along the surf but after 30 minutes we were nowhere near the end of it so we turned back.
We could have continued but we just have too much to do today.
We got back to our beach towels and decided to get back to camp and shower before we went back to watch the sunset, and then we had to get to a bar to watch the rugby, Australia V England.
The sunset was nice enough but not a patch on Kurumba. I think it was because there was no cloud cover on which the light reflects off when the sun sets so it wasn’t so stunning.
We set off for the bar, but not before we called into see what was happening at the marque, and guess what? It’s a wedding, yes indeed. What a beautiful spot for a wedding, I bet it cost a fortune.
And so onto the rugby. England went behind very early which wasn’t a good start. But it did seem that the run of the ball wasn’t with them and they did pull it back before half time. From there they fought like lions and it was the Aussies who were on the back foot.
Wendy wasn’t happy with the home fans who booed our national anthem, bad sports.
The second half was all ours, we apart from a wobbly 5 mins but we came good with a very late try. Well done England Rugby, now it’s the turn of the football team.
I need to set my clock for 02:50 as I have bought into an Aussie TV web services so I can watch the Euro games. I know, I know, I’m wasting my money, but despite how much I dislike the attitude of footballers I just have to see England play in the major tournaments, as I live in hope.
Oh, before I go Wendy nipped back to camp before the end of the game and made a lovely supper, Basa Fish and rice and other little bits and pieces.
We are sat out with the night sky and its lovely, I may have one little nipper before I go to bed as the beer for the big game is in the fridge chilling down. It might end up being a late night with a very late rise!
Come on Engerland, don’t let the side down, PLEASE!!!
Broome
No Travelling
My alarm went off at 02:50 this morning so I slipped quietly down the ladder and put in my earphones and watched the footy. It was a good first half which got better with an England goal in the second and just after it went in I heard some commotion in the van. I took out my earphones and asked what’s happening and a little voice said, “I fell off the ladder”, guess who it was? Yes it was Wendy, but she’s not hurt and managed to go to the toilet and get back to her slumber without further incident.
My internet connection went down at 91 minutes which I thought would be a bad omen, and when it restarted again it was 1-1, I just knew that would be the score line as the Ruskies were about to take a corner when it went off.
Never mind, the Crickets looking good, with Johnnie Bairstow getting some good runs.
I got back in bed at about 04:50 and didn’t wake until 08:00 so it was a late run for me.
Jeepers the wind was rough, it was blowing a gale, a 26OC gale mind.
I went south along the beach and made it to the rocks at a distance of 4.3 miles. It was a lovely run as the sand was firm and the tide was just turning in bound. The run back was a bit of hard work as I had the gale right in my face.
After a breakfast of crumpets and vegemite we headed for the beach and spent a full day there.
After we had had lunch I spent a bit of time paddling in the sea and I thought I saw a couple of baby sharks, so I took extra care about where I went. A chap came over to me and told me that he had seen a seven footer about 100 yards out, so I took extra, extra care.
We then walked along the north shore where 4 x 4’s are allowed and it was packed with them. It’s also the nudist beach and there was two or three of them around too. I also came across a dead baby shark on the beach!!!
We walked several miles and got nowhere near the northern end of the beach so I asked a chap in his 4 x 4 how far the beach goes. He told me about three more miles, then cross a creek, if you’re game, and then it goes on for several more. We turned around at that point and headed back.
We eventually got back and Wendy went to get some refreshments from the camper, wine and rum.
She got back just in time to take in the sunset which was lovely. We have seen two so far, they are nice but not as nice as we saw at Kurumba but I think that we got good ones there as there were more clouds around and they seem to soak up the dyeing suns rays.
Unfortunately we won’t see any more in Broome as we decamp tomorrow and head south, via the Coastal Road.
We decided to eat out for supper, Zizzes down by the beach. The food was a real disappointment, my chips were clap cold and Wendys Barnsley Chop wasn’t cooked as it should have been. We did tell them but I don’t think they really cared.
However the night was redeemed as we took a rickshaw home, peddled by a very cheerful young German fella. It was a great experience and he got a double tip, one for him and the one from the restaurant that they didn’t earn.
Wendy was chatting to him all the way along and asked him if we weren’t too heavy for him.
His reply was, “No, not at all, but I had three girls in earlier tonight, and they were very heavy”!!!
Ah the innocence of the language barrier.
Broome to Port Hedland
381 Miles
I was up early this morning and so too was Wendy and just after breakfast we both set off to exercise one last time on Cable Beach. Wendy went south and I went north along the longest stretch.
I ran over 3 miles along the beach and got nowhere near the end, I couldn’t even see it in the distance. This is one hell of a long beach and I should know as there is a beach to the south of Broome that is eighty miles log and guess what it’s called? Your right, it’s called 80 Mile Beach, I bet its 72 really!
Now as today as been a traveling day and so I don’t have much in the way of exciting news I’ll detail my conclusions of the best beach so far. Upto this point, prior to Broome I would say that it was Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas.
Four Mile Beach has some very good beach qualifications such as nice clean sand, an interesting coconut palm tree fringe along its entire route, tropical sun and warm pacific waters. The resort town is fantastic too and knocks spots off most European resorts. Its downside is that it is very close to the tropical rain forest and more importantly the hills which attracts constant downpours, even in the dry season. The sea is unavailable seven months of the year due to marine stingers and finally when the tide is high almost all of the beach is underwater apart from a narrow strip which is far too soft to run along.
Now Cable Beach has going for it miles upon miles of good, solid, pure white sand. It is so long it has been divided for normal use to the south and for vehicle, (4 x 4), access and camping to the north. The beach is immensely wide and it doesn’t fully cover with water, from what I have seen, unless there is an exceptionally high tide and more importantly it is firm throughout its width. The waters of the Indian Ocean are warm and crystal clear and safe to use and there are no Box Jellyfish around.
The downside to Cable Beach is that there is no resort close by, Broome is at least 4 miles away and so once you have done with the beach for the day you have to make your own fun at the campsite which isn’t a problem over a weekend, but it is nice to have a change of environment every once in a while.
Oh and there isn’t a coconut palm tree to be seen, not a oner!
So for me, with everything taken into consideration Cable Beach is the best of the trip, with Four Mile Beach a close second. Don’t even ask me about third place as every other I have been to is a contender for that spot.
All that said, I bet we encounter some toppers going south and all this will have been a waste of type!
After showering we filled up with diesel and set off south, back along the most boring part of the journey, the long lonely road. Actually Broome as a resort town is the most remote one in Australia. When you think it’s almost 400 miles from Port Hedland to the south, which isn’t much of a place anyway and there is absolutely nothing to the West save for a few very small communities, so it is officially recognised as the most remote resort!
The road actually was quite busy with caravans and campers heading north to Broome but hardly anything going south.
Wendy took the wheel for 50 or so miles to give me a rest which was quite nice and then I took the last 120 miles without incident, apart from having to dodge the odd roadside cow.
Tonight we aim to settle for the night in a car park which is directly opposite from the port, that’s if no one pesters us. I don’t think we will be troubled but you never know. Most car parks have signs saying no camping, this doesn’t have one so we’re in!
Its dark now and we will settle down shortly after we have nipped out and filled the fuel tank for tomorrows short hop which is a little further down the Coast.
We have 9 nights left with the camper van and I aim to keep in the Tropics as long as I possibly can, I need to as I heard Carol Kirkwoods forecast for the UK on the Chris Evans show as we travelled, it’s a high of 13OC for Edinburgh today, you can keep that!
Port Hedland to Point Samson
139 Miles
Our rest was undisturbed apart from the Captain of the Bulk Ore Carrier who decided to sound his/her horn at 05:15, why? I just don’t know, it can’t have been busy in Port at that time of day.
And on the sound of the horn I tipitoed out of bed, down the ladder, had breakfast and went running, leaving Wendy snug in her bed fast asleep, or so I thought.
I was met with a most stunning sunrise and on my return was told by Wendy that she had got out of bed after I had left, made a cup of tea and sat in the cab and watched the most beautiful sunrise, she even has photographs to prove it.
Our short journey to Port Samson was miles better than the previous one, we encountered hills and pastures and rivers, some running and some dry. But all in all it was a much more enjoyable drive.
I had to do a quick pull in as a cow sauntered across the road directly in front of me and gave me nothing but a show of her backside as she went into the bush.
We got to Port Samson at 12:00 and it was 28OC which was just perfect.
We took a luncheon outside consisting of beef, salad and other assorted pickups, such as olives, crisps and tomatos, it was all very continental!
After lunch we went to explore and it was fantastic. We found the beach, small but quite nice, sandy with a very clear sea. We also came across a large coral beach where we were engrossed in collecting shells and other pretty things.
We outdid each other in the delightful shells we found. Our walk went on for about a mile and a half and we came back with a very nice selection of shells and pebbles, how we will ever get them home, The Lord only knows, but it was good fun.
We got back to the van and went for a tour of the village, and do you know it’s quite nice with some very desirable ocean side views. I don’t know what people do here but they obviously have some decent income. We did spot another iron ore port a few miles away with ships waiting to come in and fill up. I guess employment must be tied up with that somehow.
But we heard a debate, or a discussion, on the radio today which was quite interesting and worrying for the people concerned. A mining firm has told all its workers that they have to take a 43% pay cut or the mine will have to close, wow, 43%, that’s almost half of their wages, how on earth could you manage if you lost half of your income?
That would not only cover your mortgage, but your car, your holiday and most likely all of your other good times too, problebly making mining not such an attractive job, that’s very scary!
But we, as a family have some good news, delivered to us a wee bit later that we would have liked, but there you go.
Ian Raymond Wilson and Karen Maxine Moore are to be married at some unknown date in the future. All of the Gills, both home and abroad wish them all the happiness for the future.
And on that note, my copy is complete and will shortly be posted followed by a wee celebration in honour of this delayed but none the less most pleasurable announcement!!!
Point Samson to Minilya
329 Miles
It was a lovely morning to wake up to today, light, high level cloud with a temperature of 23OC.
On checking for messages I had a Snapchat from Robyn saying don’t come home as the rain hasn’t stopped, then I got a video Snap from Alex and his caption said, “Someone’s fed up with the rain”. The video was of him inside the flat looking through the back window and then Robyn comes into view, outside, breast-stroking her way along the window! You had to see it but it was the best ten seconds fun I have had for a long time.
OK, very funny Wendy Gill!!!
We both exercised and then took breakfast outside as it was lovely and nice, and just all round very pleasant.
Wendy says, “I could stay here another day, it has a lovely little beach and the site is really peaceful”. So I say, “OK let’s do that. No problem, we have decided not to go to Exmouth, where we were going to spend two days, so we can have another night here and enjoy the weather while we can”. “No I don’t want to”, was Wendys reply.
Now how am I supposed to understand such female logic?????
Well the drive was fine, we had some interesting landscape for most of the time and the first 150 miles flew by. The next 50 was a bit of a bore so as I couldn’t get any radio reception I tuned into Heart FM, (London Radio), as 3G is widely available and listened to the show until the next Roadhouse fuel stop 50 miles away. I did offer an earphone to Wendy but she wasn’t bothered.
Anyway I was shocked to hear about the toddler that’s been taken by an alligator in Florida, I do hope the little mite is OK, but I fear the worst.
After filling with fuel at the most expensive roadhouse on the west coast we continued our journey.
And so we ploughed on for another 100 miles of nothingness. This isn’t a complaint, it’s just a statement that there is very little in the way of human habitation on the western side of Australia and if it wasn’t for mining and offshore gas / oil then I just can’t see what there is in the way of employment opportunities other than a wee bit of tourism. But tourism alone wouldn’t support the number of people that we have seen, when we have seen them, the population centres that is.
In our last fifty miles we came across some serious roadworks which lasted for a good few miles. The WA Government are completely re-sealing the Coastal Road. At one point we were stuck for about 15 minutes, at the front of the queue.
The stop/go chap came over and chatted to us and he was a belter. He must have been in his 60’s and had a very dry sense of humour. He had his PPE and sunglasses on but he was covered in flies, well around his head he was, (I wasn’t game to chat as his flies might attack me, but they seemed happy enough with him).
Anyway I asked him where he was from – Darwin, (Miles and miles away). He does 8 months on the job and four months at home. I asked him where he was staying – A roadhouse about 40 miles way where the cook is French and can’t make a sarnie to save his life. Direct quote, “I thought those Frenchie’s are supposed to know a thing or two about cooking, but he doesn’t know his backside from his arse!”
I say, it’s a nice day for you, another direct quote, “At 5:30 this morning it was 9 degrees and I had washed all my trousers last night and forgot to leave a pair out, so when I put them on they were still wet, so I had to try to dry them on the car heater on the way up, but it didn’t work so I was stood here for the best part of the morning freezing in my long johns!”.
I’m sorry you’re not getting this but his delivery was top notch, but the dryness was to die for, I was actually disappointed when he got a radio message to let us through.
And so we travelled on, we were going to say the night at Exmouth but we saw the Wiki Camp reviews for the only two sites there and they seemed to be a rip off, so we decided to continue to Coral Bay, where yet again Wiki Camps says they are a rip off!!!
So guess what, as we can get to Coral Bay and back in a couple of hours, we are staying the night at the exact same Roadhouse as Mr Stop/Go man is, it’s in the bush, well desert actually and its really quite nice. We do have some grass to sit out on and we are hoping to get some more fun if we are lucky enough to see our mate again.
We took supper in the Roadhouse café and got there just before all the road workers came in, actually one lad was already in and was eating a massive steak. He had the absolute worst case of sunglasses sunburn face I have ever seen in my puff. I tried to get Wendys attention to show her but I didn’t manage it, jeepers he looked like a cartoon character.
We both had burgers and they were fine, and reasonably priced, the meat could have been a bit warmer but at £12.00 the lot, with chips who can complain!
Maybe with the fuel at $1.30 a litre this is the Wests Cheapest Roadhouse!
Wendy wasn’t too keen on the safety poem on the menu card. I’ll try to post it in photos and let you see what you think, I think it’s very good actually!!!
On our way back we saw our road attendant mate who told us he had ordered the T- Bone steak, “I want it haemorrhaging”, he told the German Waitress, he also told her he wanted three runny eggs but he saw that she had written down three running eggs, “So Christ knows what I’ll have on my plate when it comes!!!”, he added.
And so we slipped back to our luxury camper for a good nights rest. The moon is out and its showing a wee bit too much light for us to fully enjoy the stars tonight, it’s also a bit chilly, well it must be 20 degrees by now!!!
Minilya to Minilya, via Coral Bay
122 Miles Returns Trip
This morning run took me down a bush track in search of a kangaroo. Before I knew it I was well away from the highway and it's traffic noise.
The sun rose right in front of me which was a bonus and at around the three mile mark I got my wish, a big red male kangaroo hoped on by.
He came from my left hand side and moved fully across my field of vision, boy was he trapping!!! What a sight to see, pure brilliance.
Breakfast was taken inside the van as it was still a bit nippy.
We had decided, last night, to go to Coral Bay for the day and then come back and use the free camp across the highway from last nights site.
And we are both glad we did. Coral Bay as a lovely safe beach with clear water but there isn't anything there apart from a few small shops, but with two large campsites that charge the earth and cram vans in like sardines.
We had a walk to a lookout and met an older couple who we chatted to. They told us they spend upto ten months a year alone deep in the bush. Jeepers they both talked us to death, it was very interesting but also very intense!!! Maybe they should take some company with them next time they go deep bush!
We then parked in the beach car park and went for a stroll on the beach. I did see that there was a coral reef not far offshore so I thought I would go and take some fishy photographs.
However the sea was bloody cold and so I sought to hire a wet suit, mask, snorkel and fins which I got for a tenner.
So with Wendy on her beach towel sunning herself I slipped into the wet suit and set off on another adventure.
The coral was great, quite different form the Great Barrier Reef but interesting none the less.
I found another Marie Wrasse which was again a sucker for the camera, and a few other fish too.
After 30 minutes. I was almost hypothermic and left the sea to warm up on my beach towel.
Wendy brought me a hot coffee to warm me up which was just what I needed and then I took a wee nap.
I do remember waking several times when my snoring disturbed me, (I only snore on my back, honest).
When I had warmed sufficiently I retired to the sea again. This time I went a ways up coast and finned along quite quickley so I would be a bit warmer.
I did another good 30 minutes and returned to shore and handed my gear in.
We packed up and found an outside shower where I washed all the salt off me as there is no water available at the free camp.
We returned to Minilya but not before we crossed for the last time out of the Tropic of Capricorn. It's colder weather from now on until we reach Perth.
We have crossed the Tropic line on every major route from south to north and back and it's been a great achievement. It's still a bummer mind as I have finally concluded that I am a Tropical man through and through.
The free camp is almost full and it's quite dark now. There is a really nice atmosphere in camp, well apart from the odd generator chugging away.
I persuaded Wendy to come over the road away from camp to look at the night sky, she didn't settle, she was scared of getting run over, bitten and eaten by a croc so after five minutes we were on our way back to the van!
On return I explained how the camp dunny works to Wendy, so she took a look and wasn't impressed, it's not for her thank you very much.
And so it's footy time again and it was a good time for me, 9pm start so I could watch it without sleep disruption
I did have to weadle the power out of my laptop as I have no mains power to watch the game.
England win what a result well done but Wales nearly had us, I think my team from now on is Wales, yes I think so, come on Wales!!!!
Minilya to Carnarvon
87 Miles
I saw an Emu run across the road this morning, the highway actually. I was running and he nipped across in front of me, well actually he waddled, quickly. He was a beauty, I did think to set chase to see what Emu would taste like but I thought he deserved to live a little longer as he had brought a smile to my face. He was also a big bugger and might put up a struggle.
Sunrise is getting later the further we head south and so I didn’t get up until 06:20 and it was to a stunning sunrise, which I saw whilst chomping by cereal.
Later we ate our other breakfast sat outside the van and we were bathed in lovely sunshine, what a treat.
We set off for the short jaunt south and we were in Carnarvon within a couple of hours.
We bought a few supplies as we intended to stay a couple of nights but having walked the town dry we will move on tomorrow on to our last mission.
But first after checking into the site we drove a few miles out of town to the seaside to walk along One Mile Jetty.
One Mile Jetty was built many years ago so that ships could berth and load with sheepskins as Carnarvon is a major woollen port, or rather it was back in the day.
It was $5 each and it was such a laugh.
Now you have to do some imagining here as this would not be allowed in the UK. The jetty is in severe disrepair, so much so that Wendy feared for her life. The boards are rotten and subject to an awful lot of erosion. They bend in the places you walk along, and get this, there is a small train that shuttles people to the end and back. Blimey the track is in exceptionally poor order, the decking is collapsing and the side rail as fallen into the Ocean. I tell you now that within five years we will be turning our T.V.’s on and seeing a major catastrophe on the west coast of Australia as a train carriage of pensioners has broken through the decking and fallen into the Indian Ocean.
Wendy could not get off fast enough, she is such a sacredy cat!
After resitting the van at the campsite we walked into town and as Wendy was on the phone to Robyn I nipped into a medical centre as I have had a poorly eye for the last week.
I said to the receptionist, “Can I see someone with a poorly eye please?” She took my details and within a few minutes a rather big chap, in the chubby sense, called me in.
The first thing we discussed wasn’t my poorly eye, it was payment, he had to go through all the payment options before he could look at my eye. I said, “We don’t get this in the UK, anyone can and does walk into a surgery and get treatment”. He said, “That will stop after next week”. It seems everyone in the world as an opinion on our referendum.
Anyway he concluded that I had an ingrowing eyelash and within a couple of minutes I had complete relief as he extracted it without any problem. The funny part was this big chap wheeling himself all over the office in the swivel chair instead of getting up and walking over, he was that lazy.
But he cured my eye for $28 so I was happy with that.
We walked all over town and it’s quite nice but the temperature is dropping as we get further south. It’s down to 23OC now with a southerly wind, jeepers its freezing!
Back at camp supper was down to me and I stuck to an old faithful, fried chicken, tomatoes, mushroom, onions and garlic, with rice. It never fails!!!
Tomorrow we head to Denham and hopefully I will find a bar that will be showing the next instalment of the England Tour of Australia. Oh I do like my rugby, it’s much more civilised than football!!!
Footnote - Supper was a bit off a let-down, I didn’t put any chilies in the pan and Wendys rice was like rice pudding.
And to top it all I have to go out and fill the toilet tank with water as its empty and it’s cold and dark outside, BBBBbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!
So our trip 'down under' is almost over! It's been a fantastic 8 months from start to finish..but there have been a few ' highlights'.
The afternoon we drove along the tracks up at Urliup farm in 'susie', with David and Rachel on the back and me riding up front with Bob driving.
The hospitality we were shown by Warren and Heather whilst we were in bunderberg. We were almost complete strangers to them but they made us so comfortable and welcome in their home. And now, we consider them friends who I hope will one day give us the opportunity to return their hospitality.
The day we spent at the Australia zoo with Alison and her two gorgeous girls Ruby and Abbie.
Spending Christmas morning on the beach!!! Fantastic, but still odd!! Then having a BBQ Christmas lunch!
Watching the New Year fireworks in Sydney.
I think Brisbane was our favourite city. But maybe that was partly down to the excellent accommodation we enjoyed whilst there, (thanks Rachel!).
The wildlife...especially the birds. The rainbow lorikeets , gallahs, cockatoos. All 'exotic' birds to us, but here, they’re everywhere.
Our most favourite though is the kookaburra. WE LOVE the kookaburra. You can't help but smile whenever you here that bird 'laughing'.
Waking up early in the morning whilst in Wilcannia and finding we were surrounded by kangaroos! They are just the strangest creatures, and I know that they are considered to be pests here, but we love them!
Alice Springs and Broken Hill..!
Staying overnight in the underground motel in white cliffs.
The train journey from Sydney to Perth on the Indian pacific. I absolutely loved that trip! I wanted to turn around and do the return journey.
Staying with David and Diane in cairns. Again were we were made so welcome in their home and we were even given the use of Davids land cruiser to go upto the northern most point of cape York. A trip which I'm glad I did but really don't feel the need to do again. TOO MUCH wildlife!?!!
The sunsets in Karumba. We were there for three days and every evening we were treated to the most spectacular skies.
The journey up (and down) the Stuart highway. Maybe it was because it was at the beginning of our trip and everything was so new and exciting. But it was amazing.
Even the places where there was nothing for miles and miles were brilliant.
The chocolate. Oh the chocolate....
...Dark and white maltesers. Cherry ripes, cookies and cream milky bars, brownie mars bars, and masses of flavours of CDM. I don't know why cadburys give Australia so many more options than they give us. I don't think I'll ever forget all this lovely chocolate..mainly because I'm coming home half a stone heavier!!
Still it's been a great trip and most amazingly ...after living in close proximity for quite a long period of time, both David and myself have lived to tell the tale!..... Here's to our next adventure. X
Carnarvon to Denham
203 Miles
We both exercised this morning and we had to be dam sharp about it as it was a clear blue sky with a 10 degree temperature. Thankfully the sun came out and warmed us up somewhat.
Before we left Carnarvon we called in at the local market and it was quite good. I bought the best banana milkshake I have ever had. The lad made it from frozen banana and UHT milk and blended it for about 2 minutes, itI was thick and very, very tasty.
Wendy bought herself some finger bananas that she seems to have grown rather fond of.
Our journey south took us below the 26th Parallel which seems to be the demarcation line between North West and Western, West Australia, (it gets very confusing with time zones, tropics and parallels). There was a big sign telling us of that very fact.
Denham is on a point of land which is north facing and so we had to come down 120 miles before we went north again, crossing back above the 26th Parallel, as duly noted by another large sign, for another 80 miles. Miles we will have to cover to get us back to the main road.
We are surrounded by seas that are called “The Shark Bay Marine Park”. Now I do wonder why would it is called that? I’ll explore this fact tomorrow.
After a very lengthy check in process whereby the lady on reception talked us to death, we managed to get tucked into a very small spot. After which we went looking for a pub to see the Aus V England Rugby Game tonight.
Options are not good as we are deep in AFL territory, (Aussie Rules) and that’s all they seem to watch. So it might have to be an internet option for the game tonight.
While strolling along we came across a memorial wall to HMAS Sydney II which was sunk 112 miles offshore on the 19th November 1941 with the loss of all aboard, 645 men. Yes that’s right 645 men, how on earth did I not know that such a loss was suffered.
The Sydney was engaged in what was called a mutually destructive battle against a German ship, the SS Kormoran. There is a lot of controversy about the battle as most Germans survived yet all the Australian crew were lost with some alleging that the German commander used illegal ruses to lure The Sydney into range, that a Japanese submarine was involved, and that the true events of the battle are concealed behind a wide-ranging cover up.
Whatever happened I don’t think we will ever know.
What I do know is that on this memorial there is the name and rank of every crew member on board, in alphabetical order and I have to say it’s a quite a breath taking experience to see it. It’s actually made of glass and when we were there I couldn’t take a photograph as the sun was directly behind it, I’ll try tomorrow at a different time!
We tried 3 bars to check about the rugby
But only one may have it on, so I am in two minds as to what to do?
We did take a beer stop in the Denham bowlo, well we just had to didn’t we.
There is a lot of civil engineering works going on down at the shore and we were told, by our very knowledgeable check-er-inner, that there will be massive celebrations in September as it will be the 400th Anniversary of a Dutch Ship locating the continent of Australia for the first time by a European country and so they are sprucing the place up. Now having re-read our Australian almanac, “Down Under” by the travel writer Bill Bryson I may have got the story’s muddled up as Bill says the landing was in 1629 and that it was definitely the first Europeans to come to Australia, so I am either mistaken or the celebrations are starting 13 years too soon. I better check this out tomorrow as well.
Supper was better than lasts nights as it was reheated leftovers which always tastes better the next day.
It’s a bit tight at this site and as I parked up I took full advantage of our space, territory is always the biggest reason for the battle. But Wendy made me move over in the interests of being nice to anyone else who may come next door, as it’s the last space.
Nice doesn’t seem to get you anywhere as someone came in and parked right on the boundary, put his awning out, parked his car and took all our light. Wendy was bumping her gums about it all night, she was even grumpy about it during the rugby!!!
Rugby – I set off to watch the first half in the pub but thought better of it. Last weekend it wasn’t pretty, the Aussies booed our anthem in the bar and were a bit nasty about it. Now I don’t mind a bit of push and shove but I didn’t fancy it tonight so I came back and watched it online.
What a game, what a great result.
Both teams fought their hearts out, Australia were great but just not good enough, we weren’t great at times but our hearts took us through and we won fair and square.
It’s been a fantastic trip and what better way to end it with a series win in Australia.
England football could take a lesson in pride from the real lions, Swing Low!!!
Denham to Denham, via Monkey Mia
35 Miles
I have done my research as promised yesterday and here is the additional information:
Shark Bay – Named after the abundance of large fish that surround the coastal waters, namely the Whale shark that visits during the months of April and May, especially during full moons, (How do they know when it’s coming?). Apparently they are the largest fish in the world!
First Europeans – The first known landing in Australia by Europeans was by Dutch Navigator Willem Jasszoon in 1606. He didn’t know where he was but he was the first. He landed near Wepia but was sent quickly packing by hostile aboriginals. He called in a little further along the coast and got the same treatment. He did find some friendly aboriginals in Western Australia but they turned nasty when his crew took a fancy to their women, well who could blame them?
Next was our new friend, Captain Dirk Hartog who bumped into the coast at Shark Bay and again didn’t realise it was Australia. He looked around but didn’t see much point to it and then carried on his travels. He did however nail an inscribed pewter dish to a post at the top of a cliff to record his visit. This dish is now in the Rijksmuseum in Holland. It doesn’t seem much of an event to spend thousands of dollars sprucing up the promenade for, but I guess 400 years is a pretty long time, as time goes of course.
Next was Bills Brycons mate Captain Pelsarert, who ran aground on a sandbank off Geraldtown in June 1629, (A bit further south).
Now this is an interesting story. Pelsarerts ship broke up and so he took a small crew to sail to Indonesia in a long boat to bring assistance. In his absence the man he left in charge, Jeronimus Cornelisz, turned loopy and murdered about 150 people. Some survivors escaped and fortified a nearby sandbank where Cornelisz and his cronies continued to harass them.
This is the highest mass murder of white Europeans in Australias history.
Thankfully the skipper did in deed return and found all the devastation and promptly hung Cornelisz and his cronies and keelhauled some of the other lessor participants. He did however decide to maroon two on mainland Australia, a Marine called Wouter Looes and a Cabin Boy called Jan Pelgrom, nothing is known of their fate but they were the first Europeans to live on Australian soil and as it would seem they were the first convicts, and not British after all, but Dutch.
They were landed at a place called Kalbarri which is a couple of hundred miles south of Denham.
See I do like to enlighten you avid reader!!!
And now onto today:
This morning I didn’t get out of my bed until after 07:00 as I think I might have overdone the celebration with the rugby score last night. And boy did I feel it on this morning’s run, I was buggered!!!
After breakfast we headed to Monkey Mia which is about 13 miles north east of Denham. There is a dolphin sanctuary resort there that seems intent on extorting money from you. But not Wendy Gill, we bought a one person parking ticket, (Yes you have to buy a ticket from a machine based on the number of people in the vehicle). They then tried to charge us $20 to enter the sanctuary. Oh no, not a chance said my darling wife. We, instead walked along the beach and then back to the sanctuary and saw all we needed to free of charge. What a bonus!
We didn’t see any dolphins mind but we wouldn’t have either had we paid the 20 bucks!
So we set off back to camp and did a little reading before heading into town for a bite to eat, curtesy of my two darling children who have made a significant deposit into my back account.
On the way down to town we met an elderly English couple who now live in New Zealand.
The chap told me a bit more info on HMAS Sydney II as he had studied it. Apparently the Germans lowered their ships flag which is some sign of surrender, and raised the flag again and bombarded the Sydney when they were about to pull alongside and take survivors off. Now that is not nice, it’s actually a very indecent thing to do and just goes to show the horrors of warfare.
They were a lovely couple and they invited us for a drink at 16:30, later today.
We strolled looking for a restaurant but there were none serving food as it was past 14:00 so we went back to camp for a wee bite to tie us over. The sun was out, it was 24OC so we didn’t have a care in the world.
At 16:40 we went over to our new friends van and had a jolly good chat.
What a lovely couple, Hank and Jill.
Hank was a pilot in the RAF before he transferred to the NZRAF. He had some brilliant stories to tell, I’ll give you one.
Hank was a pilot chosen to fly Princess Margaret around. He had to bring her from some South Pacific Island as she wasn’t well, to Australia. Both Princess Margaret and Hank as her RAF escort / liaison officer, (He wasn’t the pilot on this occasion), we’re allowed off the plane before the doors were resealed and the Australian Customs, as they used to do, sprayed the rest of the entourage with fly spray.
It’s like Hank and Princess Margaret were too Royal for flies to land on!!!
We spent a good hour and a half with them and it was just lovely.
But then the cold and hunger got to us so we headed back to town.
I have by this time spoken to my two darling children’s and it was lovely!
I did neglect to mention yesterday, due to over excitement, that we are at the most Westerly Town in Australia. It’s not the most Westerly point as there is no access there but it’s the best we can do and so we have done it. I am now the very proud bagger of the most Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western areas of this fantastic landmass and I think it’s a great achievement.
And now onto supper, what a night!!!!
I had it in my head that I was going to have a nice steak, care of Bradley and Robyn for Fathers Day so we went to the Heritage Bar and it wasn’t good.
You see you buy your drinks then order and pay separately for your food. With it being a special occasion I bought a nice bottle of fizz from a very charming young women who then moved over to the bistro counter to take my food order. I asked for the steak for me and the barramundi for Wendy.
The first words she said was, “There’s no steak left”. I was not happy, I have in my possession a very expensive bottle of champagne with no food to take with it. We went and sat at a table and Wendy wasn’t happy with me, I could tell. Just have something else was what she was thinking, but no, the kids gave me the money and I want to have a steak.
As I noticed the Bar Manager tonight was Derick, who would answer my questions, as it said on the fancy board, was available to be of any help he could, I asked to see him. The waitress goes away to get him only for her to come back and say, Dericks busy and he says he would only say what I have said and that is there is no steak left.
Now I have to admit that my temper flared, but I kept it in check and asked the young lady where I might happen to find the said Derek. Downstairs was the reply.
And I did and I had it out with him and he didn’t know what hit him. I was very polite but I explained your systems wrong, why buy my drinks to be told the food I want isn’t available. His wife tried to tell me that I am not in the city. I do appreciate that madam but I don’t need a geography lesson I just want you to put a sign up saying steak is off the menu, that’s all, before I buy a $90 bottle of champers for the supper you have on your menu that I can’t have, it has nothing to do with geography at all, Madam.
Derek got a bit wobbly at this point and offered a full refund.
I did feel a little sheepish as by this time Wendy had necked a fair old glass of it, but he gave me the refund anyway.
We then went to the next bar and had a very nice meal. I had surf and turf and Wendy had fish and chips.
It was a nice place too. The staff were good, the service was great and the food, yes I know, was a delight.
There was also some interesting info about local characters in a nostalgia section.
So I am happy as Larry now sat in my van having a wee glass of wine before bed and Wendy is my mate again having stuffed herself on fish and chips.
Thanks’ for the messages, calls and the money Brad and Rob, it’s been a strange Fathers Day, but you made it just as special as you always do xx
Denham to Geraldton, via Kalbarri
332 Miles
I was woken at about 03:00 as tiny raid drops fell on the vans roof which is about 200 mm from my head and so I had to nip down the ladder and get the camp chairs in before they were soaked. Thankfully the rain didn’t last long.
It was pretty overcast this morning and 20OC when we started the day.
After breakfast we set off for Kalbarri to go to see Red Bluff Beach where our two convict friends from yesterday’s story were marooned, the exact same beach just under 400 years ago. I had to go see, didn’t I, despite the extra 70 miles on the journey.
But first before we left Shark Bay we went to see the Stromatolites, the what? The Stromatolites!!!
These are the very basis of all life on earth, dating back 3,000,000,000 years. They were the first living organisms and they helped to create a viable atmosphere on earth by taking in Carbon Dioxide and churning out Oxygen thus making the ideal conditions of 21% Oxygenated atmosphere. Jeepers haven’t I enlightened you on this journey avid reader?
There are only three other sites of Stromatolites left in the world, the ones in Shark Bay, some more in the Caribbean and some more in another part of Australia, however the ones at Shark bay are the best preserved. This is because the sea is so salty in Shark Bay that not many species of fish can live and fish are quite partial to a nibble of Stromatolite. Furthermore the sea temperature in the bay often goes above 45OC which is a very good temperature for them to flourish.
And we continued with the journey as the rain started and the temperature fell, to 16OC.
The journey was through thick green scrub bush which very slowly turning into agricultural land as we went further south. The landscape looked, in places very much like England at the end.
We got to Kalbarri at about 15:00 and the rain still persisted. The township is quite nice looking, at the mouth of large river which meets the sea at the site of the town. The weather didn’t help but I bet on a nice day it’s a lovely place to spend some time.
It took us a little time to identify the correct beach, but we eventually managed it.
I headed down to the shore line while Wendy waited this one out in the van, yes it was still raining!!!
Well what can I say, despite the weather it is a very beautiful beach with nice white sand. If there was ever a place I was going to be marooned on this would be it. As I said before we will most likely never establish what become of them, but the countryside is pretty safe as a starting point so unless they met bad guys en-route they had a pretty decent start.
I say most likely never establish what happened but who knows with DNA testing maybe there is a slightly whiter tribe of aboriginal people than there ought to be and it may all be down to our original convicts!
From Kalbarri we followed the coast road around, via Northampton and down to Geraldton where we got the second last campsite available. Thank the Lord as it tipping rain still.
As soon as we were parked up I had the super on, steak, sausage and salad, (We have sausage to use up!), and it was lovely.
It’s now 18:45 and we are in lock down as Wendy will not leave the van, I’m not game either. I am going to have an hour with my book and head up the ladder to bed.
And of course you all know the reason why such early kip don’t you?
England v Slovakia and Wales v Russia in the Euros, all kicking off at 03:00, well it is for me anyway and I have a front row seat care of Telstra 3G!
Geraldton to Cervantes
140 Miles
We were tucked up in bed by 20:00 last night and I woke at 01:30 as bright as a berry so I got out of bed, down the ladder and read my book until 03:00 and then watched the excitement of England going through to the knock out stage of the European Championship.
I don’t know how I manged to sleep with all that excitement, but I did, having climbed back into bed at 04:45 I manged to doze until 07:00 where I jumped out and went straight-out running without breakfast, nor even a cup of tea.
After checking out of the site at 09:30 we strolled around the town of Geraldton for a while. Thankfully the rain had stopped but the sky did look a little iffy and the temperature was a very cool 15OC.
The town was quite small but yet again very clean with lots of small local shops and there were quite a few art deco buildings too which Wendy quite liked.
I had my eye on something much more sombre though, another memorial to HMAS Sydney II which we found at the top of a hill just off the town centre. What a hike up the hill it was. It must have been more than 1 in 1, it was that steep. On our way back down we passed an old chap, I think he was Italian as I could not understand one word he said, but boy did he laugh at his predicament of trying to get down the hill on his unsteady legs.
The memorial is quite something, it’s very appropriate, very respectful and is a very fitting tribute to those poor men and boys who were killed doing their duty for their country. Well done Australia, that’s two excellent memorials that I have seen for this tragedy and they are both very respectful.
After our epic retreat back down the steep hill we wondered along the beach, it’s a small one but very pretty to the north and very industrial to the south as Geraldton as quite a very large port just off the town centre.
It’s here where I found my next memorial and this was regarding the mutiny of the Dutch Vessel, the Batavia and it was a statue of Soldier Hayes who was a hero of the events which followed the shipwreck. I won’t detail the story any further but it’s there for my more interested audience in the pictures section.
I will say though, and that is that this coastal area of Western Australia is named the Batavia Coast after this event of four hundred years standing, they do like to hold onto history here in the new country!
We had a walk further along the coast where we found a very nice marina and beyond that a beautiful beach with very fine white sand. It’s a shame we have only seen Geraldton in the winter as I bet it has much, much more to offer when the sun is shining brightly in the sky and producing 35OC temperatures.
We set off on our way for our penultimate night in the big van and we headed south along the coastal route to Perth and stopped off for the night in a small fishing village called Cervantes.
On check in I spied that there was a small café just beyond reception and I further spied the cakes on offer, so whilst Wendy was booking us in I bought a take-out piece of caramel and chocolate cheesecake which we shared over a cup of tea back at the van. Wendy was beside herself with delight, she loved it and has firmly pledged to go and buy, in the morning, another one, maybe two portions of this for her pleasure at a later date.
Cervantes has a beautiful white sandy beach, however at this very time it is absolutely covered with sea grass, piles and piles of it. Its smells a wee bit too. It would most definitely spoil an afternoon at the beach. I am hoping that’s this is just a winter issue and that the council rake it up in the summer months. Honestly you wouldn’t bother coming otherwise as there are only scraps of white beach available, and I mean only scraps.
Back at camp we doodled a bit and I then cooked supper, which was the last of the emergency rations which we have carried from day one of our trip up the Stuart Highway last November. It’s been through +40OC temperatures for days on end, It was a tin of steak supper with spuds and thick gravy and I thought to spice it up with some curry powder, garlic mushrooms and onions and leftover sausage, it was a gastronomic delight, or so I thought.
Don’t worry I have something very special planned for our last night tomorrow back in Perth!
Happy Birthday Brad - Enjoy your camping adventure with Caroline xx
Cervantes to Perth
128 Miles
I tried to find a kangaroo this morning as it would be my last run before we get back to Perth and the suburbs of the city, but I had no such luck. I did find a nice beachside lookout which gave great views along two stunning beaches which were almost clear of sea grass.
I took Wendy back to see the lookout before we left and she agreed that now Cervantes has something better going for it. It does have some stunning houses as well.
Titbit – Cervantes is named after a ship wreck of Spanish origin and all the streets are called after Spanish Towns / Cities, such as Barcelona Drive, Santander Road etc.
Wendy nipped to the café and bought some more of yesterdays cheesecake before we left and we ate it for our smokeo at 11:00 with a cup of coffee. It was just as nice as yesterdays!
We travelled along the coastal road and we saw some stunning sights, huge sand dunes and stormy skies. At one point it was almost 20OC and then the rain would come and it would be down to 14!!!
And then I got my treat, although I wasn’t too happy about it and I fear for his reckless safety. A kangaroo, hopped across the road about 50 metres in front of us. It was a sight to behold and I think, or at least I hope he did it for me and that he won’t do it again as it is such a busy road and he might just not make it next time.
I did appreciate it never the less.
We made it to Perth at 13:00 and checked into a camp site quite close to the airport and across the road from where we drop the camper off tomorrow.
I have booked a hire car from the airport so we can use it over the weekend and drop it back at the airport on Monday as we make our way home.
So on checking in I asked the very nice eastern European male receptionist if we can walk to the airport from here. Well you would have thought I had said something double dumb. “Of course not”, in a kind of a manner that really said, “What a stupid thing to say”.
He then went on to say a taxi would be $15 or we could take the camper. I know we could take the camper, but its 3.4 metres high and 7 metres long and it’s not very easy to negotiate around tight carparks. And then of course Wendy would have to drive the hire car back alone which I knew she wouldn’t be happy with.
So I used my IPhone and checked the taxi fares, $50 minimum, so I checked the route on google maps. It looked OK to me so I persuaded Wendy we would try the walk and turn back if it wasn’t possible.
It was a 10 minute walk and completely free of danger. We got to Terminal 3 and took the free bus along to terminal 1 and took out our car bang on time. Simples!!!
However the Satnav I have on my phone decided to take us on the biggest out of the way journey back to camp ever possible. What was a 5 mile journey turned out to be a 20 mile nightmare. I should have guessed something would go wrong on this near perfect day. But more was to come!
We got the car back to our camp and immediately took the van back out to give it a wash as it’s in a dirty state which shows all the bumps and bangs that I haven’t done.
Well we found a pressure wash station but there was one wee draw back. It had a height barrier that looked OK, but without any indication of its height. We are 3.4 metres high, that’s well over 12 feet. Oh and by the way once I’m through that I have to climb onto the next level as the wash area is above a car park.
So I said to Wendy you watch out and check me through the barrier. As I inched along Wendy’s face become more concerned until she said no, you can’t do it, the air conditioning unit on the roof is too high. Also the very unhelpful man who was behind me told Wendy it wouldn’t go through.
But then a man appeared at the top of the ramp and he gave me a thumbs up. I could see that he was a practical looking guy so I put my trust in him and I inched my way forward until he gave me the all clear and I was through.
Phew – I then ran around the camper like a mad man soaking, soaping, brushing and then rinsing this huge van while Wendy fed the meter with a $2.00 coin every 30 seconds!
I was knackered by the time I had done.
And then the real fun started……………………………..
I got out of the wash bay OK, but the road down to ground level was extremely tight. So I asked Wendy to watch me as I tried to get through. Her face become more and more concerned as I got further down the ramp. No, I couldn’t do it, I was too close up on my off-side, Wendy was at breaking point, it was all over her face.
So I did that annoying thing that husbands do and gave her a sign to calm down, you know the one with the flat palm going slowly up and down?
I reversed back a bit and got closer on the on-side and with a little nudging along we made it, out safe and sound – Phew!
We arrived back at camp and as I had checked the bar across the road out earlier on and found it to be a bit if a dive I asked Wendy if she wanted to come and watch the State of Origin Rugby Game with me, she didn’t fancy it and boy was I glad.
I put my Queensland shirt on and ran over the road, bought a drink and then turned to meet filth. Lap dancers cavorting in outrageously small amounts of clothing is what I was faced with. Now I’m a modern thinking man and I am thinking at this point that Emely Pankhurst and her mates didn’t struggle for men to ogle, leer and predatorise, (made up word?), young girls. I appreciate they are not likely to have been forced into it, but it seems so wrong none the less.
So I supped up and legged it back to the van to cook our last supper camping in Australia and then watch the game online, at 22:00 mind, making me late for my bed.
Come on Queensland!!!
North Perth to West Perth
5 Miles
I was a wee bit late up this morning as Queensland won the match last night and I was too excited to go to bed. We ended up watching James Cordens Car Pool videos that we have started to catch up with, jeepers how so funny was Stevie Wonder?
I went running along the busiest road I have every come across this morning and there were no pedestrian crossings, I took my life in my hands to get across and had to force cars to stop.
It’s that bad that there are two school crossing attendants who are fully dressed from top to bottom in fluorescent green suits. They both have two huge flags that they have to hold out, one to stop the traffic and then the other, when they get in the middle of the lane to branch out so they both provide a human flag chain of safety for the kids to cross. I told them they ought to receive danger money!!!
Back at camp Wendy had done a sterling job of packing up and transferring our gear to the hire car and I had the job of doing the dirty jobs, toilets, waste water etc, etc.
As we left camp two ducks, Mr & Mrs, were playing in the swimming pool, they were having a stonking time!!!
We dropped the van off and they were really pleased that we had cleaned it top to bottom, why wouldn’t we?
And so we headed to our hotel area but we were a bit early to check in so we had to find somewhere to park as Perth isn’t very car friendly, in fact the on street parking is extortionate. But being cheapskates we found somewhere free for two hours and went walkabout.
We are staying in West Perth at an area called Subiaco, it’s about one mile from the city centre and it’s a really nice place.
I tried to top up my travel card with cash but in their constant efforts to change things every five minutes it ended up with me having a frustrating 30 mins on the phone to the UK. Why do they change things just to see change? ITunes is another example, it used to be easy to use but now you need a degree in computer science to be able to use it, why???
Wendy on the other hand spied some new shoes she immediately fell in love with and was gutted when I couldn’t get the card to work. But my first job in the morning is to take her down at opening time to buy them, she must, must have them you know!
When it was time I dropped Wendy and the bags off for check in whilst I went in search of another elusive parking spot. By the time I got to her she had checked in and the nice lady at reception said I was a valued customer who was a regular visitor. Wendy, my darling wife said, “Oh no he’s not as we are leaving for the UK on Monday”. She didn’t tell me this until we got the chocolates on the bed saying I am a valued customer. I could have made so much mileage out of that, I.e. we were already upgraded from standard room to superior as it was!
In the end we had to change rooms as we had heating issues with our original one, but thankfully it’s to the same standard.
We went for a walk in Kings Park and it was lovely. What a fantastic park with brilliant views over the city and the river.
I have to say that it’s the best park I have ever been in. There are themes such as, get this women’s suffrage, there was a brilliant fountain display there. We watched it for a while and worked out the sequence that the fountains operated on. Wendy, despite knowing what came next nearly fell in with panic when the main jets started up, even though she knew they were coming, she is such a scaredy cat. That’s one thing you about being so close together for eight months, you notice things about each other that you never saw before.
There is also a beautiful memorial to all of the men and women who died in the Second World War. Every name of every person from Western Australia either killed in action or as a result of their injuries from the war is detailed in marble within the structure. It’s yet again another fitting tribute to Australias war dead.
Tonight we are chilling, off for a walk shortly to get a bite to eat and then early to bed, so Wendy says as she is shattered. I think she is just happy to be in a bed she doesn’t need a ladder.
I’m looking forward to getting up early and listening to the referendum result as the votes will be counted as we rise in the morning, I wonder how we will go? We have voted, by proxy, Bradly Gill doing the deed for us.
I’m predicting a narrow remain victory, maybe 5% points, but remain will do it, or so I think!
Perth to Freemantle and Back
20 Miles
Well I didn’t think we would do it but there you go. Let’s hope things settle down in the next few days, but one thing is for sure we are going to have a very right wing Tory Government for the next four years.
After a good run along the Swan River I grabbed some toast from a takeaway for our late breakfast. It was surprisingly nice, especially with my Vegemite on it.
As the results started to come in I was listening to Radio 4 as we set off for Fremantle which thankfully was a fairly easy drive through the very thick Perth traffic. Jeepers Perth is very hard to both drive and walk around. It’s neither easy for the motorist or the pedestrian.
But first I dropped Wendy off for the infamous pair of shoes from yesterdays copy, which she nipped into the stop to buy in pretty smartish fashion. I have never seen her so happy with a new pair of shoes. She came back to the car swinging her shopping bag and smiling from ear to ear. How on earth does she get so excited about buying shows, I just don’t get it!
As we got to Freemantle we headed to the coast at South Freemantle and I was surprised to find that the Freemantle that I imagined was not the one we found. I thought they would have the best of beaches, they were nice, but due to environmental issues such as beach erosion and its counter measures we found little niche beaches that didn’t really make much of an overall impression.
The Marina however was something else, it is massive. It’s most likely the biggest Marina I have ever come across and the boats we saw were pretty impressive too.
The weather though was a wee bit cool and the wind was nipping at us as we strolled along the Marina wall. However we decided to walk back upto Freemantle, a mile or so north and the wind dropped, and the sun started to peep through the clouds, which was a bit of a boast.
Well if I was disappointed with the beaches Freemantle town was a treat. What an extremely interesting little town, both architecturally and from a shopping point of view.
There were buildings that were a delight to look at and the variety of shops was really good.
I have to conclude that the variety of small independent shops throughout towns and even cities within Australia offer a really good blend of shopping opportunities. Where we in the UK have our High Streets blighted by pound shops, chains stores and the like Australia has an interesting mix of small independent clothes, furniture and even food shops that give the town a real community feel about them. Their markets are also an abundance of fascinating things to tempt the shopping public. Even me, a very reluctant shopper, I like to see the many differing items for sale and the intermingling of the local community as they go about their retail experience. It’s great and I have loved doing it, albeit reluctantly.
After walking ourselves to fatigue we headed back for an easy drive back to the hotel and thankfully we were greeted with the confirmation that we had a dinner reservation at the hotel. This is extremely pleasing as we are hosting a very good friend who immigrated to Perth a couple of years ago, yes indeed it is the very vivacious Janine McCarthy.
Wendy was up into our hotel room, into the shower and then full dress and the new shoes in double quick time, she was so pleased with herself and her new bloody shoes!!!
I myself took time to catch up on the day’s events, with a little snorter to ease the disappointment.
Supper was brilliant, Janine came to our hotel and we had a stonking meal. She was lovely, funny and had us in stiches and it was like even though I had not seen her in two years, she was just the same Janine.
Here was this young women who worked at the Fire Service, now a manager working in her own field and doing everything just right.
What a treat of a night, it was lovey!
We both wish her well for the future, but it’s looking rosy for her as it is.
The last we saw of her was her getting into a taxi heading to Bobs Place where her mates were waiting for her to start their weekend.
Jeepers I only hope Bob knows what’s coming his way!
Perth to Ocean Reef and Back
40 Miles
Jeepers did it pour rain this morning, I was at the five mile mark on my run and the heavens opened, wildly. I was saturated and my trainers were squeaking as I got back to the hotel.
But I was up and running after a long hot shower and I was very excited indeed as today we were going to see a very old friend, Paul Mildenhall from my Operation Raleigh Expedition which we were on almost 30 years ago.
We drove down to Ocean View in the still pouring rain but it was OK as we were on our last mission of our trip, and we were keen to end on a cracker, and a cracker it was.
Paula was only an 18 year old student when we were thrown together for over 3 months of hard work, dirt and fun, and I was a 25 year old coal miner from Barnsley who had been around a while.
I adored her innocence and she was lovely to be with and she made being part of the team such a great pleasure.
Wendy and I were introduced to Pete, Paulas husband who is a great guy, and both her sons, Peter and Simon, two fine young men but more importantly we had a feast of a lunch.
And what a great idea it was, make your own pizza, well I never what a fantastic idea.
Pete had all the ingredients ready and loads of them and then we were each given a pizza base for us to make our own as we liked. Both Gills, as you would imagine took the lot and made identical pizzas with every ingredient on offer.
Pete baked them and we then ate them and they were a DELIGHT!!!
It’s gone 20:30 now and I’m only now feeling peckish.
After yet more chat we left our hosts to the rest of their Saturday afternoon.
We took the coast road back to Perth and called in at Hillarys Marina. This was a very big marina with lots of large boats tied up. There was a central pier down the middle of the marina with shops, bars and restaurants. We strolled along the pier but it was a bit too nippy to be outside so we legged it back to the car.
But I have to say at this point that our visit and our hosts hospitality has topped off both a fantastic weekend, starting with Janine last night, and more importantly a fantastic journey around Australia, what a fitting way to end our trip.
And then to top it all off I got back to the hotel in time to watch England beat the Wallabies in the last of the rugby tour of Australia. This has been a tremendous tour, England have not only won the series, which is a first down under but they also whitewashed Australia with a 3-Nil series win and they were brilliant.
It’s been such a brilliant day.
However we have had a wee set back. Wendy was hungry so we walked into town and got a burger each, we grabbed a taxi back and as we were taking our jackets off Wendy noticed she had lost one of her favourite earrings. She’s very upset about it and did try to search for it, but it couldn’t be found.
It’s put a bit of a dampener on the evening, its shame.
I’ll look for it on my run tomorrow, I do hope I find it!!!
Perth
No Travelling
Both Wendy and I scoured the street today looking for her earing but we didn’t find it so she is still very upset!
Here’s a wee Sunday storey to warm you up though. I was once coming back from the Ilse of Skye when I was in the Fire Service and I gave two young female backpackers a lift over to Inverness. The weather was as it always was, fowl!
They were so pleased that I had helped them that they gave me a small token, a kind of small handmade badge.
I can’t recall where they came from but they were Eastern Europeans of some persuasion. They told me to keep it close to me as it would always protect me.
They were still in the car, just getting ready to leave when I used the pin to fix it the interior of the car, at the front, just above my head.
I have kept it through several cars and I have always been safe. I brought it with me to Australia and put it in the same position of every vehicle we have had and it’s seen us safely through some of the harshest environments that this country could throw at us.
I’m not at all superstitious but I do believe that kindness does bring its rewards.
Jeepers there was a cold wind blowing this morning. It had been a clear night so the temperatures had dropped. I kept running to get warm and ended up doing a ten mile run, joining in with a ladies race along the route. The sun came up and the warmth started to seep through to my bones.
Today is Sunday 26th June and it’s our last full day in the Southern Hemisphere and we are having a lazy day.
We didn’t budge from our room until turned 11:00 and then it was only to pick up some last minute purchases such as Bundy Rum from Dan Murphys and Afghan Biscuits from The Reject Shop.
I snook the car in a safe parking zone until tomorrow and then we went back to the room to do a little more organising for our return tomorrow.
The sun is now blazing in the sky and the temperature must be in the late teens or even early 20’s. That’s how it is in Perth, well it is mid-winter. If today was in the Northern Hemisphere it would be Boxing Day so I can’t really complain as I would take 20OC on Boxing Day in the UK any day for the week.
At about 13:00ish we walked into the city to take some lunch as a last day treat. The sun was shining brightly and it was lovely.
The cities shopping districts were buzzing with Sunday morning shoppers and so we went down to the Marina and found a fantastic new restaurant overlooking the Swan River.
It’s called The Reveley, (After Wendy’s Grandfather).
I ordered steak and Wendy had the pork and both were delicious, absolutely lovely, both of them. I just had to finish with pudd too, Crème Brule, best ever!!!
The meal, with a bottle of wine and a good tip came to £97.00, it would have been a lot cheaper as I use a travel card that goes by the current interest rate but the exchange rate as dropped from A$2.00 to $1.87 in a matter of hours?
Interestingly the car hire company wanted a $5,000 bond on my credit card before I took the car. When I took the car back I got the bond back, after Thursday of course, and the exchange rate had dropped so much that my refund was almost £11.00 short and so I have now to stump it up. Who would have thought there would have been such immediate consequences of the UK voting to leave the EU. Don’t worry though I’m sure, Boris, Michael Gove and Nigel will sort it out in the longer term as they promised and if not, hey don’t worry, Donald Trump is coming over the hill with the cavalierly.
I’m really looking forward to coming back home on Tuesday just in time to see the ultra-right take the reins of the country, given the opportunity to do so by the hard left, not to mention me soon to be living in a foreign country, are there any Australian avid readers willing to adopt me please?
Perth
No Travelling
This morning I finished my running in Australia by running down to the Swan River at 06:30 and along the north bank as the sun rose above the city skyline. It was a beautiful sight.
As I have done quite a lot of running on this trip I thought I would put down my statistics:
Time in Australia: 239 Days
Days Ran: 237 Days
N0 of Consecutive Days Run: 215 Days
Total Distance Run: 1,952.08 Miles
Average Daily Distance: 8.24 Miles
The two days I didn’t run was the first one when we got here due to jet lag and the second was when we got back to Adelaide and Wendy had booked us into a different campsite to the one we intended to be at and by the time the muddle was sorted out, and it was a muddle, it was too late to go.
However I have had some great times being out and about and I have seen some fantastic sights. I have been around every State Capital City in all the nooks and crannies. The smaller towns which often have hidden surprises. The baking heat of the outback, alone and at least 4 miles from anybody else, the tropical rain forests and the humidity of the far north.
I have ran on some brilliant beaches and down some interesting country tracks. The wildlife I have seen as been spectacular. Wallabies, Kangaroos, Snakes, Emus amongst many other tropical birds and my best one, a dingo.
I always take just over half a litre of water with me and emergency money in case I run out of drink. I have had to use the money on 3 occasions, twice in Darwin and once in Broken Hill when the temperature was 43OC. I have never know thirst like it, the absolute dryness in your throat when you would almost kill for a drink of water.
In the warmer areas I would freeze my water overnight and within 15 minutes it would have thawed out in the heat.
It’s been great exercise but the absolute best of all is that the sciatica I had in my left leg as completely gone. I don’t know if it’s the heat or what but I am certainly pain free and long may it last.
Some of my favourite runs were, the beach path in Adelaide, the sunrises, especially the one at White Cliffs, the circuit at Manly, the Water Course in Clement, the beaches at Broome and Port Douglas but my absolute best was the City of Brisbane with its river side paths and boardwalks.
It’s been a lovey way to see the other side of a great country!
Perth to London
7,813 Nautical Miles
I was out of bed and away by 06:30 this morning for the last run of our trip and what a fitting and proper one to finish with too. I saw a beautiful sunrise over the city skyline and it was great to be out and about.
I got back in good time to rest, shower and have a bite to eat with Wendy, in fact I think I did a Personal Best for ten miles, completing it in 01:25:07.
We finished the packing or rather Wendy did and we had one very heavy bag at 31Kgs and three other not as heavy, but heavy enough ones to boot, it must be all the shells Wendy’s collected!
My body board is too big to go in a bag so it’s strapped with Duct Tape to the bottom of my big blue sports bag. But as we attached the board to the bag I didn’t think we had enough tape for it to be safely secured so after checking out of our hotel with the bags safely in the car we took a walk down to Subiaco to buy some more.
Along the route we took breakfast outside a small café. We both had, to prepare us fully for Blighty, Bacon and Egg in an English Muffin. The sun was out and so were we, however, as the waiter said, we were the only two mad enough to be outside. But why not it was a lovely warmish spring day to us.
The Muffins were stonking, nice and hot with real crispy bacon, and stinking hot coffee to boot!
Our plight for the Duct Tape started without luck in Coles Supermarket, we then went on to scour every likely looking Duct Tape stockist in the district, but could we find any, could we bugger!
We walked every street, and went in every shop, I even convinced myself that surely a chemist would have some, but alas no such luck.
As we had to get back to the car to make our way to the airport I thought I’d call in a garage or two along the way but then we hit lucky. Just as we neared the car Wendy pointed out a newsagent and so we went in.
I thought Wendy was going to wet herself with excitement as she let out an overjoyed woop when she happened upon a roll of the very stuff. 40 metres long too, that should do the job.
We told the shopkeeper about our plight and that Wendy had tried to persuade me to buy plain wrapping tape, but he agreed with me, when you need a good job you need the best tape!
We got to the airport and dropped the car off without incident and had a leisurely hours wait for our check in to open. I took this opportunity to finish the last tinny of XXXX Gold that I had, I had saved it for just such a treat.
I tried to reclaim the tax on my camera as I got through into the departure lounge but boy did the tax people make it dammed hard to do. I was thinking of knocking it on the head but then I thought that’s what they want me to do. So having completed paperwork in triplicate, attached the necessary receipts, addressed an envelope to myself, placed it all in the collection bin I have to live in hope that it will get processed. Oh and I had to go back and forth through security 3 times as it’s tucked away somewhere deep in no-mans land!
After all that Wendy parked me with the bags and a bottle of wine in a bar whilst she went shopping whereby I got chatting to a very nice young man from New Zealand who works in gold exploration in Australia and occasionally goes back home to see his folks.
He was asking me about Brexit, and was laughing at us actually. He told me that he had saved money and bought some shares, whose value had plummeted since last Friday. He said as a way of a joke, “See what you bastards have done!” He might have the last laugh too because he said he bought shares in the same company again today as they are now at rock bottom and can now only go up. I do hope he’s right!
Our flight to Singapore was good, the food was really nice but they were not forthcoming with as much wine as you know who would have liked.
Singapore airport though was almost farcical with stupid security, take this one example.
Wendy likes to take water on board but we didn’t have any local cash to buy it. But that’s OK there was a botte filling station just before some additional security screening so I filled my running bottle for her. I put it in my jacket and put it through the X-Ray.
Well at the other end the water became the big issue. It needs emptying I was told. But you’ve just seen me fill it I say. The man then says, that’s OK there is a filing station just there and he pointed it out. Empty it there and refill it.
So I says, in sheer disbelief. You have a water bottle station just before I come through here and then you want me to go over there, empty it and refill it, where is the sense in that. A security lady then intervened and poured my water in a rubbish bin, and gave me the empty bottle back, well I never.
It was actually more comical than it sounds but it’s hard to detail such stupidity, I mean we were already in the main departure lounge having arrived from transit!
The second flight was good too, if not a little long at 13 hours. The main meal was not so good, but we got a sufficient amount of wine for someone to be happy.
We didn’t get much rest on the flight, I watched a few films, jeepers hasn’t inflight entertainment changed in 30 years. They used to pull a screen down on the bulkhead wall and project a single film and if you didn’t like it it was tuff-tit. Nowadays you have your own screen with 100’s of films to choose from and many, many more TV programs not to mention games. Time flies by when you’re being entertained at 40,000 feet.
Granny and Grandad were there to collect us safe and sound at Heathrow and now we are back in Blighty spending a few days with Granny, before weekending in London where it will be back to Inverness on Monday. Ha, but it’s not stopping there avid reader, we have an appointment in Aberdeen in Mid-July and then we will hit the road with the Caravan and try to make something of the last of the British summer, I don’t hold out much hope mind.
I knew I was back home, England’s been knocked out of the European Football Championship and its only 13OC back in Blighty, some things never change.
Just to round up on the stats of our trip, we:
Covered 20,249 miles over land of which 2,704 were on the India - Pacific Train.
Visited and stayed over at 96 different cities, towns and townships.
Met an awful lot of very nice, decent Australian people and some British ones two and I would like to thank, in descending order the following people:
Darren and Kim for supper in Melbourne, (Darren for his directions too)
All of the staff at Dalmeny Camp Ground for such a memorable Christmas
Kate and Bob for the magical experience that is Urliup Farm
Rachel for being the kindest hostess you could ever want to have
David Hudson for cooking some mighty fine steaks
Heather and Warren for their fantastic hospitality, (but Warren lost some brownie points due to shredding our nerves for a while)
Matt, Alison, Ruby and Abbie and for the girls taking me to the zoo which was a truly wonderful day
Phil for taking us out in his boat
Dave and Diane Ashworth for not only the lovely stay at their palace, but the meals cooked by them both and to Dave for helping make our dream of going to the Cape come true
Janine for taking us out for such a lovely treat supper
Paula and Pete for such a lovely afternoon of homemade pizza and a great catch up
To all of the people who we have met along the way, some of whom have helped us and some we have spent time chatting with. It’s been a great learning experience and I have to admit the journey of a lifetime.
If I had to pick any single day out as being special I would have to consider:
The trip up and down the Stuart Highway, Uluru, Kakadu National Park, The first ever Day/Night Cricket Test Match, the Great Ocean Road, Christmas at Dalmeny, New Year at Sydney Opera House, Broken Hill, White Cliffs, Urliup Farm, Brisbane, Port Douglas and all of the fantastic beaches we have encountered, Sunset at Karumba, the boat trip with Phil, our Cape York Expedition, returning to Old Laura Homestead, the Mulgrave River and Lizard Island, The Great Barrier Reef, The Indian - Pacific Train Journey, the trip to Broome, all of the fantastic wildlife we have seen and all of the great food we have eaten.
It’s all been fantastic, (I might have already said), but if I had to pick one magical day it would be the day two little girls who took me out for the day to the zoo, it was a wonderful day. I daren’t say it was the best day of my life, but I am safe to say it’s certainly top 4!!!
Finally a very big thank you too to all my avid readers, I hope that you’ve enjoyed our travels, it’s been a pleasure to document them and I sincerely apologise for any grammatical errors and the over use of the word, “DELIGHT”!
(I have one more copy to post and I will do it tomorrow, which will be to list my observations of integration within Australia, as previously promised).
Sheerness
No Travelling
It’s been almost 30 years since I was last in Australia and I have a deep affection for the country. I find Australian people to be easy going, relatively carefree and all round decent people. So on my travels I wanted to examine the relationship between new Australians and the older Australians, the Aboriginal Community.
I have spoken to a lot of thoroughly decent new Australians and I believe that they are very sincere and, lets get this out of the way now, not at all racist in their attitude.
However that said, whilst I was there I observed a massive cultural divide that exists between both of the communities and I wanted to establish the roots to this, and possibly offer some way forward.
Here are my thoughts for what it’s worth:
Australia Day
This day marks the occasion that Australia was first occupied by the European settlers, the British. This day is a national holiday and is, in my view celebrated by new Australians as a day of celebration of the Australian dream. However it’s not taken with the same sentiment by the old Australians. They appear to take great offence to its occasion. This year I was out running in the town of Inverell when I came across the early morning celebrations for Australia Day. Festivities were well underway in the local park but there was not one Aboriginal person there. I came across them on the outskirts of the park and they had an appearance of deep dissatisfaction with the celebrations of the day.
Now put yourself in their positon, here is a community celebrating the destruction of their (the Aboriginal), history, lifestyle, culture and more importantly the deaths of thousands of their people. This isn’t a day that draws all of the community of Australia together but appears to me to worsen the divide.
Now I’m not saying don’t have a national day of celebration, just have it on a day that’s not marking a date that’s extremely insensitive to one sector of the community.
Uluru
Stop walking over it!!! This is an extremely sacred place for Aboriginal people and their wish that it is not climbed is plainly evident. Now, in my opinion, if someone asks politely that you refrain from doing something which is considered to them to be offensive then you don’t do it. It’s just simple bad manners not to accept their wishes and it would go a very long way to improving relations, in my opinion of course.
Hand Outs – Stop it and stop it soon!
The young Australians owe nothing to their older countrymen. What happened 300 years ago is done, dusted and gone. The past is the past and if you continue to live in its shadow then there will never be progress.
Invasions have occurred throughout history, mainly undertaken by Europeans, but it is what it is, history. Aboriginal communities need to embrace the 21st Century and either move into it, or if they choose an alternative lifestyle then take it, but don’t bleed the generosity of hardworking people and throw it back in their face. And don’t play the hard done by card either and take handouts from the wider community as if it’s some divine right.
I have seen first-hand the destruction and violence that occurs in Aboriginal communities, I have read stories from school teachers in the Aurukun community who have been attacked and forced out just because they went to the aid of women and children who were being openly beaten in the streets by their menfolk.
I have read the thoughts of some Aboriginal elders who say that the current younger Australians are living off the back of the Aboriginal community of yesteryear and ought to pay for the privilege of doing so, well I’m sorry I don’t agree.
No person can be blamed for the circumstances of their birth, it’s that simple your born where you born, be it black, white, yellow of brown. It’s up to you to make your life in the environment your born and not for someone else to provide for you.
Now obviously a civilised society takes care of people who, through no fault of their own, have difficulties in making a contribution, but that’s people, individuals, not an entire section of the wider population.
I appreciate that in recent years Aboriginal people have not been treated with respect as human beings and that is a very sad indictment of the people who did it, but not everyone is like that, we are more civilised, thankfully, so let it go and move on.
Finally I do appreciate that due to the location of some aboriginal communities people find working opportunities difficult to come by, now I’m not going to repeat the infamous words of Norman Tebbit and say to them get on your bike. But what I will say is that nothing will improve unless you wholly want it to improve and that the only route available is education. Now the Aboriginal people are a truly proud people and there is nothing I have seen, whilst being amongst them, to suggest, that they are incapable of being educated, and I find it hard to believe that a whole community would not want to improve the lives of their children and the only that can be achieved is by education.
Well that’s my thoughts for what they are worth. I could go further and wider with my observations and I do accept that I have not entered into any deep and meaningful conversations with Aboriginal people, but I can tell you it’s not through lack of trying.
Finally I hope that my comments are taken with the intention that they are meant and that is that they are just an objective assessment of my observations whilst being amongst the residents of this fantastic country.
Manchester to Sal
2772 Nautical Miles
It was Baltic in Manchester at 06:30 this morning, cars were frozen over. Thankfully our car was parked close to a building and the warmth from it kept it frost free.
I had a little hassle at the airport, my darling wife snook me a tube of her very precious hand cream into my travel bag and so I was caught with it at security. Smugly I stood there thinking to myself you can look at the bag as much as you like there’s nothing in there only for the lady to immediately pull the tube from my bag and treat it as if it was radioactive. I shot a look at Wendy who mouthed back to me in her sweetest attempt, “I’m sorry”. Ah well no harm done, just the very stern lecture about liquids, powder and gels sir!!!
So after that little hic-up I headed to the bar from breakfast and a drink. I hadn’t took the top off my drink when I got a call from Bradley Gill. Now Brad never phones me so when I get a call at 07:40 from him I know it’s not to say have a nice time Dad. No it was Dad waters streaming out of the boiler and it’s not working and it’s got into the electrical sockets, and I’m late for work.
As the boiler was installed from new only two years ago, after a few frantic phone calls and messages I got it covered under warranty. Thanks to Ciaran, our installer who kept me straight.
From then on in the flight was OK, we quaffed a bottle of prosecco with our inflight meal and settled in for the six hour flight.
Our hotel is massive, it’s bigger than a large village but Wendy isn’t happy as we have a second floor room overlooking a pool where she thinks people can see into us, it’s not a concern I share but I’ll go along with her in her quest to find a more reclusive apartment.
That said it is quite nice, very roomy with all mod cons, the fridge freezer is my idea of decadence.
I went for an evening run and loved it, 32 degrees in a vest and shorts running around the town and its suburbs like I was local. I remembered my route even though it’s been two years since I was last here.
Supper was a delight, although the restaurant was a bit chaotic.
After a few drinks at the bar it’s an early night as we have our welcome meeting at 10:00 which neither one of us is looking forward to!!!
Night Night Avid Reader it’s good to be back in Cape Verde!
Lazy Day
What a good nights sleep we both had, unfortunately I had set my phone for 05:45 the previous night to get to the airport and forgot to take it off, so we had a nice early wake up call, which was actually quite good as we both went running before 07:00 which got us back before the heat of the day took over.
I didn’t take water with me as I hadn’t needed it the night before, big mistake as there is a huge difference to the setting sun and the cooling night it brings to a rising sun with the heat of it sapping at you as it get higher in the sky. I won’t do that again!
After a nice breakfast we nipped to the customary Tour Reps welcome meeting which actually was quite good as it was informative and not at all a sales pitch for any tours on offer.
A couple of hours were then spent at the beach, all factored up with sunscreen and then back for a poolside drink before I went for a short evening run.
When I got back, it was just dark and I nipped into the pool to cool off and then………………..all the lights went off, no power at all, total darkness. Fair does though, the pianist in the bar kept playing.
I bet it was Wendy Gill with her super-sized hair dryer.
Supper will be in a small grill bar as we are spreading our wings and finding our way around this small city of a resort. That’s if the power comes back on, it’s been off now over 30 minutes and still no action!!!
Well the power was off for over an hour and half, so we hit the bar and sat with some very nice Dutch people. A man, an awful man, decided to smoke those disgusting cigarillo type fags. He blew smoke all over the Dutch people and so they moved, and then the wind changed direction and we got it full on, so we moved and joined them.
They are called Bus and Soskia and it was really nice to chat with them, their English was perfect. We whiled away a good hour and went for our supper which was tasty if not a bit frustrating!!! I asked for salad with the lovely chicken and got a swede jus instead, but when the salad eventually came it was really nice.
A night cap in the bar and then a read of books on the balcony did for us and so its bed time at 22:45 our time (-1 hour GMT).
Night night everyone!!!
Gone Fishing
After the morning exercise, incicndelty when I was out running I bumped into Wendy Gill who was doing her run, who proceeded to empty my water bottle leaving me dying of thirst after seven miles by which she was already showered and on her third coffee!
We had a nice breakfast in the grill bar and after we caught the bus down into Santa Maria, the closest town to our resort which is about 3 miles away.
I say bus but that’s a bit of an overstatement. It was at best a mini bus which could not accommodate all the guests who intended to use the service. Unperturbed I got on board only to realise Wendy would be the one too many as she had dawdled and not been forthcoming in the getting aboard scrum.
Every seat was taken and I kid you not each seat had a folding seat which came across the aisle. There was no rear emergency door and the bus was chock block, it was like something out of India. I had the last isle seat and I got Wendy abroad and gave my seat to her, intending to stand in the limited space available. However the driver had other ideas and seeing that I wasn’t going to budge he folded out yet another seat, this time by his side. So there I was up front and very personal with the driver with my legs up against my chin.
Santa Maria was hot and we headed for the pier to see the fishermen bring their catch in, jeepers there is some size of fish landed there, mainly tuna.
We went to look at a few shops and then headed to a bar which is owned by an expat. He has a kind of sports bar on the beach and I wanted to see if they would be showing the England Football game next week and the Saturday rugby test matches which I do believe they will.
After a stroll along the beach we bought a carton of wine and got a taxi back to the resort, we had a wee bite of lunch and headed down to the beach for a few relaxing s with our books.
An evening run followed for me, I have to it helps me eat all the delicious food, and then I had a sunset dip in the pool, which was a real treat.
I’m sorry to say the wine is only a tadge better than the stuff at the resort so I’ll have to get my finger out and find something to Madams taste real soon or she’ll not be talking to me by the end of the week.
Well supper was lovely, I had Ox Tail and Wendy had a Cheesy Coddy thingy which she loved, I even managed to find some delightful brussel sprouts!
After a couple of drinks in the bar, serenaded by a young lady playing violin we headed off to bed, it’s been a lovely day, let’s see what tomorrow brings!
Noise!!!
We had our first day by the pool today, what we thought was the quite pool until a member of the animation team set stall with massive speakers to undertake an aqua aerobics session, and boy did he up the sound level. Jeepers it was the same at the pool bar too, how many aqua sessions do they need here?
So off we went down to the grill bar for an early lunch which was a delight, I had a Cesar salad and a few beers. We got talking to a couple from North Yorkshire who were quite nice and it passed a pleasant hour or so. Thankfully by the time we got back to the pool matey had packed up and scarpered.
I didn’t get a chance to read my book as we got engrossed in a conversation with two couples who had teamed up, they came from Lancaster and Bexhill. Now they were a laugh, the lady from Lancaster sounded just like Jackeline from Benidorm, she even looked quite like her too.
Super was yet another culinary delight, in the buffet bar, after which we spent an hour in the Piano bar listening to a young man play delightful tunes on the grand piano, all from memory he had no sheet music at all. He even had a kind of accordion that he blew via a tube playing both instruments at the same time using each hand for each instrument, he was brillient.
After that we went over to the pool bar, just for a night cap and ended up chatting with a couple from Dumfries, again this turned into a session and I must admit I felt a little drunk and ended up in bed with not as much as one page of my book turned.
I intend to be better behaved tomorrow!!
Sufferance
Well I didn’t suffer this morning but I did lay in as I could just not wake up! I woke at 06:30, had a cuppa and I still felt tired. I went back to bed and then re woke at 08:30, I was thinking about putting my gear on and going running but Wendy said, breakfast closes at 10:30, so I opted out and took a late run.
Breakfast was a bit of a scrum but nice enough.
We went down to the pool until aqua bloody splash time and then we found a quite pool with water slides for the kids which was quite nice.
We had a delightful lunch and then spent the afternoon at the pool.
~We left the pool at 16:00 and I went for my run, the weather was cooling, maybe 27 degrees and I loved it. I felt great and did an extra two miles and by the time I got back Wendy was looking lovely, all scrubbed up and ready for supper.
Supper was another lovely meal, mine fish, Wends was meaty and we followed it with a very rich dark chocolate mousse, a real treat.
After a relaxing drink we went down to the bar and spent a lovely hour or two with our friends from North Yorkshire, Lorraine and Mark. Mark has been in the military for 27 years starting as a Para and then moving onto the air force. The poor fella broke his back on jungle manoeuvres and still struggles with it.
I like Mark, he’s a pretty decent chap and Lorraine is nice too!
At 22:30 we all thought it time to retire, me I have been very good and I intend to have at least half an hour with my book……oh and maybe a small brandy and coke to see the day out.
Stuffed
Are you all fed up to the back teeth with the USA election, jeepers its on wall to wall news here, is anything else happening in the world?
I had a nice morning run today although the wind was a feisty tropical trade wind.
I must admit I over spent at breaky today and I had black bread, yes it doesn’t sound nice, it actually doesn’t look nice but with baked beans on top with bacon and a fried egg it was very tasty.
We then spent the morning at the pool before Mr Motivator started with his fatties in the pool session whereby we headed to the beach.
I finished my book, gutted to find it’s the first segment of a trilogy.
Lunch was a light bite and then back to the beach where I had a wee nap.
Tonight was going to be tapas night, as invented by us. The rule is we both get four dishes we think we would like and take it from there.
But Wendy wanted some nice wine, so on mission I went running and found a shop that sold wine at 14 euros a bottle, 14 bloody euros!!!! So I took her one back.
We had a delightful supper, my selection was prawns, an olive oil & balsamic dip, beef stew and fish. Wendy’s was a bit of a poor show but I ate it out of respect.
I then went and got the belly buster, chocolate cheesecake which was all over Wendy Gills chin!!!
At 20:00 we headed back to our room, it’s going to be an extra, extra early night as we are as pooped as someone who as eaten Brussel sprouts all day long!!!
Overcast
This morning the wind was quite feisty so I wore my jacket and long shirt for running and I’m glad I did as it kept the breeze out from my sweaty body.
After yesterday’s gluttony we had a light breakfast and snaffled from the buffet some ham sarnies to take out as we were going to walk into town for a change of circumstances.
The walk downtown was nice and with the overcast conditions not too hot. Wendy needed a day off today as she was getting a bit red. It’s hard to keep on top of the sun because even if it’s cloudy here it can catch you out, not me mind, its factor 50 for my chops every day.
We looked to hire a car for a day as we haven’t been further from the resort but the excess is, get this………………………………1,200 euros, as they don’t do compressive insurance on the island, apparently no one can get it. From the state of the cars I can see why!
We hired two sun loungers for 6 euros, bought a bottle of wine, (nice wine) for 8 euros and enjoyed an easy lunch on the beach in downtown Santa Maria with an overcast sky at 27 degrees.
We also had a beer in the sports bar to check this weeks sports TV itinerary and thankfully the England v Scotland game is on Friday night.
After a wee more lounging we headed back, via a taxi to the resort whereby I did a short run and then after a cooling dip in the pool and a poolside drink with Wendy we had an early supper. I had a smoked salmon and mussel salad, Wendy had a very delicious pork cheek meal, (Are they face cheeks or bum cheeks she asks!!!), but they were lovely as was my fish.
After a few drinks, only one actually, in the bar, we retired to our room for an early night with our books, oh and some telly to get our Clinton/Trump fix. Thankfully it will all be over shortly and I do hope that you know who does not win!!!
Oh, I forgot to say, I’m sick of people putting their towels out and taking the sun beds, we see then doing it at 06:30 am, I mean 06:30!!!! What if you fancy a lie in! Bugger if you can’t beat then, JOIN THEM!
Would Have Thought………………………………
President Elect Donald Trump, jeepers the world is truly upside down!!!!!!!!!..........end of chat!
How on earth did it happen?????
I’m sorry I’m a day late with the blog due to outstanding circumstances, beyond my control!!!!
We spent the morning at our pool and then scarpered to a bar when the activities started and then moved to lunch in the grill bar. It was bloody lovey, I had jerk chicken and salad, MmmmmHHH.
We then went for a walk along the beach, this was nice but a bit hard going as the sand is so soft. We managed about two miles and found a hacienda that I found on my previous evening run, miles from anywhere, tucked away on the beach.
After our return we had a drink in the bar and we then went to the Italian restaurant that we had to book. Well I’ll tell you the food was a delight, Wendy had a starter, carpaccio, the greedy bugger!!! I then had lasagne, what a treat. Wendy had pizza as her main and that was just as nice.
A few drinks later and we were in bed, fast asleep having gone through the previous nights Sky news updates about Donald the Trump taking the mid-west and then finally Florida and then the Presidency of the United States, how mad the world has become!
Mind that was Hilary the right choice for the Democratic Party?
Boy after breakfast the sun came out…………
So we spent the morning by the pool and then drinks at the bar followed by a delightful lunch where we had a glass of wine or 3.
Back to the pool beds and we had a snooze and then read our books a bit more.
The sun is out but it’s still quite windy and on my evening run I got blasted there and back, oh and roasted too.
We had a lovely supper in the bar and then a delightful time with the pianist in the Piano bar, it was another pianist and again he did it without sheet music, what a treat!!!
We nipped to our local bar before bed time but the entertainment wasn’t so good so we settled in for the night in our room.
It’s been a nice couple of days, but it’s time the world settled down because all we get from Sky News is Donald the trump!!!
I’m looking forward to the match of the year tomorrow, by lord I hope England win!!!!!
Beach Day
It was overcast again and breezy this morning as I set off running, Wendy had a couple of minutes on me and she was well round by her halfway point when I passed her. She looks quite the little athlete these days, she goes around a four mile circuit which I pass at her half way point and we exchange passing pleasantries.
Breakfast was nice and the sun was peeping through, so having not laid our beach towels at 03:00 we headed to the beach where you can get a reasonable sunbed.
Book time ensued and the sun broke through and it was quite hot, in fact it was very delightful.
We managed a couple of drinks and headed up for lunch, I had grilled tuna and Wendy had crispy duck and we both had shredded cabbage, lettice and garlic and it was bloody lovely. Wendy mocked me has the duck was much tastier then my tuna!!!
Back to the beach for a few more hours reading and then at 15:00 we headed back as we had had enough sunshine for the day, well we are in the tropic of Cancer you know!
I headed to the gym and did 46 boring minutes on the treadmill as I could not be bothered with the darn wind blowing me back. It’s strange but its fine at the beach, it’s just when you head in certain directions.
A quick swim to cool off and a beer whilst doing ablutions and I was ready for the off, footy time.
Footy was good, apart from the fact that we sat on a table with the most chain smoking women I have met in my life, we both feel like we need immediate decontamination, I also think she has taken three days off our lives. I was hoping she would run out but she didn’t!!!!
3-0, it should have been six nil. Our taxi driver took a shine to my Red England Shirt so I gave him it, Wendy was a bit cross but the lad works 11 hours on 13 off every day, day in day out and I have everything I need in life, a random act of kindness can go a long way, especially where Karma is involved, so I was happy to oblige, boy was he chuffed.
We got back in time for supper at the hotel, we were going to eat at the pub but we were all cigged out so we came back pronto. We both had the fish, boy was it lovely, meaty, chunky and a symphony on my tongue!!!
Wendy had to dash to bed so I finished my wine, got a brandy and coke and now she’s started to snore so I think I’ll take a paragraph or two with my book.
Not so bad Though!!!
Well the weather was much clearer this morning, it caught me out actually as it appeared overcast in the twilight. So having donned my large running shirt and jacket to protect me from the fierce wind we have been having I ended up getting boiled alive. Jeepers I didn’t half enjoy my dip in the pool when I got back.
Today was a day out in town so off we set for the shuttle bus only to be pushed out by a German family. I couldn’t complain as we didn’t que we just turned up in time but I saw this mob walk straight to the front of the queue and push aboard, the lot of them, granny and granddad too.
So we ended up sharing a taxi with a nice young English couple into town. He wasn’t happy about it at all though!
We headed to the beach and got ourselves sorted with some nice sunbeds, much more comfortable than he ones at our hotel.
After a good few hours of reading we had a walk to the pier and I had a chat with Paul Newman and then we headed into town to the Tam Tam bar for a drink.
As I could see the Tam Tam bar was going to show the Rugby game I decided to go back as I could see it was a no smoking bar and I didn’t want to be choked like last night.
After walking Wendy back to the beds I had twenty minutes with my book and then headed back and what a game it was, England played out of their skin, it was a stunning victory.
I nursed a pint until half time, which cost 250 escudos and so as not to bloat myself I asked for a rum and coke at half time, so it was duly poured and I was asked for 600 escudos, as happy as you like.
I says, 600 escudos? 600! Yes she says its 400 for the rum and 200 for the coke. That’s six quid I say, and shes not moving so I very polity say, I won’t be back!!! I suppose I got to see the game smoke free mind!
After the game I settled back on my sunbed which was a bit disconcerting as Wendy, unbeknown to me had swapped beds and so some complete strangers where I thought she was and I thought they had done away with her, she wanted a bit more shade, apparently.
We had decided to have super in town at a place Wendy had taken a shine to but being a bit early we headed back to shower and brush up at the hotel with only 45 minutes available which we did in record time. So that’s 3 taxi rides so far.
We had the biggest bulls**ter of a head waiter I have ever come across, Wendy was told the fish special would make her cry, it’s so special, or course its fileted madam if you find one bone I’ll sack the chef. Oh he was full of it.
I asked for the lobster and asked what it came, with, chips, veg or rice so I ask if I can have a salad please, a nice big juicy African salad, of course sir, it will be organic too!
And so the band played nice music…………………… for just about an hour and then our food came. Wendy liked hers, it was ok but not as described, well she never cried.
I was fuming, the lobster was underrated, the salad was, 1 slice of tomato, 1 slice of cucumber, a small amount of grated carrot and a small amount of grated cabbage. I was straight over to the waiter who could not speak English and so a man was brought over who could. On seeing my unhappiness he ordered a salad which came when I had completely finished my meal twenty minutes later. I told him I had finished, he took it back!
So anyways I get billed for the full amount and an extra salad, you can see where this is going can’t you.
I was as mad as mad can be, I gave Mr head waiter what for and he referred me to the owner, well it will take me all night to go on but under Wendy’s direction I left it and went home for some cake in our very nice all-inclusive restaurant, minus paying for the additional salad, and yet again for the fourth time today it was yet another taxi ride back!!!
That’s Better
I had a lovely run this morning, in my vest as the sun was out. I bumped into you know who, who yet again took half my water, when will she learn!!! The scallywag!
We decide to go the beach, late as it was Sunday and we never got a bed, gggrrrrrr!!!
So we spent the day at the water slide where it was as peaceful as you like.
Lunch was, I know, you’ve guessed a delight. I had pork and Wendy had tuna with half a beer. I had rose wine with a wee bit of sprite to soften the blow.
I’m just about getting over last nights adventure, but it’s taking a while as I still feel the need to go down and thump somebody!!!
Anyway the afternoon was taken on my longer listening to soothing music, now I’m feeling better!
I went for a run into town while Wendy nodded. I really enjoyed it!!!
I had my Team GB vest on and I was high fived, thumbs upped and fist punched so much my hand hurt, see there are nice people around, I even got one form a Muslim type fella!!! I think this is kind of great, an African and a European who have never met before exchanging such pleasantries in the passing the day, without prejudice, it’s brilliant.
Do you know there is a luxury cruiser moored just out in the bay, it’s massive and even though there is great deprivation here no one seems to mind!
I’m sat on the balcony just now as Wendy ablauts, its supper in our restaurant tonight and we are going to take a bottle of nice wine and have our very own romantic supper.
I have suggested we have a pre-starter, a starter, a main and a desert. I’ll fill you in later……………!!!
PS – I know this is very naughty but as I type I am listening to Land of Hope and Glory and Wendy is not happy as we have German neighbours!!! It’s OK I won’t mention the war!
PPS – The Dambusters March is now and then it’s the Great Escape, she’s shut the door on me the bugger, well I never mentioned the war, did I?
Post shave and shower – she closed the lid on my laptop to stop the music!
Anyway, supper was lovely, we took our own wine, I had a sardine, Wendy had a ham vol-a-vent, I had vegetable soup Wendy had black bread, I then had beef and she had fish and to finish I had cheese cake with chocolate fondant and she had a little farty thing. All in all it was a lovely night with No Stress!
After which we walked to the beach to see the moon, which was nice and nearly full and then we had one drink in the bar during the extremely noisy magic show which we didn’t see because we had our chairs backwards, well it was supposed to be magic wasn’t it!.
We found out from Robyn who is out of strictly and thankfully it’s not Ed so we are both happy bunnies having a night on our balcony to the excessively nosey sound of the magic show!
And I’m not allowed to play Colonel Boggy!
Boys it’s Been Hot!
This mornings run was lovely if not a bit warm. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky when we set off and there was very little wind blowing.
It was hot but enjoyable and I love to see the town wake up, which it does pretty quickly.
Then after breaky, where I had, and I know its unconventional, hot chicken wings which I picked and put onto French bread, oh and I had three glasses of fresh orange as I was that thirsty.
Down to the kids splash pool which is music and noise free and most acceptable to us, and I finished my book, it was a really good read so I’m taking it home for Granddad Bryan as I know he will like it too.
We had lunch at the grill, I had a prawn salad which was nice and Wendy had octopus something or another with potatoes and that was nice too, I snaffled a bit of it as you do.
We did have a glass or two of wine and then napped for a while out in the sun. I woke and went for a walk around the complex and on my return I managed to persuade Wendy to have a half hour at the pool bar and that wasn’t hard to do.
After a wee bit more R&R poolside we went back to the room and I went for a run in town. I love it as I went in areas where I haven’t been before. Can you believe I found a four storey block of flats which were completely unfinished, no windows, no doors, no water and no electricity and yet they seem to be happy with their lot, good on them I say?
I got back and Wendy had showered and so we nipped to the beach to see the super moon which came up in completely the wrong direction to where we thought it would do, but it was impressive nonetheless.
Supper is late tonight, we are booked in for the 20:30 sitting at the Italian restaurant, I’m thinking I might have the lasagne again as it was so nice last time around!
Oh supper was lovely, Wendy had salmon and I had you know what and it was all lovely. We were served by Bruno Mars and Mo Farrah was lurking in the back ground. Both looky likeys mind!
We had one small drink at the bar after and we were back in our room by 09:45, stuffed and fully fortified.
Wendy did sit on a chair with wine spilt on it so she had to soak her skirt in the bath when we got back but apart from that’s it’s been a very enjoyable evening.
Oh and the super moon was even more super as it rose in the late night sky!
Overcast – To Start With
It was overcast but very warm this morning so we decided to walk into town along the beach which is the longest route as the coast swings right out in a big lumpy peninsular. It was a bit hard going in places as it can be quite soft sand.
However it was very pleasant walk and we saw the resort we stayed at last time which seemed to be full to the brim and as we plodded on the sun broke through, which was quite nice.
The walk was 5.1 miles long and took us just over two hours, but we did hang around the pier for a while to see the fish come in.
We had a stroll around town and had a beer in the Sal Beach Bar before heading for the roof top restaurant where we had the most delightful afternoon.
The Cretcheu Restaurant overlooks the pier and it’s just the perfect spot to while away an afternoon.
So here we go, to start we shared the Fish Tartare and it was bloody lovely. The fish was called Sara Fish and it’s a local catch as is the fish sold in all the local establishments. Then I had the tuna and mango with a nice big hearty salad and Wendy had the Fish Risotto which again both were truly delightful.
Finally we finished with the Custard and Mango cake which was pure ecstasy.
We quaffed it all down with a glass or two of very nice Pinot Grigio and then took the shortest route home via the roadway, another 2 miles.
We settled at our pool bar but unfortunately the Animation Team put on the loud music for a game of water polo so Wendy went to get the towels so we could lounge at the water park.
She was back ten minutes later and I could tell there had been a problem as she had her I’m nearly going to cry look. She had tripped on the cobbles with her fancy flip-flops and had fallen over. She had the tiniest of grazes to her palms but she must have somehow landed on her elbow as she had very bad swelling. It wasn’t through drinking, she had been tripping all morning with the bloody things as they are too thick for her to control them, they are quite fashionable though!
I took her over to the pool and insisted she let me examine the swelling with a bit of prodding as it could quite easily have been a break. But after a bit attention from Doctor David it was clear it wasn’t so we settled down on our sunbeds where I promptly fell asleep only to wake up some time later all alone as Wendy had gone back to the room.
So at about 18:00 we headed to bed for an early evenings kip only for me to wake up fully refreshed at 04:00! We were disturbed once by the maid who brought us late towels, and she must have thought what’s going on as we were both fast asleep under the sheets.
Early to Bed = Early Start
I was off running at 06:00 this morning and I saw a most glorious daybreak. I was down by the pier as the sun came up and it was a lovely scene. I saw two young people exercising their horses on the beach. One of the horses was doing a back roll in the sand, all four legs in the air having a good old scratch just like Jess used to do, They then took them into the sea for a relaxing swim, it was a really nice sight.
I got back at 07:00 and found that Wendy had followed me out, early and had completed her run as well.
So off I went to find some sunbeds on the beach, snaffle them and then meet Wendy at the restaurant for breakfast, oh and I had a nice relaxing swim in the sea too.
After breakfast we were back on our sunbeds by 08:30 and the sun was high in a clear blue sky.
I went to see one of the local trip reps on the beach to book a day out on Friday and he was so pleased that I had gone back to him, and that he got a very early booking. So on Friday we are off for a 4 x 4 Island Adventure, watch this space avid reader!!!
After lunch we had more beach time with our books but it later became overcast.
We got back to our room to complete bedlam outside. The hotel as now taken to having afternoon activities in our outside pool with extremely loud music, it’s ridiculous!
So I got ready for an afternoon run and would you believe Wendy joined me to get away from the noise.
On our way out we dropped into reception to make yet another complaint to the tour reps, only to find they were inundated with other people doing the same. One young fella from Southend was seething. He had just arrived and had paid for The Level, (The highest level of accommodation and facilities) but as they were over booked they couldn’t give him the room he had booked or, which was worse, the band which would allow him to use the facilities.
I could hear him repeating himself, the poor sod, “I’m happy with the room but I want to use the facilities that I have paid for”, it just fell on death ears and he got himself even more upset.
So we had a word with yet another rep and found out we should have been upgraded last week and was offered another room at the front of the hotel, but the restrictions were so bad we stuck to what we have.
Our run was nice, I took Wendy through the downtown areas and we had a rest at the pier.
We came back to a most dramatic sunset which was a delight.
We have new neighbours and they seem quite nice so after introductions on the balcony Wendy and me went for a delightful supper, I had salmon, garden peas and cauliflower in a cheese sauce, boy was it yummy!!
A drink later in the piano bar to some lovely music was quickly followed by bed, hence me being up again at 04:00.
Don’t worry I’ll nap at the waterpark after breakfast!!!
Sunrise
This morning we had a cracker of a sunrise. Daybreak was occurring when I left the hotel gates the sky was glowing with redness and I got to the pier just to see the sun rise and it was a real treat.
It was another early morning as I got up at 04:00 and I have not yet napped and I feel quite chippy, and I have had only a couple of drinks. We met an old couple in the Piano Bar who had some real grips about the resort and then when the splash time occurred with the loud music we went down to the bottom bar for a pre-lunch drink and met a really nice chap from Sheffield, well you always bump into someone, somewhere in the world. He was most put out as he had to buy his wife some after sun lotion which cost him 30 quid, ouch!!!
Oh and there was a really nice Welsh couple from Cardiff at the pool, I got chatting to him as he was reading a Jack Reacher book, he is a smashing fella and his wife is quite nice too.
Lunch, oh boy lunch, what a double delight. I had roast pork in a blue cheese sauce, Brussel sprouts and garden peas, jeepers it was lovely. Wendy had a sarnie, how unadventurous.
She was feeling a bit jippy tummy today so she was taking things steady but by 19:00 she was raring to go, chomping at the bit actually.
I had an evening run but Wendy didn’t come, as per jippy tummy. There is a huge tall ship moored offshore, I saw it this morning and it’s still here, I would love a look around her, she look stunning.
I also saw a dog and its owner swimming in the sea, off the pier which is about 100 metres offshore, the dog was loving it, I do hope I can upload the video as Robyn would love to see it.
I forgot to say yesterday that when we were out running as we got to the hotel Wendy set off galloping away, so I thought what’s she doing, so I caught her up, but I didn’t overtake her, off she goes faster, so I’m thinking that she’s at it so I overtook her and left her in my wake. She used a profanity!!! Yes she did, the cheeky upstart!
I asked her today what she thought she was doing, she’s been running 7 days and thinks she can run me into the ground, what a chump!!!
Tonight supper was lovely, something meaty with a bit of gristle, but that was OK as I added a bit of salmon to jig it along. Wendy wasn’t feeling too good so we had one drink in the bar and headed home to bed.
I hope she hasn’t got the Zeka Virus
On our way out of the restaurant we met the couple from Sheffield and he has worked it out correctly and it cost £32.00 for the after sun lotion, I think he is shell shocked.
Cold Day
I woke with a start in the night with Wendy dashing in and out onto the balcony to get the sports clothes in as it was raining, I never heard a thing!
An early run was taken as it was day trip day and boy some rain had come down, some roads were quite tricky. But the temperature is still 25 degrees.
At breakfast I collected a few last items of fruit as requested by our tour guide as we were going to the shanty town and the children like to have food given to them, so for the last few days I have snaffled lots of fruit for them. I must admit I’m not over keen on visiting a shanty town, but we might just be giving a bit of help to those less fortunate.
So off we set at 09:15 in the back of an open 4 x 4 utility truck, which thankfully had bench seats, with Ann-Marie, Johanne, (Both from Holland), Michael and Kelly, (Both from Wales), for a day of great adventure.
I’ll not detail everything we saw as it would be boring, but despite the overcast conditions and the wind in our hair we had a cracking day out. The drivers did their best to give us an enjoyable experience and we all loved it.
The shanty town was a shocking experience but thankfully we passed through it without stopping, but we called in at a voluntary run school which a German lady has established. The school provides one hot meal a day and running water, toilets and showers for over 120 children. What makes me cross is that some of the parents work in our hotel and although they live in terrible conditions they are very friendly towards us but here’s what gets me, they see fatty white people lord over them who waste food by the ton. The amount of food some people load onto their plate is shocking and more often they leave it and just walk away.
It was so heart-breaking that I gave them the sarnies we had made for our lunch. As a consequence we had to buy lunch in the Islands capital, which wasn’t bad as it was a café the drivers took us to so we got a decent feed and a few beers all for 10 euros!
We got back to our hotel in a dishevelled state but having had a really smashing day out. We needed a drink to warm our cold bodies so after saying goodbye to our new friends we headed to the bar for a warming rum and coke.
I had to join the queue of complaining people who are constantly harassing the Reps and I must admit I have given in and accepted my fate. These poor girls are getting hammered day in and day out due to the chaotic way this hotel is run. So I said fair play, you do your best but I’ll now take it up when I get home.
Dinner, was bloody lovely, a……………..delight even. I had lemon chicken and veg, Wendy had spicy pork, I think she had the best choice as my chicken needed a bit more sauce.
We sat at our table with a glass of wine and then headed to the bar where we enjoyed one drink. Wendy went upto the room and I got some drinks for bed, bad idea, I met met a Welsh nationalist who didn’t mind giving me a happy go lucky Englishman his opinion, while I’m on holiday thank you very much, need I say more?
Its now 21:15 and almost bedtime, with my book of course and it’s been a fantastic day. The weather hasn’t been great but the people we were with made it memorable.
There may be one more day of bad weather tomorrow but I don’t mind as I am heading to the Sal Bar to watch the rugby!!!
Night, Night Avid Reader.
Oh and Wendy is feeling much better today Granny!!!
Rugby!!!
I slept late this morning rising at 05:50 and going for a run at 07:00 as it was still overcast from last night, but we didn’t get any more rain.
I came across a big fella on my run and he was agitated and shouting in an angry manner and as I passed him I could hear him going on so I stopped my music and took a listen, he was shouting at an old man across the road who was in the grounds of a hotel using their fitness stuff. I heard the man shouting, “I F**king hate white men”.
I was going to nip back and tell him, “That’s a bit racist mate” but I thought I couldn’t be bothered as he seemed to be steaming, at 07:40 too!!!
Maybe if I see him in the morning I’ll have a chat!
I got back to the hotel, showered and we had a nice breakfast, I had black bread, ham and cheese.
It was quite warm, 25 degrees but still overcast so we went down to the quite bar and sat and read our books until 12:00 when we went to the grill to have a bite to eat before walking into town to watch the rugby.
The game was great, another England win and a nice 1 litre bottle of house wine to go with it.
We did a bit of shopping in town and we bartered back and forth in about 15 shops. Eventually Wendy bought a new sewing basket from a street trader for 15 euros, I must admit it is quite nice.
We walked back and it had started spitting so I took my shirt off and soaked it up, it’s great, tropical spitter that is!
When we got back to the hotel I had a drink at the bar while I read my book, however Wendy declined as she was starving. I finished my book and what a dam good read it was, it’s another I am bringing back for Granddad Bryan as it’s just up his street, a very interesting concept I might add.
On our way to the room we bumped into Michael, from the tour yesterday.
He was absolutely blazing drunk. He is such a nice lad, he was all over the place. Apparently Kelly was having an afternoon spar and he went to the bar and ended up having 15 Pina Coladas. I don’t think Kelly will be too pleased with him as it’s their last Saturday night and she will want to go out.
As I sit here on our balcony he is trying to get another drink from the bar but thankfully its closing.
Supper was a real teat, I had a lovely salad, with fish, chicken and pork, what a treat!!!
And we sneaked some fruit out for the kids in the shanty town. We have done this for two days now and I’ll get some more tomorrow and then give it to the drivers to take to the school.
After supper we couldn’t get a seat at the bar so we walked to the beach and found a pod to lark around in, it was really nice, we laughed a bit and it drizzled. But only slightly and then with a night cap we headed to bed.
I’m finishing this as I hear yet more of Donald trump on Sky News, I’m not sure if I want to come back to the real world anymore!!!!
Maybe the sun will come out tomorrow, our options are, Sun – Beach bed or Overcast – down town for Sunday lunch, Santa Maria Style!!!
I’ll let you know how we get on tomorrow!
But at 25 degrees who could complain?
Lunch!
Today was yet another overcast day with the odd bit of spittle from the sky, so as planned we were going to head for lunch in town.
My run in town was interesting as there is a nightclub that on a Saturday is open until 07:00. I got into town at about 07:15 and the bar across the from the nightclub was cramped with clubbers, still boozing and still wanting to club!! Carefully watched by two members of the constabulary with night sticks at the ready. This is a local bar and there was only the odd white face there but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Overcast it might be but its still very hot and I was dripping with sweat when I got back from my run.
Every day I go out I see this massive dog who has such large paws he looks like he is lumbering along with his owner. Robyn would love him, I’d like to get some video of him but I never know when he is going to lumber along.
For the last couple of days we have done some snaffling of fruit for the charity school and I gave it all to the head man of the tour group who took us out the other day. It was quite a bag full and he was extremely grateful for it, well it’s the least we can do as we only eat meagre potions and never leave anything on our plates.
Before lunch we had a drink in the bar whilst reading our books and met with Michael and Kelly, who had forgiven Michaels previous night’s misdemeanour. The poor buggers are only here a week and have had 3 days of overcast conditions. They have booked a professional photoshoot around the hotel thinking on their last day they would have nice tans and sunshine as a back drop. I said hopefully the photographer may be able to Photoshop the finished prints. Michel the little bugger was still making the best of a bad day and ordered 2 Pina Colada’s at 11:00!
We walked into town on the cobbled path which took an hour and a half which was just nice as we were hungry when we got there.
Before lunch we tried to buy some small T-Shirts for friends in Australia, but in the land of haggling we could not reach a fair price and so left it as a bad job, we were willing to pay 3,000 escudos, (about £28), which for four tiny shirts, we thought was more than enough, the owner wanted £40!!!
Guess what lunch was Avid Reader…………………………………….a sumptuous delight, of course!
We shared a Fish Tartare this time though we had Wahoo fish, it was lovely.
Then we both had Filet Mignon, rare, with salad, two words……….Mhhhh, Mhhhh, Mhhhh darling, followed by a charming cheesecakey thing that I can’t recall. All washed down with one bottle of Pinot.
We called into the clubbing bar, as previously mentioned, on the way back, as and I bought two small beers. Beers in town cost 200 or 250 escudos each so when I gave the barmaid 1,000 escudos and she gave me 600 back I thought that was it so we found a table and sat down. Seconds later the barmaid came over and gave me another 200 escudos back. So the drinks were only 100 escudos each, it must be because it’s a local bar!!!
So after processing all this info through my brain I thought what a decent thing to do, here she is working flat out for next to nothing and giving me money back I didn’t know I was due. So I gave it back to her and thanked her for her honesty. She gave me the biggest and sweetest smile ever and said thank you.
We walked back home to ease the burden on our belly’s and had a drink at the pool bar, reading and chatting to a few people.
We nipped back to our room at 18:00 where Wendy assured me we would want to have a bite to eat later, well we will see!!! She is such a piggy porker!
And so I am too!!!
After soaking my feet in the bath while reading my book we went to the buffet. I had a couple of pieces of bread and butter with roast lamb and some cheese and pickle, not all on the same sarnie mind, and Wendy had some beef and bread. Mine was by far the better as the beef was a bit chewy.
We then shared a tiny pud so as not too feel guilty!
We sat next to a couple who came on Wednesday and I was a bit cross with them as he left mountains of food only to go and get three puddings. But on chatting to them for while they were really quite nice, from Leeds. I should have said it’s not like a Yorkshireman to waste anything.
Back to our room, I’m on the balcony, its 21:19. Wendy is in bed and I think I’ll join her in 25 seconds.
I’m sorry I could not upload photos today but the Wi-Fi here is most unacceptable, so I will try tomorrow!
Night Night Avid Reader, my book awaits!
What a Day!!!
I rose at 05:50 and went onto the balcony and I could see the moon and I knew it would be warn today.
So I set off smartish for my run with Wendy hot on my heels.
Well I was a bit taken aback with the level of security in town, I saw Bobbies everywhere and then officers posted at various points with assault rifles and, would you believe, Kalashnikov rifles, somethings going on me thinks! I never got to know what was happening but it looked pretty mean, needless to say I kept myself on high alert all day, and will do for the next few days.
We had a lovely morning at the beach and then a smashing lunch in the buffet, the big downside was being called on my phone by direct line about the damage to the flat in Aberdeen. I won’t go into detail so as to save Robyn’s nerves, but I must admit I do hate insurance companies, they aren’t there to help you when things go wrong!
Afternoon on the beach, again, well the sun was well and truly out and then we headed to the bar at 16:00 for a drink before we went back to our room.
Our room was in the course of, “Being Done”, as Wendy would say so we sat on the balcony and waited for closure!
I went for an afternoon run to get rid of my insurance company stress and I really enjoyed it, with my Team GB Vest on mind.
We are running out of books as the book exchange as only foreign books, apparently English language ones get swept up a soon as they are left, which is hard to believe with the number of Brits staying at the resort. I brought 4 and have finished them all, Wendy brought 6 and is on her last one.
We had supper as a foursome with people who are a wee bit older than us, 78 years old, and they have quite a few complaints about the hotel but all in all we had a dam good laugh. Their names are Carmel and Graham. Graham is Mutton-Jeff and swears a bit loudly when he thinks he is whispering in my ear, but Wendy never heard so that’s OK.
As we didn’t get any pud in the restaurant we headed to the buffet and I had a cheesy selection and Wendy had something with chocolate after which we went to our room and Wendy collapsed in bed leaving me to update you, avid reader.
I put on a moisturising foot pack as my feet are giving me a bit of gip, I hope to sleep in them all night, unless they slip off in bed of course!
I haven’t done today justice as I am now too tired to type, but I did say goodbye to Michael this morning who after a big booze up last night was soaking up some last minute sunshine. Kelly was nowhere to be seen, maybe it was her turn for 25 Pina Colados!!!
Relaxed!
Well the armed police presence had gone this morning and it was business as usual with the hustle and bustle of the pier and the surrounding areas in town this morning. I was up early, 05:00, and after uploading my blog and having a cuppa I was off running and I saw a beautiful sunrise. The sun came out of the sea and it was lovely but within minutes it was hidden behind high clouds where it stayed most of the day.
However that didn’t stop us hanging around the pool on our sunbeds for most of the day.
When the madness started at 11:00 we nipped down to the quite bar and had a drink and then sidled up for lunch where we both had pork knuckle and veg. It was yummy but Wendy thought it a bit too hard work to get the meat off the bone, she thought it needed another hour in the oven.
She did find some tiny chocolate cakes. They were solid chocolate and she devoured about 17!!!
A young French women saw her and we pointed them out to her and off she went and got a further 62 as did our dinner friends from last night who also filled their boots. We even took some back to our fridge, I think we took six, I doubt there is six in there now.
Back to the pool where the sun was hiding still but having not put any sunscreen on my head I did find it a bit sore when I later run my razor across it.
The hotel management have put a Level sign up at the sofa section of the bar so we can no longer use it, we haven’t used it to date but it’s still a facility that has been withdrawn. They have even posted a very nicely dressed young lady to oust any riff-raff!! In fact she offed some poor buggers on their first wedding anniversary who only came today and as such they haven’t got used to the madness of the management team!
Wendy was a bit of a lost cause at the pool so I took her running into town where she got a bit of a stich so I had to knock down the MPH. But she kept up and we had a rest at the pier where I jumped into the sea to cool off. I was going to dive but the tide was low and it looked an awfully long way down, so I jumped instead!
Our return was into a head on wind and Wendy struggled a bit but fair do’s she manged it without complaint.
I’m proud as punch she seems to have gotten the running bug and can now, despite her stich, (maybe all those cakes didn’t help), run five miles!
Ah, supper was a double delight, perhaps triple. Pork Knuckle, yummy scrummy and fried chicken and a wee bit of crispy duck, with veg and salad and it seemed to work nicely finished with profiteroles!
After we had a drink in the piano bar and we heard some delightful music and then we nipped down to our local bar and we met some really lovely boys. How nice are these boys?
I must admit I did hear them talking yesterday with reverence to Nana, and here they were telling us that they have brought Granddad and Nanna on holiday because he has Alzimers Disease and it might be the last time he remembers them. They have 15 in their party and they are all here for Granddad, what nice boys they were. Three cousins + their entourage of mums, Dads and Nana and Granddad, it almost brought a tear to Wendy’s eye and mine too.
One more drink and we were bed bound but not before we had some chocs snaffled from our lunchtime meal!
Trip Hazard
Up nice and early today, 05:30 and spent 30 minutes trying to update the blog, I mean which idiot is online at such a time taking my Wi-Fi?
Off I went and it was a pleasant morning but the sun snook up into the cloud without the beautiful sunrise. Wendy was just opening her peepers as I left the room.
I got back and took a nice cooling dip in the pool.
A strange occurrence has happened overnight! The Level Crowd have been allocated a section of sunbeds and pods up at our pool. Fences have been erected and a rope fence put up. Painters were hard at it giving it a good old spruce up as well.
The regular punters were not happy and staged a sit in, a bouncer was called in with still no shifting of anyone. A Mexican standoff ensued and in the end the management gave up. I knew something was in the offing when I saw four top suited geezers measuring up with their arms the other day, you know who I mean, the mover and shaker executive types, those who don’t really know what they are doing.
After a hearty breakfast we had the morning at the pool where I had a shot at Stand Up Paddle Boarding and I can honestly say I never fell in once, there was the odd dogdgey wobble mind.
On my walk around the pool I noticed a pool side pod had been reserved by someone and it was now well turned 11:00, so when it was still unoccupied at 12:30 when we went for lunch I reported it to the “Guest Experience Manager”. I showed irrefutable evidence with a photo on my phone and he immediately got on his phone to no one in particular as the pod was still reserved when the people eventually turned up at 14:30. The selfish bastards, they had prevented someone from using that pod almost all day long. And what a pair of fat buggers they are, she is about 4 feet tall and 7 foot wide, she is the strangest looking person, body shaped, in the world. I was seething so I went and told them they had been extremely selfish, she offered to give it to me, how kind!!!! GGGrrrrrr!!!
Calm down now Victor!, (I only did it out of mischief).
So back to the sunbed and the sun was in and out of the clouds which does give a bit of respite and stops you getting too much sun. I did have a wee nap and about 15:00 Wendy said she was off for a nap, to bed!!!
So I went for a run into town and came across a chain link rope which stops cars going onto the beach path. It’s about 2 foot from the ground, I should have been able to hop it, but guess what? I caught my shin on at and went head over heels scraping my shin in doing so. But the first thing I worried about wasn’t the blood flowing from this despicable wound, no it was, “Did anyone see that”? Of course they bloody did, it’s a very busy beach. I legged it pretty smartish.
I got back and darling Wendy was all spruced and ready to go.
We are dining out tonight, none of this all-inclusive for us. It may not be fine dining tonight, but it will be fine wining and we know we can get a litre of decent wine at the sports bar and Wendy is in severe need of it at this point. So its wine and burgers tonight.
On a serious point, All Inclusive brings the worst out of people. You see people filling plates to the top with food and then they just walk away and leave half of it. And it’s not because its inedible, the food is lovely, they are just pigs and completely disrespectful of the Islanders who earn next to nothing and haven’t got two pennies to rub together and these poor sods end up clearing the tables of these slobs!
What a lovely night we have had!
We had a sharer and a prawn cocktail oh and a litre of wine in the Sal Beach Bar, on the actual beach, where would you believe we were joined by Graham and Carmel who had come down to exchange currency, (as a side line they act as a currency exchange with the best rates in town).
Graham told us a sad story. It’s his birthday on Friday, 25th November, or maybe not. He was born at the same time his Mum lost her two year old child, Barry and so in all the grieving Graham never got registered. He had no birth certificate but yet somehow was called for national service but he couldn’t marry Carmel, in fact the wedding was almost cancelled as he had no birth certificate, but at the last minute a certificate was issued and the date of his birth is detailed as somewhere between the 22nd to the 27th November, so he chooses to have his birthday on the 25th, how sad!
From the Sal Bar Wendy and I went to a local bar for a few drinks and it was really nice. The feral dogs were hanging around for a feed and a young French girl gave them a good meal with the scraps from her and her boyfriend’s supper.
After two snorter’s we got a taxi back home and settled into the sofa to watch the highlights of the Chancellors Autumn Statement on Sky News, with a drink from the bar of course.
No we didn’t, we sat on the balcony and knocked it back!!!
Segregation
I was up a bit earlier this morning having had a very nice kip………….05:15 and I was away after tea and cake at 06:15 and it was extremely cloudy when the sun started to come up.
But that all changed because when we came out of breakfast the clouds were parting and we had a morning and afternoon of sunshine.
Things got a bit more sinister at the new Level section as the lady bouncer became more proactive and turfed anyone away who wandered into the area. Anyone who such as had a sniff at those beds were given short shrift, but has the pool filled up and there were no more riff-raff beds people began to be more resourceful in their approach and they would sneak in and pinch a bed when her back was turned.
It’s crazy really because we have seen from our balcony that no Level people have used them all day long. Our new neighbours next door are fuming about it!
I have taken to having cocktail of the day, todays was a delight and included the Islands local drink, Grog, which isn’t as bad as it sounds. I loved it Wendy wasn’t so keen though. We took our cocktails in the Main Bar near the restaurant and I got chatting to two young women who had just arrived from Huddersfield. It looks like these two are very much good time girls and I can see them either rocking all over the world or kicking off big style. I’ll keep you posted!
We had a lovely lunch down at the grill, a bit of mix and match really, we shared a hamburger and chips and a prawn salad, you wouldn’t think it would work but it did.
Afterwards I spotted someone with Brussel sprouts and I thought, hang on I never saw them. Well I wouldn’t would I because they were marked up in the ban-maire as cauliflower, how far removed can you get. So I had four or five for my pudd!
And yet again we saw fatties leaving mounds of food, you could see the look of disproval of the young waitress as she cleared their plates, the fat buggers! As per Gill tradition both Wendy’s and my plate had not one morsel left and so I told the girl when she cleared up that our plates where clean and I thanked her for the lovely food, she gave me one of those looks where a girl can roll her eyes upwards in disdain, fair play at least she had the courage to do it.
After lunch it was back to our sun beds for a bit more R&R as the sun was quite bright and as it cooled off towards three-ish we headed back to our room.
Wendy was a bit tired so spruced herself up with a hot shower and I went for a late run down town and onto the pier where I caught the setting sun.
Supper times looming I wonder what treat there will be tonight!
And it was, pork in bacon and I had a wee bit of fish something, with veg. Wendy then gorged on white chocolate profiteroles and I had cheese and bread, bloody lovely!!!
We spent an hour at the top end of the grill, out of the noise of the amphitheatre where the kiddie routine was in full swing, it was quite nice and at 21:00 we headed to bed for a well-earned night with our books and a wee bit of Sky News.
I forgot………
To take my water bottle with me today and boy was I thirsty!
I got up at 05:20 and looked out and I saw the entire solar system, so I knew that within 50 minutes dawn would break and the fierce sun would be on my back. So I grabbed a cuppa, got ready, I got my sunglasses, my normal glasses, my room key and I even took 1,000 escudos just in case. I even got the bottle out and left the dam thing on the fridge!
So off I sets and within a mile I thought bugger, but don’t worry I’ll call into the 24 hr filling station about another mile into town. Yes its 24 hrs, but it’s unmanned!
OK, I’ll get some from a shop, but none was open, consequently on the hottest morning so far by the end of my run my tongue was hanging out and my throat thought I’d been through a sandstorm.
After eventually getting back it was off for a dip in the pool, after drinking 3 gallons of water, and then breakfast which was a good old bacon sarnie with ketchup.
We took our towels down to the kiddie pool and had a very relaxing morning. Only nipping off to make a booking for a restaurant for tonight, I don’t know which one as its Wendy’s secret treat for me.
We had a drink, cocktail of the day with Graham who is celebrating his 78th Birthday and it was only 12:30 and we both thought that he had already had his fill for the day, he needed to steady on as Carmel has booked a meal at a great restaurant tonight.
We had a lovely lunch and then headed back but I couldn’t get into my book as they had started to play loud music through the mushrooms which are situated around the pool side. No matter where you go there is music everywhere, now I like music, I have loads on my iPhone, I can put my earphones in and I can hear it privately if I want to, but no someone else decides what I have to listen to.
So we took our towels to our pool but the only beds were in the………………..ta…da……..The Level Section!!!!
So that’s where I am going. Wendy wasn’t happy but followed me in. Martin our neighbour was on a nearby bed and shouted that he had my back and would support me come what may. I said that’s great to know Martin but I’ve heard that before.
After a while I needed to nip to the toilet so I told Wendy if anyone challenges you tell them your husband will sort it out when he gets back. I got back and Wendy said that a young women had asked her to leave.
So I settle back down and about 20 minutes later a young and heavily pregnant woman asked us to move. I said no, we are staying, I said that I don’t want to argue with you so please get the Guest Experience Manger to come down to discuss. She started to argue with me that the beds are for Level customers only and I said in reply that I said I didn’t want to argue with you so please don’t argue with me, go and contact the Guest Experience Manger, who I have complained to before and I’ll discuss it with them, but we are not moving. With that she left us alone, and it’s a good job because Martin had gone for a nap in his bedroom and was nowhere to be seen when he was supposed to be watching my back, usual story then!
As they have now stopped the loud music in the afternoon I took part in the water polo game, it was a long game and I really enjoyed it, but it did get a bit rough and tumble. But being in my 50’s it’s a bit awkward when you supposed to wrestle a barely dressed female 18 year old goal raker! In the end I think we won!
However I was so cold on leaving the pool I had to make a sharpish exit and go for an afternoon run.
And boy was the wind up tonight, almost blowing me backwards!
I got back just after 18:20, showered and nipped to the bar for a wee drink to bring back to our room so I can type my blog in a respectable manner. Wendy is flat out on the bed where she has now been for about 2 hours!
Wendy was a sight for sore eyes tonight, I had the best lady on my arm in town and we went to the Grill, which I accurately guessed. The food was really nice, we shared calamari with spicy sauce and then we both had an Entrecote Steak on a bed of mash potatoes, with a lovely mushroom sauce, and…………chips of course.
It was a really lovely meal if not a bit disorganised, but the mood was spoiled by the excessively loud African music from tonight’s entertainment.
Do not come here to this resort if you want to relax!!!
A few drinks in our room from the bar, catch up with Sky News, Football scandals are now flavour of the month and it would seem there is much more to come, so it’s time for bed with Linda La Plante, oh and Wendy of course!
Done It!!!
Today I smashed my previous record for running on consecutive days which was 75. Today was my 366th. I know that is an entire Leap Year and I have hammered my PB!!!
In the process I have covered over 3,438 miles at an average of 9.39 miles per day. Oh and I have worn out 3 pairs of trainers in the process too.
In total I have ran 407 times as sometimes I have an afternoon run just to keep me out of mischief.
So today I am feeling pretty chuffed with myself.
And I have also run on 3 continents to boot.
If I had to pick one of the many memorable runs in this feat I would say it was the morning run around the bay in the suburbs of Adelaide, which coincidently was the first run of this record. The sun was up and it was just a fantastic experience.
On so onto todays run which was in 260C heat and I took in a very delightful sunrise!!!
I stopped to take a photograph of the sunrise and two playful dogs, a Mum and her pup I think trotted upto me and both licked the sweat off my legs while I wasn’t watching, tickling me as they did.
We had an early breakfast, I had a lovely croissant with ham and cheese, delightful! Wendy had fruit with her yogurt.
We headed back to our sunbed and had a couple of hours peace and quiet with our books until the morning madness commenced, so we headed to the quite bar for a beer, oh and we also booked into the Italian Restaurant for supper.
From there we strolled up to the Piano Bar to take cocktail of the day which was pretty refreshing. I also bumped into a man reading the latest Jack Reacher novel, he said he would drop it off for me when he as finished with it.
With half an hour to lunch we did some more reading and then I got my England shirt for my final big match down town.
Wendy was going to walk with me and then do the full circuit back so we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out.
The match was hard going with red and yellow cards flying. In fact I think it was the longest game of rugby I have seen since the 2003 world cup, there were that many incidents. Thankfully England won and so we go onto play Australia in an unbeaten run next Saturday.
I walked back to the hotel and Wendy was in the room as the sun had gone behind some angry looking clouds, I went for another run to blow away the two pints of gassy beer that I had watching the match. I also want to be hungry for supper tonight as its pretty good tucker.
Ah, I didn’t go for a run, I have a groin niggle so I took a nice bath instead, reading my book only to be disturbed by the sound check for tonights performance. I think it’s going to be a Katy Perry Night!
There seems to be lots of new people and I think I have stumbled across something very sinister. Fred West is alive and well and he is in the witness protection scheme, he is you know? I have seen him. He has had a bit of plastic surgery but I’m sure it’s him. He has some very doggy characters with him. Perhaps it’s a protection scheme week away, at tax payers expense of course. I’ll keep you posted on these dramatic developments, enough said!
Wendy took a call from Robyn tonight who seems to be a bit unclear about the Level Clients.
It seems that the hotel being built next door which is supposed to be “Six Star” has not been completed in time so all the advance bookings they have taken are being accommodated in our hotel, which by the way is already spilt in two and both parties can only use certain parts of each others facilities.
Well they are trying to make room for the additional Level people and keep moving the goal posts, moving us off areas where we have previously been and sprucing them up and allowing only level Clients in them. But due to our location away from the beach, (The hotel is a Kilometre long from the beach into the desert), who would want to pay that sun of money and come and relax next to the riff-raff, so consequently they don’t come, or very few do and we have lost an area, plus ten sun beds making the plight to get morning sunbeds all the more difficult. I’m telling you there are complaints flying left, right and centre and myself being a good investigator, along with my IPhone, have been collecting evidence. Oh yes I think I might need to set my legal team on this case when I get back to Blighty.
Supper was lovely despite my mash being completely cold, but I did get a warm portion just as I had finished, just in time to use it to mop up my mushroom sauce.
We didn’t take a pud in the Italian Restaurant but we went to the buffet and snaffled some cakes for Wendy to have later. We then took a drink from the Piano Bar and took it to one of the excluded bars and we hid our bands, how sneaky are we.
We then headed back to our room and I nipped to our local bar for a night cap. Well I’ll tell you there was a right load of drunks, drunks everywhere. In fact I think its riffraff week. This morning I was getting a coffee at the pool bar at about 10:30 and a man asked for his babies bottle to be emptied of milk, rinsed and filled with……………………..coca cola. You could not help but see the look of pure delight on the 12 month old baby as he sucked on a full bottle of the black stuff, it wasn’t even diet coke!
With the way things are looking tonight I think we might have a balcony accident at the very least.
Things are going downhill, we think as Christmas is approaching there must have been some price reductions as things have certainly taken a downwards spiral, clientele wise that is!
Beach?
This morning I was up at 05:30 and had to nip out and get some of my running stuff from the balcony and through the darkness I could see someone had been out already and bagged two sun beds right in front of our balcony. And then I saw others skulking around laying towels down. One man was even carrying beds under his arm and arranging an entire gang of them all together. By the time I was ready the sky was lighter and I could see snaffled sun beds everywhere.
Wendy feeling brave came with me running this morning. She dipped out at the 2.5 mile mark and waited until I got back to her for a couple more miles. We had a rest at the pier to take a drink of water, of course I had to share my meagre rations because Wendy hadn’t thought to bring any.
On our travels we had passed the night club at 06:45 and the revellers were going over to the corner café to carry the night on. There wasn’t a hint of drunkenness and there was yet another nice atmosphere, as there was last week.
However down at the pier there were four drunk girls and two of them started fighting, I mean proper rolling around stuff, well I have never seen the like. Thankfully a young local fella dragged them apart and they dusted themselves down. That was enough for Wendy, she was away and didn’t carry on with the run, well she did but she headed back to the hotel, not because of the girls fighting but by the time she had got back she would have done about 6 miles, I’m very proud of her.
The sun didn’t come out but we went to the beach after breakfast and thought it might get better, it didn’t. Thankfully I took my sweatshirt down but had to hand it over to Mrs Gill as she was feeling the chill, now I am meaning the 250C chill here by the way. I did nip back to our room for a cuppa and in the meantime it did rain heavily but only for ten minutes mind.
As we got chillier and chillier we went to the bar for cocktail of the day, which I liked but Wendy didn’t as it had a hint of aniseed.
We and a really nice lunch and went back to the beach to read our books but by 15:00, with some more drizzle we went back to our room. I went for a run and to check out restaurants for tonight as we were going down town.
I had a pleasant run but it was still a bit chilly with a biting wind.
I haven’t seen Fred West today, I do hope he isn’t upto his mischief again!
We went into town for supper, first we met our neighbours, Martin and Dawn in a bar and then we went to an outside restaurant we had picked out earlier, but because it had been raining they had closed. So lost for somewhere to eat we hit the back streets and we came across a belter.
We found a traditional Cape Verde restaurant that did a good variety of food. I had the mixed fish with a nice salad and Wendy had the very fancy fish, both were lovely. We shared a 50cc carafe of wine and to finish I had a rum and coke. All in all it came to £35 in their funny money and it was a most pleasant evening.
We even came across a most delightful local baby boy who was out with his Mum and Dad. Wendy wanted to snaffle him up but didn’t get the chance.
A taxi ride later and we were back at the hotel having a glass of wine and pinching pudding treats from the restaurant then we headed for a late night, 21:30, chill on the balcony before bed.
No book tonight as I have finished mine today, Linda La Plante, what a novelist, top drawer.
I have though a new novel which I might just save for when I am at home for a cold December day. It’s the new Jack Reacher book as left at my room door by the chap I met yesterday.
The kindness of strangers never lets me down!!!
Oh and he’s saved me about £17.00!!!
Naughty Boy Though
This morning I had that bit of naughtiness about me so before I went running I took our beach towels down to the quiet pool and unashamedly snaffled two well-placed sunbeds. I know I shouldn’t, but I did.
But before I set off I was getting my stuff from the balcony and I could hear very loud snoring, it came from next door. So I chanced a peep and there was Martin spark out fully dressed on the sofa knocking Z’s out big style, with the door open, I later found out he’d been on a big bender.
We had breakfast and you will never guess who was in front of us at the very next table………….Fred West and he was looking very pleased with himself which can only mean trouble for someone. His entourage didn’t half fill their plates, the fat buggers. Wendy thinks they are all a bit Ming-Mongy, as Ian would say, but I think you need to keep your wits about you when in their close proximity or you might just end up on the rack.
We had a really nice relaxing morning at the quiet pool and I partook in a drink or two to soak up the ambiance. The sun was out and all was at peace with the world.
Before lunch we had the cocktail of the day, todays delight was a Santa Maria, it was lovely.
We came across Carmel and Graham at a dining table so we had our lunch with them and heard all about Grahams birthday supper, which he really enjoyed.
Before we went back to the sunbeds we thought to take another cocktail of the day down, so I asked for two more cocktail of the day please. Only to be given a completely different drink altogether, so I said excuse me, its Santa Maria today, no its not sir, yes it is, no it’s not sir it’s ******, or whatever. I know I shouldn’t but I got todays Newsletter and took it to her, pushed in front of the Germans and said here it is, todays cocktail! I have never been given a thank you sir that was so devoid of any thanks in my life, I know, I know Victor Meldrew, but please at least get the drinks right.
Back down to the pool and I borrowed a Sun Newspaper from last Thursday from an old fella from Clacton, boy could he tell a story, a 40 minute one at least, but nice enough anyway.
The sun went behind the clouds at about 15:00 so I took Wendy for an afternoon run to the east coast where the wind is at its freshest and where the kit surfers ply their trade.
It was a lovely run, into the wind mind but across the desert and onto a delightful beach.
I am extremely pleased with Wendy’s efforts on this holiday, she is looking stunning, Sam Fox like even!
We flew back with the wind behind us!
We got back and I sat on the balcony while Wendy showered and Martin popped out. He was sorry about the noise last night, which we never heard.
He had got in tow with another Londoner and was boozing until 01:30. Dawn was long gone to her bed, but she forgot to leave the key under the mat so he was locked out. Unperturbed he decided to go back down stairs and climb up. Now looking at the height from above I said what was going through your mind. I don’t know was his reply because I climbed on the wall, fell off and landed in the bushes and thought better of it. He went and knocked Dawn up and then headed for the sofa where she left him all night long, the wally! Today he has a very sore shoulder!
He also told me that it had, “Kicked Off Big Style” with the Level people at our pool today. All they have to do is click their fingers and they get express bar service, so someone took exception to not getting served after waiting patiently. Apparently chairs were thrown into the pool and it was flip-flops at dawn! Oh and the Level police made a sudden attendance to calm things down!
Supper was lovely, we both had pasta and salad, what a treat, oh and wine to boot.
From there we took our wine over to the Bravo Bar, (where we aren’t allowed) and it was nice, not overly loud music although the main bar music did overspill, anyway when I had finished my wine I did brazen myself a rum and coke from the bar and got away with it.
We then went and sat in reception to get away from the noise and guess who came and sat beside us……………………Fred West and one of his clan, a big fat girl who looked us over several times. I wanted to get a photo but I thought best not as we would be in the frame for their next victims. I will try to get a photo, but not at any cost.
Its bedtime now, it’s been a lovely day and we have big plans for tomorrow, for several circumstances, good or bad weather. I’ll let you know how we get on Avid Reader!
Last Day
We saw Fred West and his entourage of riff-raff at breakfast this morning and he has some real fatties with him and boy did they fill their plates, over flowing they were. We had to be careful sneaking glances might have got us caught and in real trouble.
We went back to our rom had a cuppa and then prepared for our day out on the beach in downtown Santa Maria as our last day treat. The trouble though was we had to go via the Deli Express so we had to make sure we got a seat.
Waiting for the bus and guess who turns up in reception, Fred West. So I double dared myself and tried to get a photo as proof of his existence. I got one but its only profile, but I think you can make him out though.
We were first in the queue for the bus but I still had to make sure I asserted myself so that I got first tabs on the back seat where the most room is. The bus quickly filled and again the fold out seats were employed trapping us at the back.
The sun was well and truly out and we could not get any sun beds with a sunshade so Wendy had to scramble against a small wall so that she could keep her head out of the sun. I ate my sarnie and boiled egg by 11:00 and started on the wine we had snaffled at breakfast, (filled water bottles from the wine tap).
When the sun got unbearable we went of a drink in the sports bar and did a bit of internet surfing.
Back at the beach and the sun was relentless so I cooled off by taking regular dips.
Finally by 16:00 it was cooling off so I went for an evening run as I had taken my trainers down with me as I wanted to run to an abandoned beach where there used to be a bar and a few old shops.
I got back in time to see a lovely sunset and by 18:30 it was pitch black and a perfect day was over, as far as the sun was concerned.
We had one more drink at the sports bar so I could top up my travel money card online and then we went to the same restaurant we went to on Monday night, big mistake.
It went downhill immediately as the girl who took our order could not speak any English so it through her straight away when I asked for the fish stew as a starter to share. We then tried to order fillet steak with just a salad x 2 which we just about managed and then had to get the English speaking male waiter to make sure they came rare. The first dish to arrive was someone else’s which we tried our best not to accept even though she was most insistent they were ours. I should have got up and gone there and then, but we persevered.
The fish stew I must say was delightful all fishy and stewy at the same time and when I eventually got a bit of bread I manged to clean out the bowl.
The main course came and although the salad was fine, both steaks looked like a bit of scrag-end. There was no need in them being rare, they were so thin the only way they could have been rare was for them to have come raw.
The sauce was nice enough though.
Anyway Wendy gave him pelters and I joined in when we had finished. Apparently we should have asked for filet mignon if we wanted something like a proper steak.
And so we were off, I was set for a drink in a local bar but was informed I had to go home because I was grumpy, I didn’t think I was but we were all tucked up in bed at 21:00 anyway, which probably wasn’t a bad thing.
Home Time!!!
I had a lovely run this morning, I went for a good ten miler and saw a wonderful sunrise, quite appropriate this being our last day and all!
Breakfast was a bit of a delight, I porked out with: chips, cheesy mushrooms and a bacon sarnie with lots of pepper and ketchup, it was bloody yummy. Apparently when Wendy was loitering around the buffet she saw the chips and thought who would have fried chips for breakfast, well now you know WG!
And guess what, Fred West was sat directly opposite us but I just daren’t take a photo, I had a flight to catch and I didn’t fancy spending a day or two in shackles! The piggies plates were full to the brim as per usual.
We snaffled our lunch in the form of croissants and ham and cheese and wrapped them up for later, oh and for me a boiled egg to boot. I am into a hardboiled egg for breakfast now Avid Reader.
After breakfast we spent a couple of hours by the pool before heading to the bar for a pint and to acquire a plastic half pint pot for my caravan collection. Another hour at the pool and we left our room in the hands of the maid who we left 1,000 escudos better off for the second time during our stay. Well they have, as a team worked the hardest of the lot and are very deserving of it.
The bus run to the airport was OK, after Cocktail of the day of course with our lunch in the sun at the main bar.
Check in wasn’t so good, over two hours and three queues before we got to the lounge. The flight was an hour delayed, and so I snook a rum and coke and Wendy had her usual pre-flight Brandy.
When we had boarded the Skipper told us of his frustration at the delay which was not down to anything other than local incompetence. He didn’t say it quite as blunt but I knew what he meant.
The flight was OK, the meal was a treat and the 3 bottles of wine just tipped me over the edge for a nice relaxing sleep, with Wendy being designated driver as it was a very straight 4 miles journey to the hotel.
As we landed I became aware of a horrible little child about six rows forwards, you know the one, the one that screams and cry’s extra loudly because his parents are incapable of sorting him out, they preferred to pander to him instead, it never works!
There was also a constant sneezer behind Wendy who she took a particular dislike too. She is never flying again with riff-raff types, so she says. Oh I’ll remind her of this when we book our next month in the winter sun.
Baggage collection was a doddle as was car collection, car starting, car journey or even parking. Checking in was also easy peasey and collecting the 52” pizza was no problem at all.
And so we end yet another lovely holiday, bellies full and the heating on full blast.
A Testing Day!!!
The drive down to Altrincham yesterday was somewhat of a doddle and we made good progress getting there in time with the Sat-Navs prediction.
Check into our regular Travelodge went without a hitch, apart from having to change rooms to the one next door due to defective bathroom light bulbs. Well I couldn’t shave in the dark let along Wendy apply makeup, so a room change was arranged for after we got back from supper.
And that was our first mistake!
Well it was Friday night so we did expect it to be busy, as it was, aren’t all the good Wetherspoon Bars? So being bonafidi members of the Weatherspoon app range we bought our drinks and food online, for table 56 and paid by PayPal. Wendy ordered the chicken starter as she wasn’t hungry and I had the skinny chicken burger. The drinks were with us in seconds but we soon learned that the app doesn’t allow for two people to have a starter and a main singularly so Wendy got hers and after twenty minutes of protest which didn’t do anything, I got mine, as per standard operating procedure in all dining establishments, starter first, appropriate waiting time in between and then the main meal arrives!! So we both dined alone so as to speak whilst being together.
No harm done they were both very tasty.
The room change came and went and so it was be
d time whereby Wendy was out like a light whilst I started my latest Jack Reacher novel.
Now being the gentlemen that I am I cannot divulge what later transpired apart from that I have a recording of the event that one day I might have to use as emotional leverage.
I was up at 05:00 the next morning and out running before 06:00, it was a lovely still, but icy morning and I made good progress and we were both knocking on the door at our local eating establishment the moment it opened, starving for a hearty breakfast!
We dropped the car at the airport without incident and headed to the check-in, where we were met by a very diligent check in clerk who not only determined we were a kilo heavy in each of our checked bags but that we were somewhat a bit out of kilt with our hand baggage too, yes folks she was that efficient.
So unperturbed we took refuge in a corner whereby I slid several large books down my shorts like I was going to see the head teacher followed by Wendy’s iPad, I put my running belt on under my jumper and in its bottle carrier I secretly rammed yet another book. I was that bulky I could not move, but we had managed to shuffle the weight around to the satisfaction of the very nice check in clerk, who thought as one last wheeze she would have Wendy place the only large carry-on bag we had into the purpose built measuring device. I couldn’t help I was almost exploding with hidden wares!
And as luck would have it, you’ve guessed, it was much smaller than every other bloody Airline device at any other airport in the world. So I had to watch from the side-line as Wendy struggled with all her might to ram it in come what may which she did eventually manage, much to the disappointment of the said Clerk.
With the checked baggage out of the way and heading for the aeroplane we snook around a corner and debagged me of all the books and other contraband and repacked the handbag which were by now sporting weight labels on them which were now completely inaccurate.
Our flight was uneventful apart from a very nice hot meal, I had spicy beef and Wendy had the fancy chicken, both were lovely.
I did have to do a bit of cognitive recall with Wendy during the flight as she had lost her purse with all her cards in it. Cancelling them wasn’t a problem, the problem was it would cancel all mine too, and we might need then for additional cash later on. However all my lessons with the police scientists paid off and a sceptical Wendy blurted out the location of the purse within five minutes. It’s a shame it doesn’t work on yourself!
Being the romantic couple that we are I moved out of my seat to allow a women to sit alongside her husband as it was her 40th birthday treat, 3 days, yes 3 days in Cape Verde. They didn’t have adjoining seats so I moved four rows further down and they had a bit more of the little time they have together with Wendy riding gooseberry!
We landed nicely on time and took a cab into town where we were deposited outside our apartment for 15 euros, not bad actually.
The apartment is great, it has everything we need and we have an exclusive courtyard with a very nice pool.
As Wendy unpacked I nipped out to the supermarket to get supper and wine of course. Supper was chicken legs and salad which was very tasty, the wine not so.
We took a stroll in town and headed back to bed and had a nice relaxing evening.
Very naughty Indeed!!!
We woke late very late actually by Cape Verde standards so it was a late run for both of us.
We seem to be here in the windy season, which isn’t so bad actually as it does keep the temperature down a wee bit. Today it was 30 degrees which by February standards isn’t too bad.
After a shower and a bite to eat we headed into town for a walk and a beer at the Sports Bar. We called into a shop and bought some additional provisions, wine and what we think are pork chops.
We walked back to the apartment nice and slowly and then spent the afternoon on sun loungers by the pool. It was lovely, the sun was out and we had our books to read. We even had some wine and some vodka, which went down very nicely indeed.
In fact too nicely, indeed.
At 5pm the sun was going down so we headed back to the apartment where we decided to have a short nap, short nap that is.
At 11:00 pm I woke with a start and I had absolutely no idea where I was, neither did Wendy. After a confusing five minutes we concluded that the quick nap had been over 4 hours and it was pointless getting up. So I charged by glass and read my book for an hour and then went to sleep for another 10 hours, yes that’s ten hours.
Late Again!!!!
My feet didn’t touch the earth until 10:00 where I grabbed some breaky and headed out for my run Wendy never moved a jot.
I must admit that I did need a couple of paracetamol to clear my head but as I got into my stride the wind blew away the cobwebs and I was as right as rain by the time I got back.
I snaffled an egg sarnie and then we walked along the beach for a while before taking a spot of lunch. Wendy had an onion burger and I had an African burger which had a very hot peanut sauce. They were both very nice. So it’s not looking like the pork chops are getting eaten tonight either.
We walked around a good deal and tried every supermarket going to try and find some nice wine but we never did. We did however find a nice local bar though that doesn’t charge the earth for a couple of beers.
Our final shop cost us a fortune as I bought Wendy some £14 prosecco, I know 14 bloody quid, I also bought some rum for 7 euros which was a steal, but the killer was we bought some cooked beef at £20, I know the checkout girl confused us with the decimal point and it wasn’t until we were walking away did we know how much it cost.
We took our provisions back to the apartment and then walked into town to watch the sunset, but we were a tad early so we went to our local bar for a glass of wine.
Whilst there we got taking to a Frenchman who lives in Santa Maria, he spoke great English and we found out some very interesting info. Do you know a white person gets paid much more for doing the same job as a black person? I know it’s kind of reverse racism given that we are on an African Island.
Therefore if a white person earns 2,000 euros a month the local person can expect to get 200 euros, its insane isn’t it how does that get by the authorities?
This lad told us that he works as a kite surfing teacher but only takes work if a Cape Verdian isn’t available, so he feels better by not depriving them of work. See the French are nice aren’t they?
Supper was taken on our lovely terrace overlooking the pool. We had a simple salad and slices of that bloody beef, which is quite honestly melt on the tongue stuff, thankfully.
I don’t think we will be late to bed tonight as we are determined to get up at sunrise and eat those bloody chops at some point!!!
InXs
Over 30 years ago I was in the tropical rain forest of northern Queensland, by the side of the Mulgrave River. I was sat early one morning having a brew with a fine Australian man, Lieutenant Peter Murphy of the Royal Australian Artillery. Just me and him, Pete said, “Dave, don’t ever say repeat over the radio”, “Ok Pete”, I said, “why not?” “They will send the battery” was his reply which left me a little puzzled as it wasn’t likely to happen. But the real point of this is that he also said, “We have an emerging band here in Australia, one to rival all your new romantics, they are called InXs”, he then went on to explain, “It’s a play on words Dave, I-n-X-s”. I said “Ok Pete I got it”, and I did and over 30 years later here I am sat on a sun lounger listening to my iTunes when up popped this record and I instantly thought of my friend Pete, Lieutenant Peter Murphy of the Royal Australian Artillery, it brought a smile to my face as we were such unlikely bedfellows, me a Barnsley Coal Miner and him fresh out of West Point, or its Australian equivalent.
Isn’t life great?
Ah and so onto today, where I was up fresh as a daisy at 06:30 and with a breakfast of fruit and fibre and hot tea in my belly I was off out to brave the feisty trade winds. Jeepers they were going full belt this morning. I ran upto our last hotel, about 3 miles and it was a real struggle, but coming back was like flying. I then did a couple more miles around town where it is a bit more sheltered.
Wendy was running too this morning and had just showered by the time I got back, so after my shower we went down and read our books by the pool where it was lovely and warm, tropical in fact!
I read my Jack Reacher book and finished it, how on earth does Lee Child come up with such fantastic stories, I mean the detail he puts into his books is amazing. I have now read all 21 of his books and I am looking forward to the next one which should be out next November.
We took lunch in a local bar so I could get Wi-Fi so I could publish my blog. I bought a new sim card from a local outlet that gives me 10 GB of data, but bugger me I cannot use it as a personal hotspot for my laptop, why, who knows, I just can’t. But then it is a bit dodgy that I can buy an unregistered sim from a shop without any audit trail. I paid 25 euros cash, no questions asked, I could be upto all kinds of mischief with it, thankfully I’m not, but I could be mind, who would know?
Lunch was pizza, which we shared and only ate half so we brought the rest back home for tomorrow, well we wouldn’t want to spoil our pork chops would we, again?
Back to the pool we went and did I tell Wendy Gill to put more factor 30 on, well if I did once I did tell her ten times, and guess who is sat with me here and with the cutest red face you have ever seen, boy is she glowing.
I went for an afternoon run just as the sun was going down and it was great, running first through the township and then out into the desert along the shore to the abandoned village and back calling in at the beach gym where the local guys all workout in the cool evening air.
Supper was a delight, cooked by Wendy, Pork Bloody Chops and boy were they tasty, no really they were, it must have been them marinating in the fridge these last few days.
Mrs Red Face is feeling a little tired so I had better walk her into town to give her some fresh air, back later avid reader!
Ah now that was an interesting night! We went to the euro wine bar and had a couple of glasses of his very nice red and we had a good old laugh, mainly about Mrs Red Face and her Red Face and then about things in general. We made friends with the local dog population who had gathered to prise morsels from the street dinners and we met a grumpy man who thought he was Errol Flyn, but that was alright because my back up crew saw him off.
We then got home nice and early for some much deserved bedtime.
Beach Day?
Since we have been here we have had wall to wall sunshine, I have not seen one cloud, so it seems February is the month to come to Cape Verde.
We rose a little later today, only because it’s not so hot in the morning, don’t get me wrong it is in the 20’s but with the wind it’s not my running temperature until the sun gets a little higher, so I wasn’t out until 08:30, having had my breakfast and tea of course.
And then we hit the beach, with the sunshade that Dave has for such use, (we are in Daves apartment). But you know who wasn’t happy, she doesn’t like to slum it Wendy Gill, (did you know she’s a snob? yes she is, lord knows where she gets it from as she is from Noreen Avenue!!!). Anyway after half an hour with the wind blowing and her face I knew it wasn’t working. Shall we go back I say, no I’m happy, was the reply, all evidence to the contrary I might add told me that no she wasn’t happy. Do you want to go back darling I said, yes I’m thinking about it? Thinking about it, give me strength.
Anyway on the way back, after 48 minutes I saw that I had left the bottom of the umbrella at the beach so we parted company and I headed back and then to the supermarket where I bought a chicken for tomorrows dinner.
Back safe and sound we spent the afternoon by the pool and I must admit it was much better, and Wendy was very happy, she had a nice sunbed and some shade and some sangria too.
Wendy, AKA, Mrs Red Face kept out of the sun today, thankfully so I might not have as many belly laughs tonight as I did last night, boy was her face a sight for sore eyes last night!
As the sun lowered in the sky I managed to persuade Wendy to go for an evening run with me to the haunted village which is about a 5 mile round trip. She did it, but she wasn’t happy when we got there as it wasn’t to her expectation, I mean did she really expect to see ghosts! It’s an abandoned resort Wend for goodness sake, that’s all, jeepers there’s no pleasing some people. She did put in an extra five miles today though, and she did wear my spare Team GB vest, so I couldn’t wear mine as we didn’t want to look like a silly couple. I did beat her on the fist pumps mind, I got three and she got none, she said I pinched hers, I just think people recognised the real athlete amongst us.
We dined out and had supper at the euro wine bar, I had coconut chicken curry and Wendy had a burger, we had two glasses of wine each and it all came to eight euros and fifty cents, now that’s cheap dining.
I spent most the night stroking the dogs and we walked home at a nice leisurely pace.
Strangely the town is quiet and there aren’t many people around, although there is still a great atmosphere and it’s a really pleasant place to be, aren’t we luck?
With Garlic, Lemon and Olives………….
I do hope it’s nice, it’s in the oven as we speak.
And Wendy is in bed, the old bag.
The water went off this morning just as I filled the kettle, phew!!! It was off for about four hours, something to do with the supply. We had been warned about it, apparently not enough water is being made for the demand, so it went off. Thankfully we had all our bottles filled.
We started the day running together but I went out into the scrub and Wendy turned back at our last hotel, it was nice and warm and the winds weren’t so bad today. So it was a nice start to the day.
We got back, Wendy washed with a bit of bottled water and I went for a dip in the pool to freshen up. We then spent the morning by the pool reading and relaxing. I made the nice beef sarnies for lunch and had a nice cold beer with it.
We then went to the bar for a glass of wine and to use the Wi-Fi, which we did, both of which were very nice thank you, although the waitress could smile a little bit, well it would help as she is in the service trade!!!
We then had another hour with our books and then headed into town for a walk and to get some provisions. We stopped by the beach bar and had a very nice caprinia, it’s a brazilin drink and it’s quite refreshing, which it was.
We stopped at a delly and I got cheese, emmental cheese, I love it what a treat!!!!!!! Big treat actually and a few other things too.
We then happened to stop at the euro wine bar, well we were passing, so we had a selection of wine, one white and one red, we also shared a chocolate mousse, I say share but I only got a quarter of it!!!. We chatted to several Dutch people one of which is touring the islands and thinks we are mad staying on Sal for a month, she didn’t say it directly but she did in not so many words as we say in Barnsley.
We then headed to the local supermarket where we had a bit of an embarrassing situation, we didn’t have enough money. I know it was the bars of cholate stashed in the basket by Wendy.
Ah it’s ok I said I have a card, but no the till lady said it would only take local cards, so I left the lot. Wendy wasn’t happy. Well if they won’t take MasterCard then what can we do, apparently we can put back what we can’t afford and then take what we can, so I said no. We can’t, if they can’t take MasterCard then bugger it, we will manage with what we have said the bollsy Barnsley man.
Which brings us back to supper, I was on cook duty and it was bloody lovely. I stuffed the chicken with garlic and lemon and made a garlic butter paste in which to baste the chicken. It was then roasted for an hour with regular basting, boy was it garlicy, but very, very tasty?
We retired early and had a great sleep, so much so that I was up at midnight for a drink and then again at 05:30 for yet another drink, yes it was that garlicky and yes I was that thirsty.
What Water!!!
Yes I was up bright and fresh at 06:30 only to discover that the water was off again!!!
Thankfully we had enough stored and I nipped and pinched two buckets of the swimming pool for toilet operations, well you have to be resourceful.
I’m not sure if the water rationing works because we have now filled up every receptacle we have and will fill a sauce pan for washing tomorrow if it’s off again.
It came back on at 11:00 after we had both done our run, so we had to flannel ourselves down, strip wash fashion Granny would say, which isn’t great but it does get into all the nooks and crannies.
We had another relaxing day by the pool, its great there’s hardly anyone around.
Lunch was a bit fraught as I had run out of milk so I couldn’t make my usually runny porridge, so it had to be wallpaper paste instead. I then peeled a mango that was, as I soon found out, rotten, so it had to be a quick cheese sarnie to fill the gap.
More pool time and at 13:30 I went to the shop to get some stores whilst Wendy tided the apartment.
It wasn’t dirty actually but we couldn’t wash up earlier on so it had piled up a bit.
The apartment is great, I love it. We have two bedrooms, one double which we have and one twin. There are fly screens on all the windows so we sleep with them all open, which is great. There is a tidy little shower/toilet that’s just great, with a washing machine too. Finally we have a kitchen/lounge with everything you could possibly want. Dave, who we are renting if from is a very particle person because we have found that we need for nothing. The water is even double filtered and safe to drink. Oh and we have a very nice balcony with a table and chair overlooking the courtyard pool. Its lovey, oh and the fridge freezer is a delight, on a very cold setting, just nice for cool drinks!
There are four blocks of apartments all with an internal courtyard. They are colour coded, blue, green, salmon and cream. We are in the green block, but they aren’t anywhere near full, I wonder if we should buy one for our winter retreat?
I got to the shop at 13:45 only to find it was closed until 14:30, I wanted this shop because they sell decent rum at 7 euros a bottle, I know pretty good eh? So then I went to the shop from yesterday for the bread and milk etc. But I used my undercover persona so I didn’t get any grief from the lady at the till who had to put the shopping away we left, well whoever heard of a store not taking MasterCard for goodness sake!!!
I got back to the pool finding Wendy all relaxed and getting a bit too red on her back so I ordered her into the shade as she can’t seem to look after herself these days.
We read some more, I love Simon Kernicks books, they are riveting, and then we went to find some wine for Wendy from the nice little deli we discovered yesterday. So with three bottles of the stuff we then set off in search of rum, and thankfully we found it, only they had run out of dark rum so I had to opt for the white instead, ah well at least my supplies are replenished.
We got back and had supper on the veranda with the sun burning directly in front of us which is a nice way to end our afternoon. Bacon rolls, yes we really did bring bacon with us all this way, no wonder our bags were heavy with all the food we have brought.
Its 17:37 here just now and I would say I have fifteen minutes left of the sun before it goes behind the walls of the compound but it won’t set until about 18:30 with complete darkness at 19:00 which isn’t bad for the first ten days of February.
Wendy is making a chicken curry with yesterdays leftovers, I do like her curries, I hope it’s nice and spicy, as its certainly very, very garlicky!
Well what a to do, yes another!!!
After supper we walked into town for as darkness fell. We walked down to the beach saw that one of the beach hotels had set up for a big BBQ, the same one we have been to before with Donald and Cathy, but I must admit the wind had a chill to it tonight and I’m glad I wasn’t going with them tonight.
So we called into the euro bar for a drink and met with our Dutch lady friend from yesterday and it was all very nice, until two street dogs barked aggressively at a man on his bike. They had been doing it all night but everyone else laughed it off, but not matey. No he was wild and attacked the dogs and the Dutch lady told him off and then he went wild, double wild actually. I told him to calm down and he took exception to me, he was ranting and yet again the backup crew came out and gave him what for, he actually called the police and said that they were our dogs, I mean how on earth could they be, anyway the Police gave him short shrift and sent him on his way. But I must admit the back up crew had to give him what for, he was calling us liars and what not, but it all ended peacefully. I might have to find a new bar, for safety reasons.
I met a new mate anyway, a lad from Gambia got involved and told me to let it go as he’s an idiot. It turns out this lad now lives in Manchester and would you believe has a Manchester/Gambian accent, anyway he waded in too amongst the madness.
The last word has to go for the very nice barmaid, she’s lovely actually. When the Police sent him on his way she come out and said he’s crazy, he’s crazy and then she pointed at me and said he’s crazy for you, in that Madonna kind of voice!
Well here's what happened last night....we were sat at our usual bar...locally authentic ....and cheap! We got chatting to a lovely Dutch woman, who's name I can't recall..cos it was Dutch. Anyway she was very chatty and travelling alone.
In Cape Verde there are quite a lot of stray dogs but they're harmless and well behaved, but they don't for some reason like people on bikes! So the evenings entertainment for the whole bar was to watch anyone on a bike pass by and get attacked by the dogs! Most people took fright and peddled faster..very funny!.. But this one chap took exception and got off his bike and started to attempt to whack the dog with his bike. ..Child seat and all!!
Cruelty to dogs and Europeans ..!the Dutch woman yelled..!the chap on the bike was not entirely sane! And somehow we got involved. The police were called. It was chaotic!!
Anyway it all ended ok with no one getting arrested and the crazy cyclist peddling away..not very happy.
David and myself now walk home with some trepidation.
How on Earth did We Win That Game?
Thankfully the water was on this morning so we both smelled sweetly as we went about the start of our day.
Wendy came running with me for the first 3 miles and she did quite well actually as she wasn’t far behind me and I did end up running nine miles with a recent good PB, so she is coming on.
More pool time followed so that I could finish my book which had a great ending. Nibbles on the balcony followed and after a wee while we walked to the pier and bought some fish for tomorrow’s supper.
We have no idea what we have bought but the guy told us to fry it, apparently it’s lovely. But I think I might roast it in white wine and a little, ah, you’ve guessed garlic as it’s easier to fillet it that way and that’s how Wendy likes her fish, no bones.
We than called at the supermarket to get more provisions as we have found it pretty much close down on Sundays so we had to stock up today.
We had a very early supper, 14:30 actually, of Wendy’s curry. We ate on the balcony out of the sun and the meal was lovely, bloody lovely actually.
And then I had another 20 minutes in the sun after doing the washing up while Wendy hid from the heat for a while.
We then walked into town to watch the rugger only to find every bloody bar crammed full, so we had to nip very quickly back to a bar near our apartment so we could watch the game.
And what a game it was, Jeepers my nerves were shredded, why on earth do we kick the ball away so many times when we had possession, only to give it back to the opposition, for them to then use it wisely.
It’s been a way of play for many years and today we nearly came unstuck, again.
But thankfully, this time with ball in hand we managed to get across the line, boy it was close and Wales did themselves proud.
We had a carafe and a half of wine, plus greedy guts, W.A.G. wanted a slight filler so we shared a most delightful burger.
After the game we went back and showered and then went for a walk, Wendy is adamant we can’t go to the euro bar as all the trouble seems to revolve around me. Ah, but Wendy it’s not me who causes it, its people going past with their own issues and we shouldn’t not go because of that, its them not me!!!
Let’s see if we sneak a small snifter tonight, more later avid reader!!
Well indeed we had a very pleasnet wlk around town. Its great at weekends as the main tret is cloased to traffic and all the bars take over the street which creates a great relaxed atmosphere.
We headed to the pier to look out to the sea and saw some guys fishing. The moon was terrific in all its glory so we went for a walk in the wasteland where there aren’t any lights only for Wendy to go all unnecessary abut creepy crawlies, I tell you she is such a scaredy cat.
Walking back we did indeed nip into the euro bar, this time taking an indoor seat as they were all full outside. I had a most delightful caiperenha and Wendy a glass of red wine, all for 2.5 euros, what a bargain.
The night passed without incident and we were in bed nice and early.
Dog on the Menu!
There must have been a dogs convention last night as every dog on this island barked all through the night. I have never heard the like before they must be knackered now, sleeping it off. It was that bad I even closed the windows at one point, it was also that bad they even disturbed Wendy.
We had very light winds this morning nothing more than a breeze so I set again another PB on my run. It’s not an all-time PB but it’s an excellent recent one.
After showering and a quick coffee we set off for a nice long walk.
And what a walk it was, it must have been six miles. We went into town and then out to the haunted village and followed the beach along the eastern side of the peninsular and upto the windy beach where there were quite a few kite boarders at play. Honestly I do not know how they don’t all get tangled up with each other.
From there we walked across the desert to the main road and with the wind now behind us it got quite hot. We walked along to the western beach and was enticed into the new Bikini Resort Bar by an American fellow called Cassy. Well it is a bit brash, with loud, deep bass music with quite a few sweary words chucked in. However it is impressive. It’s a new six million euro project and to be honest it doesn’t seem to have taken off as there were hardly any people there.
What Cassy was selling was a Valentines Evenings meal for 60 euros per person. The menu looked great, but I could not do with that music, nor the very impressive laser show. But to be fair to Cassy he was a nice fella and didn’t go in for the hard sell. We also got a very nice, although small, glass of champagne for our trouble which was very nice indeed.
When we left Wendy said, and I quote, “Well that was a nice little diversion” followed by, “If someone wants to give me free champagne then I’m happy to take it”. And there’s me thinking all that Yorkshire education she’s been subjected to was wasted.
Back on our way along the beach and Wendy was feeling a bit tired so we took the shorter route back to the apartment and we had a nice cold beer on the balcony, which was a well-earned delight!
Boy was it sunny, it was cloudy to start with but the sun came out with a vengeance so as Wendy needed some shade I managed to persuade her to have a relaxing drink at the euro bar before we cooked supper. Well it is Sunday after all.
Shock, Horror, the euro bar was undergoing what I think is a deep clean and what Wendy thinks is a moving out event. I’m mortified, jeepers I do hope it’s the former and not the latter.
Well the only thing we could do was go and watch the second half of the Scotland game at the Sal bar which we did. And being a very top Brit my support was going for Scotland until the grey haired numpty in front of me exclaimed when Scotland scored a try, “I bet England are getting worried now”. Excuse me mate, there is 30 odd minutes left, your only 2 or 3 points up, you’re in the Stad de France for heavens sake and why for ***** sake do you have to bring us into it, gggrrrrrrrrr!!!
So I became Frencher than French, oh boy did I shout Vive la France when the game finished with France winning by 6 points. The dickhead, sorry granny, but not everyone is a small minded moron.
Sorry to my Scottish Friends too I only wanted the loss for this numpty, not you!
We came back to the apartment via the pier and saw some girls handing out leaflets for the Bikini Beach resort, it looks like they are desperate. We got back to the apartment and had a glass of wine and some nibbles by the pool then I showered and cooked dinner, mind its fish night tonight?
Well the fish was lovely, nice and tasty but a wee bit boney but very nice none the less. You know-who had a bit of a bone performance, at the dinner table and I had to remind her about table manners, but she’s was very sorry but fish bones scare her.
Tonight we’re off to the Sal Bar for some sangria and some bona fide Wi-Fi so that you can all catch up on your posts avid readers.
It’s such a shame the euro bar doesn’t have Wi-Fi, but then again I guess that’s why it’s the euro bar. Other bars charge 3 x the amount for drinks which is unfortunately a non brainer for this Yorkshireman.
Enjoy the catch up avid reader!!!!
The euro bar is still trading, thankfully.
Phew!!!
How is it so Hard to Buy?
I'm having a departure from using my laptop where I can't often get wifi, so I'm going to blog on my phone as events occur.
This morning the winds were still easy and although I posted a good time, I did feel physically tired, most likely from yesterday's walk.
But today is a day of rest at the beach on Wendy's favourite sun beds. We are in town just on the east end of the beach where there is a rather lovely looking hotel that has its frontage out in the sea.
When we got here the pier was a hive of activity so I nipped along with a mind to buy some fish, a different type to yesterdays. But having secured a purchase price on two different occasions I came back empty handed. Which is quite strange because you get pestered to death on the street by the local sellers but when it come to fish no one is in a rush to sell you any.
It's kind of you can easily buy what you don't want but you have great difficulty to buy something you really do want.
I'd settled on 400 escudos for 1 kilo of fish with one young woman who just stared at me for about five minutes with the fish I want in a bowl in front of her with my 400 in my hand. I mean how hard is it to weigh fish and take someone's money?
I'll try again later when more fish arrive. I'm going to take Wendy to buy something she likes for a valentines present so I'll nip back then.
I'm loving this beach, it's a bit cloudy which is a welcome relief as I'm finding that the further we get into February the hotter it's getting.
I have brought snorkelling equipment down but the surf is amazing today and I would have to go out a good 300 metres to get into settled waters so I'll give it a miss this time. Although the surfer dudes are having a great time out there on their boards. I'd show my skills off but I never brought my boogie board with me, maybe next time.
We had lunch of uk bought spicy hot mackerel sarnies which was anything but spicy hot, it was still quite tasty though.
After a period of sun bed none activity we went to the seafront shop that Wendy likes but she didn't buy anything, there's just too much likeable stuff that she thinks is at inflated prices so she didn't want to buy anything even though I told her to. Have I got the one wife in a million??? Ah, had it been a shoe shop it would have been a different story.
And so onto the pier where I bought my kilo of reddish looking fish, species unknown. I didn't get them cleaned as thats a bit of a scam for more money so I took them around the corner and did them myself, it took about ten minutes and saved me a few quid. Thankfully being a good scout I had my very sharp penknife with me which was just what I needed.
I did try to buy some tuna but that, it seems is taken away by the barrow load out to the hotels and restaurants. You often bump into a barrow load of tuna in the most unusual places!
On retuning to the sun bed I washed the scales off me in the surf and then we started our Valentines decadence in style with a bottle of champers, only kidding, it was prosecco but it could have been the bubbly stuff at the amount it cost, it was a treat mind.
More relaxing in the sun followed and as the chief packer had not packed my sun hat I had to adapt and survive with one of her scarfs, I admit I looked a darling but at least it did the trick.
Meanwhile Wendy is engrossed in her sea defence activities, don't ask I haven't got the will to detail it here!!!
Ok, Ok I'll tell you!!!!
According to Wendy the tide has washed away some of the beach which it seems to have done so some men turned up like Paddy and his muckers, tarmac drive layers incorporated, well you have never seen such an amatureish job. I cannot get my breath, they are total cowboys. You would think out of five grown men one of them would say hang on boys this isn't going to work. Apparently not!!!
Meanwhile while this is going on I'm trying to buy a juicy mango from a young women who has, I kid you not, 20 kilos of fruit in a basket balanced on her head. Anyway the one mango she had was a bit, let's say ripe so we settled on a kilo, I know everything is a bloody kilo here, of pears for 3 euros, but being the softy I am I gave her 4 and asked her to make up the difference with bananas which she was happy to do, so I ended up with pears by the dozen and 4 nanas!!! Well it is nice to help out the local population, the poor thing dragging that lot around with her in this heat.
The sun continued to shine and we soaked it up until 17:00 when we headed back to the apartment., oh we did supplement the prosecco with a couple of glasses of wine to continue with our decadent day!!!
I went for a quick run when we got back, I left Wendy nodding as she had poured me wine at the beach but she thought I was napping so she drank it.
However she was up, showered and prepping supper when I got back, ah the fish.
She wasn't keen, something about an artificial taste. I quiet liked it but it is a bit of a struggle with the bones. Never mind we have two more in the freezer which I suspect may have to go In a curry.
After a glass of wine I suggested one drink at the Euro bar but she wasn't game, so as it's nearly 9pm we are going to sit on the balcony have one more drink and then hit the sack.
After all it's Valentine's Day tomorrow and we have a romantic day planned!!!
Romance in the Air?
It was a tad breezier this morning but not overly gusting so all in all it wasn't bad. You know you see some sights when your out in the morning. Today's classic was a profoundly rotund old fella on roller blades propelling himself with two of those ski pole looking walking sticks, to top it off he was padded up to high heaven with knee pads, elbow pads, heavy duty gloves and a helmet not dissimilar to a full ski helmet. Oh and he was all in black like the milk tray man, only not so physically fit.
I gave him an extra wide berth.
When I was almost home I received my annual Valentine call from Robyn which is very nice of her.
Then we lounged around the pool, reading. Boy the sun is getting hotter and hotter and we both have our caps on today.
I'm reading a Bill Bryson book about his travels around Britain, he's actually very funny and has us down to a T!
At midday I took a walk to two shops, one to get some rum, it's weird you can get a decent bottle for 660 escudos, which is £6 but a packet of crisps would cost about £3!!!
I then went to the general store for a few bits and bobs, bread mainly and the till operator had put one item through twice, depriving me of £2. But she'd not counted on hitting on a Yorkshireman, I was back in double time asking for the correction to be made which after a bit of pointing here and there seemed to work.
Back at the pool I made darling Wendy a beef sarnie and settled in to a well deserved beer and a bit more of Bill.
We left the pool at 15:00 and I did full ablutions of shave, teeth and shower in that order and then put on my best bun and tucker, Wendy looked lovely in her yellow dress too but then disaster struck, she can't find her jewellery roll. So after frantic searches she's not wondering if she brought it, well I never!!!
And off we set to find a nice restaurant by the sea where we could look into each other's eyes, but alas we were too early for our two preferred options so we took a punt on one directly in town where we had nice easy music and a waiter who not only spoke good English but he had a sense of humour which he didn't seem to know he had.
And I was wrong, he didn't.
We started with a main meal to share of Tuna carpaccio, which was nice to start with but somewhat lacking as a main meal.
I then asked for lobster in tomato and wine sauce and Wendy had fillet mignon.
I specifically asked if mine came with salad and I was told salad, rice and roast potatoes.
Eventually an hour later they both came, Wendy being a cheery sole was happy with hers, I thought her salad was pathetic. Mine came with rice only and crushed, smashed, motorway armageden lobster in a, and I must say, very nice tomatoe and wine sauce. However no salad and roast potatoes.
So I ask the said happy waiter where they were but all I got was a shrug of the shoulders and an explanation that the meal only came with rice.
All in all it was a very nice rice soup.
Now I've had two fallouts already and although I don't mind a bit of twoing and frowing it does get a bit tiring so I kept shut on this occasion and paid the bill, but without tipping which is something I always do.
We then went to the Euro bar where I chatted to the young fella who stood up for me at one of the set twos, he's from Guinea on the African coast and he is such a nice lad. But he's not a lad. Blow me sideways I asked him his age thinking 18 to 20 and he told me he is 36 years old, wow!!! I asked him if he worked out and he said yes. I then said I'm making my way over there if your all so youthful.
I got scammed off a young lad for 3 euros but I figured by not giving a tip it should go somewhere and he did seem in need of a meal, so I off loaded to him, but when I wanted another drink I only had large bills left so I had to do with out!
Another lesson learnt Wendy says!!!
I don't think I need anymore lessons at 55 years old Wend!
Oh well back to the balcony for a glass of wine.
More *********!
You might be intrigued by my titles this morning avid reader, all will be revealed in due course.
The wind was back to being gusty this morning and it blew us about a bit so the idea of the beach was put off for today, so pool time yet again, hey don't get me wrong, no complaints from me, well actually there is one.
We have been at the pool an hour and a half and the most happy at work cleaning lady in the entire world is busy with her chores on the first floor flat not 20 metres away. For this entire period she has song a hundred and sixty six different songs none stop, at a sound level only Harry Secombe could achieve. She sounds like Hilda Ogden on steroids. It's even getting to Wendy!
Wendy as been fretting herself silly about this lost jewellery roll so much she as lost sleep over it.
I brought it with Me, I'm sure I did, it must have been stolen.
Don't be silly I say, the door has integral locking bolts that shoot out from all three sides and engage into the frame, it also has a triple lock. The fire service wouldn't get in without a stil saw!
The balcony is impossible to climb from the outside unless you had a ladder and so with the level of security we have you could not get away with it.
Well, she replays, I have searched this apartment top to bottom and it's not here, someone must have it!!!
During the morning I nipped to the bathroom in our room after which I rummaged through the suitcases to see if was there. Thankfully I came across a small torch we had brought but not yet needed. We had actually been wondering why we had two spare batteries as we had forgotten we had the torch.
So now I am better equipped I did the most rigorous search of the apartment. I used Sherlock Holmes tactics, if it's not obvious it has to be improbable, or words to that effect.
So after 29 minutes I had concluded it wasn't in either of the bedrooms or the bathroom. Moving on I did the lounge area of the kitchenette, it wasn't there either.
It's getting silly now, who would hide something like that in a kitchen, Wendy Bloody Ann Gill would!
There is a Gordon Ramsay griddle on the work top, not dissimilar to a George Forman griddle, in fact I would suggest copy right issues here George.
This griddle too has a separate fat try which hides just under the lip of the griddle to catch the meat fat as you cook. So with my trusty torch I removed the fat tray and low and behold guess what's there, of course it is, the bloody jewellery roll!
I never put it there she says, I give up!!!!!!!
We took a leisurely lunch at the local bar, it was lovely I had chicken and chips and Wendy had burger and chips, with white wine of course.
There was a bit of an off putting atmosphere, let me explain, and I know this could be a sensitive area so I'll be careful.
My good friend and senior officer Calum Munro once told me, Dave, there is truth and perception. Good point I thought.
So this bar revolves around a family of three generations, so we think.
Granddad appears to have Parkinson's and, or dementia so he is sat in a chair and only his wife says anything to him. Two young kids, about 8 to 10 come home from school, maybe for lunch and walk past Grandad about 7 or 8 times but never give him any acknowledgement at all. In fact the lad sits at a bar table and is fed sausage rolls and orange juice for his lunch just 2 feet from Granddad but never looks his way, he just watches some electronic device.
The fact they live their life around the bar is like an episode of The Simpsons but to see Granddad neglected like that is like having lunch in an infirmary. I'm not sure if it meets my dining criteria, the food was lovely mind!
Wendy went for a nap and I had another hour by the pool, maybe two.
We then went for a walk along the beach and found, tucked away, a very likeable bar where we had a glass of wine as the sun set.
I'm in love with this place, 8 euros for a litre of wine on a promontory out in the sea watching the setting sun.
They also do meals and the bar maid also sells perfume which her brother makes and Wendy likes one of them so we are booked in again tomorrow for supper and a purchase.
We dashed home as Wendy was feeling nippy in the evening wind and we had an egg sarnie on the balcony which was lovely.
I think an early night tonight might ensue as we sit and relax again with a lovely sunset sky.
Isn't it Wendy?
Yes it is, the trade winds which originate in the African deserts are blowing at their worst today. These used to power the explorers of the 17th century which was fine then but I wish they would go away today.
In fairness they do bring a coolness to the heat from the sun. It was cloudy this morning but it soon brightened up as the sun got higher.
I saw matey on his roller blades again today, this time in a fluorescent green shirt. He looked a right wally, if I had had the time I would have snapped him. He's actually not as old as I thought and much more of a liability than I thought, he as no skill at all, it's just full throttle in one direction, be warned do not get in his way!
The other question is what the hell did he have to sacrifice to get all that stuff here on the plane, it's must be at least 3 quarters of his weight allowance!
Pool time followed and at midday we nipped out for some provisions. I had seen a women selling what I thought was meat at the market but when we were there, she wasn't.
The market can be an intimidating place as it's all held inside four walls with metal railings. The stalls are all packed tightly and you have to be firm with the stall holders as all the sell is African tut and they are a bit aggressive with it.
Unperturbed we found some very lean looking, hopefully, beef which Wendy is going to casserole, from the shop.
Oh and an update on the jewellery roll. I finally got an admission of guilt last night. It was a good hiding place wasn't it? She said, I must have slid it there being all security minded. Oh yes Wendy that is one sure way of securing your valuables, where no one, not even you can find them, GGGGggrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!
After some more time in the sun we walked to the new pavement, I know, I know it's not in most people's tropical itineraries but we have seen this road being developed over six months and they are finally laying tarmac on the pavement that will, A, save local youngsters from walking in a busy road in the dark, and B, give us an extension of the green mile so we can run on a flat, solid surface. The green mile is actually about 1.4 miles long so 2 lengths is almost 3 miles and we are bang in the middle of it so the new section gives another 2 miles up and down so that's five in total. But mainly it's much safer locally.
We nipped into the Euro bar for a glass of wine and chatted to some people from the midlands which was quite nice. From there we went back, showered and hit town to get Wendy's perfume and to have a lovely supper close to the sea.
But alas it wasn't to be, first the girl didn't remember to tell her brother to bring the perfume and secondly we had the most chaotic service ever.
We never actually never got fed, it was like Fawltey Towers but without service. It was so bad I allowed Wendy to complain and we walked away with having had a half litre of wine and nibbles free of charge, but no food after 70 minutes.
So we went to the Euro Bar for enchiladas and we got a very decent feed, with salad, chips and two glasses of wine each all for 12 euros.
We won't eat out again, that's it, enough is enough!!!
We did chat to some nice fellas too, one from Spain and one from Poland. Two kids tried to scam us for supper but we held firm and I told them to go home and get ready for school so they could learn their lesions properly and then feed themselves when they got older.
Thankfully we got home without incident.
Oh and I did catch Donald Trumps press conference, jeepers its going from bad to seriously silly isn't it?
8:23 miles a minute.
I knew I was on a flyer when the lady in my ear gave me my first mile at 9:22 miles/minute. It was helped by a little ease in the wind to start with but it picked up later though.
It's not my all time best of 07:48 but it's not bad, and it was done over 9 miles and not 8 as my best PB was.
Wendy saw the Phantom Roller Skater this morning and agrees with me that he is crackers and looks a plonker!
I was thinking about the restaurant we went to last night. There were about 40 people waiting and as we arrived some people were finishing off their meals, but only about 4, and not one meal came out in 70 minutes.
As we left Wendy said to the family behind us that we were leaving and the chap said, that sounds like the best thing to do. They were there before us and after about half an hour the waiter asked one of them to reorder as their first choice wasn't available. From that point in I knew it wasn't going to end happily.
I mean there were four chefs but it was just such a muddle. Welcome to Cape Verdi ladies and gentlemen!!!
We left for the beach this morning after the washing machine had finished and we happened across the singing maid. She was in the stairway washing the steps as happy as Larry and singing along to herself. I'll try to sneak a video clip of her at it, avid reader.
She is lovely, she is a very slightly built lady of older years and just has the most adorable smile!
The beach was hot as the wind is restricted by the hotel and bars that are in the sea.
And the sights you see!!!
But first let me tell you of an incident. I was sat in my lounger and two girls walked past that we used to speak with at our last resort. They were a lovely couple from Rotherham, out for a week and full of fun. We actually flew back together.
As they went past I told Wendy and see looked at them and said, "Well Spotted!!!"
But as I had my trunks on I didn't want to chase them to chat as it wouldn't be decent.
However a while later they came back and stoped at a beach bar. So I put my shorts on and went for a chat. I walked over but I could see they didn't recognise me, and that is because it wasn't them.
Well blow me down, they were absolute doubles and I really mean that. The only difference was one had a Welsh accent and the other was from Liverpool.
Jeepers it was uncanny, even their hair was the same. Anyway we did chat, it's there first day so no doubt I'll see them again. How bizarre!!!
Then there were a couple of Ruskies close by, in their forties with teenage girlfriends which I think is a bit purvey. It certainly looked it to me as they oiled each other up with sun cream.
Anyway one of the girls had a sentence tattooed on her upper front leg. I mean what on earth could you be so empowered with as a statement that you would have it permanently etched onto your body. I don't know but it didn't look good.
Anyway I says to Wendy, "If you were going to have something so deep and profoundly moving as a statement tattooed on your leg what would it be?"
Quick as a flash the reply was, "Cadbury Dairy Chocolate, I love it".
Now there's a surprise!!!
After a while I strolled along the beach to watch the surfers and nipped on to the pier to see what the catch was today and came across the cutest puppy ever, snuggled up to a fish basket.
We left the beach at 5pm as it was getting cloudy but it has been a stinker of a day, hot, hot, hot!!!
After a glass of wine at the Euro bar where I persuaded Wendy to buy a large chocolate cookie, which she did as they are great bakers too, and then after a bit of shopping we got back to the apartment to prepare supper. Wendy is on the case tonight, beef casserole. Boy that beef we bought yesterday is lean, I slyed a bit this morning, raw, and it was lovely, I can't wait to eat it!
And what a delight it was, it was yummy bloody scrummy, in fact on a yummy scrumpy scale of 1 to 10 it's was a 9.999999999, it was that nice.
After which I washed the dishes and then took Wendy for a walk up and down the green mile and now she is buggerd, I just asked her and she says that she is pretty buggerd and it's bed time.
I say here, here to that, ah I neglected to say she had me up long before the crack of dawn with her scary dream, the one where she screamed out loud and jumped 3 feet off the bed.
I tell you it's a roller coaster of excitement being married to Wendy Ann Gill!!!!
But Brighter Later?
It's very cloudy this morning was Wendys opening comment and breezy too by the look of those swaying palm trees.
So she had a second cuppa and went back to bed declaring today as a rest day from exercise.
And it was bloody windy!!!
It's great going with the wind, boy can you fly, but your hitting a brick wall when your into it. It can be a bugger too because your striving hard against it and then it will stop suddenly and then you end up like a cartoon character as your trying to stop from falling over.
On return the cloud still hadn't cleared but Wendy was up and about so we did some chores with a view to taking breakfast out which is something we have failed to do so far.
I took the water meter reading from the gauge under the sink and went to pay both the water and the electricity. As we are half way through this expedition I thought I would see how we are doing on the metre so I could plan for what's required in another two weeks.
There is a Corporate Body office in the next block and you take the water reading to them, they have the electric meter there and hey presto your given a bill. Ours was 31 euros, which I'm guessing is about £26?
I also did a bit of investigative work and saw that if you take a longer term rental of an apartment, and there are quite a few empty, then it's 350 euros a month, which if you add 70 on for the utilities then you've got an apartment in the tropics for the total some of around £365 a month which isn't too bad is it?
For this trip I budgeted £1,200 for our spending requirements which includes all of our food, drink and play money and we started out at averaging 42.85 euros a day. We have cooked at home quite a few times but we have also eaten out a fair bit and after a check on expenditure to date our daily allowance has risen to 55 euros a day. I should be the Chancellor of the Exchequer as a result of this success.
And this allowance doesn't include that I did the count up after buying supplies of food that should last at least 7 days!!!
After shopping we went to a very local European cafe so we didn't have far to go and I had a tasty croissant with a hot cheese and ham filling and Wendy had scrambled eggs on unbuttered toast, which although very nice, the lack of butter does gripe Wendy!
I did want to try a local breakfast which is of rice, lentils and chickpeas but it's not available locally so as to speak. In fact the local dish is eaten all of the day and just slight variations are offered during different times of the day. I must try it out!l
After coffee and orange juice we did a bit more shopping and had a drink in a local bar, the one we like, opposite the Pirata Night Club.
The clouds had parted by 2pm so we hit the pool for the rest of the day.
Ah but we didn't because the clouds roared back so by 3pm we were walking into town to see the last catch come in on the pier when it started to drizzle. Not much but the size of the drops hitting my head were big enough to reverberate inside my skull, much to the amusement of my darling wife.
What to do now? Its still 25 degrees so let's hit the bar and just dawdle the afternoon away with a nice glass of wine, good idea!!!
And as the rain continued to drizzle I ordered some chips for us to nibble on, you know from the restaurant a few nights ago when we never got served. I thought there are only two other people in here it can't take long, it did!!!
Over 40 minutes later the other couple got their Greek salads, which did look tasty and plentiful and then our chips came and there was a good portion. But something had to go wrong and despite me saying it 200 times I never got any vinegar, oh well never mind!
We had a bit more wine, I checked the footy scores and saw Barnsley had lost and then we settled up and went for a walk. Oh and Wendy dropped a bloody Euro coin through the gap in the floor boards, the frivolous bugger and she also eventually bought her perfume, which she is now not sure if she as got the right one. I like it anyway, so I'll use use it instead!
We walked a little along the new, "Black Mile" to see how the road tarmac is going, and it's coming along nicely, I know what a great Saturday night!
Back home we settled on the balcony, the winds dropped and it's quite warm. No cooking tonight as the chippies did the trick so that's another saving avid reader!
As the rain starts again I think it's time to settle into my book.
Night Night!!!
Sunshine
We woke to lovely clear blue sky's this morning but the wind was a bit blowy.
I met Wendy on the Green Mile but she declined my fist pump offer. She says shes scared it will hurt, she is such a woss!!!
Back home and I was feeling peckish so as we have two small shops at the entrance to the block I went to find some ham.
However neither had any, nor any decent looking cheese either. The only meat on offer was a tin of luncheon meat at the ridiculous price of £4.50, yes £4.50 from the British shop keeper would you believe!
But then I remembered we had eggs so Wendy and I settled down to an egg sarnie each on the balcony with a nice hot cup of tea.
It was a lovely sunny day so we took to the sun beds and lounged around for a few hours.
We decided to have a Sunday meal in the afternoon so I went up and made it. I made a nice salad, cooked savoury rice for two minutes in the microwave, made some lovely BBQ sauce and then for me I roasted a nice sized chicken quarter and for Wendy a pork chop, apparently Wendy doesn't like to faff with chicken bones.
So in the afternoon sun at 3 pm we sat on the balcony and had our meal with a glass of wine.
After washing up I joined Wendy by the pool again, where I had a small snooze.
I woke up to find two little sisters, 2 & 3 years old splashing around in the pool under the watchful eyes of their dad. Both were safely supported by well fitting inflatable rings.
They were European but not British but they were chatting to an older local girl of about 15, in English who was sat near me, Wendy had gone to make a cuppa.
When it was time for them to go Dad had to drag the little one out kicking and crying and started to dry her with a towel. Her sister realising the game was over tried and struggled to get out of the pool.
After a few unsuccessful attempts I went over to help and she held her arms aloft for me to pull her which I did, and out of the water pops a fully nudie little girl, excepting rubber ring! Well that seemed to tickle the local girl who was in fits of laughter.
As the sun stared to drop in the sky we went for a walk. We walked along the old cobbled road to our last resort, turned right into a shorter cobbled road and then met with the new Black Mile and walked into town, a distance of about just under five miles.
There was an African, noisy carnival roaming the streets with quite a few kids following them so we went to take a peep. It was crowded and chaotic and some scallywag let off a huge fire cracker that was deafening. Wendy Gill jumped a mile and that was the extent of our participation so we retired to the Euro Bar for a glass of beer and wine.
We ordered a shawarma to share which is a spicy beef tortilla wrap and cut it in half, Wendy's half had chips in it too. It was lovely but very spicy and we both needed another drink to cool our mouths.
Two French lads sat with us at our table as it was very busy. They were from Paris and were here for a weeks wind surfing.
Home to a seat on the balcony where I completed the blog only to loose it all somehow on this infernal iPhone!!!
And that is why having had a most wonderful, restful sleep I am propped up in bed st 07:00 rewriting for you to have your copy on time avid reader!
Is so Hard to Find
I had a delightful sleep last night and woke at 06:00 to find Wendy engrossed on her iPad bimberling away.
Another cloudy start with the wind blowing again.
I yet again come across Wendy on the Green Mile for her to yet again decline my fist pump. I have just asked why she does it, I'm scared your going to hurt me was her reply. Wendy I do it to four old boys and they never wimp out, was mine.
We usually have a morning planning meeting after exercise but this morning I prompted it with a cunning plan!
Breakfast out at the Euro Bar where we can have local food, then a morning at the pool, maybe a walk in the afternoon and then a fish salad supper.
With everyone on board with the plan, boy was I hungry, we set off. The Euro Bar has a very nice Breakfast menu, in English too, so I was extremely excited.
However when in attendance we found that meals are not served until midday! Wendy thinks they have misunderstood the concept of breakfast!
Unperturbed we are now off to another place we know. Do they do breakfast Wendy asks. Yes they do, there's a sign on the door with the daily timetable.
And sure it was, we were there with five minutes to go so I felt confident. But you know what's coming, yes of course, the waitress says, we have stoped breakfast.
Why for heavens sake, there is still plenty of time to knock us something up, we have cash don't you won't the bloody stuff! Is what I wanted to say. But knowing it would be futile I just patted my tummy and said, I'm starving, which raised a chuckle from the waitress. Obviously she's not working for herself.
I really wonder what the proprietor would think of such slack service.
Anyway, thankfully I have more establishments tucked up my sleeve and I took Wendy to a beach bar on the western end of the town where we had a delightful, egg, bacon and bread meal with coffee and water and all for less that 7 euros. The waiter was the coolest laid back guy I have ever come across. Give him his due he did deliver a delicious breakfast in very quick time.
We bought some supplies on the way back and I wanted a lemon for the fish tonight, but not at 400 escudos, about £3.60, I'll use make believe lemon instead!
Pool time lasted until 16:00 when we walked along the beach to the Sal Beach Bar for some Bruschetta in the way of a starter for our supper, oh and some sangria!
Along the way I tried to coax Wendy into sharing a kayak, jet skiing or kite surfing which were all enthusiastically declined.
We did come across a football match of mixed sexes and I can tell you in the sandy conditions, the girls gave as good as they got and there were some great tackles made. I also took a sneak on the pier, Wendy doesn't like it there as there are gaps in the boarding, oh Wend, come on!!! Anyway she missed the cutest sight, a mum cleaning fish while her delightful little girl tried to escape her little prison, a big bucket. It was so funny to watch!
After the Sal Beach Bar we went home and caught up on the latest Donald Trump saga about the incident that never was in Sweden. Does he not have morning briefings where the latest important world events are carefully explained to him, in very small and understandable syllables? Jeepers it's worrying!!!
Anyway more importantly we had a very nice piece of fish, salad and pasta for supper on the balcony, it was lovely.
Followed by, and I neglected to say in my last copy, a chocolate cookie from the cafe downstairs, warmed up of course, so the chocolate melted.
Wendy got one last night too, they are the same as the ones in the Euro Bar which we bought a few days ago.
It's now turned 7pm and as she was up early it's unlikely I'll get her off the balcony tonight so it looks like it's already book at bedtime time avid reader!!!
Night, Night!!!
Older Age!!!
I came across a limping Wendy Gill this morning who was complaining of pain in her left knee. It really hurts she said, but knowing Wendy, it's probably mildly throbbing.
She reminds me of Jamilia, a little friend of Robyn's from nursery. I saw her sobbing her eyes out once so I asked whatever the matter was and she pointed to the teeny, tiniest scratch on her arm that it is possible to have, without it actually being a scratch. Wendy has the same level of pain threshold as Jamilia!
I have on the other hand have the most massively painfully, most sore, can't put up with pain blister on my right big toe, just on the outside where it touches everything, painfully I might add.
Wendy walked home and I continued after showing a suitable amount of concern and then we went to the beach but we could not get a subbed. We sat on the sand for an hour and as Wendy detests the sand I was on careful watch for sun bed availability, and in the nick of time two became available.
I'm at a loss as to how the man can be bare faced enough to charge two people 6 euros for the beds, when they have been used less than an hour only to immediately charge new residents the exact same amount with a big smile on his face, the bugger.
I did a bit of snorkelling with my equipment that I had brought over from home only to be disappointed by the very many beer bottles I found littering the sea bed.
You know as nice as they are, the Cape Verde people are scruffy litterers. The place is awash with it, plastic bottles, glass, paper, carrier bags etc, etc!
You quite often see carrier bags floating in the air overhead before they gently settle into the Atlantic Ocean.
It astounds me that people who live in such a terrific climate don't appreciate it. I also bet as a sea level nation they go to global environmental meetings and berate us northern countries for global warming.
Do you know a beached whale was given an autopsy to find its cause of death as it looked particularly frail and under nourished. They found 37 plastic bags in its digestive tract. Apparently carrier bags look like squid to a whale. Please stop the littering Cape Verde it goes directly into the sea!!!!
More sun bed reading and relaxation followed but it got a bit cloudy around the 3pm mark. But only being 3 hours into my 6 euros I was not moving on.
But the cloud moved on as fast as they came and we had a lovely sunny afternoon.
I went and bought some nibbles, crisps actually that cost £2 and a bottle of wine for tonight at a price of £3, I just can't get my head around the pricing structure of Cape Verde!!!
We nipped along to the resort bar for a small, large/beer and an even smaller/small beer for the pricey sum of 6 euros, twice what it would cost at the Euro Bar and for larger drinks too, but l guess your toes aren't in the Atlantic Ocean there!
We went for a stroll along the beach and came across a seriously looking young apprentice surfer with an enormous helmet on, obviously a rule of his mums. Then we had more sun bed time, I am going to get my money's worth, yes I will.
I was Head Chef tonight and we had stir fry beef with noodles, I have to say it was a delight!
I washed and dried and then I managed to persuade Wendy to go in town for a walk where we came across a young man mistreating his girlfriend. He looked like an Italian chap, only because that's how I consider Italian types to be with their girlfriends. Wendy wanted direct action but having previously been a hero of such events only to be told to piss off by the offended party I thought we should take a back seat. They were last seen having a romantic meal together, although I am not sure if she was entirely happy.
The Euro Bar was Chock-a-Block so we found a bar deeper into the back streets. It was ok but very basic with no draught beer or direct plumbing.
We also came across a local tourist fishing guide called John who bragged of landing a 200kg Marlin today. He was rat faced drunk!
Wendy was willing to hear about it but as I later explained that I weigh 65kg so the fish John landed would be 3 of me and would more likely be a baby whale.
From there we walked home with Wendy practice running on her bad knee as she is suddenly concerned she is going to instantly gain weight if she can't run, and that's why I love her so much, she is crackers!!!
Date Day!
Vasos Alexander from the Chris Evens breakfast show on Radio 2 shares every Tuesday with his wife Caroline as the date of the week day. Chris usually asks Vasos where they will be having their date day and usually Vasos says I'd like to go mountain biking or something like, but Caroline wants to watch the west end production of the Black Swan. So Chris says what will it be then Vasos and Vasos usually replies whatever Caroline wants!
So I have now, after nearly 30 years of married life, decided to incorporate Date Wednesday into our lives and there will be no arguing, it's my week choice and then Wendy's week choice today it's mine!!
But first we need to know about Wendy's knee? Well apparently it held up this morning and she did a full circuit of about 4.5 miles. All good so far with a wee occasional twinge.
We had a couple of hours pool time where I finished my Bill Bryson book about Britain and I have loved reading it.
I told Wendy about my date plans which were very much welcomed so I said you'd better go get ready, thinking if she had twenty minutes head start I would be ok to go and wash my face, dress and we would be ready together. I found her in her nightwear applying eye shadow, women eh?
Eventually we set off for the Terrace Restaurant by the pier for a luncheon appointment, Wendy looked delightful in her yellow dress as she always does.
We had a lovely seat overlooking the pier where I could observe the goings-on and the sun was out, it was a blissful occasion.
Wendy ordered my favourite meal, tuna, mango and caramelised onions in balsamic vinegar and I decided to be different and ordered a lobster sandwich.
We also had a delightful bottle of Pinot Grigio wine to accompany.
Well what a feast we had, my sandwich of ginormous proportions was everything that you would want a lobster sandwich to be, but I have to admit Wendy's was the bestest, tasty meal ever!
We even dared to share a pud, chocolate cake made with crushed pistachio and cream. Jeepers it was melt in the mouth stuff, so much so that I had to monitor Wendy for portion control measures.
The bill eventually came and it was 60 something euros, which magically turned into £47 when I used my travel card, which was then instantly converted into sterling on my App!
Wendy said that's 47 quid well spent as I am stuffed as a pig, she does rhymes too now!! Well date one seems to be working well.
We then went to the, what I now call the pier bar, you know the one where you can't get food, and had a small carafe of house wine.
That did Wendy and we are currently on the sun beds at the apartment, Wendy wrapped in her towel with her flat on her back knocking Z's out like there's no tomorrow, I think an evening walk might be in order!
I had a tiny snooze on the sofa and as it got dark we went for a nice evening stroll and picked two lovely street dogs up along the way.
We walked 2 miles upto the new Bikini Beach Resort to see the not very impressive light show. The dogs let us go as we passed a very busy restaurant, but they had seen us safely through the rough area.
We snook into our old hotel for a cheeky look and it was very quiet with not many people around. I must admit there is a bite to the wind tonight, mind it still is 23.5 degrees, it's the breeze that gives it a chill.
We continued another couple of miles back along the dark, Black Mile, where the road is coming along nicely, they have started painting the white lines in, with a man with a paintbrush on a stick! I'll tell you he is spot on with accuracy though.
Back at the apartment and an extremely successful Date Day draws to a close with a delicious ham and salad sarnie on the balcony.
I wonder what Wendy has planned next week avid reader!
Not Here Mate!!!
I woke to stunning clear sky's at 06:30, but the breeze was hard at it, almost Doris like!!
Actually I checked the outside temperature and it's never been below 21 and by the time I have had my fruit and fibre, orange juice and tea it's already climbing beyond 22 degrees.
So I set off early this morning as Wendy was still on her second cuppa.
I did come across her twice so her knee injury seemed to be wearing off.
Jeepers it was windy, I only did 8 miles, I have been doing 9 but the last mile is out on the blustery coast and I just couldn't do it today, I know I'm a wimp.
When I got back I was raving hungry so while Wendy prepared for breakfast I went out and got eggs and other supplies and we had ham and eggs with coffee on the balcony. It was a treat, Wendy gave me a perfect egg. I did actually break one on the way back as it is hard to protect eggs in plastic bags. Everything revolves around plastic bags here!
We spent all day at the pool both of use reading. The sun was out all day and we were fairly protected from the wind which is good.
Wendy made coffee at 13:30 and nipped to the local cafe and got one of her massive, favourite biscuits which we shared, unevenly I might add!
More pool time and then at 16:30 we walked into town for a few more bits and pieces and had a drink, in the dying sun at the Euro Bar.
We do like it there, it's at the start of the real back streets where local life really starts, where everywhere we go Wendy gets called pretty lady, our hello nice family from the street traders who can be a pest but mostly just shrug when you walk past!!
We saw a beer delivery at the bar, brought by no less than a bona fidi taxi, two barrels actually. You just have to love the third world!
Supper is on me, pan fried fish, salad and pasta, we have e started to run down our supplies.
Supper was again yummy but I'll suggest a little overly garlicky as we will no doubt find out during the night.
It was nice to wake up to Brads news of his new found friendship with a global megastar and I followed all their progress with updates on how they were coping with Doris, isn't technology great?
After wash up we retired to the balcony once more, Wendy bimberling on her iPad, me with my latest book, it's a Harry Hole, Jo Nesbo thriller and its 750 odd pages long and I'm loving it.
I might read it all night long!!!
Personal Holiday Best - 08:21
I was up at 06:20 after a delightful, restful night.
I had my breakfast while catching up with the news. We have BBC world news on the apartment telly but it's rubbish, it's all about the African Congo or the drug situation in the Philippines. Nothing at all about what's actually happening in Blighty, even the weather is world wide.
I get my updates from the Sky News App which today told me Jeramy Corbin had had a bad night. Well you could see that coming!
After breakfast I had time to help prep tonight's supper. We bought some fish the other day from the pier and I pan fried them. I thought they were quite tasty but Wendy thought the flavour a little strong so we are going to curry the remaining two. So after defrosting them I had to cook them to clear the meat from the bones and I came on the idea to steam them. We have a steamer in the apartment and I could just get the fish in, nose to tail, one in each steamer.
It worked a treat!!!! The lower fish was ready in 5 minutes and then I swapped it for the top steamer and that needed a minute or two more.
The skin came off easily and the meat came off the bone with ease. So now we have a nice pile of fish meat in the fridge all ready to be curried tonight.
I'll incorporate this method the next time I cook fish, maybe put some wine in with the water, a bit of garlic too and use that as a stock, Janie Oliver style.
Boy it was breezy as bugger out running this morning and despite it blowing me back I still managed another PB, I think it's the weather that agrees with me. Wendy's knee is still going strong too which is great.
When I got back Wendy was just leaving for the beach as we have been finding it hard to get decent beds by the time I've showered and got ready.
I came down a little later with the cool bag and found that Wendy had bagged two beds in a very prime spot, well done Wend!
It was another lovely, hot sunny day and with the breeze keeping it refreshingly nice.
About 2ish I nipped to what we call the miserable shop. It's so called because the owners cannot raise a smile at all on their faces. Their entire body language is miserable.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't some poor down on their luck local market mob, but a reasonably affluent shop owner who, by the way they dress seems to be much more wealthy than most of their countrymen.
And to make matters worse I only had a little change for what I wanted, a snack bag and a small bottle of coke. And to boot, no one, but especially these two, make it easy to shop as they never display a price for anything.
So I had to extend her torment today by asking how much for these two items? Heaven forbid I dare give her a twenty euro for such measly items.
My luck held out and I had enough in small change. I made an extra big effort by giving her a very loud thank you for your help!!!
Wendy loves these snacks, I'll try to describe them.
They are small deep fried bits of empty space with a spicy taste. She actually adores them!
I'm not sure if it's a flour mix of some kind of batter but Wendy can eat them all day long.
We had a very thin, very English speaking local lady drop by our sun beds to tell us that she's not selling anything but that she has four kids to feed and no father. She then tried to sell us some African stuff. Now I know I can be susceptible to a charitable thought but you just can't tell whether they are being truthful or just spinning you a line so I had to decline. She then did a bit of extra, additional begging but I still wasn't sure, Wendy who is usually dependable in these situations kept quite!
I might come across as cruel and I would help anyone in desperate need but some locals do seem to know how to tug at your heart so it's best to be firm as you'll have everyone mob you.
The sun continued to shine until Wendy felt a little chill at 17:00 so we slowly headed home, looking for ham on the way!
And thankfully we found it, and cheese too. Fresh produce is hard to find. There is hardly any raw meat or fish, there is only one place we have found with cooked meat and you have to rummage through the veg to find anything half fresh, in fact most things are the wrong side of being off. But being resourceful we know where the best places are.
Wendy made the curry and it was ok for me, actually it was quite tasty, but an ordeal for her, thank goodness it's gone were her words when the last morsel had been eaten.
I think we should go out tomorrow night!
After supper we sat on the balcony with our books and then I just had to give Wendy a boost by taking her downstairs to a likeable restaurant called, By Valeria, for a big piece of chocolate brownie and a glass of wine which seems to have done the trick and her spirits have lifted.
Ten minutes more and a bit more of the balcony with my book and that will close nicely on a lovely day.
Footnote - Wends feeling a bit guilty about the thin lady, so I have said if we come across her again I'll ask her to show me proof and if she's legit I'll buy some food from her kids!
Additional Footnote - I forgot to say on the way back from the beach that we called into a bar and had a savoury snack, some fishy thing that was bloody lovely and guess who had the lions share, yes Mrs Piggy Porker who has just gone to settle our bill and I bet sneak another of her favourite chocolate biscuits, I can hear her now chuckling with the owner about them, she's bought 62 so far!!
I'll post another pic as proof!!!!
But Not Finished
It was the windiest day to date and that's saying something, the trade winds were at their best and warmest too as we have bright clear skies.
The new road is open so they are back to duel carriageway status, but and here's the thing, it's not finished. Two men were trying to carry on painting the white lines while traffic whizzed by them on both sides, you couldn't make it up!
And would you believe I saw a van going the wrong way down the other duel carriageway, the driver must have not noticed the road was open, thankfully everyone managed to dodge him.
Jeepers it is hot today, it's just gone midday and we are by the pool and it's stinking hot, thankfully we still get a bit of the breeze.
I nipped to the shop before it closed for the weekend and got myself a bottle of my 6 quid rum, well it is a bargain.
I did a budget check too and we were up to 72 euros a day so I took out 60 to cover the electric and water and for the taxi ride to the airport and dropped the average to 62, I think?
Wendy nipped up to the apartment for some water and I asked her to bring me a small beer, thank you. She also said do you want half of the biscuit, you know, the one she bought last night, I knew I was buggerd.
And so when she came with my beer she said, "somebody has been into this biscuit" and sure enough it was all there, the evidence of my teeth marks which I left last night as Wendy was just dropping off to sleep, well in my defence they are really lovely biscuits!
We took a walk into town to get the rest of our weekend provisions as it takes two to three shops to get what you need. Unfortunately we had to go to the miserable shop to get a couple of snack packs too. But apart from that it was a pleasant enough stroll.
We did try to catch the rugby but the Sal Beach Bar was chockablock so we came back and I watched the game, well the rest of it downstairs in the bar. Jeepers it was 3.50 euros a pint, I had the one and nursed it like a sickly puppy!
We are out tonight to a little scruffy looking bar type place that has the biggest barbecue I have ever seen, and Wendy approves. I actually recall her deciding to go, jeepers she's gone bush all of a sudden. Normally she wouldn't have anything that's not got 3 stars but she's looking forward to tonight.
Let's see shall we?
More pool time and book reading followed and I started my Saturday night early with a crafty rum!
And then Wendy went for some wine and her favourite snack and we got chatting to David and his wife, whose name I forget because he does not stop talking. Anyway after blood started seeping from my eyes we went up to the apartment to sit on the balcony and read, thankfully.
After 6 we walked to a bar recommended by our apartment owner and it was nice but a bit nippy on the rooftop, and we saw 'M' or a very lucky likey Judy Dench!!
Supper was a long affair, however it was tasty. We shared a Conch starter which was a bit welkish, in a rubbery kind of way, in my opinion, but strangely Wendy didn't think so. But we do agree, that the sauce and the bread was very nice.
After another long wait our main meals came and, would you believe, they were very nice. Wendy had pork kebabs, I had beef steak. Mine was a wee bit tuff, but Wendy loved hers. I did slop on too much chilli/olive oil but it was nice, but too bloody hot.
We got the additional chips and rice so I gave mine to the street dogs who turned their nose up at it almost leaving me with an awkward explanation, thankfully in the nick of time one came along and hovered it all up.
Service took that long that I had to pay the bill very smartish as Wendy needed the toilet and we had to gallop home, it was also such a cold wind.
Wendy is now in bed trying to warm up, me I'm thinking about going to the Pirata Bar to disco dance from midnight until, 07:00!!!
Only kidding, it's now 22:03 and time for book at bed time!!!
Phew!!!!!!!!
Well the road painter is still at it but today he had a protective barrier of sorts, well not really.
It was good old Cape Verde Heath and Safety at its best. It was just a bit of a barrier with a chevron painted on it, no cones, no warning signs, nothing, just a creaky barrier.
So if a car is behind a bus and legitimately wants to overtake, they pull out and go straight through the flimsy barrier and straight over the painter, even worse if it's a truck.
It's an accident waiting to happen, believe me.
It was funny I bumped into Wendy at the top of the black mile and did my fist pump and again at the last second she pulled out. But a local lad was passing on his bike and must have thought us to be strangers to each other and nearly fell off his bike laughing!!!
After breakfast we had an hour or two at the pool where I finished my very good book and had a swim. One length actually of the fastest front crawl anyone can do as the pool is icy cold, hard to believe, eh at 27 degrees air temperature.
Then we went to watch the ruby and shared our table with a man and his son from Manchester. They were both really nice fellas and it was good to watch a game with a decent and passionate fan.
But what a game, jeepers Italy played well and tactically too. My new mate Steve agrees with me, we kick too much and hope for a turn over that never, or rarely happens. If plonkers like Steve and I can see it, why can't the coaching team. Keep the bloody ball and make tackles, we are strong enough, have faith in your strength. It must have given Scotland a right boast for the next game.
After the game we happened upon a street carnival that was full of kids having a great, but noisy time. The little girl at the top of the float didn't like it that much, take a look at the video if I can post it.
We then hit the Euro Bar in search of food but it was a limited menu of chicken, rough chicken??? or chicken fajitos. So we had a glass of wine and went to plan B.
Which due to my having a bad feeling about a poor level of service at the cafe we were at turned in to plan C!
And boy what a plan!!!
We went to the pier bar and we had the most amazing meal, out of hours too!
When we got there I asked the lovely little Italian women if we could get food and she explained what limited options we could have so we opted for a mixed salad and a lasagna. She explained that the chef isn't on for ten minutes but we got bread with our wine in minutes and Wendy just loved the spray on balsamic vinegar.
The setting is fantastic, probably a world class view, right on the harbour wall with waves lapping over onto my feet as the sun set.
And within 25 minutes our meal came and I have to say that I know Wendy makes a very good lasagna so they were always going to struggle in that department, but still it was very tasty. The salad though was as good as you would get anywhere! I know, I'm easily pleased.
So being contented chums we had another small carafe of white wine.
And we got chatting to a really nice couple from Latvia. We spent a half hour and it was a treat to talk to some other Europeans who share our national, collective concerns about the EU.
And they were really funny too!
After sunset we marched off and headed to Valeria for a glass of wine and cake.
Wendy got chatting with the owner about the cookies as we have them at the Euro Bar and she just let it slip, oh dear!!!
The owner wasn't happy as one of her cooks left and it seems that he took the receipt to the Euro Bar and that they are turning them out like no tomorrow, or dare I say, hot cakes!
It's 19:25 and I'm going to post copy as I have wifi here and I want you, Avid Reader to see the video of the carnival.
I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow with the obnoxious young Brit who is getting up everyone's nose!!!
Few, thankfully while proof reading his friends told him to go to bed, so he's gone!!!
Neighbour Noise Too!
I tried and tried to post the video but it would not upload. I have about 13 seconds of footage but the island internet service could not cope with it, I tried several different wifi services too. Funny isn't it I could upload a full minute using a SIM card in the farthest reaches of the Australian Outback but I can't do it here.
We got back to the apartment and the burglar prof door would not unlock, the key just kept turning without resistance. If I could climb upto the balcony I could get in through the fly screen as we leave the sliding door open, but it was too high to access and the footholds weren't deep enough.
It's turned 10 pm on Sunday night we are in deep do, do!!!
I went to get the no English speaking security guard thinking he might have a solution, i.e. a ladder, but he just went to find another colleague.
In the meantime I had another ten minute struggle and thankfully the lock engaged and opened. Then head of security dropped in and I explained, by visual demonstration, and he went and got it stuck in the locked position with the door open, so now we couldn't close it.
He went off shaking his head saying I need technical, which must be some mythical and magical mystique person who I had no way of contacting.
Thankfully I had got a message to Mick, the flat owner, who sent his mate round to help and we managed to get the door to close but not lock.
He would come back tomorrow to try and mend it.
We went to bed and the two lovely young girls upstairs started to party at 02:30 which lasted until they went out st 03:30. This resulted in Wendy going round the room like a deranged person using the sweeping brush to knock on the ceiling, it didn't work.
Wendy didn't get out of bed like a lark this morning I can tell you, and she took a sickie from running as well.
The line painter as done away with the barrier and now has two men holding a string line which he as marked off so he knows where to paint the road. He has about 100 metres to go so hopefully the string holding man who is also now look out for the traffic will keep his wits about him until it's done. They remind me of WWI troops going into no mans land, you fear it's not going to end well, I do hope they make it safely.
As an additional security measure we stuck by the pool with our valuables today but thankfully Micks mate came at 11:00 and mended the door. It wasn't easy, it was quite tricky as a small cast iron sliding mechanism had broke. Apparently it happens a lot. Thankfully the main office had a spare so we are now fully secure again.
Back by the pool we enjoyed a nice warm afternoon. I know I winge on about the wind in the mornings when running but it's a savour later in the day. It's a nice feeling with the warm breeze swirling around and keeping the heat at bay.
4 hours in the sun later we went for a walk to haggle for a few collectibles. Wendy had her eye on a few things and we did a bit of pre-haggling a few days ago but we didn't get the desired price so today we set off with an amount in mind and the first trader we asked gave a price half what the other pre-haggler had asked. That's why I don't like haggling, you never know what the value of anything is.
Quite close to this stall was a very nice wooden restaurant, which caught fire and completely burnt to the ground, lock stock and barrel because there is no fire service on the Island, only at the airport, as required by international law.
Wendy had a chicken in the oven so it was a quick glass of wine at the Euro Bar where we caught the falling sun nicely.
The owner who works the late duty at the bar came in at 18:00 and we were inside sheltering from the cool breeze and he could not be happier to see us, despite us causing several skirmishes! He gave me a good old handshake and in his limited English said to Wendy, "Hello Sister". And it was all done in such an enthusiastic and friendly way.
Do you know I feel more welcome in the Euro Bar, over 3,000 miles from home, in a place where a white Colonial European should not expect such friendship, than I do in the back bar of the Big Roy where I have lived for 19 years, strange old world eh??? (Have I said this before?).
What a delight supper was, Wendy did us proud with her, extra garlicky than my garlicky chicken, chicken.
We are going to be so thirsty tonight!
We dressed for a walk to the town but we got 100 metres away and I could see Wendy was tired so we did an about turn and headed to Vals for wine and the most sticky, chocolatey, yummy brownie that has ever passed my lips. To say it was a delight is an understatement, it's gone now, I might order more!!!
I think as it's almost 20:00 a read on the balcony will follow with an excitingly early night not far behind!!!
Night, Night Avid Reader!!!
Sleep!
As predicted Wendy was spark out at 9pm and I wasn't long behind her. I wasn't expecting noise from upstairs, to be fair to them we have been here over three weeks and only heard them the once during the night. So I left the windows open and nodded off.
The thing about tropical sleeping is that the outside temperature doesn't drop below 22 so you tend to get hot, push the sheets off then get a bit chilly and pull them on again.
Only last night in my sleep I got a bit muddled and pulled Wendy's off over onto me and she silently, without waking up, rearranged the bed and tucked me in. And then told me about my shortcomings the next morning.
I heard the street dogs at 05:30, I closed the windows, I had another hour and got up at 06:30 relaxed and ready to go. Well I should after over a 9 hour kip!
After a bowl of Grandad Bryan's porridge I went running and saw that the road painters had now moved lock stock and barrel to the other end of the road so they could paint the roundabout. It was absolute chaos, there wasn't any signs, no warning and drivers came around and were suddenly presented with, now six guys, sitting in the road, it's madness.
They haven't even finished painting the other end of the road!! What a carry on!
Wendy had left for the beach by the time I got back so I had a bit more to eat and went to join her. She'd done it again and had secured a top spot.
I went back to the apartment to change books and came across four young lads, who should have been in school, busking with home made and not very good drums consisting of:
An empty paint tin
An empty coke bottle
A scruffy looking shell
What a racket they were making and most likely upsetting the hotel guests at the plush beach resort too!
They had a carrier bag collecting small change in the road. But I didn't have anything on me so I couldn't contribute. I did find some coins at the apartment but they had gone when I returned. They had either made enough for an ice cream each, or, more likely been given the heave hoo by the hotel security team.
On returning to the beach two lads turned up with a rod of speared fish. They had weight belts and wet suits on so they must have been diving. They shared the fish and were on their way, hopefully to make a bob or two for their efforts. They must have had 20 good sized fish.
Wendy did a bit more bartering for bananas and again knocked the poor girl to rock bottom for them. How much were they Wendy? 1.2 euros, did you round it to two? No I never thought!!!
Wendy was feeling peckish so I went to see the very nice Chinese shop holders and bought a bag of savoury treats only for Wendy to find them disgusting as she said they were like cheesy wotsits, well thanks Wend I did try, there's not any real choice either, so as I say, "chomp or chomp off Wendy Gill!!!
Later I took a walk to get a photo of the pier bar so Avid Readers could see what all the fuss is about. It's such a lovely setting, one of my favourites.
Wendy was feeling chilly as the sun started to dip so she left and took the cool bag back to the apartment. I think she just needed a wee!!!
By the time Wendy got back it was a bit chilly so we went for a walk in the downtown suburbs and then nipped for a glass of wine at the pier bar where we were attended to by the lovely Sylvia. Wendy just adores her as she is just such a lovely Italian girl.
After a bit more walking we ended up at the Euro Bar but unfortunately the Head Chef isn't on until 7pm so we will have to nurse more wine until he gets here!!!
And when he did we had such a delight of a supper. Shamamis, salad and a bit more wine, wow, we might have had to wait but boy was it yummy!!!
And all for 12 euros!!!
There were some kids behind us scamming for money and Wendy thought I should give them something as they were cute!
Ah, they were that cute they took the tip the German chap on the next table had left the staff and then they all had chicken and chips, all six of the buggers!!!
The German chap was very nice too, he is here for 16 days kite said urfing and he thinks I should give it a try, maybe next time.
After settling our bill we left and I caught Wendy chastising the kids behind us who were now scamming people outside the bar.
Stop it she was saying, you've all had a good feed!!!
Thankfully we got home safe and sound!
Date Day
I woke at 05:30 and heard a right fog horn of a noise so I shut the windows thinking that we were shrouded in thick fog. Wendy tossed over and said it's the snorer, haven't you heard him before. No I haven't, jeepers if that's snoring I wouldn't want to be his wife!
I met Wendy at the top of the black mile again and there were no painters present nor had the job been finished, how do things get finished here, simple answer, they don't. There are half constructed hotels every second block, it's just how it is.
Today is Date Day, Wendy's turn, so we took the bus to the capital city, Espargos! I say capital city with a fair amount of reservation.
And the bus is not actually a bus. There is no municipal transport so the private sector has filled the gap with a row of mini busses.
Starting in line you get aboard a 15 seater mini bus and when it's full it leaves, no timetable just bums on seats. And it costs only 1 Euro each, for 15 people per trip, it's amazing!
But bad luck would have it as today seems like a bank holiday and everything was closed in a capital city that isn't a capital city as there is buger all there.
We walked and walked and found nothing of note. I never even got my local grub that I have so desperately yearned for.
After a couple of hours ambling we boarded the return bus, and waited until the driver had a full load, about ten minutes.
And then it struck me.
Race is an entirely white issue, I'll explain.
We have been here over 3.6 weeks, 10 actually if you accrue it all, and I have yet to feel racially isolated.
Here were two white people on a bus full of local black people who's decendancy is of African and European slavery and we had nothing but politeness from our fellow bus passengers. Race was not an issue, in fact it was never given house room. Everyone just went about their business, now I want to live in that kind of world!
I had an idea that we would get local grub at the cafe across from the Pirata Bar, but no such look. They have a picture menu and I pointed at 3 options only to be told no, not available, so I gave in. I mean what establishment has a menu that doesn't cook the food as described, in fact they were cooking fish, which wasn't on the menu, how does that work, am I supposed to guess?
Anyway we then went to the bar downstairs (from our apartment), and had UK food which although pretty good wasn't Cape Verde food, I can get UK food in the UK don't you know!
We did find out three important facts mind:
1. The snorer is a real person, they dread him coming for four weeks every year and he can be heard through solid concrete walls, oh and he does have a wife! (Apparently he has left this morning).
2. Today is a bank holiday of some kind.
3. There is a stage set up almost in front of our apartment with massive speakers where the carnival will pass, late at night very S.L.O.W.L.E.Y!!
We also saw a man riding a bike with no front wheel, I kid you not, he wheelied his bike along in the prone position, I have actual footage.
Even the bar owner said, I have now seen everything!
Tonight it's Wendy's Date Night and she is taking me back to the Hungry Frog, the cow!!!
That's the place where I went last time and I had a bit of a fallout as my meal was terrible, why would you do that on date night?
I'll be back later with how we got on!!!
It's 18:36 and it would appear that the carnival has started as we have wall to wall drums, they do like their drums these African types!
Jeepers we have just been mingling with the carnival and what a fantastic atmosphere, it's brilliant and noisy!
The drum band were fantastic taking their lead from a young lad of about 10 who beat the rhythm on a kettle drum for the much older kids to then belt out loudly on their base drums.
I loved it!
And then there were all the colourful costumes.
What a lovely night we have had. The carnival is still in good form belting it out none stop and the food we have had was a true delight.
Now I have admit the owner and I were pretty close to a serious fallout the last time we were there but give him his due he knew we were there tonight and came and made amends, as did I too.
We had a Wahoo Carpaccio to start, beautiful rare Tuna with veg for the main and then a substantial chocolate mousse, that even the chocolate connoisseur Wendy Gill loved, for pud.
It was a real delight and I'm glad we put our differences behind us.
It's balcony time now and it's been a lovely Date Day. It doesn't sound like we will get much sleep tonight as the carnival is in extra full swing, but as we say in Cape Verde, No Stress!!!
PS - Robyn, we have found a store that does extra special snack packs!!!
Winding Down!
Strangely the carnival finished about 11:00 ish so we weren't disturbed through the night, it was quite hot though despite having the windows open.
I was sat at the 5 mile point of my run where I have my first drink, I was sat behind a souvenir shed out of the wind but in full view, just outside our apartment and I was watching for Wendy to pass as I wanted to tell her something.
It was very cloudy first thing and we were going to the beach but as it might not clear we were unsure, so I left Wendy to decide whether to go or not, this is known as a decision which is something Wendy dislikes. So I was going to tell her to abort the mission due to continued cloud cover.
But despite me waving and screaming at her she just sailed by with that thank god I've made it back alive look on her face, by the time I had got moving she'd ran herself through security and was nowhere to be seen.
So I carried on for another 4 miles and left her to try to decide.
I got back later and she was on the balcony. I asked from below how she had come to decide to stay? I haven't, she replied, I'm waiting to see what you think? Decisions, decisions Wend!!!
So we decided to stay at the pool.
First I needed to get some money changed as a good little fairy had made a deposit into my bank account with instructions to get Presseco for Wend, that was the actual bank mandate! So we trotted down to the Sal Beach Bar where I cashed in the required amount and took Wendy to the shop to get a bottle which we will take to the beach tomorrow, our last day!
She is a very happy bunny that someone thought about her, me too as I get to share.
We also bought four packs of snack bags!!!
Back at the apartment we had a bite to eat and then lounged by the pool. The clouds have gone and boy is it hot, well apparently it's spring now!
At 14:30, to take a time out from the sun we walked to the bar across from the Pirata Bar, remember our none lunch there yesterday?
Well buger me it was chaos!
3 girls behind the bar were arguing who's turn it was to fill a vinegar bottle. There was a meal on the bar waiting until they could find it's owner who had secretly changed tables. I can't describe the carfuffel that that caused but when he was tracked down, I think he had gone around the corner of the bar for some privacy, or to get away from their madness, and who can blame him?
The waitress actually tried to get him back to his original table by placing his meal there and pulling a chair out for him. Now thankfully I don't speak Portuguese but I think this is what he said, and I quote, "Bring my ffening meal here you silly moo"! With a little added pointing and gesticulating.
But he had a fair point as it is utter madness. The girls were still at it about the vinegar bottle, then it was snatched away by one in a huff and I was left with a barmaid who then did every minor bar duty that didn't need doing before she happened to realise she should serve a paying customer. I was on the brink of leaving but, perversely I wanted to play the scene out.
You know I think I have clicked what it's all about, you see I am a sodding nuisance, who has the cheek to interrupt their day by requesting service in return for money! How inconsiderate of me!
We eventually got a drink and I briefed Wendy on the goings on whereby we observed further antics from afar.
Back to the pool where it was still hot but at least now the breeze was stronger.
It was so hot Wendy disappeared inside to make tonight's supper, fish curry. I bet it will be yummy as it's our last apartment meal, it's Euro Bar Friday night tomorrow, no expense spared.
It clouded over just after five so we went for a stroll along the beach to town.
Jeepers the waves were pounding and had breached over the top of the beach and flooded an area we haven't seen wet before.
We had to paddle through it and you would think with the performance Wendy put up that she was on a Royal Marine Assault Course, jeepers there was some moaning!!!
On the pier a local fish women was counting her money and dropped a note through the crack in the timber into the madly swirly tide, I wasn't going in for it nor was she or her muckers, no, some very loud screeching resulted and then with all the excitement she had to relive herself in the rocks in full view of me and with her big fat bottom in my face!
We found a beach bar that's not been open while we have been here. Well bar is a bit of an exaggeration, it's actually a Stone Age caravan with some scabby decking.
So we had a glass of white wine, it cost a Euro for two glasses, it was shit! I'm sorry I cannot find any other word to describe it other than that. You could not sip it without a grimace or a loud gruffel, you know where you make a sound that's gruffelly when you drink it. Honestly it really was shit!!!
Then we went to the pier bar for a carafe of house white, and guess what???
It was 52 times worse, so worse I didn't finish my glass let alone attack the carafe. It was shocking and Wendy agreed. I cannot use another profanity as it would be offensive to Granny. But Wendy summed it up when she said, and I'm quoting again! "It looks like p**s and tastes like p**s. so despite Wendy asking me not to make yet another scene I took it back and went to pay the bill. Sylvia asked me if we did not like the wine and I happened to say it was undrinkable, she agreed with me, she said I know it is bad so it's free. Wendy did a handstand!
We then found a wee place tucked out of the way, new, only open five days and we had a half litre of lovely wine and some fish Carpaccio to start our evening off, it was lovely and we are booked in for breakfast tomorrow as well, it's my last day so I am hitting it hard!
Supper on the balcony was lovely if not a bit too salty from the stick pot we had.
We tried a walk but Wendy was bushed so she went back a 100 metres into the walk. I did a tour of the town and headed back for a wee balcony snorter!
But There's Still Saturday!!!
Boy was it windy during the night, it was almost hurricane status. I was up with it at 05:45, the wind, and the new family's baby downstairs who must have a bad dose of colic as s/he screened the apartment block down for about 40 minutes.
Too keep out of the wind as much as I could I ran up and down the Green Mile. That way you have about a third of the way protected from the wind. I bumped into Wendy a couple of times struggling with it.
When I got back the washing machine was on and the first case was already packed.
As soon as the washing was done we went to the beach and we were the first there. We even caught the attendant off guard as we wanted to pay him so we could get my much sought out Cape Verde breakfast.
We went back to the little place we found last night and had Tuna Cachupa, which is a meal based around chickpeas in a thick sauce. I loved it, there were heaps too and the Tuna was beautiful. Wendy had the same but had to leave some as she was full, I wolfed it down.
We swilled it down with a fruit smoothie and then went to let it wallow in our tums as we layed out in the morning sun.
I had to take a wee stroll to walk off my breakie and I also called in at the pier. I got a good shot of the lady who lost her money and then took a pee. You'll find her in the photo section, I wouldn't want to mess with her!
The surf was wild but as it was my last chance of a snorkel I donned my gear and after carefully watched the breakers, seizing my chance, I hopped into an outgoing swell and I must have been pulled into deep water at 20 knots such was the affect of the wind on the tidal surge.
I had a 20 minute potter but couldn't see much as the surf churned up the sand. Then I had to escape the large breaking waves. To do this I finned in on the wave then held off as it broke and then went for the next one, each time just rolling back off the crest of the wave. Finally I was on the last one and I rode it all the way in, right up until my tum was stuck in the sand, it was brilliant. Why are there some things that you do that make you feel like your still 10 years old?
I finished my book and then we cracked open the prosecco which was a delight.
I had a snooze to catch up from the baby blues and then took on an air of last day decadence and bought a bottle of vodka, with a can of mango juice for me and coke for Wendy. Then we tucked into a bag of snacks and soaked up the sun and the vodka too, responsibly mind!
As the afternoon wore on the clouds gathered and that with the breeze did for Wendy who did those wrapping herself up noises that are intended to get your attention, meaning it was time to leave. Therefore at 16:30 time was called and we trundled up from the beach back to the apartment where I put on my Team GB running vest and went for a nice five mile run while Wendy did a bit more packing and showering.
Oh I neglected to say that yesterday, on the advice of my Stock Broker, Mr Bradley Shackleton Gill Esq I purchased an undisclosed amount of shares on a newly floated company, Snap Chat!!! My Broker has advised that an acceptable amount of accumulation is taking place and we have a set a very acceptable sell %, why do I think this is all going to go wrong.
I should never have gambled Robyn's wedding funds!!!
Supper was taken at the Euro Bar for our final time and it was lovely. We shared a Fish Carpaccio and it was double lovely. Wendy then had a Mexican Enchilada while I had a spicy Sharamma which was a bit nippy on my lips, but delightful none the less.
We then said goodbye to all our friends at the bar which was very nice because the owner was gutted to have lost two loyal regulars! We then walked up to Valeria's for a glass of wine and a fig type pastry which Wendy loved.
Bedtime is approaching but not after I get that bottle of vodka to the half way mark!!
The Final Count
33 runs
270 miles
And I won't be sorry to see the back of that bloody Trade Wind. I will never complain about the Aberdeen seafront breeze ever again, promise!
It was just as wild today as yesterday and with a bit of cloud cover too.
I was up at 05:45 again and out running well before 07:00 making Wendy a cuppa as I left.
I saw her just finishing her run and she was about 200 metres in front of me so I sprinted wildly and caught her up. As she was listening to music I knew she couldn't hear me so I gave her bum a good slap as I passed her, she nearly had an "Accident".
She did though brag about getting a fist pump from a lad on his bike.
I had a quick swim in the freezing pool before breakfast where we finished all the food we had left. I had egg, cheese slices, tomato, green pepper and garlic mayonnaise, all tucked in a nice fresh bread roll. It was quite nice, really.
We then set about cleaning the apartment, top to bottom.
I started on the balcony and I gave it a right old fettle. You see sand gets deposited all over as it's carried on the winds from the Sahara Desert. Cars parked for long periods of time are caked in it. We have kept it clean but it needed a very deep clean which it got. Wendy set about the bedrooms.
When we got to the part where we could do no more as we were still using the place I went into town while Wendy finished the packing.
It was a nice walk but very breezy still.
When I got back Wendy had done most of the packing. We had a cup of tea and went in search of little girl T shirts for our friend Dave Ashworth's Granddaughters. However it was all in vain again as no one had any small enough.
After the 83rd shop we gave in, well we were more tempted by the smell of cooked food so we went to the Sal Beach Bar for a sharer plate, which for us to be soon on a crowded jet plane contained far too much garlic.
We got back to the apartment but by 14:00 we had done all we could and had an hour to kill so we took the long way round walk to the Euro Bar in the hope we might get a famous chocolate biscuit. We went via the water filling station where people without connected water have to queue each morning to fill any number of plastic containers, the poor buggers.
Blinking eck our luck was in as they had some biscuits just fresh out of the oven at the Euro Bar. We got one to go, for when Wendy gets into her hotel room in Barnsley at 04:30 on Sunday morning.
After finally finishing up at the flat and leaving it immaculate we boarded our waiting taxi for the airport.
Thankfully we had beat all the resort busses and we were checked in reasonably quickly, well by Cape Verde standards we were.
We were at the airport for just under 3 hours where I tried to run down the remaining data on my phone. I listened to Heart Fm, then onto BBC Radio 2. I read every piece of news on both Sky and the BBC news apps and surfed myself to death. I was still listening to Radio 2 when they started to do the safety demonstration on the plane. Jeepers I got some use out of it, I wonder how much is left.
Just before departure we were sprayed with fly spray, does it really work???
Bar service was terrible, we were in the forth front row and Wendy got the last bottle of white wine, I wanted two small beers but they only had one, I handed it back as I wanted to sip one now and have my meal with other.
My meal on the other hand was a real treat. I was starving by the time we got it as it had been delayed by severe turbulence over the Canary Islands, you know the type where the Cabin Crew have to strap themselves in! Wendy was apoplectic with fear and was heard to scream the odd, "Oh God" at the top of her voice.
Anyway I had a chicken tikka curry and Wendy had braised beef, all lovingly prepared by James Martin no less, I could have eaten three of them.
We jostled along with the turbulence more or less all the way back to Blighty and Wendy thanked her lucky stars when the plane came to rest at the airport.
We got to our hotel at exactly 04:00, we may have been ten minutes earlier had Sat Nav not took us on the wrong road, but at least we are tucked up in bed now snaffling a bit of good old Cape Verde biscuit.
Night, night Avid Reader, this adventure is over, who knows what's around the corner!!
Airport Madness
The drive down the A9 on Sunday afternoon wasn’t as bad as we expected and we arrived at our hotel for about 8pm. This is the first time I have booked airport parking at a hotel and it seems to be the thing to do. The hotel was nice and clean and our room first rate, although Wendy thought it noisy during the night. I never heard a peep and didn’t budge until my alarm went off at 07:00.
One downside, the Union Flag was upside down, again!!!
I ran along the Clyde and it was a lovely treat, it was very mild although overcast and it did spittle a wee bit but it didn’t stop my fun.
I like Glasgow, although technically we were in Renfrew. The Clyde is a big, proud looking river and the local authority as made the most of it by providing a very study footpath along the stretch I managed to run along.
Our bus ride to the airport was a synch and the driver we had had a very commendably and professional attitude which I liked a lot.
I heard the most stupid question at check in, we had two suitcases and the young lady asked me which case was Wendy’s and which one was David’s!!! I could not answer her, it was such a stupid question as we have been married almost 30 years and stuff just goes in a case. Wendy sensing my incredulity quickly piped up, “That one’s David’s and that ones Wendy’s” Happy now our cases were whisked away into the unknown.
I met the most obnoxious man at the security point who spoke absolutely rudely and disrespectfully to an older lady, I kept my mouth shut as it wasn’t going to end nicely, most likely with me in a cell. I spoke to the lady afterwards and she was lovely, she said he was frightfully rude but she was just a bit confused as each airport seems to operate differently. I’m going to report the bugger tomorrow!!!
We then had a drink in Weatherspoons and shared a lovely classic burger, which was delightful.
The flight was fine. No problems apart from the cost of a small bottle of wine, at 6 euros a shot it was too much for even Wendy. I asked the attendant was the price so high to discourage heavy drinking but she said it’s always been that price, it hasn’t you used to get two for £6.00, so there.
Our transport to the apartment was a 16 seater minibus, for just the two of us, which did seem a little excessive!
The apartment is small, but very clean and in a very nice, quiet resort. Wendy unpacked and I went to the shop for essential supplies, wine, Honey Rum and beer, oh and some food stuff too.
We went for a walk and found that the walkway to Amadores beach has been closed as they are making a new resort in the shantytown area. It’s caused severe disruption and they have built a huge stonewall as some kind of sea defence which is totally unnecessary. It spoils the views for local shantytown residents, but most importantly two restaurants which we like to use.
The entire area has been fenced off!!!
We came across the bar owner and he was very miffed as this fence stops his through traffic of walkers going to the beach. He was so incensed by the “Mafia” that he took a pair of snips and opened a hole for us, he then took us across this new beach and snipped two more hoes in the other side so we could walk through, boy was he not happy.
I told him I would be in for food at some point, well I had to didn’t I? Wendy had visions of blue flashing lights and being kicked out of the country but we were ok.
We came back along the road!
We are just unwinding on our very nice balcony with a chilled glass of wine before heading for a good night’s kip, with the very nice French windows fully open!!!
Night, Night Avid Reader, it’s nice to be back!
Sadness
We did indeed sleep with the French windows and the curtains open and it was lovely, I saw the sun rise over the hills of Puerto Rico with my opening eyes at 07:52!!!! I could not believe we had slept that long.
We woke up to the news from Manchester, what bad, sick buggers. I have to say for the first time I agree with Donald Trump, they are losers, most likely sat in their bedrooms on their laptops being brainwashed by some despot who they have never met, with no real friends of their own. Watching you tube videos of their religion in action.
Anyway that aside it’s been lovely, hot and sunny.
We both went running together with Wendy turning back at two miles after snaffling a drink from my water bottle, shes a bugger you know, she never takes her own. Boy it was hot though, not sunny to start with, but hot and muggy, the sun came out just as I got back.
We spent the morning on our balcony which is very private as no one else is around us, in fact it is very quiet in the resort.
After lunch we took a walk into Puerto Rico to visit our favourite store, the Hypo Dino Supermarket.
We walked along the back track that no goes behind the shanty town. I did nip into the town to take some pics for illustration for my Avid Readers.
We then snook around a fence post so we could approach Amadores Beach from the proper direction and would you guess who we bumped into, a lovely couple from Pontefract.
We chatted along the route into Puerto Rico and David was telling me it is David Silva who owns the land that’s being developed, you know the footballer for Man City. Well you would think that if this is correct he would have enough money without turfing people out of their homes or being disruptive to business that’s been there for years. Money eh - The root of all evil!!!
We eventually got to the supermarket via an ice cold beer in the harbour and bought enough supplies to last until the weekend, when our squatters arrive!
I even went so far as to buy myself a new Hypo Dino cool bag, well I say buy but I actually got it free with 18 cans of beer. We also stocked up on fruit juice, water and muesli yogurts, Wendy’s favourites!!!
We took a taxi back to the apartment and after a bit of admin, I have a business to run you know, successful mind!! I went for an evening run of about 5 miles followed by a really relaxing dip in the ocean. The water was delightful, nice and tepid just like I like it.
Supper is on me, I asked Wendy to select the ingredients for me to cook when I got back and so it’s going to be, pan fried garlic chicken breast, mushrooms, onions in a mojo sauce with nice bread and salad, its cooking now and it smells delicious.
And it was delicious, bloody lovely in fact, we might be a wee bitty thirsty in the night though!
After a walk down the beach we had a glass of sangria in a bar and headed back home, pooped after a lovely long day.
Night, Night!!!
Woosey!
Wow what a lovely morning, clear and sunny, stinking hot too.
I did a ten mile run and was dripping in sweat this morning, dripping from head to toe and I loved it.
Back at base, on the balcony and it was very hot indeed, in fact so hot Wendy didn’t stay too long and she sought solace in the room out of the heat.
I did a little longer but at 13:00 I could take no more so we went for lunch in the resort and it was bloody lovley, tapas and a litre of sangria. Wendy told me she got a high five from a fellow lady runner, who does she think she is???
We got back to the apartment and hung around the balcony where I fell asleep in the sun and Wendy snook to the bed for some respite.
I woke at 17:00, nicely refreshed and went for a run in the hills which was a bad idea as I did a big fall. I cuffed both hands, both knees, and my back, lord knows how but I picked myself up, bravely I might add, and kept going until I did another tree miles.
My lovely wife tended to me on my return but she was a bit wishy washy with the wound to my right hand but I had to get going to see Man U in the UEFA Final, I had to get her to man up, which she did, after another bottle of wine.
The game wasn’t that good but at least Man U won the game, which I think is down to karma…….well it must be it was such a poor game…..
I’m sorry for the poor show tonight but my severe injuries don’t allow me to type, so night night…………………….don’t worry I’m in good hands!!!!
And I’ll be back tomorrow in full flow!!!
But not for Long!!
I slept like a log last night but woke with aches and pains from my tumble. But being a true Barnsley man I donned my running gear, consisting of Team GB vest and did a good ten mile run. It was lovely, my frozen water bottle lasted all the way around and it kept me going.
My hand hurt though.
I got back and Wendy assisted me in showering, sorry Robyn, as I am in a bit of pain and after breakfast we walked to Puerto Rico as it was overcast but warm. I needed medical supplies and Wendy wanted some hair bobbles.
It was a nice walk and we called for a drink and a sarnie in a harbour bar, the sarnie was delicious, a chicken and mayo sarnie, we shared one and it was a delight.
We walked upto the shopping centre, which is a 1980’s nightmare of a place, a total blot on the landscape, but we did get what we wanted and then took a taxi back.
After nursey Wendy cleaned my wound we sat outside on the balcony for a while but as the sun went behind the hill at 16:00 I went to the beach, Wendy didn’t, she doesn’t like the black sand…………she’s sand racist!!!
She did join me for a while but she didn’t like it, I wouldn’t get her a 10 euro sunbed at 16:30 so she went back upstairs. I stayed at the beach until 18:30 having a very nice relaxing nap.
Supper, as cooked by Wendy, was bloody lovely, small steaky things with salad and rice, on the balcony with wine.
I then took Wendy for a walk up the valley where I fell yesterday and she loved it, it really is an interesting place with small and large houses set into the hillside with nothing around them. It was really quiet. We went as far as it was safe to go before nightfall and then came back and had a pint in the Irish bar.
After walking the hill to our apartment we sat indoors for a wee while but we will shortly be in bed so we can get up at sunrise.
My hand isn’t great, I’ll post a picture so look away now Robyn, I’ll give it a couple of days and see if it starts to heal, I might just need the services of a none NHS doctor which might be a bit pricey!!
Being a Yorkshire Man I think I might just hold out!!!
And Cloud
My ribs hurt badly this morning, I must have jarred them when I fell but they did ease a bit later in the day.
It was a bit overcast as we went running this morning but it blew away on the return leg and it was very hot when I got back.
Nursey Wendy helped me out of my running stuff but she’s a bit heavy handed and forgets men have body hair, you know someone tugging at your feet hair when taking socks off isn’t nice!!!
We headed to Amadores Beech for the day and Wendy nearly died at the price of the sunbeds, with umbrella of course, 12 euros for the full day, jeepers that’s twice what we paid in Cape Verde. She nearly choked!
However it was a lovely day, until 13:00 when some cloud came over so off we went for a stonking lunch which was mixed tapas supplemented by avocado and prawns and garlic bread. Of course sangria was also required! It was a true delight, bloody lovely, we scoffed the lot, even the fancy fruit pieces which came as garnish.
More sunbed time was required as it was still overcast we hunkered down to get the most out of our 12 euros.
At about 15:30 the sun came out and we went for a walk along the beach with Wendy nipping in the sea for a cooling dip and………………………………a wee! Cheeky mare!
After the walk I battered with a local grocer and managed to blag a bottle of wine for 3 euros, yes trade is that bad in May. So after dutifully despatching the wine we waited for the sunset to come along as we now had a stinking hot day, very hot actually.
Sunset came along at 20:45 but it was a bit subdued due to some low cloud.
Back at base Wendy dressed my wound which is still quite sore, I was hoping for a swim with the girls this weekend but it’s not looking likely as it is just now.
And so another day closes and the weekend is about to begin, with new guests Caroline and Robyn, oh dear I do hope the weather is good for them.
Caroline & Robyn
I had such a lovely sleep last night, just lovely with the window open and the sound of the sea rolling along. So I woke fully refreshed and ready to go.
My ribs still ached but I took some painkillers and off I set, 9 miles later I was dripping in sweat and back to almost full strength. I did take a dip in the pool but I had to keep my right hand aloft so as not to get my very poorly wound wet.
Before breakfast we did a bit of shopping for our new arrivals and carted them all up the hill. The second lift is now defective so everything as to come up four flights of stairs by hand. Wendy moans all the time but it is doing her the world of good as she’s lost pounds so far.
After breakfast we hung around the balcony waiting for our guests and sure enough they turned up right on time and it was a treat to see them.
We showed them to their quarters, my bed, as we are early risers so we will take the settee in the lounge while they loll around as young ladies do.
We the spent a nice afternoon on the roof top terrace where frivolities started in the pool and ended on the water slide. I don’t seem to manage to get upto the speeds that Rob and Caroline can do, maybe it’s an age thing.
The sun was out all day and I must admit I did feel it on my head so I borrowed Robyn’s hat and covered up.
Around 6pm I managed a four mile run but it was still hot so I baked in the sunshine and was very happy to get back and shower. The ladies left me to try a bar as a supper option but they weren’t too keen on Octopussy for supper. I think somethings been gained in translation here!
As a result we walked down to Amadourous Beach for a lovely meal each at the place we had lunch yesterday. I had a lovely steak, Wendy Sea Bass, Robyn a seafood lar-de-dar and Caroline some Pork in a mushroom sauce. They were all a treat!!!
We grabbed a cab home and had a drink or two before bedtime, it’s been a lovely day and I am looking forward to what’s in store for tomorrow.
I am outnumbered three to one by women and all they do is chat, chat and chat, and it’s all nonsense.
I might have to find some me time tomorrow and leave them to it!!!
A Delight!!!
We woke up to a stunning clear sunrise, no clouds at all, it was hot and nice.
But it did cloud over after we set off running and it came and went all day.
After breakfast we spent the day at the beach with the idea of keeping Caroline out of the sun. We had four sunbeds and two umbrellas and she still has got red legs. It must be the strength of the sun, well it is late May!
I did a fair bit of reading and Robyn had brought the bar which was Sangria and Cava so we were all having a good old traditional Sunday holiday day!
Lunch was tapas and it really was lovely, we had a wee bit more Sangria and we very very civilised, there was no fighting for food and we all shared nicely, thankfully Bradley wasn’t there as it would have been a food fight.
More sunbathing and sleeping in between the clouds was what we did after lunch and a bit of swimming with Robyn although I did find it hard to swim with one hand in the air to keep my poorly hand dry. I haven’t done the doggy paddle for ages but it was extremely tiring.
More sunbed time then occurred and Caroline had strict instructions to keep out of the sun. The sun did come out but Wendy and Caroline had left for the day leaving me and Robyn to get the last of the sun which was nice and warm.
I got yet another AirBnB booking today, that’s the sixth on this holiday, so I had to do a bit of admin to keep the books straight, on the balcony and then we headed to the shanty town for some Octopussy at the local bar, Caroline wasn’t too keen on it but we did have a laugh.
The Octopussy was a real delight, honest it was, and we loved it. Caroline was a wee bit concerned about the suckers but she did tuck in.
We sat with a local fella and we learnt that Tuesday will be a big bank holiday, Gran Canaria Day actually.
After a bottle of wine we walked back to our apartment and had a chat on the balcony where the ladies had a good old chitter, chatter.
Night, Night, it’s been a lovely day, my hand is getting a bit better day by day, it’s still sore but tomorrow we are off to Port Morgan on the ferry so that should be nice as we know we have a lovely place to eat, the Yellow Bar!
Tipsy
I’ll have to admit to have had a few drinks today Avid Reader has my hand is as sore as bugger, there seems to be a war going on in the wound, I think I’m winning but there are casualties on both sides.
I woke this morning, well I didn’t actually my eyes would not open, I had to ask Wendy to make my breakfast and even that didn’t work. It was only when I was on mile 6 of my run that I began to wake up.
We took the boat to Port Morgan and it was lovely, the sun was burning and we had to hide Caroline below decks to prevent further sun damage. I swear I have never seen anyone burn so quickly!!!
It was still hot in Port Mogan so I snook off from the ladies and went walkabout which was nice as they went shoe shopping. I loved it, you know girls are lovely but they don’t half talk nonsense, chitter chat, chitter chat all the time!!!
We met up at the Yellow Bar and we had a delightful tapas, it was lovely, bloody lovely in fact.
I’ll be glad when these girls have gone, my diet as gone south since they came, I’m feeling like Billy Bunter, it’s been wall to wall tapas.
It has been very nice mind.
After lunch the girls went to conclude on the deal with the shoes and I finished my wine that was very nice.
After a taxi ride back we went to the roof pool to relax and chill. Robyn did a few trips down the waterslide and had me film her, oh I also was taught how to do David type immogies.
I read a bit of my book, I’m near the end so I didn’t want to rush it, I’ll finish it tomorrow.
Everyone but me scarpered due to screaking girls in the pool, I was alone until the sun nipped in for the night at 19:00, behind the big hill and then went to join the ladies on the balcony for more drinks as Robyn cooked dinner.
Dinner was such lovely event!!!
We had garlic onions & peppers, pan fired pork, capsicums and rice, bloody lovely!!!
Robyn, on her last night was worried she might run out of wine so we nipped down to the Spar and bought some and some chocolate, actually it wasn’t some chocolate it was a massive bar of chocolate. It should have been put in the fridge but Wendy could not keep her paws off it, it’s halfway gone.
Its bed time soon Avid Reader, one more glass of wine and a bit of chocolate, hopefully and then I’m into my bed!!!
The Girls Have Gone!!!
I got back from my run just to see Caroline and Robyn leave on their luxury coach. It’s been a lovely couple of days having them, they are so much less hassle than boys!!!
It was overcast first thing and then the sky cleared pretty smartish and it has been a stonker of a day, Hot, Hot, Hot!!!
And it’s a national holiday, Canary Islands Day!!! The beaches have been packed with local people enjoying themselves and soaking up the sun.
After breakfast we walked down to the Spar, (Wendy is getting a tadge tired of the big hill we have to climb from the Spar to the Apartment – Its only 500 yards but its near vertical).
Then after a much needed cool off we walked into Porto Rico, and saw a reptile in hiding, yes it was that hot, then we took a late lunch at a beach café, of salted peppers, prawns in garlic olive oil and fresh bread, oh and a large beer each. It’s not an understatement to say it was bloody lovely!!!
While I was there I was contacted by my mate Paul about signing up for a running challenge which I happily accepted, bring it on!!!
We then went about 20 yards and called at the next bar for an expensive honey rum, 10 euros for two, daylight robbery!!!
After a wee bitty more lounging, and by this time boy was that sun hot, we walked upto the shopping centre to buy some lip balm for yours truly.
I’m bruised and battered from my tumble and now I have lip gip from the sun.
We then slowly walked back to Amaderous Beach where we took a very sweet, which I do like, white wine on the prom, all very civilised too. It was all very nice but I must admit I was miffed when I paid the guy at the bar, having took our glasses back he just continued to talk to his local friends without even looking at me. I won’t be back, you’re not that busy that you can be disrespectful to British customers!!!
We continued our walk and I managed to get a very reluctant Wendy onto the private beach, it was a bit hairy, well it wasn’t actually but when you have a womanly woman like Wendy it is, she thinks everything is going to go tragically wrong if she ever has to stray from the straight and narrow.
Anyway the beach was lovely.
It was 18:15 when we finally got back to the apartment and my walking App said we had walked 7.5 miles,………………..in the soaring heat too.
I went upto the top pool to catch the last half hour of sun while Wendy did her ablutions.
It was very nice and peaceful up top but when the sun goes behind the hill the lights are out so it’s time to come down, and that time is about 18:56!!!
Back in the apartment Wendy was showered and was feeling a bit better, oh did I forget to mention that she and Robyn drank about 16 bottles of wine last night. I went to my bed at the appropriate time, they didn’t, thankfully Caroline was a good girl!
She’s been dog rough all day, well apart for the pint of beer, honey rum and wine, oh and the glass of wine with her supper.
Supper by the way was an egg sarnie, after 3 days of Caroline and Robyn decadence we need to calm down somewhat.
Its now turned 8pm and the sun is still out behind the hill so it’s nice and bright in the valley, but I don’t think it will be too long before Kippy Kip time.
The girls should be home now, night night you two, thanks for coming and giving us a lovely weekend xx
Very Hot Actually.
We were woken at 06:45 by someone, most likely female, strutting around in what I would suggest was high heels. I don’t think it’s anyone upstairs as I haven’t seen anyone all the time we have been here, but sound travels in this apartment block as we are built, cave like, into the side of a mountain so it could have been anyone.
Its Grannies ear plugs for me tonight!!!
We woke to a cloudless sky again and the sun was stunning as it came up from behind the hill directly in front of us. We get morning sun but we lose it around 15:30, you can still get it quite late at the beach or until 19:00 on the roof top. It was going to be a stinker and it was.
I had a most enjoyable exercise day today, first up I went for a ten mile morning run, I did it in just over an hour and a half, which is terrific as I have to go over two stretches of rough ground, one which is very steep and loose, it more like scrambling so you have to go slowly, even less than walking speed. So I was quite chuffed with it. I was sweating like I had spent 24 hours in a sauna by the time I got back.
We spent the morning on the balcony just chilling, I had to do a bit of admin as we got yet more sponsorship, we have cracked our total of £500 but I would like to get more as the average raised per team is £900 so it would be nice to get closer to that. But we got a beauty last night, £50 from an anonymous benefactor, I think I know who it is, you see I read Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole the Detective books and the benefactor left a clue………………….I should be in the CID!
But we do value each donation, it’s just nice to think that someone has gone to the effort and expense in their consideration of us, it’s a very pleasing experience.
It was so hot on the balcony without any breeze that we had to keep nipping in, Wendy for a cold shower me to nip up to the top pool for a cooling dunk, it was scorching!!!!
At 14:00 we walked down to a local bar for a cold beer and we chatted to the English barmaid who said in August they get a slight cloud cover that traps the heat in making it unbearable, it gets to about 50 degrees she said. I think that is a bit of an exaggeration but I bet it does get hot.
We came back at 15:00 and spent a few hours up at the top pool where I listened to the radio via the internet and Wendy read her book.
Again the heat became unbearable so we left at 17:00 and I went for my second run of the day. While I was gone Wendy cooked supper and I took my bank card to call in the shop and get some mushrooms.
I ran 6 miles, very quickly and it was a delight, I took a frozen water bottle with me and poured it over my back at the half way point, it was bloody stimulating.
I got back and went to the supermarket where I bought some Cava, beer, crisps and Lucozade.
I got back and unpacked my supplies only for Wendy to ask for the mushrooms, shit!!!!!
I knew there was something else I needed!
Anyway the supper was still lovely, pan fried chicken and onions with garlic in tinned tomatoes and noodles. Mmmmmmhhhh, very tasty it was.
I watched the leaders debate for a wee while and I have come to the conclusion that there isn’t anyone who I can vote for, no one represents me anymore, it’s not good it was making me cross, so I turned it off and took Wendy for a walk………..as stress relief!
And we saw a lovely sunset at Amadorass Beach where we grabbed a drink as the darkness grow around us. It was a lovely night sky.
What a nice end to a lovely, stinking hot day!
We walked back at Wendy’s request and you should see her when she happens across a cockroach, she did one figure of eight dance, nearly tripping herself up in the process and then jumped 14 feet when she saw another, I mean Wend they aren’t looking to eat you alive, just let them pass!
Back at home we had a drink and a small nibble and turned in, well I had to be sharp I have had instructions from afar, Robyn wants her copy!!!!
16.27 Miles Done!
Jeepers we had a good night’s rest only to be woken by a bloody huge crane this morning. Of the 3 bottom lifts we have only one works and of the two other lifts at the second stage only one works so heavy lifting equipment was brought in to haul equipment up.
It's hard to explain our apartment block but I'll try. We are set vertically into a rocky hillside, apartments built onto of each other must go eight to ten story's high and there are 3 sets of lifts, one set does four floors and the other two do 2 floors each. The top level as a pool set into the last level.
The apartments face due east so we get the rising sun which is stinking hot, but we lose it around 15:45. The roof pool due to its elevation keeps the sun until 19:00.
The apartments opposite the road, again set into the hill get the sun after 14:00 and then until about 20:30.
I did another 10 mile run this morning but had to take off my socks and trainers and jacket and take a dip in the sea at 9 miles, it was that hot. I had to keep my shirts on as I would never have got them back on as they were that wet with sweat, now seawater.
I had to squelch my way back!
I then stripped off and took another cooling dip in the top pool, being careful to keep my hand out of the water.
After breakfast we hit the beach with supplies of sarnies, beer, water and Cava which was all consumed before 13:00 as it was just so nice to do.
I took a dip in the sea but had to double time to the sea as the sand is dark volcanic sand and was burning to the feet, I mean it was really burning.
After a while I got back to the sun beds and managed to get Wendy to join me for a shoreline walk, well she would never go for a dip in the black sandy water because you can't see the sea monsters that are lurking to get her.
More sun bed time and book reading followed and at 4:00 pm we had to take a rest in the Irish Bar for a cooling drink as the heat was unbearable.
Whilst there I used their Wi-Fi to top up my travel card with cash as I might take Wend out for a spot of tapas tonight, if she's good of course. I also corresponded with Robyn and Alex who have also signed up for the challenge, I have to run 200 miles in June, they went for 150 at five miles per day, mine is 6.7 miles per day.
After the beach where we left at 17:30 and after buying a few more supplies I went for an afternoon run and Wendy had a glass of wine before her shower.
I did another six miles and saw two things of note:
1. A women in her 30s jogging on the beach, in front of everyone, with just a pair of bikini bottoms on. There was a bit of a jiggle going on but I didn’t stare too much. Each to their own but I couldn’t help thinking there was a bit of, “Oh Look at Me”!!!
2. Now this is interesting, when I got back to the same beach something had washed up on the beach, it looked like the makings of a giant lobster pot. Two police officers were there and everyone was looking at it. It did seem to be much ado about nothing but the police hung around for a while and then they were exchanged for two fellas in hi-viz vests. I mean why on earth they needed the vests on, on the beach as there was no chance of them getting run over by a juggernaut!!!
Supper was taken in the restaurant in our resort, the one we took Caroline and Robyn to for tapas. We shared fried chilies, avocado and prawns, carpaccio and bread, oh and a jug of very nice sangria. It was all a delight, bloody lovely in fact.
And after supper I nipped down to the beach to get a photograph of the strange thing that landed on the beach. I hope you like it Avid Reader!
Eastward Bound!!!
After a lovely night’s sleep where I woke about 15 times, got up for a drink and saw the sky as cloudy as be, I woke at 06:15 and felt really refreshed.
I left the apartment at 07:00 and left Wendy in bed fast asleep.
When I got back I had breakfast and quickly shaved and washed and we headed off, on foot for the ferry to Arguineguin. Jeepers the walk was hot, stinking hot actually but I had my Hypo Dino cool bag full of beer, ice and water to keep me sustained.
The ferry was a real treat as it was a complete change of direction for us having always gone west to Port Mogan.
We think we passed Alex and Robyn’s infinity pool apartment and headed up the coast to the Anfi Resort, you know the place where all the Timeshare bods try to dupe you into giving them your life savings for you to buy an apartment there.
The ferry dropped off some people at Anfi and then we were off for the hop across the bay to Arguineguin, which neither of us can pronounce properly in Spanish, apparently.
As we offloaded the Skipper said, “Welcome to Afghanistan, sorry I mean Arguineguin”, and on the face of it he wasn’t wrong with the cement factories and scruffy looking buildings. However when you get on the beach it’s quite nice. There is a shore walk to the resort at Anfi which is about 2.5 miles away and there are apartments and bars I think I would like to stay at.
As I said it’s a local place and as Wendy says its real!!! And it is, so maybe I might come back and give it a go, sometime in the future mind.
We followed the path to Anfi and there are several beaches, some local and some tourist.
I took a dip in one as it was really hot, the water was lovely and refreshing!
We walked further into the Anfi Resort which is quite nice with designer shops and lardy-da cafes but there doesn’t appear to be any pedestrian access away from the resort unless you go back to Arguineguin, so Anfi isn’t for us.
We caught the ferry back to Porto Rico and we nipped upto the shopping mall to buy some Tabaco for a friend of mine at home, and I came across a scam.
I have noticed that when you put your bank card in a cash machine or even a card reader you get an option to use their cash exchange rate or use your cards own rate. I checked the rate at one machine and I would have got 1.003 euros to my pound using their exchange rate, I might have said this before!!! However when I used my bank card rate I got about 1.15 euros per pound.
I noticed when I used a card reader previously I saw that the sales girl didn’t give me the option to use my rate but she used theirs which got me thinking, what’s occurring!!!
So today when buying 60 euros of tobacco I held onto the card reader, we had a bit of a tussle me and the girl but I held firmly, but as soon as the option to use the interest rate came up, she, as fast as lightening pressed their rate. I was fuming, I was as cross as bugger.
I told her so but she just jabbered on in Spanish, but I kept going and the boss, a nice, easy speaking Asian Man came over and asked what was the problem so I told him, in no uncertain terms that she had used my option to choose my rate.
He jabbered back to her and walked off, I, not of a happy mind went and told him that she had diddled me out of my rate, my rate is better than theirs and he said that he had told her that she should have given me the option to choose, which was too late as my transaction had gone through.
Wendy said I should have asked for a refund, but if they are out to diddle on the interest rate they are quite likely to pull a fast one on a refund as they know I’ll be home the week after next.
Next time I will hold on to the machine and not let them get their grubby fingers on my rate, I don’t know what the scam is but someone has the rate difference of about 15 cents, per pound of my money, which in the case of £60 is 9 Euros, so beware Avid Reader.
After this grumpy period we walked back and Wendy was excited to see an open air wedding at the Beach Bar where all and sundry, in their swimwear, were poking their iPhone cameras through the glass fence whilst the service was going on, she was very intrigued!
We walked a little further and then took at glass of wine with our friend Pasos at his bar where we had lazy and unmovable dogs hiding in the shade at our feet, the wine was nice though so we compromised on sharing the shade.
Next up was for us to get some nibbles and wine and get the last of the hot sun at the top pool.
We met some Yorkshire people at the pool and we chatted, which was interesting, but as we were talking the lady concerned, who thankfully said she originated in Ireland, broke very loud wind, as she spoke on not one, but on two occasions without batting an eyelid.
We, being polite people didn’t bat an eyelid either but as we descended the stairs we both said did you hear her fart really loudly? Wendy said, “I thought she did, I looked at you but you weren’t looking”. I said, “I wasn’t looking as I would have broken down laughing”!!!
Supper was a delight, Wendy’s in bed having had just enough wine for the day and I am getting ready for it too, I’m listening to the leaders debate and I must admit I’ve had enough of this election!
Beach Day
Jeepers yet another cloudless day and it's been stinking hot all day.
We both left at the same time this morning, just as the sun came over the hill. I passed Wendy on the rocks and then she passed me at Amadoras Beach, with her on the top deck and me at the bottom. She manages to catch me and then nip in front as I go around the Beach Club and then onto the deck chair point where the pedalows are located, I didn't even see her sneak over the path to Puerto Rico but we managed a high five together as she came back. I'll have to say she's looking pretty fit these days, for an old bird.
I got back to the rocks having done 9 miles and stripped off for a good long dip in the sea. It was bloody lovely, the tide was high and I didn't have to go far on the sandy bottom to get chest high in the water. I have to admit to taking my shorts and pants off so I could have a nudey soak in the clear water, it was so refreshing.
It's not easy trying to put your shorts in on with one hand underwater mind.
Don't worry no one was the wiser, I was most discreet!
I got back to the block and did my usual trick of going to 6G instead of 6H, I was just going to knock the door when it opened and a big fat man came out. Thankfully I knew my mistake and kept climbing the steps to the top pool then I walked to our steps and walked down to our block which made it six flights of unnecessary steps!
After breakfast we went and had a full day at the beach. It was lovely, Wendy had made egg mayonnaise sarnies which we wolfed within 20 minutes of being there.
We had a few walks along the surf, burning our feet on the hot side each time.
We were quite amused with some kind of fitness man and his routines. We couldn't work out if he was serious or silly, I think silly. There were also a trio of walkers who also provided some merriment with their antics.
We left the beach at 17:00 as both Wendy and I had had enough sun for the day. I went for a 6 mile run to keep my monthly challenge average up which now stands at 13.61 miles per day which I need to keep up if I'm going to make 300 miles in June.
Supper is out tonight and we are off in style, taxi to Amadoras Beach and back. Wendy is looking lovely and so am I so ill be back later with an update!
Things don't always go as planned do they!!!
We saw a waiting taxi at the rank and nipped to the cash point for a Euro top up but as we approached the rank he got a call and off he took with a hand signal saying five minutes, fifteen minutes of waiting later we developed Plan B, which was quick style tapas from the Spar. All home made knock up, and with a six pack of San Miguel it all came to the princely sum of 13 Euros.
So now I have an abundance of Euros from the cash point. Never mind there is always duty free shopping.
We took our supper on the balcony and it was lovely and as we did we could hear occasional cheers from all the local bars, I'm guessing Real Madrid are winning tonight.
Actually they must have won there are bangers going off all around us.
Again!!!
Well it’s here again, our last day and it’s been a beaut as they say in Australia!
The sun was out first thing and it was a hot run, Wendy was late up but beat me back. I have managed to up my rate to 50 miles in four days but that will dip in the next few days as I have things to do back in Blighty.
We went to bed last night as everyone else did with the terrible news that yet again people going about their own business have been subjected to the actions of monsters. I don’t wish to associate myself too much with Donald J Trump but I have to agree with him that these buggers are losers.
I did another naughty today and swam in the sea nudey, it was bloody lovely.
Back at the apartment I did some surgery on my wound, I dug out the puss and the dead skin, I didn’t tell Wendy as she is such a fuss. It’s still looking a bit swollen but I think it is on the mend now as its getting smaller in size. I might actually swim properly tomorrow and use both hands in the water.
We spent an unashamed morning on the balcony taking in the last of the sun. It got a wee bit cloudy but I did appreciate it as I had had a bit too much sun on the beach yesterday.
A boiled egg sarnie, with onions was our treat before our last shop at the Spar which included our duty free rations of Honey Run.
On the way back we stopped by at the Irish bar for a glass of wine but we couldn’t settle as it’s a bit of a family bar, you know the type where kids are set loose and are allowed to please themselves. Funny the term family bar doesn’t extend to good family relations, like it’s just jack up, let your kids go and bugger everyone else.
Oh, whilst we were sat at our table we did an extra chuckle about an unaccounted event last night. As we approached the cash machine we saw an elderly couple taking photos of a cat on the wall. It was in a kind of broken Ali Ba Ba vase. I must admit it was cute, but as we passed comment with the couple, one of them, in conversation did a monumental fart, and they never missed a beat. Again being polite we didn’t react until we got to the cash point where Wendy almost wet herself, she can’t believe so many people have wind conditions these days.
We got back to the apartment and spent more time on the balcony until the sun went and then we headed to the top pool where I have to admit I slept most of the time while listening to BBC Radio 2.
I woke to the last hour of the Paul O’Grady show as Wendy tapped my toe to say she was going below decks.
The sun went down for the last time and I had to go down where I found Wendy had made a most delightful and lip stinging fish curry. It was hard not to get stuck into it, I had two potions and wiped the pan out with a bit of bread, my lips are still tingling!
It’s still light outside as the sun is shining on the east side of the island and we are watching the Manchester Concert and seeing Manchester in the sun.
I think we have had a good 14 days in the sun, it’s been the best weather I have known for a while. In Australia we were on the move most of the time so we didn’t get to have long periods in the sun but here we have had wall to wall, hot sunshine almost all of the time and we have stayed in the same place.
It was lovely to see Caroline and Robyn midterm and I think that was the best part of the holiday, it’s a shame they didn’t bring the boys along, hang on, on reflection its good they didn’t!
Boys Eh!!!
Last Lunch
I had a fitful sleep and was woken at about 04:15 by Grace in China, who made a booking for two rooms in July, as the text woke me because I hadn’t turned my phone off, silly old me.
Jeepers Wendy’s curry must have been salty as I was very thirsty so Graces text gave me the incentive to haul myself out of bed and go to the fridge for a nice big swallow of cold water.
I managed a little more sleep and then got up at 06:15, the sky was still black but light was beginning to come through to the right of the apartment windows. I had decided to do a 12 mile run today and I was going to run in my Team GB vest and shorts, still taking my iced water bottle with me though.
I had a bite to eat and waited until the sun was just peering above the hill across the valley before leaving. Just as I was setting off Wendy got herself out of bed and made coffee.
I was off, it was 07:30 by then and I ran nonstop for 1 hour, 48 minutes and 14 seconds covering 12.04 miles. I felt like I could easily have done another 10 miles. The vest is brilliant, its light and it fits snuggly and when it gets wet with sweat it sticks to you so you don’t know you have it on. Other vests I have don’t get as close to your skin and they get heavy when they are wet.
I stopped at the beach for my now customary dip in the Atlantic Ocean and I actually used both hands to swim. My wound, although still ugly looking was upto the clean salt water so I did a few metres of front crawl and it felt lovely to be swimming again, on the last bloody morning of a two week holiday!!!
I got back and sterilised my wound and had some more breakfast before having an hour book reading on the balcony with Wendy, getting some last minute sun.
Wendy had done most of the packing by then therefore we had plenty of time so at 12:00 we walked to Amadarous Beach for lunch.
Wendy had tuna salad and I had a swordfish salad. Both the fish were dry and over cooked, which is such as shame. I even squeezed the juice of my slab of lemon onto my fish and then Wendy’s as she never uses hers, but it had no effect in making it any moister.
Ah well, we took a cab back to the resort and had a last drink in the Irish Bar and one last walk up Wendy’s loathed hill and back upto the apartment.
We found the top lift still not working so I resigned myself to humping the cases down the stairs to the bottom lift.
Cases packed, last showers taken we arrived in reception as the bus pulled up, exactly 20 minutes early, and yes it was another 19 seater bus for just the two of us.
We had a small hairy moment when we got near to the airport as some dozy lorry driver was losing large empty and flattened cardboard boxes from his trailer, it was chaos. Thankfully our driver dodged them and tried to warn the other driver but he didn’t seem to care.
Check in was a synch and we were though security in no time at all, well I was Wendy got took aside and tested for explosive residues on her body, thankfully they only tested her outer clothing.
She’s not happy:
A – We are delayed by at least an hour and a half, and the plane is not even in yet.
B – Slightly worse there is a small child trying to blow whistle walking around. He is making a right racket and its doing her no good, “Why on earth would anyone want to give a small child a whistle in an airport”, she says seething under her breath!!!
The new time is 20:10 which means we won’t be home until at least 06:00, she’s really not happy.
I actually don’t think it will be 20:10, I’ll keep you posted!
Made it home, it was a two hour delay due to the flight having to be diverted because the toilets stopped working!!!
Anyway we had a good drive home although the weather was a stinker, rain, rain and more rain.
Its 05:10, time for a few hours kip.
Night Night Avid Reader, until the next adventures of D&W G.
Home to Strathclyde Country Park
180 Miles
I had a late night last night, I stayed up watching the new Sky TV Series called “Tin Star” and do you know I got quite into it, so I watched back to back episodes and didn’t get to my bed until 12:30.
However the excitement of a new adventure had me out of bed at 06:00 on the dot. I was as quiet as a mouse as I went about my morning routines and set off for my run at 07:00, thankfully the weather was clear, however it was a nippy 7 degrees.
I got back just before Wendy who had got from her bed and had jumped straight into her exercise routine which she seems now, unless it’s raining or windy, to do every morning.
After showers we did some last minute frantic packing of the caravan and off we set and only half an hour behind schedule at 10:30. We called into Currys to arrange a new fridge for Caroline and Brad and then we were truly on our way and we were fortunate enough to have a dream of a drive down the A9 and we were on site at 14:30, just 31/2 hours after we left Inverness.
Now this is a lovely site, it’s a Caravan Club site and is only about 4 years old. Wendy has inspected the toilets and they meet with her spotless requirements although I’m sure she won’t be tripping across the grass for her mid sleep toilet need.
I had pre-booked and I used a free voucher that the Club had sent me a few months ago saving me £26 on a fully serviced site. Yes UK sites are joining the modern age of proper drainage and connected water supply, although I haven’t yet worked out how I can connect the van to the mains water supply.
After set up we were joined by Karla, Michelle and their gorgeous little girl Brèagha and off we set for a walk around the park. The park is actually really good, it’s designed around a lake, most likely man-made, with parkland, a theme park and other treats, such as swings and slides which little girls, and seemingly big girls go wild for.
We had a lovely walk, all of which was centred on Brèagha who dictated which way we went, what speed we went at and what activities we undertook, mainly pebble picking and playing on the swings. The big girl also came out in Wendy who delighted on the swings and the death slide, almost wetting herself with excitement in the process.
After an hour or so we took a civilised cuppa in the van with the entertainment provided by Brèagha who cute’ed herself all over us, milking up the attention as only a sweet little girl can.
After a change of nappy the girls were on their way and we went and did a bit of shopping before turning in for the night with frozen pizza for supper.
It’s been a lovely first day, we had sunshine most of the time, the company of an adorable little girl, a delightful supper and after watching Fear the Walking Dead via Brads BT-TV account, via my IPhone, it will be time for bed.
We have a long day ahead tomorrow, the Satnav is saying 9 hours 20 minutes to Raspberry Farm, Iwade where we hope to be settled on site before its dark, its over 400 miles but our incentive is that we might get to have a bit of “Kentish Cobbler” with Granny sometime on Wednesday!!!
Strathclyde Country Park to Iwade
465 Miles
I had a restless night, the traffic from the M74 woke me at 04:00 and I tossed and turned from then on. But that’s ok because the caravan was nice and warm and the bed was also very cosy too. I got up at 06:15 and was shocked to see the outside temperature of 3o, (Yes I do take my inside/outside thermometer apparatus away with me).
After breakfast I was off and heading in the direction of Strathclyde Country Park where I found clear skies and a delightful sunrise. But my enjoyment was a bit subdued because my groin pain was back, with a vengeance. I have had this severe pain for over three months, since the Highland Cross when I thrashed Alex on the cycle section actually. I have been to the Doctors and I am rubbing in Volteroll, which was doing some good but it seems to have let me down today. So much so that today I walked back to camp after I had done my daily eight miles.
Oh and I came across Wendy mid run, she was running counter clockwise around the lake and she had her gloves on for the cold the bugger, I never thought to bring mine, I’m a wally as I will need them when we get back North in December.
After a quick cuppa we were decamped and we were on the road by 10:11.
We settled down and we had a really good run down the road, first the M74, then the M6 where we did hit a bit of traffic which was caused by Smart Motorway construction, it wasn’t that bloody smart!!!
I decided to take the M42 and then the M40 so we would avoid the Dartford Bridge, only because I might forget to log the payment and get a fine, like Robyn and Alex almost did. And it seems fate was on our side because the M1 was closed due to a chemical incident at the section we would have gone through, so we were darn lucky there.
The weather was great, clear skies and 18.5o temperatures for most of the day however we did come to the odd tail back which doesn’t surprise me as the way people drive these days astounds me. At almost every junction, when it was busy, someone would roar down the slipway at 90 MPH and just barge into a line of traffic, they wouldn’t integrate carefully and slowly, oh no it was just push in and they couldn’t care less about the consequences.
Then when we were approaching a junction, someone would come roaring past me, cut me up and head for the exit lane still doing 110 MPH. Then they wonder why there are so many traffic accidents on our motorway network.
From then on, we had a wee hold up on the M25, but then it was rush hour time and then the M26 and M20 were a doddle. We manged the last bit up Dettling Hill and along the A249 without any further to-do.
We arrived at our site 7 minutes ahead of our anticipated original Satnav arrival time to be met with the owner opening the gate for us. Soon we were settled in, it’s nice and cosy. It’s a dark farmer’s field, not very far from the Sheppey Crossing Bridge.
After a delightful supper of Glasgow Sausage and stir fry spicy wrap Wendy watched bake off as I filed my copy.
My groin injury isn’t feeling too good just now so I might have a nip of rum tonight, just for pain purposes mind and see how it goes in the morning as I am itching to run over the old Kingsferry Bridge and onto the Isle of Sheppey, but not before I catch up on one more episode of Tin Star!!!
Sheppey
No Travelling
It was a lovely sunny morning in Kent as we woke, the outside thermometer was nudging 14o at 07:30 which is very much more attractive than the one we got in Glasgow the day before.
My groin injury was playing up and had given me a restless night, so there was only one thing for it and that was to bring out the big guns in regards to pain relief, my codeine tablets. These are the ones that make you a little bit dizzy and they do give a bit of upset to your digestive system so they are the last resort and only used when desperate, and I was.
The trouble was they didn’t take the pain away and I really struggled especially on the last mile.
As I’m on day 665 of my 1,000 day running challenge I have to keep going, maybe a deep seated massage is required???
I ran over the old Kingsferry Bridge and got within spitting distance of Grannies before I turned back to base.
For breakfast I had a slice of toast with Glasgow Sausage leftovers and Reggie, Reggie Sauce, jeepers it was tasty and it was just the ticket and set me up for the day.
I dropped Wendy off at Grannies just after 12:00 and went off to get some new rear tyres for the car, I wasn’t half way from Halfway when the phone went and it was Wendy passing Grandads advice to get my tyres changed at the garage in Halfway as they would be cheaper with his loyalty card, and it was by about £50, well done Grandad.
Ian and Karen popped in with my birthday card and our anniversary card which was very nice of them, but apparently the tenner I used to get has been stopped, seemingly I’m now too old!!!
Granddad and I had a drive in to town before dinner, I got fuel for the car and some last minute provisions and Granddad went to look at the proposals for the new roundabout at Stockberry. Being community minded he wanted to make sure the planners had got it right, and guess what, they haven’t. Having worked for the Highland Council I could have told him that without him getting out of his arm chair!!!
Supper, as cooked by Granny was a delight, it ticked all the boxes, Hot, Tasty and Presentable. It was bloody lovely, Italian Chicken and Broccoli. I was starving and it was a tadge hot but I loved it, even though I might have burnt my larynx as I stuffed it down my throat.
After supper Granny and Grandad slipped into their secondary role, sales advisers for Dyson Vacuums. They did such a good job demonstrating and explaining the benefits of their cordless cleaner that we ordered one online for in-store collection with Granddad earning additional brownie points by running us through to collect it, to Sittingbourne. That’s 20 minutes from demo to sale that must be a record and put them into the top ten of Dysons sales operatives. The only trouble Wendy keeps explaining to me is that we are now lugging a cordless vacuum cleaner around the European Continent for the next ten weeks, “But”, I say, “Just how clean will our van be”???
Back in the van we watched the programme about your body age, where Wendy soaked it up, I think she has the body of a 45 year old, she after seeing the people on this programme thinks so too!
Its France tomorrow, but first I have to clear the low tyre pressure warning light that’s now flashing on my dashboard, bloody Grandad I knew I should have gone to Kwik-Fit!!!
Iwade to Eurotunnel - 43 Miles
The Channel - 22 Miles
Calais to Berck Sur Mer - 56 Miles
This morning was an even warmer one than yesterday's would you believe, 16 degrees at 08:00 with a very nice sun shining.
I took 3 hard core tablets this morning but it only just slightly dulled my groin pain but at least I managed a full run.
Silly old me has forgot to pack the red triangle, I know, I know it's such a school boy error. So after refitting the bike rack to the car I was off to get some air in the rear tyres and find a new triangle.
Could I find one??? Simple answer no, not anywhere near Sittingbourne but at least I blew the tyres up.
We set off at mid day and left the very nice camp site behind after saying goodbye to the owner.
We knew we're were about 6 hours early but we have checked in early before and had to pay a tenner extra, so we should be ok. Wrong again - we got to the terminal after stopping at the services for a cuppa and buying my elusive triangle only to be asked to pay, are you ready? £101, yes that's right £101, we declined the offer and went back to the 24 hour parking services only to be told that you now have to pay £20 to stay longer than 2 hours, jeepers you could stay 24 hours for free two years ago, how standards keep falling!
Well what to do, go to Hythe that's what. So we did and parked the van up and went for a stroll, a nice five mile stroll actually all the way to Sandgate and back.
It was a lovey promenade walk on a nice sunny day. We took coffee in Sandgate and had a short stroll around. Jeepers some famous people have lived in Sandgate. Hatty Jakes, HG Wells, William Wiberforce and would you believe Don Thompson!!!
We got back to the car just in time to set off for the train. You can actually role up 2 hours before your time and get an early train for free, so at least we would get off an hour or so early, wrong again!!!
The second but last time we took the tunnel they forgot to open our queue barrier so we missed our train and had to wait over an hour before we could get on another one, the last one we went on the main doors of the train would not open, that's another 2 hour delay. This time 2 things went wrong, first they overbooked the early train so we didn't get on, but we'd get the next.
No we didn't because when our lane opened up I was stopped by an attendant and the barrier was dropped down in front of me, a bloody coach had hit the god-dam train, can you believe it?
Wendy by this time is getting grumpy.
Eventually we got the 20:35 train which was 10 minutes later than our original time slot.
Ah well at least we had had a nice walk and we could relax in the caravan while we wiz through the tunnel, phew!
The tunnel ride was a doddle, no hassle at all. Wendy dozed on the bed while I plotted a course. I intended to head to Berck Sur Mer, 60 miles from Calais where they had a nice little Ibis Hotel where we could automatically check in at the door.
We got there at around 11:30 European time but alas there was no way I could get the van into the tiny car park and there was nowhere near to safely leave it.
Thankfully there is a Carrefour Supermarket in town with a nice big car park and two campervans already settled for the night so we have joined them.
As I file tonight's copy we are snuggled in with a ham sarnie and a glass of wine and that will do us nicely for the night!!!
Berck Sur Mer to Picquigny
46 Miles
A big thanks to Bradley Gill, as usual Brads come good. Wendy wants to watch Strictly Dancing while she is away and although I can get Sky TV online, for some reason it doesn’t include any BBC Channels, I think because the BBC have the I-player Sky didn’t bother adding it. But the I-player won’t work when you’re out of the country because the site recognises the IP address as coming from abroad and thinks this is not a licence payer so they can’t watch it. But I am, I am paying my fee to the BBC while I am away, so why can’t I watch it? Well now I can because Brad put me on to an App that disguises my IP address so that it looks like I am in the UK.
The App is installed on my phone so I piggyback my laptop off it and I can now get access to the I-player. As a result I had a deliriously happy Wendy Gill settled in the caravan in the Carrefour Car Park last night watching a fifteen minute programme called Strictly Dancing First Steps on my laptop whilst sipping a glass of wine and eating chocolate, well done Brad!!!
I got a good night’s sleep with a little disturbance from the early morning workers zooming past the van at 05:00, but I just turned over and snuggled myself back to sleep. At some point Wendy got out of bed for a bathroom visit. I asked her the time when she got back and she checked her i-pad, “Half-Past Six” was her reply. No it’s not Wend, it’s time to get up its 07:30, your i-pad isn’t online so it not changed from UK time like my phone as, you silly sausage!!!
After a nice breakfast and a wash up we were on the road by 08:30, heading towards Picquigny. The weather was quite warm at 16 degrees but there was some very low cloud around which made it feel very eerie indeed.
The Satnav said we would be there by 10:00 so we stopped en-route for a coffee in the van. We still got there by 10:30 mind but thankfully the camp site warden let us in and gave us a very nice spot.
Wendy picked this site as the town seemed to be very nice, from the guide book she’s uses, and do you know what, it is.
After setting up we went for a walk, we found the ruins of an old Chateau, dating back to the 1400’s. We also found a very nice man who had chicks and sold eggs. It was funny because when Wendy went close to the pen they all chucked up to her thinking she was going to feed them. Anyway we now have six very fresh and very dirty chicken eggs.
We found a small supermarket and bought some essential items and then headed back to the van for a sarnie and coffee.
It was then run time but Wendy was a bit tired, (she can’t do with only 7 hours sleep) so she followed me on her bike. What a lovely town this is, we found a canal walkway that goes for miles and miles, so that’s where we headed.
The weather was glorious, sunny all the way. It was that warm I ran in my vest.
When we got back we did a bit more exploring on our bikes and come across a nice lake, just half a mile from our site.
Back at base we both took a nice refreshing shower and just chilled in the sun. Its T-bone steak night tonight so all preparations were made, salad prepped, garlic chopped and the bread sliced and then at 17:00 we went for a sunny evening stroll, to a little bar for one glass of wine, well it is Friday isn’t it?
But alas, no wine for David, in a bar anyway, because three out of the three bars in town were Tabacs, those gambling type places where ladies don’t frequent so I couldn’t persuaded Wendy to join me. It’s a fair point so we headed back to camp and cooked our supper and chilled out for the rest of the evening, a short one actually because someone’s tired, and it’s not me!!!
Picquigny to Monchy Humieres
58 Miles
We didn’t get up until 07:30 this morning due to low lying fog making it appear dark outside. I slept like a log, I had my ear plugs in all night and I never heard the trains running or the towns clocks chiming throughout the night, unlike Wendy who heard every single chime, so she says.
The fog didn’t lift until late morning, almost midday in fact and so it was a run along the north section of the canal in a pea-super! Wendy set off before me and I saw an apparition appear through the fog coming in the opposite direction and it was Wendy Gill with her mad hair trailing along behind her.
Off we set and we broke camp on the stroke of 12:00 and we trundled south heading to Monchy Humieres where we were going to spend the night with Agnus and Pierre who were guests of ours during the summer.
The road was easy going and we stopped in a small town called Moreuil to take a stroll and make a cup of coffee. The town had a very small centre but it did have two contrasting buildings, one a traditional French old style town hall and another, a very modern concrete constructed Cathedral, one looked stunning and the other looked out of place.
We also found a Lidl where we could buy some presents for our hosts.
Back on the road we travelled without any problems passing through small towns and villages along the way and just marvelling in general at the French countryside and the architecture.
We arrived in Monchy Humieres just before 15:00 and stopped at Agnus’s house which is an old building that has been fully restored over 30 years by both Agnus and Pierre. The building is full of Oak beams, joists and floorboards and it just reeks history. It is a fantastic building and tonight we are sleeping in an oak framed room with wooden shutters over the windows.
After a beer sat in the garden chatting we were taken for a ride in the most delightful little car you have ever seen. It is a fully restored Citron 2CV. Pierre bought it as a shell and fully restored it back into an exact replica of Agnus’s first car, he even got the colour right. He did it as a gift for their 25th wedding anniversary, jeepers it’s our 30th next week and all we will do is have a night out!!!!
First we went to the town of Compiegne to see a massive chateau which was built by Napoleon III. It has a very long grass avenue leading out from the front centre which to my eye goes for at least 2 miles into the distance, maybe more.
As we strolled along we came across a wedding party having photographs taken. It was a lovely sunny day by now and the backdrop of the chateau was stunning.
Back to the car and we then went to a small town called Pierrfonds to see the most amazing chateau which is built on top of a small hill. To say it is imposing is an understatement, it dwarfs everything around it and it is just so elegant. My camera could not do it justice, it was that big and that stunning.
Back at home we had a glass of wine with some nibbles while Pierre created a wonderful supper starting with Foie Gras and bread followed by ham, mushroom and garlic creps in a cream cheese sauce, they were bloody lovely!!! Desert was a pear flan with a pear sorbet, again it was to die for. Finally the meal was rounded off by a good old selection of French cheese, needless to say Wendy declined the cheese.
After a bit more chit chat we headed to bed where Wendy was out like a light, and I guess I’ll not be far behind!
Monchy Humieres to Les Andeleys
90 Miles
I had such a delightful sleep and I woke in darkness so I had to feel for my phone to check the time and it was 08:15, the shutters did their job, maybe I’ll fit some when I get home.
I nipped to the bathroom leaving Wendy still in the land of nod, but by the time I got back she was up and in the shower.
We went down and found Pierre in the kitchen ready for action but Agnus was still nipping around in her night dress when we found her much to her embarrassment!
Pierre nipped to a bakers in the next village and came back with bread, croissants and painauchocolat. We then tucked into them with coffee, with a difference. Who knew this? The French drink coffee at breakfast from a cereal bowl, I kid you not, they do, and it’s very interesting.
After breakfast we chatted some more until it was time to leave, however Pierre had one more trick up his sleeve, his wine cellar and what a beauty it was. His family owned a vineyard in Beaujolais and so he knows his stuff and I came away with two delightful bottles of wine from his region, Beaujolais which is quite close to Lyon, I never knew that either.
Pierre and Agnus drove us to her mums, she as an orchard and that’s where we left the van for the night. We met Mum who speaks very good English, she had a few English friends who lived in the village but she no longer has anybody one to speak it with as they are all dead!!! She was lovely, we had five minutes with her and they were the wildest of the trip, I can see where Agnus gets her zest for life from.
Having said goodbye to Pierre and Agnus, and Mum we hit the road again, this time heading south west to Les Andeleys. We have been here twice before and we quite like it.
We are camped alongside the River Seine and it’s quite wide at this point. By now the river has been through Paris and has picked up some more water from its other tributaries so there is a lot of it.
We had camp set in no time at all, the sun was steaming and it was 25 degrees and it was great to be able to set up everything outdoors.
Les Andeleys is at the bottom of a valley along the Seine and it is quite spectacular with white chalk cliffs on its south side. I went for an evening run and as it was about 18:00 the climbers who had spent the day scaling the cliffs where just packing up. I came across a large crowd of onlookers as the Fire Brigade were doing some training there too.
I came across the biggest wind chime I have ever seen, I wonder what the sounds like when it’s in full blow, maybe as I’m here 3 days I’ll get to hear it.
I got back to camp and found Wendy Gill dozing on the bed so I left her and walked around the camp site. It’s a big one, it’s quite busy but it’s nowhere near full. I’m a bit disappointed as the pool is closed, maybe we are at the back end of the season being this far north.
Supper, as cooked by Wendy on the outside stove was Tesco’s finest sausage, so hot dogs was tonight’s treat.
It’s now 20:20 and I’m outside as dusk gathers, Wendy has gone inside fearing an attack of the creepers but I’m hardier.
I’m about to file my copy for my Avid Readers and then we hope to settle down to Strictly Dancing from last night’s performance. Jeepers I do hope I can load it on my laptop as I have one very excited little girl waiting to see it, so much so you would think it’s Christmas!!!
There is a castle ruin on the top of the hill close to the site, I have wanted to walk it before however every time we have been here it’s been 35 degrees, we are hoping to make it up tomorrow so watch out Avid Reader maybe it will be in tomorrows copy.
Les Andleys
No Traveling
Today is Rachel Gibson’s 50th Birthday, Rachel is an Avid Reader so a very happy birthday to you Rachel all the way to Brisbane!!!
Last night we managed to see all of Strictly Dancing, we had a few buffering issues to start with but it did get better as more people went to bed and went offline. I do think that there are a couple of ringers in this series though, Aston Merryweather for one and Alexandra Burke for another, it doesn’t seem fair when there are complete novices taking part, but there you go.
We had a real good nights sleep not waking until 07:30 to a nice dry, slightly overcast day. I went for a run on the south bank and Wendy went along the north bank. I came across a small port which is accessed by a small cutting from the River Seine. It looks like they load sand directly from a quarry onto large river barges, very interesting if you like that kind of thing.
I had a little mishap at breakfast, the top of the salt pot came off and poured a full container of salt all over my nice, big yokey, free range egg. I wasn’t happy and what didn’t help was Wendy Gill, sat across from me, trying her hardest not to laugh but more or less wetting herself in the process!!!
We then headed up out of camp and upto the ruined castle. Now this is interesting, it dates back to the 1190’s and it was built by Richard the Lionheart who wanted to protect the most southern point of his Normandy Empire from the French. It was never penetrated in all the years Richard held it and it only fell when he died and his brother King John took over, actually he lost the lot and was kicked out of France.
The views were quite impressive as well. We got there at 13:07 and it had closed at 13:00 so we didn’t get into the keep, but that was fair enough we did get all the way around the old fort and there was more than enough information on boards set around that we knew what it was all about.
From there we walked into town to find a restaurant for tomorrow nights celebrations and we think we have found one, one that Wendy likes anyway so we should be OK.
We went to the far end of town and had a beer in a local bar, a large beer and a small beer came to 8 euros 30, which was just about £8 by the current exchange rate, oh I’m so glad Brexit came along!!!
After that we walked a bit further out of town and came across an old church, jeepers the French knew how to build a magnificent church in their days. We also saw a small river running all the way through town and it is spotlessly clean water, you could drink it it’s that clean. It runs directly into the Seine which itself is very clean even though it’s been through Paris.
We stopped at a bakery and got a French stick for tonight and some cake for a cuppa and we were served by the nicest old lady you could come across, she even weighed my portion of cake against the second biggest piece to make sure mine was the biggest, it all came to 1.80 euros, that’s more like it.
Back at base and after a coffee, and cake of course, we went for a bike ride and it was lovely, we went across the Seine and along the south bank passing through interesting villages, stunning homes and along the river. We finally crossed the river via a small island where there were yet more impressive houses. The river at this point is huge, it is very wide indeed. The first bridge to the island looked like the bridge at Arnhem in Holland, in fact it was its bridge double.
Back on the north side we came across a very nice little village bar where we had a small beer, at 4.4 euros, a little better but not much. We met a man there who insisted on holding a conversation with us and he chatted happily with Wendy, him in French and Wendy replying in English, however neither knew what the the other was on about.
Back to base, after 22 miles and we had a delightful supper of bread, cheese, pate, cold meat and pickle, oh and a nice bottle of red wine of course care of Pierre.
Fear the Walking Dead is on tonight, I guess I’ll be watching that alone then!
Big celebration tomorrow, 30 Years, who would have thought???
Les Andleys
No Traveling
Who would have thought, 30 years????
And two normal’ish children too?
It was a wee bit misty this morning as we woke. We had agreed the night before that we wouldn’t have any anniversary chitter chat until after we had exercised and we were all washed and ready for the day.
Wendy set off before me as I had to wait for my painkillers to take affect and make me dizzy before I left, but I did come across her on the south bank as she was coming back. I grabbed her and gave her a big snog and wished her a happy anniversary as we passed and she called me a big cheater, only because I had caught her out!
After showering the mist cleared and the sun came out and it was very nice indeed so we took breakfast outside. It was a delight, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs with a nice bottle of Moet Champagne 2006 that Bradley bought us for Christmas and which we had saved for just this special occasion.
After breakfast we opened our cards and had a good old chuckle. I made my card, it was a picture of us both signing the register and being the old romantic fool that I am I included a verse from the Cold Play Song, “Adventure of a Life Time”. Wendy was touched with emotion as she thought I had written it myself, being a first rate poet of course.
However I explained it was by Chris Martin, I then played it and she said, isn’t that a massive co-incidence, that Ken Bruce would play that at this moment. Doh…………..Wendy no, I played it, you silly old sausage!!!!!!!
Then we settled down in the sun and finished our bubbles and then cracked open another bottle of wine, well it’s not often a 30 year anniversary comes around.
After dozing in the sun we then had a little bit more sleep on the bed and then got up fully refreshed and took a walk in town. I would like to buy a Richard the Lionheart flag but they only have Norman flags here, the difference being two Lions and not three.
Back at base and we started to dismantle the camp as we have a long drive tomorrow and we have to be off site by 11:00, I know it’s not helpful after a heavy night is it? But as it’s been a lovely hot sunny day it wasn’t too much of a hardship.
After camp closedown we both got ready for our night out, Wendy looked lovely and I looked quite dapper too. Supper is on me and the wine is on Robyn who as secreted a small fortune into our bank account for an anniversary treat.
Off we went starting with a riverside walk arm in arm in the very pleasant evening air. We settled on the Mistral Restaurant for our treat thinking you can’t get much Frencher than that.
We were greeted with half full/empty restaurant which I suppose wasn’t bad for a midweek meal. The waiter didn’t do much English, neither did the older lady so I had to resort to Google Translate to say it was our 30th Wedding Anniversary. I thought with us being in France, the country of love it might bring us some additional service, but alas what with Brexit and all that it didn’t do anything at all.
However supper was a delight, I started with Hot Camembert Cheese and lashings of bread, Wendy who doesn’t like cheese by the way helped me out by eating most of it, “Oh it’s not that’s strong is it?” she manages to say in between mouthfuls.
Our mains were:
Mine - Duck, Wendy’s - Fish something and both were superb!!! Top Marks, ten out of ten!!!!
Desert, Mine - A bit of this and that, Wendy’s – Profiteroles and lots of them.
At the end of the meal we were both stuffed, me solidly, Wendy just as much. I did ask for a couple of amaretto’s to wash it down but they didn’t have any, so we walked home along the riverside, arm in arm again!!! And ended up at the caravan drinking a nice bottle of wine courtesy of our good friend Pierre.
It’s been a lovely anniversary day, thanks to everybody who has sent cards and good wishes, and Mocca and Grandad Bryan for phoning , it’s been lovely. And who would have thought we shared our special day with Martin and Cath MacGregor!!!
Les Andeleys to Gien
161 Miles
It was another lovely start to the day with just a little mist hanging over the river. I can’t believe the lovely weather we are having so far on this trip. It was that nice with such a bright sun I had to wear my sunglasses on my way back from running.
It’s moving on day and after breakfast we were ready for the off by 11:00 but we had a bit of a delay because a Dutch Man wanted to quiz me about our caravan. He as just retired and they have bought a cheap second-hand van to see if they like it and they do, so they are going to upgrade when they get home. His first question was how much it weighed, I don’t know I replied, but what about your car he says, yes it can pull it, no problem, it’s a 1,600 turbo diesel so its flies along. How long is your bed will I fit in?, he says, I make my polite goodbyes as I’m thinking he’s after an in depth tour, bed try out included.
Off we set nice as you like after setting the Satnav co-ordinates of our next site in the magic box. We are so far away from Paris I didn’t think about setting a bump around course, I SHOULD HAVE!!!!
I cannot believe it, we ended up in a deep tunnel, going deeper all the time, Wendy getting really anxious as those mad motorbike types kept over and the undertaking us, she was nearly peeping through her fingers she was that worried. And then up we popped, out into the sunshine and on the main road that runs from La Defense to the Arc de Triumph, we were in hooting distance of the Arc when she took us off to the left and then we almost bumped into the Eiffel Tower!!!
So here we are roaring around the roads of Paris with our caravan in tow, thankfully we manage to navigate our way out without incident. You should have been sat at the side of Wendy Gill, jeepers she is such a panicker!!! I heard huffs and puffs and had she not been a lady I might have heard the odd break of wind as she was that uptight.
And then before you could say Multiple Collision, we were heading out into green fields and forests.
We stopped for coffee about 50 miles from our destination so that Wendy could recover.
We passed our 1,000 mile point somewhere in Paris, I knew when it should have happened, 40 miles into this current trip but I was so engrossed in saving our lives I didn’t see the exact point.
The rest of the trip was without event and as we entered Gien we both said, almost at the same time, we have been here before, and we have.
Isn’t the memory a funny old place?
We found the campsite easy enough and we are now camped along the south side of the Loire. We haven’t been to this site before so I think we came for a day trip when we were staying somewhere close by.
The thing that did it for me was the siege during the Second World War. The Germans were trying to enter the town as it is strategically placed along the Loire. The French army tried to blow the main bridge and they held it quite a time, but those German buggers came over the railway bridge and out flanked them. At one point the French artillery shelled their own people in an effort to blow that bridge, but they failed to hit it.
The sun was still shining as we went for a stroll in town. The river is so clean we could see fish, large and small swimming below the bridge.
Supper was another pate and cold meat and cheese delight and we spent the night relaxing in the van, me listening to the cricket and Wendy reading her book.
As I type the game is on a knife edge with the West Indies just nudging in front as more English wickets fall, currently Butler and Ali are at the crease so there is still some hope!
We are off again tomorrow for Lapalisse, it should be 140 miles so a wee bit shorter than today!!!
Gien to Lapalisse
132 Miles
Another great night’s sleep, the site was exceedingly quiet last night, I woke at 05:00 for a bathroom visit and revelled in the solitude for a while, it was lovely, not a single sound to be heard. I woke at 07:10 fully refreshed.
The reason I’m so late is that it’s dark until at least 07:30 so my internal alarm is not waking me, I suppose I’m a bit like a cockerel!!!
I saw the news that Mr Playboy has died but more worryingly Ben Stokes has been caught on camera punching a couple of fellas. Now we don’t know the full circumstances, they might have goaded him, but the impression is that he seems unsteady on his feet and that he’s just lashing out. Either way it’s not a good impression, jeepers the Aussies must be wetting themselves with laughter. David Warner, the excellent Aussie opening bat, was put out to grass for the summer after he punched Jo Root a few years ago and as this looks quite bad I think Ben might not be on the flight downunder. I have however to disagree with Michael Vaughan’s analysis, he thinks we have no chance if Bens not going, I disagree, we have Jo, Johnny, Ali, Jimmy, Stuart and Alistair, I think we have a strong team, don’t put a damper on things Michael!!!
Anyway, my foot was hurting overnight so I pulled a very poor time on this mornings run but my groin is getting a little better you’ll be pleased to know. It was awful on Sunday, really painful but it is getting a bit better. It does seem two steps forward and three steps back though with the recovery but that’s what it’s like when you’re well into your 50’s.
I ran to the new road bridge, they did manage to blow one bridge during the war and they replaced it with a new one in the 1950’s. I had a to scramble a very big steep bank to get up to it, but bugger me there isn’t a walkway so I had to come back down slipping and sliding as I did.
They actually built a bridge across a major river, spanning a main town, a mile from the nearestt bridge and didn’t make any pedestrian provision, Pencil Neck Council Wallers!!!!!!
We set off for Lapalisse at about 11:00 and the Satnav said we would be there at 14:30, bummer they don’t open the site until 16:00 so we called in a village along the way, St-Pierre-Le-Moutier. Not the busiest of places at 13:00 but one the cleanest, I mean the streets were spotless.
A man, who may or may not have been a drinker walked past me and shook my hand, he was an old fella, not doddery mind, and he had the warmest, softest hands a man could ever have. He just said Bonjour and shook my hand, how nice?
We had a bite to eat in the van and a coffee and set off again. Satnav now saying 15:20, that’s better, we needed to call into the supermarket so we should loose half an hour there.
And we did and I bought some new toys, and a bargain too.
1 – A set of wooden kitchen implements, they looked so cute.
2 – An electric Rock Salt and Pepper Corn grinder all in one combo, half price too, just up my street.
We arrived at the site at 15:53 only to find that during the quiet season they don’t open until 17:00. It was 25 degrees, the sun was blazing and Wendy Gill went into meltdown, sweating I mean. But we walked to the Tourist Information Office and we were given the code to lift the barriers so we could make camp and then check in later. Phew!!!
We have been dragging some frozen chips around most of France for the last two weeks because they need to be in the oven for an hour and I daren’t waste the camping gas on them. I’m not being tight, they don’t use our type of gas in Europe, well they wouldn’t would they? So I have three bottles that I have to nurse along our trip and we might need them on the return trip for heating if we have to rough camp for a night or two.
However we bought a hot plate from Lidl last year and barely use it, so I coated it in oil and cooked the chips on it and they were done a treat, Wendy cooked chicken in a fancy sauce and it was lovely too, I even got to use all my new toys.
The Big Top is on the town’s carpark and it looks fairly professional, but I’m not really into circus’s so I think we will give it a miss.
After supper we went for a walk through town to show Wendy the best place for her to run in the morning. Lapalisse really is a very quaint old town with a mixture of new and old buildings with a small river running through it. It has a very delightful small park with fountains, ornaments, glorious trees and flowers all in an area no bigger than a couple of acres.
The main reason were are in Lapalisse is to see Clement for his 18th birthday, which is on the 18th October. When I first met him when he was 13 I gave him a bottle of Talisker Whiskey and I told him that I would be with him to open it when he is 18, so here I am, I know I’m a week or two early!!!
We walked upto his mum’s restaurant but it was closed so I sent him a message and we have arranged to meet tomorrow, Friday. He’s not in town tonight so we need to catch up with his all news tomorrow, I can’t wait.
As we came back to the van the circus had just ended and there were small children with big smiles and they had their hands full of stuff that they had either been given or their mums had bought them. That’s funny, they all had mums, and there wasn’t a dad in sight!!!
I have 7 GB’s of data left and has there is only 2 days to go before top up time, I might do some surfing and find something to watch on telly for an hour before bedtime.
Isn’t modern life just great???
Lapalisse
No Traveling
I had another good night’s sleep although I did wake at one point to find Wendy awake and grab her iPad to doodle herself to sleep. And then it’s like having a conversation with a Zombie at 08:00 because she can’t wake up, even though her eyes are open.
My foot injury wasn’t good this morning so now I am battling pain on two fronts on the same leg, top and bottom!!! Never mind I’ll keep stuffing myself with pain killers, but I do worry I might run out.
For breakfast I had a creamy banana smoothie whilst I soaked my feet in the foot spa, it was lovely, sat in the sun having a pampering.
After which we went out on the bikes for a tour of town. Our first stop was the river bridge by the campervan car park, (there is a campervan car park where you can stay overnight with a toilet empty point, it’s good to know if you need a one night stopover).
The river is so clear that you can see fish swimming along, good sized fish too.
It was a lovely day, stinking hot actually, it turned out to be bright sunshine and 26 degrees.
Next stop was the biggest flea market I have ever been to, it’s just the one shop. I think it was an old garage, or bus depot as there is an old work pit somewhere in the middle. I say somewhere as there is so much tut that you lose any sense of direction.
The last time I was here I found a quaint water vase, this time Wendy found some lacy hankies.
I could spend hours rooting around here but there is a chance you might cause an avalanche and kill someone. Lord knows who did the fire risk assessment!
After this we went to Aldi, well we thought it was an Aldi and it actually was, but they have a different logo sign in Lapalisse so we weren’t sure. We only wanted a few bits but we came across Prosecco at 4.99 euros a pop so we bought one to try. It went straight into my magic fridge freezer so we can try it later.
We then went back to base as Wendy needed to get out of the sun for a while so we relaxed reading our books until it was time to go meet Clement.
Jeepers Clement in now a fine, strapping handsome young man.
We started chatting with Clement and his Mum, Chantelle and had a drink in the bargin. We then went to the church to hear Clement play the organ and again it was wonderful.
He plays without music and as he knows Robyn is getting married he played the first wedding walk one, the slow one she starts with.
I asked him if he could do the one they walk out with but he didn’t know it, apparently it’s different in France. I googled it and he heard it and then he started to play it, he started slowly and soon found his feet and then played it almost perfectly, how talented is he?
I misjudged his schooling. Although he is not yet 18 he has started University in Paris so he will not be here for his birthday for us to come back and celebrate, so we gave him his present early, a Harris Tweed Wallet.
He loved it!!!
We were invited out for the night, a night of music with them at their friends house. So we met at the campsite at 19:30 and followed them there. It was about 4 miles out of town.
The group, Clement, his Mum and Dad and two friends GiGi, (Male) on electric guitar and Gerard on drums. It was a lovely evening. We sat on a sofa in the garage while they played music all around us, Thierry was on vocals. The wine was flowing, (I was driving) and it was a really nice night.
At 10:40 Wendy was flagging so I made our apologies only to find a supper was being cooked for us all. However we had grabbed a bite to eat before getting picked up so we gave our thanks and declined, I felt a bit bad but we weren’t prepared for a long night, not with a late meal to boot.
But GiGi understood and so we left them to it.
We headed back to the van, where Wendy began plotting our route to Spain and we cracked open the 4.99 euro prosecco. It was a struggle to get the cork out but I’ll tell you this, its dam fine stuff!!!
Tomorrow rain is expected, we can’t complain as we have had brilliant weather since we arrived.
I do hope I manage to upload Clements video so you can see him performing, he is good isn’t he?
Lapalisse
No Traveling
It was pretty overcast when I woke at 07:45 this morning and as I was just about to get up I heard the pittle, pattle of rain just starting on the caravan roof. I was late to bed, about 1ish so I didn’t mind lazing a little longer, then the rain got heavier and heavier. Consequently my run was delayed!!!
I couldn’t load my videos of Clement playing music last night, the website wasn’t letting me, I’ll load them when I can and then you won’t miss out Avid Reader!
We were talking with Chantelle last night about their season as they are just winding up the restaurant for this year and she said it has been very poor, with not many tourists around. We told her that they have all been visiting us in the UK with the Euro being so weak for us and very strong for them. Lapalisse is a small town, very beautiful with a very grand Chateau, nice restaurants and other things to see. But it’s off the main tourist route for UK visitors so not many Brits come. Therefore if lots of Europeans are making the most of their Euros in the UK, the home front in France is missing out, I guess that’s the swings and roundabouts of Brexit. It’s so bad that Thierry has had to find a job which he as, he works in a retirement home as a handy man.
At 11:00 after spending the morning route plotting and with no sign of the rain ending I put my gear on and off I went and as I got back from my run, wet through, thoroughly wet through, the rain stopped, bugger!!!
After a shower and a spot of lunch the sky started to clear so we went shopping, for Prosecco!!!
And we bought the wrong bloody one, 11 bottles of it, never mind we are chilling one in the fridge to check it later, not that we can take it back, can we?
The rain started again, just a dribble, as we were packing the car at Aldi so we returned home and had a little nap, well I did Wendy didn’t. We are out for supper tonight at Clements, Chantelle is such a lovely cook but the last time we ate there though they caught us napping as we didn’t eat until about 10:30 pm and we were starving by this time. The food was great and we ate it all up. Only to find that was just a taster and that another course was on its way, we were double stuffed. That’s how the French do it, eat late and eat in style.
I woke after a short nap, maybe 15 minutes, it used to be called a “Power Nap” when I worked down the pit, just enough to see you through the shift during “Snap Time”.
I was woken by the sound of young men playing football as there is a stadium on the approach to the campsite. It was a very busy footballing day starting with little fellas, then bigger boys and then the big boys.
We did a few chores and then went of a walk in the park, the rain had stopped for a while so we stretched our legs and ended up at Chantelle’s bar for a drink. Our last drink in the bar this year!!!
There were a few people in but not many, it’s a shame but the tourist industry is fickle.
We walked back to the van and the rain started a wee bit, but we got back dry and it didn’t last long.
Wendy is worried as the 3G is out and I have saved 4 GB’s for Strictly Dancing tonight. I’ll be gutted too because I’ll lose them at midnight!
Jeepers its 01:52 and I am stuffed, what a feed, double jeepers!!!!
We have had Fois Gras starter, a mushroom cream something starter and lentil, ham and something else starter. Then we had a veal and green bean main meal, followed by a cheese board followed by…………….a pudding made by Granny, it was to die for, I had two, or was it three portions?
What a brilliant evening we have had, a really nice night. It was a shame Clement is poorly, Wendy thinks its Uni Flu and I think it might be too. However we have had a stonker of a night, the food was lovely, the company was great, even Dolphy the Dog was on best behaviour. I don’t think I have had such a lovely night for many a year. We watched YouTube videos of things we liked years gone by and can you believe Thierry and me like the same thing, The Pink Panther, Me- Meep, Bugs Bunny, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and much, much more.
We also saw a video of Clement debating in a French national competition and he was terrific.
Granny made pudding
Lapalisse to Issoire
72 Miles
I slept like a log, but woke up still stuffed. How on earth I slept with such a full belly I will never know.
Wendy was surprisingly bright too when she woke up and after tea went running. I stayed back and got ready to move on. We are the last but one left on site as it closes today so we have to move on and so we headed south to Issoire, where we have been a few times before.
Before we left Lapalisse though we went to the restaurant to say farewell to Chantelle who opened up for Sunday morning trade.
We got there and there she was hard it with three customers and one of those was her brother. Not long after Thierry came and we shared a coffee together and chatted, well we tried to chat, about what a lovely evening we had had. Poor Clement is still ill and in bed, I do hope he perks up as he has the train to Paris to catch at 19:00 which will take him about 3 hours.
Chantelle gave Wendy some recipes from last night so someone will have a treat to look forward to when we get home.
After a while we bid our farewells and set off on the road to Issoire. The roads were reasonably quite, well nothing happens much on a Sunday in France! We drove through Vichy, which a delightful town and I would encourage anyone to go and visit, especially in summer as there are some cracking outside cafes. I must admit mind it was a reasonably nice day and when we got to the camp site at Issoire the sun was warm and it was nudging 20 degrees.
We had a short wait, 20 minutes for lunch to finish and the site office to open and Wendy bagged 1st place in the queue to check in as some other campers had driven to the front of the driveway, Wendy however was first for when the door opened and we got to choose the best spot.
Oh and speaking of Wendy I have had to chastise her for what I consider inappropriate upper body garments, she’s too refined a lady to be wearing such items!!! She chuckled and thinks she’s funny! She also had a gurn that the washing machines are out of order so she had to hand wash some cloths, poetic justice me thinks!
After establishing camp I went for my run to check out if things have changed in town as its been 4 years since we have been here. I can’t quite believe it 4 years, we had Jess last time and she didn’t like the heat, she was always dipping into the river for a cool off.
It started to spitter as I set off but it was still warm.
Issoire is one of our favourite places so hopefully it’s still the same.
And it was, I don’t think I could see much of a change anywhere, although I did only go directly to town and I came back the same way. I didn’t go via the park and then the secondary route which I used to do, I didn’t go past my favourite pub / restaurant the Coc Hardy, (I know it is a bit rude isn’t it), the food is really good, a very good class of pub food. I think I might be having an early birthday present tomorrow, lunch at the Coc Hardy, naughty but nice.
I got back and the rain never came to much, it was a little overcast but at 21 degrees on the 1st of October I didn’t think there was any room for complaint, well Wendy did when on the phone to Granny, and she’s so hard to please. Oh and she did say call me picky on returning from the toilet, but I do like a toilet seat when I need the toilet. France seems to have found a new model toilet, a fat ceramic edge without the traditional wooden or plastic seat, so she won’t be going again I guess!!!
Supper was a small affair, mainly due to us still having a full stomach, it was a small bacon and mashed avocado baguette, with a wee but of Rufus, it was a delight.
And then we found that some bugger had pinched a bottle of wine from the outside fridge!!! It’s never happened before and we have always had an outside fridge, but I guess with there being so few vans on the site at Lapalisse someone took the chance and it paid off. I do hope they die from something very nasty!!! (I know it’s not very Christian, but they stole, I would have given them it had they asked, I feel violated!!!).
And then we settled down for Strictly Dancing, we finished last night’s episode and Mrs Gill is not happy with the number of professional non-professionals and then we went onto the vote off, and guess what, she’s not happy again!!! Brian was by far the worst dancer, I admit, I think so too, but she was stomping and hissing in her designer chair that she had brought in for her comfort.
Its now 21:30 and I have to admit its time for bed, well nearly, maybe a small shotty to see me off!!!
Issoire
No Traveling
Another night of disturbance by Mrs Gill. I woke to her scrabbling over me to get her iPad at about 04:30, she was still at it at 05:30 and then couldn’t get up at 08:00. It also rained in the night and I remembered I’d left my running jacket on the dryer outside so I had to nip out and get it, then an hour later I also remembered I had left my bottle carrier out so I had to get that too, by now that was soaked, so what with the rain and you know who I didn’t get much of a sleep.
But I did get a good run, a good eight miler with mild discomfort from my groin and my foot, its two steps forward time today then!
Issoire is a town which is formed by a circular road, with shops and bars and in the interior there is a square that is normally used as a car park and during the weekends it becomes a market and for special events a festival area. There are also bars ringing the external area of the car park so even in bad weather it’s very sheltered.
I came across Wendy running the opposite way to me around the outer road and she was bopping along very nicely indeed, however she didn’t fist pump me, in fact she avoided contact at the last minute again the scallywag!!!
The sky’s cleared as I came back and I had a cracking sweat on.
After breakfast we nipped to the supermarket that’s about half a mile away. It is the biggest supermarket in the world and I would be sure to get what I wanted, a 12 volt tyre inflator, and yes sure enough there was about five to choose from. I want to keep an eye on the caravans tyres and it’s quite hard to use the filling stations air sometimes as they are in out of the way areas.
By this time we had heard about the shootings in Las Vegas, appalling really.
We had some guests from the USA stay with us in our BnB days and we were sat around chatting at night and the subject of gun control came up and one of the fellows said, nothing can be done as it’s in the constitution. But one of the ladies hit back very quickly and said yes and it’s not set in stone, it can be changed, it only needs the will to do it.
I bet nothing changes and idiots and the criminally insane will still be able to get their hands on automatic weapons of mass destruction as it’s their constitutional right? How ridiculous is that?
Anyway, an inventory of wine has been taken and thankfully I can announce that an error has been made and we have not been subject to the crime of the century, we have the correct number of wine bottles in the fridge. However one is not which we thought it should be and we have two of the same of another brand. No one knows how it’s happened, maybe I should have a written ledger so we know what’s what!
We left the car at the site and we walked nicely into town through the park and past the allotments. I tell you there is some serious growing going on down there, jeepers the veg looks delightful, it’s that big I think I’m in an episode of Land of the Giants!
Our intention was to doodle around town, have a beer and then take an early tea in the Coq Hardy.
We had a very nice doodle and then a beer in a very aggregable bar but alas the Coq Hardy wasn’t open for food.
It was open, so I went in to enquire. The owner who we have seen several times before as absolutely no English so before I went in I translated a passage via Google translate on my phone, something like, “Good Afternoon are you open for food”?
I met the owner at the bar and I said I was Jy Famme, dejonney sivlou plait?
A look of confusion spread across his face so I showed him the translation. He said Non, Non, Non. Yes I get the picture no food today. Jeepers you would have thought I had asked to take his wife out for the night the way he reacted.
I then had to take a very unhappy Wendy from the outdoor seated area where she had claimed a prime spot and told her about our sudden change of plans. Within an instant she came up with a very good plan, a Cheese and Bread starter followed by Bacon in a Cheese Pasta and Garlic Sauce, and do you know what it was bloody lovely as it came with extra, extra cheese, so up your bum the Coq Hardy!!!
It’s been 24 degrees with fits and starts of sunshine, it’s been very pleasant indeed but all the locals have their winter clothes on. Wendy clocked a lad with a huge sheepskin jacket on, jeans and a large woolly hat, so I stalked him for some footage for today’s copy, I bet you chuckle along Avid Reader, it’s not like its Moscow in deep winter. I only had three items of clothing on, a T-Shirt, Shorts and Pants!!! It was so nice we sat outside eating and then reading without so much as a goose bump.
Its moving day tomorrow, we are west coast bound. It should take us a couple of days bearing in mind I’m trying to stick to the 100 miles a day maximum.
It’s Monday, so it’s Fear the Walking Dead, via Brads sneaky app tonight for me, hopefully Wendy Gill will have more of a settled night, maybe I might spike her wine with neat vodka!!!
I’ll let you know how I get on tomorrow!
At 19:00 just before it started to get dark we took a ride around the lake which is next to the campsite. Its only about 1.5 miles around it but it is nice and pleasant to just bimble along.
When we got back we took the awning down and started to break camp, it might rain again in the night and we have got it dry today so because we might not be using it for a few days we thought best to get it away. So we really only have to lift the caravan legs, take the electric cable out, attach the car and we can be on our way in less than 5 minutes.
The rest of the night will be spent reading and watching telly.
Hopefully I’ll be up by seven and out by eight in the morning. I’m excited about our next leg as we are heading into areas we haven’t been before.
Issoire to Egletons
88 Miles
Rain started to drizzle as I was half way on my run but thankfully my trusty all weather jacket kept me dry’ish! Having packed the awning the night before we have saved half an hour on time and saved ourselves from becoming drowned rats as at one point the heavens opened at an almighty rate, it was pouring down.
I had some lovely news this morning, Baby Tilly Mai MacLeod was born last night at 21:28 weighing 7 lbs 3 oz, and she is beautiful, (Kristi Coopers baby).
At the rains worst we were all tucked up in Wendy’s most favourite shop in all of France, quite likely the whole of the world. It was the Vin de Cave shop where you buy wholesale wine by the container. We bought ten litres at a total cost of 21.25 euros, which at our bank card rate of 1.1283 came to £18.84 which is £1.88 a litre and its very nice thank you very much as well.
I saw too very stupid things this morning, one being extremely dangerous as well, both involving Government workmen. In Issoire they were digging the pavement up at a very busy part of town where three junctions come together and they had blocked one half of the road off without any traffic lights or even stop / go men! It was chaos and the workman didn’t bat an eyelid. The next was on the motorway, just after we had left town. I saw two huge tractors grass cutting the verge on the opposite carriageway. This is a motorway with two carriageways each side and no hard shoulder. It was chucking down with rain, the cloud was extremely low and the road spray made visibility next to nowhere!!! Directly behind the tractors were two of those large trucks with pointing arrows telling driver to get over. There was no distance between them and they were all on the outside carriageway. Cars and trucks were braking for their lives and squeezing into the other lane as the tractors appeared out of the mist. I won’t be surprised if there is a major pile up there today, I mean could they not have cancelled todays grass cut, just for safety’s sake, it not like its peak growing season.
We did 11 miles north on the motorway before pulling off and taking a minor road over some massive hills until we got to a main road. We were in the clouds, we were that high I was beginning to feel faint and I saw load of signs for ski resorts.
The little car took it all in her stride!!!
We were passing through the Dore Mountains, they aren’t stunning and we haven’t seen any great views but they are mountains none the less.
We had a good journey and the Satnav has been great although he did let himself down on the approach to the town. We were within 1.3 miles of our destination when suddenly he piped up, rather loudly, “Turn Around When Possible!” I mean no warning or anything, and then he took us down a side street, around a roundabout, then back onto the main road but traveling in the opposite direction we had come and then 1.3 miles down the road and we were there at the campsite. We had passed the site completely, the bugger. I think he was napping and then suddenly woke up and came to life. No harm done mind.
And speaking of sleeping, Wendy Ann Gill went to sleep last night at 22:30, she slept until at least 07:45, that’s 9 hours and 15 minutes and she needed not talking to and two cups of tea before she became human. It was like she had been in hibernation for 300 years whilst traveling through hyperspace. How can she not just open her eyes and restart her life. I have been married to her now for over 30 years and she’s like it every single day.
Anyway we are at a small town called Egletons and we are still very nicely elevated. Wikipedia says the elevation of the town is between 1,749 to 2,625 feet high. And it is, when you walk down the main street you can see the other end of the village disappearing into the sky, it’s remarkable. Unlike the town itself, it has to be the dullest in France, it’s boring and the architecture looks like it’s from the 1950’s.
Never mind the site is only 13 euros a night, but the bugger has reverse polarity, I know it sounds Mickey Mouse, but its when the + and the – electrical supply are the wrong way around. Thankfully my magic van as a way of making it safe, but not of making everything work, so we have had to do without a few luxuries.
The site is nice enough but there is a bar where you book in and it has that feel about it that if you’re not careful they will steal your kidneys. After a walk in town we had a drink and used the Wi-Fi. I used my very acceptable conversational French to ask for Dur Van Blanc, Sevue Play. The strange man behind the bar had not a Scooby what I was asking, so he pointed to the beer taps. I had to revert to Google Translate again!!! I typed in 2 white wine please and it come up with what I had just asked him, I showed him and he nodded his head and said Que. I know I have a Yorkshire accent but I know how to order bloody wine. I best take extra care of my kidneys tonight!
It was only 3 euros for two nice sized glasses so it’s not that bad!
Supper was at 17:44 and it was lovely, good old fried egg, sausage and mushrooms with lashings of bread and white wine.
The sun came out and bathed the site in lovely colours as the trees are losing their leaves and they are all multi-coloured, and with the sunshine it just looked really nice.
We are OK for the mornings run as we have a stunning lake across the road from us so at last we don’t have to run on the main road up the massive hill to town.
As it was such a nice evening we took a walk around the camp site, it’s much bigger, and sinister than it first looked. I think we are in the midst of a vampire coven, it’s not just my kidneys I think they might be after. I’ll be double locking the door and sleeping with a clove of garlic in each ear tonight.
If anything happens Avid Reader make the relative authorities aware about my concerns, jeepers I’ve just thought, it’s not a full moon tonight is it????
Egletons to Bayas
188 Miles
We were disturbed by an helicopter buzzing around last night, overhead for ages, what was going on I wondered, but at least we managed to survive the night, thankfully!
Jeepers it was cold this morning, I got up at 04:00 to turn the heater up as it was feeling chilly and then when I got up at 07:00 it was only 2 degrees outside. The sky was clear when we went to bed, Wendy was disappointed that we couldn’t get The Great British Bake Off to play as we only had the tiniest of 3G signal, hopefully we will get it tonight.
We both ran round the lake, Wendy did three laps and I did five, it was just over a mile and a half around. It got slightly warmer as the sun got up and the lake looked stunning with steam rising off it. There were frosty areas on the grass where the sun had not yet reached, but I guess that’s what you get at 2,600 feet, (That’s also the height of the main entrance to the Cairngorm Ski Centre).
We set off in lovely sunshine for a site about 88 miles away in a town called Perigueux but before we got out of town we called in for some food at Lidl. We bought some bread and Wendy’s eye was taken with chocolate beignets so we thought we would have some. But they were behind a Perspex screen and try as we did we could not open the bugger. I saw a long spoon type thing sticking out and tried to fiddle about and get one. After a while I was about to give up and I flicked the spoon down to the left and the bun came flying out of the side underneath a secret flap. It was like winning at the crane thing you get in arcades. I think it’s to stop unhygienic handling, but they should at least give some instructions, imagine pensioner type people and how they would get on!
After this fun we carried on and came within a mile of our camp site, however there was a deviation on the route due to road works, so we duly followed it. We came to the end and Satnav picked up the route again and got us to within half a mile only for the road to be closed at the other end, bugger we had been duped!
Never mind Wendy has a site in her book that’s only 20 miles away.
Except her book is from 2011 and the place is as run down as any camp site can be, it was about 6 miles off the main road through some seriously tricky roads, you could see tumbleweed in the grounds. But well these things happen! However, she has a stonker now, 20 miles away, can’t go wrong, its open all year and its only 10 euros……………………………. its closed!!!! That’s another lovely detour through the French Countryside for nothing.
I am now thinking we should have bought a new book but we never thought did we!!!
So now its plan C, another site 20 miles away, I insist Wendy phones this one now to make sure they exist. She resists for a while, I could see her Googling away not wanting to phone and have a language problem so I have to explain, Wendy just ask them if they speak English, if not say, “Merci” and put the phone down. So she did and they spoke great English and they were open.
Phew!!! Except that we are now at a site that resembles Camp Crystal Lake in the Friday the 13th Films and Jason will no doubt be knocking on our door with a very large knife, (It was a 1979 scary movie for you younger Avid Readers).
The site also had bloody reverse polarity again, but this time I came up with the idea of using the Teriyaki Hot Plate to cook supper on and it worked a treat.
Before supper we took a walk around the lake and it’s OK, well just about. I would say the circumference is about 400 metres and it’s well-stocked with water toy type things for kids to play on. So now I am thinking of all those scruffy boys during the summer weeing in there and thinking no, I wouldn’t fancy a swim even at a very nice 23 degrees which is what the temperature was when we arrived.
We did see mistletoe growing wildly on the trees, loads of it. If I could get it back to the UK in December I could make a fortune selling it. I am not kidding there are heaps of trees with it growing on.
There’s also some very big mushrooms too, I think I’ll give them a miss though!
Well there's no bake off again tonight as we have very little 3G and a none-existent, as advertised, Wi-Fi signal so it’s back to book reading tonight.
I’m looking on the bright side, I’m now only 44 miles from Bordeaux, our next long stay camp.
Bayas to Bordeaux
50 Miles
I had a fantastic solid sleep last night, I woke at one point and heard nothing but silence all around me and it was lovely.
I woke at 07:00 to 8 degrees outside and a pitch black starlit sky as last night’s full moon had set.
I was quickly joined by Wendy, I know she shocked me she was up that quickly!!!
Wendy gave me my birthday cards and presents, I got eight cards and three presents, a bottle of whiskey, my favourite, Dalwhinnie, from Wendy, a very nice bottle of wine from Cathy and Donald and a Ancestral DNA testing kit from Wendy, Bradley and Robyn!!!
You cannot believe how excited I am about the DNA kit, it’s easy peasy to do and I am going to do it tomorrow. I send a very large saliva sample off and then they let me know, what I am. I’m thinking either Japanese or Micronesian!!!
I went running and was met with the most beautiful sunrise I have seen since I came back from Australia, it was fantastic, the bright red sun coming out from the ground with a clear blue sky behind it, then it quickly turned bright yellow and then steam started to rise from the grass, it was a terrific sight.
Back at base it was a quick turnaround as we wanted to get to our new site in Bordeaux before 13:00 as they close for two hours. So off we set at 10:30 and we had a delightful run apart from the very busy motorway which we took for about 15 miles, but never mind I am used to hairy moments.
The site is great, fantastic even, just 20 euros a night and it’s almost in the city. It’s small and compact but it has a really welcoming feel about it. There are a few chalets chucked in two so it feels like we are all on top of each other but it seems to work well. Maybe I won’t feel like that if someone’s snoring keeps me awake tonight.
After setting camp we took a wee bite to eat, cheese and bread and a glass of wine and then we went for a walk in the direction of Bordeaux, it’s what I call an expeditionary walk.
It was hot and sunny, over 25 degrees with clear blue skies and we got about 4.3 miles in and were about a third the way there when I called a halt to our advance. My plan was to get into town and catch a cab back, but it was hard going and Wendy was feeling the heat so we about faced and marched back. We bought some veg for supper and some interesting mushrooms for a starter. I had already started to slow roast a pork shank before we left so we needed something to accompany it.
It’s funny but it’s always quicker coming back than going and we were back in no time at all, with time for a quick beer in the bar near the site.
I was worried I might get sun-tan lines from my sun glasses as the sun was that bright, (I know it’s not you want to hear in blustery Aberdeen), I think I’m OK as I kept taking them off, but I’ll double check in the morning.
Supper was a delight, Wendy did the veg whilst I replied to all my online messages, I cannot believe how popular I am, I had over 60 messages, all of them really nice. I had them from Australia, Mauritius, Canada, Hong Kong I even got one directly from St Kilda, how intercontinental!!!
Back to the supper, I got a Pork Shank from Lidl last week, for 3 euros, I thought for that price I cannot lose. It was slowly cooked and it came out a treat, it was more ham than pork but it was bloody lovely with brussel sprouts, carrots, green beans and cauliflower, I made gravy from the stock and a little Rufus, it was top drawer, Michelin Star even, bloody lovely, and there is heaps left to make soupy stew with tomorrow.
We followed it with Cathy’s wine which again was very tasty.
As I type Wendy is catching up with Bake Off and I’ll soon be cheering England on, and Scotland too for Alex with a wee dram of Dalwinnie.
It’s been a lovely birthday, tomorrow we hope to do some exploring.
Bordeaux
No Traveling
I had a very bad groin spasm in the night and my groin hurt like bugger when I got up, my foot wasn’t too good either, what did I say about two steps forward recently.
I was up at 06:45, still dark, it doesn’t get light until 07:45 but it’s nice to have breakfast and see the light coming through.
I also had a poorly girl as well, we suspect Wendy had a bit too much sun for her delicate skin. She had a headache and aches and pains so I was Nursey and provided pain killers and two sweet cups of tea.
I manged to run, I only took two pain killers, I was in pain but it wasn’t the worst by a long way, so maybe it’s only 2.5 steps back!
I got back and Wendy was up and about, showered and looking lovely. She had even caught up on the washing and I only needed to string a line for the bed sheets to dry. She’s a hardy woman!
We had woke to rain but it had stopped by the time I got going and the skies had cleared and the sun had come out by the time I got back.
Before breakfast I had a duty to perform, my Ancestral DNA needed to be undertaken. I hadn’t to eat or drink for 30 minutes before starting the sample obtaining procedure. I had to slava into a small tube, actually to fill it to the line, minus bubbles, took some doing. Thankfully there was an attached funnel which spared any spillage. Then when I had sufficient slava I detached the funnel and had to fit a solution which then mixed with my sample which is designed to stabilise my DNA.
With it all done, plus me registering my case online, my sample was ready for the post. It does come with an international postage box so I was happy to let it go into a local post-box. The results will take eight weeks. Isn’t it exciting, I am so excited, I wonder who I am?
We are aware of a local park and ride to the city, it’s just over 4 miles away so we took the car and found the car park easily as the lady at the site had given us the exact address. We found a multi-story car park and I was about to get in lane at the operating barrier behind another car but I could see she was having problems so I held back. Thankfully I did because she had to reverse out. I didn’t move from my position and Wendy went down to try to operate the barrier, but it would not operate, it wouldn’t take her credit card either. So I pulled out from the entrance and parked somewhere not fully blocking the traffic. Wendy went to find some info. She came back almost not any further forward apart from seeing an office which looked like a ticket office. She directed me there and again I had to double park.
I found the office and there was one lady at a desk and about 6 students in a queue. I asked the lady if this was the place to buy park and ride tickets and she said it was. So I waited, the first student was processed in about 5 minutes, and then the next one went forward. I saw passport photos and other forms of ID coming out, I saw forms in triplicate and thought suddenly, these are new starts getting their travel passes and it will take ages.
I asked the lady again can I get a ticket anywhere else, yes she replies, the ticket machine just outside. What a silly moo, why she didn’t she say before and why have only one person trying to sort this lot out, its madness!!!
Anyway I thought that I had bought a ticket for a car and two passengers and it came to 4.5 euros which seems very decent. We hopped on the right tram and thankfully a young fella explained we were ok with our ticket but we needed to validate it on the tram by using a scanning machine, phew, what a rigmarole. What happend to taking a ticket at the barrier and paying later!!!
The tram was packed with students, hundreds of them, but they had dwindled by the time we had got to the city.
And what a beautiful city it is, absolutely stunning.
The architecture is fantastic and the walkways and streets are carefully considered and it has the widest river I have ever seen in any city, it’s just fantastic. It is also very clean, I would love a weekend city break here and I would encourage anyone to visit!!!
We got off the tram and walked along the river, I posted my sample and we found a supermarket and bought some sarnies and drinks for lunch, we ate them on a bench by the river in the sunshine, it was lovely.
We walked and walked our feet off again but this time at a more sedate pace.
We found a fantastic water feature which constantly changes and it has many different effects.
We also found a few nudey men statues, about six, we haven’t a clue what they are about but they looked a bit scary, I wouldn’t want to bump into one after a pint or two.
The tram system is great and we followed our tracks back to the end of the city and then caught it back to the station where we boarded. We managed to get our car back without incident and stopped at the supermarket for some bread and juice.
Back at base we are worn out and it won’t be long before its bed time, but not until we reflect on a lovely day in a lovely city!
Tomorrow we have been invited out, I know, it’s fantastic being an AirBnB host you get to meet loads of people who invite you to their neck of the woods.
I might be a wee bit late with copy tomorrow, all will be revealed in good time but I do think we are in for an interesting day!!!
Oh I almost forgot to say, we had a lovely soup for supper Wendy made it from yesterday’s leftovers. It was the best soup I have ever tasted, it was as good as any Michelin Stared Restaurant and very French too.
Oh, and Wendy opened the Chardonnay too!!!
Bordeaux
No Traveling
A lovely morning greeted me when I set off running, it was 07:45 and just getting light, the moon was still out and the sky turned slowly blue and the sun rose over the trees. It was going to be a lovely day.
I got back as Wendy had just showered from her run. A few quick chores were done, a quick bite to eat, ablutions at breakneck speed and a dash for the bus to the train station.
Wendy had already checked with the nice camp lady about which bus to get and confirmed that we could pay the driver. The driver confirmed we could use our ticket on the tram too. I asked for a return and the driver seemed to agree but I now know that the tickets run out after an hour. So we didn't validate the ticket on the bus as I had a cunning plan.
We arrived at the train station where we found our tram platform which was heaving. A tram came but we could not get on, it was like the Bangladesh Explorer, jam packed to the rafters. I did see a small dog getting dragged on, the poor thing what was it thinking, what is happening to me???
We got the next tram which was also chock-a-block so we couldn't validate our tickets again, oh dear!
Jason and Nicole were waiting for us at the tram stop and it was lovely to see them. We walked through the city which was very busy indeed. Jason arranged for a day out at a beer festival which was to consist of a beer taster with a cheese selection and bread at one cafe. The cheese was lovely and the beer tasty, it was a pale ale. Wendy doesn't like cheese so we shared, Nicole is expecting their first baby so didn't take any beer, but she still got stuck into the atmosphere of it all.
The beers were only wine glass sized, this was to be sophistication and not session!!!
We then went a few doors down the street for a lovely meal of beef stew, spinach, ham and cheese quiche. What a plateful we got and with bread!!! We got two beers here, a mild and a pale ale and they accompanied the meal perfectly. I was stuffed!
We then went back to the first cafe for two more beers and a massive, and I mean a massive piece of chocolate cake. I could not finish mine, so Wendy took it as a carry out as offered by our host. Two more beers one a light one with citrus to match the orange chocolate on the cake and yet another pale ale, both lovely.
Jason treated us to the whole experience, what a top Gent. I must admit too a bit of embarrassment as that's two couples who we have charged to stay with us and who then go onto make us feel very special in return.
We then walked and walked around areas of the city we had not seen yet, huge statues, beautiful gardens and even a roman amphitheatre. The sun was out big and bright and it was lovely.
We then took a couple of beers outside an English Pub and chatted some more.
Nicole and Jason walked with use to our tram stop where we said our goodbyes.
It's been a really lovely day with two really nice people. It's funny that in this mad world you can meet with people for just a few hours and become instant friends who you feel really comfortable with. Both Wendy and I wish them all the best for the future and we can't wait to hear the pitter, patter of their tiny feet.
We crammed onto the tram where there seemed to be an angry young man who didn't like people getting into his personal space. He's on the God Dam transport system of a city what does he expect. We ignored him anyway as we hadn't a clue what he was saying, the wally!!!
Oh and it was so busy we, again, couldn't validate our ticket.
We caught the bus back quickly and easily although the bendy bus was something of an experience. The driver must have been knocking off as we got back in record time, we didn't just clip the curb on most corners, we just didn't corner finding ourselves up in the air in zero gravity!!!
However every cloud as a silver lining and we were back in time for Wendy to see Strictly Dancing. She got her arm chair back in and settled back to watch her favourite show doing her most favourite things, eating chocolate cake and drinking white wine.
Oh and we managed to validate our ticket on the bus, without any problems. We got to the heart of the city and back for 3.2 euros!!! I'm not being a tight Yorkshire Man but as I have learned it's not the easiest thing in the world to buy a ticket and use it on the Bordeaux Transport network, and if a Micky Mouse Yorkshireman can work the system within a day how much do the more crafty locals get away with? I think my cunning plan paid off!
It's been a really lovely day and I even managed to post timely copy Avid Reader, just for you!
Bordeaux
No Traveling (We did do over 130 miles mind)
Jeepers it was cold this morning, under 4 degrees when I got up, it got to 4.7 by the time I was ready for running.
I came across the School of Architecture and it’s quite ironic that in such a beautiful old city with fantastic old buildings the School should be a 1970’s monstrous carbuncle of a thing.
After breakfast we set off with a flask of coffee and a nice sarnie each to go and explore the coastal area around the Bassin D’ Arcachon. Within 5 miles of camp I was starving and had to have my ham sarnie followed by a nice cup of coffee, Wendy ate hers as well.
Our first port of call was to the town of Arcachon which is at the south side of the Bassin. It’s a small town really with just a few cafes, restaurants, small shops, butchers and bakers etc. It does however have a massive marina which is full of yachts and other small craft.
We walked around the sea wall of the marina to its mouth and looked across the Bay to the other side. Going around the Bassin will be around 50 miles and will take about an hour and a half as we pass through quite a few villages and the route isn’t straight forward.
I enjoyed the walk, it was over 3 miles as we took in some parts of the town and bought some bread, a small bottle of water for Wendy and a cake each!!! I fancied the lemon custard pastry thing and Wendy chose the chocolate and pear pastry. Both looked delightful, mmmhhhhhh!
The town is a fairly big place with lots of residential housing, all very nice with many different designs and some quite spectacular, this is a town with money to burn!
Having spent about 90 minutes here we jumped in the car and drove around the perimeter of the Bassin. In most of its easterly parts it is very tidal and the tide was out so we saw lots of mud flats and grassy islands as they dried out.
We found a nice little point to eat our cakes, we shared, half each. Mine was the best by far. It was a custard filling with an exterior coating of a very lemony coating. The custard was just gorgeous, it just melted on my tongue. Wendy, who had eaten slightly over half of hers passed it over, it was nice, it was chocolatey but there wasn’t any pear taste, it was nice enough and had I not had my lemon I might have said it was a good choice.
We sat and ate the cakes with a cup of coffee and the bench we were on was at the side of the most delightful little book exchange I have ever come across. It’s so nice that people respect this kind of venture and enjoy it for what it’s meant to be.
Back in the car and feeling refreshed we drove on down the northern section of the basin and it got smaller and smaller and the housing got much more expensive looking. This can’t be a commuter area to Bordeaux as its just to difficult a journey to do each day, we did discuss going into town by boat but again that would take some time, so I guess they are just for very rich people or holiday accommodation.
We got to the tip of the point and it was very busy. We had the sun all morning but it had clouded over as we left Arcachon, but by the time we got out of the car the sun was back with a vengeance. It was only 20 degrees, but the sun was hot, Wendy even stripped down to her vest top.
You could not get directly to the tip from the car park as the old path was closed due to erosion so we had to take a longer route. The beach was stunning, lovely warm sand on our feet and a slightly cold Bay of Biscay sea water.
There were some old German Sea defences that were still intact, they would be as they didn’t see much action. Well that was until the Royal Marines snook past them and blew cargo ships up in Bordeaux Harbour, the Marines action, so said Winston Churchill, shortened the war by six months saving many thousands of soldiers lives. However out of the ten on the mission only two survived, six were executed by the Germans and two died of exposure.
Their actions were turned into a film, The Cockle Shell Hero’s, Grandad Bryan told me about it the other day so I researched it. It makes you proud to be British.
I really enjoyed getting to the point it was a fantastic experience!!!
We walked back and Wendy stubbed her toe on an old piece of bunker, boy did she curse!!! It’s broken of course, the toe, so she says. The piece was about 20 m square and was clearly visible, the silly mo!!!
We stopped at another small town, Belisaire and took a walk to the pier and it was all very nice and expensive looking, the sun was still out and it was lovely.
We drove back to base after a very enjoyable day out.
We managed to get the awning down and all outside equipment packed away before nightfall.
Dinner, as cooked by Wendy, was lovely, spicy pork chops, savoury rice and bread. It was really tasty.
We listed to some radio for a while until it was time for Strictly Dancing, the Result Show………….I have to go now Avid Reader as Wendy needs the laptop to watch Strictly.
We are off in the morning, it’s been a fantastic time in Bordeaux, it’s a beautiful city, as I think I have said before I would recommend a visit to see it!
Bordeaux to Saint-Jean-de-Luz
137 Miles
I ran to a lake Wendy had found the day before and it was really nice, it had very deep green water. It was overcast but warm and my photo doesn’t do it justice, but believe me it was lovely.
It started overcast and then got a bit mizzley, but it was OK. I found a massive wood too and I sat down and had a drink and I could hear acorns dropping from trees. It was unreal, I then thought would it hurt if one hit me, and bugger me one dropped right onto my shoulder. It must be that time of year!
Thankfully we had broken camp last night as the mizzle continued as we got ready to leave Bordeaux. It was overcast but still warm at 19 degrees and it would likely pass as we drove south.
And it did, within 30 miles we were in clear blue skies and it was lovely.
Most of our route was on the motorway. We don’t normally take the motorway as you have to pay and they can be expensive with a caravan. On the route we followed there was a ten mile section of toll road, but our Satnav knows to avoid it and took us on a 12 mile detour off it until we could re-join the free section again.
At the halfway point of the journey we stopped for a bite to eat, croissant, ham, cheese, onion with lashings of mayonnaise. We sat on a bench in the sun and it was a great way to relax.
We had stopped there on purpose as we were about to enter another section of toll motorway and I wanted to find out how much it would cost thinking I would pick up a leaflet at the services. I didn’t but I decided to go for it, well how much could it cost???
63 euros, that’s how much, for a 12 mile stretch of road, and that was just for a car, with a caravan it might have been double that. We found out because there was an official sign just as you left the entry road from the services. A smiling little man sign, with him in his car as he was handing over his euros with 63 written on it! So we took the detour, and we saw lorries and cars and campervans all doing the same, going through tiny little villages too.
Our detour added 12 and 16 miles respectively, but if I deduct the motorway mileage I would have done, I think I had to do an additional 12 miles, so its 12 miles of the price of diesel as opposed to 63 euros, it’s a no brainier!!!
Who in their right, Government Type Persons Mind thought it was a good idea to impose it and push all the traffic through all those tiny villages? My old Fireman friend Alec Swift had a name for people like this, “Pencil Necks”, and do you know it’s quite appropriate in this instance.
We stopped at Lidl about 6 miles from our destination and boy did I stock up, it was sale of the century day!!! We have rump steak for supper, we have in the fridge, duck breast, veal, pork somethings and pork something else. Three bottles of wine and other consumable items all for nothing more than the price of a lottery ticket, I might go back before I leave.
We got to the site and I have to be careful here, because I could use profanities. You have never seen such a set up in your life. You had to go up a 1 in 10 incline on a gravel road to get there, wheel spinning and losing 14 mm of tyre track in the process. It was all bottle necked, with no direction whatsoever and complete chaos. Thankfully - A, I am a very cool chap & B, I can reverse a 40 ton artic lorry.
However some people can’t and it was carnage. We actually left the camp ground to get to the lower camp ground and had to come in the no entrance route as it’s the only way in. Wendy broached this with the receptionist when she tried to book in and apparently she didn’t know?
Well we are in and although it’s very tight, it is very nice as we are about 40 metres from the beach.
I set about siting the van and Wendy went in search of water, of course it’s not available on the lower site section, she wasn’t half bumping her gums at this point.
We settled, sat and chilled for a while in the sun then went for a walk after which we cycled into the town and it looks really nice.
We saw a stunning sunset as we cycled back, it was most pleasant!
Supper was on me, rump steak with a lovely salad and now we are chilling a little more listening to Heart FM on the very favourable free Wi-Fi.
We think we will explore tomorrow and then head further south on Wednesday.
I hope your all enjoying this trip as much as we are Avid Reader, we are having the time of our life.
(PS – Wendy still has some wine left from her top up in Issoire!!!)
Saint-Jean-de-Luz
No Traveling
I was gutted last night as I could not watch Fear the Waling Dead, I know, I know but we all have our coping mechanisms! We have very weak Wi-Fi and no 3G so I couldn’t load it up. Thankfully Bradley has it recorded and I have one more shot at watching it on Friday, so here’s hoping.
The main thing is that Wendy gets to watch Strictly Dancing on Saturday nights!
Jeepers it was overcast this morning, it was 14 degrees when I got up and it was dark until almost 08:00. It’s like being at home but without the rain, wind, frost and fog.
Wendy’s running app isn’t working so she hung around with me until it was her turnaround time and she left me to it, and I wished she hadn’t as I got lost in the port area of the second town. There seems to be towns dotted along the coast now and they all run seamlessly into each other, the border point usually being a river.
After breakfast and the comedy of watching large campervans depart we headed on our bikes for a day’s exploration. Just a point on the campervans, having used one in Australia for six months we have drawn up a large list of pros and cons of using them and for us the cons are too many. You should have seen the Spanish, elderly couple, trying to get their van out this morning. The lady was trying to give signals to a very incompetent man. Wendy saw them get caught on the barrier and I saw the back right hand side very badly damaged and held together with duct tape. I am talking lots of duct tape here as well!
The weather greatly improved so it was light weather gear for the bikes. We cycled to what we thought was the last village for some time and walked along the sea wall. The towns are protected by a huge sea wall that crosses a very nice bay. We had a lovely walk, there and back, and the views back onto the towns was lovely.
We parked the bikes at the entrance, near some small restaurants who had mussels and fries on the menu. Walking back gave me a bit of an appetite so I thought why not indulge?
And so we did, but not at the restaurant I liked because there was a very loud English mob talking very loudly indeed, you know, show-offy types, pensioner people, far too loud and irritating for Wendy.
So we found a spot on the beach and it was a delight.
The setting was perfect, the sun was out, the mussels were small but plentiful, the chips tasty and the wine was very nice indeed, so we passed an hour or maybe longer there. It was a treat!!!
There was only one other couple there, an elderly French couple and she chatted on her phone constantly while they were there. She handed the phone to him and he did the same. Thankfully they had gone when it was time to enjoy the last of the wine. The mussels were lovely, really nice.
I asked the owner if he had had a busy season and it said it had been a little quite. That’s because everyone form Europe is in the UK, enjoying the cheap Euro!!!!! Grrrr!!!!
We cycled back to Saint-Jean-de-Luz where we walked around the town, Wendy shopping and buying. She often looks but rarely buys and then wishes she had, women!!!
This is a really nice town, Chantelle and Thierry told us to come here instead of Biarritz and I am glad we did, it’s a gem of a place. Wendy is already planning a two week vacation and studying potential hotels.
We cycled back to base and chatted with our new neighbours, people from the Isle of Man, (They didn’t get the chance to vote in the EU Referendum as they are not a full part of the UK – I never knew that).
We sat out and had some bread, cheese, pate and wine soaking the last of the day’s sun and when it went down behind the camp wall we took our chairs upto the beach wall were we got another hour of beautiful sunshine, I read my book and Wendy nosed our surroundings.
We had a beautiful sunset and waited to watch the sky change colour and then we headed back. We dropped the chairs off and did a camp walk. I do like a late night camp walk so that I can look at the rigs that have come in during the day. I also like to smell what people are cooking, tonight’s main sniff was fish, and it smelled just nice.
It’s been another lovely day, we are almost within touching distance of Spain, it’s a traveling day tomorrow, we have plotted a course and I am really looking forward to a change of environment. I also have a new challenge in mind, hopefully all will become clear in the coming days Avid Reader!
Foot Note – We bought some cake in town, there were samples on a little tray outside the bakers and they were bloody gorgeous so we bought one. I just suggested to Wendy that we have a quarter each as a late treat, we can’t actually as I ate my half when you went cycling looking for the nearest petrol station for the morning top up, she says, what a piglet she is!!!
Saint-Jean-de-Luz to Olite
85 Miles
What a beautiful morning it was!
I was up at 06:15 and ready for running at 07:45, I could have gone earlier but it was still too darn dark. It was 10 degrees outside so I wrapped up, that was a big mistake because the sun rose high when I got to 3 miles and it was a hot slog back, but thankfully I made it.
I left Wendy in the van with her tea, stretching and yawning and getting herself psyched up for her run too.
We managed to get the van off site without too much hassle, it was a soft muddy site, grassy but they had had a lot of rain so it was mushy but the caravan mover got us out without issue.
And off we set, Spain bound.
As we were about 4 miles into the journey we came across a young women on a motor scooter smoking a fag!!! She looked silly, she might not think so but who in their right mind is so desperate for a fag that they would smoke on a motor bike.
She had an open face helmet and was puffing alongside us, sparks or ash could have gone in her eye and she would have been buggerd! She did look silly though and we did have a laugh.
I must admit to a little disappointment at the border crossing because there wasn’t one, no welcome to Spain, no goodbye from France. I know the EU is supposed to be border free but it would be nice to actually know which country you are in, when you’re in it! We had to guess and it was only when I saw the police in different outfits did I know for sure.
We crossed the mountain with ease, apart from one short section where I had to engage 3rd gear, but I wasn’t concerned as most lorries were crawling up the incline.
Actually we didn’t go over many high passes as there is an excellent tunnel system available. One was quite long and one was very, very long. It was a wee worry as there wasn’t much provision for a breakdown. It was a single carriageway road with the odd safety refuge every now and again! But we got though without issue.
Jeepers the sun was hot, it wasn’t hot outside, it was no more than 24 degrees but the sun through the windscreen created very hot conditions for us inside. I never thought to recharge the air-con before we set off on this trip as I don’t think I have ever used it in Inverness once!
The roads were good and the only point of civilisation we encountered was Pamplona. We didn’t see any bulls mind!
We found our camp site without any problems, it’s very quiet and very nice and grassy, oh and level which is a bonus as levelling the caravan on some pitches can be a bind.
We were set up in no time at all and as Wendy had read her guide book about the village being centred around a castle we set off on our bikes to find it, and we did. We passed through vine yards, olive groves and we even saw almond trees on the way, so Wendy thinks!
We had a glass of very nice Spanish wine to celebrate too, at 2.6 euros for two glasses who could complain, not this Yorkshire Man!
We sat outside the bar and we saw a group of five men, older types and they were engaged in some chicken selling as one fella had them in a trailer in a big plastic cage, about 10 in total. And he was selling them to three other men who were taking them one by one and stuffing them into much smaller card-box containers.
They only had a small car and as the car was filling up they then put two chickens into the same already too small box, and then they crammed them in the car. Money was exchanged and they were on their way. With quite a few distressed chickens I would imagine.
I like to eat meat, I love it in fact, chicken especially, but I don’t like animal cruelty, it’s just not British!!!
The town is very small in the centre with very tight streets where you can barely get a car down, but it was really interesting.
It was nice and hot and cycling was a doddle, well in a vest top it beats thermal long johns and three jackets doesn’t it!
We got back to base just after 5pm and Wendy cooked a delightful meal. I thought I had bought pork somethings and it turned out they were turkey something else. Anyway with stir-fried veg it was a delight and we sat outside in the sunshine.
We have an issue with Wi-Fi that’s got us puzzled, I can get it just fine on my laptop but even though we can get the signal on our Apple items we can’t get the log in page, it will just not load and so we can’t watch any UK TV and Wendy is bursting to know who is out of Bake Off!
Any Avid Readers had this problem before, we have two IPhone’s and one IPad and zilch Wi-Fi???
We sat outside until quite late, a few late comers arrived and set up but it’s been quite an easy day, tomorrow we go a little deeper into Spain, hopefully in a westerly direction and heading Portugal bound!
Olite to Navarrete
61 Miles
I was up at 06:10 this morning, well actually I was up at 03:10, something woke me and I knew straight away as it wasn’t just a toss and turning event, something woke me up and I knew. I thought the power might be off as that starts to beep, but the clock was on so we still had power.
I took out my ear plugs and waited and there it was again, the bloody smoke alarm, low battery warning. I had to get up and take it out, (Don’t worry we still have the CO2 alarm). When I spoke to Wendy about it the next morning, she said, “Oh, I heard it but turned over”!!!!!! The bugger!
The sky didn’t start to get anything like light until after 08:00 and I needed the light as I was running along a dirt track for a mile or so before I got to town.
I passed an old fella at about 2 miles out from town, he was out for a stroll. He had the wrinkilest face any man could have. But he was safety conscious as he had his Hi-Viz vest on and he was as happy as Larry with his walking stick as the sun rose. I said Ola and he said Benion, (I think) and we just gave each other a friendly nod. It was quite nice actually.
Breakfast was out in the sun, it was a delight. Vegemite on toast, coffee and sunshine what more could you want?
We set off for our short trip and the roads were empty, well it would be it’s a national holiday, its Espanic Day, the Spanish national holiday which celebrates Christopher Columbus finding America.
I must admit I do find this a little strange but there you go.
Our Satnav took us to the site doorstep and we checked in, 26.30 euros, jeepers it’s a bit steep!
And I had a little accident too. Bum!!!
I knocked the wing mirror off a car parked at the bottom. I was trying to get to my site from the other side and I followed the road. I swung the car around as far as the road would allow me but Wendy said as I was pulling out from the corner that I had knocked a wing mirror off, so I stopped and got out to look and I had!!!
There was a fattish man gesticulating from a few vans down but a young women came out and said it was her car. I apologised and said let me park the van and I’ll come back. She was very sweet and give him his due the fat man was ok when I had spoken to her. I think it was her Dad, well I did at that point, read on it gets worse. Another David Gill foot in mouth moment is just around the corner!
I sorted the van out and went back, I had wrote her a messages via Google Translate which said I would supply her my details and she was fine with it. I gave her my email address and she sent her stuff to me very quickly.
If you’re ever going to have a knock with someone’s car you couldn’t get anyone sweeter than Ainhoa.
I contacted my insurance company, who I must admit were great. I gave them my info and all the stuff but it had come to me that the site Ainhoa was on, her Mums I think, that they had taken all their allocated ground, including car parking space, and made it a leisure area with a shaded part and chairs. In fact everyone had done the same, (across the road from the touring site they are all permanent touring caravans in a kind of township, and it looks a bit iffy actually).
I mentioned this to my insurance but they said that as I had hit a stationary car they would pay out, but not to worry as I have protected bonus and as there was no damage to my car or caravan there would be no excess. My premium might go up but not by much.
So I finally sorted everything out with Ainhoa and she brought another man with her, who was very helpful, he was great actually and as I walked back to their van I said to Ainhoa, “Is this your Dad”, he heard!!! “No” she said, “He’s my boyfriend, but he does look older”. He gave me a playful swipe and I had to do the zip my mouth bit, but he took it alright, in the end!
Later Wendy translated the campsite rules and it clearly states you are not allowed to impend the traffic around the site. I thought if I followed the road I would be OK, but by the way all the cars were parked not just Ainhoa’s I would be ok, but on reflection I was impeded.
Bugger, she was such a sweetie mind so I guess it will have to come out of Robyn and Bradley’s inheritance!!!
After we had sorted everything out we went of a cycle into town.
It was lovely, the sun was out and we found the most delightful church, stunning actually. Building commenced in 1533 and was not completed until 1645 that is unimaginable!
It was magnificent inside, it was almost a wonder of the world it was that good.
From there we found a view point where we were at the highest point of the town and it was quite spectacular.
We walked further around town and then headed back for a glass of wine at the camp bar to celebrate Espanic Day, well at 3 euros for 2 glasses why not.
We sat and chatted in the sun at the van after that and we had some new neighbours come by, they were I would say in their late 60’s, maybe 70’s.
The lady was driving the car with a large van has her husband has a very bad back. She had driven it from south of Barcelona which is a very long way. They were very nice and Wendy told the lady she was impressed that she had driven the van all that way as she couldn’t.
The husband levelled the van but she was winding the legs down when an older English man walked by and said, “How do you get a women to do that”? “Maybe I need to crack the whip a little with my wife”.
Wendy Gill was not impressed, “She’s just driven that van around half of Europe and he comes out with sexist stuff like that”, she said loudly under her breath!
Supper was cooked by me, it wasn’t impressive, it was veal, (baby cow, remember?) and I undercooked it. Apparently you fry it and then roast it, I just fried it, what a Wally.
I did wash up mind.
And then Wendy pampered her feet in the foot spar while I wrote my diary.
It’s been a lovely day, Ainhoa came to see me before she left the site to go home, she was very nice and I got a continental kiss from her, which bearing in mind what happened was just nice, it could have been a smack on the nose!
We are heading in a westerly direction, something is brewing and the plan is coming together, I just hope we don’t have any more unforeseen incidents!
Navarrete to Tordesllas
165 Miles
Now the Spanish are onto a good thing, yesterday was their National Day and whenever the National Day falls on a Tuesday or Thursday they take Monday or the Friday off too and make it a long weekend. So today is another bank holiday, what a result!
I came across the big Bull on my run this morning, looking all strong and bullish on his hill. I also saw loads of pilgrims start their morning’s pilgrimage. We are very close to the Pilgrim Way which connects two cities with very historic cathedrals and Pilgrims are to walk between them and visit all the churches along the way. Jeepers it’s a long walk and I saw some massive kit bags as I passed them. Apparently not so committed Pilgrims are allowed to take the bus, train or car. They seem to be a lower class of Pilgrim!!!
After a bit of shopping, in which I tried to buy Vaseline for my feet, (It looks like babies bottoms have to be sore in Spain because I’m not sure what we bought today is anything like the real deal), we were off, well not where we thought we were going anyway!
I had a campsite planned, from Google for the area where I wanted to be, apart from Google didn’t seem to put a radius limit on my search and never told me. When I put the details into the Satnav, we would technically be in the right Region but in the wrong direction. Thankfully we found one on route, just sixty miles further along the route.
Never mind we are hardy travellers.
So off we set and we had the most brilliant road trip, we saw loads of interesting things, for the first sixty miles we saw hundreds, if not thousands of Pilgrims!
The landscape is so different from France, France is beautiful but so is Spain too, in a much dryer and more diverse agricultural way. The towns and villages we passed all looked peaceful and clean, well apart from the graffiti, they seem to be blighted by that in some places.
The weather was very hot too, the hottest I saw on the car thermostat was 27 degrees. Wendy found it a little uncomfortable and had begun to beg for the aircon to be refilled. Well I never in my wildest dreams thought it was be aircon hot, but it is. I will have to look into it after the long holiday weekend!
We took lunch just after the halfway point, it was at a strange filling station located in the middle of nowhere. We seemed to be the only customers, I filled the tank and then we parked up for coffee and a sarnie and I never saw anyone else drop in for the full 20 minutes we were there.
Funnily the filling station had a shop on one side of the room and a bar on the other, a fully stocked fill your boots type of bar, it must be for the night time stop over truckers. Jeepers I bet that ges a bit wild at times.
We got to our site just after 3pm and it was hot.
The site is very nice, Wendy even used the showers they were actually Wendy clean!
We took a walk into town, another very nice quaint Spanish town. We walked around the streets and did a bit of shopping and Wendy came across and old church that was in very bad need of restoration. The church had an impressive but badly neglected courtyard, what a shame.
And there on top of the bell tower I saw another one! I have seen the most massive bird nests on chimneys and other similar structures throughout our Spanish travels.
They are that big I thought they must be used by Terrordactyls. I took a photo and showed it to the lady on reception at the campsite and she knew straight away, in Spanish and went quickly to translate it and guess what? Storks was the word written on the little piece of paper she brought back. I would love to see one flying.
Back at camp and we booked supper at the site restaurant which looks rather nice. After her shower Wendy caught up with Bake Off while I went to shower as well. That’s two showers today, yes it has been that hot!!!
And you will never guess? They play classical music in the toilet / shower block, this place is fantastic it never stops giving and all for 19 euros. Last night we payed 26 euros for a cramped site, with little or no facilities, and the power tripped when I put the kettle on at 06:15. I had to sneak around in the dark, almost joining our neighbours in bed, to reset the trip switch.
While Wendy watched Bake Off I did a camp walk and found it very pleasant and very, very much accommodated by Brits, lots of them and all of them elderly, is this where the UK’s Grey Nomads gather for winter?
Supper was bloody lovely, and Wendy looked lovely too, I might have looked ok’ish as well.
We had meat, the Ambassador Sharer with chips and roasted peppers. It was lovely, we had five dips too, mmmmmhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! It was adorable, with four or five different meats all of them really nicely cooked.
With a bottle of wine it came to 28.10 euros which is £25 on the nose. Now that’s impressive, well apart from the Spanish kids who were running riot while their parents sipped wine and ignored them. Yes it happens everywhere!!!
However that didn’t dampen our spirts it’s been a brilliant day, Robyn has had a good day in Birmingham with her work, and Caroline’s apple wine looks good too as does her Portuguese Tata.
As I settle down to watch FTWD, Wendy’s relaxed into her jarmies reading her book and I am about to do the same too, night night, Avid Reader!!!
Tordesllas
No Traveling
I had a phone call from Wendy while I was out this morning, which worried me. “I’ve tripped the electric with the kettle, what shall I do”, “Ah” I say, “Go and tell the little man on reception, as the box is locked and we can’t reset the trip, soz Wend, be more careful”.
In fairness we only get 4 amps, which in my old coal mining days of Ohms Law, which is Power = Volts x Amps, that’s only 960 watts, not even enough to run a Dyson vacuum, so with the water heater and the kettle on you haven’t a hope in hell of it not tripping. Jeepers they are tight with their leacky in Europe!
After a lovely breakfast which we ate outside in the morning sun we went for a walk for some weekend supplies as its Sunday tomorrow and usually everything is closed.
It was very pleasant, warm and sunny and all the cafes were bursting with people.
Having a warm climate is a very sociable way of life as everyone tends to go out first thing and just chat and meet each other over coffee. It’s such a shame we can’t do that as we would freeze to death.
After lunch, which consisted of 3 year out of date chicken and mushroom soup, with an additional portion of 5 day out of date ham pieces we went for a very nice bike ride.
We rode along the river and just relaxed in the sun. By this time it was very hot and I had larapped myself in factor 15 sun cream as I seem to have got my sun tan lines on my feet from wearing my sandals.
We saw fields of sweetcorn which was ripe beyond normality, I mean they are so ripe they are ready to combust. Now I don’t know anything about farming sweetcorn but I would say they are ready. I had to stop and check one out and yes they are ready. In fact so ready that the ones nearest the road appear to have been raided by the sweetcorn mafia!
We got back and had a cold drink and then took our books and chairs to the grassy area by the pool and enjoyed reading our books in the afternoon sun. Wendy had to spend time in the shade as she was feeling the heat.
I kept an eye on Barnsley as they were playing Middleborough but is needed in a 2-2 draw, isn’t the internet fantastic.
Supper was cooked outside on the teriyaki hotplate, sausage and onions. We had a difference of opinion on how to eat them. I hollowed out my French stick and slide my onions and sausage in and Wendy cut hers in half. I could see her eying my delicacy jealously as I nibbled away. She is such a poor loser at making yummy hotdogs!
Its Strictly Dancing tonight, I got to watch FTWD last night so hopefully Wendy will get her weekly fix of sequins and spandex!!!
Have a smashing Saturday night Avid Read, as we have had a lovely day!
Tordesllas to Salamanca
60 Miles
Strictly was a success last night although I seem to have lost 5GB of data watching it, there seems to be some usage in getting a link from my phone to the laptop even when I have Wi-Fi on my phone, but 5GB seems excessive. As I only have 5GB left now until November it looks like all TV will have to be watched on my phone. Thankfully the screen is big enough!
We had a bit of a scrabble at 04:19 as I heard raindrops so I had to get up and get the chairs in. Thankfully it never came to much, just a bit of mizzle and by the time I was up at 06:30 the sky was clear again.
Do you know the sun doesn’t rise until 08:30, and it will continue to get later as winter comes along and we head west. Although I do believe we have a time difference in Portugal, I think we are on UK time.
Actually by the time I started to run the sky had clouded over and it was overcast most of the day but by the time we broke camp and hit the road, around 11:00, it was already 22 degrees and it got hotter and by the time we got to Salamanca it was 27 degrees.
The drive was easy, no problems and very light traffic on the motorway.
Our site is close to town, 2.8 miles away so once we had got settled in we set off to complete our latest mission which was………………………….a rendezvous with Sandra and Uisdean MacLennan.
Uisdean and Sandra are on a railway tour of central Spain and when he told me last week I just had to set a course so we could meet and today we met. And we have had the most fantastic day, it’s been a delight.
The city of Salamanca is an embarrassment of beauty. I am a very big fan of architecture, mainly old architecture and this city has the lot. Whatever direction you look there is a beautiful building, usually a church but it can just as easily be an apartment block or even a petrol filing station.
The river too is another wonder of the world. I am amazed how this far, in almost the centre of Spain, a very dry country, there is such a huge river. It is so far from the sea that it can only get bigger as it rolls on, it truly is spectacular.
And then of course our day with Sandra and Uisdean. We walked, we stopped at bars, and we even sheltered from an unlikely thunderstorm which was bizarre.
It was great to chat as we went along and see this amazing city.
We stopped for a bottle of wine in their city centre apartment, which is lovely and then we went back out again. This time we took in a bite to eat, more wine and yet more walking.
Finally we settled for a meal that Uisdean arranged, jeepers what a feed we had, I was near bursting point. The food was lovely and tasty and we sat outside in our shorts and vests and it was just perfect.
We had a few laughs and glasses of wine and it was a very memorable night.
I mean who can say they have driven over 2,000 miles for a night out with their mates!
Sandra and Uisdean walked us to our bikes and we unlocked and loaded our lights onto the bikes and then we disappeared into the darkness and we had a very safe and uneventful ride back.
Somehow the ride back was faster than the ride into town, I wonder why.
We are back safe and sound in the van, as I type a very uncomfortable Wendy, who ate far too much food, is watching Strictly the Results and she is as happy as Larry!
Stop Press, Brenden and Charlotte are out!
Salamanca
No Traveling
I didn’t rise until 07:30 and Wendy Gill did not move in her scratcher until 09:00, she says she was awake at 04:00, but they all say that don’t they when they take a sickie.
I gave her her tea at 08:53 and then left her to it, she looked dead and complaining of a bloated tum!
Too much food last night were the last words I heard as I closed the caravan door.
It was a glorious morning so I ran into the city, through the big square and along the river and back again, except I forgot to keep an eye on the route and went and got myself lost.
Thankfully I thought about the things I was seeing for the first time and did a check on my running apps map. I was ¾’s of a mile from where I should be, what a wally.
I got back and found a half refreshed Wendy, who had decided against any form of exercise today.
I was still stuffed myself so all I had for breakfast was a banana smoothie.
I did some chores, like finding home insurance and other business matters. That’s the thing when you are away from home for an extended period you still have to manage your normal life.
It was slightly after 13:00 when we left camp, Wendy didn’t want to use the bike, and the bus was a 30 minute wait so we walked it into town, four miles.
It was hot and sunny. First we passed the sports stadium, it’s massive and then we walked down the one road into town. We have found yet another pilgrim route, are they all mad here???? And I saw a half dozen walkers setting off earlier.
We got to town and headed for the river and we enjoyed a nice stroll around.
It did start to cloud over and would you believe we started to feel peckish.
I thought something light, maybe one tapas and some bread but every place we checked had belly buster written all over it. One in particular looked really nice, 3 courses at only 12 euros and with a glass of wine. But I could not bear the thought of walking back with a belly full of food, so I came up with a brainwave.
Call in at the supermarket get some yummy provisions, walk home and have our own knock up, so we did!
We arrived home and sat outside and had fancy cold meats, garlic and olive infused of course. Pate, cheese, 5 day old Veal, bread and salad. Oh and all washed down with an excellent bottle of 2 euro 70 cent cava, it was a delight!
We did a little forward planning but I could see Wendy’s heart wasn’t in it, she was pooped, the light weight.
I caught up on UK news, mainly about a red looking sun and a dark and unusual sky, oh and a storm bashing Ireland and heading your way.
Overhead there was a trifling of spitter but it didn’t come to anything and we settled in for the night in the van.
We have had a really nice visit to Salamanca, it is a delight of wonderful architecture and I would, yet again, suggest it as a stopover, it’s a real treat. You can walk and walk and just gaze at the beautiful buildings around you.
We have had an epic day today, I would guess we walked over ten miles, eaten modestly and relaxed properly.
What gets better, ah, an episode of Fear the Walking Dead, that’s if I can staff awake long enough!
Salamanca to Caceres
131 Miles
We had a good night’s sleep, after I had had to watch a double episode of Fear the Walking Dead which didn’t see me get to bed before midnight. I was a little late getting up at 07:00 but the sky was pitch black until at least 07:58 as the sky was a dark grey/blue and rain appeared imminent.
Wendy took her tea just before I left and off I went. The rain came just after four miles, but you couldn’t describe it as the rain we get in the UK, it was more a light drizzle and the sky was still quite bright. I did actually get a decent sunrise.
While I was out Wendy went to pay our night’s host, a really nice Spanish lady, who was about our age. They had a good old chitter chat and the lady moved the conversation onto Catalonia. Apparently she was not impressed and says that they are always complaining even when they get what they want, we should stop giving them and stop buying their goods she told Wendy, she was quite adamant about it too.
After breakfast we were away pretty smartish and we had a brilliant journey.
We headed almost directly south, we encountered some mountains, not too bad but at one point the road was rising and there was a big drop off and then other hills. As I drive on the right, I am overlooking this drop and when you looked across to the hill, boy we were at some incline, it was like a 1 in 1 slope! We managed to even get our coldest temperature so far in daytime in Spain, 13.5 degrees!!! I was expecting snow anytime soon.
At one point we passed a height marker of 1,100 metres that’s over 4,000 feet in height, I don’t think we have a road anywhere near that height in the UK, (blonde moment, of course we don’t Ben Nevis our highest mountain is 4,412 feet!).
We also picked up some wind along the way and as we stopped for lunch just at the half way journey point we were being bounce around in the van while we ate our sarnies.
Back on the road we were again climbing and then the road levelled and we came across a very high bridge which was spanning the most beautiful lake you could ever unexpectedly come across. The view was stunning and I was gutted I didn’t have my camera ready.
As we travelled for a good part of the journey, maybe 30 miles, we could see that a rail line was being constructed parallel to the motorway. However all work had come to a halt, all of the heavy equipment, the bulldozers, the cranes and all signs of mankind had been removed. There were unfinished bridges, embankments that just stopped in mid build. It was really hard-hitting and a sign that at some time things in Spain had been better than they are now.
I had my camera ready as Wendy told me we were going to cross the lake again as she was doing her map reading duties. And we did, and I was ready with my camera and I got a reasonable snap!
We got to our site at about 14:45 and this is a five star establishment. Wendy is beside herself with excitement as we have an en-suite toilet and shower room, yes that’s right, each site as its own private facilities, and Wendy is on cloud nine!
After a relaxing beer in our nice 23 degree sunshine we took a cycle ride to find the nearest store which is a Lidl. Well could we locate this store? Could we bugger!!! I know, that’s a swear word but we rode around and around and even with IPhone mapping we could not get close to it. We did 8.2 miles to go to a store 2 miles away!
But it was worth it as we got some sushi as a little prestarter and it was to die for.
Lidl on the continent is much better than ours. As an example the Vodka they sell in the UK for £10, not branded but just as tasty as Smirnoff, is on sale her for 4.95 euros, the same size bottle!!! I’m off tomorrow to buy 32 bottles!
After our epic journey we got back, had the delicious prestarter and then Wendy made a really lovely omelette, it was smashing.
We think we have found our route into Portugal and are now considering our options.
We are here in Caceres for two nights and then we head off, which direction will it be, south or west?
I’ll keep you posted Avid Reader but first I have to do a little more research before our course is set!
Caceres
No Traveling
A bit of a disaster last night, no Bake Off! The download speed rapidly fell away when other people came onto the site. No matter what I tried nothing improved, it was even that bad that I couldn’t even open the App that tells the BBC that I am in London, (speaking of which if I don’t turn it off and I search for a Lidl shop their store tracker tells me there is one in Muswell Hill, 1,567 miles away!!!).
With this disaster I took Wendy down to the bar for a glass of wine and by pure coincidence the Real Madrid v Tottenham match was on TV and the bar was full of Spaniards who all fell quiet when the first goal went in.
Jeepers did it rain in the night and it was constant, nonstop almost. It also didn’t get light until 08:30 too but the rain had stopped and the sky cleared so we both went running. I got lost on three occasions and Wendy did an extra 2.5 miles due to getting lost too. As I will further detail, this town or city, or whatever it is, is the most obnoxious place on earth for finding your way around. There are no end of aerial walkways, more like bridges, which span the busy roads. The trouble is though is that there are no directions for anyone, except road users.
After a late breakfast, (brunch?), of fried eggs and croissants we took the car to go and visit the old city. Apparently it is a UNESCO site of Ancient niceness.
I checked the map, as given to us by the camp site staff, and picked an area where I thought we would find it and set the Sat Nav. We got hopelessly lost, big style. It was mad rush hour time, I think coming upto siesta time and I was all over the place. Never mind I kept my cool until an old fella honked at me very rudely, very rudely indeed, I hope Karma pays him back in kind. I have UK plates perhaps he could be a bit more forgiving like we are for them when they are in our town.
Anyway, Wendy came up with a brainwave and we headed for the Plaza Mayor and we eventually parked nearby.
We walked into the Plaza and it was really nice, well apart from what Wendy describes as the most hideous and ugly concrete letters which spell out the name of the city. They are completely out of character for the place and really spoil it. They look like those concrete blocks around the Houses of Parliament which are supposed to deter ram raiders, yes they are that bad.
We walked around the inner walls of the ancient city and yes it was impressive. The city dates back to the 1400’s and as kept most of its original construction. There were just two well placed souvenir shops and a couple of restaurants. Apart from that it was pretty much as it was in days gone by.
After a good stroll and with improving sunshine we sat in the square and had a pretty decent cup of coffee. Two cups came to 3 euros, and that’s in the middle of a major tourist area, it is very low season mind.
We walked back to the car and decided to go and check out the area where I had run this morning. There was a Lidl store there, next to a Macadeeno Store and a Dia Store, (all food supermarkets). I had previously found the address of Lidl and put it in the Sat Nav. We arrived without issue and there they were the three shops all in a row as I had found them this morning. However I could not get my bearings, try as I might it was a like a big puzzle. As Wendy had been with me to the store yesterday even she was puzzled and then I realised there must be an identical set up in another part of town and that’s where we were, and that did indeed turn out to be the case.
That was enough for me, this dam city has done me, I can’t take anymore!
We shopped at Lidl, well why not and stocked up big style on provisions and as we don’t yet know where we will end up next.
Back at base all the provisions were inventoried and put into the freezer or into store and I am pleased to say we can now survive a small siege.
After a bite to eat we took the bikes out for an hour but couldn’t find anything interesting and as Wendy was getting tired we headed back and strolled around camp.
I chatted to a few Brits, as there are a few around and then prepared supper, roast leg of duck and salad and as it roasted we went of a white wine down at the bar.
And we had a very nice glass of wine but I declined the cheese and bread that seems to come with everything at the bar, I wanted to ensure I enjoyed my duck.
We got chatting with another couple of Brits and I must admit he did go on a bit, now I like to chat, I like to pass the time of day, but I also like to enjoy a bit of solitude with my wine and he got a little too into my personal space for my liking. Wendy thought they were charming though, as I’m sure they are but sometimes enough is enough.
Ah, but the duck was a real treat, but maybe a little small by the time it had slow roasted for 3 hours, crispy too. I think next time it will have to be two portions of duck, cooked to order.
It’s now 20:11 and we are as ready as we can be for tomorrow’s journey, in the sense that everything that we can pack is packed, but not in the, “We are mentally prepared sense”, because we always are!
We are heading for Portugal tomorrow, it’s a bit of an unknown trip but I think we will be OK, I’m actually getting a bit excited as it’s a new country for me to scratch off my wall map that Robyn bought me some years ago.
I think after dish washing it will be Bake Off and then bed. I have managed to download it for Wendy, however I was listening to Heart FM earlier and when I was out putting the bikes on the car they revealed the outgoing Bake Off contestant and when I got back in the van Wendy was not a happy bunny, she was seething, oh dear!!!
Caceres to Evora Monte
111 Miles
Oh she did have a grump on last night, yes Wendy did, all the way through Bake Off she was gurning about Liam going out. After every round, looks she’s much worse than Liam she would mutter and on and on she went, look at that mistake by him, Liam didn’t do that. Well after the Showstopper Round it was obvious to me that Liam had to go as his cake was terrible, Wendy eventually admitted it, thankfully. It looks like her favourite is out!
We were tucked up in bed by 09:30 and wide awake at 05:30, in fact I had been awake earlier but didn’t move until I heard Wendy Gill slyly using her IPad. I got up and pottered, mainly rechecking today’s route and then I made tea and breakfast at 06:30, Wendy had two cups.
It was very dark at 08:00 when I went for my run, but I felt good and cracked on and I did my first mile in 09:56, which is much better than the 11 odd minutes it’s been taking me. I’m still taking painkillers but both injuries seem to be easing ever so slowly day in day out, however I might have pushed a bit too much today as I now have a niggle!
We set off for Portugal at 11:00 for a 2.5 hour journey but my Sat Nav said we would arrive at 12:30 as it had calculated the hour we get back during the route.
The journey was fantastic and the car did a great job getting over the odd hill we came across.
The landscape in Spain resembled some parts of the Outback of Australia, dry and arid. I also saw about five men with long sticks beating olives out of a tree. They had what looked like bedsheets on the ground and the olives were falling onto the sheets in hundreds, it was very interesting, Wendy missed it!
We entered Portugal at 12:28 Spanish time and the Sat Nav changed to 11:28 in an instant. We were there, over the border and there was a nice EU sign marking the occasion.
The roads got a lot worse, in standard and in maintenance and in driving ability which seems much more erratic. In fact one van overtook me on the approach to a road diverting wall and he only manged to get in because I saw him coming and slowed down. In fact a convoy of Fire Engines and Ambulances passed at one point and they took some silly chances too.
Thankfully we didn’t come across any accident.
We also saw a marble quarry with huge blocks of marble stacked up. Apparently the town down the road from us is built of marble, jeepers they will be solid houses!
Our site is really nice, very modern with music in the shower block and a nice little heated pool.
Wendy put my running kit in the washer as it was humming a bit and after that we took a drive into the small town of Evora Monte.
What a treat that was!!!
We found yet another Ancient Walled Village, just above the modern village. It was a nice walk up from the carpark and into the main entrance, and we heard sheep with bells on their necks as we walked up.
The village is completely sealed with just two gates allowing access. There are some homes which are actually occupied and right at the top of the hill is a castle built in the 1400’s.
It was 2 euros each to go in so we did and we loved it. It was just a bare structure but it was impressive nonetheless. The views from the roof top were spectacular despite the mizzle conditions that had set in, it was 20 degrees though.
We had a short walk around the modern village and Wendy bought a small bowl from a charming old fella in a kind of shop that sells everything.
We got back to camp and I had earlier seen a path behind the site so I asked the site owner who told me that he had a marked trail of six miles around his grounds. He gave me a sketch map of the area so Wendy and I cycled it. It was fantastic, brilliant fun. We were up and down and we saw a lake and a fella with a very big gun which we later found was for rabbit shooting which is allowed Tuesdays and Thursdays.
We also saw some trees that had been stripped of bark upto the branches which left us baffled.
A little further on Wendy had a brainwave, is it cork? That’s a dam good guess Wendy, that’s exactly what it looks like.
After the ride we went back to the owner to thank him for his help and I asked him about the trees and yes it sure is cork. It’s taken from the trees every nine years, there were thousands of them so that’s quite a few corks. However the site owner told us that this is an expensive way of making corks nowadays, (they drill out the corks from the bark), so now they crush the bark and bind them together with glue, or they just use plastic.
And as we were chatting we were joined by the owner’s wife who brought the most delightfully moist apple pie along for us to sample. A Danish Man had left her a boat load of fresh apples so she had made a pie with them. Wendy had two pieces!!!
In no time at all we had a table set up and half a dozen people sat around it, we were joined by a very nice couple from Sheffield who told us about Portuguese sparkling wine, apparently it’s cheap and very, very nice!
Just as the wine came out we opted to go and cook supper, which is a roast chicken and salad. The chicken was cooked in Grandad Len’s rotary cooker that he bought us several years ago and which we keep in the caravan for just such an occasion.
Supper was a delight, as usual!
We now have to contend with shorter days and lighter mornings, it’s now 18:55 and getting dark.
Will we have an early night, hopefully so and then followed by an equally early morning with some nice sunshine!
Evoramonte - Beja
72 Miles
We woke up to a dawning day at 06:30, so our hour back is very much appreciated.
We also woke up to heavy missal, but at 17 degrees who can complain. We had had a lovely sleep despite being close to the main north – south motorway and we were ready for a nice run. We couldn’t go on the road as it was too busy and without any pavement so we opted to use the track around the cork plantation. Its only 5 miles so I had to run around the lake three times.
Phew the lake hummed a bit, it’s getting very low and the site owner told me that there hadn’t been any decent winter rain for the last two years and that it was desperate for a good amount of rainfall.
Jeepers the temperature rose suddenly and it was so humid. I got back to camp and it was 24 degrees, Wendy was shattered, the humidity had got to her too. I stripped down to my shorts and did my last mile down a small track across the road and then I took a nice cold recovery dip in the very cold heated swimming pool.
We had breakfast and set off, but we were five minutes late, Ggggrrrrrrrrr!!!
I did a camp walk last night and I came across the biggest rig I have ever seen, even bigger than the fifth wheelers in Australia. It was a purpose built unit the size of a coach. Both sides had been pushed out and it was as big as a bungalow. There was a huge plasma screen TV on and it was like someone was in the cinema. And if that wasn’t enough they were towing a massive trailer too.
As we were just pulling off the pitch they got onto the road before us, followed by another smaller campervan. Jeepers they struggled to do 40 miles per hour. It was purgatory, and ruining my fuel consumption as well.
We went through a village with loads of old men sat outside a café and they all turned their heads in amazement. Thankfully they turned off onto a different route after 20 miles and got out of our way.
We carried on and the road was OK but a bit of maintenance would have been apprecatated. We also saw more examples of extremely dangerous driving, from now on I am driving in defensive mode because it’s like overtake lottery on these roads!
From what we have seen it looks like Portugal is one of the poorer European Union Countries.
During the journey we passed several rain bursts but nothing lasting longer than 10 minutes or too heavy.
We got to our site at around 13:30, it’s about 500 metres from the town centre so it’s good for a visit without taking the car or unloading the bikes.
It’s a bit of a scabby site, no bloody Wi-Fi, but it seems safe enough. Wendy says she will not be using the facilities, thank you! I might though, well I am from Barnsley.
After a bite to eat we walked into town and we weren’t very impressed to be fair. If I was being critical I would say it needs a good makeover, it just looks tired and a bit higgledy-piggledy.
It also rained quite heavily for 30 minutes, it wasn’t Storm Brian, but it was wet nonetheless.
We also came across an ancient Castle and Keep, now this is impressive.
From what I understood from the info boards this area of Portugal was in Muslim hands until the 1200’s when the Portuguese Monarchy took it all to make their own country.
The Castle and Keep was built to ensure that the Portuguese enclave would survive a long siege until assistance could come should it be required. So they built the tallest Keep in the Iberian Peninsula, at over 40 metres high so that they could look out and see any attackers coming hours before they would be in the town. Riders could be sent out to get help and the villagers could hold out until help came.
There were quite a few state of the art defences built into the stricture, one being vertical shooting points where arrows could be fired at incomers in complete safety.
It was a magnificent structure and entrance was completely free of charge. We must have lost 3 pounds in sweat at having the climb the spiral staircase to the top, but it was well worth it.
We did a small shop at the supermarket, I managed to bag a bottle of Capitan Morgens Rum, wow, that’s a result. We have gathered pretty quickly that nothing moves very fast in Portugal. We were in a queue, being very British and it turned into a bit of a situation. We of course had no idea what was going on and didn’t get involved, best not to I think. I thought all our Southern European cousins were calm and easy going, all down to Extra Virgin Olive Oil and nice wine, it seems not.
We got back to camp and Wendy cooked a delightful chicken and potato curry from yesterday’s leftover chicken, it was very tasty but it did need extra heat from my Scotch Bonnet sauce.
It’s going to be another book in bed night followed by early lights out as we are getting really excited, we should reach our main destination sometime tomorrow afternoon Avid Reader, I do hope that it lives upto expectation.
Beja to The Algarve
102 Miles
I was awake at 05:30, well I would be after I was bedded down at 21:00, but never mind I was excited about today’s trip so I was fully refreshed.
It was foggy this morning as I set off running but I saw a lovely sunrise over the olive groves. I also came across a large army base and do you know not one guard was posted, not a one. I could have gone onto the base and done very naughty things and no one would know, that is crazy.
But that’s Portugal!!!
Wendy didn’t go out this morning as the town is a bit rough, I must admit it is and miles and miles of cobbles on my feet didn’t impress me as I ended up with sore feet.
We called in at, guess where………………..Lidl for some supplies and we bought the house out. We got some fish that we hadn’t a clue about, but it looked nice, it’s supper tonight so we will see how it goes.
Our journey was brilliant, apart from Portuguese driving, even pulling out of Lidl someone wanted to race me out, a massive 4 x 4 had to cut me up, I wouldn’t mind but he pulled off into town about 50 metres from the conflict. What a plonker, his head was not thinking straight, I mean why would I take a large caravan into the small alleys of Beja, why didn’t he wait 30 seconds!
Oh and we passed the Army base and a Guard had been posted at 11:30, so terrorists take note, ambush hours are only available upto 09:00!
And then we were off, what a journey, over hills and mountains past lakes and lots of interesting stuff.
We came across a cycle race in the mountains and it was quite interesting as the Portuguese Police don’t seem to understand the word organisation.
It was a beauty of a journey and then we got to the roads of the Algarve and they are terrible, think of your worst road in your area and they are 63 x worse.
We stopped for a bite to eat, 1.4 miles from our destination, only because we could not find anywhere else and when we got into the van the entire contents of the fridge were out on the floor because the roads are that bad.
But we did have a nice bite to eat, with lorries whizzing past.
We arrived on site with an option of 6 sites on 4 levels, as level 4 was taken we wanted level 3 as no one was booked on it. One problem, it was a very steep incline with a gravel base. I took one run and got half way. I took another attempt in reverse and got nowhere near.
Wendy advised me to take a fast run at it, thanks Wend, I’ll do that!!!
I took Wendy’s advice and got halfway between level 2 & 3 with lots of gravel mash and dust.
And now for my finest hour……………..I used the caravan mover, with some pushing and shoving we made it.
We got to exactly where Wendy wanted and its perfect. The site owner was impressed and he asked me if I had a 4 x 4, how’s that for a compliment! DG does it again.
We made full camp in 27 degrees sunshine and it was a wee bit hard but well worth it.
Wendy is on cloud nine as we have full Wi-Fi and so Strictly Dancing is on tonight.
Supper was our mysterious fish, with a basic salad and savoury rice and we ate it outside in the sunshine and just finished in time to watch Strictly, it was lovley.
Thank you all for your support along the way Avid Reader, we will now take time out for a rest and some recovery. We have some exploration to do and some sun to soak.
But read on, there’s more to come!
The Algarve
No Traveling
Another early to bed night last night and it was nice and warm so we had the windows open and then the wind got up and rattled the awning like it was coming off. We couldn’t do anything in the dark so we just put up with it. Wendy pushing me closer to the window so I got first dibs on the noise. I don’t care I am in the Algarve!
I got up at 07:45 and opened the window blind opposite me and I saw the sun rise up from behind the hill and it was really dramatic. Thankfully Wendy saw it too, from the comfort of her bed, drinking tea.
It was going to get hot quickly so we were off running.
Wendy is very casual about running and I have told her many times that when you are in hot countries and strange places you have to be very carefully. She will not wear a hat, she will not take a drink, she will not take her specs and she only takes her phone, A - Because I make her and B – Because she uses the Nike+ running App. However when she looked at her phone this morning she had 1% battery charge so I made her charge it for a while, I think it got to 30% before we left.
When you are running somewhere new it’s always best to have an idea which direction you’re going and remember when you turn left or right, you know where this is going don’t you now?
I left her at the gate as she only goes four or five miles and currently runs faster than me because of my injuries.
I had a nice run, I followed the road ahead, crossed the main road and I came across a very well made footpath out onto the salt flats. I changed course a few times and looked for markers so I could find my way back.
I was at the end of my outward run and was just sat taking a drink when Wendy called me. Can you help me I’m hopelessly lost!!!
Where are you, I don’t know was the reply. She has found a sign, one village one way, (wrong village Wendy), another village the other way. Go there Wend and I’ll come and find you. I can’t,she says,it’s too far!!!
She said I’ll work it out so I said keep in touch.
I set off back at the double, in 25 degree heat, I called her 15 times but by now her phone had run out of power.
So I ran back worried sick, thinking all of the things might happen to her, thinking it’s like I’ve lost a child, thinking about the reputation of the Portuguese Police at not being very good at finding people. Then I have to think how I am going to get into the van to get the car keys or the keys to unlock the bikes as Wendy has the van key!!!
All this is going through my mind while I kill myself to get back, up hills, down hills racing like a madman, sweating like a bull with my mouth as dry as a dead dingo’s donga!
I get to the gate of the campground and I receive a text, “I’m back”, I’m back, I’ll give you I’m back!!!!!
I have really hurt my groin injury again!!!!
You couldn’t be too mad because I realised how scared she was…………….the bugger!!!
She knows to be more careful tomorrow! But I bet she won’t take water or wear a hat, but at least her phone is charged and I have got her the Strava Running app that as a very good map.
After a nice cooling, ice cold smoothie we went for a trip of discovery. First we went to the village of Moncarapacho which is just 1.5 mile away by road, (1 mile by footpath), Oh I’ve been all around here she says, I remember it!!!
It was very quiet, it being Sunday morning but we found 3 supermarkets and some lovely cafes in the village square. I think I have found my favourite, they have an English menu with lots of very good priced tapas. I’ll let you know about our first outing there.
From there were went to the seaside resort of Fuseta which is 3 miles away and that was very nice too. Lots of British accents mind!
We walked around the streets and we came across lots of outdoor café/restaurants that had BBQ’s on the go with fish being cooked in abundance. We gave it a good walk around and I concluded that we ought to find a store and buy some fish and have our very own Barbie in the sun.
We found guess what? Just ten miles away, an Aldi and a Lidl, phew now that’s a good days reconnaissance!
We bought some fish and some prawns and headed off back to camp.
The site we are staying at is very small, just 8 places on four tiers, I think I said this yesterday. But the main house is a hotel which is run by a very nice Danish Couple. We went and checked in for 28 nights, its 14 euros a night so that’s very nice and we chatted a while.
We have a pool for our use and the grounds are very nice so it looks like we will be just dandy.
The weather today has been fantastic, 27 degree sunshine all day long. Every window in the van is now open, to their widest position and it’s just lovely. I didn’t expect this, oh I thought about 20 degrees with cloud but nothing more, this is a real treat. Just how long it lasts is anyone’s guess.
The Barbie was great, well apart from Wendy knocking two very full glasses of wine over when she tried to move the table into the sun, why didn’t she wait for me??? Jeepers she is having a silly Wendy day today, isn’t she!
We are intending on having a cleaning day tomorrow, the van is looking like she needs a good clean as does the car, it’s been almost 5 weeks on the road so I guess some elbow grease is required.
Strictly Results is on soon but I already know who is out. There is a Strictly Spoiler website, (Google it), the website has someone in the audience and I check it out every Sunday morning and it has never been wrong.
Look away now if you don’t want to know……………………tonight we say good bye to………………………………….xxxx.
I wouldn’t spoil it for you Avid Reader, let’s just say it’s a man!!!
Stop Press!!!!!
And of course Brian is out of Strictly, of course he is, my source has never been wrong. If you want to know just txt me next Sunday morning and I’ll let you have it Avid Reader!
The Algarve
No Traveling
I had a good night’s sleep with my ear plugs in. We are at the top of a valley and the land owners and some home owners have dogs running free outside their grounds and they bark all night long, thankfully I don’t hear them.
We woke at 06:30, actually Wendy was IPading long before that but I never noticed.
We had a terrific sunrise, just outside our bedroom window, it was really special. I noticed it as I had to go and reset the power after tripping it. I thought it would be OK with the kettle and the water heater on, well with six amps it should be ok, but no it was just too much. Never mind I got to see the sunrise start.
We set off today for our run with Wendy having been fully briefed about her new Strava app, jeepers I did hope she wouldn’t get lost again today!
I got back and it was already getting into the 20 degrees and to my eternal happiness Wendy was home and showering, phew!
We had planned to clean the car and the caravan today and we did. After a hearty breakfast of croissant, ham and cheese out of the sun under the awning we set about our tasks. I did the car and Wendy did the caravan. It was hard going with five weeks of dirt and grim to contend with. It must have took us two hours each, Wendy doing two loads of washing to boot. Drying time is very much a lark mind with a slight breeze and sunshine.
I took the car to the car wash as Wendy was just finishing up. A luncheon date was set and Wendy was going to prepare it, a mussel fricassee with a glass of wine, under the awning of course.
You know you take your life in someone else’s hands when you use the roads in Portugal. For one the roads are shocking, they are terrible and two the car drivers do not give a monkeys about anyone else, honest they are mad, crazy mad. And this is from a man who knows a thing or two about travel!!!
And, if its honesty time I think the EU must have done a massive fudge when Portugal were admitted into the Union. I know, I know, we are meant to come together and help each other but I don’t think they have brought much to the table. Not even good manners or just general politeness is in common use around here. It’s a free for all, that’s what it is. Imagine the first days of a zombie apocalypse, when people don’t know what’s happening, welcome to modern Portugal because that’s what it’s like, every day.
I took the car to a jet wash. I was prepared, I google translated what I needed to say, so I went upto the counter and I say, “Jet Wash Basic Por Favor?” “O que”, the lady replies. So I say say, “Jet Wash”, again in perfectly clear Portuguese and she says, “Si, jet wash”. I say, “Sim” and she nods and nods and gives me the change for the jet wash. Well, as jet Wash is the same in both English and Portuguese how was it so hard????
Anyway, the car got a dam good washing and after calling in yet another new and nearer Aldi for Brussel sprouts and potatoes I was eating mussels and bread out in the sun.
During lunch I received a very inappropriate WhatsApp message from a women I do not know. I knew it wasn't meant for me from the text of the message. There was video too which I didn't download.
I wrote back asking if she meant to send it to me. 5 seconds later she called on WhatsApp and apologised. She said it wasn't meant for me and I said I would delete it.
I saw the content of the message and I am happy to let it go, it wasn't sexual but it was inappropriate in a ...very inappropriate way. I do hope I am now not the subject of an international hunt by some columbium drug empire.
With the car and the caravan now looking spiffing we took an afternoons R&R at the pool and it was just lovely, the sun was out and it was just perfect.
I had put another ham hock in the oven and nipped back occasionally to baste it and sneak a cold drink of beer.
At 16:30 with the sun having beaten us we walked into town and had a very nice, large glass of wine in the square. We could have had another and we nearly did as at 3 euros for two how could you go wrong. But we had a footpath through rough ground to negotiate so we decided against it. We did do a little local shopping though and bought a very nice bag for a lovely little girl.
Back at camp the hock was cooked, the Brussels and spuds were done too and we sat outside and devoured them. Jeepers it was a lovely meal.
I do hope we don’t get pestered by the mossies like we did last night, we both have bites in certain areas of our bodies. I knew they were around because I could hear them Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzttttttttttt around my ears. Maybe we will be ok tonight because we have blasted the van with fly spray, unless of course the Portuguese mossies are resilient to modern methods which I think they may be!
The Algarve
No Traveling
Another good night’s sleep and we seemed to have managed to get rid the mozzies. I did hear a cockerel at about 04:00 though and that’s 3 hours from daylight.
We had another really lovely sunrise, its great watching the sun come up while you’re eating your breakfast. Something we don’t get at home. I can’t sit outside at that time as its only 15 degrees not that I am complaining, it usually reaches full tilt at about 11:30 when we have nudged past 24! It can’t last and I am expecting different weather anytime soon.
I ran down to the salt flats this morning and it was very windy on the front but that was quite welcome as it kept me a wee bit cooler.
I was warm by the time I got back and took a dip in the pool, thankfully it’s heated and it was very pleasant indeed.
Breakfast was a banana smoothie sat outside and it was treat, I love them, but I did take the last of Wendy’s bananas and we forgot to collect more today, bugger!
I did a few online chores and then we hit the beach. The beach is 3.8 miles away and it’s a really nice place. It is very quiet and I can park almost on the sand. There are loads of Brits about though and they have their kids with them. I think it is either cheap to bring them here or expensive, I know it sounds silly but it’s one or the other. There’s quite a few grannies tagging along too so I’m guessing cheap.
We took the deck chairs, the sunshade and the fishing brolley and its s a good job we did because it was quite blowy. The fishing brolly on its side makes an excellent windbreak and so we had clear bright sunshine without any breeze.
We ate our sarnies within about 36 seconds of being on the beach.
We read our books for a while and then my chair was fully reclined into snooze mode. The problem is though I can’t sleep on my back without snoring and I woke myself up about 15 times at the point when I was just nodding off with one enormous snore each time, Wendy thought it very funny!
After a while we took a stroll along the beach and discovered it’s tiny and so we took a stroll into town and found it’s tiny too. So we headed back via a beach bar where we had one large and one small beer for a total price of 5 euros. Now call me prudent, but I think that’s a great deal for the location of this place, right on the beach, prime spot.
I used the toilet too as I wasn’t going in the sea no matter how desperate I was, it was too darn cold.
Another hour or two in the sun and at 16:30 it was time to head back. The sun is too hot to stay too long just now so we headed back for a shower and supper.
We got back to mayhem, the awning had been blown about so much the guy lines had broken and the poles had come apart. No lasting damage thankfully and we had it back up and ship shape in minutes. I will have to get better ropes!
Summer was BBQ beef burgers, hand made by Wendy which was accompanied with a Brussel sprout sauté manage!
It was a delight and Kiki the dog came along to try her luck with a very cute face but we have strict orders, no food for Kiki so she left with her tail between her legs.
I do believe it’s a Bake Off night tonight Avid Reader so Wendy will be pleased, (I do hope Liam’s not mentioned again tonight!).
It’s been another lovely day in the sun, maybe I’ll have more to tell tomorrow as we are off to do a wee bit more exploring of our local area!
The Algarve
No Traveling
Today we had the reddest sky at daybreak we have had so far, it was fantastic. And I caught sunrise from my seat eating my cereal, even Wendy who had just opened her eyes thought it was impressive, from her bed of course.
I was coming back from my run, about two miles from camp and I was assaulted. I first felt the paws dig into my upper back and then I felt the fur as the beast slipped down my back. I wasn’t worried, the first thought that came into my mind was its daylight and it’s not a full moon. But when I turned around the biggest, fluffiest and nicest Alsatian dog I have ever met had just tried to bring me down, in the nicest kind of way.
She ran alongside me for the two miles home despite me telling her to go to her home. She had the other dogs, (It seems everyone has several dogs roaming around their properties at night) going berserk as we passed them from behind their chain link fences.
I got back and I had to shut her out of the caravan park as Kiki might not be impressed. I did think about how I could get her home mind.
After breakfast and a shower we set off for the closest big town to us, Olhua. We had a lovely stroll around. We found the marina and the food market which sells fresh veg and other food stuffs. Wendy bought a few stocking fillers and got herself some fig type thing that she seems to like. We then went across to the fish market which is about 10 metres away in a separate but identical building to the veg market. However as it was about 13:00 everyone was packing up and leaving so we didn’t get anything, bugger, I was aiming for some nice fresh tuna!
We carried on with the stroll and came across the old town and some nice looking shops, which were also closed for siesta.
We also saw loads of old, empty and derelict buildings that once in their prime would have been magnificent and splendid, but alas no more.
We were actually looking for the cork museum but we didn’t find it. We will have to ask our host, Jan, as he told us before it’s near the markets but we must have walked all around town but we never saw it. I even asked an Englishman I heard chatting and despite him living in town he had never heard of the museum.
Cork was a very big thing in Portugal and we want to learn more about it. A cork tree lives for 150 to 200 years and they take the first cork from it after 25 years and then every 9 years thereafter. Cork is used as a stopper as it never rots. It was first used as a bottle stopper by an Englishman and it caught on from there. The finest champagne producers will only ever use cork produced in Portugal, isn’t this very interesting Avid Reader.
We did some shopping at Lidl, I bought 3 bottles of wine for tasting and tonight we are sampling the first, jeepers it’s very nice at 1.70 euro a bottle, but with Smirnoff Vodka at just over 10 euros a bottle this has to be the place to be if you fancy a tipple!
I had a bit of difficulty at checkout as the international card was rejected twice, so I paid the grumpy lady in cash. When we got back I saw that the money had gone from my account so I had paid twice. I got onto the support service and two hours later they apologised for an “Outage” and that was why the problem had occurred. Thank you I replied but will I get a refund, thankfully yes was the reply!
We got back to camp and had a good old selection of Gill tapas which consists of bread, ham, cheese, olives and other nicely stuffable things that go together on a plate.
We then sat in the sun for a couple of hours reading books and when the sun dipped behind the hill we threw caution to the wind and took to the roads on our bikes so we could have a glass of wine in the village. Jeepers they must be psychic in Portugal as they seem to be able to pull out into the road without looking if there is anything coming their way. They are the worst and most obnoxious drivers I have ever come across in my puff and that’s saying something.
Anyway, the wine was lovely and we sat at outside in the square where several restaurant have tables. A man who was being served food from another restaurant saw fit to spit his phlegm onto the floor where he was sat, several times, thankfully he was alone at the time. He coughed and oiked it up just where he was sat, all very Portuguese don’t you know. I was hoping to go there for a Friday lunch but I hope to god I don’t get that seat!
We managed to get back safe and sound with only 6 cars trying to kill us and we found Kiki sniffing around our van. We had cooked a chicken earlier as it was sell by date day and she must have been tempted by the smell.
We didn’t feed her though and we settled down with our taster wine and some crisps, and then Kiki came back and popped into the van. Now she must be jealous of my new friend.
Wendy says if my matey dog jumps on her back tomorrow she’ll have a heart attack, how I would chuckle mind!
The Algarve
No Traveling
I woke to a message from Revolut the international card mob, “Please log out and log in again to reset your account”. So I did and I lost all my money!!!! Jeepers I was seething as I had to create a new account so that I could use the Help Service as you can’t call them on the phone directly.
After lots of frustration during which I had to find a mobile telephone number I had whist I was in Australia so they could identify me, not that I didn’t have enough information they could verify me against, but for some reason they wanted this number. I mean who knows their mobile numbers twice removed?
Thankfully I found it in an old email that I had used to book a camp site in New South Wales two years ago. I got my money back eventually but not yet the £13 they lost at Aldi the day before. I’ll complain shall I?
I got off to a late’ish start due to this rigmarole and I was almost killed in the first half mile of my run. I was running towards the traffic and a car was almost on top of me. I managed to jump out of its path just as at the last second he pulled over. Then I was silly enough to run on the wrong carriageway and had a wing mirror almost brush past me.
I then started to think about any country I have ever visited where the people are obnoxious, downright rude, impolite and very unfriendly, and do you know what, I cannot think of one.
So I went out of my way to say good morning to every person I passed with the result that everyone ignored me and just carried on as if I was invisible. I don’t think I will ever set foot into his country ever again. Oh and by the way they beat the Cape Verdians hands down with regards to rubbish strewn verges and countryside, and that Avid Reader is saying something!
After getting myself together by eating a lovely breakfast of toast and coffee we set off for Ilha Da Armona, which I think means Armona Island.
Along the area of the Algarve where we are there is a long strip of sandy islands that form an outer barrier to the Atlantic Ocean and they have fantastic sandy beaches to the seaward side and salt flats and coves on the landward side. You could swim across if the water wasn’t so cold, (well it is for me), but the ferry takes about 5 minutes and cost us 3.4 euro for a return trip, and the ferry ride itself was wonderful. The ferry comes out from Fuzeta which is the closest beach resort to our campsite.
The beach was stunning and I really mean it, it is absolutely unspoiled and beautiful. It must be about six miles long.
We set our stuff down on the beach and walked in a westerly direction until we came to the point where the sea floods at high tide and forms another island. Me being extra cautious knows how tides in low laying sands can cut people off, (Mind those poor Chinese souls at Morecombe Bay?), so we lingered around a bit as it was an incoming tide and we then headed back to deposit the mountain of beautiful shells Wendy had found on the beach.
We then headed due east for another mile or so and came across a bit of nudity. In fact one man, in his birthday suit, jogged across our path with everything on the go and then proceeded to bend over in the surf and wash his hands. He looked like a bulldog with swelling. What a sight!!!
We soon were all alone and it was lovely, the Atlantic surf and the clean sand was a sight to behold. I would love to camp here one night, during a full moon and enjoy the solitude.
The last ferry leaves at 18:00 at this time of year and the beach was almost empty but we have read of times when the ferry has been oversubscribed and had to run until 21:00 in August to get people back to the mainland.
We headed back to our slot, Wendy with more shells in tow, (she swears she is going to do something with them but doesn’t yet know what), and we settled down for a couple of hours R&R.
Our hungry bellies got the better of us so at 15:30 we took the ferry back to the mainland and after having bought bread from a local store we went back to camp for a supper of cold chicken salad which was lovely, (I did forget to say we took sarnies with us but we ate them within 32 seconds of our bottoms touching the sand.
After supper we walked to another camp site about 200 metres away where they have a bar. The bar was empty but for one man. Wendy asked the bartender if we could buy a drink and, in French he asked us if we were from the site. I said no we are from the camp site across the road. His reply was, “Non” no sell”. Now I do know we are a bit silly with things like that in the UK, like stopping serving at 8 o’clock in peak summer but his bar was empty, we would have bought a bottle of wine from him the Wally! Maybe Rules is Rules, but also customers make you money, well in my world they do!
So we headed back to camp and sat around the pool as darkness closed.
It’s been a stupendous day, I do love the beach, Wendy not so much so, but as long as she can get showered as soon as she returns she’s reasonably happy.
Its big treat day tomorrow, I can’t wait, I’ll most likely be up at 05:00 all dressed in my smart cloths!
The Algarve
No Traveling
I ran into the resort this morning and it was lovely, my groin injury was still hurting after I had slipped on the slope whilst resetting the power as had it tripped making Wendy her morning tea.
But I did get to capture a stonking sunrise. How long will this go on for, it’s fantastic!
I also had a bit of a fall out with a fella.
I was at the 4 mile point, I had the beach in my sights and I came across this man, a bit older than me, with two Dougal type dogs on those retractable leads, with both hands crossed because he couldnt control them, and the dogs were taking him for a walk.
Well one jumped up at me and I had nowhere to go as I was alongside a wall. It was all-over my legs and he laughed. So I said, “It’s not funny mate, keep them under control” and I carried on. Then one of the little Bas…ds jumped up at me as it had pulled its bloody retractable lead out and nearly had me over, with my injury.
Now I am really mad, it’s bad enough having an injury but a s***y little dog and a little fat bugger giving me more grief I can do without so I gave him a big Barnsley gob full. Both barrels and with an international word that everyone knows. Its best I did because I was half for smacking his smug fat chops, that’s just how I felt………………but then I got to the beach and saw the lovely sunrise again and chilled. But I was still for killing the bugger!
I got back to camp and after a lovely dip in the pool, I was fully refreshed.
We sat in the sun and saw the temperature rise to 27 degrees, which I believe is a bit of a surprise at this time of year.
At 12:30 I abluted and changed my clothing into my smart stuff and then we walked into town and we had the most wonderful luncheon date anyone could ever have, it was a delight.
Wendy’, in her lemon dress looked lovely, me with my shorts and nice shirt looked presentable and we sat down in the square and ordered a lovely meal.
To start we had…………………six oysters…………and olives, bread and spreadables, oh and water and wine.
The waiter knocked my full wine glass over, but being a good Barnsley man I had it covered and grabbed it before any spillage.
We became lifelong friends from that point.
The starter was lovely, but Wendy is not fully sold on oysters, her word is, and I quote, “Overrated”, jeepers she is so Noreen Avenue!
And then our mains came…………………….I had the Cuttle Fish and Langoustines and Wendy had a Tuna Salad. Both were to die for. I have never had Cuttle Fish before and it’s like having the tastiness of seafood, with the appearance of pork but with the sponginess of Marshmallow. It’s not pleasant sounding but it was really tasty.
In my opinion a meal has to be, hot, tasty and presentable, but I have also gathered that for a restaurant meal to be good there are two other things required……………..a good chef and…………….a good waiter.
And we had both, it was a truly lovely dining experience, in the shade of a big umbrella, with a nice bottle of wine, (That Wendy didn’t think too much about, but I did).
I got to meet and kiss the chef as well, thankfully she was a lady!
We walked back to camp and spent the rest of the day out in the hot sun, me listening to Steve Wrights serious jokin, no G! and Wendy complaining how bad the show is!
And that’s where we stayed.
It’s so nice that at 20:00 we are still sat outside listening to the mad dogs bark all around us.
We haven’t a care in the world because tomorrow we are hitting the beach, picnic style big time……….with wine!
The Algarve
No Traveling
Thankfully there were no issues whilst running this morning, well apart from the yappy little dog who barred his teeth at me. I think I have concluded if teeth are barred then a kick is acceptable! I know, I am a big dog lover but having nasty, viscous dogs is not acceptable, in any country.
Today we biked to the beach and took food, wine and water, and we had a fantastic day.
The ride there wasn’t a problem, in fact it was a doddle, wait while we go back Wendy Gill interjected!
We could not find anywhere where we could stash the bikes, well not in any bike racks as provided for bike users. So we had to put them against a tree and I had the presence of mind to not only lock them together but to also lock the back wheels together.
We caught the 12:00 ferry and it was almost empty, as Wendy guessed, all the English people have gone home as school holidays are ending, much to her delight.
The ferry was great, a quick whizz over and we were there, in no time at all.
We alighted from the ferry and headed west where we were out of range of the kids, or so we thought.
We found a nice little spot where we were out of the wind and it was perfect. We had brought the wind break, the umbrella, the ice bag, the back pack and a second backpack. In fact I looked like Sherpa Tensing carrying all that stuff on my back, but it was worth it.
I had a beer and then we broke into the sarnies with a nice chicken and mayonnaise one and then we settled down.
We got the odd gang of boys running around with big sticks, having fun as young boys do but apart from that we had the place to ourselves, without a cloud in the sky and it was perfect.
We then had some wine and a cold chicken curry with bread that Wendy had made the night before, jeepers it was bloody lovely.
I played a bit of music on my iPhone, in fact two artists came on, one after the other, Edwin Starr and Martha Reeves, and would you believe I have seen them both at Wigan Casino when I was a young man of the world, and they were fantastic.
We went for the last ferry and that’s fine but Robyn called to talk wedding hats, well you would have thought it was life or death, we almost missed the bloody boat Wendy was so excited.
But we did manage to get aboard and we had a lovely ride back.
And then we found someone had tried to pinch our bikes, but because I had locked them securely they didn’t get them, but they did try their best and Wendy’s back wheel was off the frame.
You should have heard potty mouth, I have never heard Wendy Gill swear so much. “My bike, they tried to pinch my bike, the S.H.T.B’s. I know, I bet Granny is not impressed with this, but she was mad. All the way home she chunterd to herself, “My bike, they tried to nick my bike!!!!" She even didn't moan about the hills such was her anger.
But we got back but not before I scrambled up a slippery bank to get a photo of the sunset. It was a good one, almost like Hawaii Five O although I did nearly fall arse over bum to get it.
Back at camp we showered and ate a quick snack of cheese on toast and watched strictly. Is anyone going to do the Monster Mash? I do hope so. Look at the YouTube video of it, Boris and the Crypt Kickers, his face is stupendous, he does all kinds of facial manoeuvres and they are so funny.
It’s an hour back tonight, we don’t need it, we don’t get sun up until 07:57, so tomorrow it’s going to be 08:57, maybe I will get an extra hour in bed!
The Algarve
No Traveling
Strictly was good but no Monster Mash, did anyone look at the YouTube of Boris, you should he is really very funny.
I have to admit to rather a big, enormous even, fopah today!
I woke at 05:30 and struggled to stay in bed as I thought jeepers it’s going to be at least 2 hours before any sunlight comes through. But I got up at 06:00 and I had my breakfast. I went into the bathroom and when I come out it was getting light, but how come, surely we put the clocks back so it was going the get light later, but hang on, I had it the wrong way around?
Wendy took great pleasure in telling me, you got it wrong. It gets darker at home when we do the clocks so it’s going to be the same here, she kept telling me and she liked it too. Of course she is right but it put me all wrong, all day, I was really right out of sorts!
I ran down to the resort again without any incident although my groin is back to it worst, that’s down to Wendy getting lost and me dancing with dogs.
I had a lovely breakfast sarnie, a cheese and ham roll with lashings of mustard and mayo.
I managed to persuade Wendy to cycle to Olhao, it took some doing as she’s a bit scared of the mad Portuguese drivers but we got there safely. We went through town and found yet more salt flats and cycled around the footpaths that surrounded them. There was such a smell of the drying sea it was horrid, and there was such rubbish strewn around, I mean it was a dump. We found a massive pile of sea salt and I tell you I would beware of buying Portuguese sea salt as it’s contaminated with filth. It is absolutely disgusting.
We then parked the bikes, securely mind, and took a walk around the old town. We saw quite a few storks on their nests. It’s a shame we can’t get any nearer to them as they are huge birds.
It was a lovely warm morning and the bars and cafes were bursting with people. Well at 24 degrees in the sunshine who wouldn’t want to be out and about, first day of winter or not!
I saw a model boat race on the harbour, it was brill. Small yachts were navigating a course, around buoys and it was really interesting to see. How do they swap the boom around, I think they just operate the tiller by radio control and have to use their skill to get the wind to take the boom over. I loved it. I did toy with the idea of asking Santa for one but I don’t think having to break the ice on the Beauly Firth would be the same.
Oh, how remiss of me, I forgot to say yesterday that my slava sample has been received at the DNA laboratory and processing will soon begin, I bet they will find that I am 23rd in line to the throne!
We walked around for an hour or so and took a beer in a waterfront bar, in the sunshine and our total bar bill was 4 euros 50, now that’s a good beer for a splendid price.
We called into Aldi on the way back for some provisions, but not many as we had to cycle back up the hill to the camp site with them in my back pack.
We got home with a bit of a dab on and I took another beer before anything else was done.
And then I baked some Camembert Cheese with a garlic and mushroom infusion, which with some bread to dip was a delight. Wendy followed up with a very tasty prawn cocktail salad, it was yummy.
We sat in the sun a while longer until it went behind the hill, at 17 bloody 00 hours!!!!!
We went for a walk around the block and we came across a tree which we think is an almond tree. We took some samples, they had a soft husk which came off easily. We’ll open them tomorrow and take a taste. I also snatched some funny looking fruit from a tree but Wendy doesn’t think it’s ripe, I’ll have a detailed look tomorrow.
Did I say that on the way back from the bike ride I snaffled some pomegranates from an overhanging tree, well I did, one is bound for tomorrow’s smoothie Avid Reader.
It looks like Strictly Dancing tonight and then an extra early night so I can be up in time for sunrise.
This has been the hottest first day of winter I have ever known in my life, long may it last!
The Algarve
No Traveling
Well we managed to watch Strictly Dancing last night without issue and we all should know who is out, if not, I won’t tell as Robyn gets cross with me.
But we were in bed with lights out at around 20:45 and although I did wake for a bathroom visit at 23 something I slept until 05:15 and then my eyes opened and I was fully alive.
I did wait until 05:25 before rolling quietly out of bed and making breakfast, I get everything ready the night before so I don’t disturb Wendy, but she usually sleeps on anyway.
I think I am now back on GMT and I know that sunup is now 07:00 and that is the time I was aiming to be off running for.
But I lost the car keys, I take them with me in case someone breaks into the van, but could I bugger find them. You know what’s coming, the usual from Wendy Smarty Pants! When did you have them last?
Well I unlocked the bikes with them at Aldi yesterday because I was concerned that we would lose it from the bum bag as it’s so small.
We searched and searched and just when we were giving up Wendy found them in the coin section of my wallet. Exactly where I had put it after unlocking the bikes at Aldi because I was worried I was going to lose it as it is that small.
If you had put red hot pokers in my eyes as torture I would not have remembered before Wendy found them, but when she did I remembered it as clear as day, is this what old age is like?
I got back to the van and Wendy was still in her sports cloths, guess what? Looking for her specs!
I had them before I went running because I set my music off. So we searched and searched the van from top to bottom. Are they in the case I ask, of course they’re not was her reply. So we searched some more, lots more actually and I found them, in her glasses case, well I mean come on Wend!
We did chuckle………………….it’s like the blind leading the blind!
It was another sunny day so after a hearty breakfast of an almond, pomegranate and melon smoothie followed by one slice of toast with vegemite and coffee we set off for the beach.
We went to the cheap beach as I call it, it’s very nice but we don’t take the ferry as it’s in the resort and it’s a good job we did because at around 14:00 it started to cloud over. Not overly but enough to make you want to move your limbs.
So we took a walk into town to buy some post cards and take coffee and cake.
I saw a copy of the Sun newspaper in the card shop and the headline was, Sophie, I think that was her name, a frontrunner in Bake Off is being investigated for Benefit Fraud. When I told Wendy she said, “Oh and you’d think butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth” A very appropriate comment don’t you think?
We got coffee and cake at a café in a square and we sat outside to eat the biggest portion of almond cake anyone could eat, it was so big it put us off our intended supper.
Boy was I glad we sat outside as there were half a dozen local women sat inside and they were yattering like it was going out of fashion, it would not be humanly possible to use anymore words than they did, all of them at the same time. Jeepers I do wonder who was at the sharp end of their tongues!
The sun didn’t come out so we packed up our stuff and headed back to the van, well we had had a good 3 hours sunshine.
We shopped at the super, hyper market but could we find, gravy granules or a jar of pickle, no we could not. I have scoured several large shops all to no avail.
Back at camp and it was getting on, the sun had set and we had limited options so we settled on walking along the track into the village for a nice, very large glass of white wine in the square.
For 3 euros we got two gold fish size bowls glasses of wine, in fact I would say we weren’t much off kicking back a full bottle.
We walked back along the track in near darkness with a torch each, Wendy wasn’t fully comfortable with the situation, well she wouldn’t be would she, but it was her suggestion after all.
It was fully dark at 18:23, so that’s not bad is it, light at 07:00 until 18:23, well I’m happy anyway and with the bonus of 24 degrees of sunshine.
Supper was a light affair, pork chop sarnie. We were going to make a big production of it with roasted veg and what not but the almond cake put paid to that.
It’s a Monday night so it’s The Walking Dead time for me, the night before Halloween as well.
Have a restful night Avid Reader, I do hope nothing foes bump in your night!
The Algarve
No Traveling
I looked out at the sky just before I went to bed last night and it was clear with a lovely moon showing up in the sky.
I was up at 05:25 and as the sky slowly grew lighter I could make out some clouds which had developed overnight.
I went running into the resort and it's like running a gauntlet of rabid dogs all snarling and barking at you from behind chain-link fencing. Honest almost everyone has two, three and even four dogs patrolling their gardens during the night.
It's bedlam!!!
We aren't too bad as we are on a site off the main road so although you can hear them in the distance they don't disturb us during the night, and then they sleep all day.
We have had the site to ourselves since Saturday when an older couple moved on. It's quite nice as we have the perfect spot.
The clouds gathered a bit more so I said we should take the ferry to Culatra Island and walk the length of the island, which you can do because the ferry drops you off at one point and collects you at the other.
And I'm glad we did because it's been a really interesting day.
The ferry trip out was really quick, It can take an hour due to sandbanks but it was high tide so we made it in 20 minutes.
There are no roads on the island just concrete paths within the three villages and paths to the south side where there is a long continuous beach which you have to walk on to get about.
There are heaps of small fishing boats tied up so I guess fishing is the main source of income.
The first village we were dropped at is called Culatra itself and it was quite busy with people going about their business. We stopped at the closed first aid centre and ate our lunch while the crowds moved on, which thankfully they did.
We then followed the walkway to the beach and followed the beach until we came to a sign for the middle village called Hangares, which means Hanger in English.
We followed another not as well made path into the village and it seemed deserted. A ghost town!
I said it reminded me of Shellness on the Ilse of Sheppey, Wendy said I was just thinking that myself.
But we found a monument which told us that the village grew as it was identified by a Lieutenant in the Portuguese Army that the area, with its sheltered north shore would make an ideal base for sea planes to guard against submarine attack in 1918.
We strolled around looking for a place to get a drink but it was deserted. We wondered around and I came across what looked like an old community centre so I popped my nose inside and there was a bar with two old fellas lurking around.
I did the international sign for a drink and was told, "Si, Si", so in we went and had two small beers and it was just lovely.
A little old lady came in and was given her lunch but apart from that we had the place to ourselves.
I went to pay and I gave a 10€ note and I was given 8.50€ back so I took the 5€ note and gave the old fella the change for the collection tin. He was delighted and shook my hand and then we were away again, having made the fatal flaw of forgetting to turn my Map My Walk app back on.
Outside we found a statue of a sea plane and the comparisons with Shellness got even better!
We followed the same path back to the beach, no one else from the hundred odd people from the ferry had done the walk to the village and I'll say I'm glad but it was also their loss.
Back on the beach we walked further along and we could see the last village in the distance as there is a large lighthouse there.
We collected some more shells along the beach and I found two lovely shells that will make some earrings for Wendy.
I looked at my app and cursed my mistake but turned it back on and it immediately plotted a line from the last village to my current location.
We got to the village, Farol, and found it quite large with varying kinds of houses from shacks to some sumptuous properties. There were several bars, restaurants and even the odd B&B.
We walked all over and came to a long sea wall that forms a harbour wall with an adjacent island.
Wendy sat this one out as she was getting tired but I walked right to the end and back, in total 1.5 miles. The sea was choppy outside the wall but inside it was calm. A yacht entered as I walked along, it was a big yacht but I only saw one man aboard. Jeepers he was tossed around in the surf before he got behind the walls.
I also saw a very large amount of fish swimming around, there were that many I could even have caught my supper.
I got back and whilst waiting for the second last ferry, the 4 O'clock one, we had a drink in a bar, I saw from my phone that the winner of Bake Off as been tweeted by the silly women Judge, what a Wally, I know who it is but I won’t tell Wendy, or you Avid Reader.
We then went and sat on the beach with Wendy fascinated by the seagulls who were eating large sized fish in one gulp, YUK!!!
The ferry ride back was good as we sat at the back out of the breeze.
It had been a lovey, interesting day and the sun had shone most of it.
We did a bit of shopping at Lidl, we bought a good amount of wine for home, well at 1.62 euros a bottle, good stuff mind, you have to don’t you?
Supper was lovely, fish curry, but a bit much and of course after a good long walk I couldn’t help myself.
We are both pooped and Wendy is very, very tired, so it will be the Bake Off Final and bedtime and it will not be a moment too soon!
The Algarve
No Traveling
Did you know that Guy Fawkes was a Yorkshireman, and a Catholic which for varying reasons in the 16th Century meant you deserved to be hung, drawn and quartered? I watched the Gunpowder drama last night and what a load of old nastiness. Jeepers they make ISIS look like amateurs, well actually they don’t, in fact ISIS are over 400 years behind with their methods, not very modern eh.
I got a message that my Slava sample is being processed in the Lab, not long to go now Avid Reader.
I also got a message from my mate Gaz, that his younger brother, Trevor, had died from oesophagus cancer. I was gutted, Trevor was one of the nicest men you could ever know, he always had a smile on his face. His wife and family will be devastated as will his poor Mum be.
It was cloudy this morning as I got up, I made Wendy her tea as normal when she woke up but she never moved any further. I asked if she was going running this morning, she said, “No, I have no motivation, in fact when your gone I’m going to toast a big fat chunk of French bread and smoother it with butter and take it back to bed”, and she did the bugger.
Oh my groin was very sore today, very sore indeed and my minutes per mile was 10:32, I think that’s my worst ever.
I got back and Wendy had managed to shower and get dressed and she gave me a hard massage on my leg and she found the spot where the real pain is. It hurt like bugger but at least we know where it is. She gave it a good old massage and I am very grateful she did.
As it was cloudy, but still warm at 24 degrees, I suggested we take the bikes down to the salt flats and follow the path, so we did and it was brill.
The Portuguese are very bad at signage, terrible in fact. They had markers for the cycle path, but they had put them on the wrong side of the track, consequently they were pointing in the wrong direction and the info didn’t make any sense!
The clouds blew away and the sun shone and we cycled and cycled.
I saw a carefully marked football pitch on the beach when at full tide it becomes an Octo-Push pool and then we saw a football pitch made of hard gravel, actually I saw a pitch but it did also have a basic stadium. I imagine very few sliding tackles would take place there.
We eventually got to Santa Luzia, a beautiful little resort town with lots of boats and bars.
We turned around at 14.7 miles and settled down outside a very nice café that doubles as a cake shop.
I ordered a large and a small beer and Wendy also ordered an Almond Cake, which she devoured.
As the sun was out and it was really pleasant I then ordered two glasses of white wine, so we spent some more time in the sun and relaxed a lot more.
My bar bill was 8.60 euro, wow, another good bar bill result.
We set off fully refreshed but I could see that Wendy was flagging on the way back, so we called into another bar for a small beer each, bar bill 1.6 euro!!!
We saw two men with an electric olive basher. Upto now we have seen people bash the trees with long poles and then gather the olives up from blankets. This contraption was like was flapping hands on a long pole, it was very interesting to watch, they still have to pick them up though.
I saw my favourite guard dog on the way back as well. I have seen her at two properties, I think she must be freelance and she hires herself out to the highest bidder. This is the dog who followed me back to camp, perhaps she was wanting to negotiate a fee for protecting the camp site thinking I was the owner, anyway she was pleased to see me.
We took a short cut back to camp which shaved 2 miles off our journey but the big hills did for Wendy and she was really hard pushed at the last big hill. But she made it and we did a total of 28.4 miles.
I cooked supper, I baked two chicken thighs in the overn, in beer, wine, a good dollop of Rufus and some mushrooms, olives and sweetcorn and it was delicious. The Rufus made Wendy cough as it always does but it was delicious nonetheless. Do you know Rufus is such a versatile sauce and I would recommend it be kept inside every good cook’s kitchen cupboard.
Just before I dished up we had a nocturnal visit from Kiki, she came in, sniffed a fair bit, took a very great interest in the bin and after a few strokes she realised that was all she was getting and went out of the door. We have new neighbours from Holland on site so I bet she’s made a move on them the cheeky monkey.
When Wendy finished her meal she looked at me and said, “I’m knackered!”
I guess it’s early to bed for us tonight then!
Just before supper I phoned Gaz to ask how his Mum was. It’s been a lovely day, but also a very sad day for me, Gaz and his family have been very close to me for such a long time, I’m gutted for them all!
Night, Night Avid Reader!
The Algarve
No Traveling
I had the sleep of my life last night. I watched a Mel Gibson movie, it was very good actually and then I nestled down next to sleeping beauty, with my book at 20:30 and shortly after I was in the land of nod.
I woke for a drink at around 03:00, probably due to the previous night’s frivolity with Rufus but I was away again shortly after and didn’t wake until 05:24 when my eyes opened and my day started.
My groin hurt like bugger, sleeping and rest doesn’t seem to do it any good so I was hoping Wendy would wake up and give me a massage, but she didn’t.
I had breakfast and I had concluded full ablutions but yet she slept on. At 06:45 I unplugged my earphones and put Heart FM on half blast opening it would nudge her awake. It didn’t work!
Now she as been asleep since 8 o’clock the night before and still she’s fast asleep, so I have to resort to making a little noise and eventually it worked, her eyes opened.
She looked dead!!! Can you give me a quick massage Wendy? She rubbed her eyes and whispered, “No I don’t think I can”. How does she do it, how can a person not open her eyes and want to start the rest of her life, I just don’t get not being a morning person. Perhaps it’s me, I’m lucky, I like mornings and I like nights, thankfully.
After a cup of tea I did get a very half-hearted attempt but her heart just wasn’t in it, so I left her in bed and off I went.
The sunrise was lovely but we didn’t really see it because it was cloudy.
Rain has been predicted for the last three days and it’s not come, will today be the day?
I ran to the resort and I saw the market stalls being erected.
I got back and had a bite to eat with Wend, who had managed a solid 5 mile run.
We got down to the market and it was a good old fashioned local market, for local people, no tut just good wholesome stuff.
Wendy liked a cork backpack and at 23 euros I told her to get it but she did her old routine, "I’m not sure" she said!!!!!!!
I bought some sunglasses, Ray Bans actually for 5 euros, what a bargain!!!
The sky was overcast with high clouds so we did some shopping and went home to spend the rest of the day lounging about and reading our books. And it was lovely, relaxing and pleasant and at 25 degrees with only my shorts on who can complain?
Wendy settled for a nap on the bed and I creeped about a bit but she was woken by Granny who had returned her phone call, so they had a chat together.
I then lit the BBQ and we had, tuna steak, beef steak of some description, but not the best, giant prawns and salad, oh and we almost forgot the garlic mushrooms which were boiling away on the hob.
The meal was a DELIGHT, bloody lovely in fact.
We ate outside and it was lovely as the sun was out but after we finished we had to get back into the van as the flies came out, in force. Thankfully the caravan is covered from head to foot with flyscreen’s so we can sit inside with all the windows open and without fear of the dreaded fly!
Wendy made pudding, which was “Cake in the Oven”, some microwave chocolate stuffy thing that when it’s instructions were translated didn’t do it justice, but at least it was chocolaty.
As the microwave went around we had several drops of rain on the roof of the caravan, it didn’t come to anything so we will have to wait another day.
I don’t think it will be long before Wendy is in bed all tucked up and resting, I might look for another movie to watch and then join her at 8PM!
The Algarve
No Traveling
I watched the Leonardo Dicaprio film, The Revenant, last night and what a load of old tosh it was, absolute rubbish! It was about 3 hours long too. That’s the second bad film I have sat through with him in, the last was The Aviator, a film about Howards Hughes.
But I was still tucked up in bed nice and early and then the rain came and boy did it come down, hard for about half an hour. It’s kind of Ok when you’re all snuggled up in bed though.
The awning was full of rainwater this morning mind and I had to get wet to get it all out.
It was a lovely clear’ish morning so I went running in my vest, and I was cold. It was 20 degrees but there was a slight breeze and when I started to sweat it chilled me through. I won’t be doing that again, it’s back to sweat shirts and my jacket.
I got back and had cheese on toast and it was tasty. We had bought some round, wholemeal bread from Aldi yesterday and it was really nice, in a very bready kind of way. I had it with lashings of pepper and Soya Sauce, MMmmmmmmmhhhhh!!!
As the sun was out we decided to go to the beach, then Wendy persuaded me to go to Faro as its on our to do list, so I changed from my beach cloths into my smart city stuff. Then I changed my mind, its a lovely day and we should go to the beach and to enjoy it while we could, so I changed yet again and Wendy was beside herself with amusement!
Just as we set off I got a severe weather warning from my weather app that knows exactly where I am and what the weather will be doing. It gives a very loud and dramatic ting when I get the message, it said heavy rain, thunder and lightning in a few hours, I scoffed at it.
We took the chairs and set up on the beach and it was nice, the sun was out, there was a small warm breeze and it was 24 degrees, what could go wrong?
I ate my sarnies within 23 minutes of sitting down, which is a record wait for me and settled down into my book. Wendy was reasonably happy in her bikini, and then the wind picked up.
She got dressed and then wrapped herself in a towel, and then the clouds invaded.
We were also at the mercy of the tide as high water was slowly approaching and after checking my tide app, (yes apps are very helpful), I saw that high water was at 13:50, an hour and a half away.
I went to get the big brolly from the car to make a wind break for Wendy and she seemed a little happier and as I got back from the car I just got onto the beach as the water surrounded us and turned our bit of beach into a small island. Now I know she’s not happy.
High tide came and we were indeed stranded so I went and checked it out, I could cross with the water upto my knees, it would be higher on Wendy, it wasn’t looking good!
I got back and we decided to go back to the van as the clouds had turned very ugly and a storm was brewing. Wendy managed to be brave and she wadded back to the mainland.
We called at a local shop for bread and it got darker and darker.
We managed to get back just in time as the heavens opened and we did indeed have an electrical storm. Heavy rain lashed the site and the thunder was very close. It had been a close shave as we managed to get the big roof light closed on the van as we would have been washed out had we not.
We rested for a while and the rain came and went, along with the clouds, and then the sun came out and it was like nothing had happened.
We set off for a walk into the village for a glass of wine with our mate, the tired looking bar owner and it was quite nice, the sun was on our back but at 15:40 it was starting to cool down a bit.
I walked into the bar and I think I came cross the owners wife who was browsing through a cookery book, after what seemed like long wait she looked up and was surprised to see me there, I mean a customer who would have thought.
She was more generous with the wine than her husband, who I might say is very generous himself. I also took a small custard pastry to share with Wend and it was bloody lovely, custardy with really nice, dense and moist pastry, a delight.
I also spied the box of wine and I thought, I’ll remember that box because it’s nice and at 1.5 euro a very large glass it must be cheap.
As I finished my wine Wendy nipped down to the craft shop and bought a pressie for her mate and after I joined her we went to the supermarket to get a few items. Would you believe I saw the wine box, and at 7.5 euros a pop, I bought one, and carried it home along the track, a five litre box, weighing 5 kgs, no problem?
Trouble is though, it’s the wrong type of wine, maybe the bar owner serves Pinot so I guess I have bought Savion Blanc, I guess I’ll have to give it another go.
We got back just as darkness came and I put some pork chops in the oven and Wendy prepped me some veg, tatties, onion, courgette, garlic, peppers and mushroom. I used magic Rufus and we had a real treat of a supper, bloody stonking. Wendy did her coughing routine a few times, overpowering she calls it, I call it lip burning and tear inducing loveliness!
We have a big old full moon here tonight with a partially clear sky and would you believe that at 19:06 it’s started to rain, we do seem to be having some rain today!!!
But that’s OK we are tucked up, fed and watered and it’s still very nicely warm.
The Algarve
No Traveling
Jeepers did it rain last night, thunder, lightning and heavy rain, it was great.
The lightening was spectacular!!!
We watched a film called, “The Last Taxi to Darwin”, it was about a man who is dying from cancer and wants to end his life. They have just changed the law in Northern Territories, which allows euthanasia, so he travels from New South Wales and has adventures along the way. The film was funny and serious and a bit romantic so it had something for everyone, oh and a bit of swearing too, Australian type swears so that was funny as well.
After the rain we had another nice morning, a lovely clear sky and 20 degrees at 07:00.
Wendy had an idea about my gammy leg, I should try to strap it up, and so I did. But unfortunately my first aid kit, which I carried as a Fire Service Officer, has only kit with a sell by date of 2003 and consequently the tape I had was manky. That’s a very big bad by me, I should have been on top of that as it’s a legal requirement, as it should be, to carry a proper first aid kit on the continent.
The pads and bandages were ok but the tape was passed it. I got a little from the roll and it did seem to help a bit so I intended to buy some from the chemist in the village later in the day.
We decided to have some time by the pool during the morning and then go to the village for a luncheon meal and do a bit of shopping, for medical tape and some kind of fly killer!
The wet weather seems to have brought out an abundance of flies. Not the real bitey types, just the common big fat nuisance fly. And they really are a nuisance so it would be nice to get rid of them.
After a while by the pool where I finished my book, with a very sad ending I might add, we changed and went to the village. We called in at a shop that sells everything apart from something to kill flies and medical tape. I did buy a thigh support though so that might help. I did intend to call into the chemist too after lunch and get some tape.
For lunch we went to the same restaurant as we did last week.
We were a bit canny this time and bought wine by the glass as you get a large glass for 2 euros as opposed to a bottle for 16 euros.
We had some lovely bread and olives and dips to start and we ordered the shellfish dish to share. It had a cook time of 30 minutes but that was ok as we were sat outside in the sun, nibbling and drinking nice wine.
There appeared to be only one waitress where we had had two the week before. Yes indeed we did and the poor girl was rushed off her feet.
Our meal came and it was a big pot of clams, mussels, crab claws, prawns, langoustines and potatoes in a very nice seafood stew, it was like a bouillabaisse which I have had before and it was really, really nice.
But we had a small table and nowhere to put the shells so I had to wait for the waitress to come along and ask for shell plate. She gave me a side plate from a nearby table that had just been vacated, it was woefully inadequate for the job.
We had four huge langoustines which I had to clean and shell so I was clarted up in fishy goo and I only had the napkin that I was hoping would stop my nice clean shorts from getting spillage on them. I had to improvise so I tore up the cutlery parcel in a vain attempt to clean my hands.
As we progressed with the shellfish, which was delicious, we needed spoons to get full advantage of the stew so Wendy asked the waitress for some. Unfortunately she was so busy that after ten minutes waiting Wendy had to go in and get some, she came out with desert spoons but she was desperate by then. I wasn’t as I had started to use the giant serving spoon, well it was getting cold by now.
When we had finished the waitress came to take our plates away and she apologised for being a poor waitress, which wasn’t really her fault as we could see she was rushed off her feet.
And that was the shame of it, when we go out for a meal we just want a relaxing occasion, the food to be tasty and nicely presented without hassle. I know these are only small things but a shell plate, spoons and a finger bowl would have made it a perfect meal, we shouldn’t have to go around sorting our issues out, that’s not what we pay for, I can do that for myself at home quite nicely thank you.
As we walked back we found the chemist closed so I will have to rely solely on my thigh strappings.
We got back to the van which was absolutely roasting inside, 40 odd degrees, this was because we were worried more rain would come so we closed all the windows, it was like a sauna inside and Wendy had the fan on in double time.
We relaxed a little further and waited until strictly time!!!
And strictly was brill, apart from Alexandra, who I am sure is professional.
We have the bestest full moon tonight, I think it’s the last one this cycle, Robyn showed us the Aberdeen moon tonight on facetime, it was good, but it was 7’s all around compared to our straight 10’s!!!
Here is the link to Booby Pickett, mind I said about him on Halloween, please take a look, his face is the funniest ever……………..enjoy Avid Reader!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNuVifA7DSU
The Algarve
No Traveling
Jeepers what a wind we had last night, the awning rattled and I thought I was being blown out of bed. Wendy sleeps by the window and sly’s it open at night during her hot flush spells and it was gusting at force 15! I thought the awning would be gone when I opened my eyes, but thankfully I have screwed it down with every means I have and it worked a treat, I was however wind swept!
Thankfully at sunrise the wind abated, a bit but it still gave us a chill every now and then.
We chose our runs wisely this morning, Wendy went to the village and I went to the resort looking for the place where todays Sunday market would be and Wendy found it.
I used my strapping that I bought yesterday and it did help a little with my poorly groin, but not nearly enough.
I got back and Wendy was washed and showered so I quickly did the same and we went down to the village. Boy the traffic was chaotic and I had to nab a parking spot pretty smartish or I would be buggered. I did indeed spy one and duly parked.
The village had become the biggest market I have ever seen, it was even much bigger than the Friday market at Porta Mogan.
We got there and got stuck straight in, we were looking for a fly swat as we need one and we haven’t found one yet. Well you could buy anything you wanted, anything at all. Cloths of all description, nickers, pants, brassieres, smoked meats, olives, any veg whatever, nuts bolts, saws and whatever hardware item you could ever imagine. There were three food areas, that’s three food areas with huge BBQs on the go and food flying left right and centre, along with beer and red wine.
There were stalls selling cork items of every description, I never knew cork was so versatile.
It was that big we got lost several times and we were knackered by the time we had done.
Did I also mention the chickens, the geese, the caged birds and the stalls that sold things that I still do not know what they were?
We bought, a fly swatter, a BBQ grill for my outside fire, an olive dish, Wendy bought a cork purse for her friend, (I wish I was Wendy’s friend!!!) and three pairs of knickers for Wendy, and she bought them from a dirty old man as well!
I could have shopped all day there it was brilliant.
We called at the supermarket for some eggs and bread, which is really silly because we could have got them fresh from the market, but it was last minute decision as I fancied fried egg on toast and that’s what we had, sat outside of the van with clear blue skies and a nice warm breeze, it was lovely, the perfect Sunday brunch.
And then we went to Faro the capital city of The Algarve and it was boiling hot.
The city is small but lovely. Close to the sea but yet again protected by a barrier of sand spits.
I watched the tide slowly come in on the steps of the harbour, it was really interesting to watch this silent event that goes on every minute of every day happen right in front of my eyes. I also saw the largest number of Stork nests and most with Storks just sat there sunning themselves, they are truly amazing birds and their nests are massive.
The city is directly on the flight path of the airport and flights come at what must be two minute intervals, from the harbour it doesn’t sound so loud, probably because the open space allows the noise to dissipate more. But in the walled city it’s like roaring lions flying overhead, I do hope they stop arrivals before the watershed or no one will get any sleep.
We found the old walled city which was beautiful and we just walked around and it was really nice.
In the walled city there is a square around the Cathedral and it is lined with orange trees it was an amazing site.
Then we went back home to the van and sat outside in the last of the days warm sun reading our books.
For supper I did a little of my knock up tapas which I must say made a big hole in the fridge and filled a very big hole in my tum, it was lovely although I might have overdone it with the garlic paste in the garlic bread.
I watched Goggle Box celebrity special and it was a scream, especially Ozzie Osbourne who does appear to be really thick. Andrew Flintoff and Jamie Rednap were funny and of course Ed Sheeran was a delight. On the other hand, Noel Gallagher swore in front of his mum so many times it was not acceptable, not at all.
Oh and Jeremey Corbin getting down with the plebs, it just didn’t seem to work.
And then Strictly Dancing came on and ******* was voted off, what a shame but it was probably for the best, well I thought so, it was a bit of an upset but I’m happy with it.
The Algarve
No Traveling
Jeepers what a gale blew last night, even Wendy had ear plugs in, but thankfully my wind countermeasures managed to hold the awning in place. However we did have a magnificent sunrise, it was a corker and it was six minutes later than last week, winter is coming even in the Algarve.
I had the BBC TV news on this morning at 06:00 and there were three items almost of equal importance, The Queen dodging tax, shootings in the USA and the big Strictly upset. I put Heart FM on and all they could talk about was the big Strictly upset, the biggest in the shows history, jeepers what are we missing?
The wind did not stop, it never abated, and it never even looked like slowing.
I had a small breakfast, one pomegranate, which I scrumped from a tree and one slice of toast with vegemite on it, oh and coffee, it was lovely and I was sat in clear blue sunshine skies under the awning and out of the bloody wind.
We went to the beach, it might sound like a bad idea but don’t forget my name is David Gill and I was well prepared with my handy wind break. Wendy wasn’t confident mind.
We had the beach to ourselves, well apart from the odd fisherman or passing walker.
It was a right old struggle getting the wind break up, it took 30 minutes of patience. Wendy wasn’t confident but I had it cracked once and for all. Behind it we were OK’ish, on the other side a hurricane to match Irena was blowing.
We snaffled our sarnies ASAP and I decided to do a little tweaking with the arrangement.
That’s was much better and then I settled down and relaxed, and it was quite warm. I do believe I dozed a bit and maybe contributed the odd snore, but I didn’t care because I was out of the wind.
It never slowed for one minute, the wind break rattled along but held its ground, well it would because I put it up.
I went for a walk and saw the tide rushing in. I could see how someone who was not tide savvy could easily get caught out by it.
I did some more relaxing on my towel, (Wendy never moved once) and at 15:00 I suspected that the game was up, Wendy wanted off the beach. We managed to pack up without serious incident and went back to the van to shower, to get the sand off us.
After a wee relaxation we went to a local shopping centre and I bought some new trainers as my current ones are now truly worn out. Trainers are supposed to be good for 300 miles but at 70 quid a pop I usually make them go 1,200 miles and these have now done 1,277.74 miles so I’m happy with that. The new ones cost only £48 which is a good result as they are Nike.
I also got baby Tilly a present, and it was gift wrapped with two small balloons that presumably the 3 month old baby will inflate and have some very good fun with????
We called in at Aldi and we observed a very strange coincidence.
Just when we got in through the door a man was trying to get a bottle of whisky, which was on special offer, into his trolley, and he dropped it. The whisky went up Wendy’s leg and it smelled lovely. We called in at the red wine aisle and guess what? Just as we got there a woman dropped a bottle of red wine almost getting me in the process. Having negotiated the store without further incident we were at the checkout when two young brothers at the next check out were playing around and dropped a full bottle of lemonade, jeepers it exploded, lemonade everywhere. They had to close the checkout it was that bad.
Can Aldi get any more interesting Avid Reader?
Supper was a delight, a very nice fish salad as cooked by DG himself.
Its Walking Dead night tonight, thankfully the wind has dropped and we still have bright clear skies although the sun set some hours ago.
I’ll be ready for my scratcher tonight despite my beachside napping.
The Algarve
No Traveling
The Walking Dead got even more bizarre last night, I now have to watch it to try to work out what’s happening.
I also had some very lovely news last night, my nephew, Mark, has proposed to Leanne. Leanne is away in Barbados with her friends as a few of them share their birthdays in the same week. So, on Leanne’s birthday Mark proposed to her, via Facetime, by using their lovely three girls to spell out the message. No one knew what he had planned, even the girls didn’t know what they were doing until Leanne told them.
We had a lovely quiet sleep with only a moderate breeze outside and I woke to another amazing sunrise and the birthday of my good friend Alex Shepherd. Happy Birthday Alex, you’ve even made the blog today!
A car pulled out from a side road this morning on my run, I could hear him coming so I turned down my ear phones and I met the junction just has he did. He looked neither left nor right, he just carried on, thankfully I anticipated his action and stopped and watched him sail by. I think I need to dedicate an entire page just to the driving, the road conditions and just the apathy of the Portuguese people!
After a modest breakfast we left camp for a tour of a town that Wendy has been pining to see. We did have a decision making mix up as Wendy had dressed for the beach, but I assure you Avid Reader that we had agreed that we would go to the town of Loule, and I am really glad we did, it was superb.
Loule is about 15 miles further west and a little to the north and at the start of some big hills, it’s over 500 feet high and it was a little cooler when we got there.
The town is an old one and there is a bit of an old walled city, but not much. It is however exceptionally clean and it has some really cool roundabouts. We wandered around just exploring and the first interesting item we came to was……………the market!
This is the most brilliant market I have ever seen, it’s not the biggest but it is very diverse. It is housed in an old building and there are some really good stalls. There is also a fish section and a fruit and veg section.
I stopped at a very interesting wine stall and ended up buying a bottle of what is called, “Wine of the Dead”. I asked the stall owner to explain why it has that name and in excellent English he told us that when the French invaded Portugal the locals buried their wine so the French didn’t get it. When they had eventually dispatched the French they dug it up and celebrated. I now have a bottle in my possession, it’s a red wine at 12.5% by alcoholic volume. I need to eat it with cheese, or pate so it looks like I have a luncheon appointment coming up soon.
We continued our walk around town and it was very pleasant. We happened across a shop where a lady was hand painting crockery and there was a Poppy dinner collection that Wendy adored. It was a bit pricey but I had done the maths and I thought if we asked for a price for a set of eight we might get a deduction. But would she buy it? Would she bugger, even though she really liked it, I will never understand the workings of Wendy Gills mind sometimes. She does it time and again, mark my words when we are 300 miles away she will say, “I would really have liked those Poppies as a dinner set”, mark my words!
We set outside a café in the sun and had a very good cup of coffee with an almond croissant to share. I wanted a larger coffee than they sold, but the young waitress was a smart cookie and suggested she make my Americano coffee in a latte cup which was just the perfect size. The almond croissant was to die for, it was a delight.
We walked a little further and then got back to the car, we had strolled around for 3.24 miles.
We then loaded the Sat Nav for the GPS coordinates to the beach resort of Quarteira and what a treat that was too.
It took us about 20 minutes to get there but there weren’t any roadside issues.
Now this is a proper seaside resort, no more sandbars, just miles and miles of clear blue skies and the Atlantic Ocean. Like Loule it was a very clean resort, and very quiet and lots of beach and sea and parking, I think I might return.
But jeepers the sun was hot, it was only 23 degrees but in the clear sky it felt an awful lot hotter.
We walked along the seafront and I wanted to walk around what looked like a sea wall around a marina so we headed in that direction, in fact it turned out to be a new harbour. One of the outer walls was blocked to public access but the other looked accessible so we carried on.
We did managed access and it was a lovely walk and what a very nice harbour and then it came to me, this is very new, this is a EU funded project, a very big one and I said that to Wendy, who not five minutes later directed me to a wall mounted plaque that informed everyone that the harbour indeed was funded by the EU. I bet that cost a pretty penny, now I am a very good European but I can see why they don’t want us to leave and will make it as difficult as they can for us, they’ll be losing some vital ingredients of the gravy train. There was a huge inner and outer sea wall with new fish markets, garaging and all the mod cons, it must have cost many millions!
Wendy was feeling a little of the effects of the heat so after nearly completing another three miles we headed back to the car and nibbled on our sarnies. I was hoping to leave mine for tomorrow as I fancied a BBQ chicken quarter for tea tonight and I wanted to be famished to fully enjoy it.
We called in at Aldi for a whole chicken and some other provisions and then got back to camp where I managed to persuade Wendy to go to a local bar for a drink. We’ve been here over two weeks and she has declined every time I have asked but today she said she would go.
Now this is the bar of the most local kind you can ever come across, but we were the only customers and we had a nice sized glass of white wine each and the barman gave a very good portion of something not dissimilar to Twiglets, but thankfully not tasting like them. We sat outside, almost on the road. But the wine was nice and the sun was still out so we did enjoy the experience.
I went to pay and guess how much it came to………….two large glasses of wine……..???
Think of a price that is ridiculous and then undercut that and you might come to the sum of 1.6 euros……………yes two large glasses of very nice wine at 1.6 euros with Twiglets thrown in.
What a bargain, I gave the barman 2.6 euro and he said no it’s only 1.6, I said I know, that’s for the tip jar, and he was very much pleased with that as well.
I am going to go on Sunday and slap a tenner on the bar and say fill me up until it’s gone, I bet I can’t walk home before it’s spent. What a result, even Wendy was impressed.
Back in camp and the BBQ was lit, the chicken quartered and supper was a treat. Well cooked chicken, a little light on the meat on the bone however, but never mind, in must equal out and all that, and I even got the most expensive bird in the shop at 2.90 euros!!!
We had a facetime chat with the birthday boy who is spending the night with Robyn in a hotel in the country. He was an excited birthday boy as he has a very big bath tub he wants to wallow in for a while.
Thankfully they both have the day off work tomorrow!!!
The Algarve
No Traveling
I received a brilliant picture of Alex in his birthday bath late last night, it is an iconic photograph with him sunk upto his neck in deep bubbles. It’s on the same scale as the one of Marilyn Monroe with her skirt being blown up, or the sailor kissing the girl at the end of WW2.
Unfortunately it is subject to copyright so I dare not publish, or I might end up in the High Court.
Jeepers yet another night of wind, it howled all night but my ear plugs kept the noise at bay, silly Wendy took hers out at 03:00 and was awake from then on in, the silly sausage.
I got up at 05:30 and she chatted with me and took a cup of tea and then a while later took a second cup and stayed in bed dozing and got up just before I got back from my run, and she has been knackered all day.
We sat under the awning having breakfast and the sun was a demon, it doesn’t take long for it to get hot when the suns out. It was 12 degrees when I got up but it was soon upto 23 degrees at about 09:30 and the wind had dropped a little so in the shelter of the awning with the sun directly coming in it was an excellent heat trap.
Today we went to Barril Island, yet another of the reefing islands, just offshore. However we didn’t need to catch a ferry for this one, we caught a train, a toy train actually.
The drive was almost ten miles away, quite close to the town of Santa Luzia where we cycled to last week. We parked on the road and took a foot bridge of about 100 metres out over the small estuary onto the island, we then caught a small train to the beach which is about ¾ of a mile away.
The train cost, for both of us, 3.2 euros return. There is a footpath, we could have easily walked it but it was just the romance of going to the beach on a toy train.
And what a beach it is, absolutely stunning!!!
We laid out our towels by the side of a sand dune and went for a walk along the beach. It is lovely, really lovely actually. We came across the odd nude person, one fellow actually giving himself a good old scratch as he walked along, which I think is a bit odd.
Wendy did her routine of collecting shells and got another arm full.
We walked for about 2 miles and headed back for a well-deserved sarnie, actually the ones we left from yesterday but they were fine. We then did one of three things, nodded, read our books or I listened to the radio.
At 15:00 we went for a small walk in the other direction and found several cafes and a beach bar and also a commemorative area of old rusting anchors that are embed in the sand in tribute to the old Tuna Fishermen who once lived and worked from the island, it was very nice to see it.
We caught the train back at around 16:00 and we passed the other train in the bypass area in the middle of the journey. We did this on the way to the beach but I just remembered to tell you. You see two trains run on the single track and they set off and pass each other in the middle, if one is a bit early they have to wait until the other passes, obviously!!!
After a wee shop at Aldi, without any bottle breakage we got back and as the sun set we had an egg sarnie. It was going to be fish curry but the fish had not defrosted in time so that’s now tomorrows delight.
As it got dark we walked to take the rubbish to the bins, about ¼ of a mile away. You don’t have a household bin, there are collections points dotted around. Jeepers everybody’s dog was on the prowl around their gardens, barking at us as we walked along the road, it was bedlam.
I don’t think it will be too long before Mrs Gill is in her Scratcher tonight, hopefully the wind will behave and she can get a god night’s sleep.
The Algarve
No Traveling
I tried to watch a film last night, Hatton Garden, but at 9pm I could go no further so I joined Wendy, who was spark out in bed. I read for 30 minutes and I then had to turn in. I had a lovely sleep and thankfully so did Wendy.
I got up at 05:30 and sneaked around and I was almost out of the door at 07:00 when Wendy woke up, well it wasn’t so much waking up, it was more like rising from the dead.
But I made her a cup of tea and left her to it.
I got back to camp at 09:00 and I had a very good idea!!! We have been chasing around for the last few days, and as the wind had got up again why don’t we have a lazy day and just hang out here at the camp site, Wendy was as pleased as punch!!!
I also had Crème Brulee, after my toast and vegemite, for breakfast which was lovely. I know it is very decadent but I just couldn’t resist it..
So that’s what we did. We settled into the awning which kept the wind at bay whilst taking advantage of the bright sunshine.
I read my book and at 12:00 I took my bike into the village and got Wendy a bottle of wine as she didn’t like my four bottle selection last night. I also bought a 5 litre box as she likes that too. I also bought her a little delight as well which got me 15 Brownie points! Like the good husband I am, I got one of her little chocolate treats, full of sugar, which she snaffles like no tomorrow!
I biked back smartish and in time for lunch, a delight, fish curry which we ate outside in the sunshine, what a treat.
More book reading followed and then a bit of Radio 2 on the IPlayer and then a snooze. It was lovely, no hassle, nice and quiet and apart from the odd fly buzzing me it was delightful.
As darkness came we hunkered down in the van and watched the evening news. It seems it’s the same old same old. If I look back 20 years nothing seems to have changed, it’s like John Majors Government with those B**tards, remember them, they were spilt down the middle, looking out for their own interests and not giving a stuff about the rest of the country. Does anybody look out for the little man these days?
Anyway, I did have some stonking news myself though, I do love it when a plan comes together, don’t you Avid reader?
The Algarve
No Traveling
I finished the film last night, Hatten Garden, don’t bother if you haven’t seen it, it not worth the time.
Another nice comfortable night’s sleep with Wendy not opening her eyes until very close to 07:00, but she was in bed by 9 pm mind!
I saw this person come running towards me this morning, whoever it was they were flying along, and guess who it was? Wendy Ann Gill no less, and she still didn’t fist pump me when we passed, the old bag!
We had another lovely sunny day so we decided, after yesterday’s rest day, to go and visit the nearest Spanish town, Isla Christina, 39.9 miles away
Isla Cristina was given its current name on April 12, 1834 in honor of Maria Christina for services she provided during the cholera epidemic of 1833-34. It is also an important fishing port its catch being highly prized throughout Spain.
And it is also a popular summer holiday resort, particularly with the Spaniards themselves. The people of Seville flock to the area in July and August, much of the attraction being the kilometers of fantastic sandy beaches, and there really are!
We set off and bounced along the Portuguese roads for the first 30 miles. The border is the huge river, The Guadiana River and it is massive. There is one bridge connecting the two countries and I managed to get a snap as we went over it. I also asked Wendy to take a photograph of the Welcome to Spain sign, I said, “It’s there Wend, it’s there”. I didn’t hear the camera click, so I say, “It’s there Wend, it’s there”. And then we pass the sign and I still hear no click of the camera, so I say, “Did you get it Wend”, “No I can’t see it” was her reply. What a Wally, it was 20 x 20 metres wide!!!!
Anyway, Isla Christina was once an island surrounded by salt marshes and we had to cross 3 bridges to get into town and once there we could not find the beach. We drove around and around, we walked, we crossed sand dunes but all we saw was more salt flats, oh and we had gained an hour!
Then I thought that as I had turned first right off a roundabout we should go back and go across the roundabout, so we did and thankfully we found the beach, but not until I had to go the wrong way down a one way road, much to Wendy’s severe concern, she is such a flapper!
Well, what a stunning beach, a cracker and it went for mile and miles. With the sun out and a nice calm day we could only go for a walk, a long, long walk and it was just lovely.
Wendy collected yet more shells and just enjoyed herself.
We saw some local men in the water upto chest height and they had what looked like shopping baskets on poles and they were grinding them into the sea floor. I think they were looking for shell fish of some kind. They were hard at it mind, it looked darn hard work.
We eventually got to the next town, some 3.6 miles away and had a beer in a beach side bar, at 3.20 for two beers, on the sea front, who could complain, not me.
We set off back and with the wind behind us it was a nice warm walk and I must admit despite the fact that I had sunscreen clattered on my chops I did suffer a bit of red chop syndrome!
Wendy did her shaky hungry routine towards the end and I had to drive her on. In the end I recorded 6.75 miles on my walking app.
We shopped at Lidl for supper, just as Robyn Facetimed us, and she chuckled at us being in Lidl, again! Wendy bought some chocolate to get some energy, which she pushed down her throat ASAP.
We then walked around the town for a little while and it was lovely, very nice and very clean. Lots of bars and cafes and I can imagine it being a bustling place during the summer.
We drove back as the sun set, and it was a bugger as it was directly in my eyes, but we managed to get back safe and sound.
Strangely we got back to camp before we had set off as we got our lost hour back, how bizarre!
We have had a lovely supper, starting with Carpaccio and fresh bread and then a chicken pizza as chosen by Wendy, it wasn’t upto much, but at least it was filling.
The Algarve
No Traveling
I watched the England Football game last night and I have to say I was pleasantly pleased, they played well against Germany, and it was a scratch team too.
It was a late morning’s start, I didn’t get out of bed until 06:10, so I was late away for my run and by the time I was away the temperature was 15 degrees, it was even 14 when I got out of bed.
I managed a good sweat this morning, it’s been a bit chilly of late but today it was business as usual, hot and sunny.
After breakfast Wendy suggested that we bike to the beach and take a bottle of wine, no argument from me Wendy, so we did.
It’s a bit hard going over two hills but it keeps us young.
The beach was empty, in fact the resort has been very quiet since the English school holidays so we had next to nobody near us, and the sun shone and shone, it was lovely.
I read my book, I had a beer and my lunch sarnie and then we shared a bottle of wine from the cool bag. Ah, it was lovely.
I went for an interesting walk as it was low tide. We haven’t been at low tide since we have been here but as we have now been here 3 weeks we have caught it up. I saw some British young people trying to walk across to the island but they came unstuck, suddenly. There must be a shelf that you drop off, and they did.
I have also been doing some secret squirrelling with some soon to be Bridesmaids. I am extremely proud of Robyn’s Bridesmaids, they have gone on the train upto Newcastle to meet Abby, Alex’s cousin, the 3rd Bridesmaid and they are having a good old Bridesmaid time. I think they have taken on their roles with enthusiasm and good fun, well done to the three of them. I do hope they come out of Newcastle intact as that is one town for a great Saturday night out.
I also was notified of Brads 55th Munro, in the snow too, well done Bradley, Mum is asking if you’re down safely?
Meanwhile I took Wendy for a walk along the shore line and she even took a dip in the water to cool down. She did complain about a wet bottom all afternoon after mind.
More resting on the beach and we cycled back safe and sound, until silly Wendy tried to ride up the gravel hill to the van and slipped and fell off her bike. She has sustained major injuries and I had to administer first aid. She is such a woose!!! It was barley a scratch, but she is adamant she had done something to her knee, inside, give me strength!
Supper was down to me, sausage sarnies which we bought a few weeks ago. I cannot believe how much fat came out of them as I cooked them, it was like a volcano, but apart from being salty they were quite tasty.
It’s Strictly Dancing tonight and Wendy Gill is as excited as anyone can be, despite having her leg amputated!
The Algarve
No Traveling
What is going on with Strictly marking, jeepers it seems a little unfair to me. Wendy says, and quite rightly, that they seem to forget that some people have never danced and are trying very hard while some people work in a dancing environment and seem to be natural at it.
Oh she was cross last night, tell me who goes out she said has she trotted off to bed. So I found out, but come morning she doesn’t want to know, but I do know and now I can’t unknow, can I? Well it’s……………**********.
What a wonderful sunny start to the day we had, it was tremendous! Clear blue skies and a wonderful bright sunrise.
I ran to the resort to see if a market was there today and it was, a car boot sale, it covered the entire village. So when I got back I grabbed the last crust for toast, showered, shaved and off we went.
And it was dire………….nothing to shout about. Admittedly there were loads of stalls but all they sold was tut! I suppose if you needed something you would get it but it was all just old tut. To boot I forgot my phone so I have no way of showing you this tut, thankfully!
We needed some bread as we are out, but we decided that as we are going for lunch in the village we would get it there, a big mistake.
We sat outside the van in the lovely sunshine reading out books, actually Wendy sat under the awning out of the sun, but I thought she was just taking time out, but it seems she’s not well.
We walked into the village and came across a very large plastic container in the middle of the road and cars were screeching around it. It had blown out of the communal bins so I went and picked it up and put it back in the bin before carnage occurred. There is litter everywhere here, don’t think the Algarve is stunning and beautiful as the adverts would have you think. The weather is terrific but the Portuguese are mucky buggers.
We had lunch in a café in the square, and it was bloody lovely.
We had a Tapas starter, without bread and then Wendy had cod loin and I had black pork, which wasn’t at all black, both with chips. Do you know what, they were bloody stonking, Wendy’s cod was extremely meaty and very well cooked, just right actually. My pork was smashing too, loads of it and very tasty.
All washed down by a litre of very nice white sangria.
All the shops were closed so we are officially out of bread, well Wendy’s world collapsed, what will we do if we get nibbley was her response. Wendy we have cheese, pate, cold meats and crackers surely after a lovely lunch like we have had that will be enough. Oh, I don’t know was her reply, jeepers she is surely her father’s daughter!!!
Then Wendy told me about her tummy, it hurts quite badly so we got home smartish and we sat out in the afternoon sun, but Wendy took to her bed at about 3pm and is still there.
It’s now 6pm and she has spoken to me but she’s now asleep again. I think she’s overdoing things, she’s a dainty wee thing really and should slow down now she’s getting older.
Don’t worry Avid Reader I’m first aid trained and I’ll take good care of her, but I think a good night’s sleep will do her the world of good. I’ll watch Strictly with my ear plugs in and when she wakes up I’ll tell her that ********* is out an see how she likes that!
STOP PRESS - Wendy managed to get out of bed and watch Strictly, and drink my glass of wine and eat chocolate so she’s on the mend. My Mole came good again and accurately predicted the outcome. Wendy is back in bed, tucked up again and cursing Alexandra as she’s too professional, as is Debbie too.
The Algarve
No Traveling
I was up nice and early, at 05:30 and as Wendy snoozed away I did a bit more of my DNA history as I would like to know how close my 4th, 5th and 6th cousins are.
So I looked at how family trees are constructed and I found out about 1st and 2nd cousins and about being removed, here’s two examples:
Robyn is Mark’s cousin as both of their dads are brothers who share the same parents. Mark’s daughter, Leah is Rob’s first cousin too but she is once removed as she is in the generation further down the line. So Leah is Rob’s first cousin, once removed.
Brad and James Mums are cousins, Wendy and Angela, as both of their parents are brother and sister. Angela is therefore Brads 1st Cousin, once removed and James is Brads 2nd cousin and James daughter is Brad’s second cousin, once removed. Jeepers it gets very complicated the further you go and each introduction of a grandparent, great grandparent etc. introduces more complications.
As we break down our blood line weakens, Brad is 50% of me, but his child will be only 25% of me. Leah shares only 12.5% of my bloodline and DNA. How interesting!!!
Lord knows how far I would have to go back to find a link to a 6th cousin!!! I have one third cousin who has been identified by my DNA and his name is Thomas Hall. I have sent Thomas a message introducing myself, I wonder if he will reply back to me?
And after that I made Wendy a cup of tea and tried to explain it to her without the use of the chart, it was very complicated.
I made Wendy one more cup of tea and went running, she stayed in bed recuperating from yesterday’s poorly period, although she did seem a lot better.
After breakfast we did a bit of forward planning and set off for the resort of Alubfeira which is almost directly in the middle of the Portugal Algarve coast, 30 odd miles away.
I never fancy going too far on these roads, there are few warning signs, very little, if at all, road markings and at one point two roads come together like a “Y” junction but with absolutely no signs or road markings, I cross one road entirely and I could easily run into a car, or vice versa. Thankfully I have been on the road before and luckily I didn’t have a collision then but this time I slowed and checked before crossing.
We made it without issue and stopped at Lidl to get some bread as, from yesterday’s copy, we were still without bread and Wendy was fretting.
We took lunch, parked in the car, and then we set off to explore and it was really interesting.
The town is a big place, it’s almost like two towns side by side as there is a big hill you have to go down to get to the resort, it is very big. Then you’re in a square with buildings and hills all around. To get to the beach from the square you have to go through a tunnel under a hotel and there you are.
The beach is quite nice, very sandy, but it’s more like coarse building sand then soft grainy sand.
We walked along the beach and we found a very high lift at one end, to take people upto the main town and a series of escalators at the other end for the same purpose.
The resort was full of Brits, lots of them and they were very well catered for with UK bars all over the place. It was more like Benidorm but without the high rise hotels.
We stopped by a bar and had a beer and we shared a wee steak sarnie which was really tasty and then we spent a couple of hours on the beach, me reading and Wendy complaining about the very hard sand on her bottom!
I walked along the beach and got Wendy some very nice shells and then at 15:30 we headed to Olhao, the resort about 4 miles to the west of us to see the sunset, over a beer of course.
The sunset was stunning, it came at 17:23. The sun rose this morning at 07:10 so we are still getting a good 10 hours of clear bright sunshine. It’s unbelievable, I never thought the weather would be this good so late in the year, long may it last.
Supper was a delight, cooked by Wendy, chicken and noodles in a curry, mustard and honey sauce, it was a stonker!
Its walking Dead night tonight, I do hope this battle that they have been having for the last 3 weeks is over tonight but somehow I don’t think it will be.
The Algarve
No Traveling
The Walking Dead, was a dead end last night, this story line keeps going and going and it’s getting boring. I like to see Zombies and that kind of stuff, not people killing each other because they are nasty, move on!!!
This morning was yet another stunning sunrise, they seem to get better as the days grow shorter, there was not one cloud in the sky. It was a bit nippy at 12 degrees outside and 17 inside as Wendy sleeps with her bloody window open. I like a nice warm bedroom temperature of about 22 degrees these days thank you very much Wendy!
Beach day today, even though the wind had increased I said we ought to go and find some shelter and have a picnic with a nice bottle of wine and doze in the sun. Wendy wanted to go to another town, but I have to admit I didn’t fancy it as its very hard going driving on these roads, so I said go to the beach today and the town tomorrow, thankfully we agreed!
So off we set, all togged up with a picnic to die for. We had tinned mussels, razor clams and cockles. With bread, crisps and wine.
We got to the beach and I saw a good area out of the wind near the bar, behind a beach hut.
We settled down and had started lunch. Wendy wasn’t happy, we were too close to the bar, we were well out of the wind, nice and sheltered but she wasn’t comfortable, grrrrrrr!!!
I said to Wendy, who said that she would feel better near the dunes about 200 metres away, go and have a look and if it’s just as good there give me a wave and I’ll come over with the stuff. Oh, no, was here response, this is ok.
So I ate my lunch and had a glass of wine and listened to Jeremy Vine on my IPhone and nodded a bit, I might have done the odd snore. But I don’t sleep deeply when I lay on my back so I heard Wendy tutting and grumping, and I woke up.
What’s the problem I said? I have stereo snoring going on here so I am going for a walk. Then I saw a man laid not half a metre from Wendy, under an umbrella, snoring like a big fat pig!!!
I mean he was going for it like his life depended on it. The beach was empty why would he come here, why didn't Wendy tell me he was coming so close?
Off she went and I went back to listening to Jeremy. But all I could hear was snoring so I started to whistle loudly and then I started to sing, loudly but he never muted.
Wendy came back, a bit grumpy, (It’s not my fault he came here Wendy!), and then I put Steve Wright on loudspeaker and I started to chat loudly. He actually tapped his toes to the music in tune with his continued snoring.
Wendy and I chatted about why we were where we were, I wanted to go over there she said. I said but Wendy I said go and look over there, but you liked it here. How can you argue with that???? Anyway by the time the debate was over matey had snook off and left us to it, phew!!!..
We had a little while longer in the sun and then set off on our bikes back to the van, without any issue.
We got back just as the sun set and night fell, which like in the UK in winter it happens very quickly.
We showered and had cheese on toast which was a delight.
The Algarve
No Traveling
I was an early bird today, 05:00 rise and it was quite nice and peaceful looking up at a clear starry sky above the van.
I did some chores, chore one was to manage to navigate the Portuguese website to buy a motorway pass for the car. What a hassle it was, but I managed it. I have logged the car for the amount of 10 euros to use the motorway that runs throughout the Algarve. We move on, on Saturday and I just don’t fancy going through the towns and villages along the way and the madness of the drivers so I have paid up. It's a dear do as well!!! First I have had to pay the fee for the road use, then an admin fee, and that’s because I am foreign, although I didn’t think I was foreign, being a European.
But its gets worse, if you’re a national you have to rent a transponder from the Government to fit in your car so automatic tolls are taken directly from your bank account. There is an initial cost of 7 euros and then it’ 1.5 euros a week for its rental. Then you have to pay the toll fee on top of that, it’s a right old money making scam.
There are cameras on the motorway and they flag you up as you pass, via the number plate, or the transponder. Now this is the serious part, there are enough surveillance cameras on the UK motorway network that implementing this system in the UK wouldn’t cost a penny for the Government, but think of the revenue they could pull in. Like Grandad Bryan always says, they don’t like the little man traveling and this is one way to price him off the roads, and it works the motorway was empty!
When the sun came up we had a bit of cloud around but it soon cleared up, there was a chill in the wind, but still at 21 degrees I’m not complaining.
I bumped into Wendy on my run again and yet again she avoided a fist pump, jeepers she’s no athlete!
After breakfast we nipped into the village to get a stamp for a postcard, it took Wendy 30 minutes of queuing to get one stamp, jeepers it’s sometimes like being in the 3rd world.
But then we went to the City of Tavira, and what a treat it was, it is the most beautiful, small city that I have ever seen in my life. It was a treat, here’s an extract form the tourist website:
What was the Algarve like before resorts, golf courses and Irish pubs sprang up along this coast with its year-round sunshine and golden beaches? Head east (rather than west) from Faro airport and you might find out. Tavira, 18 miles from the Spanish border and straddling the Gilão River, is arguably the Algarve’s prettiest town, and exudes an authentic Portuguese charm. Big hotels are few, churches are many, fishing boats crowd the river and everyone has time to dawdle.
Layers of history can be seen, from Phoenician excavations through Islamic-decorated doorways to Renaissance and Baroque flourishes. However, it is the colours that hit you: blinding-white walls, brilliant azulejo tiles, fiery-red pantiles.
I couldn’t have put it better myself, it was bloody lovely.
We walked and walked and loved it.
The main event was at the height of the village where the old water tower, which now has a, “Camera Obsure”. This contraption is a mirror, through a hole in the roof which reflects the image of the City through a lens and projects it onto a horizontal round screen that you, the visitor moves around whilst the tour guide talks you through 360 degrees of the city. We were the only two to go up the tower so we had a personnel service and it was very, very interesting, very interesting indeed.
I’ll not say any more about the City and I’ll let the photos say everything for me. But what I will say, is that if ever you want to come and see the best of Portugal in a safe and fantastically beautiful city then this is the place to come, over to you Avid Reader.
Wendy bought herself a nice summer hat, it looks like the one Daisy the Cow would wear, but she looks cute in it. I bought a new baseball cap too, a very good fitting one actually. We had a beer outside a bar along the river and some swimmers passed us. Imagine swimming in a city river in the UK, you’d get diphtheria!!
It really is a very nice city, small enough to get around, but beautiful enough to be interesting. I would love to spend a night here, in summer, sat at an outside restaurant all nicely dressed up with Wendy and having a lovely meal, oh and a bottle of wine, of course!
We came back via the motorway, again, costing me 0.70 euros, but it was only a five mile stretch and then we called into a pottery and bought far too much stuff, far too much weight too, I’m not sure if the little car can do another 2,600 miles with all the wine, beer and vodka, let alone all the other trinkets we have bought along the way.
Supper is on Wendy tonight, pork chops and langoustines, (Bought from Lidl where you can buy them individually from the freezer), BBQ sauce and rice…………..
It’s been another lovely sunny day on the east Algarve, we have done everything we have wanted to do. Tomorrow is an easy day, and then Friday its getting ready as we are off again on Saturday, westwards bound.
The Algarve
No Traveling
We had another good night’s sleep, in fact I slept in as I wasn’t out of my bed until 06:15, but I saw yet another stunning sunrise. Wendy woke up, about an hour later and needed two cups of tea before she became alive.
After our mornings exercise we decided to go to the beach, but first we went to the fish market and after a bit of deliberation, as we had no idea what anything was, we bought some, we think, Sea Bream and Sardines. I was confident with the Sardines but not the Sea Bream but it was a chunky piece of fish though.
The beach was a none starter, the wind was blowing from the east and although it was 20 degrees and the sun was hot, the wind was too cold, so we turned around and headed back to camp.
The man at Camera Obscura yesterday said that when the wind blows from Spain in summer it’s hot but in winter its cold, and today it was.
But back at the van I put the fishing brolly up and we sat in front of it, out of the wind and it was fine, the sun was hot and we had beer on tap, my favourite, Super Bock!!!
We sat all afternoon, me reading my book, Wendy soaking up the sun in her new hat and it was lovely.
During the afternoon I took myself off to the camp sink to gut and scale the fish and it took me ages as I had to make sure all the scales were cleaned up, jeepers fish scales are murder as they are almost invisible.
After more sunshine I lit the BBQ.
The sun went behind the trees and I almost booked a holiday for Wendy, Caroline and Robyn for a February treat, but at the last minute Robyn told us she had to confirm her dates at work, phew that was close, I was almost at the departure gate. I might have said this before but isn’t technology great!!! How can I communicate with people almost 3,000 miles away, and a home renter another 1,000 miles away and then an airline company from my humble caravan, it is fantastic. Oh and I also saw, as I woke up, Uncle Ian and Karen on horseback somewhere very hot and dessert like, again all online, WoW!!!
Just as I was about to put the fish on the BBQ Kiki and her mum and dad called, our camp site owners, to say goodbye as they are heading to the Canaries tomorrow to see their daughter. They are lovely people and it’s been smashing staying at their camp site.
Eventually, after Kiki had licked the BBQ griddle I cooked the fish.
Boy it was stonking, a delight in fact. The Sea Bream was chunky and meaty and very tasty. The sardines were very nice too. BBQ’ing fish is as easy as falling off a log, nice and slow and its bloody lovely.
The sun set and a chill set in so we hunkered down in the van, me to read my book, Wendy to fiddle faffle with her IPad!!!
The Algarve
No Traveling
I had a lovely sleep last night and I was up at 05:00, Wendy apparently didn’t have a good sleep as the dogs were barking a lot, I didn’t hear them as I had my ear plugs in. There has been a few fires around these last few days and smoke was very much in the air this morning so maybe that’s what’s set the dogs off.
I saw the most exquisite sunrise on our penultimate morning, it was a stunner, I have got it on camera so hopefully Avid Readers will appreciate it.
Wendy was too tired to exercise this morning so I set off alone and it got warmer as I went along. I went to the resort and the wind was fine but after breakfast when we got there it was a bit harsh so we took a walk around the beach and then headed back to Aldi to stock up with food as we are heading west tomorrow and who knows what we will find.
I like certainties and our freezer is now certainly full of food that we can eat at our leisure.
We got back to camp after our shop and ate lunch, sardine sarnies and sat in the sun, me reading my book, Wendy chilling. I am reading a book by Stephen Leather, it’s about an ex SAS soldier who is now in MI5. I have read two other books of his and they are pretty good, this is a hint for Grandad Bryan, go look for him in your charity shops, it’s a very good read!
The sun shone all day long, it was lovely.
Jan, our host has pulled the cover off the pool while he is away so if its warm enough in the morning I might just take a last dip.
Wendy has done the washing today so we have fresh bedding and we decamped all our stuff. The awning is down and the car is packed, with wine and sparkling stuff, to the brim!!!!
This is the longest we have stayed at a campsite in our caravan and it’s been fantastic. We have visited this area to death and we are both now fully competent in conversational East Algarve.
Tomorrow we move west and I’m looking forward to it.
After packing we sat and enjoyed a glass of wine as the sun set and then I cooked supper which was a bit of a cheat. I pimped up a pizza, “Pimped Up Pizza”, now there’s a strapline.
We had a garlic, meaty pizza in the fridge and I added left over sardines from last night, sliced olives, sliced onion and lashings of cheese. I put it in the oven and went for a shower so that I could get the full effects of fresh bedding.
I got back just as the pizza was cooked and it was, guess what?......................a DELIGHT.
It was a bit garlicky for Wendy but I’m not caring, it might make her sleep tonight.
Well that’s us done with the east Algarve. It’s been terrific, both Wendy and I have had a smashing time, I think its cheers to being on the road again so keep tuning in Avid Reader you never know what’s around the corner!!!
Moncarapacho to Lagos
65 Miles
I saw my last sunrise at the camp site at Moncarapacho as after 28 nights and 28 lovely days it was time to move on. But not before we did our last runs. Jeepers it was cold when I set off at 07:30, 10 degrees.
As we had decamped yesterday we only had to drop the power and move the van onto the car which took all of ten minutes and off we set, but before we left we called into the village to buy a 5 litre box of very nice wine, for just over 7 euros.
We took the motorway and it was almost empty, that’s what happens when you have to pay to use them and that’s why the towns and villages are chaotic with traffic, mad drivers and crumpling roads.
The Portuguese motorways are dangerous as the entry lane comes on before the exit lane and they are very close together. So if I want to get off but another car is coming on I have to move over for them to come on and I either have to slow down to get behind them to leave the road or speed up like a madman so I can get in front before we get to the turnoff. Its madness, and then the exits are so short and usually come straight to a circle bend, you could not make it up. No wonder the roads in Portugal are some of the most dangerous in Europe!!!
We found our site without any problems. There are some poor reviews on the websites so we were a bit worried. But its fine it’s in the town of Lagos which is a big bonus, oh and at 17.5 euros a night for a city site, that’s a lottery win!
After a quick snack we were off for an explore and we started by visiting the beaches close to the site. They were quite nice but you needed to be fit to climb the steps to get to them, there weren’t any lifts or escalators here don’t you know.
We found a beach that was a long way down from the footpath and the only way was via a steep stairway, but here’s the thing, the wall that was surrounding it was only 2 feet high so if you had a nipper that was running along and fancied a jump, or a climb, they’d be over it and it would be curtains. You could argue it’s not happened because it’s not been fenced off, but that’s not an assessment of risk I would be happy with as I wouldn’t want to be the first. In the UK there would be a fence as big as the Berlin Wall, but this is Portugal and anything can happen, and it most likely does.
We found a coastal walk and headed for the walled city, another one. We took a glass of wine in the sun at a bar near a small marina and it was lovely, sitting in the sun, all very nice.
We found the walled city and it really is one, an entire town is within the ancient walls which were built in the 1500’s, wow!
And it was really nice with ally’s and small streets, lots of shops, bars, cafes and restaurants.
We walked all around and didn’t get anywhere near covering it all. We did the retail areas and just a little of the residential areas, it was all very nice.
We then headed for the big beach, which took us over a river into the marina area. This must be the biggest marina I have ever come across, it was massive, huge in fact.
We got to the beach following a board walk and it was indeed a very wide and very long beach. As Wendy was getting a wee bit tired we didn’t go any further than the shoreline. I did manage a paddle though and it was delightful, cooling off my weary feet.
We walked back a different way and then, due to tiredness and thirst we took a beer in an open bar just as the sun was going down. It was a very welcome rest.
We eventually got back to camp, and in total we had done over eight miles!!!
Wendy went inside to get supper on, pork slices and salad and I did a camp walk.
It’s a big camp, but not very busy just now. I checked the toilets and told Wendy not to bother as there are no toilet seats and all paper has to be put into a small bin and they were full, well it was days end. I absolutely, am definitely certain that Wendy Gill would not put her clean bottom on any of those toilets, 100%, if my life depended on it I would be safe!!!
Supper was another delight. It’s a Strictly Night so we are all tucked up and ready to go, after watching Pointless Celebrities.
I hear on the Grapevine that Debbie and Alexandrea are having a very big fallout behind the scenes, I bet that’s a right old fashion “Cat Fight”!!!
Well there was some good dancing there tonight wasn’t there. I think Debbie was quite weak, I think Johnny might be at risk but I thought Joe was outstanding, how he never got straight 10’s I’ll never know. The judges seem to have favourites and it makes me and Wendy very mad. You should have heard her language Granny Mavis, shocking, but all she says is, “I’m sorry, they make me so mad”. Gemma was a delight too, a lovely performance.
I think I might check my source tomorrow to see who’s out, TXT me if you want to know the answer Avid Reader, but don’t dare tell Wendy!!!
Lagos
No Traveling
In missed my sunrise this morning as we are parked up in a city campsite with Starlag 17 walls and razor wire surrounding us. We even have an overnight, manned gate to keep us safe.
But what about the suspicious characters actually living in camp, permanently? Boy there are some right looking yokels around.
But in fairness we slept well and I woke at 05:30 with my right eye closed solid with gunge!!! I think I might have conguntavitus again!!!
I ran along to the lighthouse at the end of the point and along some huge cliffs for a while but it was dodgy underfoot and I didn't want to fall so I headed inland and found my way back eventually.
I came across a budding market coming together and thought I'd bring wendy back, which I did, big mistake.
We went in to the market on our bikes and it was the grottiest of grotty markets that you could ever find. There were council litter pickers picking the litter up that the stall holders had just discarded as they set up, it was minging!!! And everyone sold the same old tut! They only needed 3 stalls as they all sold the same rubbish. We bought bugger all!
We walked a while in the old town to find a place for lunch, a Sunday treat. But because we are on the east side of a small peninsula the sun on the western sky is shaded by the restaurant walls very early which makes eating out quite chilly.
We went over the foot bridge but we had to wait for a sailboat to go through as the bridge opens for them. We walked around the marina to find a restaurant which we liked but we didn't find one so we went back over the footbridge only to find it was open again for the same bloody boat. They were Brits too, changed their mind and waisted five minutes of my life!!!
But we found one, a good one but we had to eat inside as it was just a bit too chilly out of the sun.
What a feed we got!!!
We shared 14,000,000 olives, a basket of bread a round of cheese and lashings of sardine pate. Then our mains came, I had Portuguese Steak which came with loads of sliced potatoes and a very lovely sauce, there was enough for two.
Wendy had the Monkfish Rice which came in a pan, there was enough for seven. It had 3 massive langoustines as well.
We were stuffed and although all the meat and fish were eaten we left a lot of rice and potatoes, it wasn't possible to eat them, honest!!! Pudding was a none starter!
We waddled back to the van and as it was about 3pm I suggested to Wendy we walk out to the lighthouse to see the sun set. Well we needed to walk that feast off.
Off we set with jumpers and a bottle of wine. Wendy loved the cliffs but never got too close to the edge. She thinks I might accidentally push her over!
We sat alone for an hour as the sun slowly dipped down in the sky. It was bliss, nice and peaceful.
Then just as the sun was dropping we were joined by half of China, it was bustling with people, who spoiled the atmosphere, the buggers.
But never mind we did see a nice sunset and enjoyed our wine. Actually it was quite like Uluru in Australia when we saw sunrise, there were heaps of oriental people who made a right racket and scarpered just after sunrise leaving us to peace and tranquillity.
Back at camp and it was nicely dark so we settled down with a few nibbles waiting for Strictly Dancing Results. Of course I know who is out, but I won't spoil it.
Actually do you know that betting for the overall winner stops for one of the celebrity dancers at 21:00 on Saturday night, it just shows it's not so easy for the BBC to keep a secret. Oh and don't get Wendy started on Aled Jones!!!
Lagos
No Traveling
What an extremely busy day we have had today, I’m shattered!
First I ran to the big beach, which takes me two miles to get there and I caught the sunrise just as I got to the footbridge which was a good result. I then got to the beach and intended to run just two miles, but then it was such a beautiful beach I thought I would give it another half mile and then I thought, bugger it, I’ll do the lot, and I did.
It took me 5.15 miles to get to the end so I had to do that to get back, phew I had a sweat on by the time I got back. But it was well worth it. This is my all-time second best beach run, second only to Port Douglas beach in Australia and that's because it’s lined with coconut palms all along it.
To celebrate I had a banana smoothie with heaps of chocolate ice cream, it was lovely, tasty and cooling.
Then we set off for a day trip!
Our first stop was Cabo De San Vincente which was 20 miles and away and it is the most South-Westerly point on the European mainland. It was once thought, in medieval times, that this really was the end of the world
There were a few tourists there and a lovely lighthouse which was a museum and café and it looked really interesting. But despite the sign saying it’s open between 10:00 and 16:00 during September to March, it was closed. But I did see a man wallowing around, lazily with no intention of opening up.
But never mind we walked along the cliffs, which are over 170 feet high with stunning views out to sea. I did crawl up to get a photo of the drop and my nerves just about held out to get one.
We got back to the lighthouse and we had a very pleasant time there. There were a couple of stallholders, one selling pottery and the other, jumpers and ponchos and guess what? Wendy bought one, a lovely big thick woollen one.
We then headed to the town of Sagres which was three miles up the coast.
Our first stop was Sagres Fort which has a massive frontage and only needs one wall as it’s on a point with massive cliffs on each side. We didn’t go in, it looked quite sparse inside which I later found out was right, it is now empty and the only thing to do is walk along the cliffs. It was quite impressive though.
We found some stunning beaches near town. The first, Martinhal, was at a private resort, but we still had beach access. We strolled along it and it was very nice, very nice indeed. The wind was a bit blowy, but we expected that because these beaches are the best in Portugal for kite surfing.
We then headed to another beach, a smaller one but still very nice, called Praia da Mareta which we again walked along. We do like our beach walks!!!
We then tried to find the town but there really wasn’t one, it was just a High Street with loads of surfing shops which were mostly closed, as were the coffee shops and most other places.
We set off back and called in at a brand, spanking new Lidl, but we were disappointed as there wasn’t much in it, but we did manage to get the essentials, no not wine, toothpaste, soap and bread!
As we drove on I had a thought, there was one more resort we could call in at, Praia da Luz. This is the resort where you don’t phone the police if your 4 year old daughter is taken from her hotel bedroom.
It was a nice enough beach, but very small, and hemmed in by cliffs on both sides. There were a lot of hotels and resorts so the beach would be heaving in summer.
But you know what, it had that safe feeling that you get from some places. Like the last site we were at, we felt completely safe, on this one now, I’m more aware, but in Praia da Luz you might think that the kids are ok in bed as you’re only a hundred yards away sat outside having a meal. They must have been targeted by a very hard hearted bad bastard that’s all I can say!
From there we got back to the van and had a quick tidy up before we walked into town. It was the intention to go over the footbridge to the end of the sea wall, but when we got there the thought of another 5 mile walk just didn’t appeal, so we went into the walled city and had a small beer in a very none traditional Portuguese pub, the Fools and Horses!!!
After that we waddled home, weary but pleased with a very enjoyable day.
Supper was on Wendy, scrambled eggs, mushrooms and bacon strips, it was a delight.
It’s going to be a late night tonight, the Walking Dead is on and it won’t finish before 10pm, if I can make it that far!!!
We are on the move tomorrow, heading north, not far but it’s in the homeward direction. We have really enjoyed our stay on the Algarve. We have looked into almost every nook and cranny and we have found out a lot about the place. The east is totally different from the west, but they both are extremely interesting in their own way.
Lagos to Sines
78 Miles
It was extremely humid this morning and I was soaked with sweat when I got back and I must admit a dip in a pool would have been nice. I know the UK has shivered this last few days and I don’t mean to rub it in but the weather has been fantastic on the Algarve and today was our last day.
We set off for the town of Sines just after 10:30 and we headed into the hills.
We thought that phonetically it would sound like Signs, but it’s not said like that, it’s pronounced Sin-ess, or as Wendy says, Sines rhymes with Finesse!
We went over some big hills along the way and it was almost all countryside, consisting of woodland and scrubland. We passed the odd cork plantation but other than that it was all unproductive land. The biggest hill we passed was about 700 feet high and once we were over it we slowly and nicely came down over the range.
We went through the odd town, but this area of Portugal isn’t very populated so thankfully the roads were almost empty. The little car pulled the caravan like a dream, she’s earning her keep on this trip I’ll tell you.
We got to our camp site just after 12:30 and we were checked in by a very nice lady. Wendy took the site location instructions from the lady as I was busy logging the Wi-Fi code into my phone.
We settled back into the car and Wendy told me, first left, then first left. So off I set and we couldn’t find a second left, but we found a nice spot in the trees where Wendy wanted to settle. But I say, “Wend, you said first left, first left, this is only the first left”, “Ah”, she says, “But this site is on the left, that’s what she meant”.
Well we set up and it took a bit of doing as it’s a sloping site but I got there in the end. In fact it’s really nice and we sat out in the sun, me with a small beer, Wendy with a large wine.
After which we went to find the beach, and as we left the campsite we saw the big massive camp field, with panoramic views of the sea and the sunset most likely and it was accessed by the mysterious second left. We had completely missed it!!! Never mind, we have a nice spot and more importantly we are private as we have trees all around two sides and a sea’ish view in front of us.
The beach is a corker, its small but the surf is perfect for surfing and some youngsters were at it full pelt. The sun was hot too and there was very little wind. We could see the town of Sines to the north and it has a huge port, with massive container cranes, which is very interesting as there is no major roads anywhere near the town, there is however a very good railway line. There were at least half a dozen big ships, some container boats all waiting in turn. I always think of Granddad Bryan when I see boats in the sea waiting all patiently lined up, him being a stevedore and all!
As we walked back from the beach I got a message from Scott Hay, it had an attachment and it was such a realistic message as it was using Scott’s normal use of emogies, so I opened it and saw I had been hacked. Thankfully it was my Facebook / Messenger account and I use a special password so I changed it quickly and sorted it. I then sent Scott a message so he knew he’d been hacked, what bad buggers, he replied some hours later with a sweating emogie!!!!
Back at the van we found the power had tripped. We had the water heater on, the van fridge and the travel fridge only. I put it back on and it tripped again. I turned the water heater off and reset it, again! It seemed OK, Wendy is not happy!
We took the car to Sines and found another walled city, well actually we didn’t, but we found a very old fort on top of a big hill.
We parked up and walked the steps to the fort, which was wide open so without further ado we checked it out.
We then walked around the hill top town, it wasn’t very nice. Graffiti everywhere and poorly maintained housing, we didn’t like it. It had a smashing beach but that’s all. Actually the approach road had, what looked like a massive nuclear power plant nestled nearby as well. It didn’t have much going for it.
After a walk around we took the car to find a supermarket, bad idea as it took us 30 minutes of driving in circles. Wendy’s patience was wearing very thin, so when we found Intermarchie we shopped quickly and headed back, where I brought up the conversation about the power rating.
“I think I need to check if the kettle will boil”, I say. She says, “If I can’t make a cuppa I’m off in the morning!!!”
The kettle tripped the power, so I switched everything off, it was like the scene when they powered the command module up in the film Apollo 13, only in reverse! The kettle still tripped the power, she’s really not happy, not happy at all!!! Then she realised there would be no hairdryer in the morning, that’s done it, we’re off, first light, she says!!!
We walked back down to the beach with a glass of wine, it was lovely, the sunset behind the ships all at anchor, it was peaceful and it was serene, a delight.
So I thought, hang on, we are only paying 12.96 euros a night, (we have paid 28 for worse locations), the lecky is crap, but I can use the gas to heat the van and the water as well, everything else, apart from the hairdryer will work and we can even boil the gas kettle on the stove. So, in the romantic setting of a lovely sunset I say, “Wend, let’s not bite our nose to spite our face, let’s stay two nights as planned and have a very nice day here tomorrow?” “OK, she say, I guess so”.
Back at the van, as she was cooking supper, by gas, she put the microwave on and …………………..the bloody power tripped!!!
But we are still staying, phew that was a close shave.
We have the site to ourselves, we are only a five minute walk from a stonking beach and as I sit and type my copy I can hear the roar of the Atlantic Ocean and we are completely private, what’s not to like?
Sines
No Traveling
We were all nicely tucked up in bed by 9:30 pm and I was in the land of nod when at 00:11 I heard Wendy scrambling out of bed, my phone was vibrating. It was Robyn, her results were in, she had passed her last assessments and she was now fully qualified.
Robyn Gill LLB (Hons) MSc LLM MRICS.
We were elated!!!
Wendy, after complaining about flies and mozzies buzzing about her went straight back to sleep. Me, I had a large glass of white wine, I could hear the roar of the Ocean and I could not have been a more happy man.
I woke at 06:00, and Wendy was still complaining about mozzies!!! She jumped out of her bed while I made tea and in her nightwear, was swatting mozzies by the dozen with her fly swotter. She was armed with the swotter to kill, and a J Cloth to wipe the massive amount of blood, mine, and Wendy’s blood by the way, from her path of destruction. Boy was she feisty, she killed 42 dozen of the buggers and then declared the caravan a mozzie free zone and took her tea to bed. At her peak she looked like Mad Maud on steroids!
I ran all the way to the harbour and I saw the shipping containers being loaded onto the trains in an almost Sci-Fi way, it was so efficient and off they went.
I got back to base and found Wendy drying her hair the natural way, not the electrical way.
I couldn’t shower as the gas had not heated the water enough for me after Wendy had showered so I nipped to the toilet block. I bet the cleaners cursed me, we are the only ones on site and I had muckied their showers.
But, give them their due, it was spotless and the shower was brill with lashings of hot steamy water.
I then put out a message on my Facebook account detailing Robyn’s achievements and I got some fantastic messages back. A good one was from my good friend Calum Munro, he said – Congratulations Robyn you now have more letters after your name than letters in your name. It was a classic.
After breakfast we went 9 miles down the road to Porta Covo. There wasn’t much there in the way of community, lots of empty properties so I guess it’s a seasonal place, but the cliffs, coves and beaches were astounding, brilliant in fact.
We walked the cliffs and I nipped into different coves and it was lovely, and then I had an idea!
Let’s buy some champers from the local shop, get ice too and go back to our beach and celebrate and then have a late lunch in a beach restaurant and celebrate like Gills, well this was a day to celebrate wasn’t it?
Then I got a message from Alex telling me that I had missed MSc from my message about Robyn’s qualifications. In my attempt to correct it I deleted it all and lost everyone’s good wishes. I was gutted, there were loads, toppers in fact, from Rachel, from Jenny Millington, from Deb and from her Cousin, once removed, Leah Gill and many others.
Never mind I did repost it!
Back at camp we headed off to the beach and sat down against a rock and with a warm day, 23 degrees albeit with a bit of cloud, we sat and drank our bubbles and loved it. It was a very special time.
I, myself have done quite well academically, I have letters after my name and I have an HND to boot but Robyn has done so much, it’s astonishing. But, and this is a massive but, both me and Wendy recognise higher education in Scotland, for the first four years is free and although we had to pay for her last two degrees it was nothing in price compared to what young people in the rest of the UK have to pay. So I have to acknowledge that we, as parents have had it much easier then other parents in the rest of the UK. That said Robyn has put in a tremendous amount of work, effort and dedication to achieve what she has.
After the bubbles we went to the beach restaurant and found no menus in the English Language, no waiting staff who could speak English and we had only google translate to assist.
We were brought, bread, olives and tuna paste before we drew breath. Wendy asked for a glass of wine and a full bottle was brought. When ordering the waiter pushed us to the Dorado fish meal, so we took it and it all was bloody lovely, more delightful than a delight. I even had a Creme Brule ice cream thing as dessert and that was lovely too.
I thought I was going to be hit with a 200 euro bill, the wine was lovely and the food was….….Mmmmmmmmhhhhh so I figured I had it coming payment wise and guess what? It came to a massive 32 euros! Yes 32 euros, at a beachside restaurant with bells and whistles, now that’s how to celebrate in style.
We then walked along the beach for a while and wandered along the cliffs but not too far, well we had consumed some wine by now.
But at 17:28 as I type todays copy, I think that it might be bed before too long. The sun has just set and the sky is lovely.
It’s been a smashing day!!!
But it’s not yet over, here’s an update! I took Wendy for a camp walk. We are on a massive site with loads of permanent caravans of all shapes and sizes. They were all very nice but it just looked like a zombie invasion had occurred and everyone had suddenly left, with everything in place. Tables were set, loungers were still out and life just seemed to have stopped. They must be a very trusting lot here, but I guess we are a mile down a corrugated track so no one’s going to bother us.
Night, Night Avid Reader……..I think I might have a small whiskey as one final celebration before I go to bed and I guess now is the time to stop my copy before I go get all over exuberated!!!
Sines - Figueira Da Foz
201 Miles
It was very mild this morning as I woke, I was up at 04:30 listening to Test Match Special and I caught it not long after lunch, and things were going well on the cricket field, for once.
It was 18 degrees outside but very overcast and humid, I was as dry as a bone by the time I got back from my run and I had to ration my water as I know I would have drunk it all in the first five miles if I had not exercised self-discipline.
I ran on a nearby beach and I could see the port in the distance and it had a huge container ship fully loaded ready to sail, there were thousands of containers right upto the level of the bridge, very impressive! They would have needed a bigger crane to fit any more containers on it.
Moving camp, I was in two minds as to where to go, I had one spot picked, a town, Santarem about 100 miles north, but I had only picked this spot so the Sat Nav would keep me away from Lisbon and their reputed bad drivers, yes apparently there are even worse Portuguese drivers in Lisbon!!!
But as the weather was a bit mingy, for the first time, I thought about taking the motorway and going to the next coastal site, Figueira Da Foz, 200 miles away. But I needed a tool pass and so I went online and it was madness. I could buy a 3 day pass but I could only go through certain regions. How am I, a foreign visitor, supposed to know which region is which, in a foreign language and in a foreign country, ggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
Brainwave moment, I’ll preload the webpage and take my map and laptop to reception where the very nice lady speaks good English and explain it all to her and ask if I can go through these areas with this pass. One drawback, I’m risking get a huge fine by relying on someone else. Anyway, she said it was OK so I bought a 3 day pass for 20 euros and put in my details.
Off we set and it took us a while to get to the motorway and this time it was an old fashioned one with barriers and booths. Much to Wendy’s horror I went through a lane with no barrier and lots of Portuguese words. I thought bugger, let them sort it out, they know I have paid, they can get my registration number and put them both together, so there, and I did this all the way and made it.
The journey was a bit boring in parts but it was much safer then risking life and limb with the plebs!
We went over one hill range at around 200 metres and we had climbed it slowly and only saw how high we were when we got to an edge and I could see the land below us. About 100 miles later we came across a real mountain range. Wendy measured our altitude as being 444 metres at the highest point, which is over 1,300 feet! Then we hit a plateau and we passed villages and there were even huge towns all at this height.
The sky darkened and the temperature dropped to 19 degrees.
We came down pretty quickly this time but the clouds remained the rest of the way.
We were following a truck on a single carriageway but I was a safe way behind when a line of speeding cars, four in total going about 80 passed me, one after the other. But then a truck appeared on the other carriageway and they all had to pull in between me and the truck, except there wasn’t room for them all as they also had to slow down as well. The last car had to keep going as there has no room left for him and how he missed hitting the oncoming truck, lord only knows. Wendy was beside herself!!!
Five minutes later I asked Wendy, “What would she say if the kids wanted to have a driving holiday in Portugal?” “No chance, I won’t allow it, they can fly in but they are not hiring a car, and that’s that”. “But they are in their late 20’s Wend”, was my reply, “I don’t care, it’s not happening, end of!” was her reply.
We got to the camp site just after 15:30, and the sky was really dark. Wendy went to check in but we were asked to go and find a spot and report back. It was a quarter mile walk in and then the same out. The site was bloody empty, why we had to do that I just don’t know, but hey, this is Portugal.
Guess what, by the time we had dispensed with the formalities it started to rain, very hard just as I pulled up at our preferred bloody site. I got p**s wet through setting up, while darling Wendy sat in the car.
We are a very close to a beach so after set up I nipped for a gander! It is breath taking, and I am not kidding. I didn’t take my camera so I had to take Wendy to see it, but not before a trip to Lidl.
Figueira Da Foz seems to be a town, or maybe a city that is in the middle of an ocean lagoon and we had to cross two very large bridges in the car to get to Lidl where they are still selling 4 euro bottles of wine for 1.4 euro. We got six bottles as its lovely, and I’m going back tomorrow for more!
The town looks impressive, so we have a dilemma, walk the beach tomorrow or sightsee the town? I guess we will let the weather decide!
We got back and I took Wendy, and my camera to the beach. It was still impressive and the sea was like a boiling cauldron, the rain was gushing and lightening streaks filled the sky. I took some photos but the automatic light filter came on so they are not really of the true scene, maybe I’ll get better shots tomorrow.
After that we nipped to the camp bar for Wendy to get some Wi-Fi and we had a glass of wine, which was poured by a very nice girl, from a tap, where she filled two very large glasses for the total price of 3.6 euros, and I mean these are big beakers!
Back at the van supper was on me, chicken cooked DG style with garlic, tomatoes, and a range of other includes, it’s fair to say it was a delight, in fact I would say it was the home cooked meal of the trip.
I should cook this for Granny when I get back, she likes a bit of chicken.
It won’t be a late night as I hope to get up for cricket in the morning, hopefully the rain will have cleared by then!
Figueira Da Foz
No Traveling
I was up a little late this morning, 06:00, I slept in as I’m in a dead zone for 3G and I couldn’t get the cricket on the radio app. I did manage to get the score during the night at about 02:00, when England had collapsed for 300+, but as Geoffrey says you don’t know the conditions until both teams have batted, so with 300+ under our belt I slipped back to sleep. When I checked the score at 06:00 good old Geoffrey had been right again, Australia were 130 something for 4. Although they finished on around 160 for 4, they are still 140 runs behind and as Geoffrey says add 2 wickets and the score doesn’t look too rosy.
I know Geoffrey isn’t everybody’s cup of Yorkshire Tea, but I can tell you, you won’t get a better cricketing brain than Mr Boycott. Robyn, you listen to what he says, not how he says it, but the detail of what he says and then think it through, and you’ll conclude that Geoffrey knows his cricketing onions!
Both Wendy and I ran along the beach together this morning but it was only an hour after high tide and we were running in some deep sand, barefoot!!! However it did get better as the tide went out. I ran close to the surf and occasionally it did get me and boy was it fast and deep. It never got deeper than my calf’s but I could feel the drag it had as it ebbed away. Wendy on the other hand stayed well clear of the water and kept telling me to come away.
She left me after two miles to go back and I carried on but before she left me she gave me a kiss and told me to keep away from the water. She gets more like Granny Mavis every day!
The sea was wild!!!!
I haven’t seen anything associated with surfing. Like rental shops or people walking around in wetsuits so I am guessing this stretch of beach isn’t good for it. Having a little knowledge of the sport I think the conditions are what’s technically called a bit lumpy for surfing, which means the waves are always on the break as they come in.
I have a confession to make, I did a silly thing yesterday!
We pulled into a service area for lunch and I drove off with the door of the caravan open. I saw it before I left the car park and Wendy nipped out and closed it, but when we got to our camp site 100 miles away when Wendy opened the door the caravan step wasn’t there, no of course not it was in a service station car park 100 miles away. So the task for today was find a replacement step!
The thing is though, it was 100% my fault, I had absolutely no wriggle room, despite me thinking it through, very hard, I could not find any way that I could put a little blame onto Wendy, it was all my fault!
After breakfast I booked Robyn, Wendy and Caroline a week away pre-wedding, sun tan holiday in February and I now need to find something for me as I wasn’t allowed to tag along!!! They have a lovely apartment in a quiet area on Gran Canaria where they can lounge all day, but they must keep an eye on Caroline as she burns easily!
We then went to town and what a thoroughly interesting place it is. It is huge and it has the most massive beach frontage of any city I have ever seen.
The weather was dry, but a little overcast but the beach looked spectacular. There were a number of walkaways, board walks, paths and cycle ways, it was brilliant.
We walked around town and found the market and then we had a coffee and shared a lovely piece of custard cake, with a hint of nutmeg, it was delightful.
The town was very interesting, there were a few hotels but not many high rise types. We concluded that this was a Portuguese resort and they wanted to keep it that way. I bet it would make a very good holiday resort, I’m sure I could spend a week or two here in summer. That’s the beauty of travelling with a caravan, you get to explore places you would never come and visit.
We even found a small Fort and inside there is a small bar and a rooftop seating area, but don’t drink too much as the wall is small and the drop is very high and very, very hard!
Our last walk was along the outer sea wall, out into the wild surf, again it was very interesting.
Then after a good five mile walk we drove all the way around the bay, which was very nice and then nipped back to Lidl to get 12 bottles of that very nice, half price wine. We even found a DIY shop where we bought a replacement step, thankfully for less than 5 euros.
We got back to the van and found that despite all the spare places around us, a British couple have moved bang right next door to us, they couldn’t get any closer to the boundary, it would not be possible. I hope they’re not looking for friends!
Supper was fish with salad, Wendy made the salad and I cooked the fish on the teriyaki. We have the dreaded reverse polarity again and the electric hot plate won’t work, but thankfully the teriyaki will. The fish was a bit bony, but well cooked, obviously!
The power is so bad at this site I even got a shock off the mainframe, only a mild one but it was still not nice to get. I did do a thorough check and its safe in the van, I just hope some little dog doesn’t do a wiggle on our caravan legs as it might get more than it bargained for, jeepers I bet it would hurt!
As we had supper were heard on the radio, (I can get Heart FM, but not the BBC as they need to have the scramble app so they think I’m in the UK and I think the signal is too weak to run both apps), anyway there was a kerfuffle in Oxford Circus, something to do with gunfire being heard. It was however all clear by 18:00 and it seems to have been a false alarm. However Ollie Murrs was tweeting from some back office of an Oxford street store, detailing, “In tweet”, that it was a very scary experience. That boy is such a disappointment, and to think I spent money supporting him on X-Factor, he is actually now coming across as something of a knob! (Sorry Granny but he is!).
Figueira Da Foz - Caminha
155 Miles
I woke at 02:00 and checked the cricket, it was looking good, I got back in bed and at some point I heard rain, heavy rain, but I just snuggled down and slept on. I woke at 0500, excited to get the cricket on and saw that we had left the top roof light fully open and we had a wet carpet, never mind.
I couldn’t get the dam BBC cricket commentary on so at 06:00, with it pitch back outside I went running so I could get some 3G coverage to listen to the match and I’m glad I did, it was explosive, but we were on the wrong end of the explosions.
I ran over the bridges into town which was a fantastic experience and I turned around just as the sky was getting light. I was taking a drink back on our side of the river when an ambulance and two fire appliances came hurtling over, it looked like someone was in need of help.
I got back and Wendy was out running but the bedroom window was open so I snook in the van through the open window. I went to shower and Wendy was back. She had hidden the van key for me and didn’t know she had left the window open, phew nothing had been stolen, thankfully!
We were on the road nice and early and we were heading for a resort 130 miles away and we were using the last day of my three day motorway pass. The road was mainly empty until we got to Porto, where it was like bedlam and I really mean that. Lanes came and went without any signage, traffic sped along and gave no indication of where they were going, lane swapping was done in every direction.
Wendy didn’t like it.
We went over a very high bridge, it was like we were driving through the sky, over a massive river which seems to cut the city in half. We had a fantastic view, but I had to keep my eyes on the road as Wendy was almost distraught. We also passed a massive container port with huge ships tied up and massive cranes loading and unloading.
We were almost out of the traffic and we were both starving so I pulled into a service station for Wendy to nip and get the sarnies out of the caravan fridge so we could eat them on the road. I tried to re-enter the motorway but two cars were coming down the outside lane, there was nothing in the inside lane. The approach road was about 50 metres long and by the time I got to the end, one car had passed but the second car would not slow up, or pull over into the inside lane. I had to take the hard shoulder. Wendy went gaga!!!, She’s not the bravest of people at the best of times and was clearly not happy, not happy at all. So there I am trying to calm her down and drive on a hard shoulder that has not been finished because the tarmac for two feet of its width was to the same level as the motorway but then had a 4’’ drop onto a much poorer standard of finish. As we juddered along I was fearful that the van might bounce over when I brought it back up to the motorway level, but I managed it as I am a cool customer, Wendy on the other hand was almost through the roof with fear and could not eat her sarnie. She now wants out of this country as soon as possible.
We carried on without any further incident and got to our next campsite, which was closed for the year, despite our tour book informing us it is an all year site.
Never mind there was another site 20 miles up the road so after a bit of nifty reversing we were on our way again. We had to go over a short but high mountain range and thankfully the site was open.
Sometimes things happen for the worst, and sometimes for the best and this is a smashing little town.
After parking up close to reception, so I can get Wi-Fi for Wendy to watch Strictly Dancing we went for a nice long walk.
We are on the border, which is a wide river, between Portugal and Spain and there is a lovely boardwalk and river walk into town. We like the look of town, it was a bit late when we got there and the sun was dropping and the wind picking up so we set off back.
We got back to the camp and did a little further exploration to find the beach and it’s a beauty. There is a small island just offshore and there is a ruin of a fort there.
Wendy went to the van and I walked along the beach as I wanted to look around the point, it took me a while as it was very deep sand. It was worth it though as I could see an interesting village a mile or so along the beach.
Supper as cooked by Wendy was bloody lovely, beef burger, chippy things and salad, good old comfort food.
I’m filing copy early tonight Avid Reader so I can settle down to Strictly with Wendy and help her get over her hair-raising exploits today!
Oh, I forgot to mention that as soon as I had the van parked and settled she had a very stiff drink in her hands pretty dam quickly to help her settle her nerves!
She’s told me 68 times that’s she’s never, ever, ever coming driving in this county ever again!
Caminha
No Traveling
I was up at 05:30 and disappointed to see the Aussies were just about to bat in the second innings needing only 169 runs to win, it seems none of our batsmen made a decent score and some were out for next to nothing, bugger!
It was cold outside, 7 degrees, so I put my tracky bottoms on to run in. The sky was blue but the sun was behind the hills so it was cold most of the way. I ran into town and then to the next village, over the river bridge and took a good look at the impressive railway bridge, which was designed by none other than Gustav Eiffel himself. I also found out that he also constructed the Railway Bridge across the Garonne in Bordeaux, which we saw earlier in our travels.
I got to the second village and I saw that my phone must have picked up a Spanish transmitter as I was now on Spanish time, one hour ahead, this could make for a very confusing day.
I had the last of the ice cream for my breakfast, and it was lovely, along with toast and coffee.
We hung about in the van for a while, hoping the temperature would rise, and sure enough just after 11:00 It started to warm a little, but only a little.
We decided on a bike ride as we believe there is a track through the woods to a resort further down the coast so we went for a little explore.
The breeze was cold in the forest but thankfully it was just a ten minute ride. We followed a road into town and we found a newly completed coastal cycle route which they hope to take along a very long stretch of coast.
It was a cracker and lots of people were following it. We went to the end, where new works are progressing and we did five miles of it. There are more completed sections further down but we couldn’t get to them until this new section is completed.
We can’t get anything built by the council in our area, but the Portuguese seem to be able to drive projects through, they do seem to get a lot of EU funding mind!
We managed a full five miles out when we came to the new construction area and turned around. The path follows some stunning coastline and magnificent beaches. My phone had also returned to Portuguese time as we were now a little further from the border.
Lots of people were out and about visiting beach side cafes and bars and I thought what a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. As it’s our last day in Portugal, (Wendy is delirious with joy about that!), I thought we should have a luncheon appointment with a beach side restaurant too so we did.
We have a nice place very close to the site which Wendy assures me has splendid reviews so in we went. I ordered the fish mix and Wendy the steak. We also had some bread and cheese, which I scoffed.
There was a family at the table next to us, Granny, Granddad, Mum and Dad and a four year old girl and she was making a right old a racket. No one was talking to her she was stuck at the end of the table and ignored so the noise she was making was because she wanted some attention. No one cared not even Granny!
Our food came and mine was lovely lot of different fish and mussels with potatoes and salad, Wendy’s looked like a massive piece of steak but by the time she’d cut the fat off it was a little smaller but still very tasty. The meal and the wine was lovely, the little girl was doing my head in!!!
Which raises an interesting question, should the waiter have said something to them, what would Gordon Ramsay say? It didn’t spoil the occasion mind, just more of an annoyance.
After lunch Wendy went back to the van as she was feeling tired and I cycled into town to get some bread. While I was in the supermarket a young, thin fella with a knapsack on his back, a bit scruffy looking, spoke to me, he went on and on. I said I was sorry but I only spoke English. He did a begging motion and asked for Uno Euro! I said, “On your bike mate, I can smell cigarette smoke on your breath”, you can’t be that hard up”.
He got something from an old lady and the last I saw of him was him stuffing a can of pop into his pocket before he left, he didn’t pay for it the bugger. I would have copped him but it would have been another language hassle and no doubt I would have been at fault so I left him to it.
As I set off back on my bike I saw a small ferry coming into the harbour, it looks like there is a shuttle service between here and Spain. It left almost as soon as it arrived. It’s a shame we are away tomorrow as I would like to have done a crossing.
I got back to the van and I caught Missy W snoozing, she wasn’t feeling well so I gave her some pain killers, (I can’t spell paracetamol) and she felt a little better.
Just after 5pm we cycled to the beach to see our last west coast sunset, but we were snookered as the sun was just dipping behind some small clouds on the horizon, well at least we saw the sun go down.
It’s Strictly results night tonight, but I already know who’s out. My mole has told me who was in the dance off and who is out and it’s………………………..???. I haven’t told Wendy as she’d kill me!
Tomorrow we go forward in time, back to Spain where hopefully I can get myself a nice bottle of Brandy to keep this chilly wind at bay!
Caminha - Villamartin
155 Miles
It was even colder this morning than yesterday, 5 degrees. I did toy with puting on a 4th jumper but decided to brave it out on this mornings run. We both ran along the cycle path to take one last look at the Portuguese coast as we are heading inland. Jeepers, my phone kept switching between time zones and I lost track of where the hell I was!!
The temperature had only got to 6 degrees by the time I got back. I think I will regret not buying that very big Portuguese woolly jumper when Wendy bought her poncho!
We set off at 10:30 and we travelled parallel to the river for about 15 miles, through a large valley with the river border to our left. As we got to the first Portuguese village I saw loads of bonfires burning in gardens, and then the same at the next village and the next after that. The smoke created a haze that looked like nuclear fallout and it got at the back of my throat. It was terrible, it looked like a scene that should not happen. The sky was clear and blue but mucky looking with all the smoke.
Surely not everyone in Portugal got out of bed this morning and thought todays the day I burn my leaves, was it?
We got to 20 miles and crossed the river by a large bridge and we were into Spain and officially the Sat Nav clock changed and we are now back again on European time. Its back to darker mornings and sunnier nights, well here’s hoping!
Today we have had the most fantastic journey, we started to climb into mountains after about 25 miles and after 172 miles we are still in the mountains, it’s been amazing!
We have been above the clouds looking down into valleys with a covering of white fluffy cloud. We have been through some very large towns and villages all in the sky. We have been to at least 700 metres high on two occasions and we have not yet gone below 1,000 feet.
It has been tremendous with only one spoiler, we only found one viewing area in which we could enjoy the scenery and take some photographs. Therefore I can only apologise that I couldn’t take you all along with me Avid Readers, but believe me when I say this has been a stonker of a driving experience.
We stopped in a high level village for fuel and the old fella who filled me up could not have been jollier. He told me, in Spanish, that I would be cold in my shorts and that he liked my selection of chocolate bars. He even stopped traffic to allow me to U-turn in the road so I could get back to the main road. I even managed to get a photo behind the filling station and one of the High Street.
We carried on and at about 40 miles from our destination we came across a lovely parking area where Wendy made a welcome cup of coffee and I took a few photographs.
Forty odd minutes later and we were still in the hills and pulling into our campsite which is empty, well apart from us and it’s very nice. We have grass and a very friendly cat who keeps trying to nip into our van.
We took a walk into the village to buy some orange juice, bread and some meat to put into some curry sauce we had frozen from a previous meal. We found the shop but it didn’t open until 5pm so we went walking and found a massive restaurant, hotel come bar across the main road where we made a bee-line for to have a glass of wine to celebrate surviving the Portuguese roads.
This was an interesting place, very nice, very clean and very dark which was all down to the smoked glass windows which probably stop the sun baking the punters on a hot sunny days. But today at 7 degrees at a quarter to five, it just didn’t seem right.
I ordered Dos, Vino Blanco, por for Vor and was duly served with two large glasses, barely filed with any wine. It’s not what we are used to but at least the total cost only came to 2.6 euros. The wine was very good, Wendy said I should have ordered doubles!
We got back to the shop which is called, “Super Susy”. I did mention to Wendy that Susy better live upto her name and boy she did, what a fantastic women.
I got to the shop door just as it opened and a grump old mad was about to come out, I stood aside to let him out and he never looked at me, no eye contact at all, the miserable old bugger.
We went into the shop and found an old fashioned local shop who sold all most everything and nothing really, it was very bizarre.
There were about 5 or 6 really old people who seemed to have difficulty communicating with themselves. I don’t think they were there to shop but just to use the premises as a social occasion. Susy, the lady behind the counter was lovely and just carried on serving customers who wanted provisions.
So as the old people got in the way and looked at us strangely we shopped and bought two pork chops after Wendy impersonating a Spanish speaker with her “Dos Chops” and her pointing at the chops.
I asked Susy if she was Super and she said Si, Si. She had to be, to be able to put up all the madness.
We had a good five minutes of chuckle in the shop, even though we didn’t share a common language we shared a love of fun and as Wendy paid Susy, Susy dropped four small sweeties into Wendy’s shopping bag and gave us a very hardy wave goodbye, it was a great experience.
We walked back to the camp site through the village which is very old fashioned, its like we are back in the Middle Ages, in fact there may be Vampires around tonight!
There is a factory on the outskirts of the village, it’s massive and you can see it for miles around, it looks really out of place in a rural setting. Apparently coal mining was a big industry some years ago but has now declined.
I’m a wee bit concerned about the temperature, as I type this copy Wendy is watching Strictly It Takes Two with Zoe Ball and I can see the temperature is already down to -0.4 degrees, it looks like tomorrows run will be a definite four jumper run!
Villamartin - Candas
133 Miles
I could not get the Walking Dead last night for love nor money, the 3G signal wasn’t strong enough, bummer!
It was cold, I went for a short camp stroll just before bed and frost was beginning to gather on the grass but it was such a beautiful starlit sky with a half-moon showing.
We woke to a temperature of -4.2 outside and 18 in the caravan. I had had the heating on full too, I had to bring the big guns out in the shape of my industrial fan heater, however everything else had to be switched off as the circuit board outside could not take it.
It was indeed a 4 jumper run this morning and it was a fantastic experience. I found a frozen vineyard and I grabbed some grapes and let them warm in my mouth and the juice was lovely and sweat.
I had to shower in the block as the water in the small tank was frozen and the water tap outside was frozen too so we couldn’t fill another barrel, but Wendy said that the water at the shower block was hot and thankfully it was.
I got back to the van and Wendy went to pay for our stay. She came back chuntering under her breath, 24 euros for frozen water and power that won’t run a fan heater, Gggrrrr!!!!! She was fizzing! I must admit it was a bit expensive for what it was, one night in a field, no water, poor electricity, no Wi-Fi and I never even unhooked the van, our stay was that brief.
Never mind off we set and what a fantastic journey we had. Yesterdays was a topper this journey topped that!!!
From leaving camp we never once headed in a downwards direction, it was upwards all the way, but it was a slow journey. The car never failed, it was a steady climb and the temperature only slowly rose above freezing, just a slow degree at a time. We went through quite a few small villages and towns and it was really interesting and we kept going upwards.
We came across a grumpy farmer who was taking his cows up the road, the public road actually! He had a very slow tractor with a bale of hay stuck on an arm at the back and the cows were following it. I had to slowly push the cows out of the way. I did it slowly and very carefully not at all distressing the cows. I gave him a wave as I passed him and his face never cracked at all, his lips must be sealed with super glue or someone had an anti-smiling gun held to his head. Or he must have absolutely no interaction with any other members of the human species and thinks we are all aliens. It’s not his bloody road to use as he likes, it’s an EU road.
Wendy had the altitude app on and our highest point was 1,611 metres which is, 5285 feet!!! Now that is a significant height for the little car to have pulled a caravan over. That is 872 feet higher than Ben Nevis, now that is some height!
We saw snow poles marking the edge of the road and above us on the higher mountains we could see snow, we were truly in a very high place.
Here is a very interesting fact, which I didn’t know:-
Spain is a very mountainous country, it is perhaps most well-known for its sandy beaches, but Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe after Switzerland, and climbing to the top of some of the country’s highest peaks will reward you with the most spectacular sights ever.
And it did, it really was a brilliant experience.
We have travelled over 230 miles at heights above 1,000 feet. To put that in perspective, the distance from my home town, Barnsley, to Wendy’s Mums, on the Isle of Sheppey is exactly 230 miles which makes this journey a truly amazing experience.
However the road down was like an Alpine Pass, with steep gradients and hair pin bends. It took us an age to get down, slowly and carefully. No other cars passed us until we got to more populated areas near the bottom and I must admit I was a bit worried about the brakes during one particular section but we managed it.
Had we done this journey from the other direction I would not have done it as it was far too steep from the downward side. It actually reminded me of the road to Applecross which does exactly the same, slow rising over a long distance with a very quick drop on the other side.
We got to the bottom and I found some rough, flat ground to safely pull over where we had a lovely cup of coffee and a much deserved ham sandwich!
Along the route at the bottom we came across some very unusual and old buildings. They were built on stilts of stone and were made from wood. We even saw one for sale.
They were truly outstanding structures and we had a difference of opinion as to their use. I thought they were old living quarters that people now used for storage as some looked lived in. Wendy thought they were for some kind of food storage. We chatted it through but we never came to any agreement. There were many wonderful looking ones but I couldn’t get a photograph due to traffic and it’s not easy to park when you have a 21 foot caravan.
In the end I thought bugger it, Avid Reader has a right to know, so I stopped in the road and took a snap. The one I have is a large and well preserved structure, but we saw all shapes and sizes and the most common thing is they all seemed very old.
We continued on and at about 20 miles from our intended site we got onto the motorway which took us almost to the door of the site.
Now this site is a cracker, we are on the North Atlantic side of Spain and our plot has a toe in the Bay of Biscay.
We were checked in by a smashing young man and I showed him the photo of the strange buildings and he gave us a full and detailed explanation of what they were used for.
Food Storage!!!!!!!!!
They are on stone pillars with stone toppers, this is because even though mice can climb the stone pillars they cannot negotiate around the stone toppers. He also says they are now protected and that’s why I think some have been converted to living accommodation, we even saw one with plumbing, but of course now Wendy is being a smarty pants and keeps telling me she was right all along!
After we had made camp we cycled to town, and it’s really nice with a smashing harbour which has an inner and outer harbour. The town is quite nice too but it started to rain so after we got our shopping we headed back, and then the rain really came lashing down.
But I didn’t care, I have had hot dogs for supper and a lovely tasting cream bun. I have watched the latest episode of the Walking Dead and I have seen my little area of the Bay of Biscay enter darkness as its beaten with rain, life couldn’t be any happier!
Candas
No Traveling
Jeepers did it rain in the night, it chucked it down! And as I got up at 06:30 it started again and there was no way in this world that Wendy Gill was going to get out of her scratcher to go running, so I went out on my own. I was subjected to light showers most of the time and got back relatively unscathed and as I got in the van it poured down again, I had survived a close shave.
Wendy put some washing on and I had a late breakfast with lashings of hot coffee. I had plenty to occupy me, I had several restaurant reviews to complete and we needed to do some future site planning so the rain didn’t bother me.
I didn’t actually shower until 11:30 and I went over to the shower block where again I had a lucky weather escape as it chucked it down again but this time with hail stones.
More coffee was required and we waited a little longer for a suitable break so we could take a walk.
Thankfully we got one, the sky was bleak, very bleak actually behind us but out to sea where the weather was coming from it did start to clear so we nipped out, all wrapped up.
We found a walkway to a very high point with modern art along its path, it was s**t, I really mean that. Who on earth thought wasting money on that nonsense was a good idea. It was that bad I have spared my readers from having to see it. If I was a local of the town I would have dashed off a strongly worded letter of objection.
I toyed with going for a tapas meal but nothing seemed open, Wendy looked at a shoe shop again, considering some shoes she liked, maybe wedding shoe contenders but she discounted them on the basis of height of heel. I honestly did not know women had so many issues to contend with being mother of the bride!
I came up with a good idea, as I usually do, homemade tapas, in the caravan, all cooked or prepared by me.
Here is the selection:
Prawns Cocktail
Pan Fried Salmon
Olives
Creamy Camembert Cheese
Pan Fried Whole Garlic Mushrooms
Crab Meat in a Salubrious Sauce
Side Salad
Bread
Lightly Pan Fried Rare Fillet Steak ala Roumday
Fuetcasero Sausage Meat, (Nicely Sliced)
An Appropriate Selection of Cold Meat
Chilled White Wine
I cannot tell you enough how delightful a feast it was, all eaten under the beautiful sea of the Bay of Biscay, which is currently wild and running like a demon.
Which leads me onto one of my life time ambitions, I have always wanted to take a cruise through the Bay of Biscay. This is one of the world’s roughest seas but alas I would never get Wendy Ann Gill to agree to such a journey as she is such a scardy cat!
Here’s a few facts about the Bay of Biscay:
Parts of the continental shelf extend far into the bay, resulting in fairly shallow waters in many areas and thus the rough seas for which the region is known. The Bay of Biscay is home to some of the Atlantic Ocean’s fiercest weather. Large storms occur in the bay, especially during the winter months. Up until recent years it was a regular occurrence for merchant vessels to founder in Biscay storms.
On April 12, 1970, Soviet submarine K-8 sank in the Bay of Biscay due to a fire that crippled the sub's nuclear reactors. An attempt to save the sub failed, resulting in the death of forty sailors and the loss of four nuclear torpedoes. Due to the great depth (15,000 feet), no salvage operation was attempted.
And that’s why Wendy will never let me fulfil my long time desire!
As I cooked supper we watched a film on Sky TV, it was a wedding film about a man who had no friends to call on to be his best man. He tried a long process to find one and eventually he did but it wasn’t an easy process and both me and Wendy, as the rain began to beat the van again, chuckled all the way through it, it was very funny.
And that’s been our day today.
It’s been a rainy, windy day with not much of a let up and we have had a lovely relaxing day, a lovely walk and a very exceptional meal. It’s been our first bad day in over 60 days of travel so I don’t think we have done too badly. We both expected much worse.
Wendy has just started the second half of the tapas and as commenced one of her famous grazing sessions, it’s all laid out in front of her and she’s as happy as Larry.
I must admit I have a wee concern about moving the van in the morning as the ground is very, very wet but I’ll get us out come what may.
Candas - Lordeo
138 Miles
Yet more rain through the night and again Wendy Gill would not get out of her scratcher for love nor money. I went running alone and I was OK for the first 4 miles but during the second 4 the rain came, steady at first then it was torrential. I was fine but my jacket did take a leak at some point. I got back to camp, soaked.
But I was successful in my mission which was to find some sturdy hardboard for me to put under the jockey wheel of the caravan to stop its sinking into the sodden ground. I had two good sized pieces so they should do the trick.
I had breakfast and decamped, I used the hardboard and got out of the worst of the mud without sinking and causing damage to the grass. I hooked everything up and went for a shower and thankfully it stayed dry throughout the procedure.
We set off just after 11:00 for Llane, about 60 miles along the coast, and the Sat Nav took us along a toll free section of motorway and it was fine. We intended to stay one night at an open all year campsite and explore the area around Llane as it’s supposed to be very beautiful. However when we got there the site was closed, it bloody would be wouldn’t it! Had we known we would have stayed one more night in Candas.
We carried onto Santander but stopped in a small town for a bite to eat as we were both starving.
Spain is an exceptionally mountainous country which I think I might already have stated in a previous report and the motorway went over very high passes and through some very long tunnels. All around us were high mountains and they were very well dusted with snow, I would never have thought that but at sea level the temperature was only 6 degrees so I guess it was entirely possible.
Off we set again and we landed it our camp site at just after 3:30pm and we were checked in by a lovely young women called Annie who tried her best to get us some discount from the 27 euro a night price, but alas she could not. She’s new, she’s only been there a few weeks and she told us that she thought it was too expensive especially as the site next door charges 5 euros a night less, but sadly they are now closed. She won’t last long with a nice attitude like that.
The sites fine, we seem to be the only ones around, the electric is good with no tripping issues but the Wi-Fi is extremely poor and Wendy is pulling her hair out with its poor performance. “27 euros a night” she keeps huffing under her breath as she watches the buffering wheel spin on her IPad!
It’s pretty much rained on and off all day, very heavily and it is absolutely pouring down at this very minute, the rain is so hard I can hardly hear the radio!
After a coffee we went for a walk along the beach, but not for long as more rain was coming in.
We wanted to come to Santander as it is supposed to be a beautiful city with a lot of stunning beaches. It’s situated on the west side of a massive bay and we are about 10 miles away on the opposite side of the bay. It looks a big place as we can see it from our beach. There are also a couple of small islands in the bay as well.
After our short walk we nipped out in the car to get some bread. I found some in a small deli and I also found a bar of chocolate which I thought Wendy would like. It’s a thick bar with a centre of hard mousse with a Cointreau flavour, so I got it for her as a treat.
Supper was yesterday’s tapas leftover knock up which was lovely, and then it came to me, Wendy hadn’t found the chocolate bar even though it was in the same bag as the bread.
So after supper I told her about it and the wrapper was off in an instant. Above the rain, and the radio all I could hear was squeals of delight and ecstasy from Wendy as she devoured the bar. She actually said, “This is the kind of chocolate I could eat until I am sick”. More brownie points for me I guess then.
It’s still pouring down, but its dry, warm and lovely in the caravan, the Wi-Fi might be crap but it’s the 30th of the month and I have 8.5 Gbs of data left and I’ll lose it at midnight so I guess I’ll have to trawl Sky movies for something to watch to run it down, well there’s worse things that happen at sea, isn’t there Avid Reader!
Lordeo
No Traveling
I managed to watch Apollo 13 last night but it was hard going and I had to have my ear phones in to keep out the noise of the rain pounding the top of the caravan. Jeepers it was relentless!!!
I got to bed just after 10pm and Wendy was fast asleep and I nodded off nice and easily. Then at some point in the night the wind picked up and the rain got even heavier. It must have been force 10, the caravan was rocking on its legs, in fact at one point I think two of the legs were off the ground. I bet that Bay of Biscay was tossing and turning what with all that wind.
I could tell Wendy was scared as she was snuggling me out of bed.
I asked her when she woke up this morning if she was scared and she said, “Caravans blow over you know”, “Yes”, I said, “But only in Hurricanes Wend!”
I didn’t actually get up until 08:30 as we had such a noisy night and guess what, Wendy never got out of her scratcher again to go running.
Me, I wrapped up good and proper with an extra waterproof jacket, a scarf and I even Vaseline’d my legs good and proper as I was expecting a drenching but thankfully apart from a five minute hail storm I got off scot free.
When I got back Wendy was huffing and puffing again as the internet was out. I guess the storm has had an effect on it.
For breakfast I toasted a pitta bread and then put on it a good dollop of Vegemite topped with Creamy Camembert cheese topped with emmental cheese, popped it back under the grill and then ate it with lashings of soya sauce. Jeepers it was a triple delight!
We set off just after midday for our first port of call, Lidl, where we stocked up on Cava for Wendy who for some reason wants to start a fizz hoard.
12 bottles later we were on our way, with one extra bottle for sample purposes.
Next we headed to the city of Santander as we have heard very good things about it, and it didn’t disappoint.
It was cold but the wind had calmed down a bit and we were wrapped up. We parked near the docks and walked into the city as it wasn’t very far.
What an interesting place it was, it wasn’t great from an architectural point of view. There weren’t many old buildings or monuments. But there were heaps of good shops, cloths shops, bric a brac shops, electrical shops, the lot really but mainly cloths and wedding dress shops. I must have seen a half dozen wedding shops, it must be the bridal capital of Spain!!!
We walked and walked and even with the odd rain shower chucked in we had a very good time.
We stopped for a cup of coffee and a bit of cake in a café on the ground floor of a metal building which was on the sea wall. The coffee was the best I have had this trip, it was so good I had two cups.
After coffee we continued to stroll and did a bit of shopping.
I bought: A jumper, a pair of gloves, a woolly hat and an umbrella.
Wendy bought some minor Christmas pressies.
We completed proceedings just after 5pm and headed back to the car and off home we went but not before filling the car with fuel at 98 pence a litre!
When we were about 2 miles from camp I went down to a small harbour because I wanted to check something out. The bay of Santander is quite large and it’s a 16 mile trip around it for us to get into the city but I have seen a ferry running from our side over to town. Sure enough the ferry operates from this harbour and apparently it’s an interesting trip. Therefore we are going to spend another night here and catch the ferry tomorrow and explore the area to the west of where we have been today, well that’s the intention, but we will have to see what the weather is like.
I have to admit to a driving mistake whilst trying to find the ferry kiosk. Robyn was phoning my phone, then it stopped and Wendy is then scrambling in her bag as her phone was going. I saw a gap in the fence, (and I was somewhat distracted), and it looked like a car park so I drove through it and over a pavement, and scrapped the bottom of the car, a bit. Well the way Wendy reacted you would think we were under attack from an artillery bombardment. I had driven into a nice paved seated area and it was nothing like a car park. I had to scrape the bottom away again as I made my escape with Wend tut, tutting as I did so.
We got back to the van just in time as the heavens opened with a massive hail storm, it was like we were under attack from a stone throwing mob, the noise was that loud. I have some video of it but I don’t think the iPhone video does the noise justice.
Supper was down to me, chicken thighs, mushrooms, sweetcorn, onion, peppers and garlic in a sweet and sour sauce that I got from a shop in town. There was that much sauce we had it in bowls with some lovely fresh bread and it was a cracking winter warmer, stonking in fact. Maybe a little too much garlic, I only put two cloves in but they seem to be so strong on the Continent don’t you know, it might be a thirsty night as well as noisy!
We cracked open the bottle of sample Cava and it was very nice indeed.
We settled down to watch Strictly it Takes Two and after that we will soon be off to bed, I’d like to be an early bird tonight so I can get some good exploring in tomorrow!
Lordeo
No Traveling
We had a good night’s sleep last night as we didn’t get any more rain, thankfully.
I was up at 07:00 and I was off running just as the sky had become light enough and would you believe for the first time in 4 days Wendy Gill had climbed from her bed and claimed she was going running too.
I got back just a little after Wendy who had indeed gone out and got caught in the same hailstorm as I did. Hail is a bugger as it can be very painful against your legs and face.
I was just taking my trainers off when Wendy went over to the shower block but she was back within two minutes, cursing that there was no hot water. “27 euros, crap Wi-Fi and no hot water” she chuntered. She was not a happy bunny. The office wasn’t open either so we couldn’t complain to anyone there. So it was hot showers in the caravan then, but not before I had topped up our water tank.
After breakfast we headed for the 11:30 ferry, except that it was a Saturday and the ferry didn’t run until 12:00, we should learn to read Spanish as it was clearly stated on the timetable we had picked up!!! It was OK as we had time to find a supermarket and stock up with supplies so we didn’t waste any time really and that also meant we wouldn’t have to carry them around Santander, a blessing in disguise then!
The ferry came bang on time and we hopped aboard. It cost (9.9 euros for two return tickets which I didn’t think was too bad. The crossing was calm as the inner Bay area, as big as it is, is protected by a long spit that comes right over the bay from our side and a very narrow entrance to the Atlantic Ocean. So it can be raging in the Bay of Biscay, which we later found it was, but it was calm and steady on the Bay itself.
The crossing took less than 25 minutes but as we landed we could see a very big black cloud coming in our direction so we headed over to the metal building for a coffee to let it pass over, we barely made it before the heavens opened, it chucked it down.
Apparently the weather in Santander is not dissimilar to that of the UK and has much less sunshine than other Spanish Cities and much, much more rain. It has the same sunlight average yearly hours as London and it doesn’t get very hot in summer and has much wetter summers too. But it is such a lovely city to be in.
As the rain cleared we walked along the Bay and all the way over to the Atlantic side where the sea was churning away in the wild wind and it was giving the rocks and the sea wall a right good thumping. It was a really interesting walk and we saw some beautiful beaches along the way.
We walked back along a road which was accessed by some steps as the city is a little like San Francisco in so much as when you move from the seaside area your climbing pretty steeply. There are even travellators on some side streets to help people get up them.
From this road we had much better views across the Bay and some of the housing was out of this world.
We got back to the city and we walked in areas we didn’t do yesterday and it was really interesting.
What I found interesting was the housing was mostly all high rise tenement like buildings, there were thousands of them. I would hate to be in the Fire Service here as there are an awful lot of stairs to climb with your gear on!
After six miles we had had enough so we sought out a small bar near the ferry terminal and what a find, it was a cracker.
There were only five or six people in and we settled into, me a small beer and Wendy a glass of white wine. The barmaid was alone and she couldn’t be much older than 20 years old, she was a really dark skinned, very pretty girl, she looked so typically Spanish. We were sat on the bar stools on a small wall bar opposite the main bar and the barmaid gave us some bread and cheese, quite a bit actually which I scoffed as Wendy doesn’t eat cheese. Then the bar maid gave me a huge bowl of finger food stuff, kind of cheese wrapped in breadcrumbs, and fish in breadcrumbs, boy they were tasty.
We had 30 minutes to wait for the next ferry so we had a top up and I saw some tempting fishy tapas so I bought one to share with Wendy. Then the barmaid gave me some more tapas, these were slices of cheese, ham and potatoes, like a Spanish omelette, again it was smashing. I asked the barmaid if she was trying to make me fat, she chuckled. I think I might just settle here and make this bar my regular!
We caught the ferry back and were home by just turned 4pm, both of us knackered!
But as we are moving tomorrow we had to do some chores, like tidy the car and stash all the wine and beer we have bought so it doesn’t rattle.
More rain followed but that was OK as we were all snug and warm in the caravan, without decent Wi-Fi, she’s not a happy bunny. That was until I did some 3G testing to ensure that Strictly Dancing will be available later tonight, she's feeling a bit better now as it works a treat!
I’m worried for Gemma tonight, so I’ll be sneaking the outcome in the morning from my very well placed spy in the audience.
We were going to have Carpaccio followed by some tasty looking chicken pieces and salad, but I was stuffed still from my afternoon treats, so it was just the chicken then, with no bread!!!
Well what a Strictly night we had, what a beauty. I did think Jemma did better that the judges thought and I thought Alexandria wasn’t as good, but there you go.
Wendy isn’t very well tonight, I think she’s over tired so I am doing a bit of pampering, like getting her a hot toddy in her bed.
I’m sure she will be fine tomorrow, I think it’s all just catching up on her as Granddad Bryan says, often!
Lordeo – Santander
17 Miles
The rain came again in the night, at about 04:00 making a right old racket on the caravan roof. I woke up, popped in my ear plugs and dozed off back to sleep. I woke at 06:45, quite excited as today is the day we leave Spain, via car ferry from Santander to Portsmouth, a total journey of 29 hours.
I put this travel option to Wendy a few weeks ago in the Algarve, my reasoning was that I thought we most likely won’t come back to Portugal with the caravan, the roads are terrible and the drivers are obnoxious. Therefore if we take the ferry from Northern Spain we can make the most of our time and see as much of Portugal as we can and not have to dash through France through quite likely bad weather.
We haven’t told anyone about our change of plan as I wanted to save this news for my very Avid Readers, it’s a kind of Sky News Breaking News event. Actually I couldn’t believe that I would be able to persuade Wendy to do the trip, through the most treacherous stretch of water around these parts.
For the last week Wendy has been glued to the Shipping Forecast, it was quite rough a few days ago but she is content now as it’s easing off and we should have a steady trip. It’s been a big ambition of mine to do this sea route and doing it in winter is the icing on the cake.
We both went running, the temperature was only 4 degrees but at least the rain kept off and soon after we got back and showered we were on our way to the port. We could check in and leave the car at the port and go for a stroll around Santander, which we did.
We found a couple of new things, one that they have umbrellas for their washing when its out on the wall hanger and two, a nice old market which is now a place bustling with bars and diners, wow, what a find. Three, a man who was powering a children’s carousel by bicycle, and do you know he had the kids loving it, high fiving them as they went around him. This was a man content in his work, it was a delight to see.
I manged to buy two very nice looking bottles of red wine and a bottle of Bacardi which at the price I paid was a very good result. We also stopped in my favourite bar for one last drink before we left.
The young barmaid wasn’t there today, I think it was the bar owner who served us and he gave us a very delicious toasted ham and egg sarnie with a very lovely mayonnaise sauce. He did charge me £1.80 for it mind when I went to pay, but it was actually very good value.
From there we went back to the caravan in time for boarding.
We were boarded in no time at all, although I did meet an obnoxious deck hand who must get very frustrated with stupid drivers. But his mate should make his intentions clear, I’m not getting on that well with my mind reading capabilities these days.
Our cabin wasn’t quite ready so we sat in the small bar and waited with our bags. I did a quick reconnoitre of the ship and its very nice, quite clean and very well presented with a very good restaurant and bar and by the time I got back our cabin was ready.
After settling in I gave Wendy a tour of the ship and then we settled down in our cabin with a glass of wine awaiting our departure. No sooner as we had opened the bottle and I could hear the engines getting louder so without further ado we went out on deck taking our bottle of wine with us to watch us depart this beautiful city, and it was raining!
But that didn’t stop us, so with glass in hand we marvelled as the city slowly slipped away, and darkeness fell.
We saw a small boat take a man off, he appeared to have been a pilot, but I would have thought that a ferry Captain, one that runs the route as often as they must do shouldn’t need one. Perhaps the Captain is new, or perhaps it’s a harbour requirement. It didn’t look a tricky harbour and it was a reasonably high tide too. I’ll have to put it down to one of those mysteries.
It was a wonderful moment, out there on the deck, cold, windy but marvellous and the sea was flat calm, DAM!
We were out, on our own for at least an hour and we saw the north Spanish mainland slowly fall into darkness.
After some small talk in our cabin we went upto the restaurant for supper, and do you know what, it was lovely. It was a bit cafeteria type food but tasty all the same. I had roast lamb, mash and peas, Wendy had something pork, with big chunks of pork too. We sat and had it on the port side with the Bay of Biscay slipping quietly by.
It’s a no go for Strictly tonight, the Wi-Fi is pretty poor and I’m wondering if I will be able to post my copy tonight. Never mind it will be the first time we have missed it after all this traveling, so we haven’t done too badly. I know who is out anyway, and I am not happy, I’m not happy at all.
I’ll leave you to it tonight Avid Reader, I’m going to have to go to the bar and try to log on, I think I’ll get the copy out but you might have to wait for photos later.
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more of Wendy’s night at Sea!!!
Santander - Portsmouth
710 Miles
We had a lovely nights sailing last night, not a ripple on the ocean! And I found Wendy Gill wide awake in her bunk at 04:00 playing with her iPad like a naughty girl, she couldn’t sleep!
We eventually got settled and I woke again around 07:00 and got dressed, had breakfast and then went for a walk on the open deck. I have been running my walking app to map our voyage and it seems to be working very well. At 12:00 we had completed 479 miles of the 532 mile journey so we have almost covered about 84% of the total mileage but yet we have another 9 hours to do. I have checked my app against the electronic chart that is on in reception and my app is accurate with that. We do seem to have slowed down a little but why would they want to delay our journey, or do all ships have to slow down in the English Channel, I don’t know?
I got back to the cabin after 30 minutes on deck where I saw the coast of France when we were passing Brest. I did my run, on the spot while Wendy sat and doodled. It’s now day 740 of my 1,000 day running challenge and although I still have a sore leg, it’s well past its most painful phase. I have been using a thigh support for the last few weeks and it seems to help.
After I had a quick shower Wendy knocked up a lovely breakfast of carpaccio which we had with bread and a nice hot cup of coffee.
Here are a few facts about out ferry:
Name: Baie De Seine
Gross Tonnage: 22,382 tonnes
Length: 199.4 metre
Beam: 25.6 metre
Cruising Speed: 22 knots
Passengers: 600
Crew: 30
It was Trevor’s funeral today, 11:30 at Barnsley Crematorium. I missed it by one day, had it been tomorrow I would have driven through the night to get there but it just wasn’t possible.
During the afternoon we sat in the bar area, both bar areas actually and desperately tried to log onto the Wi-Fi, but all we got was extreme frustration, Wendy was not happy about it!
We went back to the cabin for an hour, but not before Wendy got lost. She was absolutely rubbish with her bearings aboard the ship. Every time she moved she got lost, she’d go down the wrong stairs, through the wrong doors and onto the wrong deck. She actually was following me out of the bar and left me and went through the restaurant before stopping and standing on the spot looking totally confused, I thought what is she doing?
I had a nap and then a cup of coffee and sarnie with Wendy and then we went on deck looking for Blighty, but it wasn’t there so we sat down in the small bar where I managed to get online with my laptop. But we couldn’t get anything with our Apple Devices, try as we did we just could not get on.
I must admit, cruising in winter isn’t much fun, the only people you occasionally see on deck are smokers or dog walkers, no one else ever ventures out.
By 18:00 cabin fever had set in, we had been in every nook and cranny of this ship, inside and outside and still we were 3 hours from docking. Looking at my app we were approaching the Isle of Wight but I could still see the lights of Cherbourg in the distance and still no sign on Blighty.
By this time we had done 627 miles according to my app which makes the official distance somewhat inaccurate. If we have 532 nautical miles to do and we are cruising at 22 knots then the voyage should take just over 24 hours, not the 29 it is taking. I got the official distance from the lady at Reception, I’m now beginning to question it.
At 19:00 we nipped upto the restaurant for some super and we both had lamb curry, it could have done with being a bit warmer but the meat was really tasty. We didn’t really need the food but it gave us something to do and it will keep us going for our ling drive tonight.
We then sat in the bar with our drinks, Wendy with wine, me with sparkling water and up popped the O2 network on my phone, we must have been in earshot of the Isle of Wight so we nipped out onto the deck and sure enough there she was.
We were ready and packed by the time we were asked to leave our cabins, about 30 minutes before departure so we sat nicely in the children’s play area. However fate had two last laughs on us, the first we were 35 minutes late due to the port being busy and second, the ships ramp wouldn’t fully lower and had to have some attention, never mind we were home.
The drive over to Kent was a synch but finding a place to rest took a little time as I wasn’t too keen to park anywhere with the amount of stuff we have in the car, so we choose the Leas on the Isle of Sheppey which was perfect until cars started roaring past us at 06:30. I therefore moved the van a little further down the road onto some waste ground whilst leaving Wendy all tucked up in bed.
Portsmouth – Isle of Sheppey
Isle of Sheppey - Iwade
138 Miles & 10 Miles
After breakfast we left Sheppey at just before 09:00 and we were camped in Iwade with Mrs Jenkins by 10:30, all set and in reasonably favourable weather without any rain.
Mrs Jenkins is a member of the Caravan Club and offers space for no more than five caravans so we get the site almost to ourselves, we can chat with our neighbours or we can keep ourselves to ourselves, it all depends on the neighbours.
Mrs Jenkins met us at the gate and apologised profusely for having her curlers in, having been brought up with my Mam in Barnsley I have absolutely no problem with women in curlers!
After set up we went for coffee with Granny and Grandad and it was nice to catch up with them and hear how things are going.
Wendy went for a short run and I went out along the sea wall at Queenborough, Blue Town and the docks.
The Town area of Sheppey is steeped in history, both Naval and Aircraft and it is reputed that Lord Nelson had secret liaisons with Lady Hamilton in Sheerness, how dashing.
After showering we nipped over to see Andy, Mocca and Pablo the dog at Holingbourne which was very nice as it was Andy’s 54th birthday, the old git! I was placed under excessive pressure to have a glass of wine with him and duly did my duty with a very nice glass of Moccas finest.
We went back to the site to pay our camp fees to Mrs Jenkins but she wasn’t in. The issue is we were going to stay for at least 2 nights but a storm warning has been issued for Northern Scotland, Storm Caroline is coming and very cold weather is following it so we have no option to go a day early. The problem is towing the caravan, had we not had that I would happily have risked it, but it’s too dangerous with it.
We then went back to Granny’s for some very nice chicken wrapped in bacon and vegetables comprising mash, brussel sprouts, carrots and cabbage. It was a delight, I was even pressured into second helpings but thankfully Ian saved me and took the leftovers for Karen who is unfortunately poorly with a very bad cold.
We did nip upto see Karen, she’s feeling a bit better but has had it rough, I prescribed my well tried remedy, rum, a bottle of rum will ease any cold. It won’t cure it but you will feel an awful lot better. Whiskey on the other hand is good for issues of the body, like pain and injury, but rum will sort you for cold and flu, well that’s my advice!
Back at camp we prepared, as best we can, for the big journey tomorrow and hopefully we will get back before Caroline strikes.
This is the penultimate copy Avid Reader, stay tuned as there is one more day of this epic European Adventure to come, hopefully it will end safely, and with an England win in Australia!
Iwade - Home
663 Miles
What a journey, it’s now 03:30, but more of that later.
I had a lovely sleep and woke at 07:00 and put the radio on to hear the Cricket score but alas it was all over, England had lost.
With nothing further to do we both went for a run and both went the wrong way taking the road upto Ridum Docks by accident, realising our mistake we turned around and went along the old Sheppey Crossing which was extremely busy with cars.
After breakfast and a shower we hooked up the caravan in an attempt to beat Storm Caroline by going home a day early and left Iwade at around 11:00.
We went over to Maidstone and along the M20 & M26 so we could go around the M25 via Heathrow so we would miss the Dartford Tunnel which was very busy the day before.
We then picked up the M40 and the M42 before getting onto the M6.
All was well until we hit roadworks around junction 16 and then we crawled for about 50 miles which was purgatory!!!
People were swapping lanes left right and centre which only increase peoples braking which has a knock on effect for those following behind. We must have been stationary for about half an hour due to this effect.
We got going again when we were above Manchester and then we saw a horrific crash on the south bound carriageway, which had stopped the traffic on that side. Thankfully it didn’t bother us too much.
We got going again and the traffic thinned out as we hit the Lake District. By this time we had stopped once at a service station for fuel but has I was having a bit of trouble with the vans lights so I stopped at the services at Carlisle to sort them out and noticed the wind had picked up.
It had picked up and by the time we got to Scotland it was blowing the van around a bit. I was thinking we might have to stay at the Caravan Club site in Glasgow, but the further north we got it eased a little so we carried on.
The temperature at midnight in Perth was 13 degrees and it was windy again.
It chucked it down with rain coming up the A9 but it stopped when we got to Inverness, thankfully.
Brad had put the heating on for us so we were nice and warm after I had the van settled on the drive and at 03:30 we were in our jimjams and having a small drink to celebrate getting home safely.
Our total mileage for the trip in the car was 4,313 miles, of which 1,489 of that was done in the UK and 2,824 on the Continent. Overall, including the Channel Tunnel and the car ferry we did an impressive 5,045 miles.
Our fuel consumption was good but we did pay about £825 in diesel. The car drove like a dream and that’s all thanks to our mechanic Martin who gave her a full service just before we left.
We have had a fantastic time Avid Reader, I hope you’ve enjoyed it too, see you next trip!
so here we are in playa de cura after a very uneventful flight. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves...our journey started yesterday and turned out to be not so uneventful.
We left home in good time to pick Caroline up from dunblane where she had left brad on the train. We popped into ikea and picked up a few bits for the wedding decorations and then headed off to Glasgow to our hotel which David had booked for us to stay in over night ready for our flight the next morning.hmmm
Sooo...we go to the Normandy hotel and we’re all pretty tired and looking forward to relaxing and maybe having a glass of wine or two...
..at reception it’s very busy..there’s a rod Stewart tribute act on..the hotel is buzzing.
They don’t have a reservation for us tonight!!! But! We are booked in for TOMORROW night!
No words
The holiday inn at Glasgow airport is great. We got up and just had to walk across the road to airport.
So here we are in playa de cura....
Andres, our air bnb host met us off the transfer bus and he was lovely!
The apartment is great! Very well placed and has everything we need.
We were starving!
We unpacked and walked down to the spar supermarket and got a few essentials. Robyn cooked up a yummy ‘tapas’ meal.
After our meal we decided to go for a walk,so headed off in the direction of the beach. We walked along as far as the amadoras beach and then turned for home. We got as far as the ‘octopus bar’and decided to stop for a glass of wine. It was really busy as there was live music on. We ordered a bottle of vina sol..which was too sweet for Caroline..and drank it fairly quickly as it was feeling a bit chilly by now.
We got back to the apartment ate chocolate,drank wine, and night night xxx
after a good nights sleep we were all up and ready to go for a run around 7:30 this morning.
Robyn and myself ran through to puerta rico..5 miles.. and Caroline ran around playa de cura.
After we had all showered we headed off down to the beach calling at the spar to fil our hyper dino bag with goodies!
We got settled on the playa de cura beach but although Robyn was quite happy there, me and Caroline weren’t! The sand is black and wet and hard to lie on. So I went for a walk to see if anyone was on the ‘forbidden beach’. There were a few people on there so we ‘decamped’ and headed over there ourselves. It’s a much nicer beach with golden sand,but we tried to put the newly acquired beach brolly up to shade Caroline and it kept getting taken by the wind. Anyway we decided to stay until around 2:pm then we went back to our apartment and again tried to put a sun brolly up and again the wind got the better of us! So Caroline settled in her chair in the shade of the building whilst we set our beds out in the sun.
Around 5ish after we had al showered we walked along the path to Puerto Rico. We went straight to the seahorse bar and ordered a jug of sangria and tapas for 3. What we actually got was tapas for 13 and a bill to match!!
We walked back as far as amadores beach and then got a taxi back to the apartment. The taxi dropped us outside the spar..so we popped in and picked up some wine.
Back at the apartment we had a small nightcap and then to bed. Night night xx
Today I had a wee lie in, and Robyn woke me up at 0715 eager for our run. It was still dark but as soon as it was light enough all three of us headed off for our daily exercise. Caroline invented a new route around the resort, while Robyn and I headed for our usual track into Puerto Rico. We remembered to pop a fiver in our shoe today to have a water pit stop, which was welcome after last nights garlicky meal - but did little to improve Robyn’s pace.
Once we had all abluted in double time, Robyn marched us sharpish over the path to Puerto Rico to get the ferry over to Mogan for the morning. Jeepers was the pace fast, but she did reward us on board with a glass of Sauvignon. The ferry was lovely and breezy, and on departure we headed straight for the shops. I bought a nice new top in my favourite Spanish boutique, then we moseyed back down to the harbour to take in lunch at the yellow bar - sandwiches and sangria all round.
It became apparent that the clouds were here for the day, so we slowly set foot for the spar to get provisions for tonight’s dinner - Caroline’s creation. We then wandered down to the port to catch the return ferry, arriving back in a still cloudy Puerto Rico. We headed to the shopping centre for a stroll around mango, where Robyn picked up a lovely new dress - boy did she look delightful. At this point we were pooped so we walked upstairs to settle in to a jug of sangria. This was unsuccessful, and after five minutes of waiting to be served we decamped and headed for the shore to try our chances there.
Our luck was in and we settled in to a table on the sand to take in our afternoon dose of sangria. Buoyed by our alcoholic intake, we decided to Caroline’s disdain that we would be strolling home. Off we plodded, via spar to collect the evenings beverages, clocking up 27,333 steps in total for the day.
We were three sleepy girls, but after some R & R (and homemade bruschetta) we were revived and Caroline set about making a lovely paella for us all - chicken, chorizo and prawnies. It was scrumptious and we all had a smidge too much, but we’ll run it off tomorrow. It was all washed down with lashings of lovely cava sangria - we know how to hen!
That’ll be us for the night, a couple more wines and bedtime - but only after Robyn makes us watch a rocket launch on her phone!
We started our day in the usual routine, off for our plod a wee bit later than planned!
We casually readied ourselves for a day of sunbathing but we soon realiesed the clouds were getting in our way, so off we set for coffee and cake. We walked up to the gastronomy centre in amadores, but apparently it is only open for evening meals. We strolled back down the hill to find coffee and cake at a shore front restaurant. Caroline and I had cheesecake and Robyn was forced to have strawberry cake as there was a shortage of cheesecake - turns out she had the yummiest.
After this the sun came out so we had an afternoon of cava sangria by the pool, however our enjoyment was short lived, and the rain soon found us. We whiled away a few hours at the local bar with a bottle of wine, before heading back for a knock together din dins.
The storm is still brewing but it’s bed time for us, fingers crossed for sunshine tomorrow!
Today was a cloudy start, so we had a wee bit of a lie in before setting off for our runs around 0815. We all went as far as amadores before splitting up, and Robyn and I did our usual plod into Puerto Rico. The sun was on our backs as we returned, so we settled down mid morning for a day out by the pool. It was breezy, but we got a good few hours of sunshine which was very welcome.
We started to get peckish, so Caroline and Robyn went for supplies, returning with pizza, prawn salad ingredients and plenty of wine.
We pizza-d by the pool, then dozed off until the clouds returned. I had everyone dressed and ready sharpish for a walk into amadores, where we enjoyed sangria with the sunset in Solimar bar. Robyn had some bad car news, but she is used to that by now, and entertainment was a group of very drunk Scandinavian ladies at the table opposite.
We settled our bill and enjoyed a free honey rum - which Caroline and Robyn spilled but kindly had refilled..they are sooo clumsy!
We strolled back to a lovely sunset, and are now readying ourselves to go out for a nice meal at the restaurant we stopped at last night for wine.I will ask everyone to remember what they have and add on my return...
Evening - we have just returned from El Cafe in the square, which was delicious. We shared garlic hot prawn dish and bruschetta, then for mains Caroline and Robyn had sirloin with mushroom and onion and I had a tuna steak, all accompanied with carnarian potatoes, red mojo and piles of salad. A bottle of dry white wine to wash it down and we were happy as pigs in mud.
We rolled up the hill home, and are now sat with a glass of wine and creme egg, planning tomorrows adventure.
we had a late start today. I could not get the girls out of bed!
When I finally got them moving, Caroline said she wasn’t running today because her stomach wasn’t feeling good.
So Robyn and myself set off for our 5 miler. We mixed it up a bit by going up and down the amadores pier and not going around the Puerto Rico beach. Today I let Robyn go ahead of me, I’m sure she’s tired of trying to keep up!!( also,I had legs of lead this morning).
Caroline did a bit of google research and we concluded her tummy is upset because we’ve possibly OD on garlic! Which was a relief because I was concerned it might be alcohol poisoning!
After showering we were watching the sky trying to work out what kind of day we were going to have and because it looked quite promising we decided to get the sunbeds out and go for it!! After a shaky start it actually turned out to be one of the best days we’ve had. The tans are coming along nicely.
After we’d had enough sun we all showered and walked down to the spar for provisions. Wine.
Robyn made a delicious dinner of prawn salad with avocado and a sid of padron peppers.
After a glass or two of wine we were all ready for bed..it’s been a tiring day around the pool!
Saturday, and another hot sunny day! After our morning run we packed our beach bags and walked over to amadores beach. We took 3 sunbeds on the jetty, and a sun brolly for Caroline.
We took or lunch with us and plenty of wine! It was a full day of tanning!
At around 4pm we headed back to the apartment and showered.then headed down to the spar to get food for our beach bbq. We took everything down to the flat rocks on the beach and Robyn got the bbq going. Unfortunately we miscalculated what time it would get dark and we ran out of daylight time. So we bagged everything up and brought it back to the apartment to eat. We had chicken, prawns and salad.
Early to bed for an early start tomorrow.
Sunday..up and out as soon it as it was light..around 7:30. Our usual run and back to shower and pack. We did a last shop in the spar for a picnic and alcohol to bring home.
It’s another sunny day.
We dropped Rachel off at Glasgow Airport yesterday for her long flight home and headed down to Altrincham for a night in the Travelodge. After check in I went for an afternoon run while Wendy grabbed a nap.
Supper was a delight, in Wetherspoons, well where else, and then we facetimed Alex and Robyn, or was it the other way around? And we had our champagne that Robyn bought for us on the morning of her wedding, we do do things in style!
The night was nice and my bedmate didn’t cough almost as much as the night before but I was still woken at 04:30, by her quiet cough!
But that was OK as I had an incentive to get up, which was to sort out my Apple account which I managed to do after a few Googles.
My run was lovely, I found a canal towpath the previous night and followed that for 5 miles, the weather was nice and clear so I cracked on and was back in no time at all to find Wendy all scrubbed up and airport ready.
Our drive to the airport was fine, we checked into the meet and great car park, which was a fantastic interactive and very modern way of doing it. The car was scanned for damage and we were told, on screen, where to park. We handed our keys in and checked in, with difficulty!!!!
The lady didn’t have our details about our baggage, but I was sure as I had checked the day before, that we had 10kgs hand and 25 hold, a phone call later and me finding my online booking sorted it and we got priority boarding and security!!!
However security was a mare, the rules change every time and your expected to know, kind of like telepathy, so now Wendy’s bloody hairdryer is toxic and has to have special treatment, well it would wouldn’t especially as it was in my bag! One lost passport later and we were recovering in the bar with a bottle of house wine, chilling!!!
After our priority boarding we settling in nicely at the front of the plane and settled down, the spare seat at the side of me was a huge bonus.
Off we take and eventually the bar comes around and being a good spud I work out I need about 20 quid for four small bottles of wine, so I order them and receive them and then the flight attendant moves on, still taking money off everyone else, but not me. It rankles me a bit as I don’t want them coming back so I go and tell the fella that he forgot to charge me…………………………..your premium Sir it’s all complementary he replies…………………….Wendy Gill was beside herself!!!
And then dinner came, premium of course, chicken and dauphinoise spuds with a ju to die for, what a stonker of a meal it was, a bloody double delight.
And then we settled down and then it kicked off, almost.
Since we set off someone was making a very piercing and annoying whistling sound, piercing my ears, and Wendy’s too, but we couldn’t locate the source.
Anyway, after a while I heard it again and the bruising looking convict type person in the next row grabbed the loud old fellas shoulder in the row in front of him and said, and I quote, “If you make that fucking whistling sound again I’ll fucking kill you”, the old fella being deaf then said pardon so it was repeated, loudly, word for word. The old fella reacts and it’s nearly handbags at dawn with the convict’s moll getting involved. Thankfully the tough looking flight attendant waded in and told them we are two hours into a six hour flight and that unless they want us to divert, then they act like adults and don’t talk or even look at each other. I told the attendant when I was going to toilet that he handled that very well, do you learn that in flight school. He said we get it every flight now, I just chuck in the word divert and it shuts them up immediately, he then says for god’s sake we’ve just set off.
I asked him if he was staying over and he said yes, for five days………………….wow, I want that job, it’s better than being retired!!!
The rest of the flight was uneventful and more wine was consumed, although not an alarming amount.
We landed and cleared customs without issue and were whisked to the apartment in double time by a nice taxi driver.
Mick, our apartment owner had someone come in this week and clean and air the place so we were in without any problems.
Wendy was bush whacked so after unpacking I went for a quick run in the dark and I came back to a dozing Wendy who was almost comatose on the settee.
I showered and set of for basic essentials, wine, beer, coka cola, (For vodka), milk and morning juice. I got back and Wendy had jammerised herself and was fast asleep in bed so I sat with a drink and read my book but it wasn’t long until sleep took control of my eyes and I was nodding into my book.
Lights out and that was me for my first evening in Cape Verde.
After my run which was a very warm and sweaty affair, (Wendy didn’t run today, she’s still not feeling well), we set about stocking up with supplies. First we went to what at home I would call a largish corner shop, here it’s a hypermarket.
We wanted some meat, salad, bread beer and bananas. We got some nice portions of chicken and beef steaks and everything else except the bananas. The beer was rather taxing as I had to carry a box of bottles all the way back in the hot sun, however I’m sure it will be worth it.
Round two shopping was into town to find some wine, Portuguese wine isn’t the best so we have to try and find a bottle we like and then hope the shop restocks.
The walk into town was rather pleasant and when we came back we spent a few hours by the pool sunbathing making sure we had factor 50 on, so’s not to get burnt which is easily done in tropical climates.
I went for an evening run before it got dark and cracked off my four miles just as the light was going.
I got back and we had already decided to go out for a Saturday night supper treat and Wendy was all ready and looking lovely, me I smelled like something gone off so I had a quick shower and got jazzed up myself.
We had seen a small restaurant that looked like it had been upgraded from snack shop to outside eatery so we opted to try our luck here. It was called Georges!!
Our luck was in as the wine was very nice and we ordered a Tuna Carpaccio as a starter to share then I orderd the seafood stew and Wendy orderd the beef steak and mash, and rice and a red wine jus!!!
It took an age to come, first we got some garlic bread, I waited an age before eating it because I wanted to make sure it was ours and I coud'nt catch the waiteress’s eye.
Anyway it was ours and was scoffed long before the tuna appeared, which was another lifetime.
I must say it was bloody lovley though when it did come along, perhaps they were waiting for the fish to die of old age!
Then after another seemingly endless wait our mains come and again they were both delicious.
I paid up smartish to end the orderdeal and we walked home slightly stuffed, with lovley food.
To round off the day I shared a glass of wine with Wendy on the balcony before she headed to bed. I had a cheeky vodka with a mango juice that I had managed to find and then headed off myself.
Today as been a nice hot and slightly less windy day.
We both exercised this morning me doing 10 miles and Wendy 4.4. She says she’s getting back into it.
After an hour or two we went for a walk into town and had a glass of wine at a very crowded beach bar on the fringe of town. The beach bars are busy at weekends as the locals like to have a good time too.
We then walked a little further and sat at a very funny little bar and waited, and waited and waited and then walked off. I would think that when running a business where you sell goods to customers you would secure a transaction as soon as possible not let them slip out of your clutches.
There was a young man waiting, but he was faffing, and I really mean that, with a group of four people who were eating, taking them mayo, waiting for them to use it and then take it back, go and ask them several times if everything was alright all the time walking past us and not giving as much as a glance in our direction. I know I could have jarred him, but I shouldn’t have to and so I didn’t. We walked upto the little internet bar we use and ordered wine, and because Wendy was a little nibbley we shared a banana crepe, which was lovely. I had a rum and coke for my trouble, in fact it was so nice I had two!!!
We walked home and had another hour by the pool and then I headed for my afternoon run, Wendy went to bed as she was feeling unwell again.
I got back and as it was dark I left Wendy in bed sleeping. I made a sarnie, one for me and one for Wendy, but I put hers in the fridge and ate mine.
I had it with a very nice glass of Maltase wine and then settled down with my book and a glass of vodka and mango, that was very nice indeed, in fact that nice I had another, three.
But not before that I acted on my brain wave which was to peel my bananas and put them and some peanut butter in my blender jug and put it in the freezer so I could have a very cold smoothie in the morning. I’ll let you know how I get on in the morning!!!
Do you know I don’t remember going to bed, maybe it was the effects of the Mango Juice!
I was up and about early enough and with breakfast finished I was out running, in the wind, that bloody wind that’s constantly blowing from west to east. I ran westward, all the way to five miles as I found a track that runs close to the beach. It was knackering, I got to five miles and sat on the beach drinking my water almost exhausted, the wind was that fierce. I think my average mile time at that point was 10:30 per mile.
And then I turned around and had the wind behind me and by the time I got back my average speed had been 09:30.
I had a dip in the pool, jeepers it was cold and then I excitedly took my banana/penutbutter concoction from the freezer and added some milk to it and put it in the blender, nothing happened apart from the milk getting whipped! The peanut butter and the banana had set like rock and would not budge from being stuck to the bottom of the blender jug. I had to microwave it to a mush before I could blend it. Ah well nothing ventured!!!!
I joined Wendy by the pool, reading our books. We are somewhat sheltered from the wind by the walls of the building as it forms a courtyard so we were nicely baking in the sun, apart from the clouds that came by all too frequently.
Wendy wasn’t feeling good again, her cold seems to be lingering longer that it ought to and at one point she went off for some paracetamol. After about 30 minutes she came to the conclusion that she was feeling much worse. “I think I’ve taken your tablets not mine”, she said. That would be my Codeine tablets that I take for my sciatica, the ones that make Wendy sick and unsteady, the ones she has taken at least four times previously. You’d think she’d be more careful wouldn’t you. I’m sure she does it to make my copy more interesting!!!
As we laid on our sunbeds a workman was repairing the floor of an apartment’s veranda, which was on the second floor. He was working from the first floor veranda, standing on the edge, applying render all well and good, without any type of safety restraint at all, not a single one, not even a rope tied around his waist, just in case he fell.
I couldn’t watch, he was bound to fall, but he didn’t. Now this is the very reason we undertake a risk assessment in the UK. By doing so you write up the outcomes against the risk, for instance I’m unlikely to get hit by lightning on a sunny day while mowing grass, so the activity is deemed to be reasonable. Now have me rendering on a balcony edge with a 6 metre fall where should I do fall I will almost certainly die, now that’s a risk too far, but yet he was doing just that, and more worryingly he had a staff shirt on. He wasn’t the owner cutting costs by doing it himself, no, someone, a supervisor had deemed it acceptable for him to work like this. Now I can hear everyone saying about Manhattan skyscraper builders in the 1920’s, OK how many of them died through falling, a lot I’d guess and never mind if he has been doing it since he was a boy, he only has to fall once and that’s the end of him.
To get away from the ordeal, I went for my afternoon run at 13:00, and got battered by the wind, again!
More pool time followed and at 4pm I put the long overdue chicken in the oven to slowly cook for 3 hours. I stuffed garlic cloves into its skin and poured a little white wine and coka-cola over it hoping to make some gravy later.
With that in the oven we read a little more and then went for a walk, to the bar to the right of our apartment. But true to form I couldn’t get served.
There was a man trying to get served, he wanted two beers and there was a barmaid and a young man who was not a customer. She was ranting at him like no tomorrow and so the man after asking several times for 2 beers gave up and went outside. I stood quietly a little longer and as she kept on ranting I left. The other man was seated with his wife and he laughed with me, but at least she was pulling his beers as I left, me I just shrugged and we walked off.
We walked along to the new Hilton Hotel and walked through its opulence all the way to the beach and took a glass of wine in Baileys Bar which is part of our apartment complex. We then headed back for supper and the chicken was a delight, it honestly was. I mixed a little BBQ sauce with the juice and it worked a treat!
After washing up we went of a walk to get some Wi-Fi in the Wi-Fi bar. I was working away on my laptop when a young, drunk fella wanted to chat, so I humoured him, showing him photos much to Wendy’s disagreement, my reasoning being if he was going to bore me, I would bore him back.
As we left he took us to look at his mums shop, of course he did, and he didn’t pay the girls for his drinks and they were not happy at all! Anyway as we got to his mums shop which was along our route we said goodbye and left him open mouthed.
Back at the apartment I read my book and Wendy took to her bed, she’s not firing on all cylinders that girl and she’s beginning to worry me!!!
I woke at around 04:00 this morning and try as I might I could not get back to sleep so I got up and did yesterday’s blog. After a while I felt sleep return to me and so I nodded lightly in bed getting back up and out running for 07:15.
And that bloody wind was there with a vengeance!!!
It’s crazy, running west to east it’s like someone pulling you back, but when you turn around its hardly noticeable. It was a little chilly too, but I sweated like a trooper and returned exhausted. Wendy didn’t get going today, she was feeling dog rough, but looked a little better when I got back.
Actually I was very exhausted, and I had a little extra bedtime before getting up to walk to town and sort my 3G out.
I got to the phone shop and it was full, well there were five people before me with two sales assistants. Well one, an older lady could not move any slower, but no one seemed to mind. In total I was in that shop waiting my turn for 42 minutes!!!!
The SIM card that I had last time I was here had some data left on it but it wouldn’t work when I put it in my phone and now I know why, the data only lasts 30 days. I have been nursing that SIM card for 14 months diligently bringing it back only to discover that it was useless, (Don’t anyone tell Bradley).
We did some shopping, buying the most expensive piece of salmon ever, I kid not, £12.00 for a piece of salmon, it’s a nice piece but had I known I would have had something else instead. However we are experienced in the field to know how to eek it out for couple of meals.
We shopped a little more and then settled down by the pool with our books, Wendy keeping out of the sun today.
I was feeling very ropey and it’s considered I might have eventually picked up Madam Mucks virus, I feel achy and lethargic!!!
But being a Barnsley Man, I’m sure I’ll be fine………….it was that bad I didn’t go for an evening’s run. It’s OK my quest to do 400 miles for April is still on as I am carefully monitoring my average and currently I can go without an afternoon run for two days. That’s the benefit of having miles in hand, but I will still have to do at least ten miles in the morning.
I need to do an average of 13.34 miles per day and currently I am on 13.62, so I can slide a little, but not much!!!
After a long days reading, my novel is quite a departure from my norm, it’s about Roman legions on active service in Germany. It’s very good but boy is there some bloodshed. They have just had to kill their own wounded as they could not take them with them and the Germans are barbaric with captured prisoners, it’s certainly not for the faint hearted.
We walked into town just after 4pm for supplies of wine and bananas and came back and Wendy made a delicious chorizo and salmon savoury rice, it was a delight!
I’m feeling slightly better but still very achy so I’m off to the bar downstairs to complete some admin with my laptop on the bars free Wi-Fi and then I think it’s an early night for both of us.
Wendy seems to be slowly getting better but we seem to have good bits and bad bits with her……………is it because she’s a southern softie!!!
We were in bed by 7:30 pm last night and after a read of my book I was fast asleep when Robyn rang to tell me her and Alex were home. But I managed to get back to sleep again pretty easily and woke up again feeling reasonably refreshed at………………………11:30pm, yes the same day.
I got up and read my book, finishing it a 01:00 and I went back to bed where I feel just asleep, the first level of sleep where you often find the nightmares, and I did. I cannot for the like of me remember what they were but every time I slipped in and out of sleep they quickly came back, by 04:00 I was exhausted and sweating buckets and scared to go back to sleep, but I did and this time I fell a little deeper and didn’t wake until 06:00. Thankfully feeling almost 100%.
Isn’t it strange what we go through at night?
My mate is still feeling dog rough this morning but did manage a run, but she was holed up on the sofa looking like death warmed up at 10:00. She has a constant steam train of snot coming out of her nose. It’s about time she pulled out of it now, I’d have liked to have gone to the beach today but she’s not upto it, maybe tomorrow.
We sat by the pool and Wendy improved a little but I had to chastise her because she has burnt her tummy a little. She’d not put any sun location on a couple of days ago and it’s still red, so she’s been hiding out of the sun, but I saw it and told her off. Well she’s a lady of approaching 60 years old and knows much better than that, she’s been to the tropics enough times to know you don’t muck about in the sun. It doesn’t matter if it’s windy or cloudy the tropical sun is a serious issue.
At 1pm I went for a run as I was feeling much, much better and I got sand blasted with the wind, jeepers it was blowing from the dessert at 60 miles an hour almost stripping my skin. I took photos but I don’t think they will do the situation justice.
I came back mucky with sand and sweat and so stripped off and took some more sun and more of my new book, Jack Reacher, “No Middle Name”, and it’s quite good.
At 16:00 we’d had enough sun and after a very nice shower I had to nip to the bar to do yet more admin before we went for a walk to get some early evening supper.
The wind was dire, it is the coldest tropical wind I have ever come across in my puff so we headed for the comfort of the Sal Beach Bar where we could take shelter and have a tasty meal. I had grilled tuna and Wendy had 3 mini burgers with salad and wedges, mine was tasty but the tuna was over cooked for me and the chips were just lukewarm, but tasty none the less which is more than can be said about the house wine, it was…………and I have to say………shite, lousy actually, almost undrinkable. Boy standards have fallen!
From there we walked to another beach bar we like but found it closed, for good, so we went to the wee internet bar and had another shite glass of wine. It’s hard to get good wine in Cape Verde!!!
Back home and we spent time on the veranda and opted for another early bed, after a glass of wine mind. I think an early start is due tomorrow, we might actually venture to the beach if Wendy is upto it. She says she’s feeling better, let’s hope it continues!!!
Is it true we are going to war with Russia again, jeepers why don't they chill out and have a shot of vodka???
Early to bed, early to rise, that’s the motto and so being in bed at 19:30 meant me getting up at 03:10, and being as fresh as a daisy. I read my book, tried a nap but no I was done for, my day had started, and Wendy Gills too as she was wanting a cup of tea at 05:00.
I ran to the far west today and I thought the wind would be more forgiving but alas it wasn’t, beating me black and blue for the first five miles.
I got back to the apartment and Wendy had been out too, there are signs she’s getting a wee bitty better each day, she’s down to just lots of coughing and snot now.
After a quick shower we headed to the beach and we were looking forwards to our sunbed time. The clouds had cleared and the sun was out so we were in for a nice day.
I had to buy some sunglasses from a street trader as I had broken mine, he tried to start with an asking price of 20 euros for mock Raybans, I said you’re having a laugh, so we settled on 10 euros which I could have got down more if not for Wendy giving me a hard time, well she was sun bed bound!
The morning was lovely, the sky cleared and we had some smashing sun. So much so that I tried a beach run. Normally the beach sand is far too deep to run on but as it was low tide I thought it might be a bit firmer and would you believe it was. Off I set and did over five miles, which for an afternoon run was great, I think I might have got a little too much sun during the run but I can cope with it, I’m from Barnsley!
This morning I noticed that I was peeling on my shoulder, and I was, badly. I have meticulously put sun cream on, factor 30 and 50 but it turns out, after investigation that Wendy Gill bought our stock from Lidl. Lidl, who the hell buys sun cream or anything else for that matter that is essential from Lidl, I mean Lidl, my tan is ruined for the sake of a cheap Lidl price. She’s not shopping for sunscreen ever again. I have never peeled before and not in the first week of my holiday when I am extremely careful!!!
After my beach run we had lunch of bread and pate, with red chilli and something else salady, all washed down with a bottle of Super Bok. A dog tried to befriend Wendy for left overs but the poor bugger had no chance at all, not a chance mate was what I heard her say!
I then went to the shop and bought a bottle of chilled wine which we drank slowly while reading, then we nipped to the bar so Wendy could download more wedding pictures that Robyn had sent, they were terrific, well almost, Grandad Bryan needs to take a little better notice of when the camera is on him!!!.
We then had a wee nap on the sunbeds, I swear Wendy was snoring!!
At 16:00 we had a walk to the pier but the sun was getting low and the wind was nipping so we packed up and after a glass of wine in the bar below we went home and I cooked supper, salmon salad, but not before we had a chill on the balcony with a drink apiece.
I do love the tropics, but not the bloody wind!!!
Supper was a double delight, it really was……………….mmmmmhhhhhh, all cooked by me.
Well I can say that because it’s my blog!!!
After supper we went for a walk along the beach and into town where we ended up having a glass of wine at the Euro Bar, and I was made very welcome as my mate remembered me.
The dogs were hanging about and I found a new mate who came and laid down at my feet, he was a scraggy old fella but very loyal, until food arrived at the next table and then he was away begging.
Home to bed soon followed and not a minute too soon as I was flagging!!!
But it got off to a bad start…..!!!
I had a great sleep but Wendy didn’t she said she heard a lady, at 03:30 enjoying the company of someone else, if you know what I mean, very loudly indeed, some lady!
I was spark out, she never woke me!!!
I went for a run almost at what I thought would be low water, so when I got to the western end I came back along the shore, big mistake, there is only 0.64 metre of a difference between high and low tide, so I was running in the surf or the deep sand. I had to take off my trainers and run through what I could of the surf, but ended up mainly in deep sand. Well at least it was an extra workout.
I was buggerd when I got back.
As it was a wee bit cloudy I suggested we walk to the out of the way bar. Its west ward, following my run route and it was a 1.89 mile walk. But was it worth it, dam right it was.
We just only wanted a beer, which we had, but as the lovely waitress had given us menus and as Wendy, who is making a considerable recovery, was nibbely we ordered some house wine and some tuna carpaccio and fried potatoes.
The wine was the best we have had so far from any bar and the food was delicious, honestly it was, the fried potatoes, were actually chips, the hottest and tastiest ever tasted and the tuna was scrumptious, they even chucked in some free bread. Well we did have to wash it down with some more lovely wine, it would have been rude not to!
All in with 2 beers, 3 x 25cl carafes of wine and the meal in the most beautiful restaurant location it cost 25 Euros, well worth it. The waiting staff were terrific too, in fact one girl had the loveliest smile ever. Sometimes I wish I was 20 again!!!
We walked back and had another glass of wine at a bar near our base, By Valerie.
We’ve been before, Wendy likes the chocolate cookies Valerie makes, and it appears so does Valerie, boy has she has clapped it on since the last time we saw her, what 14 months ago, she must have been in the eating Olympics!!!
Wendy devoured a cookie, and wine, and the nostril hair that I couldn’t warm her about as she was too quick drinking it, never mind I’m sure its protein!
The rest of the afternoon was spent by the pool where we met an adorable baby girl called Ritterney. At 8 months old she was just so loving and cuddly.
She was swimming with mum and dad, a local family from the nearby Island of Frogo, dad is a Dive Master, most likely at a diving school. She was having so much fun swimming and when she finished I asked for a cuddle and I got one and she was adorable. And not long after Wendy took her and played, “Round and Round the Garden” with her which she loved.
It was a lovely Martin Luther King moment, one I’ll always cherish!!!
Around 5ish I went for an afternoon run while Wendy rustled herself an egg sarnie.
I did five miles and tripped over some damaged cobbles, going head over bum but rolling like a trooper with minor skids to both my hands.
Back at base and it was my turn for the egg sarnie which I had to cook for myself as Missy W had taken to her bed claiming she had a wee bit too much wine.
I’m here now Avid Reader having cooked my tea, washed up, put the laundry on and typed out my blog and she’s still in bloody bed, its Friday night Wendy and I fancy a rum and coke in the internet bar down the road, so get your cloths on and off we go……….well it is Friday the 13th, what possibly could go wrong!!!
Another good solid sleep last night and upto yet another bloody breezy morning. My runs today took me up to 191.88 miles for the month of April, with a little bit of effort I might make 100 this week alone!
Wendy went running too and did her four miles which she is happy with as it keeps her trim!!
I was a bit hot on my return so I stripped down to my shorts at the pool and did a few lengths in the cold water in the pool. Bu I got that annoying water trapped in my left ear which made me feel lopsided for most of the morning.
Today was a resupply day, first a food shop at the local supermarket where you have to have the patience of a saint as you wait in a very long line. The checkout girls do not have a care in the world and will stop mid checkout to idly chat to someone they know. Another gripe is that they use a computer to log everything sold which takes an age, it is the slowest system of check out known to man, they would be faster using an abacus!!!
Another gripe is Zebra Crossings of which there are many, and no one stops for you to cross, don’t cross, never cross no one cares. I think the stopping rate per ratio of Zebras crossed so far is as low as 25%. In the photo below you’ll see a quad bike just zooming by while we wait for the road to clear. I mean what’s a Zebra Crossing that no one stops at, your right Avid reader it’s a road, so why go to the trouble of Zebraising it in the first place!!!!! Ggrrrrrrrrrr!!!
After dropping our goods off at base we then went into town looking to post a card to Clement and then to find some wine. As I was checking out at the wine store, run by a very nice Chinese family, a little local girl of about 5 came in with the smallest bit of change and the storekeeper gave her the tiniest piece of sweetie ever for it. It was like liquorice string about half a centimetre long. As we left the shop I saw her eating her sweetie and I gave her a one euro coin as a treat. She gave me a big smile and a very nice thank you and promptly dispatched herself back into the shop to spend it. Wendy told me her Mum wouldn’t be happy, but I said she was!
We then had a drink at the Internet Bar and as the clouds had thickened up we reviewed our options, and concluded that I would do an afternoon run early and then we would have an afternoon on the razzle, which sounded like a fine plan to me!!!
But after my run the sun come out so we wasted time chatting and reading on the balcony and then decided on a beach walk and onto the beach bar for a Saturday night razzle, not an afternoon one.
Well the sun was finally out and everything seemed chilled so that’s what we intended to do.
And we did and we had a most delightful meal, we walked through the Hilton, passed the fountain/fish wall and the place was empty and then after a hard slog on the beach, up to our knees in sand. We walked past the ghost resort, the one that has been built for about four years and has declined into a ghost resort, it’s massive and is now the biggest ghost town in town, actually.
Our meal was a delight, we shared a starter, wahoo carpaccio and then I had semi cooked tuna, well it was delightful, mmmmmhhhh and Wendy had the tuna, rice, chips and salad and was jealous of me, so, being nice I shared with her.
We watched the sunset and it was just lovely!!!
The food was lovely, the service was great and the setting too and we walked back along the beach and had a drink in the bar below, listening to a nearly nice singer and headed for bed, well almost.
As I type WAG is munching near my ear and I think its getting near bed time………………..night night Avid Reader it’s been a really lovely day apart from Barnsley drawing 2-2!!!
I woke this morning at 06:00 and it was still dark, so I snook around and had my breakfast, but I tripped over an empty wine bottle and woke Wendy, but she was Ok as she got a nice cup of tea in response.
After breakfast I looked out and the sky was light and clear blue to boot, I thought the wind had dropped but alas it had not, but never mind.
Off I set for my run and it was hot, windy but really, really hot so that was OK.
I take my 700mil bottle every morning and I fill it to 400ml then night before and then freeze it and then top it up from the tap in the morning. I normally drink 400mls at 5 miles, 200mls at 7 miles and then empty it at 9 miles, that’s because the frozen bit stays frozen until then. Today it was completely thawed out by the 5 mile point and I had to stop myself from dinking it all because it was that hot!!!
Back at home I swam in the pool, shaved and brushed my teeth, of course that was after my delightful banana smoothie!
We then went down to the beach which was just the ticket for a nice hot day.
I had packed the Hyper-Dino cool bag with 6 bottles of 25 ml beer, 1 bottle of wine, 2 bottles of water and two sarnies that Wendy made. I drank three bottles of beer when I got to my sunbed I was that thirsty.
After reading two Jack Reacher short stories and after consulting the tide charts I went on a beach run of momentous proportions, I only needed to do 4 miles to do 100 miles for the week. I cracked it, of course, top of the Leader Board, David Gill 56 years old knocking the underlings out of the stratosphere!!!!
I celebrated with two beers, my spicy mackerel sarnie and then we both shared a bottle of wine before a wee doze in the sun.
When I woke Wendy fancied going for a walk so we walked to the Euro Bar for a beer but we thought it was just closing as the lady with the very big Kim Kardashian bottom was sweeping up, so we found a bar on the fourth back street, a bitty rough but the bar man was friendly enough.
We had a beer each and we were walking back to our sunbeds when we saw that the Euro Bar was opening and that my African Mate was outside and he gave me such a big friendly wave we just had to sit and have a glass of wine, a very big glass actually, all for two euros.
My mates English as come on somewhat in the 14 months since I last spoke to him. We will be chatting like old timers the next time I get here!
After the wine more sunbed time and then as the sun dipped we headed home where I cooked a nice steak supper. Garlic steak, fresh salad, lovely bread and wine, of course, it was a delight.
It’s now gone 20:15 and I hear music from below and I fancy a night out, but Wendy as gone missing in action, I bet if I go looking I’ll find her in bed all tucked up!!!
I’ll tell you what happens next tomorrow Avid Reader as I do like to leave you in suspense!!!!
Yes last night Wendy was all tucked up and not moving and to be honest, I fancied my bed too so I snook in and slept like a baby until 06:10 when I was up like a lark.
The wind had thankfully abated so I ran east for a wee while and then west to see the crashing waves along the coast which was just the ticket for a Monday morning in the tropics.
I did 12.55 miles so I didn’t need to go in the afternoon, I’m currently up on my average but I need to keep some in the bank a bit and leave myself a reasonable amount more to do to keep me motivated. I got my halfway message from Race Your Pace today so that’s a wee bit more motivation.
While running I came across some terrible litter on the beach, we first world nations seem to be self-indulgent in our horror at plastic but these Africans know how to chuck it about too. It was everywhere, on the beach, in the scrub, plastic bags blowing in the wind, honest it was wall to wall plastic, so when you see that picture of the little boy, you tell him to wind it in, they’re no better than us!!!
Today was a pool day, jeepers it was hot, hot as hell, if you don’t mind.
My tan is coming on nicely and my mark on my right ankle is getting more outstanding every day, does anybody remember the story of that mark, a £10.00 prize to the first one to tell me!!!
I sipped beer and read the last of Jack Reacher so that’s me fully upto date with him.
We snaffled some crisps and we hoped to hold out with our hunger so we could go to the Euro bar and have a Shawarmi!!!
At about 3ish some local girls came down to the pool and boy did they do some posing, they were the original Kardashian things. Smiling at the camera, doing ditties and everything all nice as you like. It went on for an age, different possess, different faces. I wanted to sneak a picture but Wendy forbid me, but it went on so long I had to take one for my Avid Readers.
Wendy said Robyn won’t be happy, sneaking pics of young girls, but it’s purely for interest, I mean they were in our faces doing it, and I do like to capture 21st Century life.
Which brings me nicely onto my next topic, I got a Friend Request from Donald Anderson last night, on Facebook, now there’s an emerging story!!!
More pool time went by as the sun was a delight and I might have snoozed a bit and when I woke up Wendy had scarpered to bed so I nipped up for a beer to watch the sun go down, which it did, as it does!!!
After a wash and a smothering of skin so soft I was ready for the night, well it was dark, I was hungry and the Euro Bar was calling my name, well I do like to get down with the locals!
And what a treat we had…………two Shawarm’s with a side salad and an extra dose of hot sauce…………mmmmmhhhhhhh what a delight! And the dogs didn’t disappoint, barking and growling at everyone who went by, the buggers.
From there we went to the internet café and had delightful fruit pie, so much so we took some home with us, and Wendy got cross when I ate it all!!!! I did leave her a wee bit, but not much!
Boy was she grumpy, but I don’t care, it was so nice!!!!!!!
I slept like a baby again and woke at 05:30 and roused myself as I had some admin to do, which I did whilst sipping my tea and then coffee whilst Wendy Gill was oblivious to the outside world.
I saw the day break with a gloomy sort of high cloud but I was confident that it would shift and it did slowly to give us an absolutely stonker of a scorching day.
Today I ran east wards first then west wards ending up at the haunted village. It’s not really it’s just derelict buildings on a remote beach, but I like to romanticise!!!
I got back and after having bought some bananas from the local store I had my usual morning smoothie and it was bloody lovely. It had three small bananas, a large spoon of peanut butter and lots of ice and then milk. All whisked within an inch of its life to give me a fuel boost to the day. I am so glad I brought my blender!
We spent the whole day at the pool under glorious sunshine, Wendy having to keep under shade as she had too much sun yesterday, the silly old sausage dog!
You will never guess what happened, such excitement.
A local women in the 20s was holding a kitten, but the kitten wasn’t comfortable so it lashed out at her and she smacked it. The next I saw was the kitten scarpering away from her and he or her eventually climbed to the top of a palm tree. Both Wendy and I saw him or her do it, scampering all the way to the top.
We both said it won’t get down because it will try to come head first when it really needs to come down bottom first. Well bugger me, it did just that, after ten minutes it carefully came down, bum first carefully making sure of its footing.
What a smart kitten!!!
It was last seen being stalked by the girl with food to try to tempt it home.
At 12:00 I went for a four mile run just to make sure I keep on top of my average, which I am.
And then more pool time followed, more sunshine than you can shake a stick at.
At 16:00 we’d had enough so up we went, showered and spruced up and headed off out to the internet bar, A to Facetime Granny, B to get some scoff!
Wendy did put a piece of beef steak in the oven to slowly cook which we will have tomorrow, but she forgot about it, thankfully I didn’t and saved the day.
We walked into town, first to the Chinese shop to buy wine, bread, crisps and milk, then we had a beer at the Blue Bar on the 4th road back from the main street.
Now you’re really getting into rough territory but DG can handle it. The sun was out and the barman’s a nice enough chap so we sat there and watched the world go by. We then walked to the veg shop and met our mate from the Euro Bar who showed us which hot sauce we had last night, and we bought a bottle and I guess we will buy a bottle for the other lot back home too because at 2 Euros it would be impolite not to do so.
We then headed to the caravan bar on the beach for a glass of reasonable wine where we saw the sun go down slowly, and young men work out at the beach gym.
After a relaxing drink we went for supper at the internet bar to Facetime Granny, and we were successful, upto a point, and where we were cooked lovely creps by Dalphine who is a most lovely young women. I had a Shrimp Crepe and Wendy had a Mixed Crepe, which included ham and salad.
What a delight they were, both were yummy scrummy.
We then had, guess what?
Cherry Pie!!!! A portion each, it was to die for, mmmhhhh!!!
And after a glass of wine we walked home feeling a bit cold, most likely due to the very hot day we have had.
Back at base and it was clear that Wendy had had a wee bit too much wine for the day and I heard her struggle into bed, at 19:33 the naughty girl.
Well who can blame her, as they say, your only young once Avid Reader, I say go for it girl!!!
I was in bed by about 20:30 and Wendy was spark out and then at some point she jumps out of bed and screamed at the dogs out back and used profanities she’s never used before, unless she’s stubbed her toe. I said come on Wend what about the neighbours you’re sounding very rif-raffy!
I checked the time it was 10 to 11PM!!!
I then nodded off again into a fitful sleep with dreams of being trapped in an airport during a zombie invasion, Wendy was with me but she wasn’t much assistance as you can imagine!
I ran 11 miles and came back drenched in sweat but took a poolside shower and a swim to cool off and when I got back in the apartment the power was off, for about 20 minutes. It was touch and go whether I got my banana smoothie before we headed to the beach, but luckily it came back on just before we left, so I got my treat.
The beach was empty, in fact we are noticing the resort is gradually thinning out of visitors so finding a sun bed was easy peasy.
But the sun wasn’t game to come out and we waited and waited and at 11:00 we left just before the lady came to take our 6 Euro sunbed fee. We went for a coffee at the last beach restaurant to the west of the town and very pleasant it was, but again we had the place to ourselves.
We walked back to the apartment and I went of a five mile run while Wendy waited on the balcony. There’s a young boy who lives with his mum in an apartment, she doesn’t seem to have much time for him preferring the company of younger local men. But granny and granddad seem to be staying and they take him to the pool with his matchbox cars and the noise he makes grates Wendy, so we wait until they have had enough and leave the pool, which just happened to coincide with my return.
We spent a lovely afternoon by the pool, the clouds did thin but not as much as normally but Wendy says her weather app states we might get 3 days of this weather.
Never mind, it can’t always be paradise.
Speaking of which I was talking to Shaun, who owns the apartment across the hall from us, we are renting ours from his brother Mick. Shaun told me that the place we had coffee at this morning is a very good restaurant with excellent views of sunset, so that’s where we settled for supper tonight.
The piece of steak Wendy tried to cremate yesterday will have to wait one more day!
We dressed nicely and off we went down the high street and despite being pestered about 40 times by taxi drivers we made it on foot without incident.
Our meal was lovely in a fantastic beach setting with, bloody smokers, oh I hate people who smoke in restaurants. But this even had no smoking signs but no one bothered.
How selfish is it when people smoke in restaurants when people are eating. After our first course we went onto the terrace where we couldn’t smell the dirty buggers, someone was even smoking with babies present, I mean, what???
But back to our meal, to start we shared a tuna tartare, and what a delight that was, it was delightful.
Then I had a shellfish medley, with maze, which consisted of shellfish that would not have been out of place with laser guns in an episode of Star Wars they were that ugly. They also fought like bugger to be removed from their shell. But having said that it was all very tasty, local and fishy and I’m glad I had it, Wendy was very interested in it all and didn’t pinch very much.
Wendy had tuna in a coconut curry sauce and that was very nicely cooked too and she had enough to share some with me.
The wine was good too and I don’t think you can complain at a good feed for £30, well apart from those dastardly smokers!!!
On paying the bill I did ask what the no smoking signs meant and the girl said no smoking but no one takes any notice, well they wouldn’t duck if you supply them ash trays would they!!!
We walked upto the Internet bar where I had a couple of rums while Wendy had a glass of wine.
We were alerted to the very sad news about Dale Winton by both a BBC news flash on my phone and a message from Bradley Gill about his demise, both were not very sensitive to our fondness for Dale, which caused considerable distress!
We chatted to a family from Wakefield who thought I came from London, they were a bit over Yorkshire’ish and the woman was very drunk, but we did have a laugh.
Then it was home to the balcony and as I type this copy Wendy is chilled and hoping she can refrain from potty mouthing the dogs in the night.
Good Night Avid reader!!!
I didn’t sleep well last night, I just didn’t get my rhythm right.
And I wasn’t up until turned 06:00 and after breakfast I was out and about, in that bloody wind, which had a chill again today. I did my east coast / west coast run taking in 11 miles and despite the breeze I was absolutely soaking in sweat when I got back.
I showered at the pool, saving water payments as charged by the cubic metre, and then had my smoothie and extra coffee. I did some admin, jeepers that Lenny has left us a right old mess to sort out and then I hit the pool where the clouds where still hanging over head. Wendy joined me when it was safe enough to be assured of some sun.
And then it was a very hot day, albeit a bit windy day by the pool.
I went for a five mile run at lunch time which takes my total to 270 miles so far for April. I hope to clear 300 in the next two days and further reduce my average.
I got back, again sweating like bugger, and I had trouble getting my Skins compression top off. But I did and showered again at the pool and then read my Harry Hole novel.
Forgive if I’ve said this already but I am of that age now. But the novel is about a police detective in Norway. He’s a shabby character, drinks too much, in fact his life is as a drunk but he has such an ability to solve a case. Now I know it’s not Harry, it’s his author Jo Nesbo.
How does such creativity occur in an individual? I’m now hooked, it always takes me a little time as the translation is difficult to get into to start but now I’m away and on my third, or Harry’s third victim. He’ll sort it though, in about 300 pages time!
By about 16:30 the sun was hiding behind clouds so Wendy went up first and I followed not long after.
We needed some supplies and after Wendy showered we walked along the beach, which was really pleasant and we bought our supplies from the Chinese shop with the talking calculator doing the sums, and then walked back stopping in the bar below for a glass of wine and some internet for Wendy. She needed to upload her runs of about six days.
It’s funny, the fella David Bailey, he’s a nice enough chap, and his wife too, but he’s not the most suited to the service industry. I have chatted to him before and he’s ok, but he lacks the common touch and saves his dialogue for his very favourite customers.
Like when he came to work tonight I said, “All right”, to him and he gave me the very briefest of smiles, and I mean very brief indeed. How’s that going to make me feel welcome to go back, so we don’t, only when Wendy wants Wi-Fi and we can’t be bothered walking to the internet bar in town.
Back home and supper was on the balcony, cooked by Wendy. Stir-fried beef, yes, that bloody several day old beef, in a black bean sauce with salad and rice and do you know what Avid Reader it was a delight, honest it was.
So after washing the dishes it’s going to be back helping Harry solves this case, find the serial killer and then hopefully a good nights rest.
Night Night Avid Reader!
I had another crap night’s sleep maybe I need to drink more, I did actually, I got up at 02:00 and read my book with a bottle of beer and after 45 minutes I snook back in and had a fitful sleep. But that didn’t stop reveille at 05:30.
Jeepers I did sweat today, I was absolutely soaked in every department by the time I got back from running. So much so I managed to trick Wendy into hanging my kit out on the balcony washing line for me, well it was the day for a shave wasn’t it and I had to get a shift on as the sun was well and truly out.
I had my delightful banana smoothie and off we went, oh after a pool side shower, and settled on the sun beds down by the beach and today the sun did not disappoint, it was a stonker!!!
But that didn’t stop us snaffling our ham sarnies by 10:30, well we do work out for it.
After a while the Pooh pumper came to collect the weekly offerings from the hotels septic tank and although the pump noise might have been bad enough, the stench of all that All-Inclusive digestion pushed us over the top so we left for a drink, until the pleasantries had finished for this week.
We went to a local restaurant for a beer. It’s a place we’ve been before a few times back but we’ve never eaten there. The concept is that you get a plate of food and you pay by weight according to their scales. Well it seems to work quite well.
But as we were sat there on the veranda, an obnoxious sounding couple of Continental Europeans snapped at the staff asking for coffee, only for them, after the coffee had been delivered, to open the biggest parcel of pastries anyone could ever sneak out of an All-Inclusive breakfast bar. I mean the tight fisted buggers. They never batted an eyelid despite our incredulous stares in their direction!
The Pooh pumper was still in full flow by the time we had finished so we went upto the Internet Bar for a glass of wine and some internet for Wendy. The bar was busy but we got a seat and our wine and settled in to check our busy accounts and send emails to and fro!
Back at the beach and the sun was a demon, but thankfully the pumper had moved onto the next location and normal service of sun bed activities could be resumed.
I read some more of my book and by the time we had found the fourth murder it was time for an afternoon beach run. However as high tide was at 11:00 I didn’t have much beach to run on so I had to relay between the pier and back a total of 28 times to get my 5 miles in. There was one advantage to it, I didn’t have the high winds pushing me back as it’s quite a sheltered area.
One massive drawback was the old man with a pony tail, man boobies and his speedos tucked in on themselves at the top so he only had a piece of tiny material covering his bum cheeks. Have I painted a picture for you? Oh and his hair was all grey with fuzzy ends!!!
He walked around patrolling the beach area where he was camped like The Hoff but he just didn’t quite cut it. I had to pass the bugger, bum cheeks and all 28 times, that’s another sleepless night coming up, nightmares assured!
I completed by routine and was gagging so we nipped to the Sal Beach Bar for a beer, which came to six Euros, but the crafty buggers give you change in Escudos, telling you it’s one for one, when it isn’t, it’s about 1.12 Escudos for each Euro so times that by lots of beer and lots of people and that’s a very nice hidden and secret goldmine, the scallywags, pure piracy!
After another hour, with no further progress with the serial killer other than Harry taking his on / off girlfriend to the theatre and other aspects of their private life we decided to move on.
We’d had enough sun and we wanted to get some supplies of Super Bock, which is Portuguese beer and it’s quite tasty. In fact it’s that tasty that the five boxes I had of them for Alex and Robs Wedding BBQ, were the first sell out items, oh those and a bottle of Laphroig, curtesy of Colin and Granddad Bryan who I think were in completion with each other.
After both taking a pleasant shower and applying after sun as required and a half hour more reading on the balcony we headed for a night on the tiles, to the Euro Bar, the big spenders that we are!
We walked to the Hilton, passed our security wall, incorporating severe lacerating glass and along the beach into town. As usual the Hilton was as dead as a Dodo!
And what a lovely meal we had, we had a Wahoo Carpaccio to start followed by a mixed salad and a Shawarma each, and they were bloody lovely, apart from the fact they all came out together, at the same time. No problems we shared the Carpaccio in five minutes and then tucked into the Shawarma. The salad had a bit too much cheese for Wendy but I, being a gentleman, assisted her with it.
We had a really nice time, the town was buzzing and the dogs were out in force, thankfully without incident. At worst we had four around us begging but they got short shrift. However a family table, because one of the dads was feeding them had seven around the table all at once.
Even the waitress, who has the largest disproportionate bottom in the world, had to come out and chuck bottled water on them, but only the easiest scared left, the hardy ones stayed.
We settled our bill and walked home for some balcony time with our books.
I’m going to take a little extra rum tonight, A, because it’s Friday, B, because I need to be knocked out for a good night’s sleep.
Well that’s my excuse anyway.
I’ve not heard anything from Alex and Robyn so I'm guessing their night out, night in was a great success!
I slept a wee bit better but I woke at 04:00 and then nodded until 05:30 where I devoured my yucky orange juice, my UK branflakes and Tetley’s tea, and after serving Wendy her morning tea at 06:30 I was on my way, out into the hot desert.
I ran eastwards and I saw a surfer where I have never seen one before. I saw his van parked and he was surfing in a place where, because of the rocks, I thought it would be dangerous. I kept an eye on him as I passed and I saw a huge wave, and I lost sight of him.
And there he was, on top of the wave, he looked absolutely in control, then he dropped into the tube and rode its full length. It was stunning, I have never seen anything like it. I would love to meet him, the lonely surfer, and talk to him about that ride. It was truly stunning, in all the surfer beaches from Waikiki to Bondi I have been, I have never seen a surfer ride a wave like that, it was pure Point Break.
I got back, showered in the outside shower and had my smoothie and then we hit the beach. Jeepers it was hot today, double, no, triple hot, nudging quadruple even!
We ate our sarnies just after 11:00, with a few Super Boks and settled down with our books. Harry was struggling to find the killer, and after yet another murder he was losing the plot and considered taking back to the drink to help him out, but Harrys Harry and he came through, more later.
After a while, it was so hot and the tide was high, I took to the sea for a swim and I loved it, it was cool, refreshing and tropical. How I love the Tropics!!!
More book reading ensued and Harry was now getting close to the plot, but putting everyone else he loved in danger that it was getting nail biting, so I went for a run.
But as the tide was still high, and the sun so hot I could only manage 3 miles and I was buggerd, never mind I did maintain my average.
I might have told you about the lady in the corner, with the little lad who she doesn’t seem to bother with, mind his grandparents looked after him? Well they were on the beach and she was in the company of a local chap, and they seemed to be engrossed in their own world while the poor little chump played with himself. Like the ponytail man of yesterday I passed there a number of times and I never saw her give him any attention, strangely the local lad seemed to hold her attention though.
I was knackered after running through, high tide, deep sand and I had to give into starvation after 3 miles, I don’t think the restaurant Barbie that I smelled helped me much.
I got back to Wendy, I washed myself in the surf and went for stores, wine and crisps, off to the Chinese shop I went!
And I bought two bottles of wine, a large bag of crisps, some milk and a couple of tomatoes, well I was starving, and I saw something I have seen before. A very large, nasty looking local man came in and was very aggressive, he walked upto the fridge and took a big bottle of beer out, he opened it and drank it as he went out, without paying. The two lads on the tills didn’t bat an eye lid. Now I’m thinking is this a kind of protection racket, am I paying more because he doesn’t pay, well if that the case I’m not happy, and I might make enquiries!!! But not Jack Reacher style, just out of nosy!
I took the wine and crisps back to the beach where everyone was getting excited about the wedding, which occurred at about 16:30. The bride looked stunning, in a dress not dissimilar to Robyn’s. Despite the razz-a-ma-tazz which the hotel tried to create, there was Eloner Rigby watching over the sea wall and lots of others too, all in their swimwear, somehow it wasn’t as romantic as it should have been.
So I settled back onto my sun bed and had some more wine, and so did Wendy, far too much for her actually. I read my book and Harry indeed did catch his man, phew, what a fantastic story!!! I must recommend him to Grandad Bryan, he’ll be just up his street!
On the way home Wendy insisted she was starving so I called into a bar for a drink and a snack. But Wendy being Wendy didn’t want to make a decision, well it was her hunger wasn’t it? So I asked her if a sarnie snack would do, yes that would be nice, you decide. But it’s all cheese and meat Wend, it will be fine was her reply!!! But it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be would it!!!!
Anyway to cut a long story short, its 20:00 and Wendy’s in bed fast asleep, I’m cooking supper while listening to Harold Melivn and the Blue Notes, (Don’t Leave Me This Way) and the tables set out on the balcony, I’m off to turn the chicken and shower and then see how she is, maybe she’ll be fine and we will be off to dance the night away at the Pirate Bar, (Saturdays 23:00 until 07:00), or will we just drop dead in bed.
I’ll tell you later Avid Reader!!!
Ah and she was fine, she got up and we had a lovely supper on the balcony and we listened to more Motown music and chatted about this and that and then I nipped it to file my copy and Wendy is as large as life, I’m not so sure, she might be going to the Priata Bar on her own, I’m buggerd!!
I slept like a log last night, I never moved until 05:30 when my eyes opened and I headed for breakfast. Wendy was fast on but slowly came too a good while after.
I have had complaints about how much milk I put in the morning tea I take to Wendy every morning. That being the tea in bed that I take to Wendy, every morning, every morning since we have been married, over 30 years and 7 months, and 1 day and now she saying I’m putting too much milk in.
And I have to admit I am. I am putting the same amount in but the cups are much smaller in the apartment so it’s too much milk. I even have to half a sweetener so that my coffee isn’t too sweet.
So now I’ve been chastised, (I like that word – chastised, my granny used to chastise me, not give me the slipper, she just chastised me), and I hope to be more careful with the measurement. I had no complaints this morning, thankfully!!!
I did an 11 mile run, east to west and on the western side there is a scabby old chair that needs a boulder to rest it against as it has no front legs. It’s the scabbiest chair ever, but with the bestest view of the Atlantic Ocean there is, and so I sat there at my 8.5 mile turn around drinking the last of my water and I loved it. The breeze was whipping the surf and it was just a fantastic sight to see.
Back at base after smoothies and more tea we hit the pool sunbeds and the sun came out and it was hot. I started my new book and it’s a right page turner, in fact I’m itching to turn a page right now, but I have copy to file and I am a professional!
At 13:00 I went for a five mile run to drop my average. I’m now past the 300 mile mark and I hope to break my PB from June last year of 333, Graham Gooche’s highest test score. I now have Brian Lara in my sights, take a look below:
Target - 400
Completed - 317.59
My Average - 14.44
Average Required - 13.34
Miles Left - 82.41
Average Left - 10.30
Its like a one day cricket match!!!
I could start to drop my daily average which as you can see is now 10.31 per day, but I think I’ll keep above just to have some reserve.
I got back and Wendy was still at the pool but had been surrounded by young adult type local men who were having fun, swearing and trying to cop off with the women reps. To me it was harmless banter but she couldn’t concentrate and after a short while neither could I so we showered, dressed and went to get some provisions and a glass of wine at the Internet bar.
Bugger, its Sunday the internet bar was closed. So we had to go to the bar downstairs where the Wi-Fi is rubbish because he shares his internet service streaming endless crappy football games that no one is watching.
That’s the last time I’m going there, his wines crap too!
But don’t worry Avid Reader, it’s Sunday, what do you do on Sunday when you have the chance?
You walk 1.89 miles to the beach restaurant and have a late lunch, that’s exactly what you do and we did!!!
But before we set off Wendy thought she should take her vest off and she did, in a very unique way. She was wearing what I think is termed a “Strappy Vest”, and she slid her arms out of the strings and then pulled it down like a skirt, well I never, I didn’t know you could do that, but I guess I don’t wear strappy vests.
We walked to the beach restaurant which was empty, we had the place to ourselves and it did not disappoint. The aircraft hangar place next door did though as they had – Boom, Boom Music - playing loudly with gyrating girls at full pelt, it did take something away from the atmosphere but our food was bloody lovely.
We shared tuna carpaccio, our staple starter and then I had fillet steak and Wendy had the semi cooked tuna I had the other day and it all was a real delight. We even shared a crem caramel as a pudd. We were stuffed so we walked back despite the offer of a free taxi ride back.
As we got back, thanks to my sense of direction I found a short cut, we were a bit nibbly, we weren’t actually but you know what I mean, you do feel it. We nipped into the shop below but we could not justify the £3.50 for a bag of crisps, but now I think Wendy would.
Ah, but as its now 19:30, she’s all tucked up in bed with her IPad and I bet she’s fast asleep before this copy is filed.
I don’t mind, it’s been a lovely day and I have an appointment on the balcony with the serial killers in my latest book!
Did anyone remember? I haven’t seen anything about it on any website, BBC News or Sky News, has England lost its identity?
Wendy Gill was spark out from at least 19:30 last night. I went to bed and read my book until about 10:00 pm and she was fast asleep.
I woke just after six am and she was still asleep. I had breakfast and got ready but still she didn’t move. I had lost my ear phones and was searching everywhere and she was bound to wake up, but she didn’t. In the end I had to check the rise and fall of her chest to see if she was still breathing, thankfully she was because I thought she must be done for, how on earth can anyone nearing 60 sleep for so many hours!
I got back from my run where I went East and West again and sat in the lonely chair and bumped into Wendy who was all washed and brushed up as she was going to the shop for bread.
After a nice smoothie we went down to the beach and had another stonking day, hot and sunny. I’m so brown now I am actually flaking and then getting even browner. Robyn will be so jealous when she she’s how brown I am.
We took a late lunch after high tide, around 2ish at the internet bar where Wendy desperately tried to Facetime Granny Mavis, but she wasn’t answering. The trouble is she has so many snapchat addresses and email addresses we don’t know which one to use, Wendy was gutted!
But we had the most delightful burger each, sharing a portion of chips too. The burger had everything, beef, obviously, a cheese slice, a tomato slice, bacon, and egg, lettuce and mayo, it was the burger from heaven, it was a DELIGHT, and honestly it was. Washed down with wine and then I had a mango smoothie topped with a shot of vodka. I got a round of applause from the owner when I dropped the vodka into the mango, well I am celebrating being English today.
Back at the beach, after shopping for supplies, including those spicy little fries that everyone likes, we got back on to the beach and enjoyed some afternoon sun.
As the sun dipped we walked to the Euro Bar to see if we could get a big fat chocolate cookie for Wendy but alas they don’t sell them anymore. I did get to meet my young mate and have a natter with him. He’s the guy in the photo, what a smile he has, it’s a stonker.
We had a glass of wine and a Chinese man made a delivery on a little electric bike which was very funny and then we headed back to base, laden with wine and milk.
Supper will be an egg sarnie after our extravagant lunch and I am itching to get on the balcony with my book. I do love reading……………even if I’m chasing serial killer after serial killer.
Night, Night Avid Reader, I might snaffle a glass or two of wine in celebration of St Georges Day, I hope you do too!!!
I slept like a log last night and I was up at 05:30 for an early breakie and an early run, I was almost out of the door and Wendy appeared so I made her her tea, to her satisfaction and made my way out.
It was quite overcast and I never used my sunglasses once which is a first on this trip.
The wind was warm but feisty and I ran along to the far east beach, passing a conglomeration of what looked like a new age camp site which has sprung up near the beach restaurant. But there was no sign of life and there were dogs howling nearby so I’m not sure what’s going on there. In fact the dogs were a bit feisty, one tried to chase me so I give it a few well-placed pebbles just to scare it off, which did the trick.
I got to the end of the beach and watched the surf roll in whilst drinking my ice cold water, I had done 5.5 miles, I had just gone over my previously highest monthly total, 333 miles and I still have six to go, I have Brian Lara firmly in my sights now not that it will bother Brian.
I got back, showered, ate more breakfast, my smoothie and it was still only 09:30, thankfully the sun came out and the sky cleared and we had wall to wall sunshine so we have had a very nice day by the pool. With hardly anyone around, it was bliss.
I don’t think I can get any browner, I am very brown. In fact I’m that brown you would think my name was Mister Brown.
I would have got browner had I been younger. I was once in Antigua many years ago and I was almost local. In fact one hotel owner told me that I actually looked local.
I went for a 5 mile run at midday, the only runner around at that time of day, a mad Englishman.
I see a poor lad died during the marathon, I wonder if the heat got to him. I actually love the heat, give me a tropical climate and my vest and I’m as happy as Larry.
I went for a last afternoon run to get my required average below 10 miles per day, it’s now 9.18 so one more long run in the morning and it should be below 9. I have completed 345 miles with 55 left to do in six days.
When I got back Wendy had prepared a lovely lunch on the balcony of cheesy, broccoli pasta with half a bread roll. It might not sound much but it was bloody tasty and a very welcome treat.
Oh and we did wash it down with a glass of wine!
Immediately after we hit the sunbeds again for an afternoon’s relaxation with our books.
My latest serial killers are being slowly tracked down and I have about 80 pages left which I am going to save until tomorrow and then no more reading for me, as I have developed a problem.
Sunglasses marks, they are as clear as day so I need to spend a couple of days without any specs at all as I’d look a right plonker with sunglasses marks in Barnsley in April. Heatwave or not!
As the sun faded in the sky we left the pool and dressed for a walk to the shop, the shop where customer service comes second to the chitter chatter of the staff.
It was such a slow process of getting service that I almost gave up. Halfway through my checkout the girl stopped to have a conversation with another staff member and her mates. I have no idea what was discussed but it was clearly funny to them, I was almost at bursting point but I didn’t feel yet like falling out with the security man who had a menacing expression but was dressed as Wolfie Smith.
A little balcony time followed and then we walked into town in search of supper, at, the Euro Bar of course!!!
But first we did a little shop and we found a place that does something very nice for good little girls, its lovely, we tested it and we think it will be just the ticket.
And then onto the Euro Bar, where our waitress for the night, the one with the very big disproportionate bottom went one further with a very revealing top that I just had to avert my eyes from when she was taking our orders and every other time she came to the table. It’s strange, she also wears a hairnet and rubber gloves too, so she’s very much into her hygiene as well as her fashion.
We ordered a salad and two enchaldoes, which were all very tasty, mmmmhhh!!! If I was picky I would say that the chicken was cooked but could have done with a little longer, but it was nice and it was hot, oh and the chips were good too.
The dogs were out in force, barking strangely at every tall black man that went by.
There was also a little cookie women with a lollypop who had a strappy top on who appeared to have had too much to drink and kept tumbling out of said strappy top. Now I’m getting real fed up of having to avert my eyes, and on this occasion I did really need to avert my eyes.
We settled our bill and walked home and had a glass of wine on the balcony and then settled down for the night.
It’s been a lovely, easy day, it’s been terrific.
Beach day tomorrow, and maybe the one after that!!!
I woke early and found Wendy Gill bimbling on her IPad in the middle of the night, and then when it was time to get up she wanted to sleep, the silly mo!
I had another bloody fall while running but thankfully it was on the beach and my hands stuck in the sand rather then get grazed. Some bugger had stuck a secret rock just under the sand for me to trip over. I was clarted in sand and had to find a rock pool to wash myself down.
When I got to the west coast the wind and sea was wild, raging in fact so I had to hide in a small cove while I had my drink. It was all rather dramatic with pounding waves and sea spray.
On my return I took a lovely swim in the pool and then had my second breakfast and in no time at all we were at the beach.
We were early so we got prime bed locations and then the sun came out, clear blue skies, hot sun all around, what a beauty. I celebrated with the odd bottle of Strava from the Hypodino cool bag.
I read the rest of my book and I think it took two more killings, one very badly hurt FBI Agent and one CSI also in a very bad way, oh not to mention the old fella that the author forgot to tell us about, and then they had the bad guy, killed with a bullet to the brain, I guess it’s always that way.
By the time I’d finished it was lunch time and after much negotiation last night we decided on a lunch out, but not where exactly so we walked along to the beach bar on the west coast.
However a place caught my fancy and the waiter gave me a nice wave, a pleading for us to come in kind of wave, so we did. And we did not regret it, it was the lunch of my life!!!
It was empty, an almost beach side location with a nice setting but we were the only customers.
We ordered Tuna Tatar with Mango and it came in a lovely sauce with sesame seeds and fish eggs and what a delight it was, it was bloody lovely, the best ever!!!
Next up was a bit of a gamble, tuna something. I tried to explain I like tuna rare and the lovely waitress said it wasn’t cooked much, and so the gamble paid off as it was almost rare. With batter fried veg and a delightful dipping sauce, I was in food, and by this time wine heaven.
To finish we shared a chocolate mousse, it was just too perfect to describe and while Wendy had another glass of wine I had a couple of rum and cokes.
What a stonking food feast we had, as I have said, the best lunch ever, and this fella here as eaten with Gordon I’ll tell you, all for £42.03!!!
Here’s Wendy’s secret message to Robyn, Caroline, Alex and Brad:
“ my goodness!!the Tuna was amazing.. I'm coming back here in October just for this (I haven't told dad yet! ) x”
More beach time followed and after an appropriate period of mourning, I went and got a bottle of wine, well it is the penultimate day after all.
Wendy read and I listened to music and we both napped, Wendy longer than me. The man with the bloody pipe got right on my pip, and I almost thought I would kill him but Wendy calmed me down with that look of hers.
As the sun went low we ended our day on the beach at 5:30 pm, our longest yet and we walked along the back streets for a few supplies. I even found wine cheaper than we have been buying it, again on our penultimate day!!!
I called at the general store as I needed to replace an ice tray I broke in the apartment but I could not be bothered with the queue so I left before looking.
Home was followed by a sarnie, made my Wendy, which was lovely.
It’s been another lovely day, its 19:30 and I think the night could go one of two ways, in or out!
I’ll let you know tomorrow Avid Reader!!!
Last Night we went out for a walk down by the beach and I called in at a bar I’ve had my eye on, it’s owned by a European, but a local women was behind the bar and at 8 o’clock she had that look that said, I’m closing and so she claimed she had no wine. I bet the owner would be dead chuffed.
Everywhere is very quiet so lots of places aren’t open.
We did find a bar, owned by an American who also sold very nice chocolate brownies.
Wendy had one and……………..one to go!!!
The wine was nice too and very reasonably priced.
After two drinks we walked home and settled in bed where we were both fast asleep in record time and I was up at 04:30!!!
And out running my 06:30!!!
Thankfully my run was without incident, I listened to Dearne FM using my seemingly limitless 3G, as I’m trying to run it down before we leave. One little word still hasn’t been won and I think the total is now about £700, todays guess was Ronnie Wood, are you having a laugh listener, RONNIE WOOD, as if. Wendy thinks its Dave from Gavin and Stacy.
I went to the east Beach and bumped into a very sweaty Wendy Gill on my way back. Wendy was well out of her circular route, I thought she was going for a record but she only managed five miles as it was too hot for her, it was hot mind with clear blue skies.
After breakfast, round 2 we headed to the beach and had another lovely day. I tackled a few Stravas as I have some left over and then at 11:00 I went for an extra run for the last time on the beach, I did 4 miles. I also saw some poor girl faint on the pier and have to be lifted off by some burley fellas, hopefully to safety. I’m not that hopeful they have a very good NHS here though!
I got back to Wendy who was starving so we ate our sarnies and she shared a little bit of last night’s cookie with me. It was lovely, crammed full of chocolate bits and pieces.
More relaxation followed as the sun was high and we watched a couple of local lads don their gear to go spear fishing. They seemed to have all the gear but no idea. I mean who goes walking into water feet first with flippers. After two hours they’d caught bugger all and we left them to it. They were last seen probing around just off the peer.
Wendy had had too much sun so we nipped for one last glass of wine with our lovely friend at the internet bar and then we got back to the apartment where Wendy started to pack and I cleaned the balcony and the bathroom.
Then after a shower and a spruce up we headed out for some last night entertainment.
And it was lovely and a very big disappointment too!
We went to the same place we went for lunch yesterday.
The food, the ambiance, the live music was all very nice but to find that the £8 bottle of wine you bought yesterday afternoon was now £14.00, and the glass of wine yesterday afternoon which was £2 was now tonight, costing £4.50, well that took the shine off it. Being a Yorkshireman I don’t like to be ripped off and I asked to check the price and yes indeed the price was right, but the lunch price was different from the night price, by far too bag a mark-up
So all the good work with the delicious food was lost on the rip off element. Now it didn’t come to as much as we spent yesterday, but not by much. But tonight we had a very much cheaper starter and I didn’t have two large rum and cokes, like I did yesterday.
Anyway as Wendy says, never go back it’s never the same. She said that tonight before we went, and I said it can’t change not in 24 hours, she was right and I was wrong, which makes it even worser!!!
Wendy didn’t have a pudd either as she was going to get a cookie from the new bar we found last night, bugger they had sold out so we sat there glumly with a glass of wine and then we went home, and Wendy went to bed, all dejected………………the last thing I heard her say was, I’ll be home tomorrow, Cadburys Fruit & Nut………yippee!
All’s well that ends well then, hopefully!
Well the day as come, it seems an age since we got here but it’s now time to return to Blighty, but beforehand we had to start our day, which I did by getting up at 05:30 and having my breakfast.
Oh and Wendy walked like a zombie into the kitchen and promptly turned around and went back to bed, this being the signal that she wanted her cup of tea.
I went out running for my last one and I went to the east and then the west coast to sit in the chair for one final time. The wind wasn’t as bad as it’s been but it was quite overcast, but warm still.
The tide was going out but it was still chucking spray up and I had a very nice cooling down session in the chair. It being the last day of Tropical climate I decided to do 12 miles today, I now have less than 17 miles to complete my challenge.
I was listening to Dearne FM as I ran and the presenter, Matt, who is very funny, was certain the Royal Baby would be called Albert. He made a big deal about him being the youngest Albert by about 65 years. The next second I got an alert from Robyn naming the baby as Louis Arthur Charles, Matt never mentioned it once for the rest of the show.
I got back and Wendy was in full packing mode and I helped out, after my banana smoothie mind, and we had the bags packed, as best we could with 7 hours to go, and the apartment looking all ship shape and business like.
After the washing machine had finally stopped we unloaded it and hung the stuff out and went for a walk, A to pay the Water and Electricity bill and B, to take in one last tour of the town.
The bill wasn’t as bad as I thought it might have been, my water saving measures seem to have paid off!
We walked along the pier and saw todays catch come in, and would you believe it, for the first time in all my puff of coming to this island Tuna was on sale by the slice on the pier. Normally it gets shipped directly to the hotels, but I guess as it’s now the quiet season they don’t need so much. I would have loved to have bought some but I had a ham wrap waiting for me back at the apartment.
We settled for a beer in the caravan bar on the beach, then we had a glass of wine and some fish nibbles, and then we had a glass of wine, and one more for good measure, well it is last day isn’t it!
From there we walked back and had our wrap and then we decided to walk into own for one more glass of wine at the internet bar.
Our sense of timing was perfect, 15:45 so I asked a taxi driver to pick us up at 16:30 outside the downstairs bar and after walking back and collecting our bags he was there waiting for us.
The journey to the airport was easy and I tried to chat with the driver, a nice lad and we got on just fine.
He face beamed from ear to ear when I paid him as he got a tenner as a tip. The Cape Verdeian Escudu can’t be taken into or out of the country so it’s a lucrative job for a taxi driver getting a run to the airport!
Our fight was a wee bit delayed as the incoming flight had a bad nose wind, however we had the opposite, a favourable tail wind and we were back in just over 5 hours. Our inflight meal was a delight, it was yummy scrummy, a James Martin dish of chicken, mash, small round onions and a very tasty gravy.
The drive over to Barnsley was a right pain as they had shut the motorway where we needed to get off to I had to set the Sat Nav to a none motorway setting so we could work our way to the Woodhead Pass, which took a bloody age going through loads of housing estates.
We got to Barnsley and nipped to Tesco for some supplies and ended up getting in bed at 07:00, I was up at 08:30!!!
It’s been another brilliant vacation Avid Reader, I do hope you’ve enjoyed following our adventures, keep an eye out you never know where we will turn up next!!!
I woke at 04:00 as I’d forgot to put my phone to silent, I’d received a text message from Delta Airlines about changing flight times, jeepers did I need to know about an inconsequential change at such a silly hour?
But I nodded off, only to be woken at 05:15 by a messenger message from Jeremy, the groom to be, I know I should have put the phone to silent, gggggrrrrrrrr!
I couldn’t get back to sleep so I got up and started my day.
The sky was bright and the day outside was well underway already and within 5 minutes Wendy Gill appeared from her sleep too, looking a lot better than I felt.
A cup of tea later I was ready to face the world and within no time at all our lift to the airport in the shape of Bradley Gill arrived at 08:00, as requested, on the dot.
Check in was a doddle and off we tootled into the departure lounge where within 50 minutes we’d been fleeced of £10.20 for one pint of lager and one medium glass of wine! Well we had to didn’t we, its tradition, isn’t it?
The fight to Amsterdam was quite good, I got coffee and a very nice, moist cake on board and we landed and felt the fierce heat of the midday sun as we disembarked from the flight. Apparently Europe is on fire or something similar, but don’t tell Donald Trump its global warming as he’s sure it’s “Fake News”.
On arrival at Schiphol airport we had to check into the lounge at Delta Airlines and the man on the desk was very friendly and asked my opinion on whiskey selections as he checked us in, all very nice as apple pie. He handed back our tickets and mentioned something about Wendy being screened for extra security at the gate.
We were directed to Gate 3, which was an open gate and we could come and go but we asked at the Gate Desk about the additional security for Wendy. We were told they would call her forward in a minute or two and they’d take it from there. And they did, and I lost Wendy as she was whisked away for a good going over………..what brought that on I’ll never know!
Anyway she appeared some time later at the other side of security so I told her, via hand waving, to board when she could, actually she was now at the front of the queue to board, I mean while was stuck behind 300 other eager boarders.
But I’m not a Barnsley man for nothing, so having spotted the original check in man I went upto him and said, in a non-confrontational voice, “Mate you’ve spilt me up from my wife”, “Not me”, was his reply, “Essential security”. I said that might well be but she’s terrified of flying and will no doubt have a full on panic attack when she gets in the confined space of the fuselage!
I’ll tell you I was checked through to the front of the queue double quick smart and had caught her up before her bum was in her seat, always thinking Dave!!!
The flight was a little delayed but everyone was in good spirits and we had the most wonderful inflight service known to man. First up wine by the glass, not the teeny, weenie, tiny bottle, no sir this was from the big bottle and into a nice sized plastic beaker giving us a very nice enjoy yourself measure, along with some nibbles. I also spent a fair bit of time reading my latest Chris Carter novel, jeepers this one is the real deal, and we’re on the case of the nastiest serial killer around.
Then shortly after came another glass of wine and then lunch, consisting of several choices and we both opted for the chicken risotto and salad starter.
The meal was a delight topped off with yet another and my very last glass of wine.
Wendy even tucked into the cheesecake desert, she’ll have put a stone on before we land.
Bugger me a short while later and yet another snack was produced, consisting of chocolate biscuits, cheese biscuits and shortbread. We pocketed these for later as we won’t get into Washington much before midnight and might have the nibbles by then.
I did a little nodding while Wendy watched a film, the Book Club.
And then I watched one too, I saw American Made starring Tom Cruise, it was rubbish!!!
More food followed, a ham and cheese croissant for me and a veggie pizza for Wendy and then I settled back into my book and before you knew it we were on the ground, awaiting our next adventure – Border Control and Customs!!!!
First we had to queue for an automated service where our photos and fingerprints were taken, next we again queued to be interviewed by a desk chap, however there was only one desk open at our side and it took an age to get through, and then when we got there we found out why.
It was because we had to have every finger print taken, and yet another photograph and answer questions about what we were doing in the country, where were we going and for how long, etc, etc………….jeepers it may be the world’s number one superpower but they are certainly at the back of the queue when it comes to border checks.
Finally we were through, collected our bags, went back through border control, only for Wendy to be pulled up yet again and sent somewhere to get her ticket reprinted, as a security measure, jeepers I didn’t know I was travelling with Ma Baker!
A final session of shoes, belts off and everything searched and were in our latest departure lounge and awaiting our next flight to our final destination, Washington DC.
Our flight to Washington was uneventful, apart from the lightening storm that I saw in the high clouds at 35,000 feet. Now that was something to see, and when I saw it I could understand why the Skipper had warned about bad turbulence during this part of the flight, thankfully for Wendy it never transpired. The thick dense white clouds were as high as us and momentarily lit up brilliant, arc like white whenever a strike occurred, it was a sight to see!
We landed on time and collected our bags in good time but the directions for car hire were very limited but I did manage to assume that we needed a shuttle bus to get there and thankfully after a 20 minute wait I was right.
The shuttle bus was almost empty when we boarded but was full to bursting at the next stop, and so we got hemmed in with cases blocking our every exit. However, I’ve had a long day and so when it came to our stop I asked man nearest to me and the nearest exit, who had about 6 cases, if he was getting off at this stop, of course his reply was no so I said well you get off mate and I’ll pass my bags over to you, which thankfully he did.
We then had a 30 minute wait for the car hire as there was only one desk open, but thankfully I checked in and got the car easily enough.
After a little messing around with Brads Sat Nav we were on our way. I stopped at a local supermarket and thanked my lucky stars as I put my hands on two very chilled bottles of wine from the fridge only to be thwarted at the checkout as it was after midnight, Wendy was gutted.
We settled into our room 02:00 and having crisscrossed times zones there and back we were ready for a good nights sleep.
I didn’t sleep much last night, I think I was over tired although Wendy was fast on within 30 seconds of her head touching her pillow, I could feel her twitching as she fell into the abyss.
I was up at 05:15 and running by 06:00 and sweating buckets by 06:30, blinking eck it was hot and humid.
I happened upon the Marine Memorial in a park just after sunrise and what a magnificent sight it was, absolutely stunning!!! I always thought it was the Iwo Jima Memorial as well but it just goes to show doesn’t it.
I got back just before 8am having spent some time looking at the memorial and Wendy was up and dressed. We took a very nice, all American breakfast in the hotel café and took rather British tea in our bedroom, curtesy or our travel kettle and Tetley Tea bags.
It was hot by the time we got into a cab just after 10:00 where we headed to the Lincoln memorial as our first destination.
Now I like history, I like the celebration of history, I like and enjoy the marking of history and great historical figures who have been immortalised in sculpture. What I don’t like are throngs of people selfiing themselves and family members with Abraham Lincoln in the background, it just doesn’t represent the solemnity of the intention. In fact it’s downright disrespectful, and from what I could see it wasn’t the American public doing it, if you know what I mean, nudge, nudge.
From there we walked down the National Mall to yet another great monument, the World War II Memorial and then further down the Mall to Capitol Hill.
By now the sun was a demon and the temperature was upto 35 degrees Centigrade and the humidity was high too, I loved it, Wendy not so.
We strolled back along the road running parallel to the Mall and took comfort in a very cold beer which was just the ticket.
From there we passed by the White House, where the level of Security is such you cannot even get to the railings of the grounds. The President seems to be hiding behind a double ring of steel, well he is the very much respected leader of the Free World, isn’t he?
More strolling to the Korean War memorial where selfies with the soldiers was the attraction of the day, but not for me. I personally think the artist who created this memorial has very much captured the essence of the plight of the coalition soldier and it’s an amazing sight to see, not to be selfied into a family IT folder with Granny and Granddad.
From here we found the Martin Luther King Junior Memorial. I must admit on approach I didn’t hold out much hope, as compared to the others we had seen it looked like something from a Flintstones Cartoon episode. However I was, thankfully, wrong and it does the man the highest of respect, well apart from the constant selfies. There is a wall that surrounds his statue which contains some of his speeches and statements, I read them all. They were intelligent and thought provoking, but what struck me was that I don’t think a sane person could argue against anything he said, it made absolute sense, unlike some politicians of today.
We then had to double back to the Vietnam War memorial, the one where 58,318 soldiers killed in action are named, eight of them being women, (this is not the complete list as some families did not give permission for the naming of their family members).
The Vietnam War memorial, is very sorrowful, and if ever there is a need to understand the pointlessness of killing each other then this is it. All those names, all those lives lost, all wasted, all for nothing!
Here we also saw some children, actively encouraged by their parents, draping themselves, disrespectfully, all over the women’s memorial for the sake of a family photograph. I said to Wendy had this been my country I would have had to say something, to them and give them what for.
We then headed in the direction of the Arlington Cemetery but as we wanted to pay our quiet respects and pass through the grounds it appeared too much of a tourist attraction for us and the fact that we could not exit where we needed to be to walk back to our hotel, so we gave it a miss. But we did see row, upon row, upon row of soldier’s headstones.
We headed back to our hotel nice and easy and took in supper at a very nice grill, where we shared a delightful tuna tower and then I had a salmon sarnie, it was called something a little more debonair, but it was a sarnie nonetheless, and Wendy had a chicken flat bread, a pizza by its proper title.
Both were astounding and the wine as very nice too.
From there we walked back and I had to endure a small mutiny from Wendy has the four miles I had promised turned out to be about six and although I was chipper about it Wendy couldn’t appreciate the physical workout she was getting in the 30 degree heat!
In total in over 8 hours of walking we had done 15 miles underfoot!
Back in the room having showered and enjoying a nice glass of chilled white wine I am happy to say that she is fully restored and looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure, which may be a day by the pool if this heat keeps up!
I slept a little better but still woke at 05:00, perhaps I have to accept it’s an age thing and that I can’t sleep 17 hours a day like I could when I was 19.
I had tea and a breakfast muesli bar and dressed in my running gear without even a stir from Wendy and just as the sun peeped over the nearest hill I was out and on my way.
I had seen from google maps that there was a river path that would run me along the famous Potomac River so I set off looking for it and ran into the most beautiful sunrise.
I saw a blood red sun lift majestically from behind some nearby hills in a dazzling display that sadly we don’t often get in the UK, it was beautiful. I took a photographs, they are nice, but it’s not the real thing.
I ran on and there were loads of serious cyclists on this track whizzing on past me but that was OK because all of them were decent enough to give me ring of their bell or just a polite word to let me know they were passing me. At some point I saw the rules of the track on a sign and that was one of the rules, that passing cyclists should warn pedestrians. Isn’t it nice, the majority of people doing the right thing for once!
I ran on and the path took me, sometimes along the river, along the freeway and along country side, I loved it, and I was sweating, again!!!
I ran past Ronald Regan Airport where we landed the other night and I was right on the flight path as a plane came into land. It flew right over my head, I could almost shake hands with the skipper, and it was fantastic.
I kept going until at 5 miles, where I was adjacent to the George Washington Memorial, I turned round and headed back. Along the way I saw that I was directly opposite the Pentagon, so I took a photograph and I’m glad I did.
I got back just after 08:00 and found Wendy had not gone ou,t again, apparently I had walked her legs off yesterday so she didn’t fancy it………………but I think I’m out of the dog house because she didn’t swear at me this morning.
We went for breakfast after I had showered and it was bedlam in the dining hall. People were everywhere and wanting everything at the same time. Wendy was amazed as a young women had a plate piled high with potatoes and chocolate donuts, on the same plate. “But they were on the same plate”, she kept telling me.
I had myself a nice bowl of yogurt with berries and granola and then scrambled egg and sausage, real sausage and it was a delight, quaffed right down with large amounts of apple and orange juice.
After several cups of tea in our room we caught the hotel shuttle bus to Pentagon City, which was about 3 miles up the freeway.
By now it was 10:30 and very, very hot.
We found the signs for the Pentagon and headed in that direction and soon we found it.
But not before we saw a police chase……………..da……da!!!
I could hear the sirens and then I heard voices shouting and looked across the road and saw 2 police cars with flashing lights, they had stopped a very nice looking car.
An older, white, fella climbed out of the car and shouted to the cops, “Are you pulling me over?”, in like a questioning kind of way, like asking, is it me you’re after, what have I done to warrant this?
The lead Cop shouted, “Sir get back in the car, get back in the car”. But the old fella, being somewhat confused about it all, shouted back, “Is it me you want?” That’s when the real warning started, the lead cop, hand on revolver shouted back, “Sir, get back in the car”. Meanwhile his mate from his car and the two occupants from the following car all got out, hands on guns and in an intimidating way moved towards the car.
But still confused, the old bugger wouldn’t sit tight, he’d sat in the car but had got out again and shouted again………….”Is it me you want?”
“Get back in that car right now sir”, was the reply in a very menacing kind of way.
I thought here we go, I’m witnessing a Rodney King moment here, right now on the streets of Washington DC, should I film this, but I got bored and walked on.
We saw the Pentagon, the home of the US Military and it is a huge building. Photography isn’t aloud so I respected their wishes and kept my phone in my pocket, well if you’re asked you should comply.
We went to go to the Pentagon Memorial, and Brad was right it is a very interesting place.
Set just outside the grounds of the Pentagon the memorial is in respect of the 184 people killed at 09:57 when a scheduled flight was flown into it by Islamic terrorists on September 11th 2001.
From memory there were 55 people killed from the staff of the Pentagon and the rest were from the plane, the youngest being just 3 years old.
Now the memorial is a very interesting place, every person who was killed is named, along with their age on a memorial wall. Then there are benches lined up in a park, by birth year, diagonally along the park.
Every person killed is named on a bench dedicated to them in the row of their berth year starting with the youngest at the start of the park and ending, (1932?) at the end. The most benches are in the middle which I guess to be middle age at that time.
It is an extremely solemn and respectful place, but yet again the same type of people were yet again shooting their cameras and chatting along as if it was an afternoon at the theme park.
And it got me thinking, Osama Bin Laden sent those young men on their very devious, but yet extremely evil mission nearly 17 years ago and killed all those ordinary and decent people and all that as resulted is the further wasteful loss of life there on in, and what did they achieve? Just yet more and more hatred……………is that what Islam and religion is really all about? I just don’t get it, I really don’t and to be honest I’m glad I don’t!!!
From there we went back to Pentagon City and saw a young black women in her car being pulled over by the same two police cars as before, for what appeared to be no real reason. They really must have nothing better to do!
We did a little shopping and caught the 12:10 shuttle bus back to the hotel and had an afternoon at the pool.
Boy it was hot!
But there was an annoying family playing in the pool with loud music and screaming kids, Wendy did not approve, but she discreetly sipped her wine out of the sight of the life guard, as it wasn’t allowed, and mellowed as it went down.
Eventfully the family left and we had the pool to ourselves and as the heat was unbearable I took a swim, only to be joined, and I kid you not, by Wendy Ann Gill the most un-swim person you have ever met on the planet, yes, it really was that hot!!!
After a while the clouds came over so we went back to our room and took the chairs out onto the balcony to read and we were soon subjected to a right old thunder and lightning storm, it was lovely and it cleared the air.
We had the supper we had bought earlier, salad and chicken wraps and a glass of wine and we were in our bed by about 18:00, napping!
I woke at 19:00, Wendy didn’t and as I sit here at 20:00 she’s still fast asleep, I guess jet lag as still got a grip on her.
I have to apologise if copy is late today, the lightening has knocked out the Wi-Fi and so I might not get to file until tomorrow morning.
I’ll be away to my bed soon as I have my book to finish, it’s been a lovely and interesting day but tomorrow we move on, south!!!
Washington DC to Kill Devil Hills (North Carolina)
271 Miles
Wendy Gill slept 12 hours last night, she went to bed at 5:30pm and woke at 5:30am, fully refreshed, although not operating on all four cylinders.
I had Dearne FM playing on my iPhone, it’s a Barnsley Radio Station and Joe who used to do the breakfast show, left last week to pursue other interests. No one had been assigned his show as we left but we thought it might be Matt, who does the 10:00 to 14:00 show. So Wendy hears Matts voice on the radio and as quick as a flash says, “Ah Matts got the breakfast show then”, with me so far Avid Reader”? Can you spot the deliberate as per normal Wendy error?
We are five hours behind UK time, Matts on his own show at his usual time at 10:30am, doh!!!
She’s crackers!
But seeing as she was up anyway she came running with me along the track and did very well to keep up until 2.5 miles when she bailed out and went back. I carried on upto 5 miles and stopped at a monument to the Merchant Seamen of the USA. It was in a little park over the freeway from the Pentagon building. It’s very nice and very respectful and in such a great location close to the Potomac River.
On my return I had five minutes at the end of the runway of the Ronald Regan Airport watching the flights come in, they come in scarily often and very, close!
Back at the room Wendy was showered and ready for breakfast so as soon as I had showered we went and joined the bun fight. Jeepers some people fill their plates with so much food it must be physically impossible to eat it all.
We checked out and hit the road on our first road trip of this adventure and we had a lovely journey. Firstly the freeway out of DC was easy and then we joined the road south and eventually east.
We saw some terrific towns and buildings along the route and stopped at the town of Fredricksburg which is a very quaint American town built alongside a big river, boy was it hot! The town was exceptionally clean and tidy. We came across a memorial, there were steps to a building that had long gone, apparently the town was close to the front line during the American civil war and the steps were used by Abraham Lincoln, but more importantly by a slave called John Washington who escaped from slavery, down these very same steps as a free man.
Next we stopped at a rest centre for a sarnie and coffee, and we ate our lunch on a picnic bench in 98 degrees F, Wendy did her melting routine, again!!!
We drove on and came along the long spit of land into Kill Devil Hills, we drove along long bridges crossing the sea and roads that went along bridges and then ducked under water, it was an amazing experience.
We arrived at our AirBnB apartment at 4:30pm and it’s lovely.
The main house is on stilts but we are on the ground floor which has been made within the stilts, its lovey and thankfully air conditioned. The shower is to die for, hot powerful and refreshing. In fact there are some terrific houses around here, we are certainly in all around America in this town!
We have use of bikes so we were going for a ride, but they have no brakes. Well Wend isn’t the most fearless of riders at the best of times and flatly refused to get on one, “No brakes, no way” was what she said.
I told her to chill with the negativity, we are on the flattest land known to man, and we don’t need to go fast, let’s just give it a go. And so off we set, and then I remembered, it’s a fixed gear bike, they were around when I was a kid, yes they are that old! You peddle backwards to brake, it’s easy as A,B,C!
But not to Wendy Gill who could not get her head around the concept and consistently pulled to a stop by sliding her shoes along the ground, much to my amusement and her annoyance.
We went to the sound which is to the west of the spit and I saw a huge fish leap in the sea, the sky was wild with thunder clouds too.
Then we cycled to the Ocean, about half a mile to the east and found a stunning beach which is miles and miles long.
We walked to a wooden pier where we paid two dollars to walk along it, we had our hands stamped to prove we had paid. It was really interesting and I got talking to a local fella who told me that it swings during stormy weather, and that the sea crashes over it and it’s a fantastic experience. I wasn’t so sure, it was swaying at the end when we were there, so much that W. G, had to leave before she got sea sick.
Back at our apartment we took a supper of salad and wraps outside under the porch and headed in for a late’ish bed time.
Wendy watched and chuckled through Americas Got Talent while I filed copy, I must admit the man on the horse on the trampoline is very, very good!
Oh before I go, I must tell you about our host for tonight, Steve. He sounds exactly like Elvis Arron Presley, I nearly asked him, as anybody ever said………… but I declined. I told Wendy about it but she said she never noticed. Well as we came in tonight he popped down to work the telly for us and Wendy nearly wet herself with sniggers, yes close your eyes and it’s him she says.
Kill Devil Hills
No Travelling
I had a lovely sleep last night and I woke at 06:00 and so did Wendy too, and I made her a very nice cup of tea so she could drink it in bed.
I had my breakfast and hit the road running. I went to the beach but the tide was too high and I got my trainers wet through as the surf caught me out. But never mind, I then ran along the beach road to a place called Nags Head which was very touristy.
Kill Devil Hills gets its name because ships, in buccaneer days, used to come up the coast with kegs of rum from the West Indies and would often flounder on the sandbanks just offshore. The locals would row out and let the crew drown and then steel the rum and hide it under the sand dunes until they needed it, the buggers!
I don’t know where Nags Head gets its name from but I’m sure there will be a story to it.
I got back from running sweaty as bugger and found Wendy all spruced up and ship shape, she had been out but could only manage 4 miles as it was too hot and it really was hot.
After changing and a bite to eat we set off for the Wright Brothers Museum. But alas the visitor centre was under renovation, but they were still selling tickets. I asked the ticket master if we could still see everything and he said no but that they had a temporary visitor centre. I said can I see the plane, he said no, that’s in Raleigh! I said no thanks then I’ll give it a miss, (It’s not the real plane that was damaged years ago but they have an exact replica).
But as we turned around we did see the hill they launched the plane from!
On the 14th December 1903 Wilbur Wright won the coin toss to fly their plane, but buggerd it up on take-off because he oversteered the plane and hit the sand. Three days later on the 17th, after repairs to the plane, Orville had a shot and he did it, first he flew for 12 seconds covering 120 feet then for 12 seconds covering 175 feet, then 15 seconds covering 200 feet and then, finally he managed 59 seconds covering 852 feet. Now I admit by today’s standards it’s not much, but it was the start, our start, the world’s flying start and we, Wendy Ann Gill and I are here in North Carolina due to the sheer ingenuity and determination of the Wright Brothers, isn’t that fantastic!!
They went on to fly for much longer, and far more further and they started air flight as we know it today, so cheers to those two men who stuck to it through thick and thin, from making bicycles to flying planes, well done indeed.
And so we hit the beach, jeepers it was hot, we had, as predicted by Elvis, (Steve), our host, (Wendy almost wets herself now every time we talk to him), (Uh huh), 40 degree heat, it was scorching.
Thankfully for Wendy our hosts had a very nice sized umbrella we took with us, along with the camp chairs we bought from Kmart, for the wedding on Saturday.
I bought some ice to keep wine chilled in the cool bag and we took some chicken wraps too, I also snook along some root beer and vodka, well needs must, and then we had the most delightful day on the beach.
I read and finished my book, I listened to music and went for a very long walk along the shore with Wendy.
We saw the most adorable baby wrapped tight in a blanket and I said to mum what a gorgeous baby and I stroked her face and mum said a really nice thank you.
Then further on four kids, in their 20's, were playing bat and ball and a girl hit it too high and it hit the top of a lads bat and went up and hit me on top of my bonce. They all laughed and I grabbed the girl by the arm and said was that you and she said no, it was him, so I gave her a dig in the ribs.
She laughed, it was only a little dig, honest.
I know HR wouldn't approve would they? But it was right for the moment!
Back in our chairs Wendy still hid under the umbrella and I caught yet more sun, but I was factor 15’d up from head to toe.
We had one last walk to the rickety pier and then we headed back, but the sun was still high in the sky and it was roasting. I think I might make this place my regular holiday destination!
We both showered, dressed smartly and hit town in search of food, hopefully sea food.
And we found it, and a boy who took the top off the ketchup on the next table and drank from the bottle!!! No ketchup for me thank you!
But my steak, salmon and prawns were lovely, with mash and veg as was Wendy’s tuna. Apart from the very loud atmosphere it was a nice evening, but I’m confused with the tipping malarkey, the bill suggests 15, 20, or 30%, what’s that about,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,no one tips that much at home, why don’t the owners just pay them a real rate and let the tips be a bonus, not an essential!
We walked home, in 30 degree heat, as lightening showered around us, and went home nicely full after a lovely day.
Night, Night Everyone!
Kill Devil Hills to Hagerstown
336 Miles
I woke at 05:30 and had breakfast, Wendy was fast on, until I couldn’t get the ice bag out of the small freezer section in the fridge, silly me, ice expands by a sixth and was well and truly wedged solid, so I had to get nasty with it, and noisy too, waking grumpy bum in the process.
Anyway, I won!!! I need an ice cool bottle here, the heat is extreme, very similar to Darwin and I usually only get one drink of pure cold water and then it starts to heat up.
I ran along the sound today and it was really interesting. Jeepers there is some really beautiful property along this side of the spit. I just don’t know what they do for a living as its 60 miles just to get from the spit, and then there’s nowhere of any size around.
These houses must be worth 100’s of 1,000’s!!!
As the sound is enclosed sea water it does get a wee bit smelly on this side and there were dozens of massive dragon fly swarms that I had to run through. They are harmless but huge and they do look a little scary!
I got back and Wendy had been running despite her pledging yesterday that she wouldn’t as it’s far too hot for her. She did four miles so at least she got her legs moving.
Remember the story about the locals taking the rum from floundered vessels and burying it, well it’s fake news as told to me by the apartment owner. I was reading a tourist booklet and on page 74, it tells the real story. The Pirates hid the rum, enough to Kill the Devil!!! Jeepers you’d think he’d know the right storey. I could have gone to my grave with false info!!!
After breakfast we loaded the car and checked out. Our apartment was great and it had a bath that is of solid construction. It has an all round plastic structure that makes it the complete package. No tiles are needed and certainly no mastic. Strangely we have one exactly the same in our hotel room now so I’ll take a photo of it for tomorrows copy.
Before leaving Kill Devil Hills we stopped by the supermarket to get some supper and lunch for the journey. I bought some lovely looking chicken pieces, Colonel Sander’s style, along with some very tasty cookies.
However I was in the dog house at lunch time as I had bought cheese stuffed jalapeno fries, not a bit of chicken in sight, Wendy wasn’t impressed, firstly she was looking forward to chicken and secondly she hates cheese. But that didn’t stop her when she got hungry.
We had a 336 mile journey, to Hagerstown which is 60 miles North West of Washington.
We started with a good journey making good progress but the traffic thickened as we got closer to Washington.
They drive without rules here, you can undertake, overtake whenever you like and no one obeys the speed limit. It was car carnage and I had to adopt a defensive approach, watching for incoming from all directions all of the time.
We saw and were delayed by heaps of minor accidents, mostly all side sweeps where someone had come in without warning. And this is a super power, or so Donald says!
We got to Hagerstown two hours late!!! Gggrrrrrrrr!!!
And to top it my IPhone won’t charge so I will no doubt be running around tomorrow trying to get it fixed.
I did have one topper from Wendy though, another classic!!!
I’m driving along and the James Blunt song, “Your Beautiful” came on the radio and just as he starts the chorus, Wendy starts pointing at the radio. I say, “What’s with you Wend?”
And her reply, “I hope he doesn’t swear, you know how prudie they are here” (The album has the F Word in it). I said, “Wend, he’s not singing live, it’s a record, they have put it on, they will know what version it is”, “Oh of course”, was her reply.
I do worry sometimes, I really do!
But then at the hotel, I have boobed, double boobed actually. I had booked us into a smoking room, a very tiny one too and not the suite as I had thought.
So it’s been a $20 a night upgrade for us to sleep smoke free and have a fridge to keep Wendy’s wine chilled, silly me!!!
Early night tonight, busy day tomorrow!
It’s not been all bad, long drive, knackered phone, room mistake, take it in your stride and keep it in proportion, I’m sure there’s someone, somewhere who has had a much worse day than mine!!!
Night, Night Avid Reader!
Hagherstown
No Travelling
What a stonking sleep I had last night, solid as a rock!
I woke at 04:55 and tried to turn over but I just knew it was time to start my day so I slipped out of bed and put the kettle on. After faffing about with my old IPhone so that I could record my run I set off running into Hagerstown, (spoken like The Hague).
I saw a terrific sunrise too, a very nice bonus!
We are quite a way out of town, about 4.5 miles but I got there and started my quest to locate a mobile phone repair shop. I criss-crossed the town and eventually found an IT looking place so I settled for that. I found the street name, Jonathan Street and set off back to the hotel, and got hopelessly lost!!!
As I don’t have roaming on my phone, (it costs £4.90 a day), the mapping won’t load onto my phone as I run, I have to wait until I can get Wi-Fi and then it loads. However as it was the old IPhone which hasn’t been used for a while I was double thwarted as I couldn’t unlock the screen to at least see the route and try to follow my blue line back to the hotel.
It was hopeless, so I set off in what I thought was my location. Then I think I’ll stop someone and ask them which way to my hotel……………..bugger……………….I can’t remember, it’s a daft name is all I could recall. So I ran on!
I know I’d passed a cemetery so I stooped a fellow and asked him if he knew where it was, he whispered something back to me so I said “Pardon me” he then said, a little louder, “Wished I knew”. I looked at him a little closer and sure enough he was silly.
I then saw a man sitting in his car and I asked him. He said the cemetery is that way, which was the wrong way, I was sure of that, because I was on the right side of the sun. Yes things were that bad I was using the sun to get me back in the right area.
He asked me about the hotel, I told him I know it’s a bit silly but I can’t remember.
I told him about the Burger King and the Hospital I’d seen and he still couldn’t point me in the right area. He kept saying no you can’t have come that far. I said that I’d done 7 miles by this time, but he didn’t seem to believe me.
The he took me into his kitchen to look at the Yellow Pages to see if I could find the hotel and sure enough I did, it’s called The Microtel, it’s on Oliver Drive. He didn’t know it, he hadn’t a clue. So while I stood there dripping sweat all over his kitchen floor he phoned his daughter and asked her.
I heard him explain, “This Englishman is lost, he’s out running and can’t find his way back”, I heard her say, “He’s done what?” Anyway she knew where the hotel was, she explained it to him and he said, it can’t be its too far away. We then had a three way chat and deducted that it was the right place.
So then, finally he draws me a map for me to follow, but by this time I had managed to unlock the phone screen and I showed him my blue route. Actually I wasn’t that far off, maybe three streets away from the road I ran in.
I thanked him for his efforts and got his email address so I could let him know how I got on.
I followed the route and made it back, with a little adjustment following the blue line, about 30 minutes late, but at least I had survived.
Wendy laughed at me when I told her!!!
I got out of my sweaty gear and grabbed some loose clothing and we went down for breakfast. Which was a little basic, but it filled a hole, a big hole created by doing extra mileage!!!
We then went to a mobile phone repair shop, one I had Googled, it was 11 miles away but from his website I knew he was the man to do it, alas on arrival we found a hand written note on the door, closed, not back until Monday due to surgery!
Bugger, so we drove to the IT shop on Jonathan Street and they advised me to go to Tech & Co on Duel Highway, and we did and met Scott a really nice lad who could only do a temporary repair and so I have to take it back after the weekend.
After a bite to eat we went to tomorrows wedding venue to help the Bride and Groom, Jackie and Jeremy set up the venue, as they, or rather Jackie would like it.
It was a lovely, but hot, sweaty and tiring afternoon, I won’t say too much tonight but both Wendy and I are so looking forward to the wedding, it is going to be so good, with family and friends playing music, in fact some boys where practicing during breaks and they were very good. I offered myself as an extra vocal support but they quickly declined when I gave them a sound check!
We also got to meet Jeremy’s dad, John, who is a very interesting fella, Jackie’s Mum, who Jackie looks like, in fact Jeremy looks a lot like his Dad too.
Nicole and Jason where there too with baby Victor, and I got to chat to him whilst he was wearing his BFC top I sent him when he was born. He is such a lovely natured baby, he is just adorable.
While the wedding party had a trial run I tried my hand at horse shoe throwing, boy is that hard, I managed it once and only after about 70 attempts, if that’s on the cards tomorrow I’ll have to give it a very wide berth!
We left just after 7pm and the venue looks stunning, it’s in a little park out in the country with a small but very fast flowing river running through it, it’s just the perfect setting.
We got back after collecting a lasagne from a local store and Wendy knocked it up with a very nice salad while I tried, unsuccessfully to recharge my phone. It looks like the temporary fix, was only very briefly temporary.
As a last gesture for the day I emailed the chap who helped me this morning. I do hope he gets it as his writing was a bit difficult to interpretate. He was a smashing fella, he took time and patience to get me home.
I said to him this morning that he must think I was crackers, he said no but I’ll have a story to tell in the bar tonight!!!
Hagherstown
No Travelling
What a fantastic day, where do I begin, at the beginning I guess.
I raised myself from slumber at 05:30 and was out of the door and running at 06:30 leaving Wendy all tucked up. As it was a bit chilly yesterday I wore a long shirt and my jacket today and I sweated, boy did I sweat!!!
I sweated that much that I left a trail of sweat throughout the hotel reception all the way to the lift, when I got back, but thankfully I didn’t get lost this time.
After a breakfast and a trip to the supermarket for toothpaste we were ready to be collected by our ride today, the wonderful man called Mike. He is a topper, he collected us and took us to the wedding venue and took us home again. He told us his brother lives on the Maryland – Pennsylvania border. Te middle of the road is the actual border. One mail man delivers the mail by one state mail service and the other side gets there mail form their own mail service, how extraordinary!!!
And now on to the wedding, what a day, absolutely fantastic!!!
This is the first none UK wedding I have ever been to and it was brilliant, fantastic!!!
When Jeremy left our house last year he told me he would invite us to the wedding, from that day there was only one thing going to happen, we were going to a wedding!!!
The service was conducted by the bride’s brother and his wife, Jason and Nicole who had trained especially for it, and they did a brilliant job, they were naturals. Apparently it only took ten minutes on an online service to get qualified, but they were just great!
The wedding service was very pleasurable, nothing like in the UK, just easy going and in the woods too. The ceremony was under what we would call an awber? I think, made by Jeremy’s friend Tony, it was brilliant.
The wedding service was a most Scottish affair, in fact so Scottish I didn’t know some of the things they did either, like Pining the Tartan, or Handfasting, I bet most of my Scottish readers haven’t done this either!
The tartan pining was a tartan sash that was attached to Jackie’s wedding dress by her friend and the handfasting was very interesting. Jackie’s sister read out an explanation and at each pause Nicole tied Jeremey’s hand to Jackie’s hand while they held hands, it was alike a tartan string thing.
Jeremey’s dad did a great speech it really was from the heart and Jackie’s dad sang several songs which was a delight, her sisters family sang too, Ture Colours, by Cindy Lauper, it was electric. Then Jason concluded with a ring ceremony and the kissing thingy where Jason and Jackie had the longest kiss ever seen.
Oh I forgot to say, Jackie was the most excited bride I have ever seen in my life, she cried all the way down the aisle, she looked divine, but she was so excited to marry Jeremey she was beside herself, I even shed a tear myself, only a wee one mind. Wendy was so excited when she saw that Jackie’s wedding dress had pockets, apparently Robyn wanted one with pockets too but they couldn’t find one.
The wedding speeches were good too, the story Jeremy told about the flipper was very funny, but you could see where it was going from the start.
The prayer by Bershon was very good too, I got to talk to him later, he was born in London and moved to Sierra Leone when he was seven. He dad was the Vice President but he got executed during a coup d’état and Bershon had his finger cut off, but now thankfully he and his family are safe in the USA. He kept telling me something about Tony Bair that I couldn’t really understand, but later it came to me, Tony Blair sent the Parachute Regiment into Sierra Leone when the rest of the world looked the other way, they put a stop to all the limb cutting that the rebel army was responsible for and they restored peace, apparently he is revered over there.
The food was brilliant, done by British Dave, from Herne Bay, he was in the Royal Navy and gets his UK pension paid in US dollars which thanks to Brexit doesn’t pay as much as it used to, thanks you Brexiteers he says, so do I too!!! There was cooked chicken with vegetable and there was a lovely cottage pie option too, obviously I had a bit of both!
There was a small chocolate cake on each table from the start. It melted as the afternoon went on and Wendy Gill could not resist running her finger along the line where it dripped onto the table cloth, she had sticky finger all afternoon.
Nicole sang too, she sang Loch Lomond, it was the most haunting version I have ever heard, she was brilliant, absolutely fantastic.
Actually all the artists were great tonight, they all really pulled out all the stops for Jackie and Jeremy.
Do you know Avid Reader, this trip, purely for this wedding has been an utter success, we have enjoyed every minute of our time here with Jeremy and Jackie and their family and friends. We have made so many new friends it’s been unbelievable and if any of them come and visit us back home it would be wonderful. We have given our contact details out to so many people I think we are fully booked next year already.
It has been a truly amazing day, to be invited into this American family wedding was just such an honour, and we have loved every minute of it.
As I write Wendy is fast asleep in bed, me I’m still on cloud nine, it’s been such an amazing day!!!
Hagherstown
No Travelling
There’s a couple of things I really like about the USA, Root Beer, being able to give way to the right of a red traffic light and the very friendly people who we keep meeting. The one thing I utterly dislike is the health care arrangements, read on…………..
But first I had to get out of bed, which I did at 06:30, had breakfast and didn’t feel all that great so I got back into bed and re-woke at 08:30, feeling a little better.
I went for an 8 mile run and came back feeling healthy again, but only just.
We’d already snaffled some breakfast to our bedroom before the magic cut off time of 09:00 so I gobbled that down and took a shower.
We then headed to last night’s wedding venue to help clean the place up, we figured on going a little later than the agreed time of 11:00 as, A) No one turned up on time to set the place up apart from us, B), It had been a fantastic party and usually people are a little slow the next day, but today they weren’t.
We got there and there was very little to do, the worst I did was carry Jason’s cool box to his dad’s car.
Over the last couple of days we have met some really lovely people, some on Friday setting up, one being a really nice women who Wendy worked with making a flower arrangement, her name is Jamie. Jamie’s mum owns an ice cream parlour in a town about 20 miles away. Her maiden name was Sweet, how coincidental.
The poor girl has leukaemia of a particular difficult type.
We sat with Jamie and her husband, Josh and chatted last night too. They have four children, some of them quite small. Wendy must have told her that I like ice cream, which I do, very much so. Anyway, Jamie drove to her mums dairy, brought Wendy and I a tub of cherry and chocolate ice cream, and three larger tubs to share between everyone helping out. It was bloody lovely and I ended up having three lots, all yummy.
So let’s just think about this a little more, Jamie, with cancer and having difficult treatment, having four children to boot, went well out of her way to make sure we got a treat. Now that is an exceptionally nice person, very nice indeed.
After the work was done Jeremy treated all of us to lunch, all 20 of us, another fantastic gesture!
We went to Hoffman’s All American Grill in the neighbouring state of Pennsylvania, about 15 miles away, and what a treat it was.
We all sat in a private room with all 20 of us around a big table. I had the crab-cake sandwich and Wendy did too. They were quite tasty, although I am told that they can be found a little nicer elsewhere in the state. But there were no complaints from me, or Wendy.
After the meal most of us went to Jackie’s Mums house in a small town called Waynesboro and what a beautiful house it was. It’s a large stone built house with a very impressive veranda and a massive fireplace that would need a giant redwood to fill it.
We were made to feel very welcome!!!
I saw Wendy reading a newspaper at some point that Jackie had shown her, there was an article of interest. When she had finished it I looked at it and the article was about Jamie and her battle with leukaemia. When she was having her youngest baby, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she had to have a mastectomy and radium and chemotherapy to get through it, thankfully the baby was unharmed by the treatment.
But she never felt really better and so more tests were done and they then found the leukaemia.
Now here is the thing, it’s a real struggle to pay for her treatment, she has some kind of insurance through her work, but has she’s now off work, she isn’t eligible for insurance so they are having to make the payments and its crippling them. Not only do they have to worry about a very uncertain future but they also have to get into huge debt to get her treatment.
I couldn’t believe it so I asked Nicole who explained it to me. You have to make a choice, try to get a job with good medical cover or decide to take out your own policy, but the better polices are extremely expensive. The more affordable policy’s stop payments when the funding stream runs out.
At this point Jay, Jackie’s dad, who is a GP, (He is 72 and is still practicing on a part time basis), joined the conversation and told me some very worrying facts.
Before he can prescribe medication to a patient he as to ask permission from a none medical manager. If there is a cheaper version he as to use that. Insurance companies tell him what he can and cannot do with regards to how he treats patients, if they disagree with his patient plan it doesn’t get done. Also as Nicole says the insurance companies end funding when they feel enough has been spent.
Now I am not a raving communist by any means but that, for me, isn’t a decent way to treat fellow human beings, it’s just not decent. I asked Jay about Obama Care and he told me it was doomed to fail. The corporations just didn’t want it they were going to lose millions in lost revenue. Apparently one leading company made $200,000,000 one year and donated $35,000,000 to the Republican Party. Now that’s a substantial amount of funding and it wasn’t just because they thought Donald Trump was the best candidate. Now these are just my thoughts, but I don’t think I’m far off the mark.
So imagine of you have cancer, four kids and such a health care problem, it must be terrifying.
There is a funding web page if anyone fancies a donation:
https://www.gofundme.com/love-thru-leukemia-4-jamie-stevens/donate
Having lost family members from cancer myself I’m so angry that treatment that we get from our fantastic NHS is not available for this lovely lady.
Anyway Jay and I chatted on, we talked about the American Civil War, the War of 1812 and he gave me some coins which commemorate these events, two shiny dollars, one 50 cent coin and one very old UK old penny, I’ll treasure them. I also got a very nice nip of bourbon, it was just the ticket!!!
Poor Jeremy fell asleep in his chair and Wendy was flagging too so at 17:30 we bid farewell to this lovely family and headed back to Hagerstown where I took Wendy for a walk around the park to wake her up.
She’s in her JimJams now, on the bed and I don’t think she’ll make it much longer.
Tomorrow we move on, we have had the most fantastic 3 days here in Hagerstown with our friends new and old. Jackie and Jeremey’s wedding was a true treat, it was one of those lifetime events that you will always cherish, thank you for the invite we wouldn’t have missed it for the world!!!
Hagerstown to Ridgway
192 Miles
I was up nice and early and had my run cracked off by 08:00 and I did my last lap of Hagerstown Park. The sun was up but it was a wee bit overcast with the possibility of rain, but none came.
We had a frugal breakfast as there wasn’t much out today and we were packed and ready to roll by 09:30, but before we left town I had to get my phone back into the shop to complete the repair.
And could we find that shop, no we couldn’t. It’s on a road called Duel Highway but for some reason the Sat Nav doesn’t recognise it so we had to ask for directions which I finally got after finding a man who knew. I went into the shop and got the biggest smile going from Scott the repair man, “I’ve been waiting for you, I got the part”, was a very acceptable welcome indeed.
It was going to take 30 minutes to repair so we filled the car with fuel and had a Burger King coffee.
I’ll admit here to a bit of a refuelling error. The car as a petrol engine and all the fuel lines in the UK are green for petrol, and black for diesel, well it’s the other way around here and I’ve been thinking the pumps not working when I have had the diesel nozzle in the tank while selecting the petrol option, well its took me a week to work it out, but it’s all clear now, and thankfully I haven’t had any refuelling mix ups!
After collecting the now fully working phone from Scott we were on our way, to a small town called Ridgway in Pennsylvania. However this town isn’t on the Sat Nav either so I had to select the other nearest town and thankfully I guessed right as we were on the same Interstate, and only 9 miles short.
What a lovely journey we had and all of the route, throughout the entire journey, went through woodland, vast uninterrupted woodland, dense woodland too. It wasn’t pine forest it was just good old deciduous style trees. We went over quite a few hills too, nothing too high, I think the highest pass was 2,250 feet, but it made the trucks slow up nonetheless!
I bet in the autumn there’s some amount of foliage coming off from them all.
We passed several small towns and townships but nothing of any great size, oh and it rained on and off and when it did boy did it pour down. It was so bad I had to slow right down, Wendy was not very happy with the situation and became a little fraught, well we all know she’s a willy worry don’t we!!!
We arrived at our hotel, which is actually a motel, but let’s not split hairs. It has the look of The Bates Motel and with the personal safety instructions in the rooms folder about not letting strangers into your room, not letting anyone in who says they are staff into the room and to be careful in the parking lot at night, I think we might actually be in the real Bates Motel!!!
After checking in we were going for a ride into town but we couldn’t work out which way to go from the map in the room so I went to reception where an old fella on the desk mistook me as being someone from the planet Mars. He seemed not to be able to understand one word of what I was saying, I spoke the Queens English too, in the end I gave up, the map was completely and utterly wrong in every form but we did manage to get there.
The town centre is about 2.5 miles along the road, but we couldn’t get out of the car the rain was that heavy, I mean rivers of the stuff running down the roads. Thunder and lightning too.
It’s not been an eventful day so I’ll give you some facts about Ridgway:
Elevation: 1,381 feet
Population: 3,836 (2016)
The Royal Hotel, (Our Motel) is the oldest in Elk County
The town hosts the largest chainsaw carving gathering of its kind, (I’m guessing in the world) and we have seen some of their work, it’s stunning.
We got back to the motel around 5pm and hung around for a while before taking supper.
And what a delight it was, and what a size too!!!
The bar was exactly as it was in the 1960’s, very little had changed!
I only wanted something light so I opted for the seafood salad, Wendy went for ravioli, I also ordered some garlic bread to share and a bottle of wine.
We got warm bread and a plate of olive oil with what we though was garlic granules. It was very tasty so we ate it thinking it was what we had ordered, wrong, again, it was complementary.
The loaf of garlic bread came ten minutes later, and then the main meal came and it was huge and so lovely. Massive, tasty scallops, crab and prawns, all on a very nice bed of salad. Wendy’s was yummy too, homemade ravioli, with pasta sauce.
It was far too much, but we had seen a lot of doggy boxes being passed around so we grabbed one each and we aim to have them for tomorrow’s supper. They are nicely tucked up in our fridge as I type!
Just before we left a lady who I chatted in reception with came in for supper with her husband. We had an across table chat and it was really nice. They are members of a Moose Lodge and are here to visit the Ridgway Lodge. The old fella was a carpenter and his wife showed us some stuff he has made for her, shoe racks, baking tables, etc, he is a real craftsman.
After that we headed to our room with our doggy boxes and chilled nicely before turning in, thankfully the rain has stopped and it’s nice and clear outside.
Hopefully we will make it out alive tomorrow!!!
Ridgway to Buffalo
127 Miles
We managed to live through the night without any monkey business, in fact I had a cracking sleep and woke at 05:10, so I guess Mr Bates wasn’t around last night.
I woke to misty conditions and it wasn’t light until after 06:00 and I had to put wet running gear on as it didn’t dry overnight due to the damp conditions, but at least it wasn’t raining, just yet.
I had to run along the Interstate which was a bit hairy when the big trucks passed. I managed two miles along the main route and up a big hill to the township called Summit and then I came across a smaller side road which I took, this time going down another big hill. The big trucks still came and went but they were less frequent and much slower, but then my mind became obsessed with another more worrying consideration – Bears.
Well I am in the hills, surrounded by thick woodland and I’ve seen bears in the Rocky Mountains and even Canada, so it wasn’t beyond possibility that I might happen across one here. Although I didn’t see any warning signs like I have seen before, I didn’t want to be the first in this area to be bear breakfast!
It played on my mind rather like it does when I swim in tropical waters when I know sharks might be around and I was sure glad when I got back onto the Interstate.
Our motel room as one of those fixed shower / bath combos like I have seen before and this time I took a photo, but this one is a little more worn than the others we have had, but you’ll still be able to make it out.
Breakfast was taken in the hotel lobby and it was quite nice, I had cereal and toast with peanut butter and jam and it was yummy.
We upped sticks and went down to Ridgway and it was down, down a massive hill actually, with two big runs offs for out of control trucks and you could see that they had been used recently. Which would explain why I was in the low cloud this morning, the hotel was at a much higher elevation then the town.
We did a load of washing at the laundrette, it only cost $2 for a full wash, and while it was on we took a walk around town. It took us ten minutes!!! The town is very nice and clean, but only one street long and a short one at that! But thankfully it wasn’t raining this time.
We hit the road 35 minutes later, heading for Buffalo and the Niagara Falls!
And within a few miles we saw it, the beware of the bear sign, jeepers I was right after all.
We continued through the forest and yet more heavy downpours and decided on a bite to eat in a small deli on the outskirts of a town called Salamanca.
I ordered two coffees and one Texas Burger with cheese, hot sauce and mustard. We shared it and we both really liked it and surprisingly it wasn’t a super-size portion.
We carried on and we didn’t really come out of the forest until we had driven over 90 miles.
Thankfully the rain was just now spitting and the temperature had risen up to 22 degrees.
We were early for check in at 1:30 pm but the kind girl on reception let us in but we had to have the room on the second floor which was the only one ready, no problem to us!!
After dropping the bags and having a minute we set off for our next adventure, Niagara Falls and boy what a spectacular show it is.
We parked up a short distance away as its quite expensive to park nearby, but by now the sun was out and we were back to 30 degrees.
Firstly we walked to Goat Island which is accessed by a footbridge. We walked all around the island as it gave several good views of the falls. There are two falls, the American Falls which are wholly on US soil and the Horseshoe Falls which span both the US and Canada.
From Goat Island you get to see a lot of the falls but you can’t see them entirely. We’ve been told by everyone to walk over to Canada for the best views so we did.
Thankfully Wendy had brought the passports because I’d forgotten to ask her.
Access to Canada is via a road and pedestrian bridge which spans the huge gorge which the falls drop into. We had a 20 minute wait to get through Immigration but it was more than worth it as the Falls from this side are spectacular!!!
The American Falls are Terrific in their own right but the Horseshoe Falls are far bigger and even more spectacular, they are truly awe inspiring. We walked to the head of the Horseshoe Falls and it’s amazing to see the water go over.
By now having been out 3.5 hours covering 6.5 miles we walked down town and had a chilled Canadian beer on a garden terrace, oh and Wendy bought a Christmas tree bauble in a gift shop. Thankfully we had the international bank card to pay for it all.
We walked around a bit more and waited for darkness to fall so we could see the lights which are cast onto the waterfalls, it was OK but not anything really special, I like to see the full flow of the rivers as it pours over the top.
Having crossed the Rainbow Bridge back over to the States we went through Immigration in no time at all having spent just under 4 hours in Canada
We got back to the car having walked almost nine hours and headed back to the Motel so I could eat my leftover seafood salad from last night, it had been in the cool bag all day so hopefully I’ll be OK for tomorrow, jeepers those big scallops and prawns were delicious, all swilled down with a nice glass of white wine from the bottle Jackie kindly gave us!!!
Buffalo
No Travelling
I was woken very suddenly at 03:55 by Wendy Gill clutching her calf muscle in agony due to sudden cramp, I know it’s very painful I’ve had it myself a few times, so I massaged it out for her and she recovered and nodded off straight away, I on the other hand tossed and turned until 07:00.
I was off running late and boy was it hot, my shorts were dripping with sweat by the time I got back. I rinsed all my gear in the bath and wrung it out and hopefully it will be dry for tomorrow.
After breakfast we were off again to Niagara Falls this time to board the Maid of the Mist for a 20 minute trip into the Falls.
Jeepers there were some highly excited nationalities, one man was lead off the vessel by the crew for some misdemeanour, it looked like he wasn’t happy he wasn’t able to get on the top deck and he started to argue with the crew, they tried to be good natured about it but he said something they didn’t like and off he went!!!
We dressed in our complementary all blue, full length plastic, protective covers and off we set. In my younger years I would have been highly embarrassed to have worn such stuff but not today, I knew it was going to be a wet trip.
But what a fantastic trip it was!!!
First we dipped our noses into the American Falls, but the Skipper can’t get too close due to rocks that have fallen from the cliffs over the years. But we did get a very good wetting from the Falls mist.
Then we were off to Horseshoe Falls and we sailed through the turbulence and into the mist, we rocked and rolled and got wet from head to toe, what a laugh. You could hardly see as the mist was so thick, and impossible to get photographs.
Then we came though it and we were at the foot of the falls and it was tremendous, it really was.
We bobbed around there for a minute or two and then headed back to the jetty.
As the jetty is at water level, obviously, there is a 300 metre drop so have you take a lift down to the jetty. On the way back you can either take the lift, of walk back up a staircase where you get even wetter from the mist as the stairway is so close to the American Falls. It wasn’t for me, I had had enough wet treatment for one day thank you, however it was 33 degrees and I was dry within five minutes of getting back into the sunshine.
Well that was Niagara Falls well and truly done, over an afternoon an evening and now a morning I think we had done enough to say this natural wonder had been well and truly bagged!
But there was still one mystery to solve………………………………Captain Webb!!!
Captain Webb, Channel swimmer also tried to swim through the river whirlpool rapids on the Niagara River, (after the Falls), and died doing so. He left a widow with two very small children and he had only been married 3 years, the poor women most likely, in 1883, didn’t know what happened to him until years later.
Anyway, he is buried in Oakwood cemetery, Niagara Falls and I just had to see his grave.
I found the cemetery and went to the main office where I found the nicest, most interesting Custodian who told me so much stuff about Webb that I’d be here all night typing.
He also told me about Annie Taylor, the first person, ever to go over the Horseshoe Falls in a barrel and, live, she did it for the money and prestige but died penniless in the local Sanatorium in 1921. She did her amazing feat at the age of 63.
Then there was Carlisle Graham who was the first to go through the whirlpool rapids in a barrel, around the same time as Annie.
The Custodian told me another tale of how Carlisle Graham, who thought his barrels were better than Annie’s got his girlfriend to go in a barrel down the whirlpool rapids and as she passed through he would jump in and swim through them and follow her. Unfortunately for the girlfriend the whirlpools grip was such that she went round and around the whirlpool for five hours and when the barrel was finally thrown out she was found dead inside. However just so he got his minute of importance Carlisle did indeed jump into the whirlpool and swim downstream only finding out about her death some time later.
She is buried in the cemetery too but I couldn’t find her grave. I asked the Custodian if everyone in those days was crackers and he said seemingly so!
Next shopping was undertaken and we had a bite to eat with coffee in the room and we headed to downtown Buffalo so we could take a look at Lake Erie.
Buffalo is the second biggest city in New York State so this could only ever be a brief visit, it’s also the USA’s most popular destination for its citizens.
The Lake is massive, and I’m guessing 250 to 300 miles long and we drive along its entire southern shore tomorrow.
It was breezy and then it came to mind that Chicago is nicknamed the windy city, and I can see why, the winds off the lake were almost tropical in their intensity.
Lake Erie runs into Lake Ontario via the Niagara River and millions of gallons of water pass through it every day, seemingly, from my Custodian friend there was much more water passing when Captain Webb did his swim, as nowadays an awful lot of water is extracted from Lake Erie making the rapids and the Falls less spectacular.
The Sat Nav brought us back along the Niagara River and it was a lovely drive.
Supper was a pomegranate salad and cold pulled pork, it was a delight, I’m watching a bit of telly just now and then its bed time for me as I aim to be up and about early so we can hit the road, we have about 360 miles to day so I’ll need to be rested as driving in the USA needs full concentration!!!
Buffalo to Detroit
366 Miles
I got back from running at 08:30, dripping in sweat yet again despite setting off at 06:30. I had had a good night’s sleep apart from the small matter of the programme I was watching on my laptop last night deciding to restart playing, even with the lid down at 02:30. I had to get up and turn it off, I have no idea how that happened.
I showered in the all in one, very big theatre production of the full, one piece, bath come shower, I really need to get one of these!
With the car fully loaded and refuelled we set off at 10:00 for Detroit City, but I had to set our target as being Cleveland on the Sat Nav because if I set it for Detroit it took a route through Canada, 100 miles shorter, admittedly, but it would mean two border crossing and heaps of toll roads, plus my route would run us along Lake Erie, which is what I wanted.
And the journey didn’t disappoint, we ran along Lake Erie on and off, under overcast skies but with the temperature at a very nice 30 degrees. The lake is huge, we covered just under 300 miles running along its southern shore!!!
The journey was at times stunning and thankfully without incident. I had my trusty flask filled with coffee with me which I drank periodically throughout the journey to keep me sustained.
I had BBC Radio 2 on the radio, via blue tooth, via 3G as I had to call my brother earlier and you buy a day’s phone and data allocation for £5.00 so I wanted to put it to good use. Well if Craig Charles didn’t break into the, “Take Over” 30 minute section at around 15:15 and tell us that Aretha Franklin had died, very sad news, a lady from my youth!
Further along I pulled in for fuel at a service station after 200 miles and instead of paying first I used my international card to pay for the fuel. I put my card in the pump and it was OK until the pump asked for my zip code, well not everyone who requires fuel lives in the US so I went inside to the cash desk.
I said, “I want to use my card but I have no zip code”. “OK prepay, how much do you want”, asks the cashier. “I want to fill the tank”, was my replay. “How much will that cost” I was asked, “I don’t know”, was my frustrated reply.
I was on pump 5, so after agreeing to preload $25 on my card, I was set to go, but pump 5 would not allow preload, as it had not reset since I had put my card into it, so the cashier said she would preload pump 7. Every other pump apart from pump 7 was being used. I said what happens if someone comes and takes my fuel I said?
Never mind I filled the tank and it only took $16 so I went back in and said “What happens now”, “Oh you will only pay for the fuel you have bought”, was the reply, and she gave me a receipt for $16, but the bugger has taken $25 off my card. I’m not happy, what a crap way of buying fuel, I won’t do that again.
Back on the road and we made good progress and as we left the freeway we were only 1.5 miles from the hotel. I needed to be in the right lane to get across to the hotel so I indicated, in good time, but would the women in that lane let me in, no she would not, beeping at me as I tried to move over, then the next women did the same, but I pushed in, louder honking ensued, how’s that for a welcome to Detroit?
After check in we went for a walk and was blown away by the city. Across the Detroit River is the City of Windsor in Canada, there is even a large road bridge on which you can cross into the country.
We had a short 4 miles stroll, walking along the river and then downtown.
We came across a Paddle Steamer that does Motown Cruises on the river and I’m warming to the idea of taking the boat sometime tomorrow, it would be a real treat!
After walking a while I asked a security guard where the nearest supermarket was and he duly pointed me in the right direction, thankfully it was very near our hotel. The store had Motown music playing as we shopped, it was very nostalgic!
We bought microwave rice and some meat loaf and ribs, we have a fridge and microwave in the room so it was a hot meal tonight and it was a real delight, yummy, blooming scrummy, Mmmhhhhhh!
After supper we watched a never ending tribute show to Aretha and settled down for the night, I want to be up early tomorrow to run along the riverside path!
Detroit
No Travelling
I ran along the Detroit River this morning, setting off just after 6am, it was just getting light but it was overcast. However it’s was 20 odd degrees and the atmosphere was wet with humidity.
Back at the hotel I cooled down and went for breakfast, of the most frugal type. Well we can’t really complain as our room didn’t come with breakfast when I booked it. But it was that frugal we got the last two bagels.
After, we took a walk around down town and saw some really interesting buildings. We went in the Guardian Building which is very Art Deco, it was fabulous.
I went to the Joe Louis Memorial which is a rather unusual attraction in the shape of an arm and hand. Joe was a heavyweight boxer in the 1930’s. Having been driven out of their home State of Alabama when he was 12 years old, by the Ku Klux Klan, his family settled in Detroit. Through sheer dedication and against the racism that followed him throughout his career he became the Heavy Weight Champion of the World. He was so good that he held his title from 1937 to 1949 and the memorial was offered in his memory by a Sports Magazine. Joe died in 1981.
Joe’s memorial was defaced by two white men in 2004, they covered it in white paint and left a sign which read, “Courtesy of Fighting Whites” I bet both of those extremely brave men together would not have been fit to lace Joes boots let along stand in front of him in the boxing ring.
I remember my Mother telling me he was the most handsome man she had ever seen as a young women.
The sun came out briefly so we walked along the river and back to the hotel to collect the car for a five mile drive to our next show stopper.
The drive there was a bit hairy due to road closures, in fact the Sat Nav did not know which way to go, thankfully I luckily happened on our destination.
But we were a couple of hours early so we took a half mile walk to yet another Art Deco building, The Fisher Building and yet again it was stunning inside and out.
Outside I found a street cafe where you place your order and the young man writes it down on a brown paper bag along with your name and he hands it over to the grill team.
Hey presto five minutes later my name is called out and my beef sausage hot dog is ready.
The young fella was a real nice lad and I asked him when they operated as it must be too cold in winter. It was, they only operate between May and October, boy it was really tasty.
Then we headed back to what I have always wanted to see, The Motown Museum!
Outside they were playing Aretha Franklin’s music and it was a real jolly affair, with people joining in and dancing.
Here’s my Motown story:
My older brother is ten years older than me and in his late teens he was very much into the original Mod Scene, he even had a Parker coat and a scooter.
He would play Motown music constantly on his little record player from his tiny bedroom and it really was nonstop.
I was brought up on:
Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, Jimmy Ruffin, The Jackson Five, Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell, The Supremes, Martha Reeves, The Temptations, The Contours, R Dean Taylor, Edwin Starr and many, many others.
But he didn’t stop at Motown, other labels were included, it was all just good music including Johnny Johnson and the Band Wagon and if I close my eyes I can still hear George McCrea singing, “It’s Been So Long”’ he had it on constant play one day.
The museum was fantastic, our guide was brilliant, she was an absolute treasure trove of Motown knowledge and she was so passionate about it too, she also sang like an angel.
We saw a 16 minute film which really captured the essence of Motown, whose songs were intended to bring joy and happiness and even though some of the later songs covered topics such as the Vietnam War and Civil Rights, they always had the positive intention of togetherness.
And I actually stood in Recording Studio A where most of the hits were produced.
It really was a fantastic occasion, and one that took me right down memory lane, I highly recommend it, and it’s not extortionate!
I remembered my brother taking me to the record shop in Peel Square where the Coop Bank is now, it was a little blue wooden building I think, and he bought “Looking Through the Windows”, by the Jackson Five, again he played it nonstop!
Well what to do after 90 minutes of such an interesting affair? Go the Aretha Franklin vigil at her dad’s church, that’s what to do. And, it was rather a jolly affair too, not morbid, it was very much a celebration of her music and life, I liked it, it was very fitting.
Next and last before the drive back downtown, I went to see the site of the Old Kronk Boxing Club. This is the club where two huge and very much admired boxers came from, Tommy Hearns and Milton McCrory.
Tommy won the World Championship in five divisions, over a range of 50 pounds in weight throughout his career which is astounding. Milton was a welterweight World Champ and had two massive fights in the 1980’s with a Welshman called Colin Jones, the first a draw and he won the rematch. Milton was brilliant tactical boxer but didn’t fair too well out of the ring and ended working at the Chrysler Car plant in Detroit.
We made it back to the hotel, after yet more hairy driving and with Wendy needing a large glass of wine to calm her nerves and for her to take a little traffic recovery nap.
A little later we headed to the river walk and came across a festival with about ten stages of bands, one including Belinda Carlisle, and she sang “Leave a Light on For Me”. The other bands were very much rock based and a bit too noisy for me.
We walked into town and bought our boys some extra hot, and gluten free sauce. I had the tiniest of taster and it burnt my mouth out so badly I had to grab a cold beer for the relief.
We bought a turkey leg and hot chili fries for supper and had a vodka at a bar on the way home.
Unfortunately the area was flooded with storm fly’s which made for an unpleasant night for the rockers!!
Tomorrow is moving day, but I have to say Detroit has been fantastic, it’s been a city on its knees but its people were never down and out and they are coming back bigger and stronger, well they have some very good boxing role models as you now know Avid Reader don’t they!!!
Detroit to Valparaiso
246 Miles
There was a wee bit of commotion downstairs this morning, I didn’t catch much apart from the odd word, and I thought I don’t need to get involved in this, guns might be drawn, but as it was 05:00 I had a cuppa, a cereal bar and was off running just after 06:00. And I saw a stunning sunrise from under the Canada Bridge, it was awesome.
I ran north along the river and through the old docklands, and I could see why Detroit is struggling as there was not much in the way of dockyard activity, just derelict buildings with the odd bit of industry.
Today was going to be a stinker of a hot day, 35 degrees was predicted on the news.
We set off just before 10:00 heading to our next location, an AirBnB room in Valparaiso, which by the way is in Indiana. Question for Avid Readers, who sang, “Indiana Wants Me”? Here’s a hint, he recorded for Motown.
After our problems yesterday getting around the Motown Museum I took the Sat Nav off Motorway Routes and forgot to put it back on before we left this morning, treating us to the best road trip of my life.
We travelled through small townships and it was fantastic. I know 246 miles on the road doesn’t appeal to everyone but it was such an eye opener into smallsville USA. The towns were clean and tidy, no litter, no graffiti just good all round apple pie and I loved it!!! New Carlisle was unbelievably nice.
We had no issues, just a marvel of a road trip!
I did see the odd sign for horse and cart which I took to mean Amish Community nearby.
When we were at Jackie’s Mums last weekend which is on the Maryland / Pennsylvania border Jackie told us that we were very close to Amish communities as they live mostly in Pennsylvania. Amish communities originated from Germany and Switzerland in the 1700’s and live a very basic Christian life, shunning all modern ways of life. They choose not to use electricity, internal plumbing or motor transport. It is very strict and if you ever go outside into the modern world you are often shunned by your entire family.
Mennonites have similar Christian views but do allow some modern influence, such as electricity, plumbing or cars, or even all three.
The reason I tell you this is that while we were in Canada at Niagara Falls last week we saw a Mennonite couple, and would you believe we saw the same couple on the Maid of the Mist the very next day.
Amish dress in black, the women wear full length black dresses and the men again all black with beards. However Mennonite people do have some colour. This couple, who would have been mid-twenties, where dressed with the man, being a strapping fella, in black trousers, a blue shirt with bracers and no beard. He was strikingly handsome and had real presence. The women was dressed in a full length pink puritan dress with a white bonnet on her head. She was a very pretty women and would have looked good in any style of clothing, but she even made this simple dress look adorable. And they seemed so happy to be enjoying life together. I just thought it fascinating and I would love to have chatted with them.
Back to today, we arrived at our accommodation after unknowingly crossing a time line, meaning we were an hour earlier to check in. We are now on Central Time, six hours behind the UK.
But that was Ok as the room was ready, and what a beauty she is. We are in the basement room of a 3 storey house with views across a small lake, it’s stunning, honest it is.
After a bit of shopping I was off exploring in a kayak, all alone just me and the big fish that were jumping around me. I’m thinking it’s about 2 miles in circumference and I enjoyed every paddle stroke. Boy there are some impressive properties around the lake.
After sunset I cooked supper, sirloin steak, fresh water shrimp, salad and chili mushrooms, (the salad was from the supermarket salad bar and was made from seaweed and other interesting stuff, it was a delight).
I have never cooked fresh water shrimp so I did them slowly with the mushrooms, adding the steak later so it was rare when ready. I have to say it was the best steak supper I have ever made, it was tremendous!!!
As night fell I caught up on the UK news, Barnsley drew and India did well batting.
Tomorrows a short hop, a little further west before we yet again hit city life.
As a foot note, I really enjoyed Detroit, I felt it a vibrant city that it trying hard to recover, I wish them well for the future and I would love to go back, one day maybe!
Valparaiso to Rockford
145 Miles
I was up early this morning, just before 05:00, as we have moved west and into a new time zone the morning light is earlier.
After breakfast I was off running into the small town, I followed three roads up and down and I could see that this is a very nice place to live, yes indeed. There were the most lovely looking houses and peaceful and clean streets. Not decadent, or exuberant, but just a real nice place to settle down to the all American life. I could easily put on my carpet slippers and blend in here, no problem!
I saw a sign for a liquor store and immediately thought about Tracey Fraser-Lee, who is going back to start her new term at school tomorrow. I also thought about Sandra who as just entered the era of retirement, joining Uisdean in the easy going life.
We set off on the road just after 10:30 from our delightful apartment and off we set, with the Sat Nav still set for avoiding motorways.
We got about 60 miles and I had had enough!
We were going through small towns with roads that were like ploughed fields, I didn’t think the poor little car could hold out much longer, I’d lose the suspension any minute the roads were that bad. The towns were a little iffy too and I did, for the first time consider locking the car doors.
So having had enough I switched the Sat Nav to “use motorways”…………….but I couldn’t win either way!
We drove very close to Chicago and the closer we got the worse the traffic and the standard of driving became. It was bedlam, every car for themselves and to hell with consideration.
Well this drove Wendy Ann Gill close to a nervous meltdown and I had to tell her, quite sternly to calm down. I was fine, I had my eyes all over, side mirrors, forwards, rear mirrors and over both shoulders, but every now and then her hands would be up in the air, deep gulps of breath and lots more nonsense would emanate from her seat. Now I was not worried at all, but I can’t have Wendy doing her straight jacket required routine when I have six lanes of traffic all intent on killing us to contend with as well.
We made it, out alive. It was never in doubt, to me!
And we carried on serenely though cornfields and an all-round rural setting.
We stopped about 30 miles from our destination to grab a coffee from McDonalds, as it’s by far the best coffee on offer and then we tootled into town.
And a very nice town it is too, and our apartment for tonight is just delightful. The owner is a bit scatty, but the room is lovely.
I was tempted to put pics of it in tonight’s copy but by now you’ve had enough with my shower pics, but needless to say it is very nice indeed.
After check in we walked around town, it’s very nice and has a very wide river running through it, The River Rock. The river is widely used by motor boats and it has a very nice restaurant on the side closet to our apartment, so guess what?
We ate there!
But first while waiting for our table we sat down and had a drink and chatted with a very nice local couple who were very interesting, they told us the winter temperature is sometimes around -30 degrees and the river often freezes, although you can’t trust it to be frozen solid so they keep off it, hard to imagine when its 30 degrees now.
When we were called for our table they advised us to take the beer battered cheese curds, so we did and they were very nice along with a spicy dip, but they were also very filling too.
We had a bottle of wine to ease them down and then our mains came. I immediately asked for a doggie box!!! I only asked for a salad and if there was a Mr Universe Title for a salad, then mine won it hands down. It had a large piece of chicken, smoked cheese, bacons bits and loads and loads of really tasty salad.
It was lovely, but far too much so I have half of it all tucked up in the apartment fridge.
Wendy had a salmon burger and chips, so guess what? Half of that is in my doggie box too.
Back at the apartment with full tums we sat on the lovely veranda in the evenings heat and had a wee bit more wine!
Rockford to Dubuque
99 Miles
I had a stonking run today, I ran 10 miles along the Rock River along a cycle path and then to do an extra two miles I nipped over a bridge for a brief spell. I need to up my mileage for the Loch Ness Marathon at the end of September.
It was overcast and a bit breezy but clear, but by the time I got showered it was spitting, by the time we got the car loaded it was bucketing it down.
We set off and after 30 miles we ducked into a McDonalds for a coffee and I had a McMuffin with sausage, egg and topped with melted cheese. I shared a bit with Wendy and even she liked it.
We continued and the rain abated but it was still overcast.
It was constant farmland, mainly sweet corn, miles upon miles of it. We did stop at the very first view point we have seen on this trip and to be honest it wasn’t upto much, it could have been a shot of the Yorkshire countryside.
We also stopped at a small township called Elizabeth but there wasn’t anything there, its what I’d call a one horse town, so we carried on, and within 15 miles of our destination we came to a town called Galena and what a find that was, it was superb.
It was a very long High Street with the most interesting selection of shops I have seen anywhere.
There were bars, cloths shops, knick-knack shops, cafes, restaurants, quirky food shops, deli’s and what not type places. They seem to have a situation with ghosts as I saw at least 3 ghost tours advertised, in fact there was even a pub crawl ghost walk, I would love to have done that!
We had another coffee and Wendy had a very delightful Danish pastry too in what I can happily call a very traditional all American breakfast bar. The coffee was really good, with top ups and Wendy loved the pastry. We sat at the bar, I watched baseball on TV and I could have stayed all afternoon.
We moved on and arrived at Dubuque at 14:30 and checked into our very nice room in the Holiday Inn having crossed the state line into Iowa, which we think we passed when we crossed the Mississippi River. No sooner had we checked in when the rain came again, and lots of it!
We relaxed in our very nice hotel room until around 16:00 and then went out for a walk. The rain had passed but it was always hanging around, but it was still pleasantly warm.
We saw some really nice buildings but we could not find a pedestrian route over the Mississippi River which I really want to do, walk over it. After a while’s walk the rain came again, just spitters, but it was enough to put Wendy off and as we were only a block from the hotel she went back and I carried on. I got wet, but not much but I still did not find a river crossing. I’ll find one tomorrow, hopefully!
I saw the biggest car type truck I have ever seen, I had to stand about 20 feet back from it to be able to get it into shot on my camera, what on earth its fuel consumption is I wouldn’t dare guess but I suspect it doesn’t sip its fuel like budgie drinks water! And whatever do they do that needs the capacity of an artic? Only in the USA!
I got back and I got a message from our surprise guests in our hotel tonight, Sandra and Uisdean MacLennan, well I never!
We headed straight to room 532 and shared a glass and two of wine before we went back to our room and they headed out exploring.
Supper was last night’s leftovers and it was just as nice.
We have to rest well tonight, MacLennan as the bit between his teeth so I guess it will be at least a 15 mile walk tomorrow, I need recharged batteries for that!
Good Night Avid Reader!
Dubuque
No Traveling
I had a toss and turn night’s sleep, mainly driven by dreaming, I seem to have been dreaming a lot since we added an hour to our day!
I set off in search of a route across the Mississippi River for my run this morning and after crossing an 8 lane interstate road I found a footpath along the road bridge. It was fantastic, it was so high up above the river, it was like I was flying. The river is so wide here too, unbelievable to think it goes all the way down to the Deep South. Jeepers it must be some size when it does get down there.
I later found it is over 2,300 miles long!
I also saw a huge paddle steamer moored in the harbour and the railway bridge too. The railway bridge opens for boats to pass under which it was when I first crossed. A huge, massive in fact barge was being towed along the river but when I came back over the bridge the rail bridge had been closed again, as it must have because just before I came back over the bridge I got held up at a rail crossing as a very long train thundered along, it must have been a mile long!
I called into a store on the way to the hotel to grab some breakfast for Wendy and me and guess what I bought???? Mums meatloaf sandwiches, we had one bun each with two pieces of meatloaf each, Wendy heated them in the microwave and they were delicious!
We met with Uisdean and Sandra just after 10am and took the elevator to the top of the hill. The elevator is a funicular railway with one car going up and one coming down. In the 1800’s the town would close at 12:00 for 90 minutes for lunch. A rich man who lived at the top of the hill would take 30 minutes to get home for his lunch which took 30 minutes to eat and he would have to set off back again. But he also liked a 30 minute nap, so he built the railway, but only a single car at that time. It then took minutes for his gardener to come down and collect him, he got his lunch, his 30 minute nap and still had time to spare.
Locals also used to beg a ride and then after years it was made into two car funicular. It is only small with 8 seats each carriage and it is now the shortest and steepest funicular railway in the world.
The trip cost $1.50 one way, we walked back down.
I then took everyone over the bridge across the Mississippi River, crossing the 8 lane interstate, but the ladies weren’t too happy as they were scared over the height, in fact we nearly had a double mutiny.
However I remembered, from my run, a nice looking café / bar so I took them there for a drink. And it was great. We got talking to the bar manager, a lady about our age and she was lovely chatting with us and getting along nicely. I tried to pay but she insisted that we have the drinks on the house for the ladies being so brave for walking over the bridge, how nice. We left her a good tip for the staff. She also advised us on a place in town for supper tonight which was a double bonus and also how we could walk under the interstate without having to cross the road, which got me pelters from the ladies for putting them in mortal danger.
We called in to the recommended bar for a drink and a look at the menu, and we liked what we saw, so that’s supper taken care off.
We then walked along the river, by way of a road bridge over the freeway. We found another of the ladies recommendations, a wine bar, so we settled at an outside table for a bottle or two and had a very nice chat.
The wine bar used to be an old brewery and is now used as a conglomerate for local businesses.
A train passed us moving very slowly and then it stopped just before going over the river bridge, it sat there for at least an hour, it must have caused all sorts of travel chaos. As we left the wine bar we walked back a different way but the train was so long and the road barriers were still down so we had to find a different way out. That’s when Wendy recalled that she’d left her specs at the bar, so we went back leaving Uisdean and Sandra to find their way back. Thankfully the specs were still on the table.
We walked back along the river walk and saw a huge barge going through the now open bridge as the train had eventually crossed it. That train must have been at least a mile long and every carriage was a dangerous goods carriage!
We got back to the hotel just after five after a very nice 9 miles days walk, easy peasy!!!
We met Uisdean and Sandra in their room to drink the last of their wine as they have a big train journey to make tomorrow and they want to travel light. After which we had a very nice meal in the bar as previously advised. I liked my meal, Wendy had far too much chicken she said, Uisdean loved his and I’m not sure about Sandra, she liked it, I think, but she might have taken a different selection if she had known it was going to be so big, yes having had American meals for the last two weeks I know exactly what she means.
We then went to a local bar where we were met with a bit of indifference, which is Ok as it’s not all about us, but there were far too many stuffed animals in glass boxes for my liking, I think, personally one grizzly bear is too much and 3 is definitely over kill, so I declined another drink there.
Instead we had a night cap with Uisdean and Sandra and then headed to our room, after some laughter, to bed….it’s been a lovely day, maybe we will see them in Inverness sometime!
Dubuque to Milwaukee
179 Miles
I had a slightly better sleep, but I was late going to bed and early getting up, so I was a little pooped during the day. I ran through the dock area where we were yesterday and came across a levee wall with a nice walkway so I ran along it as the sun rose over the Mississippi River and it was really lovely.
I found a very nice bench at the end of the wall and sat down and contemplated for a short while before heading off and jogging around the suburbs.
Today was a landmark day for me as today I completed my challenge to run 8 miles each day for 1,000 days. In total I have run 1097 times completing 9,102 miles at an average distance of 9.1 miles per day. I’ve seen some fantastic sights along the way and this morning’s sunrise was another cracker. It started on 27th November 2015 on a beach in Adelaide and I have run through deserts, on stonking beaches, in the Outback, in blizzards, tropical storms, gales and tropical trade winds, I have ran along Aberdeen promenade in the sunshine and I’ve done it all on 3 continents and it’s been a great experience, roll on tomorrow, 1001!
I also came across a WWII ship that is visiting the town, it must have arrived overnight. It was tied up along the river and it looked really eerie in the morning light. It was a strange kind of vessel, at first I thought it to be a landing craft but on a second look it did appear to have more of a superstructure. It must have been especially made for some important operations!
After showering we said goodbye to Sandra and Uisdean, we have had a smashing time with them, it’s been good fun, we need to plan our next out of country meeting for next year!
We hit the interstate and it was a lovely drive but after 40 miles my hunger got the better of me and we stopped at a small town and we both had an egg and sausage McMuffin at a McDonalds and boy was it tasty. In fact I am finding McD’s here much tastier then in the UK. I only ever go in them at home for coffee but here the food is very tasty.
I was embarrassed by the lady at the checkout, she was an older women who told me, rather loudly that she loved my voice……I know, I know, I can hear you chuckle.
She said, and I quote, “I love your voice it’s just so cute, I wished I could speak another language”. I said, “I’m speaking English just like you, but only with an English accent”, “Ah but your language is so much nicer than ours”, was her reply. As I was going to the table I heard her say”, Stop sniggering at me Arnold”, (her workmate).
Off we went and at 100 miles we stopped to find a laundrette in another small town, but could we find one, NO!!! But we did shop for tonight’s supper, big fat pork chops and salad.
I called in at another McD drive through for some coffee and Wendy spotted a laundrette, and it was the find of the day, a launderette at $1.75 per cycle, seating and Wi-Fi. Thank goodness for that as I was wearing my last clean pair of underpants!
40 minutes later and with the car smelling much better we set off for our last 70 miles and it was a doddle. The interstate dropped us within a mile of the hotel and we were in the carpark and unpacking in no time at all.
I thought I had made a massive mistake, this hotel is to die for, it’s dripping opulence, no its decadence on a grand scale…..…shame its only two nights.
It seems all very 1920’s and our room is stunning, we even have a kitchenette, I love it and we are so close to Lake Michigan.
After a minutes rest we set off exploring, it was a just going to be aa few hours as I was shattered and in need of a battery recharge. We walked down to the lake which is massive, it is colossal and it’s all fresh water, I love it!
I found a military memorial which was very poignant and then we walked along the lakeside and then headed downtown. This is not a huge city but it has its fair share of tall buildings and they seem to blend in well. There is a river, the River Milwaukee which cuts it in half, and buildings run along its bank with a very narrow walkways on both sides.
Now I have to say, the city has a bad reputation for killings, there has been 19 murders since 1st August so I wanted to know the lie of the land. I obtained a city map from a local shop and took a beer in an Irish bar where I smartly debriefed a very helpful barman of where we can and can’t go. He was a most helpful young fella and pinpointed all the no go areas, and thankfully we are some way away and I am unlikely to stray that far west of the lake, so all’s good.
We walked back and got back at 18:00, to our lovely room, I’m sat here with the aircon off, we are on the 4th floor and I am allowed to fully open the window, which is something I couldn’t do in the UK. The breeze is a delight and as the sun is going down under a clear blue sky the colours are stunning.
There are about 718 channels available on the TV and they are all rubbish, so I’ll do a little googling for the western leg of our trip and hopefully I will be fast on by 20:30, and most likely I’ll be up at 04:30 as I am keen to run along the lake in the northern direction, well I am into my stride now!!!
Milwaukee
No Travelling
I woke at 05:00 and tossed around for an hour until getting up at 06:00. I headed out and went around the lake, north bound. There was a wee hill, about a mile long and it was a bit of a struggle in the heat, but I got there.
And what did I find…………………….decadence……..loads of it. Houses that would be fit for Royalty, and lots of them.
All with lakeside rear views, they were cracking. How on earth can anyone afford a property like that, and then the next question, how come so many people can afford a home like that on such a large scale? When there is abject poverty in the country?
Lake Michigan facts - Lake Michigan has a surface area of 22,404 square miles, making it the largest lake entirely within one country by surface area. It is 307 miles long by 118 miles wide with a shoreline of 1,640 miles! The lake's average depth is 279 feet, while its greatest depth is 923 feet and it contains a volume of 1,180 cubic miles of water, see I did say it was big, didn’t I?
Lake Michigan looked beautiful in the morning’s sunshine and I came across a few beaches, all man made of course, but very nice none the less. They were empty but I guess it was 07:30!!!
The sky was clear and the temperature was hotting up and I had drank my bottle by the 6 mile point and I had set myself up for an 11 mile run, so I took a shortcut back, it was still 10.3 miles so when I got back I headed straight to the ground floor ice maker and filed my water bottle to the top and added water.
After a shower we headed out and within half a mile we found a very nice supermarket so we decided to get some supper supplies and take them back.
Boy did we get some goodies, salmon steaks, scallops and giant shrimp. We also got a very tasty US style salad box, a lemon and some wine, oh and lashings of cooked beef and bread. It cost a bloody fortune, $38!!!! It was quality stuff but still it was a bit pricy, I think I need to downsize my hotel locations!
We stashed it all in the room fridge and made a beef sarnie which was very tasty before heading out for a long day exploring.
We walked westwards to the river and then walked down the westward side of the river and it was lovely. The river isn’t what you would call entirely clean but it’s not too bad. But it’s well-used and as you will see from the photographs the local authorities have made an effort to get people to use it, and they do. In fact this got me thinking, every city I have ever been in has put some funding into their waterfront asset, whether it’s the ocean, the sea, a lake, loch, canal or river. One case in point is Brisbane, they have made a cycle / walkway path that goes from the city, along the river and almost to the sea.
Highland Council have done bugger all to either the river, the Firth or the canal. In fact they made the owner of the only café along the river wait 16 years before giving planning permission. It’s only an open air café but it’s got a good range of produce, and still the council will not allow him to put out a few tables and chairs, backwards thinkers the lot of them!!!
We walked right down to the end of the walkway where the river joins another river before heading to the Lake. Now I have told Wendy Gill to keep her wits about her at all times, this is a dangerous city and the dangerous people don’t just hang about in their neighbourhoods all the time, they often come into town to hassle tourists because they think they have money on them.
So on turning round and walking back I saw the man in the wheelchair giving some tourists a sob story and his mate who was lingering on his bike. As I pass, thinking Wendy is a step behind me I hear some spiel from bike man. I look around and sure enough Wendy’s gone off on an independent frolic down another path to look at some completely rubbish artwork that consisted of metal bars dressed in knitting!
As I turned around and walked back, bicky was straight onto me, high fiving like we were bros. His second words were, “I don’t want to put you folks out”, which means he is going to put me out, and he did. Pushingingly offering his bag carrying, tour guide and you can both ride with me on my bike services, you on the front & you on the back routine. Funny how when he didn’t want to put me out he got all distressed when I declined his services!
Afterwards Wendy got a talking to!
From there we walked back along the river on the east side and left where we had seen some interesting looking buildings. We found them, and one was the old courthouse. It was massive and derelict. Such a shame, with the amount of crime in the suburbs here you would think they would need all the court space they could use. Jeepers it was roasting by now!
We walked back to some bars and ended up buying two beers each, I don’t know how it happened, maybe I’m back to speaking Martian!
Now our next venture was to find someone from my childhood, I had been looking for him all along the river, where he was supposed to be. But due to bridge works he was behind a closed section, however, I did indeed find him.
Who could this Milwaukee character from so long ago be?
Fonzzie!!!
I bet none of my kids know who the eck I am talking about, so I’ll give £25 to the first, Gill, Whitson or Shepherd who tells me which 1970’s TV show Fonzie comes from. But the response has to be before 11:00 BST Friday 24th August 2018, by standard Whatss App message. Its bank holiday weekend so that would be a very nice addition to a Friday night out!
Milwaukee Facts – It starts to snow here in November, until March, it gets about 52 feet of snow per year and its maximum daytime temperature in winter is -2 degrees. We actually saw pavements that are marked up as heated walkways, which presumably prevent snow build up in winter,
After we had done downtown to death we headed to the Lake, to get Boris Bikes, well Bublr’s and ride along the shore to show Wendy the opulent housing along the north shore.
It was a nice ride, the bikes were a bit heavy, and pricy at $4 per 30 minutes so I made her peddle double time and we got back at 56:54:53, just before we went into the next 30 minute payment, phew!
We walked back to a beach bar and was charged the ridicules amount of $10 for two small cans of beer, which would be about 75 cents when bought in a 24 pack.
We walked back in the heat to the hotel where I cooked supper…………………….mmmhhhhhhh. What a delight it was, all drizzled in lemon juice.
The scallops were just a lovely!
After a recharge of our batteries we took a walk along the river down town, just as night fell, and the city came alive, nicely.
We saw a party boat chugging along under punter power, everyone had to peddle to turn the water wheel. We saw loads of bars all full of people enjoining themselves. I also saw a cycle /motorbike in a shop window, jeepers I wished I could have one stashed in my suitcase, they look so cool.
Back at the room now, its 20:41 and it won’t be long before DG is in the land of nod, moving day tomorrow, 90 odd miles in a southern direction, where to Avid Reader?
Milwaukee to Chicago
83 Miles
I woke at 05:30 and checked my messages only to find Robyn Shepherd had won the Fonzi competition and that she was delighted with her winnings. I’m thinking a wee bit of Googling may have occurred, she’s never seen Happy Days in her life the chancer!!!
It was raining hard when I got up but had stopped by the time I went out and was completely dry within half an hour of being out on the road.
I went southwards along the lake and I saw a young women come out from a side street and head south about 100 metres in front of me, she seemed to know where see where she was going so I tagged along, at an acceptable distance of course and she took up along the lake front and onto the river walk on a route that we couldn’t find yesterday. She flagged after another mile but she’d done the job for me as I now knew where I was going. But it all looks so very different when you’re coming back the same way and I could not find that blinking ally again that took me from the river to the lake and I had to resort to the map on my running app to get me home.
I got back just after 08:00 and Wendy Gill was still in her bed, drinking tea and feeling pretty pleased with herself.
I showered and went to get some supplies, namely bacon and rolls and other essentials, like the litre bottle of vodka at $13 (A tenner to us Brits, what a bargain).
So happy as Larry I went to check out only to be asked for, guess what? ID…………………… ID, I’m almost 60 years old and the girl wanted to see my ID, my I bloody D!!!
I said I’m nearly 60 and she says, “Its company policy” well she would wouldn’t she. I said it’s ridiculous, she says, “I’m 17 I have to ask”. Well that stumped me so I handed over my driver’s licence, she glanced at it and gave me it back, well I guess that did the trick because I got the vodka.
I have never been ID’d in my entire life and now in the twilight years a 17 year old questions me, it was a bit embarrassing I have to admit, I mean even I know I clearly look older than 35!
Back at the hotel the bacon was duly fried and it was bloody lovely, very crisp, very fatty and very baconny, I had it in a bun with lashings of tomato sauce and it was a delight……………..I could have eaten 3!
We hit the road just after 10:30 and enjoyed an uneventful journey to Chicago, well apart from the usual wrestle at the filing station which would not take my credit card because I don’t have a zip code. And I can’t make one up as the card is registered to IV5 7NB in Inverness, I just hope we don’t make it this hard for our American cousins when they visit us!
We are staying in an AirBnB house tonight, we have stayed in 3 so far on this trip and I know I am biased but none have given the hospitality we give and tonight’s is not the best, by a long shot.
Here’s what the advert on the web site says, “This spot is perfect for someone looking for a private and spacious place to stay at a reasonable price near a hip and fun neighbourhood. Half of our basement is sectioned off for guests. You’ll have a private entrance with bedroom, bathroom and living space with a table, chairs, mini fridge and microwave. You're also welcome to hang out in our beautiful backyard with hammock and picnic table”.
Hip and Fun will be covered a little later, but the basement is someone’s workshop with benches, hammers, nails and loads of paint tins stacked on a shelf, a boiler running constantly, (maybe aircon) in the workshop behind us, via none fireproof doors and cladding.
The celling is missing and there is no smoke or carbon monoxide detection.
I looked at the photographs on the website and they have all been taken with discretion so as not to show the true setting. Don’t get me wrong, the bedroom is clean and tidy as it the bathroom, but it’s not right and it’s not safe, certainly not by UK standards.
Now the neighbourhood, that’s something else. The owner left us a map, but for me its upside down and so I have to turn it around to orientate myself, but I only realised this after going the wrong way and ending up in an undesirable area, where I quickly realised the mistake and made an about turn.
We were told there were some trendy bars and places to hang out. We walked for 7 miles and never once came to an area which could be described as anywhere but drab and dirty and in some cases a bit dodgy, it was like somewhere you’d find off the Edgeware Road.
There are even signs in shop windows with pictures that tell you not to take your gun inside!!
After our walk, I established the route to the one good thing about the area, and that’s a disused, elevated railway section which was been turned into a cycle, walkway. I’ll be trying it out in the morning, that’s if I can find it again.
Tonight it’s an early bedtime for me, I need to recharge my batteries. I was thinking this morning we must be the only people who go away and come back fitter and leaner than before they left!
The final duty of the day was to download the App for the rail line we will use to get us downtown tomorrow, all went well until, guess what, (again), it wanted my Zip Code!!!!
I gave up opened some wine and kicked back.
I’ll board the train in the morning without a ticket and come what may I’ll be in downtown Chicago come rain or shine!!!
Chicago
No Travelling
What a thunder storm we had in the night, it woke me at 03:00 with the lightening flashing through the tiny bedroom window I had opened before settling down.
The rain sounded like a roaring train for about 15 minutes whereby I had nodded off again, waking at 05:30.
After a normal breakfast of fruit and fibre and real milk I set off in search of the elevated track, and I found it within half a mile of our room.
And it is fantastic facility!!!
It’s only 2.7 miles long but that’s a round trip of 5.4 miles. So with my half mile already done I only had to circle one block to do my 4 miles out. I had a drink stop because it was hot and humid before setting off back.
The track is elevated as previously detailed, on an old rail line but it has been superbly done. It has a concrete path with distance indicators set into it every tenth of a mile. There is really good street lighting, nice wild grasses growing at the side and water fountains at each entry / exit ramp. It’s the perfect inner city track with no roads to cross.
I was back by 08:10 and showered and presented at 09:10, all ready to hit Chicago.
A short walk to the train station and we were on the platform. I asked a young man if I could buy a ticket on the train. But the bugger was out of his mind and could barely stand. He also had some very raw and very fresh scratches down his left cheek. He must have being messing with the wrong kind of kitten to get those, they looked pretty serious, but I don’t think he could feel them!
The train dropped us at Union Station in the heart of Chicago, just at the side of the river.
The weather was overcast and we immediately walked past the Sears Tower which was shrouded in cloud on its upper floors.
We walked through the sky scrapers to the Lake and eventually found our way to Navy Pier.
I was starving by this time, around 12:00, so we did something that’s not been done since the kids were tiny, we had a MacDonald’s meal, and actually it was quite tasty.
At 12:30 we boarded the Architectural River Cruise which was a 75 minute trip along both rivers and through the sky scrapers into the heart of the city.
The clouds melted away and it was a terrific experience made all the better by our tour guide, Galen, who was a font of building and more importantly, historical knowledge.
The cruise was superb, what did we learn about Chicago, here goes:
1. The building under construction is the highest sky scraper ever designed by a female architect. It’s going to be built with wiggles in it to reflect the lake.
2. The river now runs backwards. Due to the amount of effluent going into the lake, which is their drinking water supply, they constructed a canal which is just deep enough to make the lake flow towards the Mississippi River, (no wonder the Mississippi is toxic).
3. The Sears Tower is now called the Willies Tower but no one will recognise it locally. A company called Willies had rented several floors for a few years and managed to negotiate the name change for the stay. The local community didn’t like it so refuse to call it anything but the Sears Tower.
4. The man who designed the tallest building in the world, in Dubai, was raised in Chicago and trained there.
5. The great fire of 1871 killed 300 people and destroyed the city. It started in a barn near to the lake and quickly spread, due to the amount of timber and other rubbish in the river which itself caught fire, the fire jumped the river and set the entire city ablaze.
6. Chicago is called the windy city, but not because of its famous winds which blow off Lake Michigan, but because of all the hot air the city’s politician blow!
The cruise was ideal if you haven’t much time in the city and we hadn’t, so it was just the ticket.
After the cruise we walked the length of Navy Pier which was some distance calling in for a beer at a country music festival, now the only country music I know comes from Dolly Parton, but I do like to listen to it, and this show was good.
Then we followed the river walk to its end and moseyed around up and downtown for a while before taking a final beer in the only bar we could find, it was a sports bar with sporty types watching baseball but I didn’t care I was thirsty and the heat and humidity was quite oppressive by now, it was touching 30 degrees.
We caught the 5:35pm train back but not before I stuck my head into the main concourse of Central Station and I found what I was looking for, I was tickled pink.
The film, The Untouchables, one of my favourite had a scene towards the end filmed there, with a women pulling her baby’s pram up the stairs at Central Station. It was all very theatrical, and Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) went to help her, but the bad guys appeared and a shootout occurred. Elliot let go of the pram and it went riding down the stairs. George Stone, (Andy Garcia), Ness’s partner came sliding to the rescue and slid under the pram and trained his gun on the last villain, who was taking Al Capone’s Bookkeeper away at gunpoint, (he was going to give evidence against Capone).
Can anyone remember the line? Stone had the pram on top of him and his gun trained on the bad Guy, Ness who had chased the pram, whilst killing bad guys, was with him too when Ness said, “Take the shot”, he did, he killed him and the bookkeepers evidence of tax evasion put Al Capone in prison.
Anyway, I was there at that staircase in Central Station and it was just brilliant, I must have seen that film 6 times and it gets me every time.
Soon after we boarded the train, got back to Logan Square where I bought $11 of yummy looking salad from the salad bar, my eyes are bigger than my belly!!! We then settled into our Dungeon for the night.
As I type I am full of the intention to go out for a stroll around the block after my very filling beef and salad sandwich, but my app shows we have walked about 16 miles today so I think I might just pass on that, take a shower and have another early night.
I’ll let you know how I get on tomorrow Avid Reader!
Chicago to Cedar Rapids
264 Miles
I was woken in the night by Wendy who told me she had heard gunshots, I heard some commotion and promptly went back to sleep.
I got up at 05:30 and Wendy was awake, having not slept since our early morning chat. She did intend to go running along the track this morning but she would not get out of her bed, “It’s like Dodge City out there”, she said.
I said, “Don’t be silly your letting your imagination get away with you again”, she is such a flapper!!! I had some breakfast and went out running and I found several police cars parked just along the street with flashing lights and the road blocked.
I have since discovered a man and women were shot in their car, the women in her hand, the man in the stomach. The man who shot them calmly got out of his car as they pulled up and shot them.
I stupidly went on the recommendations of the AirBnB Host that it was a safe area, I should have known better when I saw the room we had, not as described or photographed.
But I already knew because there was a big thing about 34 shootings in Chicago the weekend before last, then 30 shootings last weekend which was all detailed in a newspaper I read in a café last week, including one in Logan Square where we were staying.
Then I Googled Logan Square shootings and if you do Avid Reader, like me, you’ll see shooting, stabbings and all types of not very nice behaviour in this, as described by our host, hip and trendy neighbourhood. Some of the shootings even occurred in AirBnB apartments.
When I told Wendy what I had seen, we were packed and gone just after 09:00, I barely had time to shower.
And off we set, within 3 miles we were on the freeway, heading towards Chicago City Centre and within 4 miles we were in standing traffic, on a very early Sunday morning. The Chicago Triathlon was on today so that might be the reason for the amount of traffic.
But as we crawled into the city it cleared as we got the Chicago Loop and off we went. I saw the Sears Tower nod me a goodbye from my rear view mirror.
We settled down for a 264 mile journey through farm land, back into and through Illinois. Mile upon mile of corn fields passed us by and then I got to thinking just how much sweet corn does a country need? I mean it’s very nice with butter and black pepper, but not at every meal, surely not. Actually we have had a few cobs and it is very tasty, much better then we have in the UK, so maybe it’s a regular family staple.
We crossed the Mississippi River at the State boundary and boy was she wide there. We were not very far south of Dubuque at that time but the river was much wider here. In fact the bridge to cross it was huge.
About 40 miles before our destination I called into a filling station for fuel and to stretch my legs and the lad at the counter being served was paying for his fuel in quarters, 25 cents to you Brits. He had a right pile going on and the man at the till had just finished counting it out. Thankfully I called just has he’d finished or I might still be there.
We carried onto Cedar Rapids and checked into our very nice hotel, a very nice hotel indeed.
We dropped our bags and headed into town and found it very quiet, almost deathly quiet apart from the odd bar that was open for trade.
But it has some beautiful stone buildings and the Cedar River seems quite an attraction for fishing.
The town was established in 1838, which for me is quite recent, well it is in the context of European history. In fact most of the land west of the Mississippi River wasn’t settled until around that time and that’s why the River is the State line for all States to the east of the river.
Actually I would guess that some people would have contention to make over that comment as I would imagine it was settled very nicely thank you very much by Native Americans before we turned up mob handed, with whiskey and guns.
And that leads me to one more point, we are over 2,300 miles into our US journey and I have yet to see a Native American and no, I don’t mean someone looking like Chief Sitting Bull, I mean an ordinary Joe!
We called into the one store which was open in town, a small convince store and we were the only shoppers, in fact the store assistant was sat on the wall outside when we went in. We bought milk for my breakfast and as I paid I said to the young lady, “Are you usually this quiet?” and she replied, “Yes” and I said, “Yes I guess it’s a Sunday, so it’s going to be quiet”,” and she said, No this is Cedar Rapids, its quiet period!” Which we both laughed at.
Supper was collected from Kentucky Fried Chicken, it was a bit of an ordeal as we didn’t want anything on show on their menu boards, we just wanted some chicken thighs, no extras, just thighs and so I took the plunge and asked the lady, “Can I just have 3 thighs please?” “Of course you can, we do anything to please”, was her reply, Phew!!!
We got back to the room for a little relaxation and then I received a message from AirBnB, it was time to review our weekend’s host, so I set about it with pleasure, great pleasure.
Cedar Rapids to Omaha
264 Miles
I did my review of the Chicago AirBnB accommodation last night and I did it honestly and respectfully and in my belief that a review should be honest, it was. I know it’s a subjective process on the whole, as in, what I don’t like someone will. But dangerous conditions are objective and I couldn’t live with myself if I had not given an honest appraisal of the situation.
Well it’s been published as the host has reviewed us, she gave us flying colours, but I still don’t feel bad.
After, we went for a walk, just around the block and I had a delicious ice cream at a small ice cream parlour and it was lovely. We walked back along the rear of the hotel and come across some fireflies in the twilight. They were brilliant, Brad sent some video of them when Caroline and him were in the States recently but seeing them live was fantastic, they were like something from Peter Pan.
I was up at 05:30 and it was bucketing rain, with thunder and lighting. But I got dressed and off I went and in 25 degrees it was fine. The thunder roared overhead and lightning flashed and I loved it.
I got back drenched to my skin, and then the rain stopped.
After showering we had breakfast downstairs and it was lovely, they had mushroom soup on offer, well I just had to have it and it was a delight. Then I had scrambled eggs and sausage and a cherry yogurt all swilled down with apple and orange juice. I even snaffled a boiled egg for my mid-day snack.
Before we hit the road we went to a sports shop to get me some new trainers for running, and they are just the ticket, more Nike!
We set off just after 10:30 and headed down the interstate. I had the radio on and the news said that there had been 54 shootings in Chicago this weekend with two dead and others seriously injured, what is it with these people?
The journey was great, we crossed the state of Iowa and travelled through another 264 miles of sweet corn, and possibly soya fields.
It has been decreed that every flag over every federal building, and from what we have seen most State buildings too and even private ones, and there are many, are to be flown at half-mast in honour of Senator John MacCain and it’s a very humbling site.
I pulled in at a filling station and their huge flag was there proudly flying in the fierce wind at half-mast.
I know a little of John MacCain but what I really know is of his capture and the treatment given to him as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He was extremely badly treated, put in solitary confinement for two years and badly tortured. In all he did five and a half years, he was offered early release as his father was an Admiral but he refused to go before others who had been longer, and got yet more terrible treatment.
Well I for one think that’s a man worth honouring!!!
We got to Omaha, after crossing the mighty Missouri River, which is in the state of Nebraska at 14:45 and we were checked in by a lovely women who could not have been nicer, she called me Mr Gill, I said call me David, she said, Thank you Mr David, I said no, really call me David, she said OK Mr David!!!
We are in real cowboy country!!!
We are now in the centre of the USA, it’s hot, I mean really hot, and humid and we are bang, smack in the middle of Tornado Ally. We have heard of tornado warnings around us but not yet near us. But, thankfully I don’t think its peak tornado season.
I checked our location online and I saw that we are still in Iowa. It’s a funny story but we are in land that has been created by the Oxbow Lake effect, (Google that one Avid Reader, I do aim to educate). The river changed course and the land is still officially in Iowa. We are completely landlocked by Nebraska and the Missouri River and yet this tiny bit of land is still officially Iowa, (look carefully at the screen shot picture and you will see it).
Now how much hassle does this cause? Iowa authorities have to send mail, bin men, road cleaners, and everything else needed to keep the area going. There is no immediate road bridge over the river so they have to cross the river in downtown Omaha. Why on earth common sense didn’t prevail and the land just revert to Nebraska, Lord only knows, stubborn stupidity no doubt.
The strip of land is about two 200 metres x 800 metres and has a few hotels and industrial buildings, they even have an official State boundary sign at each entry point!!!
We took the shuttle bus downtown and what a lovely place it is, there is a modern area with a couple of tower blocks but the real heart is the old market area, with very old red brick buildings, it’s fantastic.
There are loads of interesting and quirky shops and bars.
It was very hot so we had a beer, in a nice old bar.
As its only two miles back to the hotel we walked back along the river and through a park with a stunning fountain, it’s the second biggest in the USA, it is a really good fountain.
We also came across a statue to the working community who built this State, it’s at the riverside and in 2011 due to heavy snowfall in the Rockies and lots of sudden spring rain the river burst its banks. There is a plaque with the photograph, in bronze, of the rivers level on the statue with a workers hand and hammer just visible.
We made it back in good time and with Wendy still talking to me as she was finding the heat a bit too much.
Supper was 3 day old salad and a very nice tasty tin of chili and beans which I got in a tin from a downtown store, warmed nicely in a foam coffee cup in the microwave.
Tomorrow I aim to walk over the pedestrian bridge that as the State boundary marked on it, it was far too hot to do it today, we got back at 7:30 and it was still 30 degrees!!!
Addendum – Its 22:00 and I’ve just been out for a walk to see the moon, (Its lovely by the way), and I walked around this tiny extra State, it’s a little bigger than I thought, but there are only 4 large hotels, one, ahhmm, Gentlemen’s Club, and the rest is industry, large ones too. It got me thinking how do they call the fire service, or police or ambulance for that matter. The call must go to an Iowa call centre, then they will have to mobilise one of their units, or get on the phone to call in the Omaha service, either way there is going to be an unnecessary delay.
If I see a fire station tomorrow I’m going to call in and make enquires, I know I am such an anorak!!!
Omaha
No Travelling
We are having another day in Omaha to give us a break and it’s a nice town too, so that’s a bonus.
I ran over the bridge into Iowa this morning, so I left Iowa, entered Nebraska, left Nebraska, entered Iowa, left Iowa, entered Nebraska and entered Iowa, again, boy this is so crazy!!!
Thankfully they are on the same time!
I saw a magnificent sunrise come up just as I got to the bridge and in an instant it became really hot and it stayed that way until I got back and then it clouded over.
While I showered it rained quite hard, but then the sun came out and dried the wet up in minutes.
After another hearty breakfast, including mushroom soup, again we left to do some chores, washing, shopping and to find the post office to post Jeremys CD.
The laundrette is always a good eye-opener to Stateside life, you meet all walks in there. And it’s only a dollar for a full load, a big one at that.
I asked the lovely young woman at the supermarket for directions to the Post Office and she said just follow 24th Street, which we were already on, all the way to the junction with M Street. Easy peasy, but then she did something else which was very nice of her. The bill came to $100 and she used her staff discount card to reduce it by $30, that’s more than a quarter of the bill, I could have kissed her.
The post office was a stunning building, a very solid stone building.
As we headed back to the hotel to drop the washing it had clouded over again and the rains came back. I put the weather channel on and all of the area around us is getting a battering, high winds, heavy rain and even very large hailstones in some places, but it’s just the rain with us.
I read the newspaper:
* A 31 year old women, who is five months pregnant, entered the country illegally when she was 17, she was from San Salvador, she was caught in Texas and attended court where she was bound over to appear again in a few days’ time. Her father who was illegal in Nebraska, came and got her and she lived there. She married a local man and they now have a 4 year old daughter. She was arrested and handcuffed as she dropped her daughter at kindergarten by the Immigration Authorities and put in prison. She was deported back to El Salvador on 10th August.
Donald Trump has issued an Executive Order that targets all illegal immigrants in the USA and not just criminal ones as President Obama did. Apparently there are 11,000,000 illegals in the States, this is very thought provoking!
* There was a house fire in Chicago this weekend killing 8 people, including 6 kids, a teenager and an adult male are in hospital, both in a critical condition. I did think we would get some backlash from the AirBnB owner I gave the review about last weekend, but as a lot of the issues were fire safety related, maybe she’s decided to keep her head down!
At 13:30, we went for it!
And we got outside and saw the big and very black clouds and headed straight back inside and got the shuttle bus to town and it peed down for an hour.
After window shopping we went into an Irish bar for a glass of wine and chatted with the barman as he had time on his hands. He was a really nice guy who seemed quite interested in our travels and it turned out he’s a traveller too and gave us some good recommendations for our later travels. We also chatted about our little State within a State and I asked where the school kids go for their schooling, (there is actually a lot of residential homes I didn’t realise were here). “Good question”, he said, “I guess they are bused over the bridge”, I just don’t get it!
At 15:30, 30 minutes into happy hour where its $3 a glass of wine we went for a lunch / dinner, come hideaway day in a restaurant called the Twisted Fork, I had the ribeye steak and Wendy had Meatloaf, both meals were tremendous, mine was bloody gorgeous!!!
We had a glass or two of wine and then opted for a pudd, I had a crème-brulee, Wendy had fancy brownie and again they were both stonking. We needed to walk home to feel less bloated, well it is a once in a while treat.
During dinner Wendy had one of her frequent blond moments, I’ll try to explain but it almost goes over my head.
Fahrenheit to Centigrade, rule of thumb conversion:
Minus 30 and divide by 2, so 94 Fahrenheit is 64/2 = 32 Centigrade.
Yesterday it was 92f, so that’s 31c
Today its 76f which is 23c
Wendy says, “I can tell you it is 20 degrees colder today than yesterday and I know it’s their scale but it feels it”, “No Wend, its 8 degrees colder than yesterday, our scale, the one we are used to using, so it’s not that bad”, is my reply.
“I don’t care what you say, it feels 20 degrees colder than yesterday and I think their scale is right”.
How on earth can you argue logic with someone with that sense of rational, I gave up in the end!
Anyway, it was a fair bit colder, (but not by 20 degrees on our scale), and we came across a major police incident!!! There was at least six police cars all with flashing lights, municipal vans, with flashing lights, the road was blocked and there was even a camera crew there from a TV station. I thought, “Wow this is something big”, so I grabbed the camera man, thinking I’d get the low down on a bank raid, but alas no it was just a broken water main. It wasn’t even blowing off, it was just slowly seepingout. Clearly the workload between the Chicago Police and the Omaha Police is somewhat quite different!
We carried on home along the river and we were glad to be back, in our room with the heating on full blast drying our washing.
I suggested a nip down to the pool for a dip in the Jacuzzi which went down like a lead balloon but as other options other than getting drowned outside were slim on the ground, the pool won.
And it was a quite relaxing forty minutes and after we took coffee in the reception and chatted with the receptionist who just loves our Royal Family, even more so now Duchess Megan as joined the club. She actually was breath of fresh air and quite enthusiastic and looked like she enjoyed life to the full.
Then it was bedroom time, watching a bit of TV and then hopefully an early night so I can get up extra early and hopefully do a longer run, well I am in training for a marathon in 3 weeks’ time.
Oh, Alex Shepherd and Bradley Gill do not Google anything about the Gentleman’s club, “Spearmint Rhino”, which is just over the road from me, the photo is just for journalistic purpose!
Omaha to Valentine
301 Miles
Warning to Robyn Shepherd, this copy has details, photos and video of your Mothers interaction with a snake!!!
I was awake at 04:30 this morning, eyes wide open but I waited until 05:00 to get up. I don’t know if it’s a mix of excitement or having to be back before breakfast finishes at 09:00, who knows what the subconscious mind does. But as I’ve said before my sleep pattern has been disturbed since we went onto Central Time. But I was asleep by 22:00 last night so I did get 6.5 hours rest.
Jeepers a cold front passed through in the night and it was 13 degrees when I went running, I did see another stonking sunrise mind.
I declined the soup at breakfast and had a boiled egg and fancy sausage toasty and a strawberry yogurt and it was all very nice.
I grabbed a newspaper from the front desk, yes it is such a nice hotel, and read it with tea in our room. The Chicago fire was covered and I’ve included the copy in the photographs. It appears that the original story wasn’t quite accurate, here’s what I’ve got from the latest briefing:
“A weekend fire in a Chicago apartment building has claimed a 10th life. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office says in a news release that 14-year-old Adrian Hernandez was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital in Chicago at 11:12 a.m. Tuesday.
All ten victims of the pre-dawn Sunday fire at the apartment on the city's Southwest Side were children. All but two of them died at the scene. Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the blaze, though they've ruled out arson. There were no working smoke alarms at the home.
There were no adults home at the time of the fire, and the state Department of Children and Family Services has said it is looking into "allegations of neglect."
I was excited today, we were heading to Valentine which is deep into the Wild West and we were going to cross the Great Plains and enter the Prairies and it did not disappoint.
We did 301 miles of pure adventure, it was really interesting, I loved every mile of it.
We did about 40 miles on the Interstate and the rest on a single carriageway road, and we hardly saw anyone.
For the first 70 miles we went through the usual corn fields and then after that for about 100 miles we were in transition phase where we went from pure arable farming into beef farming and then for the last 50 miles it was pure beef farming having left the last of the corn behind.
Someone told me the plains were boring, flat and uninteresting, I disagree. They aren’t hilly but they are nicely undulating with the prairie grass growing nice and long. We saw that it gets cut for silage, most likely winter feed as it gets pretty dam cold about these parts. We went through small townships with small family homes and farms and lager towns which were exceptionally clean and tidy and the standard of driving was much more polite too.
We saw that the vegetation is well watered and if not by rainfall by irrigation via huge agricultural water mist systems. The rivers we crossed all look like they were running high so drought, or just lack of rainfall isn’t a problem. This was the exact opposite of the Australian Outback where we used to see cattle almost skeleton thin.
I told Wendy we were following the Oregon Trail and she said really, and as if by magic a sign post appeared saying “The Oregon Trail” I couldn’t have planned it any better. Now how cowboy is that?
We stopped at a small town called Basset where we took a stroll and saw men in cowboy boots and Stetsons, now we were really wild.
We continued and Wendy started to see a path running through the scrub about 10 metres from the roadside, it went on for miles. We later found it’s called the Cowboy Trail and covers 321 miles across north Nebraska, wow, I went to go on that.
We got to our motel a little after 3pm and checked in, no sooner had the bags been dropped when we drove into town.
It’s a small town, very clean and tidy, but covered with very annoying heart symbols everywhere. I never figured that the town Valentine in the Wild West would be romantically connected to the event. It just goes to show what a cowboy will do for his cowgirl!
We got back to the motel and had a beer before walking along the Cowboy trail for the few hundred yards into town to grab some supper.
I had already told Wendy to be on her guard, I told her there might be snakes around, it was that kind of scrub.
I saw him straight away, but not Wendy who was too busy yattering, so I stopped and said are you going to walk over that snake. “Snake, what snake?” she said in a rather alarmed voice, she’d not seen him, so I pointed him out. In an instant she was all over me, on my back and jumping all over me. I was scratched and lost a fair amount of body hair, until she ran away in the other direction.
The poor fella was sunning himself and I had to wake him by throwing a few handfuls of shingle at him before he moved along.
I got video of her eventually running past him, it’s hilarious, check it out for yourself if you can find it!!!
We eventually made it into town and had a burger each from Frosty’s drive in. We sat outside in the sun and they were lovely, wholesome beef burgers with all the trimmings.
We then walked back to the motel, on the road!!!
Valentine to???
202 Miles
I ran along the Cowboy track and over the old bridge today which was built in 1909 and is 150 feet high and a quarter of a mile long, more pics can be seen at the link below, check them out its very interesting:
http://www.penryfamily.com/cnw/valentinebridge.html
I thought I was flying I was so high in the sky!
I set off at day break and the Prairie grass was stunning in the morning light and I got to the bridge just before sunrise. Although I didn’t see the sunrise as I was behind a large forest at that point, by the time I got back to the bridge it was only a little ways high in the sky.
I got back and Wendy had run to the bridge too, without any incidence of snake contact.
I had a waffle for breakfast, as made by me, in the very clever waffle machine. It will be my first and last as they are quite tasteless and you have to smoother it with syrup just to make it moist enough to eat.
We set sail at 09:30 and again travelled on single track roads on the most stunning landscape you might ever see.
We saw Prairie grass most of the way with the odd bit of sweet corn, cattle and towards the end, harvested wheat fields.
We saw very strange rock formations which Wendy found in the guide book to be from an era when this area was ocean, that must have been many, many years ago and it was stunning. It was also over 30 degrees centigrade, that’s 90 something on my car dashboard.
We happened, very surprisingly on Mountain Time as we passed a small village, I saw it, just in time, a small sign saying you are now on Mountain Time, and we were. The Sat Nav, mine and Wendy’s I-phones all syncing with the new time zone. So we are now 7 hours behind the UK.
I say unexpectedly as we weren’t anywhere near the mountains at the time. It put me right out, I’m still not in sync with 6 hours, so 7 will never do!!!
But we carried on and pulled up at a bar in the Bad Lands for a burger, but it was closed so we went across the road to the Native American Gallery where I thought we might buy something Native American.
I saw a shirt I quite liked but apparently it was a ladies fit, I tried the large size on and Wendy said I looked like a lady so I didn’t buy it, I did like it though!
The shop was crammed with stuff and the passages were very narrow and as I squeezed past Wendy I caught a display with my hip and a plate fell and broke.
I immediately apologised, I had only brushed the table and I could see the offending plate, which was stacked on top of another tier, on top of another tier on this table. I could see the plate rock but I was powerless to stop it from falling.
I nipped around and picked it up and thanking my lucky stars that it wasn’t an expensive exhibit, (It was a plane brown plate, made in china costing $39, it would have cost $10 no more, maximum, to make.
The shop assistant didn’t come over straight away but when she did she wasn’t at all helpful and eventually said it cost $39 and would come out of her pay. I didn’t feel bad about the plate, it was a silly place to put it, if it had fallen on someone it would have hurt, I wasn’t being clumsy, I just caught the table with my thigh and because of the instability of the display the shockwave intensified as it went up the structure, and it was made in bloody china, (oh and the shirt I wanted was made in India too). But I did feel bad because the sales assistant made me feel bad, I was going to buy something as compensation but it was all tut, and Wendy ushered me out of the shop saying the assistant was unprofessional in her approach to the incident and I shouldn’t feel bad.
Now with that advice coming from someone with a vast amount of retail experience I felt a little better and drove off, ,most likely with an ancient Indian curse on my head, I’ll probably die in the night Avid Reader……………….farewell, it been a blast!!!
We carried on and stopped in the small township of Scenic, which wasn’t apart from the nostalgic looking buildings that had been made to look like a Wild West town. Jeepers it was very hot.
We bought lunch from an Asian Cooking Caravan, I know it seems strange, and in the Wild West too, but it was bloody lovely, BBQ chicken, rice, egg rolls and a stonking dip. We shared one portion and we could have shared with 4 more people there was that much food.
We carried on and made our destination for 13:40, explaining to the reception staff, a man who shouted at us so loudly, not in a bad way, he just shouted in conversation, that we were early due to Mountain Time.
The room is nice, it’s a traditional motel just out of town and it’s just what we need.
We settled in and then went for a walk and we saw some very interesting stuff that I’ll explain about tomorrow.
The heat was getting to Wendy so at 17:00 we spilt up, she went back to the motel, I walked the 3 mile round trip to get supplies from the supermarket, in the blistering heat, well I am from Barnsley aren’t I?
I got back and Wendy was worried as it had taken me a while, but not so worried that she came to find me! But she did make a stonking sandwich which we ate on the balcony in the heat of the evening.
It’s now 20:18, but 21:18 in my head as I am still on Central Time, Wendy is on sleep time, all tucked up in bed.
Tomorrow is going to be a stonking day, I’m sorry I haven’t disclosed our location tonight Avid Reader, it’s going to be an exclusive surprise for you all tomorrow and I’m very sure it won’t disappoint.
Night, Night, from, bloody, Mountain Time!!
Oh and here’s a clue as to our location, I can see some hills on the town’s outskirts!
Rapid City
No Travelling
I slept reasonably well and didn’t wake until 05:40.
I was away running shortly after 06:00 and luckily came across a cycle path network that took me out of the city.
The path went in several directions so I had to use the mapping section on my Strava running app to get back.
I got back and we took breakfast at the motel which was very nice, lots of fruit to choose which is always nice.
Freshened up by a nice hot shower we hit the road into the Black Hills to find the first and for me the most important of today’s visits, The Crazy Horse Memorial.
The Black Hills are in the Rocky Mountains!!!
The memorial is currently being carved out of a part of the Black Hills at the request of an old tribal leader called, “Standing Bear”, who has since passed away, and he choose a white man of Polish decent, Korczak Ziolkowaski to do it. His vision was to build a memorial to show the white man that the red man has heroes as well.
Ziolkowaski was an established sculpture who had worked on Mount Rushmore when that was being made so he had experience working on large projects and the Crazy Horse Memorial was intended to be the world’s biggest sculpture with the face alone being 85 foot long!
The work started in May 1947 and will continue for at least another 50 years. Ziolkowaski married and had 10 children and although he died in 1982 his wife and some of his children now continue the work and they are committed to fulfilling the dream of both Ziolkowaski and Standing Bear. Two of his grandchildren also work on the rock face.
Before we took a couch trip upto the mountain we watched a 30 minute video about tribal history which all started to go wrong when the white man appeared in the late 1800’s when gold was discovered in the Black Hills and the white man reneged on his promise for the tribes to be allowed to live in the Black Hills freely and undisturbed.
Crazy Horse was born in the Black Hills and was raised to be a warrior and a tribal leader.
He fought many battles to preserve the lands of his people and led his warriors into the Battle of the Little Big Horn where General Custer was defeated.
Unfortunately for the Native Americans the white Man relentlessly pursued the tribes and Crazy Horse attended a peace meeting but he was arrested when he would not agree to the unfair terms on offer.
As they led him to the jail house he resisted and was bayoneted by a soldier, he died a short time later.
There are no photographs of Crazy Horse so the image as been developed from people who knew him and from the stories passed down generations.
The memorial is self-funded and the foundation which the Ziolkowaski’s now run refused 20 million dollars of funding from the Government in keeping with Standing Bears wishes.
June 3, 1948 – First blast on the Mountain. Five survivors of the Battle of the Little Bighorn attended.
The memorial was commenced by being copied from a much smaller scale model by using a plumb line but as technology has improved GPS and laser are now the sculptures tools.
There’s so much more to this story and I found the video and the tour guide so moving, when complete it will be a truly magnificent memorial of a lost nation.
I intend to return when I’m 80!!!
We have been told numerous times about a scenic road that runs through the Black Hills from Crazy Horse to Mount Rushmore, our next destination, but could we find it, no we could not and that’s because nonsensical things like good directions and signposting don’t appear to be thought relevant in the States. We actually ended up in a small town called Custer completely by accident.
It was another eye opener! Its elevation is 513 feet above sea level and it gets mighty cold in winter, its lowest recorded temperature was -41.7c in January 1963, oh and they have piped country music all over the Main Street!!
We grabbed a steak sarnie to share and it was hot and very tasty.
We got to Mount Rushmore without further to ado!
And it’s an impressive sight!
Work commenced at Rushmore in 1927 as an idea by Doane Robinson who wanted something big to celebrate the USA’s great achievements. The original idea was to sculpt the pinnacles into full length figures but the sculpture Gutzon Borglum managed to persuade him otherwise as the pinnacles weren’t considered suitable.
And so the idea of Mount Rushmore was formed, by Borglum.
The four presidents to be sculptured where George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln symbolizing the ideals of freedom and democracy, it is a great tribute to four presidents.
The intention with the chosen presidents was to mark specific chapters in US history, George Washington was chosen because of his role in the Revolutionary War and his fight for American independence. He was the first United States president and is often called the father of the country. He based the constitution on his notion of Life, Freedom and Happiness.
Thomas Jefferson was picked because he believed that people should be allowed to govern themselves, which is the basis for democracy.
Abraham Lincoln was added because he believed that all people are equal, and he helped end slavery in the United States.
Theodore Roosevelt was chosen because he was such an influential president and world leader and took them through the war years.
Dynamite was used to blast the tough granite rock off the mountain to make a smooth surface for the faces. George Washington was carved first, and his face began as an egg-shaped piece of granite. Thomas Jefferson was added to the right of George Washington, but his face cracked and had to be blasted off the mountain. Jefferson was then re-carved to the left of George Washington. Lincoln and then Roosevelt were then added to the mountain.
Borglum made an exact replica of the finished carving and scaled from it, the scale model took much longer to make as he changed it around a few times so that it would work on the mountain face. And as followed by Ziolkowaski at Crazy Horse the replica model was transferred to the monument by plumb line.
Borglum unfortunately died before the project was just about complete but it was finished off by his son Lincoln
Both memorials are impressive but for me Crazy Horse is my favourite, not because of its size in relation to Mount Rushmore but in the intent of its conception. For me Crazy Horse represents all that’s good and can be good, and is attempting to bring the Native American a better life through a university which is to be built at the site, with the Crazy Horse memorial as a reminder of their national hero and as an inspiration.
Well that’s me done with all my to do list on this North American journey and I’ve knocked a few off, these being:
• Visit the Outer Banks of North Carolina and in particular where the Wright Brother flew their plane.
• Went to the terrific wedding of Jeremy and Jackie and thoroughly enjoyed seeing old and making new friends.
• Saw the marvel of the Niagara Falls
• Visited Detroit and the Motown Museum
• Visited Chicago and Milwaukie
• Crossed the Great Plains and the Prairie
But don’t worry Avid Reader, I’m sure to have some great copy for the rest of this wonderful adventure!!!
Rapid City
No Travelling
We had a late walk around town last night and it was quite pleasant, warm and good natured however I couldn’t get a drink in one particular bar. It was wine establishment in a converted fire station and they give you a taste for a dollar and the barman, despite having several people waiting, me being the last one, wanted to discuss the bouquet of some red wine with a women, after 8 minutes I gave up with her saying she could not quite get the essence of oak, truffles and hyacinths.
So it was to be a bottle of wine on the motel balcony in the dying heat of the day, and then to be tucked up in bed by 21:30 and awake at 04:00!!!
Rapid City is the most patriotic city in America, (as declared by themselves) and its Downtown is lined with historic faces. A series of life-sized bronze statues of the nation's past presidents greet guests to Downtown Rapid City. These life-sized bronze statues are a tribute to America's heritage and give those who are shopping, dining or walking a historic reminder of the legacy the countrie’s presidents have created.
And here they are:
Barack Obama is currently being sculptured.
Donald Trump is the country’s 45th president but in reality there have only been 44 presidents. Grover Cleveland is counted twice as the 22nd and 24th president because he was elected for two non-consecutive terms. Only 12 U.S. Presidents have been elected to office for two terms and served those two terms fully.
They make an interesting site when you’re out and about walking downtown with them stood on each street corner, fully life size and some of them are very, very lifelike.
I have included the following Presidents in the photograph section, see if you can put the name to the face:
John Kennedy
Bill Clinton
Franklin D Roosevelt
Thomas Jefferson
William Henry Harrison
Ronald Reagan
Dwight Eisenhower
Gerald Ford
Ulysses Grant
Harry Truman
George Washington
Teddy Roosevelt
I ran for just over ten miles this morning as I’m thinking about the marathon in 3 weeks’ time and I need to start upping my distance a little. I was dead chuffed to do 10 miles in 01:27:35 as I usually take 01:40.
I took some ham I bought in the supermarket down to breakfast as they only have a veggie breakfast. The ham on toast with mustard was a delight, and their coffee is quite nice too. There’s lots of cakes on offer which are quite tempting, but thankfully I managed to not succumb.
After we took a ride to the old Wild West town of Deadwood, which was a 45 mile drive away through the stunning Black Hills.
Deadwood was very interesting but a little bit over touristy and full of big bikers. I don’t mean big fat bikers, I mean big motorbikes, loads of them. The shops have cottoned on and all the goods on offer are directed at them, and them being the older biker version.
We took a beer in the bar where Wild Bill Hickok was shot.
Now Bill wasn’t all he has been made out to be, he exaggerated his feats and was a bit of a scoundrel.
Hickok was born and raised on a farm in northern Illinois at a time when lawlessness and vigilante activity were rampant because of the influence of the "Banditti of the Prairie". Hickok was drawn to this ruffian lifestyle and headed west at age 18 as a fugitive from justice.
He was supposed to have worked as a stagecoach driver and later as a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. He fought and spied for the Union Army during the American Civil War and gained publicity after the war as a scout,marksman, actor, and professional gambler. Over the course of his life, he was involved in several notable shoot-outs, so he says!!!
In 1876, Hickok was shot from behind and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota by Jack McCall. The hand of cards which he supposedly held at the time of his death has become known as the dead mans hand, two pairs, aces and eights.
McCall walked upto Bill as he was sat down at a table in the bar at 03:00 and shot him through the back of the head. I read the account of the event in a copy of the local newspaper printed just after the event.
McCain was supposed to have said, “Take that” after he had shot him, he then absconded and a posse was formed and they found him nearby where he was held and placed under guard.
The newspaper was a little weak on detail and the events weren’t exactly as described but from what I could make out McCall shot Hickok because he had killed his brother at some point. A judge was appointed and a jury selected and he was found not guilty and released.
It was proven that he had indeed shot Hickok, that wasn’t in doubt. But no mention of how Hickok or why he had killed McCall’s brother was detailed so I can only assume Hickok had done it either in cold blood or without fair reason, hopefully the jury got the full facts of the case.
Apparently Calamity Jane is buried not far from Bill, in the cemetery on the hill overlooking the town, but I didn’t go seek him or her out as from what I have gathered he was a cad, a ruffian and a no good type, not the hero as portrayed by history. Did they have fake news back then, I guess they did, as proliferated by Bill himself no doubt.
Oh and what about Calamity herself, she wasn’t so much of the heroine as portrayed by Dories Day, but as this is a family periodical I will refrain from disclosing what I have discovered about her, but I can tell you she wasn’t much of a looker!
We got back just after 13:00 and after a very tasty sandwich we had an afternoon at the pool.
And it was very nice, hot, sunny and relaxing.
There were two young girls in the pool having fun and occasionally, accidently, splashing us but that was ok.
I nodded at one point and was rudely awoken as I might have offered the odd snore, as I do when I sleep on my back.
The sun set at 19:00 and we took supper, which consisted of Uncle Bens Garlic Rice and a good old tin of chili con carne from the microwave.
I might take a walk out and see the last night out downtown and find good old Abe himself, or I might just turn in for the night, no I think it’s a date with Abe as he’ the only president from Rushmore I haven’t found yet!!!
Rapid City to Lusk
148 Miles
I found him, Abe Lincoln last night, I wasn’t going to miss old Abe was I!!
I was up at 04:00 again!!!! I couldn’t nod back off so I watched some TV on my phone, Z Nation, an American zombie serial, it’s actually Zee Nation as in the American way of saying Z, it is utter rubbish but I’m on series 3 on my six month freebie from Netflix so I guess I’m into it.
I ran through downtown and beyond and posted a very good time of 8.17 minutes per mile which at my age is very good, in fact I don’t think my little legs could go any faster. I was flying and I was not anywhere near breathing heavy!!!
I was sweating mind so I sat on the balcony to cool off before breakfast and as it was such a lovely morning breakfast was taken outside by the pool, ham and toast and a very nice strawberry yogurt with strawberries dipped in from time to time, it was a delight.
We set off for Lusk, Wyoming just after 10:00 and we had a fantastic journey, up into the high plains, just like Clint Eastwood. The countryside was stunning the views, phenomenal!!!
We called in at Hot Springs at the 48 mile mark and it was very interesting. There is a small river, very clean and rubbish free and one that never freezes over due to the heat from the thermal springs.
Most of the buildings are built from local red sandstone and they seem quite sturdy.
We took coffee in a small café to get Wi-Fi so I could send Robyn a message and we were on our way hoping to stop at Mule Creek Junction but as we approached there was absolutely nothing there so we carried on.
We are pretty remote, we only passed two townships in the 148 miles before reaching Lusk and they were evenly spread out. We are pretty high on these plains and there is evidence of severe snow disruption everywhere. There are snow fences like we have in the Cairngorms protecting the roads and signs saying road closed if the lights are operating.
Oh, I’d love a winter’s night here Avid Reader!!!
We got to Lusk just before 13:30 but we were too early to check in, we did ask but the room wasn’t ready but I did spy a BBQ near the pool so we set off for a walk around town and it isn’t much.
In fact I think we struggled to do 2 miles, and some of that was in the store getting meat for the BBQ.
But it’s nice and its quiet and they have an outside pool where I laid for a while after check in.
Its Labour Day tomorrow, a national holiday so we thought to hang out in a small town as surely there would be high jinx somewhere or maybe fireworks but my hopes were dashed at check in as the lady said, “No it will be a quiet day tomorrow”, bugger!!!
We took an hour or two by the pool and then I lit the BBQ. Oh I forgot to say we are in a Motel type place, and all the rooms are on the ground floor. We have a fly screen on the door which is a first but at 5015 feet above sea level I guess anything might be around.
And that’s a bit of a disappointment, 5015 feet! I thought we’d be a mile high tonight but we are 265 feet short as one mile is 5,280 feet, bummer, but I guess we will get there at some point.
Actually I have been above 9,000 feet high for the night in Yosemite National Park in 1991 when Robyn was a wee tot, we had Ian Greens Camper van and had to lock our food away in a steel box so the bears wouldn’t be attracted. I actually saw a big brown bear waddle across the road as I was driving. He, or she, looked like Baloo from the Jungle Book with its big fat bum waddling as it crossed the road so I am very bear wary!
I checked with the lady at reception about bears and it was as I thought, a bear free area, but there are mountain cats, who are very sneaky and just might get you……………oh that’s nice to know!!!
I got the BBQ tongs from reception and lit the gas BBQ, Wendy was getting the salad ready so I nipped over to get the steak and walked into our room as the door was open and I could see Wendy.
But you know what, I went into 104, instead of 105 and the lady was just pulling her shawl on, she was the same size and build as Wendy and had even got her hair type. I could have just about have sneaked back out but she might have screamed the place down so I apologised and explained my mistake, thankfully she was OK about it and her husband didn’t shoot me!
Supper was a delight, cooked by me on the barby, and while I was doing so I got chatting to a group of people who mistook me for someone from Pennsylvania as our car has Pennsylvania plates, I mean do I sound like I’m from outta State???
We ate outside as the sun started to go down and it was very nice, although I think a grumpy old lady was watching me try to cut my meat with my plastic knife and didn’t approve of my rough sawing motion, well nothing stops DG from his beef supper.
After super we walked out of the town and saw the sun set behind a hill, it was nice, not spectacular but nice none the less. It did get instantly nippy mind so it was back to base and soon to bed while watching a sneak episode of Z Nation, I can’t help myself!!!
Lusk
No Traveling
I was rudely awoken at 01:15 by a BBC push notification that Chris Evens is leaving Radio 2, what a plonker I had not put my phone to silent, what a proper Wally as it took me an age to drop off again.
I was up at 06:00 and I took a look outside and it was very misty, but it was one of those mists you know will burn off when the sun gets going.
I went running at 07:30 and saw some prairie wildlife. First up was a dead raccoon in the middle of the highway and apart from a little blood around his nose he looked fine, all nice and fluffy, but dead as a dodo!
I then saw a deer type creature which could have been a baby Elk. It was only small but it had the whitest bottom on a deer I have ever seen.
He or she scooted pretty quickly when it got a sniff of me and good for it as we are in top hunting territory at the moment.
I got back and as it’s Labour Day today we had a special breakfast.
Labour Day celebrates all of the workers who have and are still making the USA great. It’s always held on the first Monday in September.
Anyway a breakfast omelette was cooked by two Cow Girls outside on a dedicated area of an old wagon train. You could select your items from a carefully stored tray of ingredients, I had the lot!!!
Spinach, mushroom, tomatoes, onion, peppers, jalapeños, cheese and sausage.
It was a real delight, yummy scrummy even, washed down with Cowboy coffee from a tin mug.
I thanked the ladies and they told me they do it as a treat for Labour Day and Memorial Day.
We walked to the supermarket and the sun was now bright in the clear sky and we could hear gunfire all around, there’s a shooting competition at the show ground and it’s finals day. I thought we were in the gunfight at the OK Corral there was so much popping going off. I do hope my deer was well out of the way by now.
And speaking of guns, I kid you not, there is a poster on the shops message board with a picture of a riffle and it gives details of how to enter the Riffle Raffle!!! It’s $20 a ticket or 3 for $50. There’s no entry rules just buy a ticket to enter and your in for the next opportunity to take part in a shopping mall shoot out. Only in America, or maybe Libya as well!
I did a bit of hotel booking and nearly had a heart attack when I booked one in Denver, it came to almost £600 for 3 days. The price which I thought was for 3 days was only per day and with local taxes nearly had me in the Lusk Memorial Hospital Cardiac Unit!
I am planning one last soirée over the next few days, and I am starting an Avid Reader free to enter competition. When tomorrows destination is reported you will have a chance to spot my mission destination and the first reader to contact me before I reach the secret destination wins a special prize! Come on Avid Reader get your detective head on!
The day was spent at the pool, me listening to Dearne FM while Wendy read her book.
I snook the odd beer in the pool area to help my rehydration.
I bought a local paper in the shop and there was a story from a columnist who recounted attending a man and his horse hit by lightening, she was a volunteer ambulance person. It was a terrible stormy day and they had some distance to go to the incident as it was remote. They expected to find him dead and as they approached they saw a group of bystanders and the horse, on its back with all four legs in the air, smoke was rising from its hooves, it was dead. The mans body was under a tarp as he was presumed dead by the bystanders.
His boots started moving as they were sticking out so they lifted the tarp and he was wide awake.
He had got his foot stuck in his stirrup and bent down on the horses back just as the lightening had struck, hitting the horse but not him although he did have a very bad burnt area where he was in contact with the horse, his bottom and his, erm, undercarriage!!!
She left her male coworker to check that out.
She asked him why he was out in such a stormy day and he told her he was a god fearing man and wanted to be alone with his maker. I don’t know about you, but I think from what occurred I might be thinking of changing my religion if I was him!
We had a wee hazy sunshine period around 15:00 so we nipped to the bar over the road. It has a liquor store attached so we went in through there as the bar doors which fully open we’re all closed. The sign however said open and as it was a bit breezy I thought they were closed due to wind. Anyway the elderly lady in the liquor shop didn’t know what was happening, was it open or closed and after a five minute period of contemplation in her head she decided it was open so I got two tins of Bud to sit, now how hard was that!
The sky cleared and so we snook a glass of wine into the discreet pool enclosure and did more relaxing.
I cooked supper on the BBQ and was visited several times by a dog who seemed drawn to my pork. She was a lovely dog and despite her mum coming for her a time or two she still wandered over for a stroke, she’s very old and has some medical issues but she’s a hardy dog and never complains, it must be my pork that attracts her.
Supper was a double delight, the pork was superb and we ate outside which is always a bonus.
After tidy up we walked down Main Street and had a drink in the most Cowboy of Cowboy bars. I actually met people I had chatted to yesterday and as I walked in they said Hi David, Wendy was gob snacked.
We sat at the bar and I had a nice Jack Daniels while we watched two TV’s one with American Football and one with Rodeo Riding, big steers, it was so funny.
On the way home I saw the sky looking a little wicked so we might be in for some fun tonight!!!
Lusk to North Platte
258 Miles
I watched the film, The Untouchables last night and I loved it. I saw the scene from Central Station in Chicago which I detailed previously. It was like a walk down memory lane for me.
I’d forgot how powerful Sean Connery had played his part, it was pretty emotional stuff when he was killed and Andy Garcia broke his heart. But he got his revenge on Al Capone in the end.
I was up in the night for a toilet break, at 04:00 which now seems to be my regular time and on getting back in my bed I checked my phone for messages as we have had interest in the flat in Aberdeen and I wanted to see if anything had transpired, and it had and Robyn had been in touch and so then I couldn’t get back to sleep after messaging her.
So I watched a couple of episodes of Z Nation and then at 07:00 I went running, four miles out into the prairie and I flew along. I headed east from the hotel, out of town and my average time per mile by the time I got to the 2nd mile was 8:23 per mile, jeepers if I kept this up I’d get an Olympic Gold Medal.
But I didn’t because when I turned around to come back the wind was doing a very good impression of a Cape Verde Trade Wind, but 20 degrees cooler!
The wind blew right through to my bones and it was such hard going coming back I only managed 8:31 per mile over the full 8 mile distance, which is still pretty good.
I showered while Wendy put a load of washing on and then we had a stonking breakfast, it was lovely with lots of choice. I told the Chef who was at the front desk when I checked out. He was dead chuffed and thanked me for my feedback.
We set off for the journey to North Platte and again it was a really interesting road trip. We passed several small towns and the road was much busier then we were used to, but not so busy as to slow us down. We passed one village, well it was about 200 yards of property on both sides of the road and they were all empty and derelict, it was like it had been an overnight flit as if the aliens had landed.
We kept going and I stopped at a small town called Llewelyn which was closed, every store was closed and we only found out why when we got to the last shop, it was closed for the day for a local funeral. That must have been some shindig!
We carried on and we hit the state border and we are now in Nebraska. Actually we were well into Nebraska and we were within 20 miles of our destination when we came across the dreaded sign, you are now in the Central Time Zone, and yes of course all our phones and the Sat Nav went forward one hour, I will never get my body clock running properly ever again!
But what astounded me, why didn’t they wait and do it at a State Boundary. You think now, each and every state service, garbage collections, hospital, the police, the fire service etc, etc will be on a different time from their colleagues whom then need to work with, how does that work when they are an hour out, especially at lunch time, start of and end of day, its crackers. Now this is something for the Donald to get to grips with.
We arrived at the hotel just as the heavens opened, and I just managed to get the suit cases in before the rain hit really hard.
Some facts about North Platte:
The River Platte runs through the town, it’s a wide, but not too deep a river and it’s very clean.
Buffalo Bill organised his first Wild West show in North Platte in 1883 and it was so successful that he teamed up Baily, of Barnum and Baily and in 1893 took the show on a worldwide tour.
Buffalo Bill was much nicer man than Wild Bill, but strangely they were friends and worked as scouts for the army together at one point. He got the name buffalo Bill as he was engaged, as a young man, to supply beef to the railway companies for the many hundreds of men who were laying the track west wards. It was noted that he killed 4,280 buffalo in an 8 month period. He also undertook a buffalo shoot against an Indian hunter and he killed 68 buffalo to his opponents 48 kills over an 8 hour period.
Bill died in 1917 and is buried near Denver.
Racism – On Saturday morning July 13, 1929, in North Platte, a white police officer was shot and killed by a Black man he was trying to arrest. The slain officer was Edward Green, a well-known former acting chief of police, and one-time professional baseball player. The black man was Louis (Slim) Seeman, operator of the Humming Bird Inn, a chicken-dinner lunchroom located in his home on West 7th Street. Shortly afterward Seeman, too, was dead, either by his own hand or as result of police gunfire.
Following the incident, a mob of white residents of North Platte walked through the city, telling black residents to leave North Platte. Fearing mob violence, most of North Platte's black residents fled.
This incident is commonly known as the North Platte Race Riot, had I known I wouldn’t have come to this town!!!
Finally North Platte is home to the largest rail yard in the world!!!
We walked into town, about two miles away and there is nothing there, it’s like a ghost town, but at least we found a very nice bar where we took supper. I had chicken in a garlic sauce, with chips and a very nice salad. The chicken was cooked to perfection and the sauce was extra garlicky, I’ll be suffering tonight, dryness at 04:00 no doubt. Wendy had a chicken steak, which later tuned out to be beef, it was very nice but not what she thought she had ordered, the dafty!!!
We were served by a very nice young lady who was from Denver.
We walked home and the sky, which had been really sunny on one side, while threatening rain on the other, had turned very ugly when we departed the bar and we just managed to get back to the hotel before the heavens opened again.
Now you know where we are tonight Avid Reader so for the competition, I’ll give a few clues:
It’s under 200 miles to the destination.
It’s in Kansas.
And if you know me, and you know I would love to have made it to the Pacific Ocean, but it’s just too far, where would my next choice be?
Night, Night, Sweet Dreams!!!
North Platte to Smith Center
175 Miles
I woke at 04:30 this morning, despite settling down late at around 23:30 the night before, it was the air con unit, it sounded like a jumbo jet on take-off.
I had a message from Brad about our destination but unfortunately he was wrong and then I got one from Robyn and she was right. I don’t know how because I tried Google searches and it never came up, so she did very well there!
I went running at 07:30 as I had to wait until it was light, this extra hour is playing havoc with my training.
When I was out I found a track along the river, I had to cross the river to get to it and I saw that the pedestrian footpath over the bridge had been recently added to the side of the bridge, this then met with the footpath, which was a little used but within half a mile it then led on to a nice new footpath, wide enough for walkers, runner and cyclists.
I went for almost 4 miles on this track and I saw that markings had been put down for a 10k route and surprisingly a marathon, wow what a fantastic piece of local infrastructure, but then again America needs to get exercising!!!
I got back and we had a so, so breakfast, which after yesterdays had to be pretty good, but it wasn’t, it was OK but nowhere near yesterday’s delight.
It rained as we left the hotel but we only went a half mile to a supermarket to get some supplies and by the time we got going the sun was out and the rain had almost dried up.
I set the Sat Nav to our destination and took the option not to use motorways and it was a really interesting trip.
The landscape was green and undulating, we saw cow fields and corn fields and also some Broom-Corn, which we later found out is the world’s fifth most popular cereal and can be used for cattle feed, human consumption and ethanol production. Its proper name is Sorghum, if anyone is interested.
After 70 miles I fancied a coffee and so I stopped at a little café called B’s Café in the little town called Elwood. I asked for two black coffees and enquired about cake. Cake wasn’t available but the lovely old lady persuaded me to have the pudding of the day, which was rhubarb and apple crisp with a scoop of ice cream. Do you know it was really tasty, it was just the ticket, I was so pleased I found the café. The crisp was like a crumble mix with cinnamon added, I loved it.
There was a large family having lunch and a farmer type man eating on his own, there appeared to be only one meal on offer, take it or leave it, and only one pudding. It was quiet amusing to see 8 of my puddings get shipped to both tables.
She really was a lovely lady and told me to take care on those roads when we left.
We carried on, me fully refreshed and we entered Kansas, looking for Dorothy!
Kansas was very much as I expected, there was a subtle change from the green grass of Nebraska to a mix of prairie grass and wheat farming.
We arrived at the U.S. Center Motel in Smith Center, (big clue), at 14:30.
I was met by Buddy, a very friendly, if not slightly loudly barky dog who appeared to be protecting reception. We were checked in by a lovely lady who advised us on tonight’s dinning opportunities and we dropped our bags and then headed out for a 12 mile drive to…………………………….
Ta Da!!!!! The exact centre of the main, mainland United States, (I say main, mainland because I always thought Alaska was on the mainland too!).
Its geographical location is: 39 degrees latitude and 98 degrees longitude.
Anyway, it was there in the corner of a remote’ish location in Kansas and it’s all been worked out by a very complex mathematical equation.
When I saw it on my map, I just knew I had to do it, we got to explore more of smalltime USA and go to the very middle of the country.
There was also a very teeny, tiny chapel there too, with the bible open on the pulpit with words of wisdom, which could have been aimed directly at me! Occasionally those born and raised in these parts return to get married there.
I was considering making a dash to the Pacific and crossing the USA Coast to Coast, but it was just a bit too much to do, even for this old adventurer, so when I saw how close we were to the Centre it was the best possible alternative challenge.
If you’re looking on a map, it’s close to a very small town called Lebanon, in northern Kansas.
Here is Robyn’s winning message:
“Are you going to the centre of America?”
“Is it just North West of Lebanon?”
While I was there I took a moment to contemplate, as I do when I complete a mission. I turned around through 360 degrees and I thought about all those States and all of those people who were circled around me, millions of people going about their lives, mostly very decent, and friendly people, who are the majority of the people who we have met on this journey and those bad buggers too, like those gunslingers in Chicago. It was, what I believe, is called a Cathartic moment!
We called into downtown Lebanon and saw the old jail in the town square, wow, now that is justice, an open air cage with two areas, each with a pull down metal bed. I bet the kids poked the inmates with sticks just to be naughty!
We then went to downtown Smith Center for a wander.
It’s a surprisingly larger town than I imagined, just one main street but with still a fair bit to it, with a cinema and a very, very large auction house where we spent 30 minutes loitering. I even bought my much sought after cowboy shirt, even if it is believed to be a girl’s shirt!!!
As we left we had a beer in tonight’s dining destination, Pooches Bar & Grill.
It’s as an all American Dinner as you can get, the staff were really friendly, two ladies, and the menu has enough steak options for any hungry belly.
I saw the portions going out, jeepers thankfully I saw the stack of doggy boxes too.
And it did not disappoint, I had a Rib Eye steak with mushrooms and two shrimp, Wendy had the same steak but without mushrooms, or shrimp, mine was with salad and hers boiled veg. Both were cooked to perfection, the meat was exceptionally tasty, but far too much for me, so mines now doggy bagged and in the fridge.
The atmosphere in the bar was great, we had a family with two young boys next to us and the youngest had a wobbly tooth, I snook them £1 dollar each, so did Wendy so they were quid’s in as they left waving to us both, the little chumps.
Its westwards bound tomorrow, it’s been a nice little, and interesting deviation but it’s now time to make tracks, as we say in Cowboy land!!!
Smith Center to Denver
355 Miles
I was up a bit later today, 05:30 and pottered a bit before heading out with Wendy, she was going to run around town, I was off out into the country, but before I went I showed Wendy that I was hiding my wallet in the bedside drawer, she said OK! You know where this is going don’t you?
And there is a reason Wendy runs around town and won’t go into the sticks. A few weeks ago a young woman, aged 20 was out jogging in Iowa. She was followed by a man in a car, and she was worried, the man at some point then started to jog along with her. She used her phone to call for help and she wasn’t seen alive again.
A search was conducted and her body was found, covered in leaves, laying face up.
The police somehow very quickly had a suspect in custody. He was an illegal from Mexico who had been in the country for quite some time, years even, working on a farm and was completely unknown to the authorities.
He admitted to dumping her body but claims he had blacked out whatever had caused her death.
I do hope Iowa have the death penalty!
And this kind of thing seems to happen all too frequently in the States.
I got back and as we didn’t have a provided breakfast at the motel I had a granola bar and a cup of tea and after showering and packing the car we were off on the road to Denver.
We were going to spend one more night in the country but I want to get into the Rockies if I can so I had booked us into the hotel we were to stay over the weekend, one night earlier.
The road we followed was a single carriageway road for over 130 miles, through small towns and townships, some dilapidated and abandoned. The country was very much farmland throughout and it’s interesting to see how green the land is. This is real farming land, hundreds and hundreds of square miles of agricultural land.
We crossed the time line and re-entered Mountain Time just after a town called Brewster after about 150 miles, but we were still well within Kansas as the time line is all over the place at that area. It was so bad only the Sat Nav which uses GPS picked up the change, our phones didn’t register until much later, when we were in Colorado, our phones must have been tuned into a Kansas mast.
At 200 miles I pulled off the motorway and called into a filling station for fuel. As I pulled up at the pump I asked Wendy for my wallet, and in an instant a look of complete horror flashed on her face. “It’s still in the drawer” she said, “We’ve forgotten it”. Oh bugger we had!
I did a quick mental check, it had only about $60, only 3 bank cards and I still have 3 duplicate cards. We would be ok, and as it wasn’t check in time yet I called the motel who had already found it and were holding it for me, in fact Jeanie, the lady on reception had sent me an email to that effect, but as I had my data off on my phone I hadn’t got it.
I could have gone back, but 200 miles then becomes 400 miles for the round trip and she agreed to try to get it to me by courier to our new hotel in Denver.
I said I would send the address details by email which I did, I told her to use the cash in the wallet for that and to share the rest with herself and the maid who had found and handed in the wallet. That kind of decency deserves to be rewarded, the only thing that will give me a little grief when I get home is my driving licence, but as I always say, worse things happen!
As I drove on Wendy used the phone to cancel my bank cards, just in case someone untrustworthy gets hold of them. I had three cards in my wallet, one Halifax Visa card, one Tesco Credit card and one Revolut international card. Halifax were fine and cancelled it, no problem. Tesco needed me to talk to them, they wouldn’t take a cancel from Wendy. I’m driving at 75 MPH overtaking a lorry and he wants to know my favourite meal!!! I said a few choice words and he eventually cancelled it, and Wendy’s card too, why I’ll never know, she still had it. I also had to give my date of birth too. Thankfully I can block the Revolut card online and reopen it when I get it back.
As I had switched my data on to access the email I opened the Dearne FM app on my phone and played the station on the blue tooth connected car radio.
There was a news flash, Burt Reynolds has died at 82, quick as a flash Wendy says, “Wow, there’s been some notable deaths while we have been here”. I said, “How do you mean?” She replied, “Aretha, John McCain and now Burt Reynolds”. I said but Wendy, they would still be dead if we were home, wouldn’t they?” Well I thought it a touch blonde anyway!
We travelled through Colorado and the landscape changed to more of a grass and cattle like agricultural scene and it remained that way until about 5 miles from Denver.
We could see the Rockies towering in the far distance as we came off the interstate ramp within half a mile from the hotel.
Check in was a synch and I went to find a cash point while Wendy unpacked the cases.
I then had to call Tesco bank back for some reason and I spoke with Joe, when we had gone through my date of birth and my favourite meal I told Joe that I thought the security measures somewhat silly. I mean I could have been murdered and my wife abducted and forced to make the call and the abductee was pretending to be me, he agreed with me and said, “But we have to tick that box”. I said, “But why Joe, she was cancelling bank cards not buying a jumbo bloody jet”, honestly Tesco bank were more stressful that leaving the wallet!
We then went for a wee walk around the area as we are about 7 miles from town. There is every kind of fast food outlet within a half mile of us and some small shops, there’s even a marijuana hang out around the corner. Do you know its use is quite legal in Colorado? I don’t think I’ll be giving it a go! There is also an old Fire station that now brews beer, but I was too tired to even think about a glass and I needed food.
We took supper in our room at 18:00, we are now running down our emergency food stocks so it was pot-noodles and my steak left over’s from last night and strangely it was quite tasty.
I wrote my journal up just after and I bet I won’t be long to bed, it’s now almost 7pm, which is 8pm Kansas time, I’ll try to make it a little longer but I’m not confident.
I bet I’m up by 03:00 because I’ll be excited about exploring, thankfully the morning should be lighter earlier as we are in another bloody time zone, again!
Stop press, as I go to press the weather channel has said there may be snow in the Rockies tomorrow, wow, I’m double excited now!
Denver
No Traveling
Jeepers all I heard through the night was the ding, ding, ding of the night train passing through and its bell, it’s very loud bell!!!!
I went running at 06:30 and came across the train trundling along the track, which by the way is fully fenced in, with the driver sounding the horn quite unnecessary. There were houses yards from the track, I would happily kill the driver!!!
I had a hearty hotel breakfast where the mushroom soup is now called sausage gravy, I had two slices of toast, two sausages, scrambled eggs and mushroom soup all in a one’er and with lashings of tomato sauce and pepper, it’s was lovely.
We caught the train into the city, but first I have to explain an American reluctance to walk. Every time we check in I ask where’s so and so, can we walk there. More often than not I’m met with a disbelieving face and a denial that no sir you can’t walk it to there, invariably I do and it’s usually within two miles, (I’m on the train as I type this up and that bastard has his horn on constantly!!!), where was I, ah walking, anyway I asked the receptionist where we get the train and he pointed over the road, “It’s behind the brown building”, he said.
So off we set and got behind the brown building, which was about a quarter of a mile away, no train station visible. We walked back and I said to the same chap, “I’ve just been behind the brown building and the train station is not there. “You’re driving there sir?” was the reply, “No we’re walking!”
Well the look on his face, it was like mission impossible.
Anyway I got him to draw me a map and it wasn’t behind the brown building it was a mile behind the brown building, behind another bloody brown building, a 1.5 mile walk, no problem.
Well apart from me buying tickets twice because it didn’t ask for my pin number, so I thought it had not worked and I could not see the screen because of the sun, so I’m now in possession of four day tickets and $10 out of pocket. I tried to get a refund from the conductor, but he said we don’t give refunds but he very kindly, “Thanked me for my donation to city funds”.
It was a laugh anyway.
14 minutes later we were at Central Station in downtown Denver. First we checked out Central Station fully and it is a work of architectural art, it was brilliant. The building was a comfortable place for travellers with settees and comfy seats and very well appointed work stations for computer users. It was a “First Class” railway station.
As I had researched my day I knew where to go, so it was down 16th Street to Capitol Hill where the State Building is, a mile away. 16th Street is a very popular and trendy street, it was clean and friendly and has the sun was high in the sky, a very nice place to be.
We took a tour of the State Building and our tour guide was Reagan, she was lovely. She had what I call a unique look about her, plain but very pretty, and very kooky. Her repertoire had us, well us that were not reliant on wearing an hearing aid, in stiches, she was fantastic and we learnt so much about both the city and how politics work in the State of Colorado.
It is such a beautiful building with onyx wall linings, intricate wood carvings, marble floors, brass fittings everywhere and a gold plated dome roof. The brass is polished every day by a team of eight cleaners and it was sparkling.
The current Governor used to be a local Mayor and a local company donated a large size replica horse to him as a bit of a laugh. He installed the horse in his mayoral office and it came with him when he became Governor. The horse is called Scout and I had the pleasure of making his acquaintance. He hopes to make it to the Oval Office one day!
After the tour we walked down lower downtown, or Lo Do as its locally called and the sun was getting mighty hot, we then headed over to the River Platte who we met a few days and many hundreds of miles ago in the town of North Platte.
We headed into the district of Highland for a nose around and came upon a very nice, chic restaurant where I had a bison Hawaiian burger and Wendy had fish and chips. My bison burger was a treat and instead of having a slice of pineapple like a traditional Hawaiian burger, mine came with a pineapple, spicy relish which was really tasty. I sat in the sun and, like a naughty boy had two pints with my dinner.
I chatted with the waiter who is from a small town, Maddison, near Milwaukie and he has only been here one full year but he loves it. The snow at home stays for months on end he said, and freezes and gets all dirty and mucky, here it snows, nice and deep and a day later the sun comes out and wipes it all out, ready to start again.
From there, to help our bloated bellies digest our lunch, we walked along, up and down the river and at around 6pm we headed back for the train, having completed a walk of well over 10 miles.
Enroute we stopped for a glass of wine as the sun went behind the sky scrapers and it was all very nice.
The train back consisted of unnecessary bell ringing and downright I’ll kill that bastard horn blowing. I swear I will kill him if he does it all night long tonight.
We called in at Walmart for some supplies and I got the winners and runners up prizes from the recent, “Where am I going next competition”, and I am sure they will go down a storm with the successful competitors.
It’s a relaxing night for me, some Z Nation, kippy kip and tomorrow I’m heading into the Rockies!!!
The last word for today has to go to Denver, Denver City is a real delight, I have loved it today, the winner of this year’s city challenge is going to be between Denver and Milwaukie and it’s going to be a tough decision to make as they have both been unique and are both deserved winners.
Denver
No Traveling
Remember my issue of the forgotten wallet, well I didn’t tell you too much as I had to wait it out but the very lovely lady on reception at the US Center Motel, Jeannie, had arranged for the wallet to be delivered today, by UPS express service and as I woke I had an update from UPS tracking telling me that the parcel had left Whicita, Kansas at 23:11 last night.
I was up at 05:30 having had a reasonable sleep, not hearing those dam trains until around 04:30. As I ran eastwards I saw an amazing sunrise come up into a clear blue sky, it was stunning.
I got back and we had breakfast, me being over greedy again as there was a sausage mix-up. Breakfast was very busy and items were running low and I thought I heard one of the staff apologise to a lady about the lack of sausage. She was a bit upset as she likes her sausage in the morning and she wasn’t getting any today, (I was choking back laughter, the funny things old people say!).
Anyway I had piled my plate with toast, mushroom soup and scrambled egg and bugger me a tray of sausage came out. Well I too like my morning sausage so I snaffled two big ones before the old lady had chance to say, “Aren’t they a size”.
We left for the hills just after 10:00 and we hit the highway that would take us into the Rocky Mountains. The first leg of the journey was to take us to the town of Idaho Springs which was 30 odd miles away.
I had to chuckle again along the road, as we passed a huge sign that said, “Correctional institution, do not stop and pick up hitchhikers”. Jeepers they aren’t very confident about the Governor and the Correctional staff are they?
The highway climbed up into the mountains but you never really felt the feeling of climbing as it seemed gradual, although my ears were popping at very frequent periods.
We got to Idaho Springs and found it to be a very pleasant town indeed, nestling nicely in the sky at over 7,000 feet high.
Our first objective was to find the Visitor Centre to get info on how we can find the road to Mount Evans, which at over 14,000 feet is an exceptionally high mountain. In fact to the road up it is the highest tarred road in the continent of North America, which is very impressive considering that includes Canada and Alaska!
Having found the centre and being fully briefed about the route and it being hunting season off we set.
It was a 21 mile drive one way, up, up and up!!!
The road was topping, the views stunning and at times quite a dangerous affair.
We had to pay to enter the upper road area, so at $15 lighter we continued up along sheer drops of thousands of feet without any roadside safety barriers, Wendy wasn’t comfortable.
As we climbed we were surprised at the number of cyclists climbing too, and doing really well. There were quite a few, young, old, men and women all taking it in their stride and doing themselves proud and boy would it be some ride to the bottom.
We eventually got to the top and having left almost 30 degrees heat in Denver we were quite shocked to feel the cold at the top, it was 50f, which my method of calculation does not do justice as its too low to work. I do know about the 5/9ths transition but I wasn’t going to work it out at 13,123 feet.
Yes we were at 13,123 feet high, which is 2 miles, 2,563 feet high. Jeepers that is high, it is the highest I have ever been in my life with my feet still firmly planted on Terra Firma.
Jeepers it was cold and although we could have walked to the summit, we thought we had done enough by having a quick look at the Summit Lake, and so we headed back to the car to do the journey in reverse, which was going to be great fun, for me!
Mount Evans is 14,262 feet high and is one of the 54 peaks that are above 14,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains and who are called the “Famous Fourteeners”.
Well what a laugh I had on the way down, Wendy was on the downside drop side. Every time I got close her hands shot to grip her seat. At one point I said, “What will doing that do when we are hurtling 2,000 feet to our deaths?”
I saw some cars pulled into the side of the verge, perched on the drop, it was very ballsy of them and there was a gap, so I indicated to go in, (There wasn’t anyone behind me so I could muck around a bit).
“Do not go in there”, Wendy screeched. “Why not, I want a photo”. I pulled in further, her seat belt was off, “Please, please don’t go too close”, she actually begged. I pulled in a wee bit further and she got cross, and her hand shot to the door handle, “I’m opening the door and I’m getting out”.
I was creased with laughter, and I pulled back out onto the road, she wasn’t happy.
The rest of the way down she told me how silly things like that can go wrong, “It only takes once, doesn’t it” was her stock reply!.
We made it back down and we took a walk around Idaho Springs which was very pleasant and warm.
I bought a sweatshirt and we had coffee and very nice cake too. I got Wi-Fi in the café and I had an email, my parcel had been delivered.
We came back to the hotel along the highway and we were flying as now I could see the fall in the road and we were miles high in the sky and I could see the Denver skyline far below and along the horizon.
There were very frequent warning signs for truckers to keep in low gear and after every descent there would be another sign saying “Don’t be fooled, there’s more to come”, and there was.
Back at the hotel I collected my wallet and we then took the car to the car wash, well we have done over 4,000 miles in it and it was a wee bit mucky.
Our trip into the hills had been 128 miles, and it was fantastic
I enjoyed the carwash experience as its been years since I have done it. Do you know they don’t use fluffy brushes anymore, just very high pressure water and lots of soap. It was a very enjoyable experience.
After parking the car we walked to a bar along the road, had one glass of wine in the evening sunshine and headed back to the last of our emergency rations, Tinned chili and microwave rice, I spiced mine up with some fiery ketchup I have picked up along the journey.
Last day tomorrow, nice and easy!!!
Denver
No Traveling
That bloody train had me awake and unsettled, I cannot believe a modern society allows such an infringement on the 1st Amendment, which I believe is the right to life because if I stay here any longer I will murder that train driver on the 03:30 shift.
I have video footage of the bounder coming into the station blaring the horn like it’s going to drop off!
(I have just impact assessed this journal and changed his horn to the horn, there I’m almost back to thinking out of the box while horizon scanning).
I saw the sun come up while running through the suburbs and happened upon a man, asleep, who had deposited around him about 15 empty beer bottles and as I passed him, laid in the dust of a street corner, he woke up, shook his head and gave the face of a man who didn’t quite understand where he was or how he got there.
After breakfast we took the noisy train to the city and the suns heat was beating down.
We walked a while up 16th Street and bought two, pint cans of chilled beer which we intended to sip in our travel chairs by the river, which is exactly what we did.
I had to keep moving into the sun as it moved around a skyscraper, I was in the sun bit while Wendy hid in the shade bit as she was finding the heat a bit too much.
I drunk my can leisurely and then finished Wendy’s as she was full.
We walked along the river and came across a group of people who were “Tailgaters” of the highest order.
The baseball team, the Rockies and the football team, the Broncos where both playing today. The Rockies in town and the Broncos not far out of town.
We had walked to the Bronco Stadium.
Another interesting point is they were playing a team from Seattle, jeepers that’s 1,316 miles away and I saw loads of their supporters too. How much does it cost to go to an away game in the States as it’s not just a ride in the car!!!
Anyway, Tailgating is taking your vehicle and drinking and having a party from the boot. They don’t pay to go to the function they just Tailgate.
Well this session was Hollywood style. There were massive campers painted in the Broncos colours, there were BBQ’s on the go, there were television sets in the backs of trucks. I even saw a camper van with a beer tap coming out of the side with beer being dispensed.
They were all legitimately parked on a large car park just for their use and having a ball of a time.
By now it was roasting and as we were going walking back on the other side of the river I took my vest off and got wolf whistled by a gay man, it’s not a first of course, and I didn’t mind. There isn’t a queue of women whistling after me these days so I’ll take what I can get!
Wendy was in melt down and I found a nice little rest area along the river on a nice flat sandbank where we could settle down with our chairs, and we did for about 14 minutes and as there wasn’t any shade, so we had to move on.
We walked along the river and it was hot, about 35 degrees and no breeze, I loved it, Wendy didn’t.
By the time we were close to town we were in need of a drink and we found a bar on 14th street which had the required level of shade.
I had a beer and Wendy a glass of wine, I liked the look of the place and thought to come back later for my dinner.
I needed a toilet break and found the most delightful men’s toilet you could find, it was all very art deco, I did have to be very careful not to splash my feet though!!!
As we sat I could see the college kids trying to make a dollar by riding rickshaw bikes and giving rides. I fancied one and after we had drunk up I found a girl who would take us. I chose a girl so she could have a rest giving a pair of lightweights a ride. We had 20 minutes for $20 and it was good fun.
She was called Sabrina and we had a good old chat as she nipped us around the streets.
I had to ask, “Have you had many, erm, large people on-board?” She replied “Not many actually, but I did have one lot and the chain broke, I felt so bad for them”.
As our 20 minutes came to an end so did Sabrina’s stamina, and we slowed a bit as she glided to the pavement, but it had been a lovely experience.
We walked around downtown and the bars were crammed with Bronco and Rockies Fans all screaming for their teams the Broncos won, the Rockies lost.
As the heat became unbearable we headed back to the restaurant and had supper, I had Bison Meatloaf and Wendy had pot roast Bison, they were both delightful and as we sat outside the clouds gathered and a wind got up and then a bit of spittle arrived, went away again and the sun came out.
Stuffed we walked down to the train station and came back to the hotel. The train was jammed with miserable Rockies fans as, apparently they had had a right stuffing.
It was roasting still when we got back and here’s the thing about hotel holidays on the move, you’re either in or out. There’s no veranda, no outside seating area, it’s just room or move.
I think I like my caravan best where I have everything I need, all with me and I can live outside.
Now am I building upto another big road trip?
Watch this space Avid Reader!!!
Denver to Inverness
Denver to Detroit – 1,123 miles
Detroit – Amsterdam – 4,237 miles
Amsterdam – Inverness – 502 miles
I was up at 02:00, I’m not sure if it was that bloody train, or the fella talking loudly on his phone that stirred me, just casually chatting as you do at that time.
I nipped to the toilet and felt that I had lost my earplugs, don’t worry I have spares so it was back to the bathroom for them and I slid them in as tightly as they would and then gave them an extra push. And it worked, I never heard a squeak until my eyes opened at 06:00 to the most glorious sunrise just outside my bedroom window.
I put the kettle on and went down to the breakfast bar to snaffle some provisions as I might be late back and I might miss closing time. I had planned this as I wanted to run after the sun had come out so I could go out in my vest and shorts, as I’m guessing it will be a while before I can do so again.
Kettle – If you like tea in the morning, take a kettle with you to the USA, they do not do tea room service in the States, not one of our 19 hotels has provided such facilities for us. I bought mine in New York some years ago and it comes out whenever we go Stateside.
I need tea before my day starts, I just daren’t contemplate a day without morning tea, it’s so uncivilised!
I got bread, sausage and a bottle of orange juice from the breakfast room and left them in the bedroom and off I went.
It was a lovely morning and I was back in no time at all, finding Wendy deep upto her neck in packing when I got back.
I kept out of the way, warming my sausage in the microwave and buttering my bread and having them all with a nice hot cuppa.
After a shave and shower we were out of the room and into the car heading to the airport.
But of course we did have to have one last refuel problem at the filling station. I had to offer Wendy as a human sacrifice before I could get fuel dispensed, but they soon gave her back when I had filled the tank.
We left the car without a problem, in fact I was quite impressed at the drop off procedure and we were into the airport before you could say, long distance flight.
I was a bit disappointed with my mileage recording. I took a snap of the speedo when I picked the car up, but it was late, I was tired and there was a heap of miles on the clock so I thought I had it, but after taking a pic of the speedo when I dropped the car off and comparing both photos I saw that the 1st one was of the trip meter, so I have had to guess what we have done in the little car.
I have kept accurate records of our trip, but not the in-between excursions, but I’m guessing it’s around 5,000 miles.
In total the distance we have covered from Washington to Denver via North Carolina was 4,012 miles and we visited 15 States.
Check in was a bit of an issue, but I expect that these days. We joined the Delta check in only to be told its bag drop only when we were halfway around the snake. But don’t fret DG knows how it goes.
I had already checked in online but had not been able to print the tickets so I left Wendy in the queue and went to the auto teller and got the tickets. Jeepers I would hate to have to travel in my 70’s. Flying and airports used to be fun, an exciting part of your journey, actually the most important and often enjoyable, but not now.
You’re met by surly staff and woe betide you if you’re half a gram over the limit. Blimey we used to take the cool box rammed with bacon and strapped down with gaffer tape, but not anymore.
Security was another bind, in fact while I’m on my old man’s soap box can we get the worlds airports to stick to the same set of rules. I fly from inverness often and they insist my backpack goes in a tray, so in a tray I put it in Denver. “Don’t waste baskets”, the miserable looking bugger calls to me with his blue bloody gloves on, you daren’t have a pop back mind as then you’re in deep do-do with officialdom coming down hard on you, in fact don’t even crack a joke.
That done we headed for a bar, the only one in the airport where we took a seat at the bar because that’s all that was going. I asked for the wine menu and at $27 for a bottle of Pinot, I thought that’s reasonable I’ll have one and a pint too as I was thirsty.
We drank slowly and watched everything going off around us and the bottle lasted about 90 minutes.
I asked for two glasses of wine after the bottle had gone and they duly arrived, with an amended bill for an extra $22. I jarred the waitress, “Can I buy the rest of the bottle, its 2 thirds full and it’s only anther $5”.
“Can’t do that sir, it messes with our inventory”, was the reply, “Would you like to add a tip to your bill, 10, 15 or 20%”?
Now I’m not a mean guy but I insisted on nursing that wine with the tip check in front of me for the next 30 minutes That cow knew what she was doing, she was going to make another $44 from the 2 thirds of that bottle. Tip, I’ll give you a tip, be a decent person, she could have told me that the bottle would have been only $5 more.
The look on her face when I left the bar with no tip gave me a wee bit of satisfaction, but I’d rather the incident not have happened.
My good friend in Portree, Jenny Millington, well her mum always says, “It’s nice to be nice”, and it is, but I also say be ready for the bad bastards that are out there too.
The fight to Detroit was a doddle and I had the window seat looking out over the Plaines and seeing just how organised the land had been distributed all those years ago. All the roads were running nice and straight and the land had been divided into nice square box sections.
We flew over Omaha and the Missouri River and it was nice to see it pass by.
I started to watch a movie, “Adrift”, about a couple sailing a boat to California from the Pacific Islands, they hit a terrible storm and it all went wrong.
Our flight landed and we caught the shuttle to the next gate and boarded in good time.
I finished my film, (as it was Delta airlines again), while Wendy, who was by now starving hungry, watched every movement the fight attendants did, thinking any moment now food will be coming!
And when it come it wasn’t upto par!!! The chicken wasn’t fully cooked, it was safe enough to eat it just hadn’t had long enough and it was chewy.
Well the red wine helped a little.
I watched another film, Solo, which was OK and then I nodded and soon enough breakfast was served, an egg and cheese sarnie, juice and coffee.
It seemed to take an age to get into Amsterdam but we made it and now I’m sat here filing copy.
I’ll be back tomorrow, hopefully fully rested, with a round up report of this trip, stay tuned Avid Reader!!!
Made it……………..
The flight from Amsterdam was easy, I had a wee nod, despite the chatter from the large group of middle aged Dutch golfing group who chatted all the way through the flight attendants safety brief. In fact two women were leaning over the aisle to chat and show each other their phone photos giving me absolutely no view of the proceedings. I had to jar them and tell them to pack it in. It’s embarrassing for the attendants and it’s meant to focus the mind just for a few minutes. But some people think they know better than the people who really do know better!
Baggage collection was a doddle and we caught the service bus into Inverness where we got a cab home.
And that’s it, the end of our United States Summer Adventure.
It’s been a good leaning experience in the same way touring Australia was, getting to know real people and understanding daily life.
If I was to summarise I would say the US is the best of things and the worst of things.
Absolutely, polite, well-mannered people, it’s not put on, its sincere and a great inherent quality, but then you see the worst of them whilst driving, especially on roads close to cities, its dog eat dog, cars coming at you from all directions.
The best of natural and manmade wonders, the Niagara Falls, the Outer Banks, Washington and its structural history, The Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore, the Rocky Mountains and the brilliant weather. The worst of the differences between the haves and have nots!
I used to envy the apparent life of American citizens but not so much now, having seen their lack of a proper society approach to healthcare, which for me is a proper human right, not an absurd one, not some all for profit insurance scheme which ties the hands of the medical professionals, that’s not good health care.
When we were there we met a lovely family who are having real financial issues due to a terrible medical condition, imagine having four kids to worry about and then how on earth you manage to fund medical treatment that costs tens of thousands of dollars.
Whilst driving I would often tune into AM radio stations and listen to local life. One story I heard covered the story of a police officer, who, when on duty, on duty I emphasize, was shot in the stomach while responding to an emergency call.
He had an emergency operation and just managed to hang on but he wasn’t out of the woods and more operations and medical procedures would be required to improve his quality of life. His family had to set up a, “Go Fund Me” page to help cover the cost of his medical expenses. The man was shot on duty, surely he if anybody, or his family shouldn’t have any money worries at all during this difficult period. I thought this was the country that worshiped its heroes?
Finally the gun culture, I never saw one firearm, apart from those worn by law enforcement, and train conductors, yes that’s right the man who checked our train tickets was carrying a visible weapon on his belt.
It doesn’t seem to be an issue, people go about their daily life and then seem to be shocked when a mass shooting occurs. One happened in a northern city while we were there, eye witness accounts described it and to me it seemed that no lessons have ever been learnt. I’m not saying ban gun ownership, but have some real restrictions on who can have the weapons and they can only be held if there is a real reason to hold one, hunters, fair enough, farmers again, quite legitimate, gun club members yes fine. But they really shouldn’t be held willy nilly in the home.
I heard on the radio, a Police Chief from a force in Florida. A man suspected his wife of being in a taxi for some reason and he chased the taxi in his car and cornered the driver. The driver had no connection to the women or even the man. But he carried a gun, quite legally and when the man confronted him he shot him dead.
Now I don’t know the extent of the confrontation, but I heard the Police Chief, quite happily saying, “Bad guys need to know that good guys carry guns and that the law will protect them when they are protecting themselves”. But it was the way he said it, he sounded like Buffalo Bill.
We actually had a shooting on the same street we were staying on, not 200 yards from my bedroom two people were ambushed and shot in their car.
Notwithstanding as I’ve said it’s been a fantastic journey and we have met some really decent and lovely people, it would normally be hard to choose my most memorable moment, but not this time.
Having seen the wonders of the Niagara Falls, crossed the great Plaines and seen the Prairies, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, the Rocky Mountains, Chicago, Milwaukie, Detroit and the Motown Museum and the outer banks, not forgetting our fantastic two days with Uisdean and Sandra.
But for me it was the reason we were Stateside, Jackie and Jeremys wedding day. It was one of the best weddings I have ever been to, simple but sincere. The service was so personal and it was a terrific family affair, and I got to meet Victor Jay and I loved it, so there you have it that was my most memorable time of the trip.
I’ll see you next time Avid reader, thanks for taking time to read the adventure!!!
Inverness to Barnsley to Lincoln to Sheppey to Portsmouth
800 Miles (Exactly)
Having left home on the 12th October after we had had a brief visit from Stef and Dave we headed down the A9 to Barnsley in the midst of Storm Calum, and what a beauty he was. We were battered by high winds and driving rain all the way to the end of the A66 where thankfully the rain stopped, but not the wind.
We arrived at the house in Barnsley and almost got blown away as we unpacked the car.
In five minutes I was in the car and off buying kebabs from Wendy’s favourite kebab man. I got one each, big mistake. It’s a scientific fact you cannot only half eat a donner kebab and I ended up stuffed to high heaven while Wendy smartly left half of hers for the morning, making a mockery of that very same scientific fact.
We did a few jobs around the house, fence mending and looking at the loft insulation because my silly Dad had it bonded onto the slates. We shopped, visited my brother and watched both strictly shows to Wendys satisfaction and left for a night in Lincoln as its somewhere we have never been before.
And it was lovely, what a stunning Cathedral they have, it is truly wonderful. We even managed to find a Weatherspoon’s bar to bag along the way too.
We had a very delightful supper in the hotel, I had a lovely curry and Wendy had the fish pie which she went on to describe as the best fish pie she has ever had!
We went running in the morning, along the canal tow path and I was in Lincoln city centre within a mile and three quarters, how lovely it was.
Back, showered and a full English breakfast consisting of Lincolnshire sausage later and we hit the road to go visit Granny and Grandad.
As we had all the time in the world to get there we drove down with the Satnav avoiding motorways and we had a very enjoyable trip stopping at Brentwood in Essex for a drink in yet another Weatherspoon’s bar, yes that’s another bagged.
There was a huge tailback along a duel carriageway we were following but thankfully it was in the opposite direction and we made good progress and soon we were over the Dartford Bridge and about to be £2.50 lighter as the toll had gone up by 50p on the 1st October!
We arrived with Granny and Grandad in good time and as they were out we nipped to get the cars Aircon recharged at Kwik Fit, I also nipped into Aldi to buy a curry for supper, much to Grannies disappointment, but to be honest, I just fancied a curry!
We had a lovely couple of days catching up, seeing Ian and Karen, visiting Andy and Mocc’s new home, which is stunning, a trip to Faversham to see the famous creek and we even managed a quiz night at the micro pub with Nathen, G & G and Ian too and would you believe not only did Grandad, AKA “Big Bry” win the raffle draw, we also won the quiz, by a half point. We got a round of drinks as our prize and they were very full wine glasses.
What a night we had!!!
This morning we had a lovely sunny day and I ran along the beach and it was just divine and after we set off for Portsmouth and although we had to detour through the countryside as there was a serious road accident on the M25, just at the junction we needed to get to, we had a very nice journey.
We boarded without hassle and took our cabin, which is a four berth internal one, (there weren’t any outside ones left), and settled in. Wendy’s not happy as there are storm warnings in the shipping areas adjacent to Biscay, I’m really looking forward to being rocked to sleep in my bunk!
We watched Portsmouth slip by on a lovely sunny day from our deck and headed to the bar for a little R & R before supper which is in the ala carte restaurant don’t you know, well actually it’s the only bloody restaurant so we have been taken by the short and curlyles, good and proper.
We sat in the bar alongside the Kray Twins and their mates. Honestly why on earth can 50 odd year old EastEnders not speak loudly without having to use naughty swear words in normal conversation. I was getting a bit riled as I think it’s disrespectful but Wendy told me to calm down as she had tuned out to their boredom and was happy bimbling on her IPad.
Supper was lovely, we shared a starter, fish soup, French style, then I had duck, two ways, don’t you know and Wendy had sea bream. Both were lovely and went down very nicely with the wine I had sneaked from our cabin. Wendy then had a soufflé which was kind of hearty farty, but sweet none the less.
It was back to the cabin as we entered the Bay of Biscay and we encountered a gentle rocking motion which I quite like. However Wendy took to her bed and I went onto the top deck to see the night sky. I chatted with a very nice couple and their Golden Retriever from Graingemouth and then headed for bed and some book time myself.
Night, Night Avid Reader, it’s nice to be on the road again, Cadiz here we come!!!!
Portsmouth to Santander to Burgos
Ship – 622 Nautical Miles
Road – 113 Miles
Wendy was out for the count within minutes of bedding down, I read for a while and sleep crept up on me until I could read no more. What a lovely sleep I had, the crossing was smooth with the odd ripple along the hull but the throb of the engines just drifted me away.
I woke at 07:30 and nodded in the darkness of our inside cabin until I could take no more and had my breakfast as a very little sleepy head emerged from under her sheet.
Thankfully being seasoned travellers we had our travel kettle with us and a nice steaming hot cup of tea was being taken to help us start the day.
After dressing I went of a walk on the deck to see what the day was doing, on the starboard side it was gloomy but to the port side the sun was out and it had the feel of a very nice day, if not a little windy in the North Atlantic Ocean.
I got back to the cabin and Wendy had dressed and showered. It was exercise time for me, one hour running on the spot, well small shuttle runs in the cabin, I know Wendy thinks I have ADHD, or something to that affect.
But I like it, it keeps me sane and it helped knock an hour off our journey, and the time seems to fly by as I listen to the music on my phone.
I used my Nike+ app which has a treadmill setting which counts mileage as my arms swing and I must say it’s pretty accurate, I did 6.73 miles in 1 hour, 18 seconds and I sweated like Billy Bunter in a sweet shop.
After a shower we had an early lunch of salad and ham sarnies, the salad was from the ships shop and it was very tasty.
More book reading followed and then we whiled away the four hours we had left in the bar, just reading and bimbling online.
The sea stayed exactly the same, smooth as a baby’s bottom much to Wendy’s satisfaction!!!
The rest of the voyage went very easy and we read our books in the bar area and Wendy even snook an afternoon glass of wine, I being the designated driver had to stick to coffee.
We docked on time and yet again Wendy Gill has crossed the Bay with barely a ripple on the sea, I’m beginning to think all the stories about the vicious seas of the Bay of Biscay are all a bit fishy, that’s twice I’ve had smooth crossings, it’s got to stop!!!
We embarked with ease but we drove 2.3 miles through the docks before we hit the town which is the longest style dock ride I’ve ever known, another first.
We climbed into the mountains from the word go and what a ride it was, it was fantastic.
We were over 3,000 feet in no time at all and we never came down. I am so glad I didn’t bring the caravan on this jaunt, I was going to, phew!!!
The sun was low in the sky as we crossed over massively high viaducts and through long tunnels, it was amazing and I have to take my hat off to the Spanish for the engineering feats they have created on this road, stunning.
As we traveled the sun crept slowly down and behind the hills and it was like the countryside was slowly going to bed, the shift from day to night was so subtle.
What also amazed me was the level of agriculture that goes on in these mountains, both arable and dairy, it was constant throughout the trip.
We reached Burgos just as twilight turned to night and we settled into our accommodation with ease.
The next step, providing the BBC IPlayer for Wendy’s Strictly Dancing via proxy servers and VPN’s on my laptop was a wee bit challenging, but as usual I came through and we sat on the bed watching the dancers do their bit while drinking white wine and eating crusty bread and chorizo, it’s been a cracking day and we are well and truly on our way!!!
Burgos to Teruel
237 Miles
I neglected to say last night how low some parts of our ceiling were in our bedroom. I had no chance, I banged my head three times and never ventured to that side of the bed again, dispatching Wendy to sleep on that side, but even at 5’ 2 & and a quarter inch she had the odd mishap too! Thankfully no bruises came out?
I woke strangely at around 05:00, I didn’t know why, I didn’t need the toilet, I was still sleepy and so I tried to nod off and then I heard it…………………ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!! The man next door was snoring like a pig, worse in fact.
But I did drop off but was reawakened at 07:00 when the very same mans wake up alarm went off. It sounded for about 10 minutes, it even woke Wendy up and that’s saying something. I don’t exactly know when it stopped as I had the kettle and Dearne FM on at full blast!
After a cuppa I was out running, it was cold, 9 degrees and a wee bit misty. I had set off at 08:00 and it was the point in the morning when the first light started to mingle with the night and ask it to move over.
I ran into the city and it was lovely, nice and flat and interesting too.
I was back in no time and as Wendy hadn’t gone out I promised I’d take her to see the sights.
I cooled down and we went for breakfast.
I had to ding the bell on reception twice so we could be directed to the breakfast area. A man eventually came along and showed us in to the public bar where lots of locals lined the bar, drinking coffee and eating all kinds of things.
We found tables where there appeared to be other hotel guests all tucking into differing delicacies, we took a seat at a table without anything on it at all, no cutlery or plates. I looked around, I did a bit of snooping but alas I found nothing that resembled breakfast items.
Then the very same man came to us and told us to order at the bar. So we tried and we got nowhere, all we got was two bits of toast, an orange juice each and I had the tiniest coffee cup that there could ever be, there was about 14 molecules of coffee in it.
Personally I think the staff were so run off their feet they couldn’t give a dam about two British visitors who had paid a modest sum for accommodation with breakfast, and left them to it. Not the kind of hospitality I would expect. I would normally have complained but I could see the fella could not give one stuff so I left it. He could quite easily have given us a few local items to choose, we aren’t fussy.
I won’t ever be back, not likely I know, and so does he, but thankfully I can give feedback and I will.
We checked out and headed for the city and had a wee walk about. As usual, around off the beaten track cities in Spain, the main influence in its architecture is very Moorish and todays offerings were exactly that. The size of the Cathedral in this small city was astounding, so much so that I could not get a decent photograph of it due to its close proximity to the other buildings. It appeared to have been added to over the centuries but it all blended into itself rather nicely.
We hit the road a little later on and we had a wonderful, relaxing drive though the countryside. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I do find looking at the ever changing countryside an excellent educational experience, add that to passing through communities of various sizes and it’s the full experience for me. Wendy keeps me topped up with coffee from our flask and we do stretch our legs from time to time.
We stopped at a town called Calatayud which was stunning with tree lined avenues filled with cafes and people enjoying the 23 degree sunshine dining out with their families. We found yet more Moorish architecture and other interesting sites.
Legs sufficiently stretched we got back in the car and drove on and we eventually came across and continued to drive through a high plains plateau which was over 3,000 feet high.
In the afternoon sunshine it was stunning and quite spectacular with high ridges along both sides which were about 20 miles wide. It was quite a treat, now I really am double happy at not bringing the caravan.
We had driven on side roads for around 180 miles but the last 50 was on a motorway, an almost empty motorway.
As we approached our destination I saw something on the horizon that looked like a large collection of large passenger aircraft. I dismissed this as being something that I had mistaken, maybe a large industrial complex. But as we got nearer, it looked more and more like passenger jets parked up in the sunshine. I then said to Wendy, “Jeepers Wend that looks awfully like a lot of airoplanes!” But there wasn’t any kind of airport infrastructure, just an old hanger not nearly big enough to house a single plane. Wendy agreed it did look like a field full of planes and it was.
There in broad daylight were large passenger jets all lined up in a massive field with a single, long runway close by.
My next instruction to Wendy was, “Wendy, please Google, passenger planes close to Teruel”, which she duly did and she came up with this:
“On a cold, dry plain in rural eastern Spain, 1,000 meters above sea level, a surreal scene greets drivers speeding along the Mudejar Highway inland from the Mediterranean Sea.
Line after line of enormous jumbo jets appear silhouetted against the horizon. It's not a mirage, but the site of the largest industrial airport in Europe.
Located outside the town of Teruel, the smallest of all Spanish provincial capitals, this is not a typical airport or tourist destination There are no check-in desks, departure lounges, luggage carousels, coffee shops, taxi stands or shuttle buses.
For the simple fact that there are no commercial flights here -- and there never were.
This airport was built with other purposes in mind. It hosts aircraft from all over the world that have been withdrawn from service, be it temporarily or permanently, and caters to their maintenance needs.
What it's not, however, is an aircraft junkyard.
Some aging airliners may be scrapped here (after being stripped for valuable parts and spares) but plenty of new, perfectly serviceable aircraft are stored in Teruel.
Some are ready to fly but are waiting for financial or legal issues to be sorted out. Some are here because their airlines need to temporarily adjust capacity to cope with fluctuating market conditions.”
Mystery solved!
How interesting too.
We arrived in Teruel just before 5pm and after checking into our hotel we hit the town, and it was lovely.
Teruel has a population of 35,675 making it the least populated provincial capital in the country. It is noted for its harsh climate, with a very big daily variation on temperatures and its renowned Jammon Serrano, (Cured Ham), it is also regarded as the "Town of Mudejar" (Moorish-influenced architecture) due to numerous buildings designed in this style.
Teruel's remote and mountainous location, 915 metres (3,002 feet) above sea level, and its low population has led to relative isolation within Spain. A campaign group with the slogan Teruel existe ("Teruel exists") was founded in 1999 to press for greater recognition and investment in the town and the province. Due in part to the campaign, transport connections to Teruel are being greatly improved with the construction of a motorway between Zaragoza and Sagunto, large parts of which are now open. However, Teruel remains the only provincial capital in penninsular Spain without a direct railway link to the capital, Madrid.
People who wear slogan T shirts should really check they are on song with the statement, I saw two tonight, both in English. Only Positive Thoughts was one, worn by the most miserable looking women I have seen in a long time and the other, Kiss me Tender by a women old enough to be King Tuts Grandmother, I rest my case!
We really enjoyed our brief visit and celebrated with a meal of Jamón and a glass of wine in an outside bar before heading back to our hotel for Wendy’s second favourite TV programme, the Strictly Results Show. I of course know who’s out as I have a mole in the audience who notifies me late on Saturday night who was in the dance off and who is out.
If you don’t want to know, look away now Avid Reader……………………………..it was Seann and Vick who danced off, Vick is out!!!
Stop Press @ 20:45 - See I was right wasnt I!!!
Teruel to Benidorm
227 Miles
I have been contacted by an avid reader who was displeased that there were no photographs of the aircraft store yesterday, well we were on the motorway at 120 K/PH with no chance of stopping. However I have managed to find some online and I’ll include them in this copy. And yes as you will see they are stored in airline order, how bizarre!!!
I had a very nice sleep but I woke up ready to start my day at………………….05:30!
So I read a while, checked the news and had a cuppa, as quietly as I could so has to not wake Wendy.
But she roused at 07:00 so I made her tea, in bed I might add and then at 08:00 I was out in the dark and the very thick fog, running.
I came across a fast running river that was very badly affected by brown mud and I also came across a path up into the hills via a track which went through a small gorge. It was lovely but it was very misty and I happened upon a herd of mixed cattle, cows and bulls. They were quite unsettled as two calf’s had got out of the fence, one very tiny one and one with big, sharp horns, thankfully he was at the top of the gorge but I had to pass the small one, very smartish both ways I might add.
I got back safe and sound and Wendy and I had a cracking breakfast. There was every possible conception of cold meat and some nice cheese. Boiled eggs, muffins and what not, the only let down was the watered down orange juice, but it was passable. Much better than yesterdays offering.
We left our hotel by 11:00 and the SatNav had us heading further into the hills and within ten miles we were well above 4,000 feet high.
But then after about 30 miles we were heading down towards the coast and out of the mist and into the sun, the hot sun, 25 degrees of it, thank you!
We just kept dropping and dropping, so much so that my miles per gallon ratio was above 70 for most of the trip.
We were on the motorway and as we got near to Valentia it became very busy and I had to have eyes in the back of my head as they drive like mad men around these parts. But we negotiated it safely and headed south.
The SatNav took us south to Alicante and then north 20 miles because I had set her for toll road avoidance. Not because of Yorkshire tightness in not wanting to pay the toll, it’s just everything is electronic these days and if you don’t understand the language you can’t work it out. Imagine foreign drivers trying to work out and pay online for the Dartford Crossing, the authorities must catch thousands each year with none payment charges.
We arrived in Benidorm at around 16:00 and checked into our 4th floor apartment with ease, and it’s very nice.
We unpacked and headed out and I found my obsession immediately and it is mobility scooters, jeepers they are everywhere!!!
Now I don’t want to disrespect anyone who genuinely requires one, but the numbers of people who had them was not statistically possible per capita of population. They mostly all seemed lazy buggers to me, just like Madge on the TV programme Benidorm.
We even came across, and I kid you not, two seaters, yes that’s right, a mobility scooter for two people. How on earth does the battery manage that.
Our first sighting appeared to be an old mother and daughter combination, (70’s and 50’s). I tagged them as being closely related as they had matching ankle tattoos, which prompted Wendy to consider asking Caroline and Robyn to join her in having one together. I don’t think the girls will go for that Wendy, I sincerely hope not anyway.
We walked along the beach walk and into the old town, which was very nice but we did come across Brit Bar after Brit Bar, some with very loud music and signs explaining exactly what their full English breakfast consisted of.
We had a glass of Sangria in the Old Town and I saw a long queue of old people so I went to find out what was occurring. It was the queue for the lottery, it must be mega rollover week, jeepers there was some mobility scooters parked up there!
We walked back along the side streets and we came across our old hotel, Los Pelicanous!
I met Wendy in Benidorm in Champions bar, (long gone), 37 years ago in 1981, how time flies.
We chatted about that time in our lives when I was young and dashing with hair on my head and not on my chest and she was 7 stones wet through and where I could put my hands around her waist and touch fingers, oh those were the days.
We got back to our hotel, through the madness that is Benidorm and we had a drink on the porch before heading upto our room for a very nice ham sarnie.
Tomorrow we explore some more and maybe do some more reminiscing.
Benidorm
No Traveling
I slept like a log last night, after not turning in until past midnight, reading my book while Wendy slept.
Wendy was up like a lark at 07:00 and waking up me in the process, the scallywag.
She joined me for a run this morning going down to Playa de Levante, through Old Town and along Playa Poniente which in total is four miles of golden beach, well apart from the Old Town which separates the beaches in the middle. The top end, where we are is the north end of the Levante which is the mad part, with night life and bars galore, any taste is catered for but the aim is mainly for the British tourist.
The Old Town and the Poniente is largely visited by other European’s and it’s where the majority of the Spanish locals live, needless to say the pace of life there is a lot slower and quieter!!!
I got back after Wendy finding her showered and ready for her breakfast, I showered too as I was sweating heavily by the time I had got to the top of the hill where our hotel is located.
Breakfast was OK, there was a wide selection but I could only describe it as a cheap show, everything had come from the budget supermarket, Lidl turns out food far better quality than we had, but at least it filled a hole.
There was a little cloud around this morning so we went for a long walk, along both beaches and the old town covering just over ten miles and consuming 1,300 calories too, well according to my Strava App.
The sun came out quite often and it was very hot when it did.
Wendy bought her usual Christmas Tree Bauble as she likes to do when she’s away, from a trinket shop in the Old Town.
We did see far too many mobility scooters, in fact it was a problem along the central area as there were too many people on the pavement to allow them to pass. Jeepers there were some sights too, we seem to be in the season for what I would call the old and lively types, by crikey they don’t half hit it hard!
We walked right to the end of the Poniente Beach which was a little over 4 miles, we saw groups of pensioners holding fitness sessions and enjoying themselves and as we came back we had a couple of beers in a very small Spanish Bar well out of the way from Brit land and its noise. It was very nice, we sat outside on sofas in the sunshine and we were looked after by a very nice young Spanish girl.
When we were coming into Benidorm yesterday we saw the most grotesque tall building I have ever seen, it is hideous and I really mean that, it is a monstrous carbuncle.
You’ll spot it Avid Reader, in the photographs, as it stands head and shoulders above all the buildings around it, actually it is the tallest building in Benidorm so its stands out like an exceptionally sore thumb.
But that’s not all, I’ve done some digging, well travel is an educational study!
The building is called The Tempo and it was built as residential accommodation when money was easily obtained, the banks were giving it out left right and centre to any developer who they thought could return a profit. But then the bubble burst and I have lost track of how many times the building has been sold at a knock down price.
No one lives there, the place is abandoned and there is no security there either. In 2013 80 apartments had been sold but since the building hasn’t been fully completed they have been unable to occupy their apartments so I’m presuming that they have lost their money.
It is 200 metres high and has 269 apartments in over 47 floors and is visible from over six miles away and it dwarfs everything around it. It was due to be completed in 2009 but works have been suspended for some years now, although it is around 97% complete, but what’s left to be done is critical to the safe operation of the building.
There is an actual TripAdvisor page dedicated to it, an empty premises would you believe? In fact the last entry is from September this year where two young brothers aged 17 and 18 sneak in and climb up the stairs to the very top.
If you see it in the flesh, so as to speak, you’d be astounded, it’s what I think now would be called, “The elephant in the room!”
We walked back and nipped into the back streets to have a good look at our old hotel, Los Pelicanos, and inside and around the pool area it looked exactly like it does on the TV programme Benidorm. I did have a very large chuckle at seeing the number of mobility scooters parked outside, they even have their own dedicated parking and charging area.
I wanted to go upto to room 629 but I think Wendy was reluctant to get caught misbehaving at 56 years old, funny she never had such concerns when she was 18!!!
We walked through the very vast, very loud and almost tacky Brit area with bar after bar playing music at ear injury levels. I even managed to see the cricket score, Sri Lanka had amassed a huge total and as I watched I saw Jason Roy bowled for 4 runs and I now see that we slumped to a massive defeat care of Duckworth Lewis.
We got back around 5pm and we had walked just over 10 miles so we bought supper in the local supermarket and had a very Gill style cold tapas with sparkling wine to celebrate our return to Benidorm.
We lounged on the balcony a while longer before I dragged a tired Wendy out for a walk. She needed it as she was flagging, its Bake off night and had we not embarked on a 3 mile walk, taking in a very nice English bar she would have been fast asleep by now. Having said that it’s now 8:30 pm and she’s in her jimjams and looking like she won’t make 21:00! But like she says her little legs have done 19 miles today, so I guess she’s entitled to her rest.
I’ll let you know if she makes it in tomorrow’s copy, I think currently the moneys on 50/50!
Benidorm
No Traveling
It was a lovely daybreak this morning and I came across Wendy running along the promenade and she did a shimmy, the cheeky minx shimmied herself right in front of my face and then high fived me, who does she think she is, Jess Ennis???
The sun rose against a cloudless sky and it got warm, very warm so after a hearty breakfast we headed for a lazy day at the beach.
So with the cool bag full of ice and sarnies made with bread snaffled from the restaurant, wine and beer we walked down the hill onto the beach where we selected two sunbeds for us to relax nicely.
And despite the single Mum and her little boy who had no one to play with, so he pested everyone with his football, we had a very nice day.
The sun was out and the beach was full, chock a block!!!!
Thought of the day, after seeing the fat man with a bald head with completely unnecessary tattoos all over his body, his face and his head, I thought why do so many people have them? There was a very attractive young women near us who had a massive mural on her back with arms and legs amongst other things and I thought why, you don’t need it, you’ve ruined your body, for what, art? I don’t think so!!!
I listened to Dearne FM and enjoyed Matt and the morning show and I managed to get the right year at Retro Heaven at Half Eleven, which was 2011, Wendy was out with 2009.
I nodded through Number Ones at One and apparently I snored, well according to Wendy Gill, who I have suddenly discovered doesn’t like Northern People, whom she call’s goby, she is such a southern snob, from the Isle of Sheppey of all places, how posh is that!
We took a wee walk along the prom to The Stag and Peasant Bar, which would you believe is a very British bar and we had a few glasses of wine in the hot sunshine. It was so hot Wendy had to move tables so she could have some shade.
As we enjoyed our wine I observed a double mobility scooter amble along the prom and low and behold it stopped at our bar and the two chubbies who were on it ambled off as fit as you like and took up seats next to us, there was bugger all wrong with them except laziness. Jeepers Madge from Benidorm as something to answer for.
We had some more beach time with me dozing a little more and then we walked home the long way back to get some air.
Supper was again taken on the balcony with Wendy firmly wrapped up in her jimjams so I guess it’s a night in tonight.
Oh, I didn’t say, I started to watch the movie Hacksaw Ridge last night, it’s about a young American man who joins the army as a medic, but as he is a conscientious objector he will not hold a riffle and he gets into a lot of trouble during his recruit’s course. I do believe it’s a bit gory but so far it’s been quite interesting.
I’m sorry my copy hasn’t been exciting as usual tonight, tomorrow we head further south to Granada for two days reconnoitre so I’ll have something juicy for you to get your teeth into, well, they do grow exceptional oranges there don’t they?
Benidorm to Granada
256 Miles
Wendy Gill was a happy bunny last night has I managed to get the Great British Bake off online so she could watch the semi-final. It was a very good episode and Briny who went out really had a howler with her puff pastry, she should remember the old adage, “Keep it Simple Stupid”, (KISS), well it always worked for me!
We were out running again this morning, just after day break and we saw the moon in the sky and it was a lovely site over the length of both beaches.
At breakfast we did a naughty thing, we snaffled some sarnies which Wendy, as bold as brass, made at the dining table and I snuck them in her bag. We were going a long way today and we only have a small portion each morning so we thought we would cash in, which we did with ham and pastrami!
We set off on the road at 11:00 and we were soon on the motorway which took us within 7 miles of Granada. The countryside was mountainous and barren in places and we were in the high plains yet again.
After 150 miles we stopped in a town for our leg stretch and we found a very nice church, again! I was looking for a toilet too but alas we didn’t find one, never mind I wasn’t desperate, thankfully.
We carried on and we did come to a service station where I did manage to find a toilet, but it did cost me the price of a Magnum Ice Cream bar.
As we continued we thought we saw a mountain in the distance and it appeared to have snow on top. By now we were over 4,000 feet and this mountain was huge so it was feasible that it could be snow. But if it was snow then it must have lasted the whole of a southern Spanish summer.
Wendy found it on the map and it is called the Mount Santa Barbara and its 7,444 feet high and as we came closer we could see the snow tops. Jeepers who would have thought!
We continued on and we began to descend, very quickly actually, and we were soon off the motorway and driving along a mountain pass overlooking Granada. I stopped to take a photograph and Wendy was disappointed as she thought it was an historic city but didn’t look it. It is Wendy, we were looking at just one area of it.
I booked our hotel some time ago, and I picked it because it had onsite parking. However a couple of weeks ago I received an email from the hotel telling me parking was 20 euros a night, would I like to book a spot? Bugger I thought, that’s far too much, I’ll find somewhere when I get there.
Like hell I did, the streets are so narrow it’s impossible to get around, so when the Sat Nav had me within 200 metres of the hotel but telling me to go down a street with bollards to stop traffic, (in the down position), I went past it. We turned around and I dropped Wendy off to go check in and ask about the parking.
I drove off and found a spot to pull over, but not park for any length of time.
Wendy phoned me, she told me to follow the Sat Nav and she would wait for me.
I did, and a little man was waiting for me and he manoeuvred me into a closed, tight side street where I could drop the bags, he then walked me and the car about 100 metres, via a very tight road, to an underground car park, where I had to shunt and people had to move there outside bar stools so I could get in. What a performance, the car is staying put until we need to leave!
The hotel is lovely and we have a very nice room and after a quick breather we took a walk around.
I have been to Granada 36 years ago, for one night and I remember sitting in a bar on a street which had orange trees lining both sides, it was lovely and warm too, well it was summer time. We also came here with the kids when we were going to Gibraltar, but I think we had had a long drive from Madrid and we stayed on the campsite for the night and never went into town.
I never recalled this city being so interesting, but then I was only 20 years old.
The sun was out and it was hot so it was a very nice day to stroll along. The city is ancient, it was built by the Moors in the middle ages, I think? (I’ll have more info tomorrow), some of the streets are only passable on foot and there are some magnificent buildings. It has a very Arabic feel to it and the streets are lined with Bazars where strangely you aren’t pested to buy things, and the stuff on sale seems very reasonably priced.
Our hotel is located at a plaza and we are surrounded by a feast of Tapas Bars and restaurants, it looks like we will be spoiled rotten, but not tonight as we are still stuffed from feeding during our journey.
We stopped at a bar for a glass of wine in the sun and it was very nice and relaxing and then we continued exploring. There are some quite hilly areas and we walked up a fair way but there were still more streets to go up. We opted out though and headed back down the back streets and it was all quite interesting.
We eventually found a large supermarket not too far from our hotel so we know where our wine stocks are coming from.
Tomorrow we are going to explore some more and we have two or three things in mind, I’m fancying the Arab Baths but I guess Wendy won’t be keen, she doesn’t like other people’s bodies being in the same water as her!
We got back to the hotel after walking just under 5 miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes where we chatted and had a glass of wine and some crisps and then we braved a walk outside, without our coats which are still in the car, in the sub, sub-basement.
It was a bit nippy, well we are 2,500 feet high!
We walked around a few streets and Wendy bought herself a wee present and then as I had spied a, “My Kind of Bar”, very close to the hotel we went there for a drink, and what a find it turned out to be.
I ordered two glasses of wine and it came with a meaty, potato saucy tapas, with bread. We polished that off and I ordered two more glasses of wine and then they came with ham and cheese toasties. The barman then put out the deal of the day, Tortilla slice at 2.50 a pop, well Wendy just had to have a slice of that and she did.
The bill, all in was 12.60 euros, we were stuffed and the wine was nice so guess where D & W G are eating tomorrow night!
Stuffed to high heaven we got back to our room, which is about 34 paces from my new found bar and we settled down for some much needed rest.
Tomorrow is a cultural day of interest, I’ll keep you posted Avid reader!
Granada
No Traveling
We woke nicely, early, by Spanish standards as it doesn’t get light until 08:30, plus we have shutters on the windows so you have no idea what the sky is doing outside. So 07:11 seemed ok.
I was out running to a lovely red sky, Wendy stayed in her scratcher as she doesn’t like city running.
There are four rivers in Granada and I have managed to find 3 so far, but I’m thinking one might elude me. I ran along river number 2 and then happened upon river number 3 so I think I’ve done pretty well.
We had a really nice breakfast in our hotel, the dining room is really nice and the coffee is the best I’ve had in ages.
We set off for a walk around the Alhambra which is a palace and fortress complex. It was originally constructed as a small fortress in AD 889 on the remains of Roman fortifications by the Moors, and then largely ignored until its ruins were renovated and rebuilt in the mid-13th century by the Emirate of Granada, who was the last of the Moor Emirates who built its current palace and walls.
Granada seems to have been an area of huge conflict over the years and it is difficult to piece the story together but is seems that in the 11th Century it was a Jewish stronghold and in fact it had the only ruler of a Jewish kingdom on mainland Europe, Samuel ibn Nagrilla who built its current palace and walls.
The Alhambra has had that much happen to it over the centuries that I would be here all day detailing it, the Moors have been here, Napoleon has had a dabble and did a bit of demolishing as a retaliation to being offended, the bugger.
It was rediscovered by the British and is now a major tourist attraction.
It sits at the top of a huge hill above Granada and is basically a large fortress, with walls and steep access slopes which would be pretty hard to penetrate.
Now then, about the Moors, it not easy as I find conflicting information, but they were Arabs who built buildings in their style. They occupied large parts of Spain and Portugal in the middle ages. They built mosques which were converted to churches and they even, at one point occupied all of Sicily.
When they are described as Arabs I’m thinking they are Moroccans or Tunisians as they are the closest to Iberia because it’s only about 8 miles across the Straits of Gibraltar.
In fact Granada is the last city they occupied in Europe having been finally evicted from everywhere else by Europeans. On January 2, 1492, the last Muslim ruler in Iberia surrendered complete control of the Emirate and it’s been under European rule ever since.
Jeepers it was a busy old place in days gone by, it just shows how warsome the world used to be.
The place was mobbed and there weren’t any tickets left, thankfully, phew!!! I’m happy to look around the grounds but not look at someone’s old furniture.
The weather wasn’t great as the sun never got going, in fact there was a little spittle going on.
One thing that did intrigue me was there was a channel coming down the hill, two actually where water was flowing down, quite a lot actually. It seemed to appear from a spring in some old ruins and then it formed the river at the bottom of the hill. Wendy said that she had read that someone had managed to divert a river high in the hills so that they had fresh water running through the castle, how clever!
We walked all around the fortress and then down the most awkward of hills, it was very steep and had big pebbles to walk on and it wasn’t easy.
I then looked to find the very famous Arab Baths and failed miserably. Well I did find them but they were rubbish, built in the 11th Century, they are very nice from an architectural point of view but there weren’t any pools, the floors used to be heated and water poured onto it to make steam saunas. All very nice but not the lavish pools which I thought they were.
Now the lavish pools were a couple of streets away, where a fella can relax in the warm waters and have a massage and wot not, know what I mean!!! Wendy almost wet herself with laughter when she realised what I had been looking for, I need to be a bit more careful with my google searches!
We did some browsing and went for a coffee in our room and we even managed to get into the car, which remember is about several stories below ground to get our coats and umbrella as it had started to drizzle.
We went for a walk to the Cathedral, which again is beautiful but surrounded by close building so you don’t get a full perspective of its size or beauty.
We did a bit of shopping and then decided to explore the shops and bazars around our hotel as there are quite a few of them and Wendy wanted to buy some presents.
But alas no we could not, every shop was closed with a sign on the doors saying closed due to strike action, what??????
Well I have to make comment here, I don’t know what the strike is about but I do see the bars are constantly full of people living the high life, so much so that you wonder why Spain is one of the infamous European Pigs, well they seem to enjoy a very long liquid lunch.
We made a huge mistake at around 16:00, we were going back to the room but fancied a glass of wine. I had hoped we were going to have a nice Friday supper in the bar we were at last night but our bloody wine came with two very nice ham toasties, tapas style, with loads of crisps. I wasn’t going to have them but of course Wendy said it would be rude, so I scoffed my portion, as she did hers and it was lovely. But I’m eating far too much tapas here that I am not going to fit into my shorts, in fact I am already looking rather keenly at some baggy waist-ed Arabic trousers, it’s just sheer decadence here in Granada and it’s all very nicely priced too which makes it far too easy!
Time check – Its 20:15 and we have been for a walk and Wendy did some present shopping, nearly causing a riot as she quizzed the shop owners who had opened during the strike. “Why aren’t you striking”, she was asking, “I want to spend my money on presents but no one’s open”. A fist fight almost ensued with some fellas punching each other but thankfully it was good natured.
But she did end up buying several items and finding out what it is all about. Apparently the local council has told traders not to encroach on the street as they are too tight and the shop owners have taken humbridge. But by going on strike and not selling their items seems a bizarre way of protesting, they are only hurting themselves!
We went for a glass of wine, two actually and we were forced fed, again, tapas, but we were ready for it and we won’t be eating again tonight. We got two large glasses of very nice wine and two, tapas each which were more than a decent meal. So for 10 euros it’s a cheap eat and we are now nicely ensconced in our room with all of Friday night going on below.
Oh and before I file copy, I have to say there are a huge number of cake shops around here and Wendy Gill is slavering every time we pass, in fact tonight she succumbed and bought two items. Toberlone something and apple type strudel which she is now devouring whilst being all jarmied up in the bed.
I swear we will put on three stones before we go self-catering!!!
Stop Press – For some reason I cannot file copy, Get Jealous isn’t working even though I can get Invicta’s Games, however Wendy has found out we are in the oldest square in Granada well at least that’s something!
Granada to Estepona
132 Miles
We both woke at 03:30, I had ear plugs in but I could hear something and Wendy who hadn’t used ear plugs said that young people, i.e. people who we used to be, were making a noise as they went home from a boozy night out. I suppose that’s what a city hotel is all about.
I did nod a little more but I was up at 06:00 and out running at 07:00. I found a track along the main river and it went for miles into the country, in pitch black conditions without any lighting apart from the last of the full moon, and it was OK, I just followed the track.
I got back and showered and we then took some bags to the car, down in the dungeon and then we had yet another delightful breakfast, I had cold meats and toast and would you believe fresh mango juice. I also had another delightful coffee.
The reception chappie took us to get the car out, we can go into the carpark but you need someone to operate the doors as you come out of the bowels of the carpark with the car as it is that deep, and it is quite steep. I did some wheel spinning to get clear of the fist hump. I also caught the door with my wing mirror on the first door as it wasn’t fully open, no harm done, thankfully.
We headed out of town and took the motorway all the way and we climbed higher into the mountains, again, and we went past miles and miles upon miles of olive groves. Jeepers there were millions of them, which had me thinking how on earth do they harvest so many olives?
The olive harvest takes place in the winter, between November and March depending on the area, weather and olive variety.
Picking the olives is no easy task! The olives which have already fallen to the ground are collected into baskets and kept separately – olives from the floor can still be pressed but as they are inferior “damaged fruit” they cannot be designated “Extra Virgin” quality.
Nets are then laid under the tree so it can shaken and beaten. Traditionally, just like back in Roman times, this is done by hand using sticks/poles to dislodge the fruit from the tree. Alternatively, some farmers use a vibrating machine, (which we saw in Portugal last year) which is attached to a branch to shake the olives into the nets below. The nets full of “good olives” are collected up and emptied into a trailer.
At the mill, the olives are separated from the dirt, leaves and stones on a series of machines and conveyor belts, before being cleaned and weighed en route to the tolva (deposit) to be pressed. A sample is taken of the olives, with the bag being labelled and sent off to an external laboratory for testing. The farmer is paid a few months later based on the weight and sample quality of his olives.
Well there you go, it is hand harvested, jeepers there must be some amount of staff needed to pick this amount of olives, there were millions.
We got to within 5 miles of our AirBnB but the Sat Nav didn’t know the street so we used google mapping to get us here, but we aren’t actually here with the car, it’s about half a mile away as we are staying on a closed road. We parked in a free carpark and walked to the apartment, we were a little early so we looked around, and we like the look of the place.
We met our host at 2pm and we have a lovely 1st floor apartment with open veranda doors both in the kitchen and bedroom and we overlook a pavement restaurant, I can look down and see what people are eating, and I can hear their chitter chat too, thankfully in Spanish so I don’t get distracted.
By the time we, and mainly I, had brought the bags to the apartment we were starving so as Wendy unpacked I went and got provisions from the supermarket, about a quarter of a mile away, bearing in mind its Sunday tomorrow and everything will be closed.
So 30 minutes later and fully loaded with provisions I was back and cooking sirloin steaks, with gigantic prawns and making a very nice Mediterranean salad. Jeepers it was just the ticket and with the noise from the pavement below it was like being in the restaurant, but cooking my own food.
We took a walk along the prom which is very nice but it was a little windy.
We came across three naughty boys of about 15 years old on their bikes. They rode along the prom kicking the big chess pieces that are provided. Even when someone was playing they kicked them. We then found them at a location on the beach where someone had made a very artistic mountain scene out of the sand with a massive volcano. One of the boys had picked a large pebble up and was waiting until we went where we thought he was going to throw it at the volcano. The artist wasn’t there but their money was so they might have nipped to the shop or something.
I told the boy not to be naughty but he just laughed at me, so I nicked his bike.
I took it for about ten minutes, his mates tried to chase me, I out run them both. I even doubled back now and then and teased him. If it wasn’t for Wendy I would have taken it miles away and left it. I went back and told Wend to jump on the back but she was scared so I rode it a little further and dumped it. The lad was fizzing and giving me all sorts of fingers, but at least he never damaged the statue.
We did pass him further along when he was locking his bike up, and I did a hissing sound, like I was going to let his tires down, but Wendy wouldn’t let me.
We walked back as the wind was a bit harsh and we had a glass of very nice wine in an English bar.
Back at the apartment Wendy breathed a sigh of relief when I managed to load BBC TV for tonight’s Strictly Dancing, its Halloween Special Night tonight so we are going to settle down after I have connected the laptop to the telly, watch the dancing and hopefully take an early night.
We will look at how olives are pressed in a later edition Avid Reader.
Oh, I forgot to say, I’m sorry copy is late, there are issues with my publishers which I hope they resolve pretty soon!!!
Estepona
No Traveling
Well Wendy did enjoy her Strictly night last night and went to bed a very happy bunny after it had finished, and went directly to sleep leaving me alone with my Netflix account, so I started to watch 30 Days of Night, a very interesting vampire film before succumbing to sleep myself.
However I was awake and alive at 5:30 and a little disappointed as it was so early, but then the penny dropped. My iPhone had updated its time overnight and now it was on European winter time, so it was really 06:30 in my body clock so I was a bit happier and got up and had breakfast.
Wendy joined me a little later and we both went out running, in different directions.
It was a nice clear morning and the sun was slowly waking up and I was back soon at the apartment ready for some vegemite on toast, washed down by a hot cup of tea, a delight!
We had learnt at the bar yesterday that it was market day down by the harbour today so that’s where we set off for.
And what a market it was, you could buy anything, well anything apart from livestock.
But it was packed with people browsing and enjoying a Sunday morning shop.
We walked around the harbour wall as I wanted to get a photograph of Gibraltar which we can clearly see from the promenade. It looks like an island from this distance as the connection to mainland Spain is so low lying you just can’t see it. We also think we can see Africa too, in the distance. It’s on the photograph so you can see for yourself Avid Reader, it can’t be anything else, there’s nothing but Africa behind Gibraltar.
We also saw the lighthouse, which has an exact double in Ceuta which is a Spanish colony in Morocco, (more on that in future copy when we get to Gibraltar!). Apparently these two lighthouses guide shipping through the Straits of Gibraltar which is something of a feat at they are at least 30 miles further down the coast, anyone thinking they are safe and can turn west when seeing this lighthouse is most definitely going to run aground.
We got back to the market and despite walking around every stall, we bought nothing at all.
Wendy did show a very keen interest at the pottery stall but didn’t open my wallet as she said it was too busy, “I don’t like hustle and bustle”, she said, yes that’s my Wendy, she likes her own private market place.
We walked around town, through the back streets and it is a very nice town. It resembles Puerto Mogan in Gran Canaria and it was exceptionally quite as the town hadn’t yet come to life, or got back from church or they were all still at the market!
I had told Wendy my feet were sore, I have been in sandals most of the year now and it’s making them sore. I used to get cracked heels but now I use Vaseline on my feet before I go running and it seems to work, until now.
So I say to Wendy, if I see a chemist I’ll get some heel balm. Then we find one but could we find any heel balm in the chemist shop, no we couldn’t, so Wendy asked the assistant. She then went onto discuss, openly and loudly, my feet issues in this very busy Spanish chemist as if I wasn’t there. It was most embarrassing, thank goodness I don’t have piles, or even worse ED? I’d have been mortified.
We walked back into town and it is beautiful, we came across several fountains, most lovely, one not so, in fact if you asked for a simple fountain you would have got this. It was a pool with a small fountain, just dribbling against gravity, a really poor show if I’m honest, but the others were much better, I do like a nice fountain!
As the sun was out and we had happened upon a small bar that had tables in the sun we sat down and enjoyed a nice glass of white wine. We were the only customers and the owner gave us a bit of a fussing, he gave us a menu even though we had told him we only wanted a drink. We even got a very nice table cloth!
We sat there for a good while nursing one drink and chuckling at things going off around us and it was very nice. We finished our wine and then guess what? We had another!
And then I asked Wendy to organise some tapas which she did. I could hear her asking the owner, “We would like six tapas please, anything, meat, fish or veg, maybe a mixture, we are easily pleased” and it duly arrived and it was lovely.
The owner told us we had Bulgarian tapas as that’s where he was from, I wouldn’t have known, as it was just very nice. The dip we got was very, very garlicy, not at all Grandad Bryans cup of tea, and I’m still breathing it out now six hours later.
We sat a good while in the sun and we were the only customers at this restaurant and there were no others at the surrounding restaurants.
An old man came along and started looking, very interestingly into the big plant pot next to our table, then the owner got involved and then another lady and then Wendy Gill stuck her two pen’eth in and found out what all the fuss was about.
Caterpillars!!! Eating the basil, well I never! The old fella dug six out and even gave one to Wendy who was most intrigued by it all, well she does like the simple things in life.
Eventually, as the sun hid behind some clouds we dawdled back to the apartment and did a bit of relaxing, Wendy bimbling on her iPad and me catching up with my hotel reviews. You see I’m not just a travel writer, I’m also a travel critic don’t you know?
The sun seemed to have come out again so we went for a walk along the prom in the other direction and it was nice, we saw Gibraltar again, looking resplendent and majestic across the sea and it was all very nice.
And then we looked over inland to the mountains and saw a very angry sky. Wendy immediately went into panic mode, we are going to drown, I’m sure I heard her say.
I took two photos, one out to sea and very nice sunshine and one of the mountains and the very, by now, very angry sky.
We doubled our walking rate and got back to the apartment just as the heavens opened and the now packed outdoor restaurants scurried to clear their empty tables and moved people under their canopies.
The rain only came sporadically, along with some stiff breeze and then went and then came back so we settled in for a bite to eat, piggy porker Sunday me thinks and had a nice glass of wine.
The weather brightened and we took a walk out, after a bit of a tantrum about me wearing socks and sandals, well I had by now got my very much discussed heel balm on. Wendy wasn’t happy making statements about my fasionability at 57 years old.
Anyway the sky was interesting, both north and south to Gibraltar, so I took some pics. On the way back we bought a cake, which was duly gift wrapped like a Christmas present.
Its now 18:40 and Wendy is happily in her jim jams, in bed waiting for Strictly Dancing to come on, I know who’s out, its Seann, who danced off with Graham Swann, see my mole came good again!!!
Estepona
No Traveling
Jeepers that wind was cold and blustery this morning, but nothing like it is at home, no our wind was about 16 degrees.
I slept like a baby again, this apartment is fantastic, a very comfortable bed, a nice shower and a well-stocked kitchen and in an ideal location, within 50 metres of the beach and 200 metres of a good sized supermarket, oh and loads of bars and restaurants too, it’s ideal.
Wendy woke first, bringing me breakfast in bed, orange juice, bran flakes and hot tea, how lovey.
And then we went running, into the bloody wind!!!
There was a fantastic blue sky and bright sunshine, but the wind was cold.
I came across Wendy coming back downwind and she did not look happy, she should have wrapped up like I do, all I got from her was a brief wave, no fist pump, no high five, nor even a kiss, let alone a shimmy. She only did four miles, she doesn’t like the wind doesn’t Wendy Gill!
After breakfast and a shower we took a walk downtown and it was really nice, out of the wind of course.
Escepona is a really nice, unspoilt resort. There are no hotel chains here, in fact you’d be hard pressed to find a hotel it just seems they are all apartments and flats, or traditional side streets with terraced housing. AirBnB must be doing a bomb here!!!
There is a lovely tiled promenade with several workstations for the old duffers to take some exercise, seating and those big chess games. The town is nice and clean, very tidy with some very nice cosmopolitan shops, very chic actually.
As the wind was nipping at me and because I have still got an annoying cough I sought to buy a body warmer and after trying several shops I did indeed find a suitable body warmer that I liked, that was reasonably priced and is very fashionable. I haven’t taken it off all day, in fact I wore it out from the shop, no gift wrapping required!
We walked further up and down the side streets taking in the local atmosphere and we came across a very cute black cat that crossed our path. Now we don’t know if that’s good luck or bad luck so I stopped and gave her a good stroking which she really liked, she purred at me so I’m guessing its good luck from now on in.
I have reassessed the location of Gibraltar in relation to Africa and I think I got it wrong, I think it’s the Algeciras Peninsular that we can see and it’s just jutting out past Gibraltar, I took a look on Google maps and I think that is what it is, silly me.
As we had shopped up and walked the town to death we walked to the marina and had a very nice glass of wine at Ricks bar. Out of the wind and sat in the sun, it was lovely. Ricks barman gave us a bowl of lovely nutty, spicy things and a huge bowl of popcorn to have with our wine. We liked and devoured the nuts, the popcorn just didn’t seem right so we declined and I took it back to the bar, jeepers it was huge.
The sun was lovely and we chatted along and had another glass, well it is Monday after all isn’t it?
We then walked back, around 15:00, to the apartment and I cooked dinner as Wendy arranged the table and chairs in the bedroom in front of the veranda window.
We had turkey steaks, or something turkyish, salad and cuscus and it was really nice and tasty.
We overlooked the people eating their meals at the street restaurant downstairs and although I say it myself, ours was much the better meal, it was certainly much cheaper anyway.
We washed the dishes and took a walk along the beach as I wanted to soak my poorly feet in the sea, I know, I’m falling apart, cough, bad feet, I may have to ask Wendy to take me back to the chemist to discuss my ailments again!
It was a tadge too windy so we sought solace in the English bar where we had a glass of wine and met an adorable dog who had been rescued from a Japanese restaurant. No, she wasn’t on the menu, apparently someone brought her in after finding her out all alone, abandoned at 5 weeks old and this couple, eating their meal took her in. Low and behold she’s still with them 9 years later and sitting on a bar stool like she owns the place.
I had a whiskey for my chest, honest I did, I had to, I’m poorly!!! Anyway the bar wasn’t up on whiskey and had only blends so I asked for a Famous Grouse which is quite nice but the barman poured me a large Jameson, which is Irish whiskey I do believe, anyway it did the trick and warmed my chest up nicely.
We left the bar and walked some more and as the night was getting on I took Wendy for a walk along the prom where I reintroduced her to the game of chess, I know silly me as I have tried before………and failed!
Wendy is a very cleaver women, at times, and as silly as a tree at others. She does the Times crossword every Saturday without fail, she’s a big Countdown follower, and Pointless too and anything else that moves in quiz land but she cannot master chess.
Chees is so simple, its easy peasy, but I did laugh out loud, (LOL) several times as she tried to get to grips with the movements of all the pieces. Despite me explaining 22 times she got every manoeuvre wrong, every bloody one.
In the end I played myself and just about won.
I need to explain it to her before she has a glass of wine next time.
Back at the apartment, it was dark outside so we chilled a little more and I counted down the time to the next episode of The Walking Dead.
Tomorrow we depart Escepona and head for Gibraltar where getting across the border will be one of two things, easy or hard. Easy, you drive through with no difficulty, hard, they stop you and they go through all of your things, everything!
But here’s the game, we don’t help them, we step back and let them do it, they have to move suitcase’s, they have to rummage, they have to move things and they have to open things and we don’t help. An old Gibraltarian lady told me that 18 years ago when I got stopped and I tried to be helpful, she took my arm and pulled me back and said let them do it, so I did and I will again if required, because they are doing it to me to be awkward, so we will do it right back at them just to be awkward in return.
And that’s how life sometimes is when you’re surrounded by the enemy!
Estepona to Gibraltar
31 Miles
Wendy was up again and doing her breakfast routine which was very nice, but she was soon back in bed as it was teeming down with rain and it was windy again.
But that doesn’t stop a Yorkshire Man so off I set and managed to come back wet to the skin, with squelchy trainers.
By the time I had eaten and showered Wendy had packed and had my sports gear in the washing machine and we were ready for the off by 11:00.
I managed to get the car within 200 metres of the apartment and thankfully the rain had slowed a little. So with the car packed we set off for our next destination, Gibraltar and as it was only 31 miles I kept off the motorway and went via the back roads which made for an interesting journey, but only because of the relentless rain.
Boy did it tip it down, it was double windscreen wiper speed almost all the way. The rain pounding the car from all directions, I even had to have the heater on to keep the windscreen clear of mist thus baking us both in the process, I did open the windows but got splattered with rain, it was a vicious circle.
Thankfully around 12:40 we arrived at the border and joined the queue and it went by pretty quickly, it took 8 minutes which must be a record. The rain was that bad we weren’t bothered by the Spanish police. I did have a nice exchange with the Gibraltarian police officer who was as happy as Larry checking passports in the rain.
We are staying in a Holiday Inn Hotel not very far from the border and we were there in no time.
Parking on Gibraltar is an extremely difficult process but there are about ten spaces behind the hotel and I bagged one of them, what a result.
I was waiting as Wendy had gone to see if we could check in and I parked the car on a tow away zone and waited and sure enough, someone checked out and I bagged the space, phew!!!
The car is not moving from there for the next two days.
We took a coffee while our room was prepared and we were in by 13:10 and unpacked and on our way exploring by 13:30.
And the weather had worsened, which I didn’t think was possible.
The wind was wild and the rain relentless and I had to give Wendy a motivational talk about making the most about a bad job.
We were heading for the World War Two tunnels half way up the rock.
We have been in the Siege Tunnels and Saint Michaels Cave before so I wanted to have bagged the full spectrum of underground features of Gibraltar.
Wendy needed a further pep talk as the wind and rain where blowing her away, and I thought I might have a mutiny on my hands, but I managed to convince her that we were within 300 metres of the site and we would be safe soon.
It cost 20 euros each and it wasn’t worth it to be honest, we were rushed around and hardly had time to listen to the audio device we had to keep tight to our ears. We were the last to join the group who was led by a guide and no one explained how to operate the audio device, in fact one of the staff closed his little shop as soon as we got there, turned the lights off and settled down for a nap in his chair. I saw him do it, so I knocked him up and got him to show me how to operate the dam thing.
We were rushed round and missed some of the displays.
We were also told we wouldn’t come back to where we started as we were going to exit at a different location so we had to carry our brollies with us. We did indeed emerge at a different point, but then we were all marched back in and we came back to where we had started, it was like Basil Fawlty was running the show.
But, that said, I’m glad I did it, I learned a few things:
1 - There are 34 miles of underground WW2 tunnels, (even more if you add the Siege tunnels which were made in 1782).
2. That the entire civilian population were evacuated during WW2 and that because there were so many military personnel on the peninsular they had to dig the tunnels to make them safe from airstrikes.
3. That there were nine hospitals in the tunnels.
4. That Gibraltar was a strategic centre for the supply of food and other consumables to Malta during the German siege of the Island.
After our visit we managed to get down to the town, albeit being battered by yet more wind and rain. Wendy’s fold up brolley didn’t make it and ended up in a bin, mine thankfully being a sturdier one kept us reasonably dry. In fact I have never seen so many abandoned, damaged brollies anywhere in the world, the bins were full of them, (you can see them because they don’t exactly fit in the bins).
We got to the Main Street and it rained even heavier, I know I didn’t think it possible, so we nipped into the Angry Friar Pub for a pint of London Pride and some food.
I had Chilli Con Carne and Wendy had Chicken and Mushroom Pie and although my chilli wasn’t as spicy as advertised, (they seldom are), it was hot and very tasty, Wendy loved her pie as it came with mash and peas.
We left after an hour and wonder of all wonders the rain had stopped, the wind had dropped and the sky was brightening.
As we were so wet we walked back to the hotel to change cloths and then we took a walk around the marina area, calling into Morrison’s for a few provisions along the way and I saw that diesel is 99p per litre so I’ll call in and fill up before we leave. I forgot to say, Gibraltar is a duty free haven and you can buy whiskey at around £8 per bottle so there’s no surprise my Morrison’s purchases comprised of rum and gin!
We walked around a new area where we have never been before, a development around a very exclusive marina where there were some very expensive yachts moored up, jeepers they were big.
The sun set behind the Spanish hills and so we headed back towards the Main Street where we had another beer in a local pub.
We got back to our hotel to watch The Great British Bake Off at 19:30, we showered and settled down as we had walked over 10.5 miles during today’s activities.
Yesterday, on the beach, Wendy found huge heart shaped pebble, (she likes to collect them), and asked me to carry it. I managed to get it into my coat pocket, but only just and when we got to the pub I took it out and gave it to her while I bought the drinks.
This morning before we left she let out a massive yelp!
“I forgot to take the pebble with me from the pub yesterday!”
So the poor landlord is now thinking what the hell were those two on, bringing a pebble that big into my bar!!! I told her to go back and ask for it but she was too embarrassed.
It’s bake off time now, see you tomorrow avid reader, (PS we have a full Sky TV package tonight so we can watch the programme live on TV, Wendy is beside herself with excitement).
Gibraltar
No Traveling
I was up a little late this morning, 07:30 and to be honest I could have stayed in my bed. But I didn’t, even though Wendy Gill did, the little minx.
It was a much better morning and when I got back we had a delightful breakfast of sausage and scrambled egg sarnies, they were lovely.
We had two objectives today, walk upto the top of the Rock and go to Europa Point which is the most southerly point on Gibraltar.
We started off spritely, dodging the hordes of cruise line visitors who were out in their thousands duty free shopping.
Gibraltar is a duty free haven, you can get a 1 litre bottle of good quality rum for less than £6. Cigarettes, perfume and everything else is the same, nicely low priced.
Here’s a few Gibraltar facts:
We managed to get to the right road up, after a few failed attempts and off up we went having to pay £5 each just for the walk up, £12 each in a car!
While we were paying at the kiosk we came across a very English Gentlemen who was around the mid 30’s with two young boys. He was dressed for the Yacht Club with his jacket, shirt, tie and slacks and looked most overdressed for the hike up.
We came across a new feature, a suspension bridge that was installed two years ago, Wendy wasn’t so keen on it when she got onto it as it swings when you walk along it. As its several hundred feet up, it can be a little daunting
We got to the stone staircase and came across some apes along the way, scaring Wendy who thinks them very unpredictable. We could hear the English man coming up behind us a good few yards further down, kids in tow.
We got to the top and we saw heaps of monkey business, jeepers they don’t half know how to play off to the tourists. There are heaps and heaps of tour buses running people up, the locals make a mint out of the apes.
As we started to come down the rain came, slowly at first, but we were Ok we had the large brolly and it wasn’t as windy as yesterday.
We were about halfway down when we caught up with the Englishman and his sons. We chatted as we walked and he told me about a strange looking ship in the harbour we could see, it’s a new stealth ship which cannot be detected on radar he told me. I told him I thought she was just an aging vessel. He said no, it’s a very expensive bit of kit, that’s very new.
He also told me that he had very bad sciatica and maybe walking the Rock had been a bad idea. We chatted about it, as I knew about the pain he was in with me being an occasional sufferer. He was now in agony and had to stop constantly to fight the pain.
He told me that he had no codeine tablets, (very, very strong painkillers) as his doctor thought he had been on them too long but that he was desperate for them now. I told him I had a full box with me, which I had but not with me like he thought, but back in the room.
I asked him if he needed some and he said yes, you could hear the desperation in his voice so I offered him the box, we swapped mobile numbers and I said I would get it to him.
We walked down to Europa point and by now the rain was torrential, we tried to shelter in a café but it was absolutely chock a block with what appeared to be athletes who were starting a race, which seemed something strange for a Wednesday. Wendy later Googled it for me and it’s a tournament crossing Africa and Europe, today they run the four miles to the top of the Rock, tomorrow they race in Cadiz, our next destination!
I did manage to hustle us in and we had a coffee and we saw a bus at the bus stop so we ran for it, and thankfully it was the right bus to take us right onto the Main Street.
We walked back to the hotel and grabbed the tablets and managed to get them to Peter a mile or so away before he took the boys to a Halloween party. He was so grateful, he said it was an amazing act of kindness. I just said, don’t worry about it, I know what the pains like.
We went to the pub where we had a meal yesterday as their London Pride beer is quite good. We intended to go back to the room for an hour then walk out along the Med side of the Rock and find some supper but as we got to the door we saw the rain bucketing it down, it was pouring.
The plan was revised, supper in the pub, home to dry and relax.
I had lamb shank and Wendy had lamb couscous, mine was lovely but although Wendy liked hers she thought it a little light on the lamb.
We waked back to our room through a thunder and lightning storm with the rain even worse now and we got back soaking wet, so it was shower time and jimjams for the rest of the night.
Tomorrow we hit the road for the drive to Cadiz where we will be based for the whole of November, jeepers I do hope the weather improves!
I almost forgot to say, we walked 14.1 miles today so I think we do dererve a little R & R tonight, (that's rest and relaxation!!!)
Gibraltar to Cadiz
75 Miles
I had a nice message from Peter last night, he is the Englishman who needed the pain killers, here’s his message:
“Thank you so much for today, you made a real difference”.
That was such a nice message to receive, I got one this morning too asking me and Wendy out but I had to decline as we were leaving for Cadiz.
It was a much nicer day today with good sunshine but with a bit of a cold breeze.
I ran along the east side of the Rock this morning, the Mediterranean side and I saw a magnificent sunrise, it was beautiful.
I got back and yet again Wendy hadn’t been out, maybe the 14 mile walk yesterday did for her.
Breakfast was very good again, today I had a bacon and baked bean sandwich with lashings of fruit juice and coffee.
As it’s the start of the month I had financial matters to address so we didn’t check out until 11:00.
We took a drive along the east side, to the small resort there. The west side of the Rock is the most populated as that’s where the afternoon and evening sun is, on the east side the sun goes behind the Rock in the early afternoon.
But the thing is the resort is lovely, peaceful too with a very nice beach.
We took a stroll along the beach and then we drove through the tunnel to Europa Point and looked across the Straits of Gibraltar to the African mainland. It was so close we felt we could reach out and touch it, but as its 8 miles wide we obviously couldn’t. Oh, and finally we have now re-concluded that we did see Africa from Esterpona, it could only have been as the Algeciras peninsular only just pokes out below Gibraltar.
We drove on and into the madness of the West side. Jeepers the amount of traffic on the small roads makes them extremely busy, but they just accept it and get on with it.
We stopped in Morrison’s for fuel and for the first time in my life I have put in less in £’s and more in litres in the tank of my car, only just mind. The diesel was 99.9p per litre, wow!!!
We also did a bit of food shopping as we didn’t know what we would find in Cadiz, well it is documented as Europe’s oldest city! We then left Gibraltar without a delay at the border and we were on the motorway heading west before you could say Barbary Ape!
Now before I leave Gibraltar behind I’ll detail a little more of its recent history.
Since Gibraltar came under British rule in 1713 the Spanish have wanted to take her back and skirmishes have occurred over the centuries, but we always beat them off. In June 1969 General Franco closed the border for 13 years and Gibraltar became an Island community. I remember coming in 1982 and standing at the closed wrought Iron gates with British soldiers behind me and Spanish ones staring at me. My mate Gaz and me had to cross by ferry from Spain to Morocco and then from Morocco to Gibraltar just to get here, as it was the only land based way of doing so.
The people of Gibraltar never wavered in their resolve and the border was fully reopened in February 1985.
Because the Labour Government at the time, under Tony Blair, had been discussing joint sovereignty of Gibraltar with Spain, in 2002 the Government of Gibraltar held a legitimate referendum on whether the population wanted to share sovereignty.
The result was:
Turnout: 87.9 %
For: 1.03%
Against: 98.48%
The result was honoured and Gibraltar’s status within the United Kingdom was assured by the UK Government and the talks never went any further, although Spain keeps nipping at them the Gibraltarians resolve has never wavered, but there always the chance they might be sold out, as we know nothings certain in politics.
Now let’s look at Spain and their hypocrisy.
Spain holds territory on the continent of Africa almost directly across from Gibraltar in the country of Morocco, against the wishes of the Moroccan Government.
The area is called Ceuta and it is an almost direct replica of Gibraltar and is the base from where General Franco started his rebellion against the Spanish Government which resulted in the civil war of 1936 to 1939. It seems in later life General Franco had double standards towards what he wanted others to be allowed to have and what he wanted for himself.
Back on our journey we travelled along the motorway through yet more, but not so high mountains which were very sparsely populated, which got me thinking why do the Spanish want Gibraltar when they have so much land already available to them? They can’t say that Gibraltar is in a strategic location as Algeciras is just across the bay and in a more southern location than Gibraltar.
We drove down into Cadiz and into yet another ancient and beautiful city where car parking is a nightmare.
Thankfully I did manage to get a spot and we walked to our new apartment, but could we find it, NO!!!!
Because of the tightness of the streets even Google maps didn’t work, and because the Spanish don’t have street signs we were buggered.
It took our own steely resolve to find it and eventually we did.
Our apartment is tiny and it’s on the second floor, on a very tiny street and the owner speaks not one word of English.
After we checked in we walked all our bags over, a distance of half a mile, there and back 3 times.
But being hardened travellers we didn’t mind, too much.
We then sourced a car park for a month, which charges 16 euros a day, which would be almost 500 for the month, but thankfully I had done some research and I knew it to be around 100 euros, which indeed it was.
So with the car moved and duly parked we went for a walk and we saw the sun set into the Atlantic Ocean, and then it got dark and we weaved our way home, bumping into a massive cruise liner along the way.
Cadiz has the appearance of a very interesting place, I do hope so as we have 28 days in which to explore it and the surrounding area.
Cadiz
No Traveling
We relaxed last night reading our books and chilling in our tiny apartment and we were tucked up reasonably early, Wendy was asleep before me but I was on a good theme in my book and read on a little further. But I was fast on soon enough, into the land of nod.
Then at around 04:30 I heard Wendy feeling her way around the wall to get to the bathroom, it being an unfamiliar room she had gotten herself a little disorientated the silly sausage. And when she got back I thought I had better go but I ended up in the room just off our bedroom, the one where the fridge and washing machine is and so by the time I got back in bed I was wide wake and it took me an age to drop off again. I did eventually but then I was wide awake again at 06:30, not fully rested but needing to get my day started.
It was a lovely sunny morning with no wind at all and we both went running together and we went in a northerly direction, along the promenade. It went on for miles, Wendy turned back after 2.5 miles and I went on for another mile, it was lovely, I had the Atlantic Ocean rolling in nice and easy to the west of me, there was hardly a ripple on it. I ran back for a couple of miles along the beach as its quite firm but the tide was almost fully in and I was forced to run on the softer and deeper sand.
I got back and we had a breakfast and set off for an explore, I had my shorts and a jumper on and by now the sun had gone in and I wasn’t rugged up enough, the wind had got up a little too.
We walked around the old town, and it’s really intersteing with lots of long, tight streets with heaps and heaps of cafes and bars. I think we are going to like it here.
We walked to the furthest point, well almost, there is a garrison on a spit of land but it was too breezy for that today. Our furthest point was in a fortified castle that had been built in the 1500’s to stop the Anglo – Dutch alliance from raiding the town. They had got sick and tired of us so they decided to do something about it. There were old cannons too, which appeared to be originals.
We walked and walked, in and out of alleyways and I was thirsty for a coffee and Wendy was too, but we’ve been had before with their tiny cups of vile coffee so we were reluctant to go in any, that was until I thought bugger it lets give it a go.
So at my insistence we went in one and I took command and used my very basic Spanish to get what we wanted, Dos Americano Si? I got a funny look back and then the waiter said, two Americanos?
And we were very concerned when they came in two little shot glasses but would you believe, they were just the ticket and they were a great pick me up, a real tonic.
I’ve book marked the café on Google maps so I know where I can get good coffee, the only thing is it’s a mile and a half away. They also do food, in fact a very nice, creamy prawn salad was on offer, I think I might be giving that a try later sometime.
We walked on and on, weaving through the old town and we came across some really large and odd looking trees, they are massive and their branches stretch out far and wide. I had a wee Google and apparently legend has it that they were brought to Cadiz by Columbus from the New World, wow that was in 1492 making those trees over 526 years old, is that possible?
By now I was getting both hungry and cold so we went back to the flat and had a mackerel sandwich, with teriyaki sauce and it was lovely. I had a small beer with mine and then I realised I had bought none alcoholic beer, and do you know what? It was really tasty and thirst quenching.
I put my jeans on and another jumper and we set off again, Wendy put her fluffy jacket on and a jumper too and we headed south this time into the new part of town.
There was only one main street which was nice enough but with lots of traffic and crossings!
The road was lined with shops and bars none the less and some shops were interesting but it was far more modern than the old town, obviously.
We almost walked to the sand bar and turned back to walk along the promenade .
Cadiz is built on a very thin sand bar and is a very important port city and most seaborne traffic used to have to stop here for some reason or another making it a very prosperous place to live.
Would you believe the sun came out for a brief period and Wendy Gill almost collapsed from heat exhaustion. She stripped to her shirt in the street and carried her coat and jumper. That’s the trouble at this time of the year, it can be both hot and cold within a five minute period. In fact when we arrived yesterday people were sunbathing on the beach and it looked really tempting, but by the time we had lugged all our gear to the apartment it was too late.
We stopped for a very nice glass of wine at a beach café and the waiter brought us a couple of fried things! We couldn’t make out if they were fish or vegetable, they were tasty nevertheless but Wendy didn’t fancy all of hers, so I had it.
We walked back via the supermarket and bought some provisions and headed back to relax a little more and have some supper, pan fried salmon and salad.
There’s a couple of things we have noticed about the Spanish, there are more people who smoke cigarettes here than at home and they are not very friendly, like when you pass them they make no eye contact and will avoid smiling, funny eh? I think we had that in Portugal last year too.
I’ll have more about Cadiz in the coming days but today as been a kind of finding our feet day, we have covered over 11 miles so we have given it a good start, but I’m sure I will have some juicy historic stuff coming soon!
Supper was a delight, Wendy on cook duty knocked up some lovely food, and then we had a session of Strictly it Takes Two and she was in seventh heaven.
I on the other hand was feeling a little chesty, I’ve had a cough for weeks and weeks now but I fancied a night out, maybe in a nice wine bar but I’ve been ordered to drop the idea, apparently I’m not allowed out in the cold night air and it’s an early night with my book at bed time.
Cadiz
No Traveling
There was a very thick sea mist surrounding Cadiz this morning and I mean it was a real pea-souper! We went out again together and you could hardly see your hand in your face, the mist was that thick, and it was actually quite wet.
We both went around the northern end, which is the tip of the peninsular and it covers the whole of the old town.
Our apartment is in the old town, within the huge city walls and its some city with its very narrow streets and open squares and parks.
I ran all the way to the second port, I think there are three, one for passenger ships and large yachts, the other for commercial and containers and the other I think, although I haven’t seen it is Naval.
I took a few photos of the mist and they appear quite eerie, I wonder what it must be like to be on a yacht at sea under sail, moving through the mist in silence?
Just before I got back to the apartment I could see a little of the sun pushing through the mist, and that was about 09:30.
I got back to the apartment where Wendy had already showered and dressed. I had some breakfast and showered too and off we set for some shopping. We had to go because everything will be closed tomorrow, well its Sunday.
The sun was out, it was 11:00 and the sky was clear and blue, the mist was gone and it was the start of a cracking day. What a contrast from the mist of this morning!
We walked about ¾ of a mile to Lidl and soon we had our trolley filled and then we queued and queued. There’s one thing the Spanish can do and that’s talk and talk and they can make the simple task of handing over their money into a conversational delight, it takes an absolute age for them to make the transaction, and they don’t care!!!
We got back to the apartment and dropped our supplies off and set off in search of the market and what a fantastic place it is.
The market is just behind the Cathedral in its own open walled square. They have everything you could want from a food point of view, fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, in abundance and it was brilliant.
I bought a mango which is normally about £1.50 at home for 0.62 euro, wow!
Everything looked lovely and fresh, unfortunately we didn’t need anything as our fridge is bursting but I have ideas of how we will be eating from now on in.
Now Barnsley Market is a very good market, but this market beats it hands down, it is very likely the best market I have ever been in, it is that good. There was even a man sat on a bike that had been converted to accommodate a drive belt that turned a grinding wheel. So while he was sat upright on the bike he was sharpening knives and scissors, he had a very long queue too, he must be highly skilled!
From there we walked back to the western coast and upto a fort which is situated at the very far north of Cadiz on an Island but there is a manmade path which leads almost a mile into the Atlantic Ocean to it.
The fort is called Castillo de San Sebastian and was built around the 1700’s like most things around these parts, although there have been fortifications on the site for a long time before.
The walk was nice, in the sun but the gates were locked shut and it looks like the fort hasn’t been open to the public for some years. It was a shame as we had kept this visit for a sunny day, but at least we made the walk out.
We weaved our way back to the apartment hoping to have a coffee in my favourite café but it was closed, so we had a beer at a bar instead and went home to make a late lunch, early supper.
When we got back, our host Francesco was installing a satellite TV system in the apartment, we knew he was going to do it and via his talking translation app he told us it would take 30 minutes and we would have satellite TV and tobacco installed, we got the gist but we disputed the 30 minutes, it actually took almost two hours, but he’s a nice enough man so we didn’t mind.
We prepared a meal of fish curry which Wendy cooked as I had to get out of the way because with Francisco and his mate in the apartment there were just too many cooks around.
We took our meal on the roof top in the sunshine and it was lovely.
We then settled down for some relaxation on the sunbed with our books.
Sometime later a very excited Francisco shouted us down and went through the new system with us. Would you believe it has a function that can un-translate, English language programmes that have been dubbed into Spanish, it can’t directly translate Spanish programmes but that still is pretty impressive.
By the time the demo was over the sun had gone behind a taller building so we walked to the coast to read some more. I found a track leading down to an area where they have those large sea defence blocks. No one was around and we had the place to ourselves, however we needed to nudge along a wee ledge, with a bit of a drop. As you can guess Wendy wasn’t happy about it, but she did manage to squeeze along even if she wasn’t fully comfortable with the situation.
From there we saw the sunset at a beach bar with a glass of wine and got back in time to settle down to watch Strictly Dancing on the laptop.
As I type just now the Wi-Fi is holding up and I have the sports news on, hopefully it will last the length of Strictly and make Wendy a happy bunny again.
Its actually working so well I wonder if Francisco’s satellite system has helped give us some more bandwidth as other people are watching via that rather than streaming like we have to do!
Stop Press - We don't have enough bandwidth on the WiFi to watch Strictly, Wendy is beside herself!!!
Cadiz
No Traveling
I had a very grumpy Wendy sat on the sofa with me last night, a very gurney and grumpy Wendy actually. Not outright, but her body language spoke volumes.
You see the internet bandwidth wasn’t enough to support streaming Strictly Dancing, I had been watching a previous programme on the BBC but as soon as Strictly came on it stopped and started, buffering almost every 30 seconds, oh she was so grumpy.
“I bet that bugger next door is watching a film online”, (That bugger next door being our host Francesco, who only has his home Wi-Fi which is sent over the staircase to us via a repeater which you can see hanging out of his window.
We watched Loren and AJ start and stop about 50 times!
“Turn it off, turn it off”, she says, “I can’t watch that!”
But then DG sprang into action. I can’t use my phone to stream, for some reason the VPN doesn’t work on my phone, so I tried Wendy’s and it worked a treat. It works by pretending that our location is anywhere in the world we want to appear to be, in this case we need to be in the UK so the BBC IPlayer thinks we are in the UK and lets us watch it. Without that, from our IPS it knows our location and gives us a blank screen with a message that says this content cannot be viewed outside the UK. But when I used Wendy’s signal the screen was much sharper and clearer than we have had through normal Wi-Fi. It just goes to show that 3G is much sharper than Wi-Fi.
So I used the app on Wendys phone to cover our tracks and then piggy backed her 3G signal onto my laptop by the Apple cable and we watched it in full screen on the laptop, simples!
You should have seen the transformation in Wendy’s mood, she nestled into the settee with a big bar of chocolate and a large glass of wine and watched the entire programme from start to finish, as happy as Larry.
This morning we had a very cloudy sky, no mist but very deep cloud. I went running along the beach as the tide was out and it was quite nice, cloudy still, but with no wind.
Wendy went south the same as me but she stuck to the pavement.
I had a banana smoothie for breakfast, my first this trip because I forgot my bullet blender, but would you believe Wendy’s friend, our host Francisco, has a hand blender in the kitchen in the apartment and it does the job, not as good as my blender, but it still produces a smoothie none the less!
I’ll talk you around the apartment, it is tiny, but it’s comfortable. We have a main bedroom that only accommodates our bed, and we have no windows so it’s pretty dark with the doors closed. Off our bedroom is a small store that you can’t really use because the fridge freezer is in it, in fact I have to move the fridge so I can get the salad tray out and then move it back so we can close the door. You have to go from the kitchen through our bedroom every time you need something from the fridge. But don’t worry it’s just like crossing the kitchen in a normal house.
There is a small bedroom with fold up bunk beds which we use to store our cloths.
The bathroom is an OK size but we have a baby sized bath with a shower, it would not be possible for anyone but a dwarf person to use the bath as a proper bath!
We have a tiny hallway which leads to the lounge and kitchen. The kitchen is fine and quite well stocked with equipment but only one person can work in there.
Then we have the lounge with one settee, one coffee table and a TV on a storage unit. The lounge has double French Doors which open inward to a barred tiny veranda, in fact it’s not a veranda, the bars are there to stop you falling out of the doors when they are open.
We are on the top floor of an apartment block, which is up two flights of stairs and we have access to the roof terrace which although doesn’t give any views it is quite a nice sun trap.
Our ally is one of the smallest and offers absolutely no access to traffic.
The place is clean and tidy and has some very good points, it’s very quiet, we hear nothing when we are in the bedroom, and it’s very well located in the old town.
Now here’s the thing.
Cadiz is the oldest City in Western Europe, I first read it was Europe but I would have thought that would be Athens, but it is Western Europe.
The city is on a tiny spit of land sticking out into the Atlantic Ocean and gets a little wider in the old town, but not much.
The buildings have been crammed packed into this tiny space and there is no room or scope for extension unless they reclaim land from the sea but as they have some fancy heritage city status they aren’t allowed to do that. They are unable to build property much higher than four floors as the foundations have to be sunk very, very deep to pass through the sand bed on which the city sits. The only exceptions are the huge churches and the big Cathedral which would have been built centuries ago when manpower would have been cheap and attention to detail far much more precise.
That’s why the properties are so small, there are even some smaller than ours. They weren’t built for modern occupation and most of the electricity supply comes in via overhead lines, lord only knows how they got the drainage and sewers installed!
After breakfast we had a walk to the car to collect a few things we had left and then after dropping them off we went in search of a tapas bar that has been recommended to us, just to locate it. Thankfully google mapping helped me out and dropped me exactly outside the place. It was just opening so I asked if they did coffee, which didn’t surprise me when I was told no as they didn’t have one of those noisy coffee makers.
I did take a photo of their Spanish menu which will give us a chance to translate before we go and pick the wrong items.
Thankfully my nice coffee café was open and we had another lovely cuppa before heading back.
By now the sky had cleared and we got back to the apartment, but before going in I stopped at the bar closest to us and we sat outside and had a couple of glasses of wine in the sunshine. The sun was hot and the wine bearable and more importantly, plentiful!!!
I think we have now embedded ourselves into life in Cadiz and now we are begining to see how the locals live. Like there are two types of dog owner, ones who forget to clean up so you have to watch where you're stepping and the others who not only clean up after their dog, they also carry a squirty bottle of disinfectant to wash any staining away, and get this, its used for both types of waste, (Did I put that into a none offensive manner?).
The locals also smoke far too much, far too many of them smoke and they just throw their ends down wherever they want, it’s disgusting and we think we are bad for litter in the UK.
As the sun was well established we had a couple of hours on the beach, me dozing and apparently snoring and Wendy reading her book.
As the clouds gathered we took a walk to the Cathedral to check out visiting times as it looks extremely interesting and we had a glass of wine as darkness came along, well it is Sunday afternoon.
Supper was cooked by me, premium steak and giant fried prawns with a very nice and fresh salad, however the steak wasn’t as premium as its boast on the packet and would have been better in the stewing section.
It’s strictly results night, I already know Ranj is out having lost the dance off to Charles, but Wendy doesn’t know.
Oh one last thing, on Friday I bought a 2 kilo box of very nice spicy nibbles which I have had in a few bars, Wendy has given them four days shelf life before I snaffle them, I now have to eke them out for at least 5, it will kill me!
Cadiz
No Traveling
Jeepers did it rain through the night, it poured down. I heard it and I thought it was a rocket attack it was that loud. I managed to nod off again and then it started again sometime later.
I woke at 07:30 and went up onto the roof when it got light as it had stopped again but the sky was thick with angry looking clouds so we both delayed our morning run.
The rain never reappeared so we both went out, Wendy before me but I wasn’t far behind. I ran north to the point and then around the west side bumping into Wendy who had gone the opposite way to me. I followed the path to the main dockyard and there was a new cruise ship in, it was from the Costa line, the line where the captain took the ship too close to the rocks adjacent to a Greek Island and she overturned killing quite a few people in the process.
The thing was though the passengers were piling out of the single dock gate and then blocking the pavement causing mayhem. I got passed them ok but then came across roaming passengers who insisted on walk 8 abreast on the pavement. One poor girl on her way to work no doubt was most put out and almost fell off her bike trying to dodge them. Me I just push through shouting coming through, coming through, that usually gets them but I usually have to bump into the one who is in a word of their own.
I ran out past the docks and to the huge bridge that connects us to the mainland over the Bay of Cadiz, this is the bridge that Wendy and me came across when we came into Cadiz, it is huge and it looks almost new. There are two bridges that connect Cadiz to the mainland, if it wasn’t for them all traffic would have to come up the spit which is far too narrow to take the amount of traffic that comes and goes through the docks every day.
Cadiz is one of the most important docks in Spain.
Before I turned around to complete my lap of the headland I came across a large market being set up along the bay wall, jeepers it lined the bay for almost a mile.
I got back to the apartment and the sky had cleared and yet again we had clear blue sky’s, but with a biting wind that was extremely cold when you were out of the sunshine.
After breakfast and clean up we headed out to the market.
We passed the docks on our way and a huge sail boat which I saw come around the headland had berthed in the harbour and it looked to me to be a commercial sailboat. I do believe there are some around still and I think I was looking at one of them. There were also some large passenger ships in dry dock which looked like they were in for a major overhaul.
We got to the market and it was bursting with people and do you know what pipped me right off, the number of plastic bags being allowed to blow into the bay, it was an utter disgrace, it’s like they just don’t care. Just what sort of world do this expect to leave for their grandchildren? I picked a few up and put them in the bin, they were bright bloody green and pink too. I looked out into the bay at one point and I could see them bobbin along where they will just float along for the next thousand years.
We didn’t buy anything, we browsed and looked but they talk so fast and so loudly we just didn’t want to engage with the market holders.
On our way back we called into Lidl for some provisions and the delight that we get from standing in a long queue while everyone around us shouts at each other, including the checkout staff.
We walked back to our apartment and took some lunch and rested our legs before heading for a stroll along the back streets and taking a coffee in my nice café. While I was there I logged their details into trip advisor and they came out with a very good reputation for tapas, it’s a shame it is such a long walk from where we are staying, but I think at some point during this visit we’ll give them a try.
We walked and walked further around the back streets and marvelled at the buildings, some are so crammed in I can’t get a good photo of ones I like to take. At around 4:30pm we nipped in for a drink in one of the very many, and I mean very, very many small bars there are dotted around.
It was a really charming place and very relaxing although the wine was far too sweet for Wendy.
As we left just after 5pm it started to drizzle, and then in seconds it chucked it down, where did that come from? We were quite a distance from the apartment and we had washing, which was very nearly dry, on the line.
We scurried through the streets and got back just in time for the rain to stop, bugger!
We left the washing a little longer and went to the car to get the map and flask as we might go for a ride tomorrow along the south coast.
As we did we came across a quaint tapas bar which I thought might make a nice place for tonight’s supper.
And it did, we went down at 7:30pm and had a really nice meal, we got a freebie prestarter and then we shared a starter, It was, or rather I thought it was scallops and mussels with a seafood sauce but when it came it came as a mousse which for me is a sin, the taste and texture of a scallop is second to none so why would you want to mix it and mousse it?
Our mains came, I had monkfish in sea food sauce and it was bloody lovely, I had spuds and veg with it and the sauce was a real treat, I loved it. Wendy had a fish pie in a puff pastry concoction which she again liked.
The wine was really nice, but we declined on pudding as we were stuffed.
We were given a little complementary pudding which was very nice indeed.
It was a very nice experience apart from being charged for tap water and the wee bit of bread we were supplied, but overall I do think it was a very nice experience.
Night, Night Avid Reader!!!
Cadiz
No Traveling
We had a beautiful blue sky with bright sunshine this morning, it was lovely. But you could not get Wendy Gill out of her bed for love nor money, she was having a day off today. Even the offer of a second cup of tea could not prize from her scratcher.
So off I went all on my own intending to run along the beach but instead I went south along the Atlantic coast and then crossed on to the Bay side and ran north along that side finding a new route under the big bridge and along the docks, it was very impressive.
I listened to the cricket commentary on Talk Sport 2 while I was running, they now have the rights to English Test Match Cricket abroad, and it was rubbish. It was lifeless and it was like listening to paint dry. I miss the banter of Test Match Special on BBC Radio, I missed the chitter chat about what did you do last night Aggers, or the mention of cakes and Mrs Bunton’s toenails.
I got lost at one point and found myself heading out onto a sea wall I didn’t know was there, by the time I had corrected myself I was looking at doing over eight miles and with my dodgy knee it was going to be painful, and it was!
I ran along the path to Castile San Sebastian and sat on the wall and watched the sea roll in for a while.
I got back double sweaty as the sun was now very bright in the sky.
When I got back although Wendy was up and about and showered, she as back in her jimjams.
As the day was so nice we didn’t go anywhere apart from the roof for some sunshine and we listened to Matt on Dearne FM via the stations app. Matt Foister is a very funny lad with a good sense of humour and who doesn’t take himself too seriously.
We were two years out on, “Retro Heaven at Half Eleven” where he plays 3 songs from one year, we guessed 2001 but it was 2003.
We then got “Number Ones at One” wrong, that’s where he plays 3 songs at 1pm in what he calls a “Featurerette” with 3 songs which have previously been number one where you have to guess the year of the last song, we were one year out this time, not doing very well were we?
When Matt finished his show at 3pm we turned the radio off as it was Leanne’s turn and she has such a grating voice we can’t be doing with her, it’s such a shame, she can’t help it but she just hasn’t got a voice for radio.
So we read our books instead and then as the sun crept behind the building in front we went down to the apartment to freshen up.
As the sun was going down we took a walk along the front and saw the surfers enjoying the last of the light, getting in some last minute runs to the shore.
Supper was a delight, made by Wendy, knock up Tapas which we ate on our new fold out table which Francisco brought us last night. He was so excited when he brought it in last night and gave us a demonstration on how it works, all in Spanish!
I haven’t the heart to tell him, but I guess I have to soon, the satellite system he installed for the telly is rubbish. I tried to watch the Walking Dead on Fox TV last night but it seems the system also relies on the internet which is quite poor, consequently I didn’t watch the programme on the telly but ended up watching it on my laptop via my phone.
We went for a walk down to the Old Town and it was buzzing. The streets were alive with shops open and people sat outside bars with some watching a game where someone was winning 2 nil to the satisfaction of everyone around so I guess it’s a local team. We had a couple of drinks in bars, one where I got a very nice smile from the barmaid as I ordered in Spanish the second was a barman where I can only describe his attitude as being ungrateful, maybe he should have found a different vocation.
The weather was warm and it was nice to be out an about, albeit with my body warmer on!
I have included a snapshot of the old town in tonight’s photographs where you’ll be able to see just how tight the buildings are, it’s fantastic. You are forever getting lost and then popping out in a side street where you know you’ve been before only to not know how you got there in the first place.
We also found a shop with some phots of Cadiz that give it a real prospective as its just so hard to describe. The picture I’ve included is taken from the shop window so that’s why the glare is there and the reflection too. But the thing I noticed is that the bridge that we came over is not there on this print. So I Googled it at a bar and I was astounded to find out about it, more tomorrow Avid Reader!
Oh and I mentioned sewers yesterday, saying I didn’t know how they got the sewers in, well now I know, badly!
Wendy went to the toilet while I was up on the roof and I heard the toiler flush, and the noise came from what I thought was a rainwater pipe which terminates at roof height on the floor. Well it isn’t a rain water pipe, it’s the soil pipe that connects all the toilets in the bock, that’s six toilets all emitting their gaseous discharge where we have our sun beds. The next time we go up I’ll take something to block the pipe while we are there. Oh and get this, there are two air conditioning units based either side of the waste pipe, and this is where they get their air intake from!
I can assure right not we are not having the air-conditioning on even if it gets to 45 degrees!
I guess that’s something else I’ll have to tell Francisco about!
Cadiz
No Traveling
It was a late morning for both of us today because we stayed up late, gone 1am, me watching a silly vampire serial on Now TV and Wendy watching the more intellectual Netflix programme, The Crown. She now thinks the Duke of Edinburgh is not a very nice person and she also now holds the Queen in high esteem as she knows how much she sacrificed for her royal duty.
It was 08:30 by the time I got up, Wendy didn’t bother, there was no way she was getting up, so I left her with a nice hot cup of tea and went running along the beach. It was cloudy and overcast but not cold at all, there was a bit of breeze but it wasn’t cold so I was reasonably happy.
I sat with my drink at the turn around point and I saw an empty 2 litre plastic bottle which someone had left just out of reach of the incoming tide, but as it was coming in the tide would float it off very soon. I was going to pick it up and drop it in a bin on my way back but a lady walking past picked it up and then threw it further up the beach but still within the reach of the tide. It actually landed in a pool of water so that made it even harder for me to get it, the silly mare, but I did get it and it was no trouble carrying it for five minutes and dropping it in a rubbish bin!
I got back and we walked to the market to get a range of fruit for Wendy to make a fruit salad and it started to blinking rain, drizzle at first but it was there, and Wendy had put some washing out too, bugger, it was going to be Plan B day today then.
We got a load of fresh fruit from our favourite young woman who has a lovely smile on her face whenever you buy from her.
As we hadn’t taken the brolly we got a little wet on the way back but thankfully not soaked.
We have been looking for a miserable day to drive down the coast, on the coastal road as there are a few resorts down there.
But first let me tell you about the big bridge.
As I have previously detailed there are three ways you can get to Cadiz from the mainland.
One route is along the spit of sand which is 1.8 miles long and just about 2 x dual carriageways wide with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Bay of Cadiz on the other. This spit is actually called the Isthmus of San Fernando.
The other is by low level road bridge which was built in 1969 and is called the Carranza Bridge and it carries 40,000 vehicles per day, even with the new bridge open. This bridge is to the south of the City while the new bridge comes across at the joining point between the Old City and the Newer City.
The new bridge is called La Constitution De 1812 Bridge and it is huge. There are two pylons holding the middle section up, one is in the sea and the other is on land and they are both 180 metres high. The middle section has a 540 metre span and provides a 69 metre clearance for shipping to pass under. It is one of the highest bridges in Europe and was completed in 2015. It is a dual carriageway motorway and it as an extra lane on each side for public transport. Its full length is just over 3 miles long, which is some feat of engineering.
We set off down the Isthmus of San Fernando but we couldn’t use the Satnav as it kept trying to take me on a faster, but longer route. Unfortunately there isn’t a setting for a scenic route on the Sat Nav so I had to stick to the traditional method of using road signs.
And to be honest, we went past some very bleak looking towns and some not very appealing resorts, in fact we didn’t even bother stopping to take a more detailed look at them but headed to our destination the resort town of Barbate.
We got to Barbate just as the clouds turned ugly, but we got out and strolled around the promenade. There is actually a very nice looking beach but it was deserted, in fact most of the sea front bars and cafes were closed and appear to have shut shop for the winter.
We were a little hungry so we stopped for a coffee and a cake each at a little café that had a deal of the day, coffee and cake at 2.60 euros a pop. I loved mine, the cake was lovely, creamy and full of almonds. Wendy’s was, how did she describe it? “Flaky and hearty farty and full of fresh air” Thank goodness she picked it and not me as she had requested me to.
The coffee was lovely too.
We walked a little further and did some shopping and that was our time in Barbate, it was a 99.4 mile round trip having returned via the highway.
I’m glad we went, thankfully it will now put me off ever bringing the caravan for a winter stopover in this neck of the woods.
What is Barbate famous for?
It used to be called Barbate de Franco as General Franco liked to holiday there, but a decree was passed in 1998 forbidding this association.
It’s the place where that very, very nasty man, Kenneth Noye was arrested while he was eating a meal in a local restaurant.
Kenneth Noye is a London based career criminal who was involved in some way with the Brink’s-Matt robbery. He knifed to death a police officer who was conducting surveillance of his home in 1985 as he claimed it was self-defence and would you belive he got off without charge.
He was convicted of handling stolen goods with regards to the Brink’s-Matt gold in 1986 and served 8 years of a 14 year sentence. He killed a young man of 21 years, Stephen Cameron, in a road rage incident on a slipway on the M25 in 1996 while he was out of prison and on licence. He then fled the country and eventually turned up in Barbate where he was living in a £200,000 villa which had been purchased fully, with cash.
The police have been on his case for a number of years, (albeit some were also imprisoned for helping him), and when they found him they secretly flew Stephens’s girlfriend over to identify him as being the man who killed Stephen before they arrested him and extradited him to the UK.
Stephens’s girlfriend gave evidence in court and is now in the Witness Protection programme but another man who gave evidence didn’t accept the offer of the Witness Protection programme and was killed by a hitman sometime later.
I believe at this point Mr Noye is still serving time in an open prison on the Isle of Sheppey.
He is a thoroughly nasty piece of work and I believe at 72 years old is still capable of being a danger to the public, but I do believe the authorities are looking to release him again in the near future.
He should rot in prison and not see the outside world again, but then what do I know about rehabilitation.
We were going to have pan fried chicken thighs cooked slowly in tomatoes and garlic tonight but as it needs an hour to cook and that we didn’t get back until 6:30pm we went out for tapas.
Our first choice, was closed, our second choice…………….was closed and I made up our third choice as it looked quite nice.
And would you believe we were looked after by two lovely Spanish ladies who had not one word of English between them. We had very nice wine and a selection of meat tapas sandwiches, four in total which were cut in half for us to share, 3 meat, and 1 cheese. I then ordered another one, cod in smoked tomato and another one, tuna and mayonnaise. The cod and tomato was by far the best but the others were very tasty too.
Supper done we walked home and settled down with a glass of wine before Wendy hit the sack. Me I might just cram in one vampire episode tonight before kippy kip!!!
Happy Birthday Alex!
Cadiz
No Traveling
Did anyone see Donald Trump’s press conference, we did, live actually. I think it’s an utter disgrace that the White House are calling what happened an assault on a young women, it was no such thing , it’s absolutely disgraceful!
It rained hard again through the night but I managed to sleep through most of it, unfortunately the washing was still out and got very wet.
I woke up at around 07:30 and tried to sneak out of the very dark bedroom when a little voice said, “I’d love a nice cup of tea”.
And no sooner had she drunk it than she was dressed and out running leaving me behind in the process.
I ran down the beach again as it was a low tide, and I recovered yet another 2 litre plastic bottle from the surf.
The weather was ok, a little cloudy and breezy but quite warm at about 20 degrees.
I got back and had my banana smoothie, Wendy was all washed and ready herself but we didn’t get out until later as I had a long chat with my brother on the phone.
We set off for a long walk around the old town coastal route. We got to the far north end which was just over a mile and we could see bad weather approaching, and boy did it look bad. But that was OK, we were only about 500 metres from my favourite café bar.
But I didn’t figure the wind and rain, the brolly was blown apart within five minutes and we just got into the café with seconds to spare from being drowned rats.
We had a very nice coffee and finished it, it still rained and rained so I asked for two glasses of red wine, but the very nice bar man wouldn’t serve me for some reason. He said something about time so I thought they were closing and left it at that and paid up for the coffee.
Just before we left Wendy saw that she had lost her poppy, bugger. It must have been the storm, it must have come off in the melee of fighting with the brolly and the wind, it must just have blown off. We are both gutted as we have no poppies between us now and the nearest ones available are about 70 miles away.
We double backed to the apartment and changed our coats for our big waterproof coats as we no longer had the protection of the brolly, and off we set again determined to do this walk.
We got back to where we finished and the sky was still looking a bit rough, the wind was still going strong but at least the rain had stopped. We walked out along the sea road to the Castle and the sea was frothing. It wasn’t high tide yet but the sea was blowing up as it hit the roads wall and the rocks. Well you would think we were in the most perilous position of our lives by the way Wendy was talking.
If I heard, “I’m not happy”, once I heard it 5 times. Then of course she had to say, “You read about these people who get swept to their deaths on stormy days and you think, well why be so stupid”
And then on the way back from the castle she couldn’t take it anymore and ran away, honest she did, it’s on video for you all to see.
I caught up with her at the point where the road meets the land, where she felt more comfortable.
We went to the café to see if it indeed was closed, it wasn’t so I’m intrigued why the barman didn’t serve me, but we went into their neighbour bar where we had a nice glass of red wine and some olives. It was at this point I thought, hang on, we’ve a long way to go and I fancy a nibble, by the time we are finished I’ll be starving and not wanting to wait for an hour for the chicken to cook.
With this realisation I ordered a small plate of fish tapas which duly arrived, and it was lovely, with some chips and bread. Would you believe Wendy Gill managed to find the only two bones in the fish. I mean it’s like her power of suggestion, and worry, is so high she actually managed to make the bones appear.
Refreshed we set off again on our walk and in no time the sun was out and we were sweating like old ladies wanting one number at the bingo, jeepers it was hot, what kind of a day was this? We were getting everything, would it be snow next, not likely!
But what a change, the clouds dissipated, the wind dropped and the sun came out and so we took off our jumpers and carried our very big coats.
We walked along the outer harbour wall right to the end which was almost a mile long.
It was a very nice walk, well apart from carrying our big coats.
We got to the end where a few men were fishing and it was quite pleasant, there is a bar there but it was closed which I guess is due to it being the end of the season, but it would have made for a great wine stop.
As we started walking back a large cruise ship started to move out of the harbour so we stopped and watched her leave. She was called the Oriana, a P&O cruise ship. As she slipped out I Googled her, well of course I did.
Here’s her Stats:
As she slipped into the North Atlantic we headed back on home but called in for a glass of red wine in bar in the Cathedral Square. We had a lovely glass of local wine as explained to me by the nice young barman and we watched the world go by.
By the time we had finished it was gone six and it would be dark very soon, so off we popped and I saw that our final mileage for the day was 10 miles.
It was my turn for supper, David’s knock up chicken with an infusion of olives, and it was bloody lovely.
It’s now almost 8pm and Wendy is in her own little, “The Crown” world where she has just uttered a profanity aimed no doubt at Prince Philip, and I have a date with my vampire series.
It’s been a cracking day out, a bad weather day turning into a good weather day, and that’s my motto, don’t let the weather stop you enjoying yourself, well I did work on the Isle of Skye for 4 years, I should know that motto backwards!!!
Cadiz
No Traveling
I had an unsettled night waking at 04:30 and then tossing and turning in bed. Which is strange because the bedroom is pitch black, and I mean really black as we have no outside window and it is deathly quiet. So I don’t know what all that was about, I don’t have anything on my mind other than not having a poppy as we approach the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice, which indeed is a very big worry.
Wendy was as bright as a bobbin again this morning and was out as soon as she had finished her tea. But what a morning it was, we had crystal clear and lovely blue skies and although the sun wasn’t up from behind the buildings yet, when I got out, it was a very heart-warming morning. Especially after having the storm pass through the day before.
Wendy ran along the harbour wall where we had been yesterday as it is just over 5 miles from the apartment, me I went down the beach again, but thankfully I didn’t find any more plastic bottles.
I got back to the apartment and today I had a mango smoothie and two slices of toast on our very interesting electric toaster.
I forgot to tell you we have an amazing toaster, which we think is a toaster. It’s an electric element with a metal screen where we lay two slices of bread on it. We have to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn and we have to manually turn it over, but as long as you watch it carefully you get a lovely, nice brown slice of toast.
Wendy said there was a huge cruise liner in the harbour and another slightly smaller one which would mean the town would be busy today!
As the market is busy on a Saturday we went down today to get some provisions for tomorrow’s supper and yes we found that the tour busses were crammed with visitors and we also came across lots of Americans consulting their maps.
Getting our provisions took some doing. We wanted some tuna and some fillet steak and some mushrooms.
The tuna was easy enough as I think tuna is tuna in almost every language. The fillet steak was a challenge too far. I first verbalised my request to a butcher in English where all I got was a shoulder shrug. I then resorted to Google translate, asking, “Can I have one small beef fillet steak please”.
I passed my phone over and all I got from the same butcher was another shrug of the shoulder, so we left him to it and found another butcher.
Again I asked for beef fillet steak and again got a bemused expression from the lady behind the counter, so I handed her the phone. After finding her spectacles she read the message and appeared to know what to give us. We paid 1.65 euros for the meat and that had me thinking we haven’t got fillet steak, and we haven’t. On inspection back at the apartment we appear to have one very thin piece of beef something, something chewy as I had a wee sample and it was indeed very chewy.
Never mind, the tuna looks good.
Now the mushrooms were another issue. I pointed to some which I thought looked rather nice and the grocer told me to pick some, so I did selecting 3 rather nice looking ones. And they cost………………………wait for it……………………..6 euros!!!
I had selected King Trumpet Mushrooms which are apparently some kind of very special mushroom, it will be closed cup from Lidl from now on which are a wee bit cheaper.
We walked back and came across a man unashamedly walking a very tiny dog that was dressed in a pink blanket with fluffy fur around it and get this, it had a pair of pink spectacles on. And it didn’t seem to mind either. I would have taken a photograph but it was just too much of a ridiculous sight to behold.
After a coffee back in the room we went down to the beach as it was now quite warm and it looked like staying like that for a while.
And it was just lovely but you can tell the season is over, there are no sunbeds for hire, the main beach bar as closed and its now in lockdown with the gates chained and 3’’ x 2’’ wooded batons screwed across the walkways.
There was lots of youngsters and some not so young people making the best of the surf which got better as the tide came in.
There were school kids collecting litter for what appeared to be a school project that even got the local TV news interested. Their teacher tried unsuccessfully several times to get them off the rocks but as that was where the best litter was to be found they took not one blind bit of notice of her.
From 1pm to 5 pm we had lovely warm sunshine, then suddenly Wendy did her pensioner routine of being instantly cold so we left the beach and headed back to the apartment where after she had showered I took a bath, in the worlds tiniest bath ever.
The only bath smaller than this one would be a church font, it is that small. I was like Harry Houdini doubled up trying to read my book. I had to readjust my position every five minutes for fear of my circulation being beyond repair.
I exited the bath after about 30 minutes fully refreshed and ready for my supper and I found Wendy sat in front of the fan heater soaking up the heat, again like a pensioner person, oh I do worry!
Supper was duly cooked by Wendy, eggs, sausage, onion and extremely expensive mushrooms, and I have to say it was an utter delight…..mmmmmhhhhhhh.
The mushrooms were really tasty and we only had one of the three, so that’s 2 euros per meal, which isn’t so bad.
The sausage and the eggs were very nice too, a very British Supper.
Its 19:30 now and darkness as surrounded us, I’m thinking as Wendy is in her jimjams with the fan heater blowing on her torso it will take some leverage to get her off the sofa and out for a walk so I’m going to leave her to it and settle down with a little bit of telly before taking an early night.
We are in for a mission tomorrow, one which she doesn’t yet know about, but when I explain it to her in the morning I expect her to fall in line pretty quickly.
Cadiz
No Traveling
I slept a little better last night but as I am on mission status I was alert and up and about at 06:00 and I accidently had my Sky news on a little too loud at 06:30 as it woke Wendy up, as was my intention. We needed to get going in order to complete the mission.
But I didn’t tell her where we were going, I just said we were going on a mystery tour.
I went running doing the circuit around the city as it was Saturday morning and traffic would be light and I was out just before the sun came up and it was such a lovely sky. But at this time I wasn’t on the side where the sun comes up so I only saw the sun when I got to the big bridge and it was nicely rising by then.
As I sometimes do I took part in Retro Heaven at Half Seven on Dearne FM. It’s done by Matt who does Retro Heaven at Half Eleven during weekdays and he asks for guesses. So I guessed 1984 by email, but I was two years out. Matt sent me an email back saying have a nice weekend, what you doing. So I told him what I was doing thinking nothing of it.
But when I got back to the apartment and put the radio on speaker and not earphone, he said guess what Dave Gills done………………not doing…………….and Wendy heard it and laughed!!!
So I had to tell her as he got most of it wrong………………….we are going to Gibraltar to get a Poppy each!!!
Yes I know it’s a 150 mile round trip, but I have worn a Poppy ever since I can remember. It was a big thing with my Grandad, we all had to wear one. Grandad was born in 1900 so he was too young for the First World War and too old for the Second World War, which I think might have grated him a little. But having said that he was working underground as a boy at 13 years old, where he continued until his 65th Birthday, so I guess not many did as much as he did for the war effort. And anyway, coal mining was a reserve occupation.
So with Wendy on board we set off at 10:30 and we got to the border with just a slight delay, mainly due to the amount of traffic, but we had crossed the border within 20 minutes and the sun was out, which was more than it was last week over the Rock.
We parked in Morrison’s as you get 3 hours free when shopping, parking in Gibraltar is difficult at the best of times and we wanted some shopping anyway.
We were on the Main Street in no time at all and had secured our Poppies within 20 minutes from Marks and Spencers, and as I wanted to buy some duty free rum we strolled down the Main Street to get some.
Isn’t it funny, getting a bargain? A litre bottle of rum, Lambs or Capt. Morgan in the UK would be at least £22.00 but as I bought one bottle for £6.95 last week I wanted the same deal or just as good, so when I came across bottles for £8 I wasn’t having that.
I did managed to find a bottle for £7.50 but as I didn’t have any cash I had to use my card and the owner wanted to charge me a quid to do so, taking my purchases to £16 which wasn’t acceptable to me. So we tried 3 more shops until I got two litre bottles for £15. Wow, that’s £7 cheaper than I would have paid for one bottle. What a result, now that’s the Yorkshireman in me.
We shopped in Morrison’s and it’s just like at home but much cheaper, very much cheaper, I even topped the car up with diesel as it was still 99.9 pence per litre.
We were back over the border without hassle, albeit taking us 19 minutes this time and we had spent just under 90 minutes on the Rock. I was going to go to a nice café on the dark side but as the traffic looked bad I decided to go back into Spain.
As the traffic wasn’t bad back on Spanish soil and because the weather was lovely, 22 degrees, I stopped to take a photo of the Rock from that side, something I have never done before.
I got lovely shot and promptly dropped my phone from eye level and smashed the screen and then some, what a bummer!!!
But I still got my Poppy.
We headed back and as we were a little hungry I got off the highway and headed to a small town, but we never got there as it was some way in the distance. I let the Satnav guide me back to Cadiz and it took me over some hills on a minor road and it was really interesting.
We came through forests of cork trees and we even saw some storks and their nests, which is the first we have seen since we have been in Spain. Eventually we came out at a junction for the motorway and there was a service station with a café there so we called in for a coffee and a sandwich and it was a really good pit stop.
The coffee was a delight, we each had a beef sandwich which was lovely and the staff were great too. Apart from the noise from the coffee machine which sounded like a jumbo jet on take-off and the men shouting at each other at the bar, as they always do in Spain, it was a very nice treat and at 6 euros for two coffees and two sandwiches it was very good value for a motorway service station.
We were back in Cadiz by 5pm and out looking for a phone repair shop but alas they had all closed for the weekend, bugger.
Never mind we had a glass of very nice wine in our local bar and headed home:
A, For me to cook supper, fillet steak and tuna, (both rare), with salad and pricey mushrooms
B, Its Strictly night and Wendy is excited, (yes I have seen the news about Danny the bully).
Night, night avid reader, I suspect my trip to Gibraltar is going to be a costly one, phone wise, but it was well worth it, well I couldn’t be the first Harrison not to have a Poppy on Armistice day, especially this one!
Cadiz
No Traveling
I forgot to say that yesterday when I bought the Poppies in Marks and Spencers I put my Poppy on in the shop but as Wendy was noseying around the ladies section I waited outside in the sun for her to come out.
When she came out I gave her her Poppy and she put it on. Then an elderly German Gentleman came upto us and asked, “Are you wearing those for the soldiers of the First World War”, “Yes”, I said, “And for all the soldiers after that as well”.
But he didn’t fully understand me so Wendy repeated it, he nodded in reverence and said. “Thank you”.
Jeepers I had another grumpy bum with me on the settee last night, could I get Strictly online? Could I bugger. She didn’t say anything, but with Wendy it’s all in the body language and she was screaming, “I’m not happy about this”.
It was the VPN, that wasn’t working, the cloaking device.
So I tried online chat and met with Joseph, well he was about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, I spent 40 minutes with him and then I told him I was going to unsubscribe and find another VPN. “Please give me one more chance” he pestered, so I did, but I ended up ditching him and finding a free VPN that had me connected to the BBC faster that you could say, “Dancing Disaster Darling”.
And then Missy Grumpy Bum was all happy and telling me, “I knew you’d work it out”
So we settled down for a dancing feast and it was pretty good too.
This morning we woke to a few clouds and we both went out running.
I was back in time for breakfast and to watch the Remembrance Service at the Cenotaph and it was all very well done.
I liked the fact that the German President had been invited to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph but it did get me thinking, “Did all those young men waste their lives in both World Wars” But no, I don’t think they did because it was due to their actions that today happened and I think it was a significant occasion.
Well didn’t Jeremy Corbyn look like a right scruffy mongrel with his mucky anorak on with no black tie and not even wearing his own Poppy, jeepers he’s some statesman that fella, I do hope he never becomes my Prime Minister.
And wasn’t it a fantastic coincidence that today, the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, that it should fall on Remembrance Sunday, it couldn’t have been planned any better.
And finally did you know that the number plate on the car that Archduke Ferdinand was riding in when he was shot, starting the chain of events that led to World War One, read A111 118, a series that can be interpreted as Armistice 11 November 2018, now that is food for thought!
After watching the march past, which I remember as a boy being full of world war two veterans we went for a long beach walk, 11.2 miles actually.
It was now a cloudless sky and the sun was high in the sky and it was nicely warm.
The beach here in Cadiz is an absolute stunner, it goes on for miles and miles and it’s both firm and soft all the way so you can run along it or just let your feet sink into it.
The way the tide comes in too is very relaxing, not wild but it just gently roles in with the odd wave breaking about 50 yards in front of the shore so that there is something for the surfers to ride.
We walked and walked all along the spit and we were suddenly all alone as we had walked to where other walkers don’t go.
I was thinking there would be a bar at the end, but there wasn’t, (I got a bit of gyp for that). But never mind we just turned around and walked back.
We got to within 2.5 miles of the apartment and this is the point where a wall juts out from a walled building and into the sea, so as the tide rises it makes a barrier that you have to either climb over or wade around. Guess what? I waded through it and it was less than knee height. Wendy walked back to the road, around the building and then re-joined me five minutes later. Well she doesn’t like getting her feet wet.
By now we had had a lovely long beach walk so we settled in at a beach bar for a glass of very much deserved beer and then our belly’s got the better of us so we ordered wine and a very nice seafood paella which was just the ticket.
We ate our meal on the sand as the sun started to settle down for the night and it was just a very nice way to end our Remembrance Day.
As we walked back to the apartment along the beach we saw the sun go down into the Atlantic Ocean and it was quite fitting to see it do so on today of all days.
We got back just as it got dark and as Wendy went up to the apartment for a shower I went down to the shop in the big square to find Wendy some chocolate as she was feeling like a tonic as she had walked over 11 miles, which she is finding increasingly difficult to do.
It’s now jimjam time and we are on the count down for the Strictly results show, but again I already know the outcome as my mole let me know late last night.
It’s Danny and Graham in the dance off, Graham is saved Danny is evicted, I wonder if that had anything to do with Danny’s “Alleged” bullying of his dancing partner.
Cadiz
No Travelling
We watched Strictly the Results Show last night and it was good to see the back of Danny. I know we can’t believe all we read in the papers but Danny did seem to be getting a lot of bad press, some of it self-inflicted with his nonsense about himself being the only star on the show. Good riddance I say, humility and respect are the essential requirements of any decent person.
Well it chucked it down again during the night and into the morning too.
Wendy Gill did not get out of her bed citing a sore throat as being an obstacle to outdoor exercise.
I went and got wet through and my knee was very painful, in fact it was that bad I had to walk the last mile. It’s been very sore since the Loch Ness Marathon, I do hope I haven’t done any lasting damage. I’ll give it one more go tomorrow and then I might have to rest. I have dropped down from 8 miles a day to only 7 now and this morning the pain was intense after only 4.
I got back and Wendy made me a lovely breakfast of egg on toast. We had run out of bananas so my usual smoothie was a none starter.
After a shower we headed out to find a phone repair shop which we did at the second attempt. It was a costly affair, 85 euros, but then again I had dropped the phone from almost 6 feet high.
We were to return in two hours’ time and so we had the time to waste by shopping in Lidl, where time seems to be a commodity no one seems to appreciate. You cannot believe the length of the queues there, even with every check out open it takes an age to get through because the checkout staff like to yak along with the customers.
In fact that seems to be a big factor in Spanish life, time wasting, just chitter chatting about drivel. We what else can anyone want to talk about in a supermarket checkout queue. Oh I wished I could speak the language and hear what nonsense was being said.
We got back to the apartment just with the time to have a quick sandwich before we went back to collect the phone.
Now here’s another thing!
We had to be back before 2:30 pm as they close for siesta, until they reopen at 5pm and then close again at 9pm, but why?
So the staff come into work at 09:00, and this is almost everybody, and then close around 2pm, what do they do. Do they take an hour to get home, relax for 30 minutes and then take another hour to get back to work? It seems such an unnecessary waste of their time.
In fact all the Spanish seem to do is waste their time, their own precious time.
Here’s some info I dug up about the history of the siesta:
Though Spaniards are now famous for their daily two-hour break, the origins of the afternoon nap go back much further, dating back to ancient Islam. The practice was recorded in Islamic Law and was also written about in the Koran. Romans also regularly took daily naps.
Although the siesta is still popular today, it has evolved over time. In regions like Northern Spain, Southern Argentina, and Chile, where the heat isn’t as stifling, physical breaks aren’t as needed, so the siesta is often a time for people to break up their work day and go home to enjoy time with family and friends—and not always take a nap. Instead, people will have a leisurely family lunch. Regardless of how people spend it, the siesta is one of the most embraced Spanish traditions.
Yes I can see a how a farmer might want to get out of the heat, especially when he’s close to home but not a sales assistant in an air conditioned shop where people come in to buy things and escape the heat of the day. And why would you want to break up your working day? Most people I know want to get it over and done with ASAP!
There are far hotter places in the world than Spain where siesta isn’t observed. I just don’t get it, but I guess it’s a cultural thing!
With my phone fully repaired and the rain finally ceasing we were wondering around the back streets finding yet more streets that we haven’t come across. We are actually finding our bearings but it is so hard when a lot of the streets look the same and are so narrow. Oh and I bought a new umbrella from a young African lad, boy these kids are smart, if it’s hot they sell water and as soon as a drop of rain falls they switch to umbrellas. I checked it was fully functional before handing over my 6 euros. Wendy said he looked surprised when I didn’t barter, but as I had seen the same type of brolley for 10 euros in the shops I was happy with the price I paid, and I don’t mind helping out an up and coming tycoon!
We were going to tour the cathedral but we are saving that delight for a rainy day so when we got there and the sun was out we decided to consider our next move over a glass of wine in the square, which was very nice indeed.
Wendy suggested we should have a relaxing day by going back to the apartment and reading and chilling which would give my knee some rest, so we headed back.
And then we came across a very nice tapas bar where we had another glass of wine whilst sat outside.
After about 10 minutes and with our glasses slowly emptying we were still on mission to go and read our books and then I got a phone call from Alex with some very, very good news.
So we stayed to celebrate, by ordering:
All as tapas of course and it was lovely and with another 2 glasses of wine and the bill only coming to 14.60 euros, the price was lovely too!
After a couple of hours R & R back at the apartment I managed to lever Wendy off the sofa and out of her jarmies for a walk around the old town, which believe me took some doing.
The weather was lovely, very mild and without any breeze at all and the town was buzzing with nightlife and Wendy was soon into the swing of things and bought herself a very nice furry jumper, that is fur on the inside and wool on the outside, she loves it.
More walking ensued and we even found yet more parts of the city we haven’t been before and it was all very nice but by 8:30 Cinderella needed to be home and on the sofa, so that’s where we headed. She’s back in her jarmies now and I bet it won’t be too long before she’s sound asleep, most likely wrapped up in her new jumper no doubt!
Cadiz
No Travelling
I had a very good sleep last night despite being woken by a message from Bradley at 05:30 which we didn’t mind as he was telling us he was home from Skye.
He had been running around restoring power supplies to the water stations as the power was off due to a pylon being lost in a landslip in Lochaber. He does have an interesting work life does Bradley Gill.
BBC Sources state – “More than 20,000 properties in the Western Isles and Skye have had their power restored following a major landslip.
About 9,000 tonnes of soil and rock damaged the overhead electricity line network at Loch Quoich, near Kinloch Hourn in the Highlands, on Monday”.
I’ve included a few photos of the landslip in my photo feed and you can see the pylon damaged on the ground.
I also saw on news feeds that Danny wouldn’t go on Strictly It Takes Two last night. All couples voted off that weekend go on the Monday show, it does seem on the face of it that he really is a bad loser.
I managed 6 miles along the beach this morning but my knee was quite sore after 4 miles, what is wrong with it????
I came to the point where the tide was high on Sunday where I waded around the wall and Wendy walked around the building instead. I stopped and looked at it and it is part of a smaller defensive wall that is two miles further south of the main wall that divides the City. This wall is at the bottom end of the new part of town and extends all the way across it, except where the road and rail line are now. But here’s the thing, it’s only a deterrent at high tide. When the tide is down at around two hours you can march an army around it if you wanted to as the tide goes out that far. I took a photo of this and the main wall that divides the old and the new part, now that is a wall and stretches across the peninsular and out into the cliffs where the tide is always up, now I appreciate that would be far harder to breach so maybe the smaller wall is just to give the enemy a bit of a test.
It was a lovely morning too with just a few fluffy white clouds dotted about.
It was the perfect day for exploring further afield so we set off down to the harbour to catch the Catamaran to the town of El Puerto De Santa Maria which is directly across the Bay of Cadiz.
Taking the boat saved us a longer car ride and having to worry about parking when we got there and the ferry terminal is quite close to town. It’s a double win as the harbour in Cadiz is only a 5 minute walk away.
Do you know Cadiz is the safest city I have ever been in in the world? And to say it has a huge port too, you’d think there would be at least one dodgy area, if there is we haven’t come across it.
And do you know that Cadiz has a very large gay community? It’s because the population are extremely tolerant and cosmopolitan, it’s certainly a comfortable and safe city as I’ve already said.
The ferry ride over was lovely, very sunny with a very calm sea. The only spoiler was the large group of Spanish pensioners who hopped on after us and took over the top deck. Jeepers they chatted and chatted like they didn’t have much time left so they wanted to use as many words as possible.
I waked around the deck and I was amazed how Wendy blended in with them all.
We got to Santa Maria at 13:30 and we took a stroll to the market and then meandered around town, however most shops were closed because, that’s right, bloody siesta!
We came across a huge, old and now derelict church in the town square and there were a large number of stork nests along the roof and turrets. And you’ll never guess, they clack their beaks together rather loudly to communicate, it’s the weirdest sound ever, (Turn your sound up and you'll hear it on the video Avid Reader).
Here’s some Stork facts:
We sat and had a wee tapas selection outside a very pleasant bar in the square and we had a portion of blood sausage with rice, very much like Barnsley black pudding and then half a salmon and cream cheese sandwich, washed down with a very nice beer.
We walked all around town which was still closed and we came across a long street which was lined with orange trees, it was an amazing sight and they were all full of fruit.
Do you know a town or City in Spain with the word El at the front can only use it if it has been bestowed upon it, which apparently is a great honour and not even Madrid, the capital city has ever been honoured this way.
We caught the 4pm ferry back and it was a lot quieter and another smooth crossing but the sun was hiding behind the thickening clouds. But despite this it wasn’t cold and we sat out on deck again.
As we came into Cadiz harbour we came alongside a super yacht that’s been there for a while now, it is huge and it fly’s a British Flag, someone has got some real dosh somewhere in the Country!
After a coffee at the apartment we walked down to Lidl for resupply and it was reasonably quiet and I got in the checkout queue while Wendy got a few extras. There were two old ladies talking furiously out of the queue but one basket full of food was in the queue all alone. Everyone in front of me went past the basket but when it was my turn to pass it I touched one of the old ladies on her arm to get her attention and it was like she had come out of a trance. They quickly said their goodbyes, the other lady scarpered quickly without any shopping and the other loaded her shopping onto the till. Wendy was with me by this point and the lady was jabbering to Wendy in an apologetic manner and Wendy was saying that’s OK, don’t worry, we just want to go home for our supper.
The point of this is that the Spanish seem to yatter and yatter, then lose all track of time like it doesn’t matter, it’s like the world can wait while they have their natter.
We walked back along the sea wall and we saw a lovely sunset sky, (we’d missed the sunset due the gossipers).
We called in at our local for a glass of wine, sitting outdoors in the 21 degree heat of the evening and it was really nice. The bar is a bit like The Queen Vic, or The Rovers Return, a meeting point for local people. They bring their babies in their prams while drinking and smoking all over them. One mum even had her 18 month son on her lap helping her do the nudges on the bandit machine, now that’s an upbringing and a half.
Supper was cooked by me, giant prawns in a tomato jus!!!
I know how exotic.
I made it by heating a splash of olive oil, adding white wine, lemon juice and tomato ketchup, garlic, fancy mushroom and shallots, with a sprinkle of black pepper. I had to stir the ketchup into the oil and wine but what a lovely sauce it made. I then added the prawns and warmed them up, just nicely. I find if you overcook prawns they get a rubber texture, but these were spot on. I even had a very sceptical Wendy reaching for a slice of bread to wipe her plate, now that’s success!
We had it with a very nice salad which Wendy had prepped and it was altogether a real delight!
Cadiz
No Travelling
Wendy had an early night last night as she was feeling a little under the weather, I watched a bit of TV and hit the sack myself.
She was much better this morning, large as life and up before me.
I ran along the sea front as the tide was up and did a round trip of six miles but my knee began to hurt just after 3 miles, but I managed it back with not too much difficulty.
I had to get in touch with our host this morning as the bedroom light wasn’t working nor was the internet. I sent him an email and he quickly got back to me.
The Wi-Fi router is broke and a new one is on order but we should try switching all the lights switches on in the bedroom to see if that works.
We have three switches, one at the door, and one on each side of the bed.
I tried the main switch, still not working, then I tried my side of the bed and every other combination of that switch and the door switch, still not working. Then I try Wendy’s side of the bed, still not working, then I tried every other combination of my side, the door switch and Wendy’s side and eventually I found the correct combination and it works.
Now it might seem a bit of a long winded explanation but if you know about electrics, it’s called two way switching or in this case three way switching.
What you should be able to do is operate the light from any light switch independent of the status of the other switches but not here in Spain, you have to remember which switch you last used so you can put the light on, it’s crackers!!!!!
After a lovely banana smoothie we went for a walk to post two tiny parcels. I bought a T-shirt in Gibraltar for Brèagha who is two years old and one for Victor who is about ten months old. Wendy wrapped them into tiny parcels and we went to the post office to send them off.
But we had to buy two very large envelopes for them as they were too small to post. The lady actually had a tape measure to check the dimensions and they were half a centimetre out, that’s only 5 millimetres!
We did a little shopping in the market and as it was a lovely sunny day, but it was a bit breezy, we had a beer outside a bar on the front and it was lovely sat in the sun, we got some very nice olives with the beer as well.
When we finished and left Wendy said she could sit there all day and get sozzeld as it was so nice, the cheeky mare!
Back at the apartment we found the Wi-Fi router is bust and another one has been requested but might take a day or two.
Wendy’s not happy as she can’t use her 3G on her phone as she only has 9.8 gig left and needs it for two Strictly shows. I have 45 gig left but for some daft and unknown reason the VPN won’t work on my phone so we can’t make use of my allowance for BBC programmes but I can still watch Sky, Now TV and Netflicks as they allow streaming outside the UK whereas the BBC do not even though I have paid my TV licence.
Lunch was taken on the roof, a corned beef sarnie and a can of beer and it was lovely, but I had to block the soil pipe drain before we ate, naturally I washed myself down afterwards. Their drains appear to be like their electrics, very Heath Robinson. In fact there surely must be some EU regulation about hygiene, but I guess it doesn’t apply to ancient cities.
We sunbathed for a while but the wind made Wendy come out in massive goose bumps, I was fine but she had bumps upon bumps so she nipped down for a cardigan. She did a look a bit of a darling on her sunbed with her dress and cardi on but at least she was happy.
I saw the sun moving behind the buildings and asked Wendy the time as my phone was on charge downstairs and just as I did the bells struck, and she counted them, but nodding with each one until she could say 4 o’clock! When the bells chine they all chine, there are about 15 churches with bells in this part of town and they all chime one after the other, it must be some kind of rule and it is kind of cute. Thankfully we can’t hear them in the night.
As the sun was going we went of a walk along the sea and stopped for a glass of wine in the bar we were at earlier and got yet more olives.
We walked to the castle in the sea and the breeze was still being a bit stroppy and had got a little colder too.
Do you know what I learnt about Cadiz today? No one has a letter box, the postie has to wedge the post into what every crack or crevice they can find. I have seen them trying to do it. But what’s worse is that people go around leaving flyers and of course the wind picks them up and today the town has been awash with flyers all blowing in the wind, there is so much litter around it gives me the right hump!
We walked along the back streets and we now play a game of finding a street we haven’t been down before, and we found one, with some really interesting bars. I know I have said this before but you cannot begin to believe the number of small bars in this city, it is unbelievable there are that many!
We found a nice one and we had a drink in there and got yet more bloody olives, (but you just have to eat them), and there was some very appetising food on display and when I went to pay the barman gave me a business card telling me to come back any night after 8pm for the best food in Cadiz, I think that’s a date then.
But for tonight, supper is pork chops and sautéed veg, ala W.A.G.
But I made my now signature sauce, this time a mustard one and yet again it was a delight, it really was and even though Wendy said it was a little sharp, she once again reached for a bit of bread to wipe her plate
It’s definitely early to bed for me tonight, my cough has got worse today and although I feel fine I don’t like the idea of bringing a lingering cough back home with me, especially near Christmas.
Cadiz
No Travelling
Wendy wasn’t good in the night getting up at about 4am with a coughing fit, but after she had taken some paracetamol she settled down for a bit more sleep.
I was up at 6:30 and it was still very dark outside. I was looking through the news while having my breakfast and it looked like it wasn’t going to be an easy day for the Prime Minister. I must admit on the face of it it does look like a bad deal, I can’t see that it helps anyone, we are out but can’t leave unless the EU agree to our terms for leaving and then Northern Ireland is a mish mash of nonsense. I’m thinking she’s not going to see the day out.
Wendy stirred at about 7:30 so I took her some tea in bed and she seemed a little better.
I was out by 8am as the sky was brighter now but as the sun rises on the east and we are on the west I don’t see it until I get to the spit where there are no buildings.
But when I did see it, it was against a clear blue sky, and it had all the makings of a Stonking day!
Running back I happened upon a coach load of Chinese tourists who took up all of the pavement in their very own excitable way making it hard for me to get past. I can’t even escape into the road as the council are building a cycle path and it’s surrounded by herris fencing, I just had to barge through.
I got back and Wendy was up and about and after breakfast and two cabinet resignations we walked to the market to get a kilo bag of very large mussels for supper, and some double cream too as that’s what the Googled recipe requires.
As it was early the market was reasonably quiet and easily negotiated. A little later and it’s chaos.
The sun was nicely high now and after getting new books from the car we settled into our lunch of corned beef sarnies and homemade sangria.
Well not actually homemade it was shop bought that I added fruit to and lashings of brandy, it was bloody lovely.
We settled down on the sun beds and as there was very little wind we had a very nice hot and relaxing afternoon.
Three resignations later and the threat of letters being written to the Honourable Member for Altrincham I turned off Dearne FM and settled down for another hour’s sunshine as we tend to lose it around 4pm.
I had listened to all of Matts show, from 11:00 until 15:00 as it’s a good show and I was bang on with Retro Heaven at a Half Eleven, 1994. But I was one year out with Eye of the Tiger at 1981 for Number Ones at One! It was actually 1982, and Matt had great pleasure in telling me live on air that I was indeed one year out.
We stayed up top until turned 4pm when all the church bells rang, it is such a nice thing to hear them all going one after the other with their differing chimes, and then Wendy had a bout of feeling under the weather so I ordered her to bed for a little sleep.
In the mean time I was conversing with Francisco, via AirBnB translation about the new router he had installed. He sent us the new password so on trying three times and very carefully inputting the stupidly long and complicated password I had to tell him that it wasn’t right. It then came to me, as he uses a repeater for us to get the Wi-Fi in our apartment, he should realign the new router with the repeater, so I sent him that message, but I got nothing back and he’s pretty good at replying so I must have hit a chord.
So there am I imagining poor Francisco rubbing his forehead thinking, bugger what do I do now?
Wendy, feeling a bit better after her nap joined me and I updated her about Francisco and she wasn’t very pleased as she’s desperate for Wi-Fi.
We saw the Prime Minister make her speech outside Number 10 and I must admit I thought she was going to resign, but she didn’t, but she did look very isolated and lost. I do feel sorry for her, she appears, to me, to have been bullied from pillar to post. Now from what I’ve seen of the agreement it doesn’t look good, but there no reason to be nasty about it. That Jacob Rees Mogg, who the hell does he think he is, a King Maker? I don’t like him, now he does look like there’s something of the night about him!
To compensate we went for a walk along the front and then settled for a glass of wine in Cathedral Square and it was very nice as we had the half-moon rise above the Cathedral.
We looked at the menu of the bar we were at and they had tried to translate some of their sayings for the food, and it wasn’t good, “Here I die”, was one, “Cooked with deserved doneness”, was another. There were others but the glass was reflecting the menu too badly for us to make them out, I’ll check when passing in the daytime.
While we were sat there I got a message from Francisco, here’s my message to him:
Do you need to realign the repeater?
Here’s his message to me an hour later after scratching his head
“Test passed, is already realigned.
You have to use the new password also for Wi-Fi.
If you have towels, sheets or clothes to wash, leave it in bags. Tomorrow I got a washing machine
Thank you. Goodnight”.
Read that as Test Passed, I was just checking your intelligence, (not really, he hadn’t a clue and must have made some frantic phone calls, and is already aligned, as I have now paired them.
The router has a new name too, which of course it would have but he forgot to tell me that, thankfully it had repeater after its name, in English!
Back at the apartment supper was prepared by Wendy and cooked by me, mussels in a white wine and cream sauce and it was an utter success, followed by two pastry’s that Wendy had secured from the shop just off the square and they were nice too.
Early to bed for Mrs Gill tonight, with a wee hot toddy!
Cadiz
No Travelling
What a strop I had from Wendy Gill last night, I dispatched her to bed following severe coughing fits, with a basic hot toddy. The only thing it didn’t have, and I know it’s an important ingredient, was honey, but it was hot and sweet and had whiskey, so I was almost there.
It was her attitude to having to go to bed, “Why do you want to get rid of me” was her request. “Wendy your 3 metres from me and you can leave the door open, I just want you to be warm, settled and getting some rest” was my answer. I could her drink the toddy, you would have thought it was the worst drink for any person to take, like poison. You have to know Wendy like we do to know how she lets us know when she’s not happy and it’s not subtle.
I watched some TV on my laptop and went to bed around 11pm and found Wendy fast asleep.
It didn’t last long, she had an almighty coughing fit around midnight and woke me up. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I snook out and watched a bit more telly before heading back an hour later.
Wendy coughed and coughed all night long and we both got very little rest. I was up and had had my breakfast by 06:30 but after making Wendy tea I got back in bed and managed some half sleep until around 9am.
I got up, dressed and went running giving strict instructions for Missy to remain in bed.
I got back and she was up, dressed and had washed her hair like nothing was wrong, and there didn’t appear to be as she was now almost fully recovered, so my nasty hot toddy did work after all.
After Retro Heaven at Half Eleven on Dearne FM where I was 3 years out we set off for a long walk around the coastline of the peninsular.
By now it was a cracking day, the sun was out and it was roasting, at about 24 degrees.
We stopped and sat on the sea wall to watch the youngsters surfing. But the surf wasn’t good enough, it wasn’t strong enough and it broke too quickly for anyone to get a good ride in. In fact all they could do was grab a wave and by the time they were stood up the wave had broken and it then dumped them, but you have to admire their determination, they just kept trying.
We walked on and within 0.9 miles of us setting out we were sat outside a very nice tapas bar with a glass of beer, in the sun, thank you very much, well it is Friday!
And it was lovely, the sun was baking and it was just the perfect spot overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
I was given the menu when I ordered our drinks and I gave it a glance and as it was in English and it was all so very tempting I ordered:
Do you know what? They came out one at a time and they were extremely tasty. We think the sirloin was actually pork and that it had become lost in translation, but it was lovely nonetheless.
We had a very nice glass of white wine with our meal and anther one to wash it down and soak up the sun, well as I have already said, it is Friday!
As we sat we listened to Number Ones at One on Dearne FM though my ear phones and Wendy guessed the year as being 1995 as it was a song by her favourite group, Take That. I told Matt via email and he told his listeners that “Dave Gill is a very good supporter of Dearne FM and tries as he does he never gets the year right, but today he left it to his wife and she is bang on, well done Wendy, todays Number Ones at One was 1995”, well you should have seen Wendy’s face blush with embarrassment!
I settled the bill and we walked on along the coast and then crossed the road in an attempt to find the inner Bay walk, which we actually found.
There is a power station in Cadiz and the power transmission lines go across the Bay through two huge, massive in fact, pylons, and they are very well constructed too.
We had walked almost to the big bridge and we had a nice glass of wine in a bar by the Bay, well we had now walked over 5 miles.
We set off again and carried on, along the Bay coast road but we were now out of the sun, but it was still pleasant enough.
We saw a small cruise liner in the dock, it looked very nice, and very comfortable. It was tiny by normal cruise liner standards but it had something appealing about it, we both envied the passengers as it just looked so nice, she was called the Star Breeze.
Star Breeze Info now follows:
Wendy should have gone to the toilet at the last bar stop as by now she needed to go and every now and again when she was required to sneeze she had to cross her legs for fear of having a lady accident, I did chuckle when I saw this.
We stopped in at the railway station for a toilet break much to Wendy’s relief.
As we went around the far north of the peninsular we came back into the sun and it was nice and warm. We stopped to watch some young men doing acrobatics by use of a Swiss ball on the beach, they were great to watch doing forwards and back flips high in the air.
We walked on and nipped into the back streets where we found our last bar for a last drink of the day.
We collected some supplies from the supermarket and then settled in at the apartment with a small nibble of bread and meat and some cake that Wendy had bought from the confectioners.
It’s been a lovely day, we had got in a nice walk of over 10 miles under our belt and it seems Wendy is now over the worst of her poorly spell, jeepers I do hope so as I’m in desperate need of a good night’s sleep.
Cadiz
No Travelling
Everything was going well through the night, Wendy was having a very settled sleep and then at 04:30 my phone tinged.
I had received a message from our neighbour Bev, your intruder alarm is going off Dave, bugger!
It was going constantly so I had to rouse Brad for him to go to check it out. Thankfully he hadn’t been out and he was OK to drive, and it had been a Friday night too.
Brad took Caroline with him as back up, the poor thing and he checked back that the place was fine.
Wendy nor me could get back to sleep so I watched some TV on my laptop and then managed to nod off. I got up a little after 8am and I’ve been shattered ever since.
Wendy was well enough to go running this morning and was out before me. It was a very nice morning with sunshine and some cloud, but nothing much.
I got back and had my traditional smoothie and after ablutions we went to the market to get some fish.
On walking to the market I saw a man coming towards me and was having the biggest yawn I have ever seen anyone do. From that point onwards my face tried to yawn but I refused to allow it as I’d have been at it all day long.
Why does that happen, why is yawning so contagious? I could actually feel the muscles in my face moving towards the yawn position and it took an awful lot of will power to suppress it.
The market was busy and we slow walked through the fish section until we found what we wanted, Swordfish steak, which is pez espada in Spanish.
We found a nice juicy piece and paid for it and then nipped in the supermarket. While I was looking at the wine Wendy went to check the gluten free section. Jeepers she was gone 15 minutes, I thought she forgot she had taken me, so I phoned her. As I was on the phone I was pacing around and grabbed what I thought was my shopping trolley only for someone to pull me back. I looked up and into the eyes of an older women who was holding onto her trolley for dear life, it wasn’t mine, obviously. She had another women with her and they both thought it hysterical and I must admit it did look a funny sight although it was me they were laughing at.
We found Cathedral Square was busy when we walked through it, there was a grand piano set up on the top steps and a pianist was hard at it knocking out some lovely tunes. The Scouts and maybe the Beavers were there too and the beavers where playing a game with a leader.
The leader was swinging a long rope around and over his head in a pure circular motion and it had a large weight at the end of it. The kids had to run and get as close to him as possible so they all ran in twos and three’s avoiding the rope and snuggling in nice and tightly.
No one got caught out and it looked really good fun, I was desperate to have a shot myself.
Walking back to the apartment with our catch we saw that the sky had clouded over a little so I spent a couple of hours researching and booking our return hotels after we leave Cadiz on the 30th November. We are next off to Seville for a couple of days, then onto Lisbon for 3 days, upto Porto for two days and then we end up at Santander for two days before we catch the ferry back to Blighty from there.
I also booked another night’s hotel, somewhere I have been wanting to visit purely for research purposes and enlightenment. I haven’t told Wendy yet, I daren’t but all will be revealed next week Avid Reader. Any of you who have contact with Wendy, for goodness sake don’t tell her anything, I’ll tell her it’s a mystery tour before we set off!
We decided to have our dinner early so Wendy cooked the Sword Fish, rare, along with some savoury rice and it was lovely, but it was massive, we might have been a bit over keen with our portion control, it was like eating a pavement slab it was that big.
We went out for a walk into the old town and it was quite nice, it was still overcast and I needed my parka on to keep the wind at bay, but it was still very pleasant to be out.
We stopped and had a glass of wine outside a very nice bar and we saw a seagull that obviously couldn’t fly as it was waddling about, being pestered by people. For goodness sake this city is full of seagulls and pigeons and they seem to have been bamboozled by this one who looked like it was shopping along the High Street.
We walked on some more and would you believe we came across an area where we have never been before and as coincidence would have it, it had an area with loads and loads of lady like shops. The first shop Wendy just had to go in was Zara, so I found a bench and settled down to check the rugby and football scores and she was bloody ages so I had a little walk.
I saw her and she was so excited and clearly wanted to shop some more so I came up with the ideal solution, I would go in the bar across the road, she can come and find me when she’s done.
I settled in with a nice glass of white wine and all of a sudden a very excited Wendy came in. “Can I have the wallet, I’ve found some trousers I really like and I have forgotten my purse”. Would you believe it?
Off she went and I saw her 20 minutes later all happy with a shopping bag on her arm.
We walked some more and came to a square at the north end of the town where some people were having a jolly old time line dancing and just really enjoying themselves. It was a good set up they had a music system that appeared to be playing 1950’s music. We sat and watched them for a while and then we headed back to the apartment, slowly.
It’s now almost 7:30 pm and Wendy Gill is all jimjammed up and excited because what is better than a Strictly Dancing Saturday night, well it’s a Strictly Dancing Saturday night at BLACKPOOL! And to be honest, so am I.
Hopefully tonight will be an early to bed night, without incident, here’s hoping!
Cadiz
No Travelling
Wasn’t that a feast of great dancing last night, but I do feel the judges, particularly Craig were cruel with the way the dealt with Lorene, but at least she is safe, according to my mole.
I had a very good sleep and so did Wendy but I woke from a nightmare at around 5 am but nodded off again only to re-enter the same nightmare, then I woke at 06:30 and still felt a sense of sadness all of it from this nightmare, isn’t it funny how the mind works.
I had my breakfast and then I heard it, thunder, lightning and heavy rain, it was pouring down. So I got back in bed and Wendy and I watched the lighting through the tiny window in the room where the fridge is and it suddenly came to me, I had left my sports kit on the line last night when we got in as we were too excited about watching Strictly.
So I nipped up and brought my jacket in, but it was soaked through, so I hung it in the bathroom with the fan heater on and got back in bed and slipped into a half sleep for another hour while the rain continued.
I woke back up at around 8am and the rain had stopped so Wendy jumped into her gear and was out in five minutes, I followed her ten minutes later.
Last night while sat on the settee, Wendy said, “The next time we pass each other running, don’t high five me, do this” she then gave me a fist pump and then spread all of her fingers and twittered them slowly above her head. I said, “Have you gone crackers woman?”
As luck would have it I did indeed pass her today and she did indeed fist pump me and we both twittered our fingers like idiots in the street.
Wendy was two miles from getting back, I was four miles away. I stopped for a drink on the sea wall near the harbour and I could see the blackest of skies coming towards me. I carried on and within five minutes I was in the middle of a thunder storm with the rain being lashed around me by storm force winds.
I also came across a light cluster that had fallen mainly due to rust, but I think the high wind had been the deciding factor. The lights are huge and very old, had that happened in the UK every such light would have been roped off until a risk assessment had been completed.
I got back to the apartment soaked to the skin!
We were thinking of going out in the car for the day, but as it had the hallmark of scabby day we decided to stay put, relax in the flat and maybe go out for tapas later on.
Wendy washed my wet gear and I put it on the line on the roof as it was looking promising, I was even considering going out after all, but then 20 minutes later yet another storm blew through and it chucked it down again, which had me scurry up the ladder to the roof to get my stuff back down. Thankfully there is a little line on the landing behind the stairs and I hung it there, and there seems to be enough of a breeze which just might dry it for me.
After a very nice period of R & R in the apartment we went out of for a walk around town, where I never tire of seeing the architecture and how people go about their business in this fascinating city. The electrical supply for one is an amazing and most likely dangerous piece of modern engineering, there are wires and junction boxes that don’t seem safe to me everywhere.
Our plan was to go to a Tapas bar, apparently a very good one, as we had found a flyer for it in our apartment. But first to get some air in our lungs we did a bit of walking, in and out of the downpours. We went to the east side and then used Google mapping to get us to the Tapas bar, but it was closed.
Plan B was to go to a place nearby, where we have been for a drink before, it was open, the kitchen was not, but we did manage to scuttle out of the rain for a while with a glass of wine and some olives where I showed Wendy on my flight tracker app where Caroline and Brad were on their trip to the USA, she won’t sleep tonight as she saw far too many planes in the sky. Plan C was to go to a bar I had seen at the east side where I knew they were serving food. We got there it was, and I quote Wendy, “Far too man-y for me”, lots of men hanging about.
Plan D was going to a place nearby our apartment we had passed before, by this point Wendy said that plan E was two tins of big soup back at the apartment. We got to plan D and they only served burgers and the like…….plan E was by now looking rosy.
However I had seen a Tapas bar a few doors back and so I popped my head indoors and enquired if food was being served, and thankfully it was, phew.
The weather has been double dreadful today, wind, rain, sunshine even, which is just as bad because you wrap up for the wind and then your roasting when the sun is out. So this Tapas bar was just what the doctor ordered, and it had an English tapas menu.
After ordering two glasses of wine we looked the menu over and decided on, a plate of ham, hot tuna in onions, pork in a hot Arabian sauce, fillet minion and potatoes in mayonnaise. We were served a basket of bread, and this is where the Spanish let themselves down, with 3 bits of bread and a bag of small breadsticks, (we seem to get these wherever we go).
The food was a real delight, bloody lovely in fact although I did discover that Wendy doesn’t like her food on small plates, she likes a big plate where she is in control. I think she’s just worried that being with a Gill she won’t get her fair share.
When I settled the bill, which came to 22 euros, that’s with all that food and 4 glasses of wine we were given a nice lemon shot of something warming.
Walking back to the apartment we called in the supermarket for some bananas and got back just as darkness fell.
Wendy is, guess what? In her jarmies and settled down on the sofa for Strictly the Results Show which ends with Kate and Graham in the dance off, Graham is saved and therefore Kate is out, poor Kate, she’s lovely too, Wendy won’t be happy!
But she is ecstatic with the chocolate bun thing she got from the bakers earlier today which she has wolfed down in double quick time.
Cadiz
No Travelling
We slept without issue, apart from Wendy doing a bit of coughing which didn’t seem to affect me. I was up at 06:30 and whilst having breakfast I heard the heavens open, for the second morning running.
And boy did it pour it down, but thankfully it stopped before I went running. Wendy was up too and dressed in no time at all and after scoffing her banana she followed out for the morning run, she went south and I went north around the headland in a 6 mile circle.
Rain threatened but didn’t arrive, in fact I was at the exact same spot as yesterday when the clouds gathered but nothing came of it.
I got back and had my traditional smoothie and a slice of toast and we set off for a day trip to Tarifa.
Tarifa is the most southerly spot on the European mainland, and that’s a definite!
There are arguments about this, for instance Cape Trypiti on the Greek Island of Gavdos is the least ambiguous southern point of Europe, but then that’s an island and not the mainland. And then there are some pretenders such as Cyprus, because there is a British Army base stationed by an act of law there, or Madera in the Atlantic or even the Canary Islands which is utter tosh as they are off the coast of North Africa.
But make no mistake, a small island off the south coast of Tarifa, which is connected by a causeway and road meaning you don’t get your feet wet is without doubt the most southern place in mainland Europe, and that’s where we headed, 66 miles to the south of Cadiz.
The weather had improved as we set off, it was 18 degrees and there was a bit of sunlight around but as we neared our destination, the clouds gathered yet again and we drove on albeit at a much reduced speed through one terrific downpour. In fact it was that heavy even double wiper speed didn’t make much impact on being able to find the road.
But thankfully after about 15 minutes it passed over.
I stopped along the way in a layby, well I just had to send my new mate Matt at Dearne FM a message, I had the answer to Retro Heaven at Half Eleven, it was 1985. What did it was a song from Madonna, from the film, “Desperately Seeking Susan” which I knew was made in 1985 as it was released as I was fundraising for Operation Raleigh in 1985.
I got it spot on and has I often get it wrong Matt gave me a round of applause live on the radio!
On we carried and we were there at around 1:30pm and we parked up nicely which was lucky as it appeared parking was at a premium.
The most southerly point as I have said is a small island a few hundred metres out and as we were parked close by that’s where we headed first. As I got to the causeway and had cleared the walls of a nearby building I could see the sky turning ugly, in fact the uglyest I have seen it since we started this trip.
I about turned and grabbed Wendy who was a little further behind as she had to dodge some bigger puddles. We made it to a small café just has the heavens opened and it bounced down. The wind was up too so that made matters six times worse.
Thankfully the café was upto scratch so we ordered a chicken sandwich each and a cup of very nice coffee.
The sarnies were lovely, if not a bit overpriced, but then we were being saved from drowning.
As we finished our coffee the rain had all but stopped but as we left the café we found the destruction it had caused, there were giant puddles everywhere.
Now the town of Tarifa is a resort town with some beautiful beaches and is primarily known as one of the world's most popular destinations for wind sports, i.e. kite surfing!
In the course of the Peninsular War Tarifa was besieged by French troops on 20 December 1810, and again on 18 December 1811. In both of these cases the town was defended by British troops from Gibraltar, (how interesting!), as the Spanish and British were allies against the French. During the 1811–12 Siege of Tarifa there were 3,000 defending troops with 1,200 of those British, including Colonel Charles Holloway who as commanding Royal Engineer made improvements to Tarifa's defences.
On 19 December the town was attacked again by General Laval, who bombarded the town over Christmas to the point where surrender was demanded on the 30 December. Both the British and Spanish commanders refused to comply and their defiance was rewarded by rain that started the next day. By 5th January the attacking force realised that their powder was wet and their guns were bogged down in mud, and retreated.
We walked around the town and again found a walled town, on a much smaller scale than Cadiz, but nonetheless still very impressive.
We eventually walked out to the island only to be met by yet another iron gate as pedestrian access is not allowed. Apparently it’s an old and disused military base so we can’t go there.
And how stupid is that?
I mean, it is the most southern point of Europe, haven’t they seen what we have done at Lands End and John O’ Groats? It’s a cash cow waiting to happen. I would happily have paid a fiver to go and visit the very last point of Europe. It doesn’t have to be tacky. The extreme points we went to in Australia were just that, extreme points without over commercialisation, but at least they made something for the area and provided a few jobs for local people.
And how sad to that we are denied that final few hundred metres to look across the Straits to Africa and to the Atlas mountains which seem to be in touching distance of us.
We walked along the beach path and saw some kite surfers doing impressive things at super-fast speeds in the surf. We came to an area of flooded footpath where we had to walk along a small wall to get around it, well you would think Wendy Gill was walking the plank, she was a bag of nerves.
We got back to the car after a four mile walk and that’s when I came clean about our next adventure…………………………………..Wendys trip to Africa!!!
We got tomorrow, to the African continent.
She took it better than I thought, well we are going to Ceuta, which as I have previously stated is held by the Spanish, against the wishes of the Moroccans, so she is a little more comfortable. Then the fact we are staying in a 1940’s styled hotel did seem to do the trick, and it’s only for one night and the boat ride is only across the Straits of Gibraltar, which is roughly 8 miles.
We set off to our next destination Algeciras Port so we could buy our tickets and find where to park and other logistical issues. It was only 13 miles along to coast and we were there in no time.
We followed the signs to the ferry terminal when we were in the port walls, but a car pulled alongside us with an Arabian man who pointed out we were going the wrong way, which we actually were, the signage wasn’t great but then it never is in Spain.
He said we could follow him, and as he did an about turn and drove us some considerable distance and then began to lead us away for the where we wanted to be, my suspicions had been correct, he was after something. So I waved him goodbye and we went in the ferries multi-storey car park and parked up, went to the terminal and bought our tickets.
We saw a few Arabian type, helpful looking fellas while we walked around the terminal, I was onto them and steered clear.
After our purchase I asked Wendy if she wanted to go into the city, she didn’t, she didn’t like the look or the feel of the place, there were far too many helpful Arabian men around for her liking.
We got back just after sunset and was eating our big soup in no time at all.
Wendy was now in packing mode and gathered everything she needed for her night away, apart from a folding brolly which we nipped out to buy.
I feel tomorrows copy is going to be a best seller Avid Reader, this trip is going to be one of two things, very good, or very………………………..interesting!
Ceuta
The Straits of Gibraltar
Another good nights sleep last night but I woke just after 6am and there was no way I’d drop off again due to excitement so I got up and had my breakfast.
I saw light coming from the bedroom and found Wendy wide awake too and in need of her morning tea.
I checked outside and it was clear which was good to see. I dressed and told Wendy I was off but as soon as I opened the door I could hear it, rain! It was pelting down, again!
Where did that come from? That’s 3 mornings on a trot. I nipped back inside and asked Wendy to pull the hood from the pocket at the back of my running jacket and I set off but when I got downstairs it had stopped, phew, what was that about!
It was still dark as I set off and when it did get light there was an angry looking sky.
Two large cruise ships and a very large passenger yacht had berthed overnight so I was guessing it was going to be busy in town today with lots of people walking around with their head in a map.
I got back and Wendy was just in and having coffee.
An hour later, showered and fed we set off for the port.
We got there no problem and again when we were driving inside the port a very helpful Arabian man tried to wave us over no doubt wanting to be of extreme assistance whilst trying to fleece me.
We left the car and got into the terminal where thankfully I worked out we needed boarding cards which I duly got.
We boarded late but that was OK as we were on the SeaCat and should be across pretty quickly.
We slowly left the harbour and it took an age. There is a huge container section and three ships were being loaded. It amazes me how anyone can think that these are checked at customs as it would take ages.
We got out into the bay and passed my most favoured place in Europe, Gibraltar and she looked majestic over the green sea.
The voyage was about 9 miles across the Straits of Gibraltar and took just under an hour and we were checked into our lovely, 1929 hotel in no time with a very warm welcome too.
The room is lovely and we have a nice balcony too.
Ceuta is 3 times larger than Gibraltar and is on a peninsular bordered by Morocco.
There are hills to the north of the town with residential accommodation, the town is in the middle and is about a mile long, it’s very thin here and it’s only a couple of blocks wide with the Med on one side and the Atlantic on the other.
To the south there are huge mountains with more residential accommodation.
All of the accommodation we can see is high’ish rise but not skyscrapers.
Here’s the compressed history of Ceuta.
Captured by Portugal in 1415 where the king took 45,000 men in 200 ships and seized the town from the Moroccans.
The Moroccans attacked the city in 1694 and so the longest siege ever began, lasting until 1727, that’s 33 years later.
In 1668 Ceuta became Spanish as a result of the settlement between Portugal and Spain after the Iberian war where Portugal traded Ceuta to the Spanish for their own independence.
It’s been under Spanish control ever since, however the Moroccans want it back.
One of the chief arguments used by Morocco to reclaim Ceuta comes from geography, as this enclave, which is sorrounded by Morocco and the Mediterranean Sea, has no territorial continuity with the rest of Spanish territory and it has been openly advocated that the Moroccans reconquest Ceuta by some political parties.
Now this is my view, Ceuta is in the same situation as Gibraltar and it’s Spanish rule as only been about 40 years longer than ours of Gibraltar and over 300 years as passed since occupation.
For me the Spanish are hypocrites, they want to hold on to Ceuta but not allow us to hold Gibraltar.
However if the majority of the population want to remain as they are then for me they should be allowed to. I know the Gibraltarians voted by 99% to stay British but I don’t think the Spanish have asked the population of Ceuta for their view. Somehow I don’t think they will as over 40% of them are Arabic and muslin.
We walked and walked and thankfully the weather improved. We walked to the hills both on the Med side and over to the Atlantic side and then into town where we had a beer.
Jeepers it’s hard to find a bar here, is it because Muslims don’t drink.
Now I’m not religious but I do believe women are held in a less regard as other faiths. All I can say is what we saw and that was lots of Muslim women carrying groceries in carry bags. They had that many bags they struggled to carry them along the streets. There wasn’t a man to be seen.
We were in need of rest so we went back to the hotel at 7:00 pm after walking a good stretch on the Med side, all in all we did about 7 miles, but it was hilly and warm at times.
Jeepers did it pour down, again!
We decided to eat in the restaurant in the hotel but we found out that they have no English menu and we didn’t fancy pot luck. Thankfully the rain had stopped so we headed out in search of food!
And boy did we find it! We found a nice Spanish restaurant and everything on the menu was in, you’ve guessed, Spanish. So I wrote, via Google translate, “If you have Tapas, can we please have two meat, two fish and one potato dish, thank you”.
“No” was the reply! But, the waitress said, “I speak a little English” and she said of the menu, “This is pork, for two”.
Yes please, we’ll take that and we did and all we got was a large plate of everything pork. Nothing else, just pork in each and every form. It was nice, it was salty and there was lots of it. So much so we snaffled some in a napkin.
The bill was modest too!
We walked back to the hotel in the rain, again, stuffed and settled down for a night of full tums in bed!!!
It’s been a very interesting and filling day!
Cadiz
The Straits of Gibraltar – The Return
We had another good sleep last night in a very comfy single bed each! It was a bit hot mind so I had to get up in the night and open the balcony doors, but I was back nodding in double time.
I was mortified when I woke, it was 8am, we didn’t know as the balcony shutter was down and blocking the sunlight, not that there was any, sun that is!
Wendy woke too and couldn’t believe the time either.
I opened the shutter and guess what greeted me? Rainfall of biblical proportions!
Should I go out running in this I thought? Yes, I had to as I had a mission to complete, I had to see the border crossing for myself.
So after a cuppa and a breakfast bar I was out and soaked to the skin within the first mile.
It was interesting nonetheless, I saw lots of Arabic women walking into town, and honest there was loads and very few men.
The distance to the border is shortest on the Mediterranean side and there is decent sized town on the Moroccan side of the border.
I got to the border at exactly two miles and I found loads of pedestrians coming through. A lot were making the walk into town, despite the continuing downpour.
I also saw an enormous queue of women at a bus stop, all politely and patiently queuing with bus after bus collecting them for the ride into town. It looked like how I imagine the US - Mexico border crossing looks like.
I about turned and got back to the hotel and as I had only done 4 miles at this point I went over to the Atlantic side to do my other 2 miles, well I couldn’t get any wetter could I?
I got back soaked to the skin and wrung out my gear as best I could because I was going to have to carry it all in my backpack.
Our breakfast consisted of a rather large piece of cold pork each which we had snaffled from last nights meal, keeping it cool in the fridge.
We left the hotel at 11:00 and we had had a very nice time there, it was my idea of a perfect hotel:
The only drawback was there was no kettle, we knew there wouldn’t be as there never is, so we took our own.
It had just stopped raining so we walked to the Atlantic side with a view to establishing the distance to the border using my walking app.
Soon enough the rain started again, heavily, again but we persevered. After a while I checked our progress and after about 2.5 miles we still had more than half way to go to the border so we about turned.
Then, if it was at all possible it rained even harder.
We nipped into a cafe for shelter and to have a coffee. The cafe was empty but we were made welcome, I think it had only just opened as there were about six young men prepping and one older fella who appeared to be in charge.
I ordered coffee and Wendy fancied some cake but none were displayed so she asked for some. No one spoke any English so they were all asked, each in turn, “Do you have any cake?”
Thankfully the very last lad had a brainwave and pulled a lemon muffin from a hidden shelf.
We finished our coffee but it was still chucking down so I had another coffee and a piece of what looked like custard cake. I shared it with Wendy and it was bloody lovely.
We left just as the rain had stopped and we were bid a fond farewell by Wendy’s new mates. Actually they were all pretty decent lads.
We walked into town as the skies yet again opened up. Hasn’t Bob Geldof been telling us for 33 years that Africa is dry?
We found the market which was one very interesting place. Set on 3 floors it was like Dr Who’s Tardis there were that many stalls crammed in, they weren’t all open though.
We had a little explore along the High Street and decided to head back to Europe on the 2:30 pm ferry.
I was extremely heartened when I saw that we were all having a passport examination at the ferry terminal. The border between Ceuta and Morocco runs a long way through the mountains and I can’t imagine they have a Donald Trump style type of wall. I would think that the border is extremely leaky and that getting over illegally would be a synch. Thankfully the Spanish seem to have got this covered, it did concern me though as no one checked the passports when we left, but then again I don’t think anyone is queuing to illegally migrate to Africa for financial reasons.
The ferry left on time and the crossing was smooth and I bought 1 litre of vodka and 1 litre of whisky for my collection in the duty free shop, all for 17 euros which was a good result.
We arrived on time and got back to the car all in one piece and the drive back to Cadiz, all 67 miles of it was no problem. We got back to the apartment at around 5:30 and unpacked all our wet gear and I made my ad hoc drying arrangements incorporating my plastic airier that I got from Lidl, the bathroom and a fan heater, it works every time.
After a short while resting, me listening to Dearne FM and Wendy reading her book, I made supper while Wendy nipped to the shop for some bread. Supper was a pasta sauce mix, with added ingredients of garlic, shallots and olives. As the sauce was just about ready I stirred in some gigantic prawns.
The prawns, as they have water within, made the sauce a little runny, but when the prawns were done to a T, we served it up and it was bloody lovely, very, very tasty indeed. I love being creative in the kitchen even if it’s just knock up. Those prawns by the way were the best I have ever tasted.
It’s now 7:30 pm and I think we are done for the day. Our African adventure was a really interesting and thoughtful couple of days and one which I am very pleased we did. I have known about Ceuta for a long time and about its association with Spain, but there’s nothing like experiencing the situation and although I can’t say I’m an expert on it or the culture there I have had a good taster of how it sits and it confirms my opinion that with regards to Gibraltar the Spanish can go and take a running jump. Gibraltar’s citizens have as much right to their self-determination as anyone else, and as the Spanish refuse to allow Morocco reclaim Ceuta then they, as stated yesterday are hypocritical and shame faced beyond belief.
The invasions of both communities took place centuries ago, it’s what is happening now, in real people’s lives that matter and if everybody is happy and content, then that’s all that counts, in my view anyway!
Cadiz
No Travelling
Yet again the heavens opened during the night and continued all day, honest it did, where the hell is it coming from?
I was reading The Sun online while having my breakfast and I came across a Rod Liddle article about Spain throwing their weight around, here’s what he said:
“They get themselves very worked up about Gibraltar, the Spaniards.
Forgetting entirely that they “own” three islands only a few hundred metres from the coast of Morocco — Ceuta, Melilla and Perejil, (He’s wrong, the first two aren’t islands, they are on mainland Africa, but then again he is a journalist!).
Much to the fury of the Moroccans, who claim, with some justification, that the islands are theirs. Gibraltar, meanwhile, is inhabited by British people who vote, every time that they very much want to remain British.
The Spanish have no greater claim on Gibraltar than they do on Portugal”.
He also goes on to tell us the economy is shot and that they have massive debt, youth unemployment is 35% and overall unemployment is very high too, (he might be wrong on this as well, but by not much I suspect).
Now we see lots of men hanging around the bars drinking beer all day long, where the hell do they get the money from? Also almost every town and city we have visited is having major local authority works undertaken.
In Ceuta there is a huge project underway completely renovating the town’s main street, its causing chaos. Here in Cadiz they are making a cycle track which encircles the peninsular, again it’s causing terrible disruption.
But here’s the thing, if you are so much in debt surely there are more important things to spend vast sums of money on. Don’t get me wrong, I do admire authorities who provide excellent public facilities, but surely not during a big recession.
It’s quite cheap to stay here though, drink is very cheap, we get good wine for less than 2 euros a bottle and food is quite reasonably priced too. We got this apartment for a month at just over £800. It almost cost that for Wendy and the girls for a week in Gran Canaria earlier this year.
We both got drenched during the morning run and after washing all our wet cloths we had to do some balancing acts to try to get them dry. It’s still raining and there’s dampness all around.
We hung around a while relaxing and doing the odd chore before venturing out for a few items. I wanted some more orange juice from the supermarket. I love the fresh orange juice I get from the machine. I put my plastic, litre bottle under the tap, open the tap and the machine comes to life squashing oranges in front of my very eyes.
I’ll tell you it must take about 20 oranges to make a litre of juice.
After dropping off our supplies we set off for a visit to the Cathedral which is an event we have been saving for a rainy day, and today of all days was a good day to cash in.
The rain just kept coming as we walked to the Cathedral but with an umbrella each we were undaunted.
The tour costs 7 euros each and you get a handset with a narrative in English, so all in all not really a bad price to pay for such a prestigious building to spend time looking inside.
The narrative wasn’t upto much I have to say, it was all about the birth of Christianity in Europe and more importantly in Spain but that wasn’t a problem as it was the building we had come to see and it did not disappoint.
This Cathedral is truly a phenomenal feat of old building construction, it is a true wonder of the world. The extent of the craftsmanship is amazing, and I have visited the Vatican and this building even outshines that.
The way the Cathedral was built is truly inspiring, how on earth did they get those huge stone blocks into the roof structure both in the crypt and the main building.
I did learn at little from the tour narrative:
We weren’t allowed to take photos of the Cathedral, but I snook a couple and got some from Wikipedia, well I have my Avid readers to sustain!
I can’t use any more words to describe the building other than it is truly an amazing structure.
Finally our tour concluded with a walk up the bell tower, which was interesting too.
The bell tower is accessed via a spiral ramp, as opposed to a spiral staircase and do you know it’s so much easier to walk up a slopping ramp as opposed to a staircase. There were 72 ramps in total and we ended at the top of one of the highest buildings in Cadiz where we got a panoramic view of every side of the city, it was brilliant, even in the pouring rain.
We walked back down having spent an hour and a half there and it was well worth the time and the wait for the rainy day. Back on the ground Wendy suggested it was a good day to settle down with a bottle of wine and some food, so we did.
We found restaurant open and serving food in the square close to Cathedral square and we settled down.
We ordered a starter of tuna to share, costing about 5 euros, then Wendy ordered monkfish and I ordered a fillet steak with veg, oh and a bottle of wine.
The wine came first and it was really nice.
Then the tuna, which was a main meal with chips, which we divided on side plates.
Then after a suitable period of waiting out came the mains, we think Wendy’s was cod and mine was certainly not fillet steak, it wasn’t even sirloin. We could have argued but no one spoke English it didn’t seem worth the hassel, so after finishing the food I checked TripAdvisor to find that this restaurant as the lowest rating I have ever seen, a rating of just 2 out of 5. I wish I had looked at the TripAdvisor site before sitting down. But to be fair, we didn’t have much choice.
Having said that the food was tasty, and hot but just not what we ordered, and we were stuffed sideways!
The bill was quite reasonable too, but again if you haven’t got what you wanted it can’t really be good value.
We went for a walk around town and despite the rain it was very nice.
We grabbed a couple of bottles of wine from the shop and then settled down on the settee, me watching Sky News and I caught up on the latest Brexit sell out, I do think this is going to end in tears. I’m a firm remainer but even I am beginning to think we should just go without a deal, yes that’s how bad things now seem to me.
Cadiz
No Travelling
As we went to bed at around 11:00pm last night it was still pouring rain, it didn’t look good for today.
As soon as I was awake I went to the window and looked out, it was dry and the clouds weren’t that thick so it looked promising.
I went out running first and I went anticlockwise around the peninsular, at the 4 mile mark I saw Wendy coming my way. She would be turning around in half a mile and come back so I thought I would wait for her at the last mile. As I ran on I lost Dearne FM on my iPhone so I stopped on the sea wall to try to get it going, after five minutes I couldn’t work it out so I switched to iTunes instead and carried on.
I got to the last mile and waited for Wendy, and I waited, and waited. I had to carry on as I was getting cold, Wendy must have done a circuit too.
When I got back I said, “I waited for you, did you do a circuit?” Her reply was, “No, I saw you at the sea wall messing with your phone and just passed you”, “Thanks Wend, I love you too”!!!!
After breakfast which consisted of an egg sandwich we set off for the town of El Puerto Santa Maria, the town we went to last week on the ferry. It was a 12 mile road trip, and it was very pleasant as the sky had cleared and we finally had wall to wall sunshine and 22 degree heat.
We had two objectives for this visit:
El Puerto Santa Maria is where the headquarters of the very famous Spanish Brandy, Osbourne are. This is the company that provides the huge bull cut outs that can be found on major roads throughout Spain.
The Osbourne Bull as it’s known is a 14-metre (46 ft) high black, silhouetted image of a bull in semi-profile.
The bulls were erected in 1956 to advertise their Brandy.
The images were black (with the brand "Veterano" in red on it) advertising boards located near major roads throughout Spain. The original image was smaller and slightly different in design. The current larger image was created to comply with a law that prohibited advertising within 150 metres of a road.
In 1994 the EU passed a law that prohibited all roadside advertising of alcoholic beverages, and the bulls were therefore to be removed. By this time the signs were nationally renowned, so although some campaigners wished them completely removed to fully comply with the intent of the law, public response resulted in the signs being retained, but completely blacked out to remove all reference to the original advertisers. The Court eventually allowed these signs to remain on the grounds that they have become a part of the landscape and have "aesthetic or cultural significance", thus turning the bulls into public image domain, there are 90 of them!
We walked into town after parking the car and we passed Osbourne’s distillery and the smell was quite strong, it smelled of very strong malt vinegar! By the way, Brandy is wine that has been through a distillation process.
As we were going for a long walk to the beaches we stopped for a bite to eat in a local café, and do you know what, it turned out to be a delightful dining experience.
It was very Spanish looking, as it would be, so I popped my head in the door and asked if they had an English menu. A nice lady said no they didn’t have one but that she might be able to help as she spoke a little English, and she did help us, very much so.
We ordered two small beers and two tapas, one tuna and one of meatballs in a tomato sauce, with bread of course.
The tuna came first, it was cold but had been cooked right through, (we like ours rare, but we were going to give it a go). The tuna had an olive oil covering with a drop of balsamic vinegar and it was lovely. We scoffed the lot and cleaned the plate with bread. Next came the meat balls, they were a real treat, the best meatballs and sauce I have ever tasted, they were terrific. The beer was pretty nice too.
I settled the bill and thanked the lady, thoroughly!
We walked along the river and found the first of the beaches, it was small but very wide and very peaceful. As we walked we saw that we could take a shortcut but we had to either climb a wall or crawl though the spaces between the concrete uprights. Wendy couldn’t do it, I could but I made my cloths dirty and got a severe telling off in the process.
Next we walked over to the marina where we found a beach side resort that still retained its original character. There were however quite a few abandoned projects that didn’t get beyond the building shell phase which looked a little out of place.
We walked along and came across one more small beach that had some really good looking restaurants overlooking it and as the sun shone they were packed with Friday afternoon revellers.
We walked on and we eventually came across the big long beach were the surfers were out in force.
We didn’t go down to the beach, I just wanted to see it and by now we had walked almost 6 miles and we had to get back to the towns square for 17:00 to see inside the church.
Thankfully Google mapping came to our rescue and found a shortcut of only 2.9 miles which had us back by exactly 16:55, just in time for us to rest our legs on a bench before going into the church.
At 17:05 we went inside the church and we were astounded what we found. On the outside it looks a right old ruin, on the inside it is stunning, honest it is, the building is absolutely stunning, and jeepers the Spaniards knew how to build a church.
The church is called the Priory and it is documented from 1486 when the building was under construction. It was damaged by an earthquake in the 17th century and was partly rebuilt in the Baroque style. As a result of being constructed in two phases, the church contains both Gothic and Baroque architecture, exemplified in its portals.
It was free entry but I left them a good donation when we left as it was well worth it, I also snook some photographs, naughty me!
We got back to Cadiz by 18:30 and as we came over the big brigade we saw a most stunning sunset, hopefully this weather will last us at least over the weekend.
Its Friday, so it was treat night, we went to a tapas bar, of course we did!
And what a delight it was, we had a meat plate and a fish plate, both for sharing and they were both quite tasty and more than adequate, although Wendy thinks the Spanish are tight with bread, as we only got four pieces, which in my opinion was enough.
We walked home and for the first time in days we saw the moon, have we missed the full moon or is it still to come? I’ll Google it later Avid Reader.
It’s been a smashing day, it’s almost 10:00pm and I do hope for a long lie in tomorrow, a sunny day and a Barnsley win against Doncaster Rovers.
Cadiz
No Travelling
Jeepers that Wendy Gill tossed and turned around in bed last night, so much so my long lie in was just a dream that never came true, I was up and about at 07:00.
I was out and about running and I saw a French Warship in the harbour which looked like an aircraft carrier. Not a big one, there weren’t any planes on deck but it still had a large presence.
I carried on and got back to the apartment and after my smoothie I Googled these exact words, “French Warship 9013” and here’s what I got:
In fact you can find out virtually everything an enemy might want to know about this vessel, it’s crazy and it wasn’t just one website. I like to verify my intel from at least two sources and I did on this occasion. So the Russian military can, at the press of a computer key find out exactly what they might want to know about how to destroy this enemy ship. Its madness, I wonder if Russia is so free with its fleet’s details.
The morning so far had been lovely, high cloud and breaking sunshine so I was a little disturbed when I heard what I thought to be rain whilst I was shaving. As we had just been discussing dressing options Wendy shouted to me, “I might have some bad news for you, it’s chucking it down”. And it was, so what to do at a time like this, have a coffee, and we did.
Thankfully the rain stopped and the sky brightened up, considerably, so off we set with our brollies at the ready.
The sun was out now and so we walked south along the seafront. We saw teams of men playing what looked like a kind of racket ball. There were two games going on side by side, the game north was rubbish, they could only manage a rally of about 3. However the match to the south was much more impressive with rallies of ten to twenty shots a piece going on, it was very impressive.
As we walked on we came across football supporters wearing canary yellow shirts with Gran Canaria on them, so I Googled who is Cadiz playing at football today. The result was, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. Jeepers they have some travel to do don’t they. I think both teams are in a lower league, but nonetheless they still have some traveling to do.
We walked for two miles and then walked back through the main road, back to the apartment to get some warmer cloths on as by now it was getting a bit colder as the sun had gone in.
As we were back home, we had a small sandwich and a cuppa, which Wendy made and it was very tasty.
And it rained, again……….but not by much thankfully.
We set off again with our brollies up and this time we walked north.
We walked up to the castle at San Sebastian and the wind was getting up. Looking at the sky we seem to be at the centre of the weather, to the south it was nice, to the north is looked dastardly!
After a while we looked for a bar to settle down for the first of the day and we found a square we haven’t seen before and so we settled down, and it was very nice. The barman, a young lad was really good, polite and very accommodating.
After our drinks we walked along through a high level walkway we didn’t know about and found some more side streets we haven’t been down. Cádiz is the city that just keeps giving!
We walked back, almost home but we stopped for a drink in a bar where we have had tapas before, I had red wine and Wendy had white. Wendy was intrigued by the menu as it had baby elvers and pork scratchings, which of course are baby eels!
As Wendy got further intrigued I saw a young man come in with a backpack which had a football scarf attached to it. He spoke really good Spanish as he ordered his meal and then he sat down and chatted to a man to his right, fluently in German.
As he got up I went over and asked him who his team was and he spoke to me in Spanish, he showed me the flag and it was Cádiz. I shook his hand and said good luck for the game and then he said in a very northern English accent, “I’m from East Yorkshire mate, I’m from Hull”. I said, “Well I never, how many languages do you speak.” He put three fingers up.
I said “Wow mate, what are you doing here, watching this football match”
He replied, “I love language and I love culture and I love to be a part of local culture so being with the fans at a football match is great for me”.
Wendy grabbed him and said, “Can you help me and ask what these are on the menu, baby eels and pork scratchings.”
A long conversation ensued between him and the waitress and he confirmed they were indeed baby eels and pork scratchings, Wendy wants to come back to try them.
We bid farewell to our Yorkshire friend, what an incredible young man, and we went home for supper, cooked by Wendy,
And what a delight it was, beef, mushrooms, and onion in a very nice sauce with noodles and we scoffed it all just in time for Strictly.
Thankfully we had no VPN issues tonight and as I write this copy Wendy is doubting Faye Tousers bad back, she’s not happy about the scoring and even I have to admit the Lindy Hop scoring was very Mickey Mouse!!!
How on earth can they nit-pick Laruen and Swanny when they, as professional judges, make such a balls up?
I can’t wait to see social media’s reaction, oh and my mole of course!
Cadiz
No Travelling
The final score of the football match last night was impressive for Cadiz as Las Palmas are a much higher placed team in the league. My new mate would have been very happy with that result.
I had a massive sleep last night, of colossal proportions, it was 09:10 before I opened my peepers and while Wendy was making breakfast I checked my mole in Strictly and here’s their message:
“Graeme and Ashley had to dance off. The judges saved Ashley (obviously). Graeme was eliminated”.
I’m gutted, Graham was a very good trier who had never danced before and it was working for him, Ashly on the other hand was a professionally trained artist!
After running we had breakfast, again and went out in to the sunshine, although we were pretty late at around 12:00.
First we walked into a women’s march about combating something to do with men, but the translation didn’t come out so good: Machismo aggressions feminist spare parts! What the hell does that mean, they couldn’t sing either, about five women were murdering a song at the head of a group of people, (it was worse in real life than it is in the video).
We walked around the harbour and saw the Aurora in port again. It’s a P&O ship which seems to make regular stops in Cadiz.
We walked on and on and came to the bar where we were last night and I had a glass of beer while Wendy had a glass of wine. As I saw the bar did food I checked TripAdvisor to see if they were listed and I found that they were and they had a five star rating.
So I did about 3 Nano seconds of rescheduling and the meal I was going to cook tonight could wait until tomorrow and we ordered three tapas, marinated tenderloin, spicy fried potatoes and pork scratchings, (which were really slices of pork). I kid you not it was all a double delight, the meat was succulent and tasty and just how food should be, and served by very nice, friendly staff.
While we were sat there I contemplated the leave agreement that we had seen being talked about on telly and I was wondering if I would lose my 3G roaming when we leave the EU. I have 60G and Wendy has 20G and its brilliant, here are a few of the things my allowance helps us with:
I can even get the internet on my laptop, through the iPhone cable, so we can see things on the big screen, technology is fantastic. I know we can use Wi-Fi, but that’s another faff, looking for somewhere that has it.
We walked on and came to the park we found last night and it was like the rest of Cadiz, full of fountains. They also have a bar in the park, well we just had to have a glass of wine, the sun was out so why not.
It’s a great park with a huge waterfall and lots if nice plants and trees, Wendy loved it.
We walked about in an area of the old city we had not found before and Wendy did her routine of nosing into people’s apartments, she is such a nosy women.
We had one more glass of wine in the nice bar we like and then bought some cakes and bread for supper.
We had a cake selection each, mine was a cream cake, Wendy’s was more nutty. She must have liked hers as she never shared it with me the bugger!
Back at the apartment we had a sarnie each and our cake, we watched a little of Sky news about that bloody agreement and then we hoped to settle down with Strictly Dancing results.
I feel sorry for Swanny, he really did try his best!
Cadiz
No Travelling
We were up a tadge earlier today but not by much. Our bedroom doesn’t have any windows except for a small one at ceiling height which only connects with the hallway, so that doesn’t give much sunlight. Our only window to the outside world is the French doors in the lounge which opens to the very narrow street and we are almost in touching distance of the church opposite, the point here is that this apartment is dark even on a sunny day, so at 07:45 on a morning deep into November it is almost pitch black, well it is in our bedroom and that doesn’t seem to be waking us up from hibernation.
I ran along the port this morning and came across two huge cruise ships, they were monsters, massive beyond sailability!
When I got back I asked Wendy if she had run this way which she had. I asked her if she had seen the cruise ships, “No I didn’t was her reply”, I was astounded!
After breakfast we set off for the ferry to take us to Rota, a town a little further up the coast.
It had been quite windy while running but the sun was out in a clear sky. I had wondered if the ferry sails in this kind of wind and looked out across the bay but the sea seemed to be relatively calm, so I didn’t think we would have a problem.
As we walked out I felt the cold wind around my legs as I had my shorts on, so I told Wendy to go and buy the ferry tickets and I would nip back and put my jeans on.
I did just that and I was at the Port five minutes later where I saw Wendy walking away from the ferry departure point. “It’s not running”, she said, “There is a bus coming in an hour to take us there but we will be able to get the ferry back when we want to come home”.
So we decided to give it a miss as we wanted the ferry ride as part of the day out. We went back to the apartment to mull it over and we decided to drive up the coast to Chipiona as there is a resort there which supposedly has the highest lighthouse in Spain, in fact it’s the third highest in Europe, so we’re told!
We walked to the car and off we set, and we got about 400 metres from the car park when the cars intruder alarm went off, very loudly, almost sending Wendy Gill though the sunroof.
I managed to pull in and I tried to reset the alarm but it would not stop sounding. I turned around and drove back to the carpark, with the alarm sounding all the time. I parked up and got the owner’s manual out. The horn still sounded, and we were drawing attention to ourselves. Then after about 5 minutes the alarm stopped.
Wendy was reading the manual while I was looking under the bonnet and she thought that as we had sat in the car for five minutes without putting the key in while programming the SatNav then that had set it off. I was worried that it would involve the immobiliser and stop us dead, but thankfully it didn’t.
We talked it through and decided to set off for Chipiona and we managed to get there without incident. As we drove I asked Wendy about how she had found out the ferry wasn’t sailing and about the bus ride, ect….. “Oh the man spoke very good English”, she replied. “Did you ask him why?” was my next question. “No I never thought” was her reply. It must be one of those women/men things, it was the first question that came to my mind, but not Wendy’s!!!
I parked the car close to Chipiona and the moment I turned off the ignition the bloody alarm went off again.
Thankfully we were parked well away from a built up area.
By now I was stuffing a paper napkin into my ears and pulling fuses out under the bonnet, but it never stopped, I thought about stuffing the horns with something but I couldn’t find them. Then after about 5 minutes it stopped, phew!
I did a few Google searches and found that the alarm as its own independent battery which has a life of around five years. The car in now six and a half years old! It also said that when the battery is running down the alarm will sound. The reason is quite logical, if it was powered by the car battery then if a thief disconnected it the alarm wouldn’t operate and although they couldn’t drive the car they could steel everything in it.
I asked Wendy to Google the location of a repair garage in Cadiz and she found one, thankfully.
With nothing else we could do and the car quiet for the time being we went in search of the lighthouse. We walked along the sea front with a lovely long beach. I saw some walls that had been built out in to the sea, they were very intriguing and they formed a very large area. It was high tide and so the sea was washing over them.
I thought about what they could be for as they were obviously manmade. I thought they were something to do with the beach, to keep it from washing away like we do in the UK, but they were too far out to be effective for that.
It then came to me, they were there to catch fish!
A little along the beach we came across a sign explaining just that. The walls have been there from before the Romans and they are kept in place by regular maintenance. At high tide the fish swim in there and when the tide drops, it flows out through small pipes that have some kind of bar arrangement on them to stop the fish getting out. When the tide goes out fully the local men go and spear fish them. Apparently there is a local man in charge of each boundary and it’s him who nominates who can go and get the fish, how interesting.
We came across the lighthouse and we were both a bit unimpressed as it didn’t seem that high, but another Google search did indeed prove that at 207 feet high it is higher than anything we have in the UK.
We walked to the end of the walkway and the beach seemed to go on and on.
As the garage we needed to go to was back open at 4pm after siesta and it was now 3pm we turned around and walked back to the car through the town. The town was virtually empty, a ghost town actually. There were lots of apartments for sale too. It’s a shame as the ocean and beach are very attractive.
We got back to the car having passed two interesting churches and set off back.
The alarm started after about a half a mile. I asked Wendy to count with me the number of times it sounded. So with Wendy and her fingers in her ears and me with paper napkin sticking out of mine we both counted, out loud. It took well over five minutes and it stopped and started ten times. It never sounded after that.
We got to the garage and I timidly stopped the engine and it never operated.
I went inside the garage but as they don’t have a workshop we were sent on to almost where we had just come from to the workshop.
Thankfully the man in the sales room spoke English, which helped. But I had a prepared message via Googles translate which basically said, “My alarm is sounding all the time can you repair it or disable it”.
I got to the repair workshop and queued in line, when it was my turn I asked the mechanic if he spoke English, a firm no was the replay. I showed him the translated message and he nodded and indicated for me to follow him, which I did.
We went to reception and he spoke to a young women there who in great English booked me in for a repair on Wednesday. She was really helpful and when I finished and as about to leave I asked her if she would be here on Wednesday.
“Yes”, was her replay, “But I cannot repair cars”. I said I didn’t care as long as she was there to help me.
We drove back, again without incident and when we parked up in Cadiz it didn’t go off again.
I cooked supper, pork, mushrooms, onions and garlic in a nice sauce and dished it up onto fried rice, it was very yummy.
After we took a walk into town, but before that we checked on the car and she was behaving, thankfully.
Town was very busy with heaps of people out and about. The wind had dropped so it was quite pleasant. After a glass of wine outside a bar we headed off home at 9pm.
As I said yesterday, a 3G iPhone when travelling is now an essential item and it’s certainly earned that reputation today as we couldn’t have managed without it, well we could but it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as easy!
Cadiz
No Travelling
I ran close to the carpark this morning just to check the car had not been misbehaving and from what I saw it looked like she’s been a good girl overnight. Well I didn’t find the attendant with his fingers in his ears.
The Oceania cruise ship was in port this morning, that must be the fourth time I’ve seen her here.
After showering we went to the supermarket and fish market. We wanted some large mussels from the fish market and other produce from the supermarket. As they are side by side I went for the mussels and Wendy went for the other stuff and then I was going to find her.
The mussels were huge so I asked for 1.5 kgs, on seeing them in the bag I ended up with 2 kgs. The lady was lovely and we chitter, chatted her in Spanish, me in English but both with lots of smiles and we said goodbye.
Having my purchase I went in the supermarket to find Wendy, and I did almost at the end of an almighty shopping queue.
Wendy said the shop was full of British pensioners buying wine, they are most likely from the Oceania as its 2.4 euros a bottle in the supermarket and I guess at least 10 euros on the ship.
I’m telling you this was a mega queue, we all queue in the same line and then when you get to the end a TV screen buzzers you and shows what till to go to. It actually works really well as it’s very fair, but the trouble is the ladies at the checkouts like to chat in what I now term, “Check Out Chat”.
The pensioners love it, it makes their day!
I swear we were in that queue for 30 minutes. In fact at one point Wendy was seen banging her head against a concrete column, I’m not kidding, I just wasn’t fast enough to catch it on camera.
Eventually we made it through and dropped the goods off at the apartment where I changed my shorts for jeans as it was a bit nippy out. We then had a wander around the craft market where we bought a print of the cathedral.
There was another women’s group protest making yet again another right racket, including whistles this time. Wendy’s not happy with them, she fears their taking feminism too far and may spoil it for her.
Wendy took the print back to the apartment and we arranged to meet at the ferry terminal where I bought the tickets and enquired why the ferry didn’t run yesterday. It was the weather, I was told, the waves were too high. Well I never!!!
The ferry crossing to Rota was very pleasent with a gentle rocking motion.
Rota is a fantastic little resort which was mainly closed either for siesta or the end of season.
It has got a cracking beach with a lovely promenade which goes just over a mile and there are two lovely bars at each end. One directly on the beach and one just set back on the prom. Both are ideally situated, so we had a glass of wine in each one and as we did we enjoyed the sunshine. I was bloody roasting with my jeans on, thankfully I had my knapsack where I had stashed my body warmer, my jumper and my hoodie, yes it was that hot. Shame I had my long trousers on though!
It’s another walled town, but nowhere on the scale as Cadiz, but it was still really interesting nonetheless.
We came across a bar called, “Honey Don’t Cry”, what is that all about, it was closed, if it had been open I would have had to have gone in to find out. What a strange name for a bar!
We did a walk along the prom and on the way back we strolled along the inner road but everyone was on siesta, the town was dead, again!
After our last drink in the bar where we had to sit in the shade as the sun was so fierce, we went back for the ferry.
It was 4pm and workmen were coming back from siesta in their work cloths. Do they go home in their muck, shower, change and then change again into their mucky cloths so they can get back to work?
Well I guess they do because the heat of a Spanish summer is fierce and it must be better out of the sun than in it, and as they have done it for thousands of years I guess it works for them.
The ferry back was a delight, I sat in my T-Shirt enjoying the rocking motion of the vessel.
Wendy cooked supper, she knocked up a very delightful risotto using fried rice, onions, peppers and the mussels. But here's the trick, she steamed the mussels in wine and water and used that as stock to make the risotto rice more risotto like and it was, very much indeed.
The mussels where gigantic, in fact as Wendy said they were mutant mussels.
They were bloody lovely anyway, in fact I’m thinking of taking some mutant mussels when we leave for our Friday night supper.
After the pots and pans had been washed up and I had discarded the mussel shells in the bin downstairs and I had been up and down these dam stairs about 14 times today we went out for a walk and caught a lovely sunset.
The sky was crimson and red and really quite beautiful but my iPhone doesn’t do it justice as it takes in far too much light from the street lighting.
After a stroll we headed back to the apartment, we were both shattered, it’s going to be a shave for me to save time in the morning and an early night and hopefully tomorrow I’ll get the car to the garage without having to resort to makeshift ear plugs!
Cadiz
No Travelling
I was up at 06:00 this morning after a good solid sleep and I was out running well before sunrise. I was over the eastern side, by the harbour, when the first of the sun’s rays started to grow in the sky and I was treated to a beautiful morning sky.
I got back and breakfasted at a double quick rate as today is the day I take the car for repair to get that bloody intruder alarm sorted. I asked Wendy to come down and open the barrier at the car park for me as I didn’t want to hang about with the alarm going as it’s on the wrong side of the car and I would have had to faff about.
At 09:45 we left the apartment and it was a really lovely sunny day, I went to the car while Wendy waited at the barrier and I opened the doors without a problem, I set the SatNav and started the engine and then all else broke loose. The alarm was going ten to the dozen, loud as you like!
I set off, Wendy fumbled at the barrier and I had to stop and wait, the barrier came up and off I set, with the alarm blaring out. Don’t worry I was prepared, I had my ear plugs in. I then had to stop and be the first car at the pedestrian crossing with loads of people waiting to cross.
A huge crowd passed in front of me all staring in my location and I did a very British thing, I smiled and waved at them all, well what else could I do?
Thankfully the lights changed to green and I was off again, through the city of Cadiz like a bandit escaping from the sheriff!
It took me all the way to the big bridge until the alarm stopped operating, and then I settled in and drove to the garage.
I was there at 10:20 for my 10:30 appointment and I checked in and was told to wait, at 11:00 the girl from reception came and told me, “When the man is empty, go and see him”, and she pointed to a service agent. I think she meant I’m next, which I duly was.
I was asked to drive the car into the garage and I was fearful the alarm would deafen anyone within earshot but thankfully it never operated.
I settled down to wait for the repair in the very nice waiting area.
At 11:30 the agent came over and took me to reception for the receptionist to translate, it wasn’t good.
The car would have to stay over until Friday. I asked if rather than repair the alarm, could they not just disconnect it? No, was the reply, it can’t be done.
But we leave Cadiz for Saville on Friday, and I am about 12 miles from where I am staying right now.
More translation followed, and a few shoulder shrugs later and it’s arranged that the car will stay and I will be driven to the ferry and I will get notified on Friday that the car is ready!
I was driven to the ferry in my own car as the agent said that it’s an intermittent fault and that it should be OK, at least that’s what I thought he said. He also drove over the first speed bump too fast and then slowed down for the second one remembering that it was my car he was driving. I bet he didn’t slow down for the return trip, the bugger!
I had a 20 minute wait at the ferry terminal so I sat outside on a metal bench where I was soon joined by an elderly man and his wife. The man must have had Parkinson’s disease as the bench was rocking back and forward with his body spams. The poor old fella must have had it bad, it was such a shame as he looked in good health otherwise.
The ferry crossing was very nice, but I’m getting quite used to it. I know when we are going slow through the harbour, when it’s allowed to open the engines and when they must slow down again. In fact I could probably Skipper the vessel should I need to!
I got back to the apartment and Wendy and I saddled up and went out for a walk and a bite to eat.
We walked south along the promenade and it was really sunny. We went down to the beach to a beach bar we have had a drink at before. We settled down and I asked the waiter for two beers and the tapas menu. The beer came but no menu, after ten minutes I went and got the menu from the waiter, they didn’t do tapas, main meal only. He didn’t tell me that, I had to work that out for myself from the menu.
We drank our beers slowly and the waiter never came and took any food order, so when the beer was empty I paid the bill and we promptly went down the road a little further and found a cracking bar where we sat outside and had two wonderful tapas.
We had sea bream balls with cockles, and beef marinated in a hot sauce, both with bread. I tell you, they were really, really tasty.
We sat in the sun and scoffed them and it was a treat, see, as Wendy often says it wasn’t meant to be and all’s well that ends well kind of thing, (although the car saga as not yet ended, but its not life or death or anywhere near as bad as Brexit!).
We walked back to the apartment calling into the supermarket, not Lidl, for some supplies and dropped them off.
We headed back out and walked north to the end of the peninsular and it was really nice, warm and sunny despite the sun now lowering in the sky.
I have seen loads of men fishing off the sea walls all around the peninsular but I have never seen anyone catch anything and we came across a man who looked pretty determined to catch something. He had enough bread to feed the five thousand, I wonder if the is still there.
We stopped at a bar on the way back for a glass of wine and we saw the sun set into the Atlantic, it was lovely but instantly cold. We scurried back to the apartment very quickly indeed, where I cooked a very delightful chicken supper on the very hard to cook on electric hob.
We don’t have a very large frying pan and there isn’t a lid with it, so I had to keep topping up the Levi Roots reggae, reggae Sauce with wine to stop it from drying out, I think it’s a winner.
It was past 8pm by the time the kitchen was turned around and we decided to make it a night and settle down on the settee.
Oh, before I go I must mention our host Francisco, when we had a bit of uncertainty about our leaving time on Friday, I wrote to him telling him we were having a bit of trouble, but we would vacate by 11:00 as per our requirement, but would it be Ok for Wendy to hang about on the roof terrace until I got back with the car, whenever that might be.
I promptly got a message back saying that Wendy must stay in the flat, in comfort, and that as he has no guests booked in yet he would block the night out so we can stay over if we need, at no extra cost!
What a star!!!
Cadiz
No Travelling
I woke at 06:00 this morning and felt a little chesty as my cough hasn’t got any better all the time I have been away from home. I think I might have got an extra chill in the night due to Wendy Gill wafting the sheets off me during her night time thrashing activities.
It’s our last full day in Cadiz and this cities been a terrific experience. This has been a very interesting stay and I would dearly love to come back in the summer where we can relax on the beach and then go into the back streets to hide from the sun. Or, we can take the ferry to Rota or El Puerto Santa Maria for the day. This is the perfect place for families too as it is one of the safest cities in the world.
I haven’t seen anything like disturbing human behaviour, well apart from the litter and not picking up after dodgy do-do’s. There is loads of interesting things to see, far too many bars to frequent and mile upon mile of golden beaches to stroll along. Yes for me this is the ideal European destination and I am sure we will be back.
As I was up early I did some admin and some reviews and then took Wendy some tea. Wendy went out before me as it takes me that long to get ready but I was out sharpish and I went south along the prom for my penultimate run, and it was very nice with the sun out in the sky.
I got back and sent a message to the garage workshop about the car as I asked them yesterday to let me know when I can collect it but they never got back to me. So I sent a message to reception as my new friend on there is pretty switched on and likes to talk English with me.
I got a message back from the workshops because she came through for me, which implied it might not be ready on Friday. As quick as a flash I was back onto them, explaining that their message might have got mixed up in translation, and if they can confirm they know the car won’t be ready I’ll go and collect it this afternoon. I also copied in Maria from reception, into the message, asking her to translate the message. Soon after I got a message back saying the car will be ready for Friday morning, phew!
We walked upto the small beach at the very north end of the peninsular, where the castle is built on the little island and spent a very nice couple of hours sunbathing. Me listening to Dearne FM, Wendy reading her book.
After, “Number Ones at One, where I was one year out, (David Bowies – Ashes to Ashes, I said 1981 but it was 1980), we walked back to the apartment to change as Wendy had sand in her cossie bottoms and wanted to change them.
We walked along the east side, which was in the shade and a bit colder, so we wrapped up and we went to the nice square we found a few days ago.
I found a bar which wasn’t yet in the sun but I could see from the suns inclination in the sky that I would be bathed in sunshine if I selected the right table, in ten minutes, Wendy maybe 15 if she took the right seat.
We couldn’t go to the bar we have been in before as that was firmly in the shade and would never see the sun again today.
We were served by a lovey women from the bar and we selected four tapas, one potato salad, one fish salad, one pork cheeks and one sausage in garlic oil, with bread of course.
We started with a glass of beer each and when the food came out we moved onto white wine.
First out was the potatoes and they were served cold and they were a real treat, cooked through with an onion and herb mix, they were really tasty, next came the sausage with some freshly fried chips, again they were very tasty. Next came the fish salad which was a mix of a salad and smoked salmon and anchovies, it was yet another treat. Finally out came the pork cheeks, again with fresh chips and they finished a perfect meal, everything was perfect in fact. I was all for having another portion of something else but Wendy wanted to save room for a cake at the apartment.
After another glass of wine we made our way slowly, along the Atlantic coast to the apartment to get the washing in before the damp set in as it does just before dark.
We settled down for some R&R in the apartment and Wendy made me a hot toddy but instead of honey she had to use blackberry jam, but it was ok for me!
I also got a message from Luis my workshop adviser which when translated said:
“Good afternoon David.
They inform me of the workshop that the breakdown is due to a broken cable in a door.
The cost of the repair is approximately € 145. Accepting the budget at this time we would have finished today before 19: 00h.PM
You could pick it up tomorrow from 9:00 p.m. A.M”
Phew!!!
It’s all systems go for tomorrow then, I’ll have to catch the ferry in the morning, walk the 2 miles to the garage using Google mapping. I’m beginning to feel a little like Indiana Jones, but it’s no problem to a Barnsley man who knows what to do, when and how to do it, whatever!
After a while we took a walk out to get some bread and cakes and to say goodbye to Cadiz. It was a lovely mild evening and we had a drink in a café in the harbour square which was very nice, however after I had ordered I checked TripAdvisor about the bar and I found people gave them a very poor rating, mainly down to people feeling ripped off. I did wonder why there wasn’t anyone else sat out.
However having said that our waiter was a really nice friendly young man and the girl behind the bar gave me a very nice smile when I went to pay. The price was OK too, for a bar in the square of a tourist city, 4.5 euros for two glasses, maybe they need to buy wine by the glass in the UK, they’d not feel ripped off so much then.
We walked back to the apartment and settled down with our cakes before an early night, I feel another hot toddy coming on, I am feeling a wee bit better but I won’t tell Wendy or I won’t get one!
Tomorrow is going to be an extremely interesting day, I can feel it!
Cadiz to Seville
85 Miles
I was up before the crack of dawn this morning, 05:50, as I had a mission to complete, to get the car!
After breakfast I sent my mate Matt a message at Dearne FM, as he mentions me when I enter the Retro Heaven at Half Eleven competition, and he now thinks I am a fugitive from justice as I am always on the move in Spain. I told him what we were doing and sent him a pic of me and Wendy as that was another thing he that he said, all I ever do is send pics of views. Anyway he thanked me for the photo and said thanks for the support we give his show and that Wendy is a delightful wife, I also got the first hour dedicated to me, how nice, the 06:00 to 07:00 spot.
After my early run, I got back before Wendy who for some strange reason had packed the tea bags in a suitcase and I could not find them, why weren’t they in the food basket like the rest of the food?
I showered and I was down at the ferry terminal for 09:20 with my ticket waiting to board. I was the sole passenger, and then a class of excited school kids gathered with their teacher and hogged the top deck, I stayed below deck.
I had a two mile walk to the garage and Google mapping had me there in 35 minutes, the car was ready and I found out the cause of the alarm issue. A wire in the passenger door had broken, so the Service Agent explained how it had happened and what they had done to repair it, all in sign language. I said my goodbyes to him and my lovely friend on reception, Maria, who calls me Mr Gill in a manner that is inappropriate for a young women of her age to a man of mine, I do like it though!
I was home in two shakes and after a final cuppa we took the luggage to an area where I could get close with the car and Wendy guarded it while I ran up and down those bloody stairs bringing it all down. I said goodbye to Francisco and he gave me a very hearty handshake and continued to talk to me fluently in Spanish so I have absolutely no idea what he said.
I got the car and had Wend and the luggage loaded in no time at all and we were on our way, over the big bridge, heading north to Saville.
The journey to Saville was without incident, it was a different matter when we got there.
Our host told me we could unload outside the apartment but not park there. She did give some streets details where we could park for free.
As I approached the area where the first free street was I needed to change lanes. We were heading to some lights and I indicated in very good time, but the lad behind would not give me room, he actually horned me. I was running out of space so I tried to pull in and I got more, this time, long horn treatment. I slowed down and eventually waited behind him at the lights. He had achieved bugger all, well apart from making me want to get out of the car and clock him one.
We got to the area where the free parking was and it was choc-a-block with traffic and nose to tail parking, so no luck there then.
I decided to go to the apartment as we were meeting our host at 15:00 and it was now ten minutes to.
We are in a very narrow street and as I unloaded the car I blocked the road, so I dropped Wendy off with the host and went to find a car park.
The apartment is within the old city walls, well it would be wouldn’t it.
I googled, 24 hour, paid parking in Seville and although I got several hits, everywhere was fully booked for the date I wanted, today and tomorrow. I then Googled parking advice for Seville and I got a TripAdvisor page that said, on no account take a car into Seville without first pre-booking parking. Jeepers I wished Susana had told me that!
It also said that you are only allowed 45 minutes in the old city walls, unless you are a resident, after that you get a charge of 20 euros per hour and there are over 20 cameras monitoring traffic. I used google maps to get me to a location out of the city walls in 5 Nano seconds, this Yorkshireman wasn’t getting any congestion charge.
As I drove I saw an underground car park, with space, so I entered. The place was empty, which was a bit interesting. There were a few cars, but not as many as I would have thought given the number of cars on the streets, it’s a traffic disaster.
I parked the car and I thought I would ask the price for two days, but there wasn’t anyone manning the information desk.
I looked at a sign which indicted 136 euros for 24 hours. I thought, “That can’t be right”. An old fella was hanging about so I translated, “How much is it for 24 hours here”, in Spanish.
He looked at the translation and pointed to the 136 euro sign. I shook my head and I typed out 136 euros? on my phone.
Si, Si Senor, it is mucha, mucha!!!
136 euros to park the car for 24 hours, what, never!!!!
I settled my account ASAP and was out of that car park faster than you can say, “Well I never”.
Luck was shining down on my little head though as on the next street I found a plumb empty space. What good look!!! It had a P sign and the word BATERIA on it. I translated it and it came out as DRUMS in English, not much help there then.
I called our host and he asked me to send the pics via WhatsApp and he gave me the thumbs up, it was free. But being the Yorkshireman I am I double checked with a man at a bar and he spoke good English. He assured me it was free and I told him about the car park incident and the 136 euros. He looked skywards and said, “This is Seville”.
I got back to Wendy at the apartment not long after as I was about a mile away. It’s a nice apartment and it’s much more spacious than the last one, and would you believe again that we are within earshot of lots of bars. In fact the local bar was rammed with people when we went out for a walk.
We walked around, just to get our bearings as it was getting late and Seville has the feeling of a very interesting city, albeit with mad drivers and traffic beyond Paris or even Rome proportions, I have never seen so many cars.
As we wandered we saw quite a few lovely buildings, mainly churches but I could not get a good photo as the streets are so close together, in fact it is that tight you cannot really see the whole of the building as it disappears into another one.
We found a very nice tapas bar, and guess what we did, we had tapas.
But as it was too early for evening food we could only get cold tapas, so we had, potato salad, giant mussels and some lovely tuna. It was, dare I say, a delight.
We walked around some more, I did a chat through with Brad who helped me out with a house sale matter tonight, thanks Brad!
We found the river and it looks very nice with a nice cycle track along it, which might just be our running destination tomorrow.
As darkness fell we headed back and I started to file my copy for today while Wendy chuckled along in her ear phones, in bed at some Netflix series she’s watching.
As I wrote I took a phone call from my mate David Brown who is a real decent fella from Australia. David has a farm in the interior of New South Wales and they have just had a terrible drought, and would you believe now its harvest time they have had rain, which is not helping. His wheat yield isn’t good but what he has produced will get a good price as its high just now. It was great to hear from him, I met Dave when he stayed with us in the summer, he’s a top Aussie!
As we finished the call Wendy came out of the bedroom starving hungry, well she’s only had tapas for heaven’s sake and asked that I make her some toast, which I happily did on yet another new-fangled toasting device.
Tomorrows another exciting day, a full day exploring yet another ancient city!!
Seville
No Travelling
I forgot to mention in my last copy about the trip north yesterday, we passed some very interesting agriculture. We saw fields of arable crops, which had obviously been harvested and then row upon row of both olive and orange groves. We even saw fields of cotton. This got Wendy interested so she did some Googling and indeed she found that this area of Spain is one of the most fertile due to the fact that there are some very large rivers which provide the sustenance for the crops and good quality soil.
We also came across three Osbourne Bulls, I wish we had logged where we have seen them before, I’m sure that on all of our trips to Spain we must have bagged at least half of them.
This morning I was up and about before seven, but it did not get light until turned eight. I could not get Wendy out of bed, she was staying put so I set off out running on my own.
I got completely disoriented and therefore completely lost in the first mile of my run, having started off in the absolute wrong direction. Thankfully I came across a landmark I had seen before and managed to get to the river for a very nice run as the sun climbed from behind the buildings.
At the end I came across two things, one, the end of the river, it just stopped and after looking back on Google mapping it quite clearly is a dead end, the river comes in much further down and feeds this blind spur, its big mind. The second was a fantastic sculpture in a small park. I got a photo of it but it is so big it is hard to convey its size in a picture.
I got back and got lost on the last few streets, it’s so easy to do so as the streets are so alike and the GPS loses sight of the satellites due to the closeness of the buildings. I think you need to have line of sight on about six satellites for the GPS to be workably accurate.
When I did eventually get back Wendy was up and about so I had some toast, burning my finger in the process on that silly, fancy toaster and showered and off we went to find the car. But I got us lost, again!!! We actually had to retrace our way back to the apartment to start again. I did know I was going a different route, but I thought I could fall back on Google mapping if I was unsure but the dam trouble is, would you believe? The street is the same name, word for word as a small town about 30 miles away and it kept trying to take me there.
I even asked a policeman, who used his phone and it did the same to him, so he directed me, unconvincingly to the approximate area, that’s when I decided to start again.
But it was actually meant to be as we came across the world’s largest wooden structure, which Wendy had read about in a tourist magazine in the apartment, it’s called, “Mushroom of the Incarnation” and is abstract modern art. It covers an area of 150 x 70 metres and is 26 metres above ground. It also cost 7.5 million euros in 2005, wow that’s some amount of money for firewood!
Thankfully I got it right the second time around and we found the car all nicely tucked up without a parking ticket, yet!
We called in at Aldi on the way back for provisions and as we dropped them off at the apartment we had a coffee and a sarnie and set off for a tour of the city, and what a fantastic city it is.
The sun was out and when you caught sight of it it was hot but when you were in the shadows it was very cold, so Wendy persuaded me to buy a fancy, bouffant scarf and it makes me look extremely dapper, and Spanish.
We made our way to the Cathedral and it is another stunner, it’s massive. Building commenced in 1401 and lasted 106 years and it was built so large that when it was finished people would think the people who had it built mad.
It is the largest gothic church in the world and the third largest Christian church in the world too. It is also the world’s largest Cathedral as the two bigger churches do not have Bishops assigned to them.
From there we meandered around the side streets before having a lovely bite to eat in a tapas bar, tortilla and slow cooked beef, jeepers it was delicious.
The streets and squares were mobbed with people, it’s like suddenly Christmas is upon them. Lots of people were in bars and eating food and they were all very good natured if not a bit rowdy. Some street bars were 15 people deep, they were that busy.
After a good old walk around town we headed to the river and we came across the Golden Tower which is a defensive tower built in the 13th century, almost at the end of the Muslim period. It gets its name from the golden tiles which adorn its roof and reflect the sunlight for miles around.
We walked along the river in the sun and it was very nice indeed. The sun was hot so my scarf, body warmer and jumper were all off and were either carried or tied around my waist.
But by 5pm the sun had lost its heat so it was all put back on to combat the chill of the coming night.
We walked around a lot more and came across what appeared to be the world’s thinnest house, well that’s our unofficial verdict anyway.
There is some stunning architecture in Seville and the sunshine certainly brings out their best features. It was warm and sunny after around 1pm at 22 degrees which was perfect for strolling and viewing.
As darkness started to come in we walked in the square close to us where there was a craft market and children’s fair, it was mobbed. The bars were mobbed too and you could hear someone in the middle strumming a guitar.
We had a breather at the apartment, well we had walked over 12 miles all in all, but before supper we nipped to the supermarket for some milk to make our pasta sauce. Just as we went into the supermarket we passed a bar which was absolutely stowed out, they were a noisy lot, making a right old racket. But do you know what? There wasn’t a hint of hostility, they’ve been boozing in one form or another all day long and they behaved themselves impeccably, now imagine that happing in the UK? No I can’t either.
Supper was a knock-up affair, sausages, mushrooms and pasta sauce, it was good old comfort food and I loved it.
It’s almost time to settle down for Strictly Dancing, (I always get nervous around this time as it’s been a bit hit and miss with the combination of Wi-Fi, 3G and the VPN, but as I file copy I have Pointless Celebrities on right now, so it’s looking good for the dancing).
It’s been a fantastically interesting day, but you need more than one day to explore Seville as it’s much, much larger than Cadiz, but whatever you do, don’t bring your car!!!
Late Night Supplemental – After Strictly where I voted online for Lauren, Stacy and Joe about 42 times we went out for a walk. The bars and the Square was still buzzing. We went out mainly to see the Christmas lights and they were lovely but cameras don’t take great pics of lights in the dark, strangely.
We came across a fantastic concept, like a fish market tapas, where you just dine and drink at the fish counter, I wish I had seen this earlier, I am going to have to come back.
We rounded off the night with a drink in the bar right next door to our apartment, not that you would know, you can’t hear any noise from it at all. It’s a good old fashioned tapas bar where the cooking range is directly behind the bar, and they do cold tapas to the left and hot to the right. They even mark your payments as you order in chalk on the bar as you run it up, it was brilliant and it gives me yet another reason to come back.
Night, Night everybody, thankfully check out isn’t until 12:00 tomorrow!!!
Seville to Lisbon
289 Miles
What a pillock I was this morning, a prize one actually, top billing, best ever, let me explain.
I was up at 07:10, had breakfast, was joined by Wendy and she dressed and we went out running together and I immediately went the wrong way, big style. Thankfully Wendy grabbed me and took me the right route.
Ah, of course I remember, it’s this way, I’ll lead and off I went, in the wrong direction, again!!!
Wendy did look puzzled but I was in the right and off we went, Wendy reluctantly following.
After a mile where I thought, hang on this is the wrong way, I stopped and checked my app map and yes, I was lost, again. Wendy caught up and I said, “Why didn’t you jar me and pull me back?” Wendy replied, “You were off, you knew where you were going, who was I to stop you again”.
So after a bit of street meandering we were down by the river and about a mile out of our way.
But we carried on, Wendy went down the ramp to the riverside to go and find the big statue I found yesterday and I went over the bridge to see what was on the other side of the river. I got over the bridge and it all looked so complicated, with no running paths, so I came back and followed Wendy down the ramp, in fact I could see her disappearing into the distance, I wasn’t going to catch her, that was for sure.
I stopped at my three mile mark and caught Wendy coming back, and she was excited about finding the big statue but confused as to what it was about. She later Googled it and found pictures of it, but no information.
Wendy got back first and then I got back, but not until I got lost yet again in the small back streets, what a Wally.
We had another breakfast, showered and packed up our stuff, I went for the car………………..and you know what happened, don’t you?
I got lost, again, hopefully lost, in the wrong direction. I was gutted, how on earth did that happen, I have been to and from the car on four occasions now but yet I still buggered it up.
In the end I phoned Wendy who tracked me and told me which way to turn and which road to go down so I could get to the car. I got my last phone call asking me if I was at Burger Kings yet, (It’s on the corner where the car is), and I looked up and saw Burger King, phew. How on earth she managed it I do not know.
The SatNav got me back and thankfully there was a space I could park in outside the apartment while I loaded the car. We set off at exactly 12:00, just on check out time!
And as much as I loved Seville, it did cause me navigational difficulties, it’s one of those unexplained things, I just could not get my bearings!
We went over the bridge and out of the city and we were on our way, but we needed diesel so I pulled off the motorway and thankfully the SatNav took me through a 3 mile detour which terminated at a filling station just before I got back on the motorway.
We had a 300 mile drive on our hands, but we had a full flask, sarnies and left over cold sausages which we ate along the route maintaining moral as we hovered up the miles.
The drive was half motorway and half primary road which made for an interesting drive.
We crossed the border at 2:30 pm and all my clocks changed back one hour to GMT, so we are now fully synced with the UK. The first thing Wendy said was, “We had better remember that for the Strictly result show”. Shes always thinking my Wendy!
As we passed we had a laugh or two, Googling silly things and listening to Dearne FM.
Mike, the afternoon DJ told us some useless information such as, the day after tomorrow has got its own name, it’s called Overmorrow. Well I never, neither of us has ever heard of that before so Wendy Googled it, of course, and dam right its true.
Next Google was the original singers on the first Band Aid single from 1985. It was a Christmas song on the radio so we tried to remember who all the singers were. We had a good shot but Google found us out, we had missed David Bowie, Spandau Ballet, The Eurythmics, the Human League and Heaven 17, our memories aren’t that good after all.
On we drove and we were in the hills and we drove the entire width of Portugal with only cork tree plantations for company. The roads were empty which was a bonus as Wendy is not a fan of driving in Portugal as you Avid Readers will no doubt know.
When we were within 10 miles of Lisbon the traffic got a little thicker and Wendy got a little stressed, I don’t know why because it’s me who’s driving and I’m fine with it.
We were within 0.8 miles of the hotel when the SatNav played up, which meant us having to tour the city more than Wendy liked, but we got there eventually and we parked the car in the underground carpark at the hotel and that’s where she will stay until she’s needed on Wednesday.
We checked in without any problems and we quickly dropped our bags and did a short walk around the area around the hotel.
We found out that Lisbon is highly populated and hilly, very hilly indeed.
We came across a massive Christmas fayre in a park, it was huge with lots of small food outlets, bars and shops. There were rides for kids and even an ice rink. It was mobbed, which led us to believe this has been a holiday weekend in both Spain and Portugal.
We got back to the apartment where we had a tuna burger of all things in the restaurant and then we went up to watch the Strictly results show, which took some doing as the hotel Wi-Fi is slow and the BBC IPlayer app wasn’t working too well, but being a smarty pants I switched to 3G and opened the iPlayer website which did the trick.
The hour back as thrown us a bit, it was dark at 5PM which means it will be light earlier which is something we really don’t need, not as I have now grown into taking a lie in until well past 07:00.
Tomorrow is another adventure day, I’d better get my beauty sleep tonight!
Lisbon
No Travelling
We both had disturbed sleep last night. When we went to sleep we left the window open, we are on the 3rd floor and front facing but it was deathly quiet when we turned in, but that all changed. I heard someone shouting, someone trundling a suitcase along the cobbles and then someone opening a roller shutter at 5am. That did it for me I closed the window and found my ear plugs, stuffed them in and tried to nod back off, but I didn’t really and I was up at 06:00.
Would you believe as I got up, Wendy too was awake and the room was warm so I opened the window again and five minutes later, what a racket was coming from directly below. A coach was loading a gang of people and they were acting like it was 2 in the afternoon, at 10 past bloody 6. Wendy said someone ought to have told them to be quite, I said, “Wendy, they’re adults, they shouldn’t need telling”. Jeepers, some people!!!
Wendy ran with me as she was worried about getting lost, well that’s a good one, she more likely to get lost with me that with herself!
At 3 miles, Wendy turned back while I had a rest as I was hot and needed to cool and also, as my cough has got worse, my lungs were burning a bit. As I looked around where I was I saw litter galore, what a mess. It’s been the same in Spain, and I imagine it’s most likely the same in the UK. We also went to find out later that Lisbon also have a very bad graffiti problem, it’s everywhere. I would dish out some very hefty sentences to anyone caught, make an example of them and cut it dead, and I mean hefty sentences, maybe ten years, it is such a bad problem in this beautiful city.
I got back to the hotel and after a shower we went down for breakfast and what a treat it was. It was the best possible continental breakfast we could ever have. It was thoughtful, fresh and tasty. There was plenty of variety too. Wendy is so excited about going back in the morning!
We set off for a walk with seven aims:
Mission accomplished taking in 20.1 miles, 15.4 of them being walked and 4.7 of them by a very interesting mode of transport, read on Avid reader.
We walked on a long loop down to the Alfama as we had run down to the shore by the direct route on our run and we wanted to take in as much of the city as we could, and we were not disappointed as we came across a huge waterfall, it’s called The Fonte Luminosa, it was fantastic. We stood and watched it then we went up the stairs to see it from above, which was when we first saw the graffiti, (I won’t include any graffiti in my copy, they’re not getting any free publicity from DG). It was stunning!!! (not the graffiti).
Next we walked around the streets of Alfama, and it was a very hilly area. We were aiming for the Castelo de Sao Jorge, which is a small walled city, built centuries ago to protect the rich. Our first attempt ended in failure as we climbed the wrong hill, but we did get some stunning views across the city.
I then used Google mapping only to be thwarted by a construction project that closed the walkways making us go down again and then we had to climb back up again, but we got there in the end, a bit sweaty mind. We saw it, but we didn’t go inside as we had time passing and the sun wasn’t going to stay out much later than 5pm.
On our way down we came across a young women who was selling prints of the area and Wendy bought one which is lovely, and they were really well priced too.
Our next stop was the cathedral and it's another cracker, it’s the oldest church in Lisbon and since the beginning of its construction in 1147, the building has been modified several times and survived many earthquakes. It is nowadays a mix of different architectural styles and has been classified as a National Monument since 1910.
We went inside and found yet another stunning structure, jeepers the Iberians knew how to build a church in days gone by.
As we made our way to the bay we came across a really nice looking local restaurant, we Hummed and Ahhed and then went in for a treat. We had the set meal for 10 euros which consisted of a fish cake starter, a half-litre of wine a main meal, I had the sea bass and Wendy had the pork, a dessert and a coffee. Not bad eh?
The dessert was the best tasting I have ever had, it was a local dish, a very tasty biscuit type, sweet crumble on a very tasty type of custard, it was just up my street, the wine was very nice too. The waiter was a very friendly man and explained everything we had in really good English. He even gave Wendy some advice about the Romanian pick pockets and her back pack. It was aright she told him, it’s only got lipstick in it!
From there we followed the shoreline towards the Atlantic, the sun was out and it was lovely and warm and the walk was very pleasant.
We walked under the bridge spanning the bay, it’s called 25th April Bridge and it is the longest suspension bridge in Europe. It took 45 months to build and was opened in August 1966, it has two levels, the top for traffic and the lower, which was added in 1999, is for trains.
It was originally called the Salazar Bridge, who was the countries dictator until he was overthrown by revolution on the 25th April in 1974, hence the new name!
It was designed by the American Bridge Company, who also built the Golden Gate Bridge and this is why they are often compared.
It is 1.42 miles long and it has a 70 metre clearance from the sea, its traffic is 150,000 cars and 157 trains daily.
It is indeed a stunning bridge!!!
Onwards we walked our next point to view was a few miles away, Padrao dos Descobrimentos which is a huge concrete structure right at the waters edge.
It is dedicated to the 15th to 16th century Age of Discovery when Portuguese explorers set out across the oceans to seek the New World. It was from this point where the ships would set sail to far off destinations like India and the Far East.
The monument was designed by José Ângelo Cottinelli Telmo and created by Leopoldo de Almeida in 1939 as a temporary attraction for the Portuguese World Fair of 1940. The monument was dismantled after the exposition but in 1960 was reconstructed, this time as a permanent feature on the water’s edge, it’s another stunner.
Our final viewing for today was another mile further along the shore, and the sun was getting low so we doubled to it, The Belem Tower.
This impressive defence tower (officially called – Torre de Sao Vicente) was constructed on a rock outcrop but over the years the water levels have changed and it is now on the bank at low tide so visitors can walk right up to it across a small bridge. The tower was completed in 1520 during the reign of Manuel I as one of a series of defence towers built to protect the harbour. Sailors and explorers would see the tower as they approached the harbour and it became an iconic symbol of home.
We saw it just before sunset and it was quite impressive.
By now we had done 12 miles walking and I thought Wendy needed a pick me up so we stopped and had a glass of wine in a coastline bar and it was a very welcome rest indeed.
As we walked off we saw the army undertake the end of day routines at what appeared to be a war memorial, so we stopped and watched and it was very sombre, they had a last post which was somewhat similar to our last post. But I have to say the sergeants marching as they departed left something to be desired, he was like Spotty Dog on steroids!
We walked back along the shoreline and saw a replica of a plane that flew the last leg of the first crossing of the South Atlantic, I don’t really get this, who did the first legs, and more importantly, how?
It was about a 5 mile walk to the starting point at the shoreline where we had to walk another 3 miles to the hotel, so I saw a Tuk-Tuk and engaged in price negotiations and got a 25% discount. It was a terrific journey and the lad was really nice and interesting. It was our very first Tuk-Tuk experience and I think Wendy very much appreciated it.
It was an electric model and will last all day, and it will charge all night and it saved us 4.7 miles and I know that for a fact because I niftily marked my mileage before and after we boarded, well I do like accuracy, it’s something to do with my ADHD!
After being dropped off at the square where the cruise ships dock we walked back up to the hotel through a city which is very much in the Christmas spirit. Wendy found the shops amazing and she has already identified several shoe shops she intends to explore tomorrow. Not with me she’s not, I clearly recall Granddad Bryans words to me that he would never go shoe shopping with Wendy every again, and I intend to follow that advice to the letter!
Back at the hotel Wendy kicked off her shoes, showered, got jim-jammed up and into bed with a glass of wine, and who can blame her, she’s earnt it today.
It’s been a cracker!
Lisbon
No Travelling
I had a poor nights sleep, it wasn’t noise, I had my ear plugs firmly inserted and the windows closed, but a mixture of coughing and nightmares kept me awake. I don’t normally have nightmares but I have had two on this trip, I’m beginning to see how the Prime Minister must feel!
Wendy would not get out of bed for a morning run so I went alone, in search of the mystery park we believe to be a mile or two away, its huge so it should be easy to find.
I followed my map but I couldn’t get there, a, it was far too hilly, and I mean hilly, by the time I got back I had gone over 700 feet high, and b, it was just too far away, I could see it but it was just beyond me, so I went back and had a stonking breakfast.
I had a ham croissant and juice and then I had coffee with a lovely Portuguese delicacy, which is an open pastry bun with a custard filling, it is extremely tasty and tomorrow we intend to snaffle some for our trip north to Porto, to have with coffee from the flask.
After breakfast we set off with just two aims:
I used Google maps to take us to Parliament and it did, in a fashion. First we went hill walking upto the high peaks of the city, then the map did an about turn and took us in another direction up yet more hills only for it to take us back to where the about turn occurred. Unperturbed we carried on, well it was a nice sunny day and all was well.
The problem as I have said before is the narrow streets and the tall buildings.
However the Royal Navy has made a huge breakthrough in developing a map location service that doesn’t rely on satellites. This is a huge leap forward and they have done it because currently not only are there are problems with buildings but it is also open to being hacked and locations falsified. In a military manner this is quite a bad situation as our friends the Russians can alter lots of things using GPS satellites, like missiles and targeting. I don’t know when it will be available for domestic use, but I hope it’s darn soon because my little legs can’t take any more.
We found the Parliament building and the Prime Ministers Residence and what struck me was the lack of real hard core security. There was one bobby outside the Prime Ministers Residence with only a side arm, I know because I spoke to him. There was one bobby on the steps to Parliament and two ceremonial guards with what looked like swords.
In fact the UK Embassy which we also passed was more heavily guarded with barriers and road blocks and one armed guard with both a side arm and an assault weapon.
Parliament is a very grand building but the close proximity to other buildings doesn’t allow a full photograph to be taken. In fact the building is surrounded by residential accommodation which could easily house someone with nasty intentions.
From there we walked downhill and to the shore line as we intended to walk north along the coast in the opposite direction we went yesterday.
The sun was out and it was very warm indeed, so much so all our top cloths were rammed into my backpack and it was short sleeve order.
We came across a cracking find on our tour, an indoor market with a mixture of vegetable stalls, meat counters and lots and lots of food and wine bars, it was brilliant and it was full to the brim.
We gave the market a good tour and selected a few meal options should we feel peckish a little later on.
From there we walked further along the coast and came across a small cruise liner, the Marco Polo, which is a British owned cruise ship but which is registered in Nassau and can carry 650 passengers with berths and 500 deck passengers?
In July 2009 whilst berthed at Invergordon, during a health inspection by the local port health officials, up to 150 passengers were discovered to have been infected with what was presumed to be the norovirus. The number of infected passengers and crew subsequently rose to 400. Three passengers were taken to Raigmore Hospital with serious complications and the rest of the cruise was cancelled with passengers having the option to take the return leg back to Tilbury on board or go home via other means.
As we marched on we saw yet another impressive looking big church up on the hill, we had to take the opportunity, we just had to see it. But this time we planned our route and didn’t use technology, we used old fashioned skills of plotting aroute through ourselves and it worked a treat.
We had found the once Church of Santa Engracia which in the 20th century was converted into the National Pantheon in which important Portuguese personalities are buried. It is located in Alfama neighbourhood, close to another important Lisbon monument the Monastery of Sao Vicente de Fora, which we also came across.
The building is massive and we took a tour and amongst the famous people interred there I came across the casket where the Portuguese footballing legand Eusebio lies.
We walked up hundreds of steps to the terrace which gave us a stunning view of the city and as the sun was beaming we had a lovely half hour there taking it all in, we also saw a very large market laid out a few streets away where Wendy later bought some earrings.
By now our tums were starving so we headed to the market in search of food, and we found a stonking bar where good wine and both meat and fish tartare was served.
We shared, Tuna, Asian Beef and Sea Bass tartare. Wendy’s favourite was the tuna, mine was all three. The only disappointment was that the bread was very farty, it was very finely sliced and had been toasted and it wasn’t up to the job of wiping my plate and therefore preventing me from getting the full delight of my food to the very last drop!
After a relaxing lunch we walked through the shops and on the seventh shop she entered Wendy Gill bought a very nice pair of black boots, I on the other hand relaxed by sitting down and watching the world go by.
I mentioned yesterday about two pet hates I have about Lisbon, litter and graffiti, well I have another and its chestnut roasters! They are all over the place and they are chucking smoke out into the local atmosphere and it stinks. It gets even worse as the temperature drops as the smoke cools quickly before it rises very far and then it becomes heavy and hangs around at head height. I was sat out while Wendy was ploughing through the shoe shops, in a quite closed shopping street, with outdoor restaurants and there was a smoker at each end and one in the middle, I needed my Fire Service Breathing Apparatus just to survive!
We walked back to the hotel for a bit of a rest, well we had done 14 miles and today we were supposed to take it steady! As we walked we came across a group of cars that had been clamped and would you believe, gift wrapped!
At 19:30, after watching about an hour of the shambles in the House of Commons we took a walk through the Christmas Fair, in the local park. It was much quieter than it was on Sunday night. It was still very pleasant nonetheless with English language Christmas songs booming out over the loud speakers. Does no one sing Christmas songs in the Portuguese language?
We bought a small pie and a small pastry from Mr Pig, (Yes that’s his name) and we ate them in the hotel room. They were a bit baked, but they were also nice and tasty.
Apart from running tomorrow, that’s us done with Lisbon as it off on the road again tomorrow. What I can say though, despite my pet hates we have had a cracking time here, it’s a really pretty city and it’s also got a very safe feel about it. If you get the chance give it a go, but I bet it’s hot in summer so be warned!
Lisbon to Porto
196 Miles
Wendy came out running with me this morning and we were reasonably early setting off, just after 7am. We ran down to the coastline but Wendy waved me goodbye after getting caught out at the second crossing. I waited, running on the spot when she got trapped at the first crossing, and I waited about 5 minutes as the lights are so slow, but she waved me off the second time, so off I went.
And I encountered a very interesting phenomenon!!!
The sky was clear blue over the city but over the sea there was a very dense sea harr and I was on the very visible dividing line. I saw jetliners fly into it and disappear, it was very bizarre and interesting at the same time.
I got back to the apartment and Wendy was just drying her hair and we went down for our last delightful breakfast. It was lovely and we did a very naughty thing, we snaffled two small quiche and two small custard cakes for our lunch en-route to Porto.
We set off at around 10:30 and got stuck in extremely slow moving traffic for the first half hour. All I had to do was turn right in 350 yards, according to the SatNav but it took 30 minutes to crawl there, why, lord only knows.
After we were free we were off and out of the city before you could say, “Is it time for lunch?”
I had investigated this route as there is no direct route between the two cites apart from the motorway toll roads. I found some very good advice and it went something like this, “I don’t like to do toll roads and I will avoid them on almost every occasion, but having done the journey between Lisbon and Porto many times, I have to admit that the toll road is the best option, its half the time and the cost of the toll versus the fuel lost makes it cheaper”
The times were toll road, 3 hours, none toll, 6 hours.
That sounded very good advice to me, so I took it.
We got about ten miles out of Lisbon and arrived at the toll both where Wendy duly collected the toll ticket.
I had broken my glasses while I was waiting for Wendy to get the hotel to open the carpark electric doors, I was cleaning them and the screw pulled out and would not screw back in and as they were my distance glasses I had to repair them. I pulled into a service station, but it came along at about 50 miles just after Wendy had poured me some coffee.
As I drank my coffee Wendy rummaged in the boot looking for some tape for a makeshift repair. I was absentmindedly clearing the clutter out from the front of the car and as Wendy got in she said “What’s that?” I said, “It’s the clutter from the front there, I’ve been meaning to chuck it out for a while”. As she had the rubbish bin on her side she through it all out.
Off we set and the journey was easy peasy. We listened to Matts show on Dearne FM and we chuckled along with him. Wendy refused to send him an email as I knew the answer to “Number Ones at One”, thankfully she didn’t as I was 7 years out.
We got to the end of the motorway and I asked Wendy if she was ready to pay the toll as it’s on her side and she did an almighty exclamation, not to be repeated for sensitive ears!
I’ve thrown the ticket out with the rubbish you gave me.
I said don’t worry, I’m sure its happened before, just explain we came on at the start and we’ll have to pay full fair.
However, that wasn’t actually the case as we ended up paying almost twice as much at 56 euro, instead of 30 euros. Wendy commenced recriminations, but I quelled the revolt by saying, “Wend, there no use in crying over spilt milk”. But I think she still blames me, but I’m adamant it’s a 50 / 50 split!
We got to our hotel around 2:30pm and parked in the car park as advised and checked in, and it’s lovely. We are on the 11th floor with nice views and there is a restaurant on the 17th with stunning views. I’ll get some pics tomorrow as it was dark when we found it.
We walked into the Old Town and our hearts sank, Porto is an extremely and I really mean this, an extremely hilly city. In fact the river runs through what in places is almost a gorge. So running may be off the cards for two days for Wendy.
The city is beautiful and we found it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which it really is.
We only had an hour’s daylight after the check in lardy-darr so we bombed around and walked downtown to the river front.
On our way down we saw the train station and called in as it is supposed to be a stunner, and what I think I’ll call the ticket office area was stunning indeed with very large murals made from blue tiles, I’d go as far to say it’s as interesting a place as Chicago’s Grand Railway Station.
We found a group of young people from Brittney cooking food on the river wall and Wendy got chatting to them. They are sailing around Europe sharing their culture. They made Wendy a vegetable crepe, and we shared it and it was very tasty.
I told one young fella I loved sailing and said I’d love to go along with them, he said they had room for me and I was very tempted, very tempted indeed.
Porto is located on the Douro River estuary so it’s not that far from the sea, but despite that the river is very fast flowing at this point.
It truly is a fantastically beautiful city and I hope to get lots of photographs for tomorrows copy.
We took the funicular railway up the hill and at 2.50 euros each we thought it to be very good value. The ride up was interesting and we landed half way up the hill, but having got the steepest of it out of the way. The walk back, although up hill, was much easier as the incline wasn’t so steep.
We had a beer, our first Super Bok of our Portugal leg, in a bar overlooking the river and it was quite nice.
We wandered the streets as it got dark and we were back at the hotel in no time. When we were almost there we saw the same church we had seen as we left, but this time it was open and all lit up. I snook inside for a photo opportunity and it is a very delightful church. I’ll try and go in tomorrow too for more pics.
After a breather in our room we took a walk into the city for supper and we came across a huge walk through Christmas tree which looked like it was in front of city hall and it was brilliant, I was mesmerised by it. Looking up from the inside was a very heartening experience.
For supper we went to a restaurant I had seen this afternoon, I had checked the menu and I liked the fact that the waiter who was outside didn’t pester me, but let the menu do the talking, and I liked what they had to offer.
I ordered the fillet minion, with chips and spinach and Wendy ordered the cod, with potatoes and spinach and a bottle of wine.
After a suitable period of waiting the food came, mine was lovely, Wendy’s wasn’t cooked, and it wasn’t edible.
It was taken back and it took an age to come back to the table and the very nice waitress apologised and said we could have a free dessert. But we declined, it was almost 9pm and we didn’t want to sleep on a pudding.
And then the cod came back well after I had finished mine, I mean well after and it had been blasted in the microwave, the cod was rubbery and the spuds were nowhere near as tasty as mine.
Now this is where I have to watch my temper in situations like this because when Wendy had finished it the waiter came and took our plates and I politely told him that the meal wasn’t upto scratch and that I could have cooked cod better than that, and I really can. He apologised and that was fair enough.
I then got the impression that we were being treated a little bit like leapers, no one came near the table, in fact at one point the waitress wandered in our direction and realised she was in difficult waters.
Wendy asked for the bill and when it came I didn’t get involved, but I did ask the waitress if the chef was a man or a women, she said he was a man. Now I know that the, “Me 2” movement might take exception to this but if I had put out an inedible meal I would have had the self-respect to go and apologise, I would have given a women a bit of leeway in not expecting that because for all she knew I could be abusive. There I go again thinking a woman can’t take abuse, but that’s me.
But he didn’t and that’s all I can say about him. The bill had no reduction and I wasn’t going to ask for one, I would have got myself into much more of a lather, so I left it.
And that, Avid Reader is why I like TripAdvisor, its where good service can be complemented and bad service can be ripped apart, and it will be!
Time for a dram, to ease my bloody cough!
Porto
No Travelling
Our hotel is spiffing don’t you know?
We have a fancy thing for the newspapers in reception and there is even an electrical gadget that can dry your brolly in minutes. The hotel is privately owned and has been in the same family since the 1970’s.
There are 18 floors, well actually that’s not right as there is no 13th floor, so that makes 17 floors with the top two being bars and restaurants each with an open terrace giving spectacular views across the city. The staff are all very friendly too!
We both went out running at 08:00, Wendy was determined to find somewhere without hills, I just went down to the Tram bridge, ran over that and climbed a mountain for the next two miles, sweating like a sweaty person who is very sweaty, and out of breath.
I had some water to drink and set off back, the sun was out and it was going to be a cracking day. I came down that hill like I was flying but then I had to go back up another for the last mile. There are hills wherever you turn in this city.
I got back to the hotel and sat on the wall to cool off. I can check Wendy’s running app to see where she had been as by now she would be in the room. She had done just over 4 miles and seemed to be trying to avoid at all costs running up a hill.
She told me she was shattered as she kept running into hills and gave up and came back. Tomorrow I am going to bite the bullet and run to the river, which is miles down into the gorge and then run back, it just a challenge that’s calling me. Wendy’s thinking it over?
Breakfast was lovely, the last hotels breakfast was great this was 42 times better, it was a delight and I could have filled my boots twice over. Everything was fresh, the orange and apple juice, even the scrambled eggs were perfect.
After breakfast we set off out and headed to the tram bridge to go over to the south side of the city to take the cable car down to the Port area, The Ribeira District where all the Port is made. We aren’t sure what came first, the City called Porto, or Port giving its name to the city.
Just before the bridge is the Cathedral, it’s another huge building and we did a walk around but we didn’t have time to go inside as we only had around 6 hours of daylight. It was impressive none the less and was built in XII, which we think is the 12th Century, (This even had Google twitching!).
We then boarded the cable car which was brilliant, it was really good to see the city from a different aspect.
We landed on firm ground and I set off for the Sandeman winery and I found it, but this was the factory and the shop was further along the river, so off we set. Wendy spotted her favourite Spanish Shop, Au Natural and in she went, I went for a beer, a Super Bock beer, in the sun.
We found the shop and I did indeed make a purchase of Sandeman port.
Sandeman Port was developed by two brothers George and David Sandeman, Scots from Perth, who borrowed £300 from their dad in 1790 and set up trading in Port and Sherry in London, they wanted to make a moderate fortune and retire before the end of the century.
David left the company in 1798 to found the Bank of Scotland, leaving George in sole charge.
In 1811 George moved the business to Porto to a southern waterfront premises where his Port is still made today. Apparently they still have some bottles left from those early days.
As I paid for my purchase, Wendy said, “Glasses”, to me as I had left them on the counter. Quick as a flash the sales lady said, quite sternly, “We don’t say Graciass in Portugal”. Wendy said, “I know, I said glasses and now I say Obrigade”. She’s such a smarty pants that Wendy Gill!
We slowly made our way to the cable car for the impressive ride back and we were at the tram bridge in no time at all. The walk down to the river front was another matter. It is that steep it’s hard to even walk down it.
I had booked a Bridge River Cruise online and I had to pick the tickets up. They had sent them to me online but they wanted a physical copy. We were down at the river and I could not find a ticket office so I did online chatting only to find the office is at the train station, half a mile up that big bloody hill.
I wasn’t very happy so I left Wendy sitting on a wall in the sun and then I ran up that bloody hill, collected the tickets and ran back down, dripping in sweat as I got back. Thankfully we had twenty minutes to pass before boarding so I walked slowly around and manged to dry off, probably smelling a bit iffy in the process.
The cruise was great, we went to and found the six Bridges of Porto!
We motored first under the tram bridge, which has the real name of Luis 1st Bridge. It carries pedestrians and trams on the upper deck and traffic on the much lower deck. When it first opened it was the longest bridge of its type in the world at 564 feet long. It was opened in November 1886 and was built by a student of Gustav Eiffel.
The next bridge is the Infante Bridge which is the most recent addition to Porto’s bridges, 2003, and it is amazing because of its simplicity. The purity of its forms and the beauty of its elegant, thin shape leave travelers jaw-dropped. At its 280 meters arch span, and 371 meters length, the Infante Bridge stands out in every possible way. This is even more so since it is beautifully lightened both on the parapets and under the arch. We used this bridge as we came into Porto.
The third bridge was the old rail bridge which is now disused and is called the Maria Pia Bridge, it was built by Gustav Eiffel in 1877 and spans 1,158 feet and it had, when built, the largest wrought iron span in the world, it was last used by trains in 1991.
Next up was the new rail bridge, the Ponte de São João or St John's Bridge which is quite long at 3,740 feet long. This is the bridge that replaced the old Maria Pia Bridge in 1991.
The last bridge up the river is a new traffic bridge, built as the city expanded in 1995, it is actually two bridges that are built ten centimetres apart, one for going east to west and one going west to east. It is called the Freixo Bridge and it is 2,313 feet long.
Then we about turned into a very cool wind where it was on with jackets before we froze to death.
We then headed back down river to the last bridge, which is the Arrábida Bridge which is an arch bridge of reinforced concrete built in 1963, which carries six lanes of traffic. This is the bridge Wendy and I first crossed last year with the caravan. It looks out to the Atlantic Ocean and I swear when we went over it we thought we were flying in mid-air, it was quite an experience. This bridge is 1,618 feet long and over 230 feet high above the bay, (If you have time read up on this bridge as it is amazing!).
From there we slowly motored back to the breath taking riverside views. It was a fifty minute trip that was worth every penny!
From there we made our way across town to a Lidl where we bought some wine and then finally we got back to the hotel and went to the top floor roof terrace and had a very nice glass of wine all alone as we watched the sun set into a stunning sky.
It’s been another lovely day where we took it a little steadier than of recent days, we did 9.7 miles walking and 6.2 on the boat, but the day wasn’t over yet because I booked us a table in the very romantic roof restaurant as it’s our end of show, show tonight.
Tomorrow we have a long drive to Santander, most likely over mountains so we will be arriving late. Then, of course, its Strictly Saturday where Wendy and I will be glued to the telly, or rather my laptop, so tonight’s the last chance to go for it big style and we did.
After a wee lounge around in our room we had a most amazing supper with a brilliant window table.
We shared a starter of tuna tartar, which came with a raw egg which Wendy stirred in, it was very tasty. Then I had pork cheeks and a mushroom risotto and Wendy had salmon and grilled veg. Both were exceptionally tasty.
The atmosphere in the bar was great, I think there was some presentation party going on as there were a group of men who all sat together, someone did a speech and then there was comfortable clapping.
I made a new mate at the bar when I booked the table, the barman, we got chatting, of a sort and he gave me a ticket for two free glasses of Port for after our meal which we took down to our room as a night cap.
It was a really lovey evening and we are both stuffed.
Think of me in the morning Avid Reader, at about 08:00 GMT, I will be going for it and biting the bullet, its Gill V’s Hill and this Gill is going to win, I hope!!!
Porto to Santander
400 Miles Exactly
I was awake at 06:00 and I sneaked around the bedroom having a cuppa and a breakfast bar and I thought I had done a good job of it, but when I got out of the bathroom Wendy was propped up on her pillow drinking coffee.
It got light just after 07:30 and out we went. It was a very overcast morning and there was a very tiny amount of spittle going on but that wasn’t going to stop us, we were going to bite the bullet and we did!
We ran down to the river which was 1.2 miles in total, all downhill, big style, steep as you will ever find in the city.
We then ran eastwards taking in the majority of the bridges and it was very flat indeed, actually it was a breeze. At the 3 mile point I stopped to take a drink and some photos and Wendy headed back.
The sky was a very funny colour, kind of a blue / grey but it wasn’t cold, just strange.
I made my way back and took the hill up slowly with little steps and I made progress, my lungs burnt, most likely from all the coughing I’ve done but I got there in the end and I found Wendy in the hotel room drying her hair having completed the mission herself, but she didn’t enjoy it, whereas I did.
We took some stuff to the car before breakfast and got into the restaurant at about 09:30 and it was mobbed, there were people everywhere and it was a good old, proper bunfight.
It was still very good quality, this time I had scrambled eggs, bacon and 1 sausage, it was yummy. We also snaffled a ham sarnie each for the journey. We don’t feel bad because we eat so little of what’s available, some people pile their plates and then leave it.
After breakfast we packed and while I tried to set the SatNav Wendy checked us out.
Our first port of call was Lidl to buy some Super Bock beer for my Christmas stock. We bought five cases, well it is Christmas.
Jeepers the Portuguese are just as happy as the Spanish to queue and chitter chat as if the world is not turning, if not more so. The two lots of old people in front of us, waited until all their goods were packed before getting their purses out and then paying with every small denomination coin they had in them. They must have raided their piggy banks to pay for their groceries! I wasn’t pleased having a 400 mile journey in front of us.
The SatNav didn’t recognise our AirBnB address so I just put in a general trip to Santander, toll roads was 400 miles at 6.5 hours, none toll was 421 miles at almost 9 hours. It was a no brainer, it had to be tolls. The trouble is the Portuguese have a mixed system of automatic payment tolls, prepaid tolls where you buy tickets from the newspaper shop and tool booths, you just don’t know, and their online system isn’t very helpful.
But time is time so we went for it and went toll road.
We got lucky at the fist go as it was a pay booth where we parted with 9 euros for about 50 miles.
The next was unlucky as we went through an automatic toll where I now have to work out if and how I can pay, as I might be a fugitive from justice, all for the price of 2.80 euro.
The weather wasn’t much better as we climbed into the Portuguese mountains, in fact it was much worse as we went through very low cloud and low temperatures.
The views were OK, and there were communities built into the hill sides, I just wondered what they all do to make a living because it wasn’t farming country.
At 2:30 pm we crossed into Spain, but the landscape didn’t change much, and we did climb even higher into the mountains. We stopped for fuel and found we were over 5,000 feet above sea level and it was bloody freezing. That’s way above the summit of Ben Nevis and if I looked across the road the mountains were still reaching high into the sky.
We carried on with a snicker bar each having scoffed our sarnies about 2 hours into the trip.
The road levelled off and we were around the 3,000 foot height for a few hundred miles and there where lots of arable fields around us. This must be the staple food supply for Spain as there wasn’t much other than Olives, Oranges and Almonds down south. I don’t recall seeing any sheep at any time either.
We started to go downhill about 30 miles from Santander and we weaved in and out of the mountain passes as we went down. We never came across any toll booths in Spain, thankfully.
We reached Santander on time at 06:40 and eventually after a message we met our host, who speaks not one word of English.
Thankfully we are in a very nice, spacious and warm apartment and while Wendy unpacked and put some washing on I went and got some chicken takeaway.
We were going to go out but it’s very dark and it seems to us to be very cold so we stayed put and as I checked my email messages I received this from Brittney Ferries:
Sailing Cancellation
We are sorry to advise that due to bad weather, your sailing from Santander to Portsmouth on Sunday at 17:15 has been cancelled. Please call 0044 1752 648637 for advice and alternatives. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience.
I tried the number but it’s not staffed until 09:00, I guess we are in for an interesting few days!!!
Santander
No Travelling
I had a very good sleep last night, well apart from being woken by Wendy who was feeling her way around the walls of another strange bedroom in order to go to the bathroom, at 4am!!!
But I nodded off and was wide awake at 06:00, so I got up and as we are in a much bigger apartment I could leave Wendy in bed and close the door while I had my breakfast. It was still dark outside until way past 8am, so I set off, leaving Wendy with coffee in bed, for my run and it was very nice, mild and thankfully dry.
I ran 3 miles out but bypassed town as there is a big hill between us and town and I almost made it to the beach, but not quite. I did however get todays, “Retro Heaven at Half Seven”, right, with my mate Matt. I knew it was 1976, because he played the group, “The Real Thing”, and I remember it because two years later they played at the Civic Hall in Barnsley and I went with Linda Currie and won the raffle which was a bottle of Champagne, which I had to collect from the band on stage, how’s that for Retro?
I got back and Wendy was up and about but in her jimjams still but having undertaken full ablutions, including a manicure.
I had tried to contact the ferry company at 09:00 as advised on the helpline, but it being a French company I was silly enough to think the 09:00 was European time, it wasn’t it was GMT!!!
So I tried again at 10:00 and I was put through immediately to a telephone adviser, that was after I had to go through data protection about the call being recorded for training purposes and that the company will hold it for a year and should I like I can ask for a transcript, why, lord only knows.
Anyway we were offered the day cruise and overnight sleepover which leaves on the bigger vessel on Tuesday morning, and means we leave at 10:30 and dock at 09:15 the next day. This gives us a nice relaxing day at sea, a nice rock to sleep night and then off we go just after breakfast. One thing though, I enquired if I got assistance with accommodation costs but was told no as it was due to weather beyond their control! I thought as much.
A trip to Lidl followed, after I had googled the location. I was a bit bemused by the message that opening times might vary because of the Virgin Mary!
We then went for a very nice walk along the far beaches beyond town. We had walked upto this point last year and had turned around as we had walked a fair way. So I was quite pleased as now we could complete the jigsaw.
The beaches were busy and being put to good use by exercise type people. There were two very large games of middle age men football and some very serious middle to old age bat and ball bikini going on.
I do believe there is a time in the more mature ladies life when she ought to remain modestly dressed during bat and ball performances. There I go again, that’s me firmly out of camp me too now!!! But Wendy does agree.
At this point I got a text message from the ferry company saying I had been transferred from the Tuesday Bilbao ferry to the Tuesday Santander ferry. Somewhat bemused I phoned the company and I got an explanation that it was a group text and that I needn’t worry. However the operator failed to grasp my worry that I was never on the Bilbao ferry in the first place and then seemed to dismiss my concern that they might just have overbooked an already busy boat, oh well I’ll wait until Tuesday, and then that transcript of the recording of my conversation might come in useful
We walked along a very nice promenade and passed beach after beach, then we found a coastal walk that took us around the cliff tops and upto a very nice lighthouse, which was very busy, very busy indeed and there was a café up there that was brimmed to the full with happy diners.
We followed the road back and came across a bar, which resembled a Bernie type pub, with seating outside and what appeared to be a roped off Ala Carte area for the more disconcerning dinner.
We sat out and our order of two beers and a plate of chips was almost not immediately taken. We were attended to, in seconds of sitting down. It was just the old fella waiter could not get to grips with his newfangled IPad order taking system and stood in front of us for at last 7 minutes trying to input our order. Wendy said they need to bring back pen and paper!
The chips were lovely when they came, not long after and the beer nice and cool. I did venture inside to locate the toilets but I found it a little bedlam like as it was stuffed with families and unruly kids.
We left and carried on into town as by now I had managed to contact our host and arrange two more night’s stay in our lovely 4th floor apartment on the edge of town. We had to go outside of AirBnB and a make private arrangement as the AirBnB calendar was not working correctly. I’m happy as it will save me a fiver. But it also saved him 20 quid on AirBnB service charges. We have arranged to make the money drop at 11:00 tomorrow!!!
I therefore had to find a bank in which to acquire the cash amount to conclude the agreement.
We found a bank on the outskirts of town where the cashpoint resembled the bridge of Starship Enterprise with a video feedback of me taking my money.
On checking google maps I could see a shortcut back to the car. This turned out to be through a 675 metre long road tunnel, with a pedestrian walkway. This took us to within 400metres of our car and had saved about 3 miles double back!
We drove back to the apartment for a five minute rest before taking a walk around our local area, and then the penny dropped. The supermarket directly below us was shut, it was 5:30 pm and should be open until 9pm. The crowds on the beach and at the lighthouse hadn’t made the connection with us, it was the shop and the message from Lidl. Wendy was going to Google what’s happening when we return to the apartment.
We stopped for a glass of wine at a small and very friendly bar almost directly across from our apartment. The wine was just acceptable, I think it would have got better with a second one but we didn’t go for it. I settled the tab which was 1.6 euro and we went back to the apartment for supper.
Tonight it was spagbol, provided by Wendy who is almost whimpering with excitement as it’s getting very near Strictly time.
Wendy did indeed Google what’s occurring today and found out it’s a very Holy Day, where the Spanish celebrate the Obligation of the Immaculate Conception of Mary?
It’s been a smashing day, of walking and relaxing, it will soon be time to kick back and see the show, and then an early night is looming, but I say that every night and then by 9pm I seem to catch my second wind and I’m full of life.
The very first thing I will do tomorrow is check the Strictly Spoiler website and hopefully one of the professionals will have gone, either Faye or Ashley and then one of my 3 favorites will have the chance to take the title next weekend!
Santander
No Travelling
It’s quite nice spending unexpected time in Santander as it’s a really interesting place. It not an old town, with a city wall, in fact most of its architecture is modern but thankfully it’s very well designed.
This morning Wendy went running one way, opposite to me in the hope she wouldn’t find any hills. I went the direct route into town, but I only came across one small hill which I would have to come back up along.
The weather was a little overcast but not cold, nor raining which is always a bonus. I ran along the shop fronts and came across the end of the docks where ships offload their goods, and then a little further along I came to the passenger ferry berth where would you believe sat, there in the water, as proud as punch, our vessel, the Cape Finistere.
Well I never, I thought she was storm bond in Portsmouth. I’m guessing they are trying to clear the backlog of passengers that must have accrued from a previous cancellation. In fact I’ll be very interested how they do it because when I booked this trip several months ago it was very hard to do as there wasn’t much availability, with a cabin and that was from both Ports, Santander and Bilbao. So if they have combined a Bilbao sailing with ours, with a mixture of previous sailings coming aboard it’s going to be an extremely busy boat.
I got back and Wendy was all scrubbed up and we waited for our host to come along for the money exchange, which he duly did at 11:00 on the dot.
After breakfast and several coffees we decided to take a walk into town by way of my new found short cut.
And it was very pleasant indeed but by the time we were down there I was starving so I kept bobbing into bars to see what food was on offer. Each and every bar I went into had tasters on the bar, small bites which I assume are free for customers, but they didn’t have anything else more substantial. If I had gone in with my raging hunger I might have been a bit of an embarrassment hoovering all the nibbles up so I had to look elsewhere. Thankfully I found somewhere not too far away. It looked a bit like a retail chain, but it did beer and snacks so it was good enough for me.
Wendy bagged some seats and I ordered two tortillas, one ham and cheese and one which we think was chorizo and they were both very tasty although Wendy would have liked them heated, I thought they were fine but then again I was starving.
From there we walked through the back streets and saw some familure sights, the City Hall looking resplendent and the ice rink which was packed last year, was almost empty this year, but then again it is Sunday.
We walked along the ferry port and our ship was still there, perhaps its doing an evening crossing.
We carried on along the front and I saw a man in the water, in a wet suit trying to get his small catamaran up and going. It seemed to take him an age and when he finally got going he didn’t half look wobbly, but he made it in the end, I was dead jealous, I’d love to have been out with him.
Perhaps Santa could get me one for Christmas and I can surf the Beauly Firth on it, here’s hoping!
We carried on a little further and then after we came to the monstrosity that is the auditorium we about turned and walked back along the side streets. We found a nice little bar in which to have a glass of wine, in fact we had two as the young lad behind the bar made us feel very welcome.
He was tidying up when we went in and had his back towards us, I asked the older lady for two glasses of white wine in English and she hadn’t a clue what I had said. I then said, “Dos Veno Blanco Por favor”, and his head turned around ay my Yorkshire Spanish accent and gave me a huge grin and a big thumbs up. When he refiled the glasses we got extra portions, see he was a good lad!
From there we set off back to the apartment, by playing Santander Snakes and Ladders.
Santander has a missive hill running like a spine along the peninsular and we are based at the bottom of the spine to the south of town, so if you imagine the penines we are in Staffordshire.
As an old military tactician I know to maintain height, so whenever we moved south we climbed, but it’s fairly easy in Santander as they have travellators going up, so we hopped on them when we could, and then came down when we had to and it was good fun.
There were new travellators from the last time we were here, which was only last year.
You would think that a country almost on its knees from an economical point of view would have better things to spend its money on than travellators which saves people walking in an upwards direction, what is the world coming to?
We carried on and towards the end we had a little spittle of rain, but nothing much. It was just about dark so we sat outside our newly promoted best bar and had a glass of very mediocre white wine for the princely sum of 1.6 euros. I even had the correct money and the lady thanked me for it.
Supper was a simple affair, a ham sarnie, everyman for themselves style, (You make your own).
It will be Strictly results show soon and Wendy will be spitting feathers when she knows Lorran is out and Ashley has been saved. I will spare you the bad language by giving an overview of tonight’s proceedings tommorw, but I can tell you now, she won’t be happy!!!
Santander
No Travelling
Wendy wasn’t happy with Ashley staying last night, it’s a shame for Loren as she put everything into it and the professional took her place, it’s not acceptable, that’s what Wendy says anyway.
This morning we were double late out of bed, we had the shutters down as the street lights are so brigh it makes me think its daylight at 4am, but not this morning, I didn’t even know the day had started at 08:30!!!
So it was a late run and I went up and out of the city and into the countryside where it was very pleasant. I could have been anywhere in the UK on a lovely spring morning.
Before I got to the country though I saw a distressing sight. An elderly woman was walking in the middle of the road towards a busy roundabout, in her nightwear, she looked thoroughly confused.
I was about to go and help her, but I know I might have made matters worse with not being able to speak Spanish, but thankfully a car stopped on the roundabout and protected her from the traffic and then two smartly dressed men came out from a building which I think was a college and ushered her onto the pavement.
They were two goodfellas as they stayed with her and made her feel safe. I left at this point and when I passed on the way back they were all gone, hopefully she’s being looked after now.
I got back and went down to the supermarket downstairs and bought some bread, fresh orange juice and bacon and Wendy cooked it up and it was bloody lovely. It was full of fat which had been cunningly disguised by the wrapper, it was lovely anyway, with ketchup and lashings of pepper, all washed down by very strong hot tea.
We had several missions on our last day, hopefully!
We set off to town to get item one, but by the time we had parked the car, in the gridlock that is Santander, and we had found the shop after crisscrossing the city, it had closed for Siesta. We were there bang on 2pm but the shop was closed. You can see the buggers putting the shutters down on lots of shops at 1:45pm and sneaking off a little early, what a bummer.
We also saw our ship, still tied up in Port, what the eck is going on there, we could have slept in our cabin there tonight and saved 50 euros!!! I also got another text telling me not to forget that my Bilbao crossing has been changed to Santander, this isn’t going to end well is it?
Next stop wine shopping, mission success, (Albeit with repercussions yet to be discovered).
Back to the apartment and we put our supper on, slow cooked chicken thighs in a teriyaki sauce.
Then we set off for Ikea, 12 miles away. We couldn’t find the street we wanted on the SatNav so we used the next nearest street and then also Google mapping on my phone and off we set.
And we did indeed arrive 12 miles later, on an industrial estate that did not have an Ikea there. We both double checked our Google source and we were indeed in the right location and Ikea were stating they had a store there, but there wasn’t one. I kid you not I drove every street on that estate and there is now Ikea there, how bizarre, is this what Donald calls fake news?
I appreciate visiting Ikea on the last day of your hollibobs is not something I would normally do, but as we have lost time here in Santander we thought we would buy some time by doing it here and not in Edinburgh.
We headed back to town and this time the baby shop was open and we did indeed buy a suitable, none gender specific present for baby Hutchins. That’s where I found that I could not locate the Revolut travel card in my wallet, I had paid for the goods in Lidl and I had taken the card from the machine but it was not in my wallet, nor could it be located later on. Thankfully I could freeze the card so I did. It’s a touch card so if it falls into the wrong hands they could wrack havoc with it, but not now thankfully, but where the hell is it?
We were back at the car and out of town before the traffic got mad and I filled the car with fuel at 1.14 euro per litre before putting her downstairs in the underground car park for her last night on the continent this year.
I have a wee outburst to make, today the pound sunk to a low against the Euro making my transactions not as thrifty as they used to be, it makes my blood boil!!! What the hell is happening with our country???
We got back and checked the chicken and it needed a little longer in the oven so we turned it up a wee bit and went for a drink in a British bar which is down the road from us, which I had found on my run this morning.
Well it’s all decked out like a real East End bar, inside it looks just like the Queen Vic, so I confidently strolled up to the bar and asked for two white wines only for the bar tender to say, “No English”.
So much for that then.
We did have a couple of very nice glasses of wine before we went back to a very tasty supper.
We have got a big picnic bag packed for tomorrow which we hope to eat at the stern on the ship while we cruise the Bay of Biscay.
It’s now 8:30 and I might do a little logistical work but I am definitely having an early night tonight.
Santander to Portsmouth
Sailing
I forgot to mention yesterday that during our drive to the none existent Ikea we came across a lorry that had overturned on the motorway slip road causing traffic chaos. It had turned over onto its left hand side which must have given the driver a right, proper fright. The truck must have been going at some speed as it was a real lazy bend it had overturned on, and it didn’t have much of a load on so it wasn’t top heavy. Wendy just did the tut, she’s been doing for the 40 years I’ve known her, in fact no one I know can tut like Wendy Gill, even Robyn doesn’t do it.
We were in bed early as I suggested yesterday but I woke with a raging thirst at 03:00 and the only thing cold we had in the fridge was a small can of beer, so I gobbed it up, any port in storm, that’s what I always say, and it did the trick as I was fast on in no time.
I heard Wendy pottering about and I asked her the time, 6am she said, it can’t be as my alarm was set for 6am, it was 10 to! So I hopped out of bed and had breakfast double smart.
Wendy was out running before me but I wasn’t long after. I ran along the middle and not so hilly road and met Wendy coming back. She tried to do her fist pump thingy but we missed each other in the dark.
I did 3.5 miles out and a little further coming back as I wanted to get the name of the not so British bar from last night so I could Google what it was all about. Looking back on my Starva app I was gutted to see that I was about 200 metres from the sea when I turned around. But is it was dark so I couldn’t see, never mind I’ll be seeing the sea soon enough, and for a long time.
I got back and Wendy had the suitcase packed which I duly took down to the car and packed it away. We are travelling light today, well apart from the cool box, which is crammed with wine and nibbles.
I sent a text to our Host Oscar telling him we were leaving at 08:45 and would it be OK to lock the key in the apartment. We had previously arranged 09:15 but as we saw the traffic into town was terrible yesterday I didn’t want to chance it. Oscar came back in an instant with, “We will be with you in two minutes”, and they were. Oscar brought his wife who speaks some English. Oscar speaks no English at all and it’s been a bit of a bugger, but we got by as we always do.
Oscar and Mrs. Oscar saw us out of the car park and after calling at a bakers for bread we were in the ferry queue waiting for our turn to board. As we waited I saw a truck being thoroughly gone over by the sniffer dog, a very nice looking chocolate Labrador.
In fact as we were told to board the car behind me got the sniffer dog treatment too, thankfully it wasn’t us as we have that much food with us it would be a Labradors dream come true to get to sniff our car.
We eventually fund our berth, so I let out a sigh of relief as I was sure it wasn’t going to happen, especially after the old boy in the lift told us he was in Bilbao and only got a text telling him to board in Santander this very morning and that it had been a dash to get here.
Wendy is smelling a rat and did some Googling about the boat being storm bound and she thinks it’s a rouse to save on having to pay out. She thinks some scull duggery has been going on with the ferry company.
We sat out on the stern deck as we slipped out of the harbour and the sun was shining nicely as the ferry polluted the sky with its diesel fumes. I sat there for the first 40 miles as I was double wrapped up, Wendy had gone undercover behind the screens out of the wind.
It was nice watching us sail away but eventually the cold got me and we went below to the bar where we had a glass of wine. We sat in the bar and Wendy refused to bring any food down as she was worried we would get told off, so we took some seats midships to have part of our tapas, which was rather nice. From there we sat in the bar drinking our own wine as I sneakily nipped to our cabin to refill as it is fortunately very close to the bar.
I was reading the BBC news website before I lost 3G and I saw that two OAP’s have been arrested in Lisbon for drug smuggling, and would you believe they were on the Marco Polo which was there when we were there. Wendy thinks it’s the old pair who were behind us trundling their case up to the gang plank. She laughed at the bit that said as 70 years olds they blended in with the other OAP’s, well they would wouldn’t they, being 70 and 72!!!
We had had enough wine by 7pm and headed back to our cabin for a nibble of carpaccio and bread before settling down for the night at around 8pm. Wendy was worried we would be awake at 3am but I wasn’t, I was ready for a big sleep so we went to bed. Wendy played musical beds a few times, climbing in with me and then out again as it was too tight.
I slept like a log and although I woke a few times I was back again in no time at all. In fact I wouldn’t have been up at 6:30 had it not been for that mischievous missing hour. I woke, checked my phone and it said 7:30, I could have nodded but I thought by the time I’ve had breakfast and showered it will be 8:30 and then I can go out on deck and watch us approach Blighty. It was only when I was making tea when Wendy woke and told me the real time, 6:45, ggrrrrrrr, that bloody hour has haunted me all this trip.
Portsmouth to Halfway
116 Miles Exactly
What a performance we had at unloading this morning, it took an age. We were sat in the car for 30 minutes before we moved off. Then we found that they were unloading the ramped cars at the same time as us and we had to take turns, which anybody with an ounce of sense can tell is going to cause a delay as any break in traffic movement will.
The road was fairly quiet and we made good progress but I had to stop at a service station for Wendy to grab me a MacD cheese burger which was very, very tasty.
We were at Grannies for 13:30 having arrived safe and sound.
I did an afternoon run and managed 8 miles so I was pleased with that. Tonight’s treat is a curry at Moccs and Andrews with Ian and Karen, Granny and Grandad are going too and the extra, extra treat is that Granddad is driving.
Tomorrow we are off to Barnsley for one night, then one night in Edinburgh with Alex and Robyn and then home for Saturday.
But the real reason for this wrap up copy is to detail the trip we have just made.
We set out on the 19th October and landed at Santander and drove to Burgos, then to Teruel, Benidorm, Granada, Estepona, Gibralter, Cadiz, Seville, Lisbon, Porto and Santander.
We have traveled 2,040 miles and we have visited some brilliant locations, in fact, Avid Reader as you have kept upto date with daily copy you will have seen how much we have enjoyed this trip.
Cadiz is a wonderful city, small, safe and easy to get around, it has some stunning beaches and bars for all tastes, it’s on my to do list to have a family holiday there some time in the future.
That’s it for this year, there’s nothing booked until Brad’s birthday trip to the USA in May, but I’m already getting itchy feet and I haven’t even been home yet!
Home to Motherwell
180 Miles
Well we eventually got away, 3 days later than planned, due to the tree surgeon letting us down on Saturday. Thankfully a young fella called Roy came good and took the big tree down yesterday.
It was good to work with him, the previous quote I had was for £350, but he needed three men and various ladders, Roy just needed me and his rope access equipment to do the job.
It was a pleasure to work with him, he picked each and every bough from the top and lowered them down to me to clear. He then dropped the main trunk of the tree onto a Willow tree growing close by so as to not damage my shed, or Audrey’s conservatory, and he got it spot on.
He then nibbled away at the bottom and he had it all sawn up and into a fair woodpile for me to chop on my return. All in all he was with me for no more than 4 hours and he was worth every penny.
It was cold this morning when I got up at 06:30, but thankfully no slippery ice as there was the day before.
After breakfast I was off running to Beauly and back and getting waves from both Jenn and Tracey along the route.
I had a very nice banana smoothie on my return and after a cuppa, a shower and some last minute packing we were off, heading south.
The weather was fine until we got to Aviemore and then the rain came, and it poured it down all the way down the A9, which was thankfully an easy drive, and then along the duel carriageway and finally onto the motorway with the rain continuing all the way. Thankfully there wasn’t any wind to buffer the caravan and we had a very safe journey. Wendy supplied me with a very nice couple of ham sarnies as we went along.
I listened to Matts show on Dearne FM all the way down, only losing him for ten minutes at the Drumochter Pass just as he was about to disclose the next contestant on One Little Word, bugger!!!
The rain eventually stopped as we approached the Strathclyde Country Park which was our final destination, which is always a bonus when you have a caravan to settle down on its site, as getting wet whilst doing so isn’t one of my favorite activities.
After a cuppa we took a short drive to the town of Motherwell which was about 3 miles away.
Motherwell is a small town with just a couple of shopping streets, but it was OK even if the rain kept threatening, and we ambled along dropping on an Aldi store from where we got some provisions.
We also managed to bag another Weatherspoon bar, the Brandon Works, which was quite nice and friendly, well apart from the mothers union in the corner who were letting their toddlers run amok and screech loudly as they did. The mums hadn’t a care in the world.
After one pint I could take no more so we returned to the van for a supper of cheeseburger, minus the cheese as Wendy had forgot to put it on, it was still very nice nonetheless.
I have a film to finish on Netflix, its one with Denzel Washington who is my second best actor, (after Gene Hackman), then its early to bed for me as I have a toddler day of my own tomorrow, I just hope I can keep her in check!
Strathclyde Country Park
No Travelling
Jeepers it rained all night long, but I never heard it, nor the incessant traffic noise from the M74 as I had my industrial earplugs in as tight as they would go, Wendy on the other hand did not.
I was awake at 07:00 and it was still chucking down, so I did some chores until around 09:00 and went running along the Loch, Wendy stayed inside with tea and toast.
The run was good as the rain eased and eventually stopped. At the far opposite side of the Loch I found a track that took me through a very, very posh housing estate and which then led to another track that ran along The Clyde which was quite full and appeared to be in spate condition, yes the rain does appear to have been that heavy. It was that heavy in fact that the track I was now on was absolutely guttural and my feet were caked with wet muck and my feet were soaking wet.
On the return side of the Loch I came across an adorable Lab puppy, actually he came across me. I was sat on a bench at 7 miles taking a drink and I felt something nudge me. I looked around and there he was, stick in mouth with his human Mum about 100 metres behind him. By the time she had joined us we were best buddies and he was nestled on my feet with his stick firmly in his mouth. I learnt from his human Mum that he is named Cooper after a legendary Rangers footballer called Davie Cooper, apparently his human Dad is a big Rangers supporter.
I got back to the van, I had a lovely banana smoothie and showered and then we were on our way to visit Karla, Michelle and Brèagha on the opposite side of Glasgow via East Kilbride.
I wanted to go via East Kilbride because I have never been there before and as I like visiting all parts of the UK, it was a good place to bag.
However on arrival I realised that I had been there before, about 3 years ago. I knew this as soon as I entered a courtyard at the start of the main street.
Robyn was going to be her friend Claire’s bridesmaid and it was arranged that the girls would all meet in Glasgow and shop until they found a suitable bridesmaids dress. As we were passing Glasgow at that time on another caravan trip Wendy got invited along.
The first shop was in the Barrhead shopping Centre and I dropped Wendy off there, I then drove to the East End and I had a very interesting run along The Clyde before showering at a Sports Centre. I then phoned Wendy and asked where they were at that point. I was given a Postcode and set my SatNav and off I went. I parked in a place called the Village and went and found the ladies. I found them at a wedding shop and as they were still looking I went for a pleasant walk around the village.
As soon as I found the courtyard I knew I had been here before. However there was a Weatherspoon’s to be bagged so we set off looking for that. It was in a shopping centre that we later found, and which Michelle confirmed, was formed by two streets in the town centre of East Kilbride being covered by roofing and thus a shopping centre was formed, by accident. I’m also told it’s the largest shopping centre in Scotland!
The Weatherspoon’s bar was good and we had a coffee each and as we walked out I saw a young couple with a pram which contained, fast asleep, a new born baby. Mum had two coke based drinks lined up and Dad had two full pints set nicely on the table. As the bar operated a strict queueing system, which had an extremely long queue, it did make good sense to buy extra if you’re staying, as it was only 13:30 I did hope that a babysitter had been prearranged!
We got back to the car before the parking ticket had expired and set off along the south road around Glasgow hopefully with the SatNav taking us on the right route.
As we drove on we happened upon a small town called Clarkston so we stopped to stretch our legs. It was an interesting little place, just one High Street running along the main road and we had it covered in about 15 minutes and on we carried.
We got to our destination in no time at all and spent a lovely afternoon and early evening with Karla and Michelle, Brèagha was at nursery but we went to collect her at 4pm.
Karla, me and with very tiny help from Brèagha, who helped herself to titbits of red pepper, made supper. Supper was a meal that Karla has made for me before, Chicken Satay, it is bloody lovely.
It’s a recipe from a chef who was trained by Jamie Oliver, Barry Lewis, and as we worked I scanned his cookery book and I snapped a couple of his recipes as they seemed to be very tasty, I look forward to making them, the Eggs Barrydict, as he calls them, look exceedingly tasty!
As the afternoon passed, we watched a very interesting children’s TV program with Brèagha called Moon and Me, Wendy was most excited with the shows characters, they scared me to death.
We left at around 7pm and headed back to the park via the north motorway route and we were back at the caravan in no time at all and as we were within 5 miles of yet another Weatherspoon’s pub we nipped out and bagged it.
It turned out not to be such a good bar, the tables were full of empty glasses and the bar staff were a little unsure of what real ale was available that night and it took me several attempts before we could select a beer, I also sat on a seat which was wet so I got my jeans damp, I wasnt impressed!
Back at the caravan we watched Celebrity Apprentice and settled down for the night. It’s been a lovely day of exploration and lovely company, tomorrow is a long drive and hopefully the high wind that didn’t come today will not come tomorrow, well here’s hoping!
Motherwell to Cropton
219 Miles
I woke to a very bright and very frosty morning, it was cold but at least it was dry. I had breakfast and Wendy joined me and we both went out running. As Wendy went first and gets back before me she took the spare keys and I locked up and took the main set, with the huge keyring, so I never misplace it. I put the key in my jackets top pocket and set off in search of somewhere new to explore.
I went around the west side of the Loch and found a footbridge over The Clyde which led me through a park right upto the main road between Hamilton and Bothwell. The morning traffic was horrendous, there were what seemed to me pointless traffic lights at some minor roadworks and it was causing chaos.
I ran passed the Old Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service HQ and due to the amalgamation there were nowhere near the number of cars parked there as there used to be in days gone by, oh well I guess that’s progress, much like with the Police!
I turned around at 4 miles and at 7 miles I took my last drink and sought to get my caravan key from my pocket but alas it had dropped through a hole in the pocket. Never mind I’ll take the jacket off and find it in the lining. No I did not, all I found was a very nice big keyring sized hole at the bottom of the jackets lining, oh dear, I’ve lost them, and I really had. Thankfully I had a full spare set and at least I could get the security clamp off the caravan wheel.
As I got back to the caravan the rain had just started and it became somewhat heavy as I showered, but thankfully after my smoothie it had dropped to slight drizzle so I could at least break camp without getting soaked.
As we set off we headed into torrential rain, all the way down the M74, into England, down past Penrith and all along the A66. It didn’t stop until we almost got to Thirsk!
That’s where our next adventure started! We were about 30 miles from our destination, following the A170 which is a suitably sized A Class road when I saw a sign saying Caravans not allowed on the A170 at Sutton Bank!
That was strange as there wasn’t any such guidance in our site instructions, which there usually is, and more concerning the caravan route planning element of my SatNav had not considered any danger either. I needed to pull over and consider, and then whilst I was Googling, Wendy found it on the map, we were two miles away. I found it on Google, it’s a dangerous steep hill where lorries get stuck and it is definitely a no-no for caravans. Luckily I found a side road to go down a little further along and I managed to reverse the van into a small opening into a field without difficulty, I knew my HGV license would keep coming in handy.
We set off back and we came across signs which offered a safe route for caravans, all we had to do was follow the black square which were attached to the road signs. It wasn’t easy, we came across some very narrow country roads and I could see in my rear mirror that the caravan was getting filthy.
As we traveled we came across a most magnificent, huge ruin called Byland Abby. It was massive and very rundown. I guessed that it had been destroyed during the Reformation.
Here is the story:
Stocking Monks acquired the site at Byland which was to become their permanent home. The site was mostly marshland, but the Monks felt it would be a better location for their monastery. Drainage and construction work most probably began in the late 1150s and the buildings were sufficiently complete by 1177 to be occupied. The building of the great church must have taken at least another 15 years.
Byland was closed in 1538 as part of the Suppression of the Monasteries. In order to obtain a divorce from Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII (r.1509–47) declared himself head of the Church in England in 1533. This Act of Supremacy was followed by a valuation of all church property, and then an Act of Parliament in 1535 to close all monasteries with an income of less than £200.
The closure of the smaller monasteries proved very unpopular in the north, provoking the uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. Henry VIII used this as an excuse to close the remaining, larger monasteries.
The abbey was gutted of all valuable items. The plate was valued and shipped to London, while the buildings were stripped of lead, glass and timber. Byland and its estates were then granted to Sir William Pickering (d. 1542) in 1540.
We carried on this detour for a good six miles passing through some fantastic North Yorkshire Villages, Bagby, Wass and Sproxton before rejoining the A170 at Helmsley. We saw a white horse carved into a hillside and we went up and down some very serious hills which caused Wendy some concern. I wasn’t worried as the car had half a tank of fuel and this weight ratio pulls the van nicely and she did and got us through without any problems.
We carried along the A170 and again past some lovely villages before turning north at Wrelton, along a minor road and after two miles into our campsite.
We had the van set up in next to no time and we could see that she was in need of a dam good clean, she was indeed very filthy.
After a cup of tea we set off to explore the nearby village of Pickering but not before booking in for supper at the pub which is directly at the entrance to our lovely, quiet and isolated field.
Pickering was lovely, well as lovely as can be on a cold overcast day and we wandered the streets and took in the sights. We even did a little shopping in the Coop before heading back in the dark to get ready for our supper at 7pm.
We walked over to the pub in complete darkness with the aid of my trusty pocket torch and settled down for scampi and chips. I had a flight of beer, but getting them mixed up as I brought them back to the table I’m not quite sure which is the one I really like and which is the one I didn’t like at all.
Wendy had wine and the food was delicious.
The darts team arrived, mob handed, well it is League Night and they’ve travelled far and wide, jeepers its Friday night for goodness sake what about their partners?
I did ask about watching the rugby in the bar tomorrow but as North Yorkshire is a bit indifferent to Union I didn’t get much help, so I guess its rugby in the van tomorrow.
After we had filled our tums we headed back to the caravan just to get in the door as the heavens opened, boy did it pour, I think we might be bogged down tomorrow.
Tonight’s TV is the final instalment of Celebrity Apprentice, I do hope it’s on because nothing so far, apart from the news, has matched what I should be watching at home, according to my copy of TV Times (North of Scotland edition!).
Cropton
No Travelling
I had a lovely sleep last night, no wind at all and no noise whatsoever. I woke at 06:50 and there was not a drop of rain falling on the caravan. I got up and before I had filled the kettle, there it was, pitter, patter on the roof, gentle at first and then torrential, again! I mean it was tipping down.
I had my breakfast and by 07:30 it was a full on downpour. My dilemma was should I go running now, or wait it out for a break that might never come. The weather forecast on BBC Breakfast wasn’t giving me much help and it looks like we might even have some snow in the coming days.
I waited, I held my nerve and at 09:00, it was slowing slightly. I decided that I would make a decision what to do at 09:15 and would you believe it stopped raining bang on 09:15.
So off I went.
As the road from the nearby village of Wrelton to Cropton is very narrow, without a footpath I took the car there and parked up and ran to Pickering from that point. Wendy stayed in bed, of course.
The sun came out and the wind came up, behind me, fiercely and by the time I had turned back it was a full blown gale, chilling me and my poor little legs, to the bone.
I made it back and after a shower and a quick snack we were out and off for our first visit of the day, the village of Helmsley.
Now Wendy was keen to visit Helmsley as its widely thought that Granddad Bryan lived here for a while and what a very nice, and busy, place it is.
The wind was still blowing but at least it was dry.
We walked around the village and came across Helmsley Castle which is another proper ruin. However this is under the protectorship of English Heritage and cost an arm and a leg to go in, so we walked around its big walled perimeter, and saw not much really.
The castle was built of wood in 1120, positioned on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Rye. Featuring double ditches surrounding a rectangular inner bailey. In 1186 work began on converting the castle to stone, two main towers were built, the round corner towers and the main gateway on the south side of the castle. Anyway for such a beautiful and solid structure to be built in such early, primitive times really, is pretty impressive to me.
We walked around the village a little more and we were both quite impressed with its peaceful but busy way of life. However I did have on altercation with a man on the street. He looked perfectly normal but as a woman past him coming in our direction I saw them speak and then as she went on he shouted, “Don’t leave it too late!”
He then said to me as I passed, “Can I give you a Psalm” and he wanted to hand me a card. I said, “No thank you” and as I walked by he shouted, “Do you believe in Jesus?” I turned around and looked at him quite firmly and said “No, I don’t!”
He had to have the last and I guess the much used word, “Don’t leave it too late!”
We collected our Saturday newspapers from a newsagents and then headed to our next destination, Kirby Moorside.
Again Kirby Moorside is a very nice Yorkshire Village with people coming and going about their business nicely. At the top of the village is a most delightful village church, small but beautifully constructed.
My plan for today had been to find a pub to watch the England game and maybe watch the Scotland game in the caravan. However I couldn’t find a pub within walking distance that had a TV and I also thought it a little selfish to take all, or most of the day to TV sport, but when I happened upon a lovely looking pub, The White Swan, which just coincided with the start of the Scotland v Wales game I just had to nip in for a pint. Well it was a cosy Yorkshire pub, I just had to, and they had the game on too, what a result.
Therefore with a very nice pit of Yorkshire Farmers Blonde beer, and a half for Wendy we sat down at the TV with one old fella nursing his pint.
After a while me and the old fella got chatting and it made for a lovely first half, in fact it made me envious that I don’t live close to a pub where two fellas can watch a game that is neutral to them without name calling either team. Of course we both wanted Scotland to win because it would help England tremendously in the championship, but we were both appreciative of the way Wales played and it made for a very enjoyable 40 minutes.
We left the bar at the end of the first half and walked back down towards the car but as we passed an old curiosity shop Wendy spied something that caught her eye. With no price being displayed and several signs saying, “No reasonable offer refused”, off she went in search of a bargain and she got one.
Apparently there is a tradition involving Robyn that requires the purchase of items which she and her cousin are collecting and they buy for each other in turn. I don’t think the said cousin is an Avid Reader so I think I can safely detail here that a purchase has been secured which ensures the tradition continues.
We collected the car and drove to Pickering to get some supplies, in fact with an eye on the weather we bought some extra supplies, and then we returned to the Caravan where I caught the last of the Scotland game, sadly Scotland didn’t help us much, but they did give it a good go.
As the England game started Wendy served up a stonking steak supper consisting of beef filet steak, salad and chips and a very tasty mushroom laden sauce that was to die for. After that I settled down to watch a brilliant England display, (why didn’t they play like that against Wales!!!).
The rain started again but the wind lessened and after the game I sat back and read todays newspapers and started to make plans for tomorrow’s adventure, an incursion on to the North Yorkshire Moors in search of the elusive Black Pamper!
It’s been a very good day of sport, an England win at rugby, a Barnsley win at Football and most importantly a Sunderland draw, so like Brad says, promotion to the Championship is now back in our hands, lets see how they get on with Sunderland at Oakwell on Tuesday night as that would be a terrifc win for us!
Cropton
No Travelling
I woke several times through the night and usually I turn over and nod off but I just loved listening to the absolute quiet that this site offers. We are in a large field with only four other caravans all parked well away from us, it’s delightful.
I woke again at 06:10 and turned the heating up a little as it was feeling nippy on my face, it was just beginning to get light and I could hear the birds starting to sing. I thought I wouldn’t drop off again, but I did, I think it was the wood pigeon with his see-saw cooing.
We had had no rain and there was no wind either so I was off and out ASAP, I would be back before it came, hopefully.
When I was out I came across two very large military shells which have been planted in the village of Aislaby, I had seen them before but I was curious to find out what they were doing there. As there wasn’t much help where they were I Googled them when I got home and I found two websites.
One from a man who gave info on the ships that used them, which he had obtained from the plaque on one of the shells, but he could not find why they were there, here’s what he says:
“Quite why there are two large 15" shell cases lined up on the A170 between the villages of Middleton and Aislaby is anyone's guess. If anyone knows the link between this area of North Yorkshire and the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships and their weapons - please contact me.
The Queen Elizabeth’s were the first battleships to be armed with 15-inch guns, and were described in the 1919 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships as "the most successful type of capital ship yet designed." They saw much service in both world wars.
There are two shell cases on the A170, the one in Middleton is the most prominently positioned, while the one in Aislaby, once hidden is now more exposed due to a local housing development. It is the one in Aislaby that says: "Shell Case of 15" Gun of H.M. Battleships;- Queen Elizabeth, Valiant, Barham, Warspite, Malaya. Launched 1912 - 1914"
These Dreadnoughts were formidable weapons in the First World War and it says so much that they were built and active before anyone had even thought of inventing a tank! We were, after all, an island nation”.
I then found another site where a man found a third at the Kirby Misperton Village Hall, here’s his two peneth!
“A villager told me that this shell case and similar ones nearby Aislaby were given to the villagers after World War One in recognition of the iron and scrap metal that was given by the villagers to be made into munitions for the war effort. The shells came from the Royal Navy”.
Mystery solved!!!
I got back just as the rain started, and yet again a downpour ensued.
After breakfast we set off to find the village of Harome as Wendy was keen to see the house that Grandad Bryan had stayed in as a young man.
Harome was about 7 miles away and we found it to be a lovely, pretty village with two pubs, a small church and a very nice village pond.
Grandad lived in a flat above a Post Office, but having seen the decline in rural postal services I guessed it would no longer be there, and it wasn’t. But from what Wendy described we think we found the building which is now a large family home. It is across the road from a traditional red telephone box and it also has a red post box directly outside. It’s a detached building which also helps make the case for it being the right one.
The village is somewhat isolated but with two pubs in close proximity what else could a young man of 17 want in the 1950’s.
As we left the village we saw the most out of place item anyone could possibly find in a small North Yorkshire village, a big fat Buddha in the front garden, how bizarre!
From there we took a look at Sutton Bank, this is the area of steep road from where caravans are not allowed, hence our detour a couple of days ago.
And jeepers yes they’re right it is steep and very winding, I’m glad we didn’t try it. We took photographs but they don’t do it justice, maybe an article from a local newspaper can give a better perspective:
“Two caravans have been seized by police - because they were driven up the notoriously steep Sutton Bank. Caravans are banned from being pulled up the difficult stretch of road, between Thirsk and Helmsley, due to its steep gradient and hairpin bends”.
This article isn’t strictly accurate, it’s true the caravans were stopped from going over, but the caravans were impounded because neither driver had the appropriate license to tow them, which is astounding as the license changed I think in 1993. They had to get someone with a correct license before the Police would release them.
We headed back to Kirby Moorside to access the North Yorkshire Moors in search of the elusive Black Pamper.
Many years ago when the kids were little and sat on booster seats we were holidaying on the moors and as I drove I told the kids about the legend of the Black Pamper, an animal that stalks the moors and pinches little children. Brad’s little head used to look around in wonder and a little fear, scanning the moors for sight of one, I made it all up of course.
But we did find the moors cold, snowy, windy and beautiful. The rain had stopped, the sky had cleared and we saw some terrific sights.
The route we took was from Kirby Moorside, upto Waterdale, Castleton, Denby and Egton Bridge. From there we returned by passing through the Heartbeat Village of Goathland where I have to say it looks a little tacky with its homage to the TV show.
We carried on down to Pickering passing the base at RAF Fylingdales, this is a very nostalgic area for me because as a young man in my teens I completed the Lyke Wake Walk, a walk of over 40 miles over the North Yorkshire Moors, overnight. The Base was the old golf balls at that time and I can remember seeing them from many miles away and as the summer sun came up they looked magnificent to my weary eyes as we passed closely by.
As we approached home I quite fancied a Sunday lunch, a proper wholesome Yorkshire Sunday dinner.
I got no argument from Wendy so we settled for a small pub in Wrelton, not too far from the van and we had a very nice meal in front of a cosy log fire with a big fluffy, well behaved dog coming for an occasional stroke.
The food was stupendous, it was hot, the puddings were very tasty, the beef plentiful, the range of veg excellent and the gravy was to die for, there was nothing not to like. The bar was a really friendly place with the Landlady and her husband properly conducting their role as welcoming hosts.
We were back in the van by 5pm and as the sky darkened and the wind rattled we closed the blinds and pulled the curtains together, set the fan heater to its hottest setting and drank a very nice bottle of wine while watching Dancing on Ice!
I think I might get rocked to sleep tonight and I also might have to change travel plans for tomorrow as its very windy and now its snowing!
Cropton to Barrow upon Humber
70 Miles
I checked the status of the Humber Bridge last night as I wanted to cross over it into Lincolnshire and save around 40 miles on our journey. At 22:00 it had 38 MPH winds and was closed to Highsided vehicles and caravans, but I was hopeful things would change by morning.
The van rocked through the night but I was gob smacked to open the blinds at 07:00 and see a fair blanket of snow on the ground, it wasn’t deep but it was a good covering.
I checked the Humber Bridge Website and it was averaging a wind speed of 27 mph and was open to all vehicles, phew!
After breakfast off out I went and the outward run with the wind was fine, coming back, into the wind, was another matter altogether, it was like running against a tropical trade wind without the tropical heat!
I checked the bridge status at my three drink stops and although at the last one the wind had increased to 34 mph it was still fully open.
After a quick turnaround we decamped and were on our way, however the bridge was now above 38 mph and was again closed for caravans, dam!
But to be certain of caravan safety and stability I filled both water butts and I put the 50 litre (50kg) butt in the caravan, across the axle and the 40 litre (50kg) butt in the boot of the car, we were not going to blow over if I could help it!
I set the SatNav for the journey and as the website updated every ten minutes we would keep checking and decide which route to take as we went along. Thankfully the first good half of the journey was on the same route we would have taken for both options, over the bridge or around the estuary.
We set off from the campsite down the winding and very narrow road and within half a mile I came across a 4 x 4 stopped blocking my path on a blind bend. I waited for an instruction from the driver but none came, I waited further and then as I could get around, albeit blind I pulled out and saw a full blown artic lorry waiting for the car to come down the road as it could not get around her, and of course there was no way I could get around her and then him as I could not screw back in time, it was deadlock!
Jeepers I was cross, why did the driver, a middle aged female not put her hazard lights on!!!
I had to back up and so did the campervan behind me and the cars behind him, and to make matters worse they had no idea what was going on.
I stopped the car and went to the lady, she was in such a state, honest she was. The engine was stopped but her ignition was on, the blower was on full blow and would drain the battery in no time, by this time she had put her hazard lights on.
I asked her if she had broken down and she said she had. I asked what the problem was, she was in complete shock and absolutely no help at all. I asked if I could help, she seemed to say yes but would not move from the seat so I could take a look. I leaned in and tried the engine and it turned but would not fire. I asked her if she was a member of a recovery orginisation but she said no. I asked her to pull the bonnet leaver but she just didn’t do anything. She was in either a nursing uniform or some kind of vetenary uniform but she was completely out of it. She hadn’t had an accident she had just broken down. Of course major disruption was building but that’s all and I was trying to help her.
I walked down to the lorry driver and I told him she had broken down. I apologised for trying to get around but I told him I had waited. He said he had seen that and it was fine, she gave no indication of the issue so he had to wait.
The 4 x 4 was facing downhill so it could roll into a wide roadway area a little further down. That was my plan but she didn’t seem to understand me. I was thinking the police were required.
I went to the car behind me and told the older couple what was happening and said that I couldn’t help her as she wouldn’t let me, I said I can’t force myself into helping, not these days. Would you believe the older lady said, “Your absolutely right my dear, it’s such a shame these days!”
But would you also believe as I was walking down, she started her car and off she went, she stopped a little further down but set off again with a rattle. The car then came to a stop a little further down, but thankfully at a wider roadway area.
The lorry driver and Wendy, who I had asked to see if she could calm her down were bemused by the situation. But thankfully we managed to pass each other and then I got around her and left her to it.
I dread to think what would have happened if she had been in an accident, jeepers I have seen people cope better when trapped upside down in their car and needing extricating!
We carried on and Wendy kept checking on the bridge website and it was still closed. On we went and Wendy had the road map out and was counting down to the point where we would have to decide which route we would take. She checked the website again, still closed. On I drove but I was running out of road and would have to decide soon when, bugger me, the bridge was open to all vehicles but with a 30 mph speed limit, who cares, I’m going over.
And what a treat it was, with the sun out we rolled over the bridge, after paying a toll of course, and at 30 mph we savored every minute. It is a magnificent feat of engineering.
You know what's coming now Avid Reader, don’t you!
Bridge Facts:
We stopped in a roadside picnic area as we were an hour early and we had a lovely lunch of beef curry and couscous and it was very tasty indeed.
We arrived at our camp site which is about 200 metres from the Ouse at 15:00 where we were met by our host, the lovely Mr. Bennet.
After setting camp we set off for an exploratory walk along the Ouse right upto and under the bridge which truly is a marvel, from there we walked back through the town and along the main road back to camp completing a nice circular walk of 8 miles.
One Tesco shop later we were relaxing in the van and feeling quite tired, it’s been a very interesting day but I could have done without the roadside drama!
Barrow upon Humber
No Travelling
I was a wee bit naughty in the night, I was woken up by a severe gust of wind which rocked the van, the wind was wild outside but I was all cosy in bed, so I poured myself a nice rum and coke, all in darkness, and opened the blind and saw the trees around the site dancing around, and it was just the ticket, I really enjoyed it. I finished my drink and settled back down and never heard a thing until I woke at 07:00, fresh as a daisy but with the wind still wild outside, and also with heavy rain now.
The Humber Bridge was closed due to a suicide attempt, who in their right mind, (pun), attempts suicide in a major storm off one of the highest bridges in the UK? I bet the attending Bobbies weren’t impressed!
I had my breakfast and swithered as what to do, go out and run or do my running on the spot routine. I gave it an hour, and then I gave it a bit more, and then at 09:30 I went out and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was bashed with the wind and saturated with the rain but it was so refreshing.
I did the reverse route to our walk yesterday which meant that I came back along the Ouse.
After a warming shower we went over to pay our site fees to Mr. & Mrs. Bennet which was yet another pleasure as they are the loveliest people you could meet. Mr. Bennet, Derrick to his mates loves running his small caravan site as he says at 80 years old it keeps him on his toes.
Today’s adventure was a crossing of the Humber Bridge, now fully open, and a visit to the City of Kingston upon Hull.
The wind had dropped somewhat and the rain had stopped by the time we got to Hull and we found it to be an extremely interesting city. It has a very good blend of older and newer buildings and it seems to work very well.
The city is steeped in its history of its association with the Humber and I think they have done it very well and it’s quite interesting. The River Hull divides the city in two and then runs into the Humber Estuary. To prevent flooding of the city there is a tidal surge barrier at the mouth of the river where it joins the Humber, this is a stunning structure and it must be really interesting to see it being operated.
As we meandered the street we managed to bag two Weatherspoon’s Bars which were as per norm, filled with punters. That’s all of Hull bagged in one day, where to next?
Interesting Hull Facts:
Wendy raised a good point today, why is it called Hull? (Hull being the river that runs through it), when we don’t call Newacstle upon Tyne, Tyne! Why isnt it called Kingston? Well she had me there, I must admit!
We found some really interesting old buildings, both Hull Minister and City Hall were two real stunners but there were others too. The downtown shopping area was nicely arranged too with a good mix of both large national chains and small independent shops side by side. The streets were wide and clean and it had a very good vibe to it, even on a mucky old winter’s day in mid-March.
As the afternoon wore on we walked from mid-town down the river board walk and past the ship, the Artic Corsair, which is the last surviving sidewinder trawler, (I’ve no idea what that is), and which is now a floating museum, but was closed as we passed.
We went down to the waterfront and looked up and down the Humber and we could see Spurn Point in the distance. Finally we took a walk around the Minster before our final act, buying a huge piece of rump steak from a very cosmopolitan city market. The butcher was just clearing his shelves as we happened upon him and he was most agreeable to selling his meat to us, it really is a monster of a piece and I looked forward to cooking and eating it.
After a very nice couple of hours in Hull we left town having had an extremely enjoyable time and I can see us coming back sometime in the future, hopefully with the sun shining.
We drove back over the bridge having paid our £1.50 toll, again, and did a little detour to take in the small village of Barrow upon Hull. There are so many villages around here beginning with H that at times I have been completely baffled.
We got back to the Caravan and settled down to listen to, (get this for excitement), the Brexit debate in Parliament which seems to be an endless treadmill, will it ever end and what the eck is a meaningful vote?
Supper was cooked by Wendy with me providing support in the way of cooking the steak. The steak was so large I cut it into six portions and four are now nicely cooling down in the freezer.
I cooked Wendy’s medium rare and I cooked mine rare, but I did cook the big chunk of fat on it very well, and crispy and it looked very tasty.
And it was, it all was, it was a very good pre-storm meal, good old fashioned belly filling tucker. We had it with big fat chunky chips and salad, I lathered mine in English mustard and it was a real delight. I am currently stuffed and contemplating slipping into my elasticated jimjams.
As I sit here filing todays copy the wind is getting up but the sky is clear and we have a lovely view of a reasonably new moon. The politicians are still waffling on and the next meaningful vote is coming in ten minutes time. I await it with excited anticipation like the rest of my countrymen………………..Will it ever end we keep asking?
Barrow upon Humber
No Travelling
Jeepers what a right rock the caravan had in the night from Storm Gareth, it was a corker, it woke me instantly and Wendy kind of reacted, we spoke about it but she didn’t recall any of it in the morning.
The night was ok from then on, but I knew the storm was raging around us.
I was up at 07:00 and had breakfast and then, as it was nice and dry, I thought about going for a run, Wendy did too so we started to get ready but then the wind started giving big gusts again so we knocked that idea on the head.
We had taken an extra night at Barrow upon Humber as we didn’t fancy travelling in this level of wind and we sought to make the most of our day. We had a quick feed before we went out, I had leftover curry and Wendy had a sarnie and then off we set, for today’s expedition which was to be:
I have been to Immingham Docks before but not the town itself. It was about 12 miles away and we were there in no time at all. Well to say the town was a let-down is an understatement. The town had one small high street, with a kind of shopping retail park tagged on. It had a B&M, a Jacks supermarket, and those kind of stores. It was a wee bit depressing actually.
We did a small shop in Jacks and left it at that, uninspired.
Next stop was Grimsby, or should I say Great Grimsby as stated on the welcome to Great Grimsby signs, (It’s called Great Grimsby as they don’t want people getting it mixed up with a small village near Louth, about 14 miles away which is called Little Grimsby, like that’s going to happen).
We parked in Tesco and walked the half a mile into the town centre where we found it was all focused around two main streets, a little bit like Inverness is. It was pretty clean and there were some nice looking shops but it was a little bit, what can I say, “Chavy like”, a little bit like Barnsley with people walking around, talking loudly and using conversational swearing without a care in the world.
We did come across a rather a nice looking, large church which was locked tight, which says a little more about the town. We later found the church is described as Grimsby Minster and was built around the 10th Century. We walked around it and it’s quite a good solid structure.
From there we bagged a Weatherspoon’s Bar for our collection which was again very busy, in fact it was mobbed and the bar was heaving. Thankfully I found another bar at the far opposite end of the building and I ordered two coffees there.
After the refreshments we went to find the town hall which is an impressive building although it was being renovated so we could only see it from across the road.
We wanted to buy some cod from a local fishmonger but we couldn’t find one and the market we found was closed. So being of sound mind I knew where I would find some, down the docks!
But we didn’t, I managed to blag into security and I did indeed find a fish store where they sold to the public but all they had was processed salmon but the lady gave me directions to an area just outside of the docks where I would find several fishmongers, Riby Street was what I needed to find.
But before we left the docks I wanted to go to see the Grimsby Dock Tower. The Tower is a hydraulic accumulator tower and it was completed on 27 March 1852 with the purpose of containing a 30,000-imperial-gallon reservoir at a height of 200 feet, that was used to provide hydralic energy to power the machinery of the Docks. The extreme height of the tower was necessary to achieve sufficient pressure, and as a result of this, the tower can be seen for several miles around, even far inland.
And it is quite an impressive sight standing tall over the Docks.
Hull used to be an extremely busy fishing port, in fact I do believe it was the busiest in the world at one point in time. However since the Cod wars of the 1950’s and 70’s it has been in terminal decline and nowadays not many trawlers operate out of the docks.
Onto Riby Street where we did indeed find several fishmongers plying their trade. I nipped into one and it was treasure trove of fish. Mainly white fish caught in the North Sea, but also lots of differing varieties of prawns and some absolutely stonking looking scallops. I bought two, or so I thought, portions of cod and they were some size, coming to the grand total of £8. The fishmonger asked if I would like anything else when he caught me drooling over the scallops but I had to decline as we were going to be out a few hours and they really did need keeping chilled. Back at the car I wrapped the fish up in an old mat for insulation that I use to kneel on when plugging the van into the car and off we went onto our next destination.
I haven’t been to Cleethorpes since I was a boy and it was nice to walk up and down the prom and stroll along the short pier. The wind was still blowing strong and as the sand was whipping up on the beach we kept off it.
We walked the full length of the prom and into town where we bagged yet another Weatherspoon’s Bar before walking back to the car to head back to the caravan.
Back at the van we both bit the bullet and went running. Wendy did just under 4 miles and I did my regular 8, 4 into the bloody wind and 4 being blown back like I was floating on air. I called into a Coop store to buy a box of Crackers as I had a cunning recipe for the fish up my sleeve. The trouble was, I had to carry them back in my hand, for 3 miles.
Supper was indeed absolutely stunning, fish and chips. We covered the cod with smashed crackers and coated it all over the eggs having mixed the crumbs with butter. It was the best tasting cod I have had since I was a small boy, it was bloody lovely and I have still got half as much stuffed into the freezer for a nice fish curry at some later date.
As I told Wendy, the Fishmonger as probably been there for generations and has first dibs on the catch as it gets onto the auction floor first thing in the morning.
After supper, we did a little more Weatherspoon bagging claiming two more, one in Brigg and one in Scunthorpe therefore we have bagged every one in this little bit of the country. That’s four in a day which is a record for us, I do wonder where the next one will be.
As I file copy the wind appears to be easing so we might make it out safely tomorrow, here’s hoping!
Barrow upon Humber to Bradfield
215 Miles
We had a very nice nights rest, the wind didn’t really disturb me and I was awake at 06:30 and having my breakfast at 06:45. It was now very windy, in fact much more windy then the morning before when Storm Gareth started. After about 15 minutes we had an almighty downpour, it chucked it down with rain lashing the caravan.
I got dressed for running but waited for a short while and it did indeed pass over and we then got clear’ish blue skies, so off I set.
It was very windy indeed, more so than yesterday and I was a bit concerned about driving the caravan under such conditions, but I was also worried we might be stuck in Barrow under Humber until next week as more wind is predicted at the weekend. I therefore had to do some severe thinking and consider the conditions and what I could do to make it easier.
My run was fine, blustery out and flying back, but thankfully with no rain.
Wendy went too and did her 4 miles and got back shell shocked by the wind.
I got back and chatted with Mr Bennet who was out and about. He asked me if we were still leaving and he seemed genuinely worried when I said we were off. He is such a nice man, the kind of man you feel you really know. He did ask me if I might come back and I told him, of course I would if I’m ever in the area again as it’s such a well-placed site.
To ensure the van wouldn’t blow over I again put the large water barrel in the van, along with the small one we have for emergency use, which gave another 10 kgs. I also filled the 40 litre barrel and put that in the car, almost breaking my back in the process. This gave me the option of putting that in the van should I feel it needed it, actually I’m thinking now I might have gone through the floor with the amount of weight over the middle area of the caravan.
We set off and it was fine when we were getting the average wind speed but there were times when it was gusting that I had to grip the steering wheel like my life depended on it, and I suppose it did.
After ten miles we did a short section along the M180 and as it is quite exposed we were buffeted quite a bit and I was very glad when we got off it.
I was following the A15 which is single carriageway and is well protected by trees which line the roadway. It was ok but as we were passing quite close to artic lorries coming the other way they were pushing the wind against us and causing the caravan to rock, I had to maintain utmost concentration to keep us on the straight and narrow.
At one point the wind was gusting quite badly and I did think that I might have to knock it on the head and take cover and wait it out. The trouble with this was that we weren’t yet 50 miles into the journey and we were 150 miles from our destination and in, being frank, an uninteresting area of England. So I kept on and would you believe that at the 60 miles mark the wind abated and I could relax my grip on the steering wheel.
From there on in, although the wind gave me the occasional test it was never anywhere near as bad as it had been, so we were on our way.
We merged with the A1 just after Lincoln and carried on there until we headed towards Cambridge along the A14, which was a pain as it is snided with roadworks. As we approached Cambridge we left the road as it neared the M11 and headed east, into an area where I have never been before.
We stopped at a service point to grab a pork pie from the fridge but as I wanted to make the best of the weather we were off again as soon as I had stuffed the pie down my throat.
We made it to our new site at exactly 4pm and we were settled in by 4:30pm which was a huge relief.
At 5:30 we took a ride to the village of Manningtree for some supplies from Tesco. Wend was very happy to spot that the two or three charity shops appeared to have very nice clothing in, well we do seem to be in a very wealthy area of Essex so I guess that’s where their old cloths end up.
We nipped into our closest pub on the way back and had a very nice pint of real ale, and had a very nice chat to an old fella and his wife who were sat at the bar.
Back at the caravan Wendy cooked supper, steamed pie with brussel sprouts and carrots and it was bloody lovely, especially as I spiced my gravy up with some extra, extra chilli sauce.
I think as we have been in the car most of today we will have an early night and hopefully a lie in tomorrow. We desperately need to find a laundrette too as I am running out of boxers, I might have to turn today’s pair inside out if we can’t find one tomorrow!
Bradfield
No Travelling
I woke up in the night to the pitter patter of rainfall on the roof of the caravan, it was just a light shower but enough to wake me. It didn’t last long and I was away in the land of nod before too long. I was up at 06:30 but I had to build myself upto going out as the dam wind was still howling outside.
Eventually I summoned the willpower and got my gear on and headed out and yet again it was wild with wind.
I did manage to explore the village and surrounding area though and I was quite chuffed when I found a route to the main village of Manneringtree. There aren’t any pavements to this village on the main routes so it dangerous as the drivers in Essex seem to think they are competing in Le Mans every time they take the car out. But I found a much quieter route to Manningtree where the views are of the sea and there is plenty of safe pavements for me.
I got a good look around our village and found my bearings and I saw a vast amount of swans sitting it out at the water mark on the beach, I have never seen as many swans together at any one time. I also saw a very old ship wreck, just above the low water mark.
I got back to the van to find Wendy washing smalls in the sink after she got back from her run.
The rain came down and the wind had picked up as we had breakfast and then braving it we went out to explore.
First up we went to the port town of Harwich which was what I would call interesting. Actually it’s a bit of a dive, I know I’m sure there are some nice bits but the town centre had some really chavy types. I even saw some very stereotypical Essex Girls.
It started to rain as we got there and I parked the car in a roadside parking bay and I went to pay, but I didn’t, on principal. It was £1 per hour or £2.20 for two hours, now I know I’m a Yorkshireman but I would have thought it might have been a bit cheaper if you stayed longer, kind of like bulk buying.
I moved on and luckily I found a roadside spot which was free parking just around the corner, see had they not been greedy the council would have been 2 quid better off!
Thankfully the rain didn’t last long and blew over and we walked along the coastal path and found the Tall and Short Lighthouses which were used to keep the ships safe as they approached the harbour.
We could see directly across the short stretch of water to Felixstowe and the container port which is reported to be the busiest container port in the world.
We saw the Treadwheel Crane, which is powered by human effort. Men would be inside the crane building and would walk inside what I can only think of as a hamster wheel. Apparently it was devised by the Romans. The one in Harwich dated back several hundred years.
The town is actually spilt into two areas, the old town of Harwich and the newer part which is called Dovercourt. Apparently in the 1600’s the old town had an extremely large number of bars and brothels for sailors who had been away from land for extended periods and they would let their hair down as soon as they were allowed off ship, I bet theat was a sight to see!
We managed to bag a Weatherspoon’s bar and had a half a pint and that’s where I noticed my phone was not working as it should. The screen cracked a few days ago, I hadn’t dropped it, it just cracked. The crack was getting worse and this might have been affecting it. I had taken quite a few pictures on it as well.
The bar was heaving though, well I guess it was a Friday but you could see some of the punters fairly chucking it down their throats.
We walked back through the town and got the car and off we went to our next destination which was about 15 miles away, Clacton on Sea.
It was a nice pleasant drive to Clacton and I put my phone on charge as I drove along and it seemed to help it as it started to work again when we set off walking. Wendy said she was hungry so we headed for the nearest Weatherspoon’s bar in search of food.
We found it within a half mile as it sits on the sea front at the end of what appeared to be the high Street. It was a beauty too, a very nice building, big and roomy and almost full to the brim.
I ordered online which took ten minutes but it didn’t work so I had to do it the old fashioned way and pay at the bar. I took the drinks back to the table and the food came pretty quickly. We had a 3 plate sharer consisting of Chicken strip dippers and sauce, fried prawns and a chili dip and finally loaded chips, that’s chips covered with cheese and bits of bacon. Every dish was hot and it was all very tasty and at £15 with a glass of wine and a pint of Doom Bar I was quite pleased too.
After our greedy interlude we took a walk along the prom and found a pier. The pier was closed but someone had left the access gate open so I snook in, Wendy was concerned we’d get in trouble but I wanted to explore so she followed me. We got to the central section before we were challenged by a nice young fella. It wasn’t a long pier but there was a small and compact funfair in the middle, it was crammed with every type of attraction there could be. It was, thankfully closed due to it still being the closed season, but I can imagine the mayhem, loud music, screaming girls and tacky stalls when it’s in full summer swing.
From there we walked down along the prom and it is quite a nice long beach and I should imagine its fairly nice on a hot summer day.
We turned around at the end and walked back along the top and made our way into the town centre. My phone was playing up again so I set about looking for a repair centre. The town is fairly small and somewhat dilapidated but it was safe enough. I found a shop open, bearing in mind it was almost 5pm and the lad agreed to mend the screen. I left the phone with him as he needed 30 minutes and I walked Wendy back to the car as her legs were tired.
I got back to the shop and although he had changed the screen he couldn’t get it to close onto the phones body. He tried and tried and he was quite patient with it. When he took it apart he found that when it had been repaired before it had not been fitted with an iPhone screen, just a cheap replacement, and that there were some internal screws missing too.
As he tried to get it to fit he called me over and showed me that the phones body was slightly bent and he told me that if he forced it in it would soon crack again. I asked him if the missing screws and the fact that the screen had been forced in had caused the screen to crack on its own and he agreed that it had.
He asked me to leave the phone with him and collect it tomorrow as his technician will be in and should be able to sort it out. There was nothing else I could do so I have to go back tomorrow, which kind of spoils my plans but that’s life. I think I’m more gutted that all my days’ photographs are on it and will be missing from this copy, but I’ll put them on when I get it back, fingers crossed!
We got back to the van after a wee bit of a shop just before 7pm, in time for comic relief which we watched with a glass of wine, nice and snug as the wind blew outside. Actually on the side of the coast we have been today it’s been quite good as its fairy sheltered.
It’s been a very interesting day, I quite like exploring Essex, I do hope we can get a little further up and down the coast before we move over to Kent.
Bradfield
No Travelling
As agreed with Wendy I went running first at 07:15, taking her phone with me to record my run and then when I got back she would go.
I saw loads more swans in Manneringtree and I saw lots of indications that they encourage them, like signs saying how to feed them and there is even a pond with a large replica swan in it.
I got back and Wendy was all washed and hair dried ready to start her day. She wasn’t going running anywhere, it was the wind, it was terrible, and I told her she couldn’t use me as an excuse but she did admit it was the wind.
After breakfast we went out to explore and it was a topper as we went to The Island of Mersea. Mersea is a little down the coast and is an island in its own right with a causeway that floods at high tide. We were going to be fine as it was very low tide so there was no reason we couldn’t get back off.
The causeway was a proper roadway, tarmaced and quite unlike the one at Holy Island.
First up we went to the west side of the island which is strangely called West Mersea!
We passed through the village which really was quite nice and headed for the coast where we parked up and went for a short walk. The wind was howling wildly, it was thumping and blowing me into the path of a young girl at one point. As we walked we came across an oyster farm which was unfenced and directly by the pavement. I could have easily leaned into the water and helped myself. There wasn’t anyone around so they must be very nice and honest people on this island.
We came across a small fish stall and we bought some crayfish tails to accompany our steak supper, some roll mop herrings for Wendy and some cockles for me. They were a bit pricey but I tell you my cockles were delightful, Wendy’s roll mops were quite tasty too.
I asked the lad at the fish stall how to pronounce the islands name and he said it’s Mersea, obviously, but it’s very similar to Mercy!
After a battering from the wind we got back to the car and went to the east of the island, about 4 miles away which is also very strangely called East Mersea.
As we couldn’t get to the east coast because of the very, very nice housing there we set off to collect my phone from the repair shop in Clacton.
We arrived there just after 1pm as I was instructed and the man told me it was working fine but that it had not been fitted back into the case as the technician hadn’t come to work. I saw the phone working fine, but it needed reassembly.
I mulled it over and he assured me that it would be done by 5pm, ish so I left it with him.
I did expect this to happen as I have a very bad feeling about this lad, I don’t know why but my senses tell me not to trust him.
I had a Plan B in mind and that was to go and explore the top end of the beach that serves Clacton, there was a small town at the top called Walton on the Maze so off we popped.
As we drove I did a detour to take a look at the village of Frinton on Sea. Now this is a cracking town, it has a High Street and a few side streets and is full of independent shops and at its top is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in England, it is long, clean and very pleasing to see.
As we walked down to the non-customised prom we saw a pier in the distance and we set off to walk it, thinking it was not far. It was, but that was OK as we had time to kill.
We walked along and there was an astounding number of beach huts all lined up along the route, sometimes two and sometimes even three deep, I have never seen so many beach huts in my life.
It was stunning and it took us 30 minutes to reach the pier.
The pier was a cracker too with an indoor funfair at the first quarter and a long unspoiled pier for the rest, it took another 10 minutes to walk to the end, the wind was gale-force!
The pier is 2,600 feet long and it is the third longest in the UK, I knew it was an epic!
The RNLI Lifeboat is moored at the end of the pier and its one for the biggest of the fleet.
I am sorry, Avid Reader that I don’t have many photographs but Wendy’s phone has such a short memory that I can’t take many shots.
We walked back along the pier and then battled back to the car, against the bloody wind.
As we had time to spare we had a very nice coffee and cake selection in a High Street café, it was delightful.
We drove out to the town of Walton on the Maze and at the very end I got out and walked to the old lighthouse, I could not prise Wendy Gill from the car as it was still very windy.
I didn’t hang about I saw the old lighthouse tower, which is now a visitor centre and tearoom and ran back to the car.
We drove back through Walton which is yet another lovely looking town and headed back to Clacton.
I went to collect my phone, Wendy would still not get out of the car.
The phone had been put back together, but when I was given it it was off, I tried to turn it on but it wouldn’t. I told the fella and he said his technician probably had run the battery down during the repair, it sounded a likely story but what could I do. I paid the bill minus £20, which was another sign something was wrong to me.
I charged the phone all the way back to the van and still it would not operate.
I tried it out on my laptop and it is working, the screen isn’t but the phone is getting a signal and is transmitting. It looks like the bugger hasn’t wired the screen in!!!
It works fine, I’ve downloaded yesterday’s photographs and I can get on the internet, but I can’t see the bloody screen. I did think about turning around and going back but I’ll take it somewhere else tomorrow and see what they think.
I’ve Googled the bugger and found that he is a highly unreliable person who has some terrible reviews.
I have now changed the passwords to all my accounts just to be sure.
I saw the second half of the rugby, it was a terrific game and well done to Scotland for coming back against us. I’m not sure how much we can read into the result because we must have been pretty deflated to know we could not win the Championship. That didn’t bother Scotland as with every home nation team they want to beat England and beat us well, I just wished our English players would understand that, oh and stop kicking the ball back into enemy hands as they always do!
As I file copy the wind is roaring outside, it’s not shaking the van, we do get the occasional gust but it’s not often. Its time now it went and moved over to Denmark, we’ve had our fair share, let share it with our European cousins!
Bradfield
No Travelling
It rained hard as we went to bed last night but it was sunny and breezy when we woke up. I was up at 07:00 and birthday girl must have been excited as she was wide awake and gagging for tea seconds later. Wendy then went to open some very nice presents, she did very well indeed.
Birthday girl even came with me for a run only turning back when she had reached 2.5 miles making 5 in total. I went back to Manningtree and I saw a person feeding the swans, there were hundreds of them, all mobbing the person, there were long necks everywhere. I thought there must be something more to the swans so I asked Google, here’s what I found:
“A woman who has dedicated much of her life to supporting a flock of swans in a coastal Essex town has spoken out against councillors who have asked her to stop - even allegedly threatening her with an Asbo.
Alex Smith has been asked by parish councillors to end her twice-daily feeding sessions that see more than 100 swans head for the banks at Mistley, near Manningtree”.
There’s more to the story but that about the jist of it, she’s actually encouraged them to breed there over many years as she feeds them and of course they like that, a lot!.
I got back to the caravan and Wendy took some family calls and we headed to Ipswich to both explore the town and get my bloody phone looked at.
I found a very reputable company just out of town near Asda. Two smashing young men took a look and it wasn’t good. The screen hadn’t been fitted correctly, the wrong size screws had been used, there were important parts missing and so on and so on!!!
It was going to be costly!
One of the lads gave us information about where to visit in town and off we set while they took charge of the phone.
First we parked at the Marina, I didn’t know the sea goes all the way upto Ipswich, it’s called the River Orwell but it’s so tidal that it must be all salt water. There is a huge manmade basin that acts as both a marina and small port. There was a quite sizable cargo ship moored alongside so they can take some serious cargo into the port.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about the port – “The town has been continuously occupied since the Saxon period and its port has been one of England's most important for the whole of its history”.
The area was very nicely built with both a blend of new and older buildings. From there we walked up into town to bag a Weatherspoon’s bar, which we did. I had a coke and Wendy had a medium white wine to start her celebrations off.
From there we took a walk around town and we found it to be very nice. It was clean and tidy and people were going about their business without incident or yobbishness. There was a very good range of shops and there was a most beautiful town hall, however it was somewhat spoilt as there were huge, stark notices telling everyone to hold the handrails whilst going down four short steps, I tell you it’s health and safety gone mad, is no one expected to take responsibility for themselves anymore? If you zoom in you can see the blue sign, Step Down, Use Handrail” on the photograph. There were loads of them and I had to contort myself not to get more of them in the photograph.
After a good walk around he went back to the marina for a bit more of a stroll and at 14:00 we headed back to collect my phone.
At the store the phone had been repaired and its now back to full working standard, it’s been a costly experience but I will be reporting matey in Clacton to trading standards.
I had a good chat with the two lads about yesterday’s rugby as one of them is from Edinburgh while Wendy did a little shop in Asda.
Then we were off again to the nearby town of Colchester, about 18 miles away.
Jeepers they made it hard for visitors by car, the car parks were a fiver for upto 2 hours and wheel clampers were utilised to enforce it. I drove around and luckily found somewhere to park by the road before Wendy mutinied.
We walked up to another Weatherspoon’s bar, this time it was called The Playhouse, and it was an old theatre and it was stunning. We both needed coffee, me because I was driving and Wendy to wake her up as she been nothing but tired out this last week.
From there we took a short stroll around town and we found it to be again a very nice place with the most stunning town hall I have ever seen, it was magnificent!
The old fire station was pretty impressive too.
Colchester was the first ever roman city in England and there is evidence of very old walls in part of the town, and it is widely regarded as the old town in England.
There were some very nice side streets but as the afternoon wore on we didn’t explore too far and by now our tums were asking to be fed.
We took a very, very nice Sunday lunch in a country pub in the town where the swans are and it was lovely, we both had a roast pork Sunday dinner with crackling. We did however make a mistake of having some sharing breads and olives as a kind of prestarter as I had to leave two roast spuds while Wendy had to leave 3 new potatoes, a carrot and 17 garden peas. We were both stuffed and we were looking forward to getting back and into elasticated jimjams. I think Wendy’s birthday cheery pie will have to wait until tomorrow.
Back at the caravan Wendy tucked into some birthday chocs and wine while watching some glitzy show on ITV, I started planning tomorrow’s adventure, and I’m excited already!
Bradfield
No Travelling
I was out and about in the village this morning, I have completely covered every bit of this lovely place and it’s almost time to move on, but not before we have one more day’s exploration.
But first we had to find somewhere to stay tomorrow and that turned out to be a real challenge, some sites had issues with damp grounds and most were already fully booked. Thankfully after 40 minutes of persistence I found one which although a little further from my next main exploration zone than I would have liked, it is a very nice site in what’s supposed to be a very nice village setting, here’s hoping.
Today then, after our traditional second breakfast we set off for three locations:
All of these locations were in Suffolk too!
What can I say about Felixstowe, it gob smacked us both. I was expecting a rundown port town that had little going for it but we were both amazed at what a lovely place it is, and it really is.
There are smashing sandy beaches, a lovely promenade, a small pier, beautiful old buildings, a very pleasing garden and a really lovely town centre.
First up we walked to the pier which is under refurbishment and access for the public is prevented at the rear of the amusement arcade, but at least they are bringing it back to life and all the work to date has been done by replacing the structures beneath the pier, it might take some time but it’s looking good.
From there we walked along the prom in the opposite direction of the docks, the docks aren’t actually in the town they are about two miles down the coast. The prom was lovely and as the sun was out it made for a very pleasant jaunt.
After a while we headed uphill, over what’s called the cliff and into a very nice town centre. There are only a few streets of shopping but it’s all very nice, again with a good mix of local shops and national chains.
I could really see me coming back at some point in the future to explore for longer.
After an hour or so of meandering we headed back to the car and as we had parked on a side street we decided to go and find a sea view from where we could eat our sandwiches and drink coffee from our flask, like “Old People”, quoting Wendy Gill.
The sarnies were indeed very nice and so was the coffee and after consumption we were on our way for our next appointment, Aldeburgh which was about 22 miles further up the coast.
As we left town we did indeed pass the docks and it is one massive container port and it is, without question, the biggest one in the UK!
We drove along through some very nice countryside and we came to a road bridge which was to cross the River Orwell. But the thing is, that’s it’s not a river really, it’s the part of the estuary that runs into Ipswich docks and the crossing is almost a mile wide and very high. But the bummer thing is that the bridge has concrete walled sections all along its route meaning you cannot appreciate the nice views we should be seeing.
We arrived in Aldeburgh just before 3pm and parked up and walked along the point to what we think is a Martello Tower. The tower is indeed in very good nick and it is owned by Landmark Trust and is used as rental accommodation which costs £634 for a four night hire.
Martello Towers sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts.
The tower at Aldeburgh is the largest and most northerly of the towers built to keep Napoleon out, this quatrefoil shaped building stands at the foot of the Orford Ness peninsula, between the River Alde and the sea.
From there we walked into the town, along the seawall and we found an array of interesting buildings. At one, the South Lookout, they were having a project where you find a pebble and write an inspirational message on it and then you leave it on a table just outside the building. When there are enough pebbles they are distributed along the shore in the hope that these messages will be read by future generations. As if by magic I looked down and saw a truly inspirational one, probably the most current that there could be. I got a photo of it, see if you agree Avid Reader.
We walked back to the car by way of the high street and what a cracker it was, Wendy nipped into the local butcher and bought some very nice looking pork and herb sausages for our hotdog supper.
After another hour we were back at the car and off a further 18 miles up the coast to Southwold, another small coastal town.
We got there just after 4:30 and we really liked the look of the place. First up we parked on the sea front, away from the town and walked along a very nice pier, it was a little cracker!
There was the obligatory amusement arcade at the start but there were also some really lovely looking shops along its length, the trouble was though as it was late in the day they were all closed.
One thing open was something I never knew existed! An arcade of homemade amusements, arcade type games that had all been invented by amateurs and there were some fantastic ones. There was a Zimmer Frame simulator where you had to navigate across a motorway, a fat reducing bed that doesn’t require any sweat to be shed or have any un-shapely bodies on show, some kind of diving bell that took you into a sewerage plant. There were some beauties and they were all in working order, in fact as we left one fella was getting run down on the Zimmer machine.
As we walked back down the pier I could worryingly see Sizewell Nuclear Power Station in the distance, I don’t know why it worried me, I think it’s something about the name that makes me scared!
We took the car for the short ride into town and again we had a lovely high street to explore.
We passed a bakery and they had pork pies for sale but at £2.50 each for a small one Wendy wasn’t keen on paying the price but I said we’re hungry, let’s have a treat and we did and it was really tasty!
At the top of the High Street we found a nice looking town hall and at the other, just a street away we found a most wonderful Norman Church, it was stunning.
After 40 minutes we were back at the car and heading down for a 50 mile run back to the caravan, but it wasn’t a chore.
As we returned over the Orwell Bridge Wendy tried to take shots of it but all she got was the walls, she did catch the sunset though which was stunning.
Back at Bradfield we took a pint in our local which was nice as it’s a proper friendly English pub where the owner and his staff treat you as a valued customer.
Wendy cooked supper, one pork sausage hot dog each, it was bloody lovely, a very fitting end to a very enjoyable day’s exploration.
That’s us done with Sussex and we move a little further south tomorrow, this has been a great little trip so far, here’s to yet more interesting exploring!
Bradfield to Tolleshunt D'Arcy
32 Miles
We had another very quiet night in our very private field and I woke early and snook out of bed for my breakfast, but before I could fill my cereal bowl Wendy was up and about too and demanding hot tea.
After breakfast we both went out running, I went for my last visit to see the swans in Manningtree and they didn’t disappoint me as they were all out in force waiting for their morning feed. Lord knows what will happen to them if anything happens to the lady who feeds them.
The thing is, is that there is a malt factory adjacent to the shore and years ago they put their effluent into the sea, this attracted the swans as they feed off the by product. But that all stopped some years ago with the law changing as to what can be put into the sea, so the Malt factory had to stop, that’s where the lady came in, she started to feed them and carried on.
I tell you when the Malt factory is processing it doesn’t half make you feel hungry as you pass through.
I forgot to say yesterday that we saw what appears to be small islands in the sea off the coast of Felixstowe yesterday, today I Googled the question and I came up with the story about Sealand.
I read the Wikipedia page and it’s quite an interesting story of how an English Man claimed an offshore platform as an independent Kingdom with him as its ruler. It is quite a detailed story involving passports and drug running, mercenary invasions and gun battles.
There’s too much to detail here but if any Avid Readers are interested here is the Wikipedia Link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand
After our second breakfast we packed up and headed a total distance of 32 miles in a mainly south-west direction to the village of Tolleshunt D'Arcy which is a mouthful in any dialect.
As we drove on we were thwarted on two occasions on the Dearne Fm Radio Show, once during Retro Heaven at Half Eleven, where Wendy guessed 1977 and I guessed 1976 and on the One Little Word competition, we missed the outcome on both occasions as we briefly lost the signal on my phone. I did correspond with my mate Matt who confirmed the year was 1976, (Me being the winner), and the guess was Eddie Izzard, which was obviously wrong!
We were on site within the hour and set up nicely with the caravan not long after. We had a settling in cup of coffee and I started on today’s dinner, fish curry, using the very nice piece of cod we bought from Grimsby the other day. Wendy thought it too nice to have with curry whereas I said why not have a delicious fish curry, so we are, and by the way it was smelling in the pan I was going to really enjoy it.
After a very pleasant rest we took ourselves out for a small tour of a big fat peninsular which has no name, just to the south-east of us. As we went we passed through the nearby town of Maldon. We saw that it looked quite nice, but as the High School had just ended the roads were mobbed with parents in cars collecting and the pavements full of kids messing about as they went home. I had to have my wits about me with the cars brake as the odd one or two of the pupils ventured to take a gamble on beating me as they attempted to cross the road, thankfully I slowed down or there might have been some dead heats.
Our first destination was the village of Bradwell Waterside where all we really found there was a couple of homes dotted about and two big marinas. The marinas were sheltered by a big mud bank which I can see from the map is a very long and thin island.
There were loads of small and large boats on the river side as they are still out of the water waiting for the season to start, but there is absolutely no parking in the area. There are signs saying that no parking is allowed from March to September so it must be chaos in summer.
We didn’t stay long, we then headed over to the other side of the peninsular to the small town of Burnham-on-Couch which was about 11 miles away.
Here we found a very nice little community which seemed to revolve around yet another inlet which dries out completely at low water leaving the house boats high and dry.
We walked along a coastal path which was parallel to the High Street and we were within touching distance of the area across the sea.
This area of Essex is just areas of land separated by deep inlet after deep inlet which makes driving around quite a lengthy process. The land inland is all arable farm land so it’s all put to good use.
We walked back to the car via the High Street and found some nice looking shops, The Lovely Shop was of particular interest to Wendy, but not enough for her to go in and browse.
We shared a box of chips from a chippy to calm our hunger and although they were OK’ish they weren’t overly warm.
We drove back stopping at Tesco for some supplies and then we headed back to the caravan.
We got back and set straight off for the local pub which is about half a mile away.
The pub has been granted special status by the Campaign for Real Ale but as we went in there were a group of five people at the bar, toffy types, who were just obnoxiously loud in their inane banter with one woman having a particular annoying laugh that completely spoiled the atmosphere. I think if we ever go back I’ll be sitting in the public bar.
We went back to the van where I finished my curry preparations, which took longer than I had imagined because I had mistakenly put too much liquid in, Wendy wasn’t impressed so I had to ply her with bread and butter until serving time, she stopped complaining then.
As its Tuesday today Wendy is double excited, Celebrity Bake off is on at 8 pm closely followed by The Great British Sewing Bee at 9 pm. That’s how exciting our life on the road sometimes is Avid Reader!
As Wendy watches Sewing Bee with utter excitement, I am quite happy to sit here and see the full moon in all its spender. We are staying at a riding stable and the horses are in the field next to us and I could hear them snorting during the day. They are all tucked up now in their stables so I’ll try to get some photos of them tomorrow, they do look beauties mind!
Tolleshunt D'Arcy
No Travelling
Wendy went running just before me and then I set off in search of the sea marsh, and I found it, and it was really interesting. I followed the road for about 1.7 miles and then I followed the Bird Society track which took me up along the sea dyke. I was in wilderness and I saw loads of birds and I felt alone with nature, well no one else was there.
Following the dyke top I saw that this area must have been drained very carefully over many years as the dykes had been made by stone masons building the side walls of solid blocks of sandstone, it must have taken an age.
At the four mile mark I saw a small fishing boat drop and drag its gear and then haul its catch aboard. I don’t know what the catch was, but I’m thinking possibly eels as they seem to like deep mud.
I also saw the Island of Mersea which we visited last week, but this time from the opposite bank.
I got back and showered and after a brief interlude we set off for the day’s adventure and our first location was, Canvey Island!
I have so wanted to go and take a look at Canvey Island for many, many years, and it did not disappoint.
First up, I can confirm that Canvey Island is actually an island in its own right and is accessed by two small roads bridges which run across the sea marshes and the ditches and rivers that surround it. There are two bridges, one going over the marsh for a mile or so and one which crosses a fairly big river, a third bridge is also required, so it is thought locally, as the amount of traffic flowing to and from the Island as increased massively over recent years.
Canvey Island is an Island of some seven square miles lying off the South Coast of Essex in the Thames Estuary.
The Island is below sea level with beaches to the south and a population of some 45,000 living behind 14 miles of high sea walls.
I read somewhere that it was a Dutch National that oversaw the first dykes around Canvey Island being built and some of the land reclaimed from the sea. I guess there must be something to this as the Dutch were masters at sea / land reclamation in their own country.
We parked up on the west side of the Island and took a walk along the sea wall. The sea wall is quite similar to the one at Sheerness, but here it has been localised and decorated. There are lovely murals along the section close to the town centre and they tell the story of the 1953 flood which is that on the night of 31st January 1953 a tidal surge came down the North Sea flooding low lying lands in its path. Canvey Island was badly hit with the original Sea Wall washing away in the Tewkes Creek area.
58 people lost their lives and the Island was evacuated.
We walked along the wall path for a good mile and then we headed inland to the Town centre where we found a very tidy, if not out of date High Street area. It was, again, not dissimilar to Sheerness High Street with the exception that it is not pedestrianised and cars roar through the town.
We did see an awful lot of housing as we walked through and I can see that if all these people want to go to work off the Island then another Island crossing would surely be required as it was bad enough us getting on and off and we were nowhere near rush hour times..
We got back to the car and ate our sarnies, like old people, in a car park before heading off the Island via way of the second bridge taking us over to Leigh-on-Sea and through loads and loads of traffic.
As we were passing a Weatherspoon’s bar along our route to our final destination, Southend on Sea, we called in for a small drink to slight our thirst, that’s another bar bagged!
We drove into Southend along the coast road and we could see the pier, the longest pier in the UK, and the longest pleasure pier in the world, laid out before us in all its glory, she looked stunning!
We parked up, paid £10 for a walk in, ride out ticket and set off for the long walk along the length of the pier, all 1.33 miles of it. Thankfully there wasn’t any wind, maybe a slight breeze but that’s all. Thank goodness we weren’t here last week as it was closed for days on end due to storm Gareth.
We got to the end in 25 minutes but we only had a short time to gaze out over to Sheerness which we could see over the water in the distance. We had just 11 minutes as we were to catch the 4:15pm train back. That was enough time as there isn’t anything at the end of the pier to see apart from the lifeboat station.
The train ride back took me back to my coal mining days where we used to go and ride on small, similar trains to the coal mine workings. Maybe they weren’t as plush as the piers train which was quite cosy in comparison!
I was so pleased we made it to Southend, I have wanted to visit for many, many years. I have visited the Isle of Sheppey for 38 years and I have often looked out over the Thames Estuary over to Southend and wondered what it was like over there, now I know.
After we left the pier we walked down the High Street and into the heart of the town and into our next Weatherspoon bar, yes we managed to bag yet another one.
After a drink we carried along the High Street which must be the longest High Street outside of London, it was over ¾ of a mile long.
The town was actually very nice, clean and tidy. Wendy who is running out of fresh smalls nipped into Primark to make a purchase so she feels like a Lady again, she bought me some socks.
At 5:30pm we were feeling a bit exhausted so we headed back to the car with some supplies.
We set off back and got caught in terrible home time traffic which took us an extra 20 minutes to get back, which we did while listening to Radio 4’s 6pm news and yet more silly nonsense from Westminster, I do believe we are beginning to look rather silly as a Nation on the World Stage.
Supper was cooked by Wendy, big fat pork sausages, egg, mushrooms and fried tomato and fresh bread, and I tell you what, it was bloody lovely. It was good wholesome food and just what the doctor ordered after a very interesting, but tiring day.
Tomorrow we might take a day out and just laze around the local area, Wendy is already looking where to go and has already come up with some interesting places.
Tolleshunt D'Arcy
No Travelling
Wendy came running with me this morning for the first two miles so I could show her the way to the dykes on what I now know to be the Blackwater Estuary.
We got there and Wendy went the way I did yesterday and I went the other way to explore, I also tripped on a root and in that spilt second I knew I could not keep myself up I managed to roll around so my shoulder took the impact. My parachute training eventually paid off then, I did get a gash on my left leg though from a nasty thorn bush.
The Blackwater Estuary is the Estuary of the River Black which runs out from Maldon which is today’s first destination. The Estuary is a 5,538 hectare biological site of special interest and oysters have been harvested from the estuary for more than a thousand years, I wonder if that’s what I saw being dredged from the bottom yesterday?
Back at the caravan we did indeed take time out and relax with coffee and caught up with some domestic chores. It was most enjoyable and Wendy even put a joint entry in with me for Retro Heaven at Half Eleven, and Matt laughed and said we were both wrong, Wendy was one year out!
At around 1 pm we set off to explore a very local village that we have passed through on several occasions going somewhere else, Maldon, our next destination after Maldon was Witham a few miles further out.
I was excited about today’s trips because I was going to follow in the footsteps of two English Giants, Alistair Cook who is from Maldon and, er………….Ollie Muirs who is from Witham.
Maldon is also famous for its Sea Salt which has been produced in the town since 1882 by the Maldon Crystal Salt Company and it is also the location of the first self-service Tesco supermarket in the country, established in 1956, wow, this little town has done some big things over the years.
Maldon is a really lovely, small English town, it has a lovely long High Street with some very nice shops, it is very clean and tidy and it is most likely a very wealthy town.
We also, by pure luck, managed to bag a Weatherspoon’s, so that’s me now upto 53 bars visited.
It was the Rose and Crown and it was a good old, welcoming English pub that was mobbed with older people enjoying a nice lunch in company.
After a half pint each we walked down to the river where there is a very important quayside, Hythe Quay, from where boats used to ply their trade up the Thames and into London taking cargo by sail into the heart of the city.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about the Quay: Hythe Quay is the residence of a number of Thames sailing barges these are among the last cargo vessels in the world still operating under sail, albeit now used in the spheres of education and leisure. Some ten to fifteen of the surviving fleet count Maldon as their home port, and many others are regular visitors alongside at the Quay. An annual sailing barge race ends with a parade of sail and prize-giving at the quay.
At the end of the quay we found a very nice park where I did wonder if Alistair had played as a boy, it was a perfect spot for a game of kid’s cricket.
There appeared to be a footpath that continued along the river downstream and had we been up for a long walk it might have been nice to take it.
We got back to the car after a very pleasant two hours visit and after calling into Tesco to experience its history and buy some famous salt we set off for Witham which took us about 15 minutes.
We parked on yet another High Street and walked straight into a Weatherspoon’s bar, the Battesford Court, and it’s a corker. What a smashing old bar it is, it must date back to the 16th century, and would you believe after checking the Weatherspoon’s website, here’s what I found:
Formerly The Battesford Court Hotel, this 16th-century building was the court house of the manor of Battesford, now that’s an old building.
After another half pint, which was very badly poured, (it was very southern styled), we did our traditional walk along the High Street and we found that it is very much in the style we have found elsewhere, including Maldon and we came across a statue of a lady called Dorothy Sayers who was a renowned English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between the First and Second World Wars that feature English aristocrat and amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, which remain popular to this day. I must try and dig one of her books out as I like a good detective novel!
We left Witham having not bumped into Ollie Muirs and set off back to warm up Tuesday’s fish curry to which we had added extra fish this morning.
It was lovely, it did however make me feel a little thirsty so I sought to quench my thirst with my last bottle of Hobgoblin, Wendy took out her extra-large box of birthday chocolates and thankfully shared me a few, and they were rather nice too.
I think it’s an easy night for us both tonight, we can recharge our batteries and make plans in preparation of our no deal Brexit, and to be honest I’m beginning to look forwards to it happening!
Tolleshunt D'Arcy
No Travelling
This morning I ran to the village of Tollesbury which is two miles from our village, Wendy went along the dyke wall like she did yesterday.
Tollesbury is a really lovely village with everything you could want in a village, it has a very nice looking pub, an off-licence, a bakery, a medical centre, a fire station and even a hairdresser where at 09:30 in the morning an old lady was having a Full Monty, lardy dar in the shop window as I passed.
There is even a marina on the creek just out of the village with boats galore wallowing in the mud at low tide. In fact it got me thinking that this creek must be only very marginal navigable because every time I have been at any time of day its always low water. But there are some huge boats there so there must be a very small window of opportunity for the boats to float and be on their way.
At the marina I saw, tide up on the mud flat, an old Lighthouse vessel that appeared to be being used as a floating home, it looked very interesting.
Yes indeed I did like this village it had everything I need in life, maybe we should move, they do talk funny mind.
I got back to the caravan and found Wendy showered and she told me that she had got lost on her run thinking she could find a circular route along the dyke wall. I think she did eventually make it but it didn’t go fully to plan and did extra mileage as a result.
After breakfast we set off for the town of Braintree. We were going to take a walk along the dyke walls to do some exploring but because Wendy had had enough of them she wasn’t overly keen and as it was quite overcast and cool, so we opted for a town visit instead.
The drive out was fine and after filling up with some Lucozade supplies for next week at B&M we parked in a town centre carpark and walked the short distance to the town.
My first impressions were that it wasn’t much to talk about, but it was clean and tidy and people seemed to be quietly going nicely about their business, but then we came across an old fella effing and blinding in a casually conversational manner to his daughter, then we came across two of the most chavyist, stereotypical Essex Girls ever, chatting loudly like Lauren of the Catherine Tate Show, so that made my mind up, Braintree isn’t much of a place to visit. There isn’t even a river and the town centre isn’t pedestrianised.
But don’t let that put you off Avid Reader, it didn’t spoil my day, we are on a tour of Britain so we need to see it warts and all and to be fair we have seen some cracking towns and villages on this trip so far, and we have more to go, so this was by no means a spoiler.
But Braintree does have a very nice Weatherspoon’s bar, which we bagged of course. It’s an old cinema and it is stunning inside. The bar was heaving with older type people again and thoroughly enjoying their Friday lunch and drinks.
We left town and got back to the caravan at around 4 pm where Wendy knocked up some mediocre garlic bread, it wasn’t Wendy’s fault, the bread we bought in Braintree wasn’t upto the job, it was all dough, dry and full of holes, Marco Pierre White couldn’t have done any better.
After a short while of chatting with Robyn on the phone, who is a critical Avid Reader, who may or not be receiving a present of salt after this trip after taking liberties with me, we set off for me to show Wendy the delights of my newly found favourite village, Tollesbury!
Wendy quite liked the village but she very much liked the atmosphere of the bar, The Kings Head, which was, would you believe, heaving with older type people. I did think about watching the England game here tonight, but the screen was far too small and I thought that it might still be full and that would spoil the game for me.
We left the bar after having a very nice real ale called Thumper, it was full bodied and tasty, jeepers I do like this village!
Back at the caravan Wendy cooked a delightful meal of the last of the steak we bought in Hull, Bradley’s Meat Loaf, Prawns and stir fried veg, it was bloody lovely.
After supper I settled down for a night of football, England v Czech Republic, I do hope we can get the campaign off to a good start with a nice comfortable win, well here’s hoping!!!
Tolleshunt D'Arcy to Sheppey
81 Miles
What a game it was last night, I was a very happy fella indeed. I don’t think we had it all our own way and I think the score line flatters England but I’ll take 5-0 any day of the week.
There was some cracking individual performances too. Gareth Southgate is doing a sterling job, especially in his first major managerial role, he’s even starting to make amends for missing that penalty in the Euro 96 semi-final at Wembley, but only starting to mind!
Today we woke to another dry and windless day, which is unbelievable when we had been warned by the weather forecasters that this weekend would be a washout, I was expecting the worst but it never came, it’s funny but they never seem to say, “We got it wrong yesterday!”
I didn’t mention yesterday that on my run I asked a fella out walking his dog with his wife if the pub I had found would have a TV to watch the game last night. We had a really nice chat and he had forgotten about the game and he was dead chuffed when I reminded him about it. He gave me such a friendly slap on my back as I left them, it was quite touching.
I ran to the same village today and I saw this same man out on his bike and he shouted something to me, but I didn’t catch what he said so I shouted back at him, “Did you see the game last night?” He put both thumbs up and wobbled on his bike almost falling off in the process, it was another very touching moment.
I got back to the caravan and I found a very happy Wendy who had successfully coloured her hair with a brownish hair dye type of thing, she was very pleased with herself.
After breakfast we set off for the second part of our adventure, a midweek break with Granny and Grandad in Cornwall, well after we get through this weekend of course.
We had a really easy journey, along the A12 to the M25 and then over the Dartford Crossing, thankfully I have paid the toll in advance so I can forget about it. We did come across a bad road situation along the A12, it was an issue off our road but it backed up along a slip road we were coming to. I manged to pass the last car on the slip road before the back-up affected the main road, but as we passed overhead on our road we saw a major incident below, on the roundabout with traffic bulging in every direction, it was a lucky escape!
From there on in we didn’t have any problems and we were on Sheppey before you could say, “Are we nearly there yet?”
We managed to get up to Pat and Pauline’s house, along the rough road without difficulty and with the help of Ian and Grandad we were parked up and all settled in, in no time at all.
After settling in, we went around to Grannies where Wendy loaded her washing machine six times over and almost busting the smart metre in the process, what with the washing machine and the tumble dryer on constantly all afternoon. If it was my electric I would most likely not sleep tonight, I guess G&G are due a treat sometime in the coming week.
We had a very pleasant early evening with G & G, and nipped out for supplies halfway through. We watched some funny telly and had a glass of wine, oh and some stonking Cobbler, jeepers I was starving and had two bowls of it. Bradley Gill would be jealous to death if he only knew, it was a delight!
After a while we walked up, with our washing, to Ian and Karen’s for a chat which was very nice indeed and then after an hour or so we walked back down the hill, with our washing to our caravan.
We settled in with our washing and watched a little TV about the Queen which Wendy was rooted with and then we settled down for a nice comfortable night’s sleep.
I know it’s not been such an exciting day, but it’s been nice and relaxing and I’m sure it’s going to be worthy of good copy next week Avid Reader, so keep tuned in!
Sheppey
No Travelling
Happy 1st Anniversary Alex and Robyn, I know you’ve had a smashing day, and better still for Alex Scotland beat San Marino 2 – nil, brilliant.
I had a lovely night’s sleep in Pat and Pauline’s back garden, I only woke when the birds started the morning chorus at 06:00, but I put in my ear plugs and settled back down again and didn’t stir until 07:30, it was lovely.
After breakfast I went out running and it was a stunning spring morning and I went up the hill to Minster, down to the caravan park and along the top of the cliffs and then down to the beach. This is one of my favourite runs. I have run in some stunning locations, Sidney Harbour, Washington, New York and many other beautiful places but the run along the sea front on Sheppey is one of my favourites.
The cliffs look over towards Southend, there are people walking their dogs along the prom, I even got a dam good licking while I was faffing with my phone as I lost Steve Wrights Sunday love songs, I was sat on the wall and it came up onto the grass behind me and it had her tongue on my sweaty chops before I could stop her. I didn’t mind at all, but I drew the line when she was getting quite close to my mouth, (That’s the little dog running away in the photograph).
There is also the site of the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery out in the Thames Estuary, she broke her back on a sandbank out in the estuary in 1944. She was full of munitions and explosives and at the time an attempt was made to remove them from the vessel however she split apart before the job was finished and there are still approximately 1,400 tonnes of high explosive on board and it is believed that should the munitions explode it will be a gigantic explosion of biblical proportions. Jeepers I hope she doesn’t go while I am here.
The Sea wall from the cliffs to where it ends is about 3 miles and it is, I have to say, a real treat, I have been coming to this island for almost 40 years and I always enjoy the views along the Leas.
After my banana smoothie we went upto Grannies and collected her and Grandad for a day of Weatherspoon’s bagging. We were off to bag the bars at Rochester and Chathem.
But even before we got to the traffic lights we had a stonker from Grandad, here’s how the conversation went:
Granddad – “Look at that shop now, its scruffy, untidy and a right old mess, the old fella will be turning in his grave at that mess”.
Granny – “But he’s not dead yet”
Grandad, “Well it’s a figure of speech love”
Wendy, “But only if you’re dead though”
I know I haven’t fully conveyed the essence of the conversation but it had us all in stitches in the car anyway.
We arrived at our first location, The Golden Lion in Rochester and it was a cracker. After another faff with the App not working we ordered at the bar, 3 gourmet burgers for the others, Chicken Burger for Granny, a Tennessee Burger for Wendy and an Ultimate Burger for Grandad. I had a Skinny Steak with a portion of Scampi. They were all delightful, each cooked perfectly and they were each hot and tasty. The beer and wine was nice too.
In fact it was all nice, Granddad was double pleased as the condiments were all very clean and ready for immediate use.
My steak was a topper, rare and bloody lovely, the salad was a delight and the scampi plentiful, and everyone loved the food.
We split with G & G for a short while so Wendy and I strolled along Rochester High Street upto the River. The bridge across the Medway was as stunning as ever but she looked really good in the spring sunshine. As we walked back to the car Wendy got it into her head about the Chalet that Charles Dickens wrote his last five books. She was sure it was on the High Street and it was as I had seen the signs for it further back. We did find it, quite easily, it had been transported from his home to where it is now but it is in need of restoration funding so that it can be moved and repaired to its former state, they need £100,000, I wish them well!
We found G & G in the car and off we set for our next Weatherspoon’s bag, The Thomas Waghorn at Chatham.
It wasn’t a long drive as Rochester and Chatham are not really very far apart, I think we travelled 1.5 miles from one High Street to the other.
The bar was fine, it wasn’t busy at the bar so we were served pretty quickly and we sat and chatted and it was quite enjoyable.
We finished our drinks and as we left the bar a very nice young man helped with Grannies walker as there were steps to go down. We set off for home, this time coming down the A2 all the way to the A249 which we joined just before the Sheppey Crossing.
I dropped everyone off and nipped back to the caravan to unload the car for tomorrow’s journey only to bump into Pat and Pauline who, according to Granddad were supposed to be away until tomorrow. Well they aren’t, they were home and as large as life. Pauline is such a lovely women and Pat is such a gentleman, I feel like I am squatting in their manor house.
I got back to Grannies and Ian and Karen came around and we had a good old to and fro with them before they left.
We headed back to the van at around 20:30 for me to watch a film and to let G & G get some beauty sleep. We have a long trip tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to it it’s been a long time since we’ve been in the far west country and I’m looking forward to seeing it again. Hopefully the weather will be on our side.
As I file copy I’m really into this film with Denzel Washington, my second best favourite actor!!!
Sheppey to Duloe
285 Miles
I had yet another stonking night’s sleep and I needed my alarm to wake me at 7 am and I was out running before 8 am and although it was a bit breezy the sun was out with blue sky’s all around.
I ran along the opposite side of the Island today going down to Queenbourough and then along the coast, into town and then along the sea wall. It was lovely but I had to get back smartish as I knew Granny and Grandad would be excited about their trip to Cornwall.
I got back and Wendy was packing for the trip and before long we were on the road. The car was loaded to the top but the car drove like a dream for 285 miles. The only bit of an issue we had was a traffic warning on the M5 where we were to go down two exits. Would you believe the exit we were supposed to use to get off was tailing back due to an accident with a lorry.
Not to worry Wendy had the map out and I consulted the Sat Nav who found a none motorway option that only added 5 minutes to our overall journey. We took the detour and had no issues, in fact we saved a minute on that.
We carried on over the Tamar Bridge which we haven’t crossed for such a long time, in fact nor Wendy or I could remember the last time we were in this neck of the woods, we think Brad would have been about 15 but we are still not sure.
We got into Cornwall without any issue and we were in our village in no time at all. We did however not immediately find our accommodation as the owner only gave directions from one side and we approached from the wrong side and ended up in a pickle, but only for a short while.
We found the accommodation and we then found that the owner had given us an old code for the key box, apparently it had been changed twice before and he had forgot to give us the new number. Thankfully the one bar on my phone managed to reach him for him to give me the real number.
We got into the building and it is indeed very nice, what was not nice, as AirBnB hosts ourselves, we did not appreciate the note from the owner asking, nay begging us, to give him a Five Star Review, with him actually almost telling us what we should say. Jeepers our feet weren’t on the ground yet and we were being asked to give a review, a positive one at that.
Well it was like a red rang to a bull, so far I have found cobwebs behind a cupboard, no cover on the shower drain and the bathroom pull cord too high for granny to reach, she’s going to need granddad to help her go spend a penny!
Actually the house is quite nice, its small but it is nice and it’s also warm with very good central heating.
After a short time settling in we took a ride down to Looe so I could get some cash, rum and wine. I had to do a 3 point turn to get myself in the right direction and it delayed a young women by about 13 seconds, you should have seen the look she gave me as I gave a friendly thank you wave, she could have curdled milk the miserable bugger. If you live in the country and use singe track roads you have to expect some delay when other drivers have to perform a particular movement. Oh I do hope she has a sleepless night tonight, actually if I was into voodoo I might be putting pins into her dolly tonight.
Looe is about 4 miles down the road and it is a very picturesque village, it is stunning, we got there just as the sun was going down and it looked lovely.
I found a cash point not 100 yards from the car park and I set about my business of withdrawing cash. Wendy, Granny and Grandad were just behind me, and had crossed the road to my side.
I busied myself at the cash point and as I turned around to look for them they had all crossed the road back to the car park and they were located at the car park ticket machine surrounded by several bystanders, by the time I got to them it was worse, there were now ten people with them, it appeared to me to be a kerfuffle and it was, and on the face of it, it did indeed seem to be a kerfuffle of their own making. I did enquire what the eck they had gotten into but the explanation went straight over my head.
Back together we left G & G and we went down to the beach and it is indeed stunning, as previously said, with a river running down a valley that separates the east and west of the town. As we are in late March it was quite nice and not too busy, I can only imagine it being mobbed in summer with holiday makers galore.
We got back and rendezvoused with G & G and I asked Wendy to nip to the car and get a carrier bag while I went to the Coop across from the carpark to get some supplies.
As I checked out my purchase I established, after a frantic phone call from Wendy that she had indeed gone to the wrong Coop. She went to the one near the beach, I mean why would I go that far out of my way when there is a perfectly good store across from the car. I swear that women has left her head in Sheerness!
We got back to the village at about 7pm and we went straight to the local pub where we had booked our supper to celebrate G & G’s 58th wedding anniversary.
Granddad and I had a fillet steak, granny had the three fish option and Wendy had fish pie and I can honestly say we were all impressed with our selections. The food was lovely, our steaks were huge and perfectly cooked and the atmosphere was really nice and the staff were all great, it was a really lovely meal.
And after it we were all stuffed, so much so that we could not eat another morsel, let alone pudding.
We settled our bill and headed back home to watch England thrash that racist bunch of Neanderthals 1-5, which was a very nice end to the day.
As I type copy I see yet more Brexit debacle occurring on the Parliament channel, will it ever end, I’m not hopeful!
DuLoe
No Travelling
I woke a few times in the night, once at around 02:00 and I had to make my way, gingerly down the stairs for the toilet, and then at 05:00, again needing to go, and again risking the stairs, (it’s strange I hardly ever need to go at home in the night!). But I managed it safely on both occasions, however that did not prepare me for the onslaught of Granddad making a simple cup of tea at 06:20.
I could hear this clatter and racket and I woke up to find Wendy sat up, on her iPad while the earth rocked below me. “What the hell is going on Wend”, I said, “Dads making tea”, she replied.
“Jeepers I’d hate to think how much noise he makes when he’s not tippy toeing” I replied.
There is no door at the bottom of our stairway so we are open to all the goings on in the kitchen, which I don’t think is strictly safe from a fire safety point of view.
Wendy came running with me and we went down a lane we went yesterday by accident in the car, after a mile it turned into a track which was alright, but it went down, down and deeper down. It was a killer going down, what would it be like coming back. At the bottom we took a rest and I checked the route on my mapping app and I could see another way back so we took it. It was just as much a killer, up, up and up we went. It was as bad as the Highland Cross passage, but we made it.
At the top, (3.5 miles), Wendy gave up and went home, knackered, I carried on, knackered!
I even managed to find another even deeper section of the valley we had just managed to survive, and it nearly killed me coming back up it. I never knew that Cornwall was so bloody hilly. I think I have lost three days of my life on this one run alone.
After breakfast we set of for Polperro a small Cornish village that Granny and Granddad have been to before and they like it.
It is a lovely village, quaint and very Cornish but to get into the heart of the village I had to drive around very tight, tiny roads and at one point I had to reverse down into a road to a place where I could park the car using Grannies blue badge.
We went for a walk around and it is indeed really nice, homely village. It’s an old traditional Cornish seafaring village which seems to be mostly cottage rentals with the odd shop, bar and trinket place. I bet not many local working people live in the village.
Granny was keen to go into a pub which she really likes, it’s called the Blue Peter, so we went into it for a pub lunch and it was indeed a cracker. It was a really lovey, friendly place and the food was a delight. I had the fish and seafood soup, Wendy had a fish and chip wrap, Granny had fish and chips and Granddad had the fish cakes, every meal was lovely, hot and tasty.
We spent a very nice hour in the bar, I could have stayed all day, it was just that kind of a place. It would most likely be very different in July when the village is crammed with visitors.
The village is quite unique, at its centre is a small tidal river that runs sharply down a valley with steep sides and the houses have been built into both side of the valleys. The homes have stunning views but as there aren’t many roads they must have to hump their shopping and furniture up manually which must be a real bind.
The harbour is protected by a small inlet which again has steep cliffs around it making it extremely safe. 100 years ago, before AirBnB it must have been an important fishing village.
After departing the Blue Peter we took a drive to the small town of Liskeard which is about 5 miles from our accommodation.
The sun was out and we drove along some very long and winding, small country roads. We were taking in the sights and it was all very nice. I did have to slam on the brakes at one point as a Male Peasant, calm as you like just walked out in front of me. How I missed it the lord only knows. I must have touched him, surely I did, but I saw him as happy as Larry in my rear view mirror as I went forwards. G & G and Wendy on the other hand all had friction burns form their seatbelts.
We got to Liskeard after a short while and we did indeed find a very nice small town which was again very hilly. Obviously any Avid Reader worth their salt would know the reason we were in Liskeard, to bag a Wetherspoon bar of course. Granny has now got the bit between her teeth and is keen to bag as many as she can while we are on this trip.
Therefore we had a very pleasant drink in the, King Doniert” which in now bag number 61!
As it was nice and sunny at 16:00 we headed back to our accommodation to sit out in the sun, on the decking and have a glass of wine while soaking up the sun. The wind was a wee bit nippy but the sun was bright and when the wind dropped it was lovely, but when it blew it was bloody cold.
We managed to stay out until around 18:00, and then we sat in the kitchen and had a lovely little knock up delight for supper, created by Wendy. It was very simple, mussels, crisps, French stick, balsamic and olive oil and beef, for good measure.
It was lovely.
Its Sewing Bee on telly tonight and Wendy is with Granny so they will be drooling all over it, me I might just settle into my upstairs apartment and call it a night. I am definitely not running around this village tomorrow, I’ll have to come up with a cunning plan to keep my record going, I’m sure I’ll come up with something!
DuLoe
No Travelling
I knew I would find a solution to running around this hilly village, simples, take the car to Looe.
As it is only 3.5 miles away that’s exactly what I did and it was a very good result. Looe is by far the most picturesque village I have seen on the Cornwall coastline, even above Polperro which is quite unique itself.
I ran along the East side which really is a short run itself as its bounded by a steep hill, then I went over the bridge to the West side which although it has a hilly section it does allow access to the shoreline by way of a dead-end road, which then gives access to a grassed area which I believe forms some kind of coastal walk. When I got back to the town I still had a couple of miles to do and I did this by finding another route along the river on the West side.
The sunshine was lovely, it had been frosty when I took the car out but the sun warmed things up and I had a very nice run indeed.
I got back to the house just after 09:30 and everyone was up apart from Granny who had been up and had gone to rest her legs on the bed, and fell asleep!
After my smoothie I showered and readied myself for a day of adventure, today we were off in search of a cream tea and the best place I have ever had a cream tea in Cornwall before was Mousehole, 66 miles away.
The drive down was lovely, through stunning countryside and roads which were moving freely. We had a good old chatter as we went along. Wendy entered me into Retro Heaven but I was five years out! We also got Granny into, One Little Word, which currently is “Ladies” said in a very hefty voice which we think is a Lady herself but it does sound like she’s been on 60 cigs a day for the last 30 years.
Anyway, we haven’t a clue who it is and neither, it seems, does the population of Barnsley, Wath and The Dearne Valley!
We got to Mousehole at around 12:20 and I negotiated the small streets without difficulty and we parked in the carpark by the Harbour.
The last time Wendy and I were in Mousehole was in 1991 with two very small children and from what I could see it hasn’t changed one bit, but then I guess it can’t really as the place is hemmed in so tightly around the sole harbour.
The harbour is small but, as the saying goes, it is perfectly formed. I did find the harbour mouth blocked by giant Oak sections of timber. These are used to protect the harbour during winter, here’s what the Harbour Master says about it:
During the winter months, the harbour is protected from the ravages of winter storms by the installation of huge oak baulks which seal off the harbour mouth. These are normally put in place during November and raised again during March using a mobile crane. During the summer months, the baulks can been seen stacked at the end of the South Pier.
Would you believe that the carpark we used today will be closed tomorrow as the crane is moved into place so that the baulks can be removed for this new season, how coincidental!
We took a very, very nice cream tea in a small restaurant and it was all very nice until we lost Granddad. After our treat Granddad went to the toilet, I went out of the café to take a photograph of a telephone box, and then I was joined by Wendy and Granny who then went into the souvenir shop directly next to the café.
I hung about for about 5 or 6 minutes and there was no sign of Grandad. I nipped into the shop for about 35 second and went back outside as it was boring as bloody hell.
Ten minutes later Granddad had not appeared from the toilet so Wendy went to locate him. The male toilet was locked so we assumed it was him, wrongly.
Granny insisted we go for a walk while she waited which we did, but as we got to the harbour wall we could see Granny standing alone so we went back to her. Wendy went back into the café and found the toilet empty, all the while dinners were munching on wondering what the hell this family were doing peering through the window and constantly going to the toilet.
In the end I ended up going back to the car and I found Granddad sat on a bench and he said, “I knew you’d find me eventually” I just called him with my finger thinking that Wendy and Granny would put him through the ringer, and I do believe Granny did as we left them to it to continue on our walk.
The significance of the telephone box is that 26 years ago we called Granny on this phone and she told us that Ian wanted to talk to Wendy. Wendy phoned Ian and it’s from this telephone box that we found out that Ian and Angela were going to get married, we left our holiday there and then and drove to Kent to celebrate with them!
We ambled a little further and it was all very nice and after a while we all met at the car and exited Mousehole for our next destination, Penzance, to bag its Wetherspoon.
The drive to Penzance was a synch as it was only 4 miles away and by using Grannies magic blue disability card we were parked within 175 yards of our destination, The Tremenheere.
This is another fine Weatherspoon’s establishment where we all had a soft drink and Granddad had a lager shandy.
I did a little undercover detective work behind the scenes which thankfully after a bit of disappointment came good in the end. We have a taxi to Polperro at 18:30 to take us all to The Blue Peter for Grannies last supper of the trip. I’m not saying it’s her last time in Polperro as I’m sure Granddad will hassle Jack or George or some other Grandperson to get her back here one day.
When I delivered the news to Granny she was double excited and promised to get dressed to kill for the evening.
We finished our trip to Penzance by strolling around the streets for a while, where I was attacked by a pensioner with a walking stick, by accident I might add, but he did very nearly have my eye out!
Penzance, I thought was an OK town, Granny and Wendy didn’t think so, detailing that they had seen too many undesirable people.
What I did see was a Statue of Humphrey Davy, which was a cracking result. Sir Humphrey invented the Miners Safety Lamp which saved many, many lives in the coal industry in the 1800’s and he was revered for his brilliance when I worked as a coal miner, in fact I do indeed have my Dads Davey Lamp which he took underground with him every day when he worked as a Deputy at Woolley Colliery.
Our taxi came on time, Granny looked stunning and I saw a lovely sunset as I waited for our lift to arrive and then we were in the Blue Peter in no time at all.
Our orders were, Grandad – Sirloin Steak, Granny – Crab Linguini, Wendy – Catch of the Day, Me – Seafood Platter.
Wendy went to place the order at the bar and I had a funny five minutes with G & G and a man named John. Now Avid Readers will have to ask me for an oral explanation as to what I am talking about, but believe me, you had to be there to fully appreciate what went off!
Our meals came and everyone loved them, they were all stonking, mine was most likely the best seafood platter I have ever had and I wished Robyn, my daughter, was with me to have one because she likes nothing better than a good seafood platter.
After our meal we waddled back to the taxi collection point where we were met after a short wait and we were whisked back in no time at all as the driver was knocking off after us, his last lift of the night.
We settled in for a night of intrigue from Westminster and on starting the telly we saw on Sky News the DUP will not support the PM, so that snidely git Rees-Mogg will not now support the deal too, what a state we are in!
Duloe to Sheppey
302 Miles
Jeepers I woke with a start at 05:30 and my mind immediately woke up, and I didn’t know why so I tried to nod off again and I think I kind of did but only fretfully and I was wide awake again at 06:30.
I got up, had breakfast and drove into Looe for my morning run, Wendy got up and ran around the village, but left the hills well alone.
It was a cracking morning, the sun was out and it was warming nicely.
I parked the car and did a couple of laps of East Looe and then I crossed the bridge into West Looe and ran up the river.
At the point where I turned around on the road yesterday I carried on and I found a path all the way up the West River for 2 miles, it was cracking. I was all alone and I even lost Dearne FM as I was out of signal. I could hear the birds singing instead and it was rather nice.
The path came to an end and I re-joined a road which I didn’t know was there and just a little further along the road I came to a very remote and, very well placed campsite which I might very well go and find at some future date.
I got back to Looe and I had to do a little more running on the west side to get my mileage in and that was fine as I saw the boats heading out to sea to find todays catch.
I got back to the accommodation and everyone was up and packed, I had my smoothie and showered and then I packed the car and before you could say, “Happy Holidays” we were in the car and heading to Looe to collect some Cornish Pasties for the journey.
I parked up and Granny and Wendy went to the bakery and took an absolute age, I thought they’d got lost. They came back 20 minutes later with Granny buying a huge box, containing 10 Cornish Pasties and 4 packs of cream teas, containing in each pack, 2 scones, 2 tubs of jam and 1 large tub of Devon clotted cream, oh and a plastic knife.
Wendy only bought 4 pasties, thankfully.
After we had crammed Grannies purchases into the car we set off for our first mission which was to find Eddie an old military mucker of Grandad who lived in Plymouth.
Granddad had arranged to meet Eddie and his wife Brenda in a small restaurant in the centre of Plymouth and has luck would have it they had just parked their car as we got there so we left G & G in their capable hands.
We went for a very good walkabaout.
I have been meaning to go to Plymouth every time I have ever been over the Tamar Bridge but I never managed it, but today we did and what a cracker it is.
Plymouth is a very clean and vibrant city with a lovely shopping area and it has a nice short walk upto the sea front where Francis Drake played bowls before he tackled the Spanish Armada in 1588.
We could see up and down the coast and it looks really interesting. I even came across a wall where Royal Naval ships have been replicated in miniature form, of course, and set with the sea as their backdrop.
The weather was fantastic and we even slipped off our sweaters due to the warmth.
We waked back into town after a while and bagged a very nice Weatherspoon’s bar as well. We could have actually bagged 4 in total but as we liked this city so much we have decided that we need to make it a location for a future city break, so we can bag the rest then.
We even came across the new statue of the 50 foot women who is supposed to be the South’s answer to the Angel of the North. I’m sorry to say she is nowhere near as majestic and dignified as the Angel, she’s nowhere near as good, so its 1 – Nil North v South, back of the net to the Angel!
After two hours we walked back to the car, taking in a nice hot Cornish Pasty as we walked.
We found the gang of four back at the car and they had had a lovely lunch and more important they had had a very nice get together. I briefly chatted with Edie and his wife Brenda and I instantly liked them both, they are both smashing people and it’s heartening to know that Granddad has been friends with Eddie since they did their National Service together in the 1950’s.
After a farewell chat we set off for home and apart from a bit of a busy section on the M25 we were home only having lost 15 minutes on a 300 mile journey.
We did have a toilet stop and we did share a Cornish Pasty along the route which certainly made the trip more bearable.
We also had to stop at Morrisions when we got back to the Island, for wine, wine, wine……..wine and basic essentials.
After unpacking we sat around for a nice chat, Granddad even had a small whiskey to celebrate a smashing few days away. Ian and Karen snook around the back garden and tapped on the window, frightening both Granny and Wendy to death in the process.
More wine and chatting followed.
It’s been a smashing few days and I think G & G have thoroughly enjoyed themselves, Wendy and I have done and the icing on the cake was the lunch date today, Granddad was as pleased as punch to see his old Mucker!!!
Sheppey to London
Train Travel
I was up with the birds today and out running by 7:30 and it was a glorious sunny morning.
I went around Queenborough and along the sea wall where it was a little misty at sea. I could see a large cargo ship coming into harbour, and I could hear her too as the Master was sounding his fog horn none stop.
I got back to the van and Wendy, who hadn’t gone running was up and about and left shortly after with my smelly running gear which was bound for Grannies washing machine.
After my smoothie I showered and followed her up to Grannies.
Today Wendy and me are off on the train to London to watch the Motown Story at the theatre.
We had a bit of a wobble with Wendy leaving her phone behind but we nipped back for it and caught an earlier train to Sittinbourne where we take a connection to London Victoria.
The first train was fine as it was an open ticket but as we were almost two hours early we had to pay £23 to take the earlier train, jeepers that was a right rip off.
Thankfully we got a seat!
And our luck changed because at the first stop the people occupying the table next to us left the train so we bagged that and we had it to ourselves for the rest of the ride.
We got to Victoria and walked down to Parliament and straight into a massive demonstration of Leave voters and to be honest there were some right nutters amongst them.
Jeepers they pulled out the dregs for this rally, I’m sure they aren’t representative of the majority of Leave voters, they are most likely committed activists.
One man had a megaphone and was shouting to the MP’s who were debating, yet again The PM’s agreement, that all of Parliament were under lawful arrest!
We walked along Whitehall and found some more Leavers outside Downing Street. One man had a sign and he also had a tin can on a piece of string in his hand and he was kicking the can around like some kind of idiot game.
We walked along the Strand and bagged a nice Wetherspoons bar on Kingsway.
As there was another around the corner we bagged that too, while being very naughty and taking a sarnie each in with us to scoff. Wendy was scared stiff we’d get caught, but we didn’t.
We walked a little further and guess what? We bagged another, now this was a corker, The Knights Templer, in the City.
It was a cracking building, very spacious and grand.
We headed east towards Tower Bridge and by accident bagged one more, The Crosse Keys. Again this was another cracker but it was crammed full with city workers who had just knocked off as it was 5pm.
We checked into our very small, but clean and tidy room and caught up on yet more Brexit debacle.
We got to the theatre just nicely in time to take our front row circle seats and we saw a stunning performance.
It was brilliant, the Marvin Gaye actor sang an haunting rendition of What’s Going On, and the Grapevine was fantastic. All the others too were good, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five, The Supremes etc.
It was helpful to know the Motown Story as it wasn’t fully explained, thankfully we knew it.
After the performance we ate at a small Indian Restaurant and the food was very tasty but the service a little cafeteria like.
We got back to the hotel via the Embankment Tube station and six stops just after midnight, having a glass of wine before bed.
London to Sheppey
Train Travel
I have a confession to make to an Avid Reader who we, upto this point, seem to have outwitted in keeping his surprise 80th birthday party a secret from him.
We met Alex, Robyn, Bradley and Caroline in London as we were all going to see the Motown Story together, we also ate at the Indian restaurant together and traveled together from London to Sheppey leaving them at a Queenborough to check into their hotel at the Queen Philippa.
But before that I was up and out running at 06:30 and it was a stunning London morning. I ran up Fleet Street, over to Piccadilly, then to Buckingham Palace, Westminster and then back along the South Bank and over Tower Bridge.
I was sweating cobs at the end and I had to sit out a while to allow my dripping sweat to stop.
Back in the room I showered and then Wendy and me went for breakfast in a local Wetherspoons bar. No one else wanted to come, Brad went running Robyn and Alex never surfaced until after 9 am.
After check out we took the tube to Victoria Rail Station and as we were a little early we had a beer in the bar, another Wetherspoons bar, would you believe.
The train journey was fine apart from the spat we had with an obnoxious man two rows back and we got to Sitinbourne in no time at all.
We changed trains and got off at Queenborough and went our separate ways.
After a quick turnaround we went to surprise Grandad for his 80th Birthday and we did a pretty good job.
After the formal part we went back to the house for shin-digs until the small hours, but credit when due, Grandad kept up until the end, proving that he is still a rock and roll guy, even at 80!!!
Sheppey
No Travelling
Jeepers I must admit to still being a little drunk when I woke at 08:00, or was it 09:00 this morning, the after effects from last night? I was absolutely scunnered by the clocks, forward or back, I just didn’t know, I was all out of kilter. My iPhone was one time and the bed clock was another, so which way was it, I had no idea.
Being a “Stand up Fusilier”, I was dressed and out running within the hour and Blinking Eck was it windy, it almost blew me back. It was even worse down on the beach. Wendy Gill took the easy, “Mother’s Day” option and stayed in bed drinking tea.
I got back after running constantly and without stops to find the caravan empty as Wendy had collected Alex and Robyn and taken them to Grannies, Brad and Caroline had left on the 10:00 train for more fun in London. However Caroline wasn’t looking like anything other than needing another 3 hours in bed from the photograph Bradley sent us all. In fact the next photograph he sent us was indeed of Caroline fast asleep on the train. Well it was a late night last night, and after a very long day too!
It was a cracking day though and Grandad did indeed enjoy the day.
I had my smoothie and then showed and headed to Ian and Karen’s because that’s where my gang where currently hanging out.
I heard about more shenanigans from last night, such as Hayden being found comatose behind a petrol pump in Queenborough, I saw an Instagram of Bradley on a boat on the creek and we discussed how we had to get the last of the guests to go home. But we all concluded that it was a fantastic day.
We left at 13:45 for 45 minutes at Grannies before we headed to Gatwick to take Alex and Robyn to their flight. While at Grannies we raided her fridge, which she supplies for just such occurrences and we set off with full tums.
The roads were good for once and we got to Gatwick on time.
We got back in the same time as we got there but I’m pleased we left early when we did because the M26 was gridlocked on its North Bound carriageway as we passed on the South Bound carriageway.
We got back to Sheppey and went upto Ian and Karen’s for a chance to see Jess before she has her hospital stay tomorrow. There was food and drink on offer and it was nice to see everyone before we leave tomorrow.
Jess is a lovely young women, she has the cutest laugh I have heard, especially when I tickle her feet and I do wish her well for her treatment in the coming months.
Lily, Michael, Becca and George left for home and so we chatted with Ian and Karen for a while before heading back to our caravan for a wee bit of relaxation before we travel North tomorrow.
This has been one cracking expedition, I’ve loved it.
We don’t know if we will make it home tomorrow, I suspect we won’t as it’s getting quite windy, but that’s OK, we have the caravan and we can easily find somewhere to stay if we need.
I’ll keep you posted on our progress Avid Reader!!!
Sheppey to Penrith
343 Miles
We were up early this morning with me thinking the hour forward malarkey as upset my body clock, I must be getting old for it to affect me this badly.
I went running along the cliffs again and down the Leas and the wind was still blowing me along, although not as badly as yesterday.
I was back without stopping and chatted with Pat for a few minutes before he went off for his computer course. Pat told me he wants to learn how to Hack into computer systems, I don’t know if he was kidding me or if he really wants to become a cyber warrior?
After breakfast we decamped and turned the caravan around on the movers so we wold be ready to get going once we had been to visit Granddad on today, April Fool’s Day, his 80th Birthday!
The caravan move went well with one slight hiccup, there is a concrete parking slab which presents a deep step which the mover would not get over. But being a good scout I was prepared for such an issue as I have a short tow rope to wrap around the tow ball and hitch onto the caravan.
I was over that step faster than greased lightening and in no time at all we were up seeing Granddad to wish him a very happy birthday.
Jeepers the scally wag did well for himself. He had around 5 or 6 bottles of whiskey, a Short Wave radio where he is going to listen into confidential Russian coded messages in his shed while doing his jigsaws. He also got a helicopter ride booked and a surprise day out with Lily.
Didn’t he do well!!!
Well to be fair he is a very well-liked old boy even if he does have his very own and unique idiosyncrasies.
We set off for the long haul up the road but first we had to ask the shop keeper at the bottom of Pauline’s road to move his car so we could get out and onto the main road, which he very nicely did for us.
Getting out of the road can be quite challenging with just a car at the best of times, towing a caravan makes it a double nightmare. Thankfully, as Wendy was watching me out a man stopped and give me a huge amount of room for me to swing right out and miss the cars who, I’m my opinion are illegally parked too close to the junction.
And with that we were off, north bound!
I was thinking of going along the M25 and up the A1, but the Satnav wanted to me to go via the M11, I wasn’t keen as there are roadworks at Cambridge and the lanes become very narrow. But as I hadn’t heard any issues about this route on the radio I did what I was told and went onto the M11.
And it was fine, the traffic kept moving, even through the very narrow lanes through the roadworks. There were time that I had to run over the cats-eyes at the side of the road when I was overtaking but we got through without stopping.
We had a near miss along the A1 duel carriageway when a car pulled out in front of me and didn’t move away fast enough. Thankfully I braked hard, but maintained a straight direction so the caravan didn’t jack knife. Of course Wendy was in the stratosphere through shock but it all ended well and we carried on.
We pulled into the Services so Wendy could make a few sarnies, which she did but it was chaos as the caravan park was amongst the HGV parking and there was only one way in and out, and it was the same way so there were Lorries pulling in and out and blocking the road all over the place. Thankfully I could screw the caravan around in a oner and we were off again.
From there on in we had no hassle at all and we were soon heading over the A66 and into Cumbria.
As we knew we couldn’t make it home before midnight Wendy used the Caravan Club app and found us a place to stay just outside Penrith.
We were there at 5:45 pm and we were settled in within ten minutes.
It is a cracking wee site, just a mile and a half from the lovely town of Penrith.
We were going to go to a local village pub for supper but we changed our mind and headed into Penrith for supper supplies and to bag the Penrith Weatherspoon’s bar which was rather nice.
Back at the van Wendy cooked a lovely supper of Rump steak strips, noodles, mushrooms, onion and garlic in a black bean sauce, accompanied by ciabatta bread, it was a delight.
As we ate our meal the rain began to pitter-patter on the roof of the caravan and it was rather soothing.
I watched the latest Brexit nonsense on Sky news until 9pm when it was time for the Grand finale of Season 9 of the Walking Dead.
I’m looking forwards to a nice night’s sleep as we have around 280 miles to go tomorrow!
Penrith to Kirkhill
306 Miles
I slept with my ear plugs in last night as the rain was still pitter-pattering on the roof of the caravan. I didn’t hear a thing, I woke at 06:00, I looked at the bedside clock and forced myself into another hour of very nice sleep. I woke again at 07:20 and I took out my ear plugs and I could still hear the rain pitter-pattering on the roof.
Wendy was spark out, fast asleep so I got up, made breakfast, put on the telly and made tea, one for me one for Wendy, who was still fast on.
I saw the news and then I saw Carol Kirkwood on top of the Liver Building in Liverpool being blown to buggery by the wind and rain. It was raining with us, but thankfully we didn’t have the wind, yet.
There and then I decided we should hit the road and get home before the wind came. I woke Wendy, who was slowly stirring and told her to get her tea as we were going home.
That did it, she was up and ready, she finished her tea, showered, dressed, dried her hair and was ready in no time at all.
As I started to get the caravan ready to move outside, I saw the Lake District Mountains in the distance covered with snow, well they would be as the car thermometer read 2.5 degrees and we weren’t at 2,500 feet.
We set off before 09:00 and drove up through Cumbria and into Scotland. Wendy had made some stonking sarnies and a flask of coffee so we were well nourished along the route.
We made excellent time and we were within 3 miles of home when we came across a road traffic accident.
It was a bad accident and caused us a bit of bother as I had to back the caravan into a tight entrance and then we had to drive all the way out around the Beauly Firth.
I also had to give Wendy Gill a talking to as she had a bit of a fit at the way the Police had not managed the traffic. In fact it was so bad I had reason to make an enquiry tonight of how Police Scotland managed the incident, my report to them is detailed below:
“I understand that a road traffic accident occurred on the A862 and that someone has been seriously injured. Firstly I would like to extend my sympathy to the injured party and wish them a speedy recovery.
Although the road was closed due to the accident, no signage or notification appeared to me to have been put out or given. I just caught a message on Radio Scotland at around 13:50 but I didn't get it all. I tuned into MFR and no notification was given at all. I left the A9 Northbound and I do not recall any notice on the Roadway Matrix about the accident, I arrived at the accident site at 14:30 with my caravan finding the road closed and no police available to offer guidance. I managed to turn my caravan around and headed back to Inverness and I was overtaken by a police car on the approach to Bunchrew, the car was not blue light driving. As I re-entered Inverness, traffic, including HGVs, were still being allowed to go along the road to the site of the accident. The police officer in the car must have seen this occurring.
I managed to get home sometime later and at 17:30 I left home for a run to Beauly, I passed the Drum turnoff and there was no signage out but on my return at 18:15 a road closed sign was on display and also one at the Kirkhill junction. This was almost five hours after the incident. I have checked Traffic Scotland all afternoon and I found no mention of the accident on the Current Incident page. Is there a reason for this as it appears to me to have been a lack of police action to prevent undue delays and manage the traffic effectively?”
We got home an hour and 21 miles later!!! It wasn’t much of a delay, but it was totally unnecessary and it caused havoc for several hours later.
I parked the van on the drive, unhitched and that was that, the end of another adventure.
We have had a stonking time, we accomplished our mission of driving down and exploring the east coast, taking Granny and Grandad down to Cornwall, celebrating an 80th Birthday in style and getting home safe and sound.
I kept very accurate records of this trip so I can use it as a costing exercise for future trips around the UK.
We did 1,445 miles between destinations, 3,289 miles overall, which cost £420 for fuel, and our overall average camping cost was £13 per night so I think we can manage a month or two at that for our next Caravan adventure which I am thinking might be October and November, maybe the Lake District and The West Country, but as we both like tropical sunshine it might have to be decided on the toss of a coin.
See you on our next adventure Avid Reader, USA Southern States, May 2019 for Bradley Shackleton Gill’s 30th Birthday!
Kirkhill to Brora
62 Miles
We were pondering last night whether to take the caravan out for the weekend but we were a little bit put off with the weather forecast, apparently we are going to experience a northerly wind and even the possibility of some snow, never, not in May, surely? So we didn’t make any firm plans.
I woke at 04:45 this morning and my head went into holiday mode and so I got up, had breakfast and went running. I was back just after 08:00 having run 9 miles and I met Wendy who was just leaving for her run.
I discussed my plan with Wendy who whooped with joy at the thought of time away in her beloved caravan and off she popped on her run, coming back in ten minutes due to her dodgy foot. She thinks she has an arthritis issue and it rubs against her running shoe. I told her to cut the area of the shoe out and to try that, she was sceptical but did so and went running……again and came back all happy and pain free.
As I had finished my breakfast I went for supplies while Wendy packed the van. I had to get a new bolt for my car wheel after having a bad experience with Kwikfit, which I won’t go into just now and it took £5.75 from the Skoda Dealer before I got what I wanted. My usual refuge for such matters, who would have charged about 99p didn’t have any in stock.
Never mind, I was home a wee bit later and then we had the car and van hooked up and ready to go. I was just listening to Retro Heaven at half Eleven when I received a phone call from Granddad Bryan. I didn’t get to the phone in time so it went to voicemail. I then had to go through four minutes of hearing him and Granny and the news drone on for a full four minutes. Wendy phoned Granny back but they both denied any knowledge of the call, but I can definitely confirm it actually happened, you can see the call log in the photo section Avid Reader.
Having filled the caravan we set off for our three nights visit to the Badlands of the Highlands that is Brora, 62 miles north of home.
The journey was lovely, we had no issues at all and we arrived at our site at around 2pm, and what a site it is.
We are now nicely camped in the grounds of a World War Two listening station where it once had huge antennas listening to the goings on of the Third Reich. After the war it continued as a listening station during the cold war, which was something I never knew about, how interesting. In fact the toilets and showers are located in the actual building from all those years ago.
The only drawback is that we have a stunning sea view but we are behind a chain link fence.
After a sarnie at our new site we set off for a short walk around the village, well I was a wee bit tired having started my day far too early.
First up we learned that we are staying at Lower Brora, or Old Brora. This is the old fishing village from many years ago and there is indeed a very small harbour where small fishing boats still go out daily to catch prawn or lobster in their creels.
On our travels we saw a stunning rail bridge that spans the river, The River Brora, made of stone it’s as stunning as any stone bridge you’ll see anywhere in the UK.
Wendy found a fancy emporium that she knew was at the north end of the town but fortunately for me and unfortauanlty for Wendy it was closed. It did look interesting mind.
Along our travels we found out that Brora was the home to the most far north, deep coalmine in the UK. Coal was found in Brora and several pits were established here. In fact the largest mine produced coal that was used for producing sea salt.
Vast amounts of sea water was boiled in huge pans which eventually produced fine salt which was taken by a train, pulled by horses upto the harbour where it was sent throughout the world, how interesting.
There was also a brick kiln that was supplied with coal from the mines, these are the famous Brora red bricks which can be found in many houses dotted around the town
The last mine and brick production ended in 1974!
We walked back into town and walked past the World War One war memorial which was dedicated in 1922 by a local lady who had lost 2 sons, 1 daughter and 1 son-in-law to the war. It is a very fine monument with many local names inscribed upon it. It is a clock too, which chimes every 15 minutes so we never forget about the sacrifice made all those years ago.
One of the stones on the monument has a fossil embed in it which is really a very nice touch.
We stopped for a pint of real ale at The Sutherland Inn and that was very nice indeed. I had a nice chat with a local fella who knew all about Barnsley FC and we spent a very nice hour there.
After passing the now defunct water fountain that was dedicated to Queen Victoria when she visited Brora on her many trips to Dunrobin Castle we went home for supper and for me to watch the last run of the Tour du Yorkshire, and what a cracker it was.
Supper was a delight pork ribs cooked by Wendy, I licked my lips and my fingers many times as I devoured them all, they were very tasty.
I don’t think it will be long before I am in my scratcher tonight, it’s been a long day, and an interesting one and hopefully we’ll be able to walk along the beach which lies to the north of the town tomorrow, weather permitting of course!
Brora
No Travelling
We were all tucked up in bed for 10pm last night and boy did I sleep. I woke at 4am and saw the first signs of light outside and then turned over and promptly nodded off again. I woke briefly at 7am and thought jeepers what a sleep and again nodded off. I finally woke at 8am and actually had to make myself get up, or I would still be there, dozing the day away.
We had had some rain through the night but it doesn’t really disturb you, I just seem to nestle down further and enjoy my sleep more.
We went running late as we sat and watched the Tour de Yorkshire start with the ladies race at 09:00. It was an awful day in Barnsley, it looked like it was pouring down. We watched the riders until they left Barnsley at Old Royston and I swear I saw Molly’s head from the helicopter shot as they passed over the railway bridge.
The wind was howling by the time I went running, it was blowing me backwards, it was dry and sunny for the time being but it was only 5 degrees and there was signs of snow on the hills overlooking the town.
I ran out of town and along an inland road that took me past the distillery and I continued out into the countryside all on my own with just the odd passing car. Had it not been for the wind it would have been a perfect run. At times I thought I was running backwards the wind was that harsh but it did work for me when I turned back and I did indeed post a very good time, I was almost flying at times.
We waited awhile while the wind and rain pounded the caravan and we took in the finish of the ladies race which was very good, the peloton rode almost intact to the end, it was just a very quick breakaway that came first.
When we had a break in the weather we loaded ourselves into the car and went around the river to Brora’s famous beach. We parked in the beach carpark which was almost empty and off we set along a very beautiful and clean beach, and we walked directly into a storm.
We braved the elements for about ¾ of a mile but turned around when we were being whipped by a very fierce rain shower, it was still cold and the rain contained a fair amount of ice and hailstones. With the wind at its fiercest at Wendy’s insistence we headed back to the car but only after I had promised to myself that I would have to come back during better weather and do the full 2 miles beach walk.
We left the car in the car park and walked the short route to the Royal Marine Hotel to take a look at their menu as a consideration for supper tonight.
We found the hotel which looks impressive from the front and after finding the bar which is set in the Garden Room where snacks and light meals can be taken, we booked in for supper for 19:00. The young lady behind the bar was none too impressed with my insistence that I wanted to make sure that I could see the end of the Men’s Race before I took supper, she didn’t look much like an athlete to be fair.
After a pint of not very nice beer we went back to the caravan to be blown about again while we saw the start of the men’s race. Barnsley have done it again and they turned out in their thousands to see the tour pass through the streets. Thankfully the rain had stopped and the men got a decent start to the race.
Following a nice welcome cup of tea we set off for a drive along the Glen where I had run this morning, and what an absolute stunner it is, and it’s a long way in, and out.
Picking up from where I turned around during my run we quickly came across Loch Brora which was absolutely stunning with the afternoon sunshine showing it in full glory.
All in all we travelled the road into nowhere passing isolated homes and lodges which I could only imagine being so cut off in the depths of winter and wondering how nice it would be to have a roaring fire going and a nice whisky in my hand as I watched the snow get deeper, but only for a weekend mind.
After about 12 miles we turned around and came back, and immediately ran into what I can only call a winter storm. The temperature outside changed from 8 degrees to under 2 degrees in about 2 minutes and the rain changed to hail and then to snow in about the same time. It was wet snow and nowhere near settling on the ground but it was doing so in the hills above us.
As the weather was so bad I missed a turnoff and we ended up at the wrong side of town as I wanted to visit the distillery which was at the other end of town. I fancied getting a bottle and having a dram as the men’s race came to an end.
Nevertheless we got to the distillery and I was utterly disappointed to find that the only bottle they sell, apart from the silly ones which are in the hundreds of £’s is a 14 year old single malt which costs £44. Now I know I like whiskey but I think that’s a wee bit too much for a bottle, even Oban, my favourite was only £43.
I asked the lady at the shop and she told me that the majority of what they produce goes directly into the Johnny Walker blend and that accounts for about 90% of what they make so it looks like they only dally around with their 14 year old bottle. I was gutted!!!
Back at the van a glass of wine had to do as the riders came into Bedale for the end of what must have been a very gruelling cycle race.
After the race we doubled away in between showers for supper at the Royal Marine Hotel and what a delight it was. I had the fish, chips, mushy peas and homemade tartar sauce. They were steaming hot and very tasty, Wendy had Chicken, infused with a truffle and wrapped in Pancetta with a mushroom risotto and that was quite tasty too, I had a nibble to check!
We were stuffed but we had to try pudd so we shared an absolutely delightful crème brulee which came with whipped cream and a raspberry compote, it was bloody lovely. We were subjected to staff training where the waiter was under supervision, he was a nice enough lad but he hadn’t a clue, I’d like to see him this time next year to see how the training went, some people are untrainable for certain jobs, and as nice as he was, he wasn’t waiter material.
We settled our account and walked back to the caravan, thankfully the wind had dropped and the rain had stopped. We got back, set the heating to very warm, opened a bottle of wine and chuckled at Gogglebox……….isn’t life good!!!
Brora
No Travelling
I was up at around 3am feeling very unwell, and sick. I headed for the bathroom where I spent ten minutes retching but without being sick. I did not feel good at all but being made of Northern stuff I got back in bed and fell promptly asleep. All was well and I woke at 07:00 but still felt a little yucky so I decided attack is the best defence so I had a hearty bowl of bran flakes, and after a steaming hot cup of tea I felt much better. But I was not going outside, it was lashing down and the wind was rocking the caravan front and back, left to right and there was yet even more snow on the hills, and it had settled to a much lower level than yesterday’s downfall.
We stayed wrapped up in bed and I found a film on an obscure film channel called Movies4men called Culloden 1746. It was an old film with a very young Brian Blessed and it was about the battle of Culloden Moor, obviously! However it wasn’t strictly factual by making it look like the battle was entirely England V Scotland when in fact more than a quarter of the Governments army was made of Scots who were opposed to the Jacobite Rebellion and the potential for them to be returned to the Catholic Faith under the Kingship of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s father, James Stuart, who remained in exile on the Continent.
After the film finished with much bloodshed I took the bull by the horns and went running. The wind was still high but the rain had passed over, Wendy declined to come out with me, preferring to pamper herself and go and get our usual Saturday mornings newspapers.
I wasn’t that keen to get out but I did and I just closed my mind to the weather and ran the full length of the village, in a northerly direction from the campsite. Jeepers the wind was biting cold but I kept going and at the point where the pavement ended and the A9 proper begin again I managed to find a road which took me in the direction of the beach.
I followed this road and I had by now completed two miles. I came across the Caravan Club campsite that I had originally tried to book into but it was full and I found another smaller Camping Club site nearby, which was almost empty. Either way, I was pleased with how we ended up on the site we are. This site is perfect, we can see the tide come and go and we are camped virtually in the middle of the town and within easy walking distance to the shops and the pub.
I about turned as the rain had started whipping my face and ran south to the other end of the town and completed 5 miles in doing so. I had a rest and a drink but I had to get going again or get a chill from the biting wind.
I ran north again as far as the distillery and then headed back to camp completing 8 miles without getting soaked through.
Wendy had indeed got the papers and we decided to have a treat for breakfast, fried eggs on toast with smoked salmon, and it was bloody lovely.
After a while reading the papers and watching the ladies Tour de Yorkshire finish, we headed out to complete a circuit of the route we started yesterday, up into the hills.
It was a most enjoyable drive and we saw some stunning countryside, hills covered with snow and some remote communities that were at least 12 miles from the town of Brora, who would have to tackle this long and often winding road just to collect the most basic of supplies.
At the ten mile point we came across a roadside sale of eggs and jams and we bought ourselves a half dozen eggs and a jar of Damson Jam
We really did enjoy the trip, it’s a hidden gem!
We got back to the A9 just north of Golspie but we went into town and down to the harbour as the Golspie Sailing Regatta was being held.
There was a craft stall there where Wendy bought some delightful cakes and we watched the last of the rowing boat races come in. The weather wasn’t great for the rowers but at least the rain held off and there was a decent crowd there to cheers them on.
The beach at Golspie is very nice but it is only available when the tide is about an hour from either side of high tide.
We got back to the caravan at around 3:30pm and had a cup of tea with a very nice lemon cup cake, which was just very lemony and very tasty.
In all we had covered 30 miles in total and it was a very worthwhile venture.
After a period of rest spent reading the papers and doing online research we headed to the Sutherland Inn for a pint or two of real ale which was just what the doctor would have ordered had he been consulted.
The walk up to the pub is about a third of a mile, but it was dam cold. I had my body warmer on under my big parka but I could still feel the chill of the wind, I was hoping the pub would have the fire glowing but alas the barman from two days ago wasn’t on duty, it was a lady instead and she didn’t have the fire going. Fire is a very manly thing, most likely apart from Robyn Shepherd, the very last bastion of manliness left in the world. And while I’m on the subject she couldn’t pour a decent pint either, but that didn’t put me off having two pints. Wendy couldn’t tell the difference, which must be women weakness number two.
We read the papers while enjoying our beer and we chatted with two very nice American Cocker Spaniels who were both very well behaved.
We chatted with their human friends too who we found out came from Yorkshire.
Having had a decent chat about most things local, we were advised to visit the local visitor centre which we hope to do tomorrow and then we headed back to the caravan for supper, with me keeping an eye on the football scores to see if Barnsley could pull off the big one and become League One Champions.
Bugger, Barnsley lost but at least they are promoted! We had a fella sent off for two Yellow Cards both due to bad fouls, that’s just stupid and dangerous and most likely deserved. It makes me so mad, why on earth would you foul on such an important game!!!!
Anyway supper was down to Wendy, grilled belly pork slices, stinking, spicy hot baked beans and fried eggs from our purchases today, it was a double delight.
I think we will watch BGT and then hit the sack and as I am extremely determined to run along the beach tomorrow I need some rest, especially after last night’s too-ing and froo-ing!!!
Night, Night Avid Reader!
Brora to Kirkhill
62 Miles
We had another good night’s sleep here at the very well placed campsite in Brora. I was up nicely at 07:00 and ready to go by 09:00, after a leisurely breakfast of course. It wasn’t windy and it wasn’t raining, now that’s a first on this weekend’s trip.
I went out determined to run along the beach and I did manage it. It was cold mind, although a little better today at 7 degrees.
I had the beach all to myself and I really enjoyed it, and I can confirm that from the caravan to the far end of the beach is a little over 3 miles, so that was very nice.
To finish my 8 mile distance I did a mile along the south walk to Golspie and passed the caravan in doing so but I never saw Wendy, she must have been in the shower because she went out this morning too.
This part wasn’t so good, the track was narrow and up and down and through gorse so I stuck to the rocky beach which wasn’t much better either, but I did manage my task and got back all nice and sweaty.
After a very nice smoothie, 2 cups of tea and then a shower we broke camp and headed home.
We were going to call into the Heritage Centre before going but the wind had gotten up and we wanted to be away before they closed the Dornoch Bridge to caravans which would have entailed a 22 mile detour through the bendy roads to Bonar Bridge.
Thankfully we made it back ok and Wendy has spruced the caravan all ready for our next trip, but that won’t be anytime soon as we are USA bound.
That’s the end of this impromptu blog Avid Reader I hope you’ve enjoyed our weekend away, this time next week we hope to be at 35,000 feet heading over the pond to Las Vegas where I’m sure we will have some interesting tales to tell.
Bye for Now!!!
Inverness to Las Vegas
5,368.26 Miles – By Air
What a lovely morning to wake up to, it was a glorious sunny morning in Kirkhill.
I was up at 6am to do some last minute pottering before our taxi arrived to take us to the airport.
Wendy was up not long after and we had breakfast and had completed ablutions in very good time, which was a good job as the taxi was 20 minutes early. We did know it was coming early as I got a text message telling me that our driver, Jamie, had set off and that I could track him along his route, which I did.
It was so efficient that we were just out with our bags as he reversed onto our drive.
Bags loaded we made good progress and we were indeed now 30 minutes early for our flight check in, but that was OK we just sat and waited until our check in desk opened.
We were nicely settled in when a coach full of Chinese visitors disembarked and promptly put all their luggage at the front of the empty check in queue and then went and sat down while their tour guide watched over it. That was definitely not British, in fact it wasn’t American either, as I later found out.
Their baggage took all the space up within the check in queue enclosure, which is extremely unacceptable. I should have taken a photo, but I wasn’t fully functioning yet.
But with 20 minutes to go to the desk opening I was smart enough to go and take my bags to the front of the queue where I patiently waited while Wendy sat it out surrounded by her new found friends.
The tour guide gave me a glance over but I wasn’t moving. I hadn’t noticed but there were 3 bags left at first class check in, which was the line next to me. A couple of American golfers went to the front of that queue with their golf equipment but their mate could not get around the Chinese bags so he had to wait at the back. Sure enough when both check in desks opened all the Chinese came to their luggage. By now the first Americans had checked in and the Chinese in First Class had moved in and pushed the Americans mate out. One of the Americans went to their mates defence and told a Chinese lady to go to the back of the queue, but she played the language card and acted all stupid. So he pointed, but she still didn’t budge. His mate told him to leave it.
I said to him, “That’s not the British way of queueing”, He said, “I know, and it’s not the American way of doing it either”.
After going through Security with ease, we had our customary prefight drink, I had a beer and Wendy had wine, at a cost of £12.60, WoW!!!
We boarded our flight and off we went for an easy trip down to Heathrow, Terminal 5. We didn’t partake in any in flight hospitality because there wasn’t any, hospitality that is. The in-flight service was provided by Marks and Spencer’s no less!!! Boy did they know how to charge, it was that costly that even Wendy Gill didn’t take any wine, not at those prices.
We landed five minutes early which was nice and we disembarked after a wee delay due to someone not being on the other side of the aircraft door, but it wasn’t a hassle. What was a hassle though was that we now needed to get to Terminal 3 for our Vegas flight.
The only option is to take a shuttle bus and it’s a right old Micky Mouse palaver! We were crammed onto this bus with the driver urging us to squash up tight, which with some people having been on long flights and of dubious hygiene isn’t ideal. Thankfully it was a mild and nice day, I wouldn’t want to do it in summer or winter!
The bus ride took an age, but most likely only 10 minutes.
We disembarked but had to go through security again, what a bummer, here we go again, belt and shoes off, laptop out, liquids, powders or gel’s sir? Yes we know the drill Sarge!
After that we sought refuge in a lovely little French restaurant and had a small meat sharer which was very tasty and a very nice bottle of wine. This was a real treat and a very nice way to while away the two hours before our flight was called. I even got the Rangers v Celtic result, 2-nil to Rangers, what a result.
After a brief nip to duty free to get a bottle of emergency wine for our room tonight we boarded our flight for Las Vegas, only to have to sit on it for an hour due to some issues with cargo.
Eventually off we set and it was fairly nice flight, although the inflight entertainment service wasn’t up to much as we had very tiny and old screens to watch, in fact I think it was an old plane as they still had ash trays at the toilets.
The first film I watched was Creed II and what a belter it was. I have been wanting to watch this for ages as I missed it last year when it was released as I was in Portugal and Spain.
It was a cracking film, I thought Rocky had by now run its course, but it was very well played out. Will there be a Creed III, can Sly Stallone manage another, is he getting past it?
Our dinner came mid film and that was lovely too, Chicken casserole with mash and veg, it was very tasty, and we got some wine too, in fact all in all we had 3 very nice bottles of Sauve Blanc!
After my first film I watched another one, a Clint Eastwood film called, “The Mule”, Clint plays the part of an old fella who turned to drug running for a cartel when he fell on hard times. To be honest it wasn’t one of his finest films, I think he’s getting too old now, maybe he needs to retire gracefully.
More settling in, reading of papers and just generally bimbling along until tea time, which was pizza and before you could say, “Ten Hour Flight”, we had landed at Las Vegas and into 30 degree heat, and I loved it.
We cleared security very quickly, we were next to the front of the automated security check in, the one Wendy hates as she always goof’s it up, when we were called to a manned booth which made the process much faster.
After collecting our suitcases we were off in a taxi and had checked into our hotel within 20 minutes.
We dropped the bags, Wendy grabbed a shower and we went out for a short walk, just to the outskirts of the Strip as we were too tired to go any further. We walked back to the hotel, but not before I saw a fluorescent pink bug scuttle across our path. As usual Wendy didn’t see it until I pointed it out and then she did her usual dancing routine like a silly person, as if this tiny creature is 10 feet tall with very big teeth.
Back at the room we watched a little silly TV with a glass of wine and then hit the sack, we’ve made it, now we need a good night’s sleep to recover!
Las Vegas
No Travelling
Wendy was fast asleep before 10pm, I stayed up a little longer but I had to stop watching the last episode of The Mist on Netflix with ten minutes to go at 11pm as my little eyes could not stay open. I fell into an immediate and deep sleep.
I woke in the night and found Wendy Gill sat up in bed watching something on Netflix on her iPad, it was 4am and I was wide awake, so was Wendy who told me she had been awake since 1am.
We tried to get back to sleep but we failed and so I got up and had a breakfast bar and a nice cup of English tea and then went running along the Las Vegas Strip as the sun came up and it was absolutely terrific.
As the strip is lined by tall buildings it’s not as hot as running in the direct sun so I was very comfortable zipping along.
The strip is, er……..interesting……..and tawdry, in my opinion.
There are three places in the world, that I have been to, that I think are similar in what they offer for likeminded customers. These locations are:
Blackpool
Benidorm
And now – Las Vegas.
The only difference is, they get hotter, weather wise, in ascending order.
Boy you see some sites as day breaks in this part of the world, working girls going home and all night punters wobbling away, most likely after losing all their money.
But I did enjoy the run, even though I had to run up stairways and over bridges which cross the main freeway intersections that criss/cross the strip. There were quite a few such structures, but with each set of stairways having either an up or down escalator on each side of the stairway so people less exercise conscious could traverse the roadways without too much effort.
I got a little mixed up in an area that is supposed to be Venice and it did indeed mean that I did extra mileage, but who cares I was having fun. In all I did 9.98 miles and I got back to the hotel just after 07:30, and Wendy was showered and fully dressed but curled up on the bed looking like death warmed up, we seem to have classic jetlag! Wendy more than me, but then she usually does.
I showered and we headed down for breakfast which was very plentiful, but not so nutritional, everything seems to be sweet based in Best Western Hotels. Oh and the amount of plastic waste is incredible. Everything you touch is disposable, from knives, forks and spoons, to plates, beakers and cups, everything goes into the waste bin!
After a nice cup of tea in our room we walked 1.6 miles to the strart of the strip so we could do a proper explore of it. By now the sun was up and it was roasting hot, but again we could dodge most of it as we walked first along the north side, in the shade.
Well what can I say, Las Vegas strip is exactly how I thought it would be, like we have all seen on TV, a dessert city with buildings that have no right to be there.
The city seems to be surrounded by mountains some still with snow on their peaks and they are quite stunning.
There does seem to be some themes running along the strip, there is a Venice area, a Rome area, a New York area, a Paris area and they are currently building a London area.
As we walked we met some really lovely people all offering us free meals or $200 to use in their casinos if we just chatted to them for a while. We didn’t want to offend their hospitality so we politely declined, it was nice of them though.
We got to the end of the strip and we went into a store I had seen earlier on my run and I bought a T-shirt and Wendy, as Wendy always does, bought a bauble for the Christmas tree, obviously a Las Vegas bauble.
We called in for a beer as we headed back along the south sidewalk and it was very refreshing, if not a little expensive at $15 for two pints, but it was nice to rest a while.
We walked on and then we nipped into a casino so I could gamble the $1 Uisdean had given me to put on Red 13. Sadly the lowest bet I could place on Red 13 was $10, so I put the dollar into a one arm bandit and promptly lost it. Ah well nothing ventured nothing gained.
We walked into a couple of casinos and we saw loads of people sat around crap, black jack, roulette and other tables that I had no idea what they were playing, all inside whilst the world was going on around them at 12:00 in the afternoon, how bizarre!
Gambling, is one thing I have never got into, I have an engineering mind that works on fact and certainty and I can’t see why you would gamble anything more than a few pennies on anything associated with chance, especially when the odds are stacked against you.
Walking back we came across three sets of two girls, all dressed very sparingly with feathers attached to them. I say they were dressed sparingly, they had very small knickers, I think they are called thongs, and no chest support apart from something small that covered their n*****s.
Apparently they charge you to have a photograph with them.
It’s not my cup of tea, I believe girls and women have more to offer than sexploitation of themselves, especially when they target men. Of the three groups we passed, one came our way and as they passed they asked me if I wanted a photograph with them. I just politely said no thank you and one of the girls replied saying, “Cheer up mister”. I then entered into a deep and meaningful chat with myself as to whether or not I had been the subject of sexploitation.
On our way back to the hotel we called into Hooters, which is a very much loved establishment that Bradley Gill likes to frequent when he is in the USA. We found the food very nice, I had a beef and tortilla salad which was lovely, Wendy had chicken and chips.
We got back to the hotel, stuffed and in need of some R&R as we had walked another 10 miles, so after a cup of tea we went down to the hotel pool and lounged around in the burning sun for a couple of hours.
Jeepers it was hot, it was that hot that I had to nip to the service station and buy Wendy some wine and me a can of beer. It was the largest can of beer I have ever had, it was 75cl, which is more than a bottle of wine, almost a pint and a half.
I sat on my sunbed and sipped my beer and it was very nice, very nice indeed.
At 5:30pm we had had enough sun so we went back to our room and cooled off, with the aircon on full blast, what a treat it was.
As darkness fell we walked back to the strip to see what it was like in darkness and it was……….interesting!
Firstly I kept getting handed small cards with photographs of young ladies with very few cloths on by strange looking men, one of whom said, “Check these out”, in an over excited manner, I told him I didn’t approve.
Then there were the crowds, there were loads of people out and about to see the lights which were in, fairness, nice enough. Then there were the girls we had seen earlier but more of them. The feathers are wings so I guess they are supposed to be angels, anyway they were out in force and as we passed a pair who had just had their photo taken with an older man, Wendy heard his wife say, “You gave her $20?” Apparently it was said in a manner which showed she did not approve.
We saw the very good water fountain display at Caesars Palace. Brad has sent me video of this when he has been in Vegas and it is quite impressive, and it’s totally free.
We walked back to the hotel, and I must admit we were a bit tired as by now I had done about 30 miles today and Wendy 20.
We got back to our bedroom and Wendy settled down in bed while I watched The Great Escape on TV, I must have seen it 30 times but I still enjoy watching it.
I’m watching it now as I file tonights copy, I might not make the escape as I am an extremely tired chump tonight, heres to a good nights sleep!!!
Las Vegas to Lake Mead
33 Miles
I was asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow last night and I was sound asleep when Wendy’s phone rang at around 2am. She didn’t get it in time, which I knew would be the case.
I asked her why she hadn’t put it on silent, “No one ever calls me” was her answer. “Oh of course not Wend, we’ve just been woken up by someone not calling you”!!!
I didn’t have any trouble getting back to sleep but I was wide awake at 05:00 so I snook the kettle on and had a breakfast bar and a very nice cup of tea.
By the time I was washed and out of the bathroom Wendy was awake and had checked her message. It was someone from Specsavers to tell her that her distance sunglasses were ready for collection.
We both went out running and we both went the same way, along the road our hotel is on which runs parallel but a few blocks further north from the Strip, Wendy peeled off and did 3.5 miles as it was far too hot for her.
I followed this road for three miles and the sun was fierce and it was only just turned 6:30am!!!
I passed a huge hotel, the Westside Hotel and it had a massive structure outside with a huge display screen, I thought I would grab a photo of it when I came back, but I didn’t. What happened was I came to the end of the road and it joined the Las Vegas Boulevard which is the Strip. The Strip tapers down to it as at our end it’s just over a mile and a half away.
I ran back along the Strip, up and down four bloody bridges and I passed Devils Kitchen which I had missed yesterday, I thought that was in Los Angeles, maybe there’s two?
I got back to the hotel at 8.04 miles distance which was just perfect.
I sat outside to let the sweat flood out and a man walked past me, a casually dressed man of around 35 years old, normally dressed with his hair in a ponytail and on his belt he had a hand gun in its holster, bold as brass for all the world to see. Why on earth would a man need that level of visible protection, unless he’s not a very nice person I can only assume?
After shower and a very nice sausage toasty and yet more tea we spent the morning at the pool. We were allowed to keep the room until 2pm but we only needed it until 1pm as we went to collect our campervan then.
The pool was lovely, nice and peaceful and very, very hot! Wendy sat it out reading her book under a shelter.
This hotel is brilliant, its location is great, perfect for both the airport and the Strip and the staff are all really nice and they are very genuine in their desire to be polite and helpful, it’s been a very nice place to settle back into life in the USA!
We showered again to get all our sun oil off and the very nice lady at reception called a taxi for us and off we went, and the day just got much more expensive thereon in!
The taxis driver was Russian and he hadn’t a clue where we wanted to go so he had to use Google Mapping to get us there which is a little unsettling when you being driven down a busy interstate by a driver who has one hand on his phone and his mind not fully on his driving.
But we made it and the 15.6 mile journey cost me a whacking big $50!!! Wowser that hurt, I’m a Yorkshireman remember?
At the rental company we were looked after by a very nice women who helped herself to $360 of my money so that we are now fully comprehensive on the insurance front. We had liabilities for the first $1,500 and I thought, what the hell if I pay this I’ll have worry free driving for the next 36 days, and to be honest I think it’s money well spent.
If Avid Readers recall our trip to Australia in 2016 we didn’t pay for car excess insurance and even though I looked after that car some unscrupulous bugger damaged me in a car park on the penultimate day in Cairns, so the next day I was having to rush around getting it repaired.
After a 20 minute safety and getting to know you video we were shown our van and Wendy was delighted, it’s almost brand new. It has a very nice toilet and shower, a full size fitted bed and a very nice kitchen layout, and she was over the moon.
We stowed our gear and off we set, for our first destination, The Hoover Dam, 20 odd miles away.
On the way we called in for fuel at Boulder City which cost me $99.58 to fill half a tank, but it was 28 gallons at $3.49 a gallon so I guess that’s OK, I hope.
Then just down the road we bought supplies from a supermarket which came to $211.45. In all my life, even at Christmas when I have had a full house I have never spent so much doing a supermarket shop!
We trundled along the road, happy as Larry and drove across the Hoover Dam and what a site it is, we didn’t stay too long, just enough to get a feel for it as we hope to come back for an official visit tomorrow, but it is stunning and so is lake Mead too.
We entered a National Park on the way to our campground and that cost me $80, but at least I now have membership for an entire year to every national park in the USA.
Our camp site was huge, massive and full to the brim of massive campervans, but thankfully there is a national park site next door so we took that, it’s almost wild camping and we have no electricity, but who cares we can use our on board genny until 10pm and then we have to make do.
As Wendy started supper I started to scrounge wood for a camp fire. But as I had guessed correctly, that every morsel of available wood had already been snaffled years ago, so I took to raiding the other empty camp fires for their left overs, and I did indeed find a nice amount, so hopefully I’ll have enough for a fire tonight.
After supper we walked down to Lake Mead and its beautiful and it was so tranquil. We sat for a while as the water lapped around us and loved the solitude.
Lake Mead facts
We could see the tide line on the rocks, and we could not believe how low it is from when it was first made almost 90years ago.
As darkness approached we headed back to the van and settled down for the night, hopefully in front of a glowing camp fire!!!
Lake Mead to Tusayan
288 Miles
What a success my campfire was last night, well it would be wouldn’t it? I had very little initiator, such as paper so what I had I supplemented with thin strips of very dry tree bark. Then I piled it with small, dry twigs. The emphasis is on dry for this, it must be dry because I had to get the heat going quickly, and sustained for it to ignite the thick chunks of wood I had scrounged from the other old campfires.
It was piled with thin twigs to start with then getting progressively thicker, then I surrounded it with the thick chunks of wood.
I had one chance to light it because if it didn’t ignite the chunks I would have lost all my twigs.
However it went like a dream and we sat around it well into the night. At 10pm when generators must be switched off we had peace and quiet and we only went to bed at around 11pm when the fire had died down to embers, success all around!!!
Then to end a lovely evening we both had a very good night’s sleep in a very comfortable bed, phew, the van is proving a good idea.
I woke at 5am and walked down to the amphitheatre, which is about 100 yards from the van and sat and watched the sky get lighter. The view was over Lake Mead and it was stunning. It was so nice I phoned Wendy who thankfully was up and she came and joined me and we saw a beautiful sunrise, it was stunning!
We then had breakfast and we both went out running.
I ran down to the shore where we walked last night and then I picked up a road which took me to a marina, it was a huge marina with pleasure boats and some working vessels, it even had a paddle ship moored there.
I ran along all the pontoons and I saw some amazing fish. I sat at the end of the longest pier, which had a bar and a shop as I had done five miles by then. I sat looking over the side into the lake and the fish just came up to greet me, they were monsters, honest, take a look at the photographs!!
I got back to the van and Wendy was showered and ready for me to start the generator so we could:
A, Dry Wendy’s hair
B, Boil the kettle
C, Make my smoothie, (yes I have indeed brought my hand blender)
With all the jobs done the genny was turned off and I had the tastiest smoothie ever, you see I had found a jar of extra crunchy peanut butter at the supermarket, it was to die for!
I used the on board shower and it was very good, so we have the campervan that just keeps on giving!
After a tidy up we filled the water tank and set off for our first visit of the day, The Hoover Dam.
I didn’t say yesterday but you have to have your vehicle searched by security staff about 2 miles from the dam as it’s an obvious terrorist target, imagine the disruption it would cause if they could burst the dam, all that water rushing down the valley, the loss of electrical power and drinking water for millions of people, it would be a huge boost for the bad guys.
Anyway the security staff are great and very polite, it did worry me though when the first question I was asked, both times, was, “Do you have a firearm aboard sir?”
After we were clear to go we drove over the dam and parked up in the big carpark where campervans can park free of charge and then we walked down to the dam. We walked to the visitor centre with a view to doing a tour, but the next tour was an hour away and I wasn’t fussed anyway, so we gave it a miss.
We did marvel at the sheer size of the dam, it’s massive. The dam when built in 1935 was the largest in the world, however that is now in China as they are building big things as fast as they can.
We could see the tide mark where the water level of Lake Mead used to be on the rock face of the cliffs. It hasn’t been full since 1983 when the dam was so full the staff had to open the spillways to allow the water to run away safely.
There are 17 water turbines at the other side of the dam where the water passes through and it generates enough electrical energy to power many thousands of homes.
But the thing is, the water level of the Lake is now 150 feet lower than it should be due to over use of water in the areas who draw water from it, if this continues and there’s nothing to suggest it won’t, then there will be no water left in the Lake.
After a good scout of the dam we set off for our next location which gave the SatNav some problems as it had us going 10 miles in the wrong direction. I knew we were wrong but I kept trying the SatNav and it still assured me that it was right, but it wasn’t.
So we tried a location close to where we wanted to go and now we needed to go over 280 miles in the opposite direction, towards the Grand Canyon.
The journey was terrific, we saw the landscape change many times, it was stunning.
We travelled over mountain ranges and over vast swaths of prairie.
I guess it would be fair to question our desire to spend a big part of our travels in the cab of a campervan, or a car for that matter, but the thing is I don’t get bored, it’s like watching a living documentary out of the window of our camper, its brill!
At one point we were over 7,000 feet high going over a mountain pass. In fact we think we saw Arizona’s highest mountain, Humphreys Peak, it was covered with snow as it’s over 12,000 feet high.
We got to our preferred campsite at 4:45 having made very good time, only to find it was full, so we had to about turn and go back 5 miles to the town of Tusayan where after paying an extortionate amount of money to stay one night, we found that everyone is at it, rip off the tourists.
It’s ridiculous, the going rate for a standard bottle of wine was about £14, thankfully we have good stocks in the van.
We are staying at a height of 6,612 feet and the temperature is much cooler than Las Vegas, in fact we pulled on our jumpers.
After a walk around the town which is basically a High Street full of tourist shops and restaurants we went back to the van where I cooked a stonking supper of fried chicken in a garlic, barbecue sauce, with rice, it was lovely.
I cooked while Wendy did the prep for tomorrow’s adventure and as I type she’s getting extremely irritated by the slow Wi-Fi we have on this extremely expensive site.
I think an early night is on the cards for Wendy tonight. So she will be fully recovered for tomorrow’s adventure!!!
It’s been a lovely day and the van has been a dream to drive, I even found out how to work the cruise control after 200 miles, the lady who handed us the van gave us duff info on it yesterday, the toilet too, but we are slowly working things out!
Tusayan to Mexican Hat
208 Miles
We were tucked up in bed by 10pm and we had another comfortable and quiet night’s sleep, however it was cold so the duvet was required. I woke at one point feeling quite cold only to find Wendy Gill fully wrapped up in all of the duvet, a short wrestle ensued.
I woke feeling fully refreshed at 05:10 and got up to make tea and have breakfast, Wendy was awake too. Jeepers the van was cold, very cold to what we have been used to these last few days so I turned the heating on. That did the trick we were warming nicely in a short space of time.
I went out running at 06:00 but Wendy stayed put, and I think I heard her say, time for another cup of tea as I left the van.
I ran down the High Street for a way and at the end I found another road heading into the woods which I took. This road turned into a dirt road, but it was solid and dry and then I came across the wild camping fraternity, loads of them. How they clean themselves is anyone’s guess because there aren’t any facilities around. I came across a few campervans too, so I guess I might adopt the same policy from time to time.
The track brought me out back on the main road at the other side of town, so I had bypassed it. There wasn’t any pavement but there was a wide hard shoulder so I ran along that. I went along another mile and I saw some Elks crossing the road ahead of me. Sensing a good photo opportunity I headed for them. As I got close, a car coming towards me pulled over and the window came down.
Inside was a Native American lady and she said, “There are Elk on the road ahead”, I said, “Are they dangerous?” She replied, “Yes they are, they will charge at you if you get too close”.
Jeepers, they are well built animals too so I got a few pics by use of the telephoto lenses. I thought if that lady had gone out of her way to warn me, I must heed that warning, I mean who would know more about such things than her.
I got back to the van in a very good time which was very pleasing as I had done my 8 mile run at a height of over 6,000 feet, which I think must affect someone’s breathing as the air is much thinner, so I guess I must be pretty fit.
I didn’t have breakfast, we packed up, emptied the waste tanks and headed for fuel before heading to the carpark early so as to get a space before it filled up.
In the car park, nicely parked up we had a ham sarnie and a cup of tea before we set off on our trek to the Grand Canyon.
After a mile or so walking Wendy realised we were going in the wrong direction completely, she said she should have had her glasses on when she looked at the map, yes she should have!
However on a proper look at the map we could see that if we continued along this route we could do a Canyon Rim walk right back to the van, so we did.
In about another mile we were there and what a sight it is, wow!!
Our guide book tells you that you can never be prepared for how spectacular the Grand Canyon is, and its dead right!
It is truly amazing, it’s colossal, its breath taking and it’s so mind boggling.
The start point of our walk was where the tour buses stop so we were mobbed with mainly Chinese visitors, you know the excitable ones, and boy where they excited.
One fella tried to shoulder me out of the way so he could have a private photo against the backdrop, so I smiled at him and put my arm around him and smiled at the camera and his mate took the photo, how’s that for a photo bomb!
From there we followed the rim walk for about 3 fantastic miles, the views were wonderful.
The Colorado River looks so remote and distant deep in the Canyon but apparently it’s a raging torrent of water rushing down. I’d love to take a white water rafting trip down it.
As we walked the crowds thinned out and although we were never really alone we were with like mined people who just wanted to take in the views quietly and respectfully.
We got back to the van with a ton of photographs at midday and took a very lovely meal of fried beef in a bbq sauce and salad, right there in the car park.
At 12:45 we rolled out heading off for our next adventure, this one is for Wendy, she thinks we will like this choice and I’m happy as it’s in the state of Utah, so my State bagging continues.
We were heading to Monument Valley because of its outstanding natural rock formations that have been the back drop for very many Cowboy movies.
The journey was brilliant, we went through so many differing landscapes, prairie to desert to high altitude woodland, to nothing. We even went through a dust storm, my first ever, which was interesting and lasted about 10 miles.
For the first part of the journey though we ran along the road which runs along the south rim of the Grand Canyon so we would periodically stop and take a peak. Even when we left the national park we came across the odd canyon that supplies water to the Grand Canyon.
These were stunning too, but the thing is when you have seen the best the rest don’t quite match it, even though they are fantastic in their own right.
We entered Monument Valley and we were met with some brilliant rock formations that I can’t fathom how they ever evolved, I guess if I go into a museum that might help.
But for 20 miles we had a real treat, they were sights for sore eyes and again our cameras can’t possibly do them justice. As we travelled we saw quite a few real photographers with their long range lenses setting up for that all important shot.
We arrived at the small village of Mexican Hat, so called because there is indeed a rock formation that resembles a Mexican Hat.
This is an out of the way place, its arid and bloody wild with wind and blown sand.
Tonight we are wild camping, in the luxury of our state of the art campervan, and guess where we are Avid Reader? We are no less than directly under the Mexican Hat Rock formation.
As we arrived we took a walk and we found a river which runs through this desert and all along its shores was the most green of vegetation, look ten metres beyond that and all you see is desert.
Oh I forgot to say we happened across a time change and we are now on Mountain Time, that’s now 7 hours behind the UK, lord knows when it happened, but it did!
I’m sorry for being late filing todays copy, we seem to be without any mobile signal at all, let alone mobile data. I hope to have it published pretty smart in the morning in the first place that’s civilised enough to live in the modern world.
Mexican Hat to Bernalillo
301 Miles
Thankfully the wind calmed down during the night and we had a very settled night. The moon was shining brightly in the night sky. We were in the perfect location for a stargazing night as we were well out of the towns lights, but alas the moon cancelled them all out bar the brightest stars, and they looked quite dim compared to the moon anyway. Never mind we will have another opportunity I’m sure.
I woke late, at 06:11, this is because of the time zone change, as we are just over the time border we don’t now get daylight until an hour later, and my body seems to wake with day break.
I went out running through the bush, Wendy wasn’t keen so stayed in. I wasn’t worried about snakes at that time of a morning as they are all late risers and only come out to bite when the sun heats the ground, well that’s what my Australia Bush Teacher taught me, and I was taught by the very best of the best, The Bush Tucker Man himself, (Google him Robyn and find him on YouTube, this man actually taught me my bush skills).
At the end of one track I came across to two friendly Campers from Ventura, which I believe is in California. They were camped at the end of this track, in the perfect spot to watch the sunrise, which is supposed to be stunning from this location, however the cloud cover was too thick and they never saw it, so they were packing up and headed home.
On this track, which, I found from my new friend, flows the San Juan River, I found some really lovely white flowers, they were all over just sprouting up.
I got back to the van, I found another track, which led me to an old quarry so I had to double back and as I had only completed 4 miles when I was back at the van for the second time, I then ran along the road to the town and turned around at the petrol station.
After a shower and a lovely crunchy peanut butter smoothie, powered by the generator while Wendy dried her hair, we set off with no firm plans other than to head for Santa Fe in New Mexico.
Before we left I checked the oil level on the van and found it to be below the bottom dip line. I’ll have to keep an eye on this, maybe it’s not been checked, but as the van only had 3,162 miles on it when we took it over it shouldn’t have had such a low oil reading.
As there was a small town not far from a turn off we were going to take I carried on the extra 4 miles and bought some oil from a garage in the town called Bluff. That’s OK though as long as I keep the receipt I will get it refunded.
Back on the road we travelled through some more stunning countryside, and it seemed that at every corner there was something great to see.
Along the route we saw a huge rock formation in the distance but as there was a car too close to my rear I couldn’t pull in and get a photo. However we did stop at the next town to have a burger in MacDonald’s so I could get some Wi-Fi for me to file last night’s copy.
During our meal Wendy did some Googling and found that the town, Shiprock, was called after that rock formation, which from another angle is supposed to look like some kind of vessel.
After our burgers and a successful copy file we set off again and drove through Shiprock only to find that it appears to be a not very picturesque place to live, in fact it looked a little rough.
When we set off Santa Fe was 341 miles away but we thought we would look for somewhere to stay at around the 200 mile distance, however not long after Shiprock we entered a freeway which was 151 miles long and passed through very high country, in fact for 100 miles we never fell below 7,000 feet. This was just pure prairie with the odd cattle ranch located along it and very few towns. In fact what towns there were, were very small and they were all grouped behind a small chain link fence.
At one point we crossed the United States Continental Divide at 7,380 feet above sea level. I later found out that every continent, apart from Antarctica, (because there is no flowing water), has a continental divide which is that water from this point onwards flows into one ocean, via river systems, on one side of the divide and into a different ocean on the other side. In this case, to the west, rivers flow into the Pacific Ocean and on the other, all the rivers flow into the Atlantic Ocean, how interesting is this journey?
As we travelled this road, we came to a town called Cuba, just to the east of the continental divide actually, where I filled up with fuel. Thankfully the fuel is much cheaper here, it’s almost half the price of what it was in Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. I have also driven the van at no more than 55 MPH throughout the day and we have made 150 extra miles by doing so. As in Australia it just takes me a few days to get the best out of our transport. By going at the road speed of 65 mph I was driving the van much more uneconomically, don’t worry I always pull over regularly to let traffic behind me pass, although that’s not been needed today as it’s all been on duel carriageway.
We didn’t see anywhere we wanted to spend the night so we kept on driving and changed our mind on a final destination and headed to Bernalillo which is very close to the city of Albuquerque.
We are now at an elevation of 5,009 feet so hopefully it will be a little warmer tomorrow, it does seem to be a little warmer anyway if tonight is anything to go by.
We knew of a camp site so we headed for that and we were lucky to get checked in by a very helpful lady who found us a very suitable spot, which we were led to by a very doddery old fella on a golf buggy. He was so doddery that he forgot where our site was and stopped to ask me twice along the route!
After making camp, which to be honest isn’t very hard we walked to the brewery which is next door and had a beer each while we waited for our evening meal, an Elk Pizza.
As we walked back to the van with the pizza firmly in Wendy’s hands we came across the moon rising into the sky just above our van.
The pizza was a delight, the best I have ever eaten and it gets better as we saved half for another day.
We intend to stay here two nights and tomorrow we hope to get the train from the station just outside the camp to the city of Albuquerque, now wasn’t there a song about that???
Bernalillo
No Travelling
We woke even later today at 06:45 to clear blue skies.
After breakfast we both went running, Wendy went left and I went right and I ran along the old Route 66 which passes through both Bernalillo and Albuquerque which is about 17 miles south of our current positon.
As I went out I saw some people setting up a kind of charity market stall and I thought I’d call in on my way back and take a drink stop and maybe buy something as I saw a very interesting Native lady’s stall.
However when I turned around the wind had gotten up quite a bit and by the time I had got back to the market the lady had packed up and scarpered, the other stall holders where trying desperately to strap their gazebos down using anything of weighable value. It was a shame about the Native Ladies stall as she had something that caught my eye, I’ll keep a look out to see if I can see another on our travels.
I got back and I had a lovely smoothie while sat on the camp bench which is on our plot. Although the sun was out, the wind was bloody fierce and cold!
After breakfast and a shower we went to catch the train to the city of Albuquerque.
The train ride was a breeze and it was only $8 for two return tickets!!!
Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city, sits in the high desert. Its modern Downtown core contrasts with Old Town Albuquerque, dating to the city’s 1706 founding as a Spanish colony. Old Town is filled with historic adobe buildings, such as San Felipe de Neri Church, 5 museums, and shops selling Native American handicrafts. Nearby, The Indian Pueblo Cultural Centre traces the area’s tribal history, and it is spotlessly clean!
We arrived at the train station and as Wendy had obtained a tourist map from the campground office we thought we had it sussed. We didn’t, we could not find our location on the map so I did what I usually due, I Googled our location and I found the river, the Rio Grande no less, so off we set in the direction of the river.
Just as we set off we came across a rather dapper hat shop which sold all types of hats, I was very taken by one, a Stetson and it fitted me perfectly at size 7. But there weren’t any prices on them so I was a little cautious. Then one fella shouted to a sales assistant and asked how much is this Stetson? The answer was, they start from $120, I was out of there in 32 seconds flat, I mean $120 for a hat?
As we walked we passed through some really nice residential housing with very nice tree lined avenues, it looked like a nice place to live.
The sun was out and by now as it was turned midday, but the wind was still a bit nippy so we kept our jumpers on.
Finding the river wasn’t easy as there was a large wooded area between us and it. But we did find some very nice recreational lakes, small ones with walkways around them. I asked a young man fishing, for directions to the river and he told me there were two options, one was shorter but the other led to a pier out onto the river, so we took that.
There were three lakes, two for fishing, trout fishing and one for model boat sailing. There was a sailing contest on as we got there and their skills was amazing.
We found the pier, it was right where the lad said it would be and we were staring out onto the famous Rio Grande.
The Rio Grande is one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, it forms part of the Mexico–United States border, this is where a lot of desperate Mexicans cross the border illegally, and end up in difficulty because, as you will see from the photos, it’s wide in Albuquerque and extremely fast flowing, so conditions must be more extreme further down river. By the way the Rio Grande is 1,885 miles long and it must have featured in every Cowboy film I recall seeing as a child.
From looking at the map now we could locate our position we found the old district, this is the first settlement by the Spanish, long before it became a state within the United States.
What an interesting place it was, small side streets and shops galore with trinkets and what nots.
By now the wind had warmed up and we took our jumpers off to wander around. I bought a most interesting cook book about grilling food which I look forward to utilising when I get home.
By now we had walked a fair bit and although I had promised myself some bbq food, which I didn’t find, or a seat in the all American Diner which I found downtown, we took refuge in what we thought was a bar where we could get a cold beer and rest our feet.
Drat, actually double drat!!! It was a Mexican diner where the smell was absolutely fabulous, so we ordered, I had chicken and beef Fajitas and Wendy had a Mexican burger on a flour tortilla and two beers of course.
The food soon came and it was a delight, it was so tasty and my meat was so well cooked. It came with rice and extras and some kind of sweet bread that I really didn’t need, but I ate it anyway.
Wendy had masses of food too, and chips but she couldn’t finish theml, and I am embarrassed to say I couldn’t help her either I was stuffed too. What a cracking little find, and I suppose we had to have Mexican food in New Mexico.
We walked back downtown and we were treated by a fantastic flying display by five fighter planes, I have no idea what it was about but they flew in perfect formation above the city and they gave a cracking display.
There are only two or three tall buildings in the city, and these are by no means sky scrapers so we could see what the planes were doing all through our walk.
We passed the train station as we were a little early and took a couple of drinks in bar just up from the station. We sat outside in the sun and by now the wind was warm, almost tropical, so it was very pleasant. The waiter was a great lad, from Mexico and he is a massive Liverpool FC supporter and he is very much looking forwards to the Champions League final.
By the time we had got to the train station we had walked over 10 miles and we were shattered. We had about 20 minutes to wait but we passed the time with a really lovely lady who asked me to plug her mobility scooter into the wall socket on the train platform. I said I was worried about being arrested for stealing electricity, but said don’t worry we can go down together.
Wendy and I chatted with her until the train came and she was a delight to talk to.
Back at the site we were weary by the time we got back to the van so we chilled out and did some planning for tomorrow when we hit the road again in our east bound journey.
Where will we end up, who knows?
Bernalillo to Amarillo
313 Miles
I forgot to report something we saw yesterday. I was given a flyer by a young man who was directing people to a healthy living event in the cities plaza so we went along. It was interesting enough and we picked up a free towel and a water bottle, there was even a decent band playing but sadly there were very few people around.
When we were crossing the road to get to the plaza there were two people already there and as we approached from the rear I could see it was a man and a woman.
I couldn’t see their faces as they were both hunched over those walking frames, the one with a basket on.
However I heard two very distinct and deep manly voices in conversation. Somewhat surprised I glanced back as we passed them and indeed one of them was a man dressed as a women, they were both around my age.
No there’s nothing wrong with that, he’s not hurting anyone or offending me so that’s ok.
But what was funny about him, which I pointed out to Wendy when we saw them later was that he was the worst made up and dressed woman there can ever be. His make up was a mess and he’s dress sense was shocking.
He looked exactly like I would had I got up one morning and decided to spend my day in make up and women’s cloths. He really ought to seek the advice of a women and get some proper pointers.
Now to today, after our morning run and breakfast wendy did some washing at the site laundry and I emptied the tanks, I even emptied the water tank, which took an age. There’s a sign near the taps saying not to drink the tank water, use fresh. But I’m pretty sure that campervans are built to be fully utilised.
Having emptied it I flushed it out and refilled it. I think we can do at least 3 wild camps now with the supplies we have onboard.
We set off at precisely 11am and I pulled out of the camp ground only to drive on the left hand side of the road for a half mile before I saw a cyclist coming towards me. I briefly thought what’s he doing and then the penny dropped, I was the Wally!
After refuelling and buying Wendy another pillow we set off on the Interstate up-to Albuquerque for 14 miles and the we joined Interstate 40, formally Route 66, and that’s where we have been all day.
At first we climbed up into the mountains and then we settled on a plateau at between 6,500 and 7,000 feet for over 150 miles. That is astonishing, even more surprising was that most of it was fertile land with cattle and crops growing.
I have some pics taken hundreds of miles apart and they look the same.
We stopped every 100 miles for either coffee or a leg stretch which helped out.
We crossed the State Line into Texas after about 210 miles and we ran straight into a new time zone and we are now in the Central Time Zone which is 6 hours behind the UK.
Texas is a big state and it’s green, it’s very green and there are lots of cattle farms.
While driving we saw a huge wind farm and it went along the roadside for 28 miles, sometimes the turbines were 3 or 4 deep.
We also saw roadside billboards advertising a free 72 ounce steak, if you can eat it in one hour!
72 ounces is 4.5 pound in weight, who on earth can eat that much meat, er Alex Shepherd and Bradley Gill most likely.
We got to our destination at 7:15 pm, which is a very nice transport area where we can overnight. It’s a bit busy with like minded people.
We have found a website where It details safe and free over night spots, oh I’m liking that.
After settling in we went for a short walk and ended buying some meatloaf from a garage that sells hot food.
We got back and had meatloaf and corn on the cob and it was bloody delicious, it was the best meat loaf ever.
We have no data signal in the van so to post copy I’ll have to walk over to the main building just now, but that’s fine anything for an Avid Reader!!!
It’s Amarillo to Lawton
224 Miles
We had a bit of a disturbed night as the wind shook us about a bit but it wasn’t too bad.
I got up but Wendy was fast asleep and only woke when I was ready to go out. She made tea and returned to bed.
As I set off it started to rain, only light rain but it was wet nonetheless.
I ran around the service area where we were camped, it was almost a mile in circumference and it was a good warmer.
I then set off along a track to some rural homesteads and farms.
When I got to 2 miles the wind and rain were wild and then to top that, the lighting started, it was wild and I was soaked through.
It was thrilling and exciting, but also a tadge worrying. The lightening was all around me and the thunder cracks were extreme. It only stopped as I go back to the van.
Wendy was dressed and ready to dry her hair by use of the generator when I got in and said, “Thats why I didn’t go out today”.
I was a drowned rat!
After a nice smoothie and a check on the oil situation in the main engine we set off for the town of Lawton in Oklahoma State.
The sky in front of us looked angry and there was still the odd rain shower passing through.
We stopped at the town of Clarendon to stock with supplies. When we left the van a pickup with two old ladies stopped to chat about our camper van as it’s covered in fancy stickers, with a dog looking through the door window.
Anyway, after a chitter chat, as we were walking on, the lady driver told us to be careful as a severe storm was brewing for our area, she told us to find a large church, if we can’t find a storm centre as they usually have large basements.
Jeepers we weren’t expecting that!!!
We did some shopping and we have some good stocks now for a few days, I even bought a cheep portable bbq.
Having been in the States over a week now we are both amazed that no one is attempting to do anything about excessive plastic use. Every store we go they double pack our goods in plastic bags, and they’re not shy in using plenty of them.
Also, when we were in the hotel in Las Vegas all our breakfast utensils were plastic and everything went in the bin.
As we drove on I put the radio on to see if I could gleam some info on the storms.
Sure enough after an hour or so we were getting the National Weather Service breaking into the programme issuing warnings of tornados for our area.
By now the temperature was high, so was the humidity, even more worrying, the wind was rattling the van.
We drove on and joined the highway which took us directly east to Lawton we passed through the town of Hollis, Duke and Altus. Hollis was extremely rundown. I saw a camp site and thought about checking in but honestly the town was on its knees and I thought it best not to hunker down there.
As we drove we saw an official group of storm chasers in their fully rigged vehicles, now I knew the threat was real!
We eventually got to Lawton and found our campsite which is a local community site along a lovely lake. But as we parked up we heard through severe weather updates that a tornado had touched down in the town of Mangum, which is just north of Hollis, where we were not an hour ago.
It’s caused severe damage and the Tornados are increasing. There are severe storms all around us with huge chunks of ice coming down. But all we have is humidity and wind, at the present.
To be fair the weather service are being brilliant in keeping everyone updated and I’m monitoring on the map where they are cropping up. Another warning is just coming in as I type!
We have been told to abandon the van but as we haven’t anywhere to go I have found a site as best placed to weather a bad storm, we are blocked from the prevailing wind by woodland, but not too close for falling timber.
I’m hopeful we won’t get a tornado as they are about 70 miles north west of us.
The photo with the pen - the pen top is where the tornado hit, the pen is our location.
We had dinner, well life has to go on!!! It was boiled and then fried pork, with traditional cowboy spiced beans, boy it was tasty.
The weather reports kept coming in and the storm chasers are following them and it’s all quite interesting, I’m not worried as I’m as prepared as we can be and I’ve instructed Wendy on our evacuation plan but she’s worried as she hasn’t got her wellies!
The storms are now heading further north and although we aren’t out of the woods yet I think we will be ok.
We took a walk down to the shore and it’s a bit breezy, and still very humid but we are well protected by the trees so hopefully we’ll have a peaceful night.
It’s now 7:15pm and time to file my copy and break open the start of what I always do in such circumstances, have a storm party, hang on here’s another weather update!
Phew, it’s not us, it’s now for flash flooding just north west of Oklahoma City where the tornados were heading.
Storm party time, I’ve just cracked open a can of Root beer which I find goes very nicely with vodka!
I’ll introduce Caroline and Robyn to it when we meet in Miami!
Check out the video of the weather station warnings, they were pretty good!!!
Lawton to Clarksville
276 Miles
Wendy went to bed at around 9:30 last night as the tornado warnings were now no longer relevant but we were now getting rapid flood warnings. That didn’t worry me as we were parked near a lake where all the ground around the level car park ran down to the lake. It would have to be a biblical downpour that would cause the lake to rise enough to flood us.
What did worry me was the hail stone warnings, they were for the size of a quarter dollar which is the size of our old ten Bob. I was in Canada in 1979 and I was in such a hail storm.
It was like someone chucking stones at me, thankfully I got under shelter smartish but I saw the damage it did to cars.
Anyway, as usual I was sat, comfortably in the passenger seat as I could see the lovely view of the lake while I was reading up on future travels.
As I turned the light off I could see a tremendous lightning storm in the left hand windscreen. Wendy joined me and we saw the most wonderful lightening display I have ever seen.
It reminded me of the the first nights attack on Baghdad in Gulf War 2, Shock and Awe! There were terrich white blasts that lit up the night sky for miles around.
This storm slowly moved from left to right and then over my right shoulder so it was out of the passenger side window.
After about 30 minutes we went to bed, and as I had finished my vodka and root beer I was fast asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Then at 1 am all hell broke loose!!! We had the most massive storm right over our heads. It’s was thunder, lightning and torrential rain, thankfully not hail!
We watched it for a while and I did think about a little storm snorter but then I thought about driving in the morning and gave it a miss.
It lasted all night long, but after a while the novelty wears off and we were fast asleep and I only woke at 6:15 when it stopped.
I went running around the camp park as it’s massive, Wendy stayed in bed, would you believe?
The wind was still ferocious but as it was humid I was dripping in sweat within 20 minutes. I never saw a sole!
We set off at 10 am heading for Arkansas but as it was almost 400 miles away I doubted if we would get there.
The van was hard to control in the wind and my arms were aching from gripping the steering wheel. But thankfully we turned away and headed east so it was mostly behind me.
We drove trough and out of Oklahoma and back into Texas.
We traveled through Texas mostly and we saw that it is a stunning State with lovely lush, green grass and fields. No wonder they are well known for steak!!!
After 200 miles and a few stops for shopping and sight seeing in small towns we wanted to pull over fir the night but we couldn’t find anywhere suitable.
We knew of a site further afield, So we knew we’d be OK. Just as we were about to bypass Clarksville I stayed on the road into town in the hope I’d get some vodka for my Root Beer and as we hit the town centre Wendy said she saw a sign for a camper park so we went back. Indeed there was one, just across from the fire station. There’s 3 spots so I asked at the station how I got a spot.
Pay at the town hall was the answer and as it’s ten minutes to five the fireman rang then to tell them we would be coming.
$20 later and we have a cracking site right in the town centre.
We hooked up and went looking for vodka only to learn from a young man that it’s a dry town!!! Bugger, I have heard of them but this one is my first encounter!
Supper was cooked on the stove as the self lighting coals for the bbq were rubbish, although I did stage manage a photo shot just to be topical.
As I type we are sat out in lovely evening warmth on our new deck chairs, their first outing on this trip!
Thankfully no tornadoes are expected!
As we’re are now in our third, or even fourth song associated town can any Avid Reader tell me the song that goes with Clarksville?
Answers by any format you can get me on!!!
Clarksville to Simsboro
188 Miles
I went for a walk around the town where we were camping last night and I saw the splender of the Civic Court, it’s a beautiful building and a little wasted for the purpose it’s being used for!
I woke this morning at 6 am and had breakfast just before Wendy woke. It was very misty out so I put my jumper and jacket on and set off running.
Jeepers it was humid, I was dripping wet in ten minutes.
I ran all over the town, along the main street and the side and back streets. I saw a big difference in living standards. Some were beautiful, most looked derelict but they were actually occupied.
The United States appears to be two countries when it comes to living standards, you either live well or you get by, or you don’t.
We find the cost of living here very expensive, fuel is cheap, granted, but very little else. A standard pint is over £4, food is considerably higher too. Another thing is that from searches I’ve been able to do it appears the average annual income is the same as ours. So it does seem my theory is along the right lines.
After 5.5 miles I went back to the van and swapped my jacket and jumper for a vest, which although made me feel more comfortable, I sweated just as much, it was coming from everywhere!!!
I got back and took time to cool down by doing some van chores but I never really did cool off until after my shower and then we were ready to go.
After refuelling the van we took coffee in Mc D’s so we could use the internet as our 3G networks don’t appear as strong as they first were. I can get email, Facebook and my blog but I can’t often get WhatsApp and I can’t even load Netflix.
I can’t even run my laptop off my phone as the signal is that poor. That’s why I might have the odd grammatical error as it’s so hard to undo an error on the phone. I even have to email my photos to the blog instead of just up loading.
We drove on and we left Texas for Arkansas after about 60 miles, it was a little hairy in the town of Texarkana due to too many roads converging on my Interstate, but we managed to get through without incident.
Texarkana is a strange city, one which I cannot fully get my head around. Half of the city is in Texas and the other half is in Arkansas. How does that work, who pays bills to whom? Do they have a joint power sharing council? It’s all very bizarre.
We motored on into Arkansas and I have to say the roads were perfect to drive on, there wasn’t a blemish, let alone a pothole.
The countryside was stunning, again green and lush like Texas but more forestry than ranching.
After about 40 miles we hit the town of Magnolia and just on the outskirts I saw a liquor store. Quick as a flash I checked my mirrors and stamped on the brakes and just about hand brake turned the van into the tiny car park.
Five minutes later I had two bottles of vodka under my arm for a very nice price of $16 each.
Parking is difficult with such a big van and I had to do a few circuits of the town before parking on the Police overspill car park.
Magnolia is a really nice, clean town, small but lovely. But boy was it hot, stinking hot!
The town centre revolves around a absolutely stunning building which is surrounded by Magnolia Trees. But guess what, it’s the Court House again, what a waste.
The Magnolia Trees are much bigger than ours in the UK and seem to retain their flowers much longer, ours seem to drop off when the leaves sprout.
It was a stunning scene anyway.
After a stroll we set off again and before you could say, “Bonnie and Clyde” we were in Louisiana.
We’re are now camped in a lovely park in the town of Simsboro, and it’s just turned 6 pm and the sun is scorching hot and it’s lovely.
We are on a proper site, there’s a toilet block, electricity and water but no one about. There isn’t even a sign detailing what to do. We’ll wing it and see what happens!
Anyway, we are all alone having just had a Stonking bbq and we have just heard the most delightful Town Hall bells ever. After striking 6 they went into a five minute medley which was just lovely.
The aircon is on in the van and hopefully as darkness falls the temperature will drop, but I’m not so sure it will!
After a while we took a walk around the woods, it was quite safe as we have large gravel roads to walk on and we saw some beautiful small birds, their colours were amazing, reds and blues all enjoying themselves in the evening sun.
The sky is still very clear, hopefully as there isn’t any moon we might get a good night sky.
Simsboro to New Orleans
348 Miles
For me, last night when the aircon was turned off, it was very pleasant and I had a Stonking sleep, waking at 05:30 just in time to get Retro Heaven at Half Past Seven on Dearne FM. Wendy thought it was too hot.
Now I come to think of it I did hear a train sounding it’s dam horn a few times, similar to the one in Denver last year.
I had breakfast and by now the sun was up and peering over the trees. I went running in my shirt and vest, Wendy followed a little later.
Boy was it hot, I mean it was stinking!!!
I followed a long country lane and came across the bloody train, sounding it’s horn, loudly!!! It must have been a mile in length it took that long to pass.
On turning back I had to do a half mile through the town to see what it was like and at the end I just needed to run a little further to get my mileage in so I took another county lane.
As I ran on I could see something in the grass verge which I thought was a big black bin liner as my sunglasses where steamed up from sweating.
As I got closer I realised what it was, it was a very wild pig, and he was chomping on the grass and looked none too pleased to see me.
Now I know what these buggers are like, they can eat you if they are so minded, so I took his photograph and high tailed it back to the van.
I was dripping wet through when I got back and I loved my banana smoothie.
No one had come to take our camp fees and I guess we could have snook off but fairs, fair and I didn’t want our British name tarnishing for $20 so after filling with fuel we found the Town Hall and paid, $35, Wendy said after, “Thats what you get for being honest!” But I wasn’t worried, the Sheriff had been past us last night and Wendy saw him pass this morning. As it’s a very quite area, and with the Sheriff being up for re-election it would be a nice easy collar to fine some campers who didn’t pay by taking their rental van number and fining the company, which would thenbget passed onto us!
We set off eastwards for about 120 miles before crossing the Mississippi River into Mississippi State. That was a beauty, what fantastic views we got from the bridge, it was stunning.
We then ran down Interstate 55 for most of the journey stopping once for coffee along the route.
We drove through swamplands and through thick, lush, green forests for most of the way and then we crossed back into Louisiana with about 50 miles to go, and what an interesting 50 miles it was.
As we neared New Orleans we drove over a 23 mile viaduct, The Manchac Swamp Bridge that is a roadway on stilts going through a vast swamp. It was fantastic and it’s the 3rd longest Viaduct in the world.
The views were stunning!!!
We left the viaduct and with 17 miles to go we hit dense traffic and I had to revert to extreme defensive driving! Thankfully being a fire appliance driver stood me in good stead and we got to our site safe and sound.
Having parked up we took a walk for some supplies as I didn’t fancy taking the van out as we are on a mad, 6 lane freeway.
Just as we were leaving I asked a young women, about 25 years old, which was the direction of the supermarket, she looked a little confused so I said, “Is it left or right out of the campground”. I was tickled to see her have to look at her hands to see which was left and which was right. She chuckled too as she told me to go right.
I should have known, she was wrong it was left!!!
Thankfully we found a petrol station store not far away and got what we needed.
Supper was more bbq beef and I cooked it in the roasting evening heat.
It’s 8:24 pm now and the sun as set and it’s lovely, well apart from the fact we are parked next to a railway yard and all I can hear is trains being shunted back and forth, but that OK, what can you expect in The Big Easy???
New Orleans
No Travelling
I slept like a baby last night, the aircon trick worked a treat. I woke to full sunshine through the roof light and fair bounced out of bed.
I looked at the time, it was 4 am, jeepers it’s light outside, it can’t be 4 am?
It was, the light was coming from the excessive security lights in the camp ground and it looked like day time.
I hopped back in bed but I didn’t wake until turned 6 which was a huge mistake as by now the sun was out and it was roasting hot.
After breakfast I went running and almost melted, it’s was double hot.
Wendy stayed in and did the washing.
After running out of our area, I came across some really lovely property, somewhere set along the shores of a small lake and it looked really prosperities.
I got back and I immediately undressed and took a very cold shower in the camp shower block, it was just what I needed.
I’ve been to some hot places on this planet, Dallas being the hottest, and this comes a close second.
After my smoothie we hung the washing in the van and went to catch a bus to town.
The bus stop is just outside the site but it took 20 minutes to come. It was a busy bus and we sat down behind a cute little girl who was extremely tired but kept trying to be happy.
I got the most attention from her and the most smiles.
The bus took 40 minutes, it wasn’t really that far, there were just a lot of stops.
About ten minutes before we got off the bus an old fella sat next to me and we chatted like we were old mates, it was lovely and he shook my hand and slapped my back as I got off, I do like a lack of racial barrier.
After the bus we had to catch a tram, this was just across the road and our tickets covers both the train and tram, returns for 3 bucks each, a bargain.
Somehow we missed our stop but that was OK as we got off on the river side, The Mighty Mississippi River!!!
What a beauty she is too, she is magnificent!
We walked along the river for a while and then headed into the French Quarter.
New Orleans History - Part One
New Orleans begin life in 1718 as a French outpost, it grow rapidly and became the first place on the North American continent to give black slaves some minimal rights, the right to marry, the right to congregate and the right not to work on a Sunday. I know it is minimal, but it was something in those days.
In 1760, Louis XV gave all French territory, including New Orleans to his Spanish cousin as a safe guard against the British expansion.
Louisiana remained Spanish until it was ceded to Napoleon in 1801 under the proviso it would never change hands. However, Napoleon, being stuck for money to fund his wars struck a bargain with the US President, President Jefferson and he sold all of Frances lands from the south to Canada for $15,000,000 which was soon recognised as a ridiculously cheap price.
So back to the France Quarter, this remained locally Spanish and French influenced even though American families started to settle in New Orleans. But with all that said, I must have walked about four miles there today and I never heard any French words spoken, not a one!
The Quarter is centred on Bourbon Street and although it’s very pretty with very lovely architecture, it’s as Blackpool as Blackpool with gangs of Stag and Hen parties out for a big old session. Its noisy, it’s sometimes nasty and to be honest, it’s not my cup of tea.
Now go one street up, or one street down and its lovely, filled with quirky shops and bars.
We strolled along every street and up and down some too and we ended back at the Mississippi where there was a youth jazz band playing, the Bradley Jazz Band no less, and they were terrific.
The band leader was brilliant, he would lead a rendition and invite solo performances from each section, percussions, sax, trombone, flute, guitar and key board, it was a really great thing to see.
They also sang too, in a very jazzy kind of way.
From there we walked along the river some more and then headed to the Super Dome, the famous New Orleans Super Dome that came to prominence for something very much un-sport related in 2005, Hurricane Katrina!
New Orleans History - Part Two
Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005 and was a deadly category 5 hurricane. As New Orleans is very low lying, in regards to sea level, it is protected by a system of levies, or canals which were built by the US Army of Engineers a few decades ago. However these were not designed for the amount of water Katrina brought and water went about 12 miles inland and flooded a great many areas eventually killing over 1,836 people.
Those people who could not escape were left stranded and eventually made their way to the Superdome as a place of last resort, in fact almost 20,000 made it to safety. However despite it being used for such an event on two previous occasions there wasn’t enough food, or fuel for the generators, medicines or water and the place became a little unruly for a while.
Most of the people affected by the flooding were Black residents and there was a feeling of being let down as most white areas remained largely unaffected.
The sun was still a demon so we headed back to the French Quarter for some good old Creole Food and we found the perfect place, Oceania!
We shared a bottle of wine, I also had a local beer, “Dixie” and then we shared a starter of Alligator Tails, it was a combination of Blackened and Fried Meat, with a spicy sauce, it was a delight.
I then had Blackened Catfish and Wendy had a half portion of ribs.
The food was all lovey but the half rack was too much for Wendy so we have doggy bagged it for tomorrow.
As we were stuffed we didn’t take the tram back to the bus stop, we walked instead, but towards the end of the walk I felt a mutiny coming on as Wendy was now flagging in the 30 degree heat.
Thankfully I found the bus stop just in time and we got back safe and sound and saw the sun set over a very hot sky.
After a chat with our neighbours we had to come inside as the bugs were biting, jeepers they are hard to get. They are small buggers locally known as “No-see-ems”, for obvious reasons.
Today has been a very hot but interesting day, I think tomorrow having walked over ten miles in blistering heat today, will be a day of rest, or maybe not!
New Orleans
No Travelling
I have to apologise for late posting of copy last night Avid Reader and for lack of content, the reason was that I was indeed writing my copy in good time, outside on the bench in the evening sun when our neighbour, Dennis, came to call by.
Now he is a very nice fella, and interesting to a point, but he just goes on too long, he must have been with us an hour and a half. His wife came to rescue us he was that long chatting. If he’s told me once that he was a test driver for Michelin, he must have told me 68 times!
But like I say he is nice enough, he just hogs the conversation and takes up my valuable time!
Anyway, yesterday when we were at the back end of the French Quarter I was stopped by a young lady of about 20 years who told me that she was from the Planning Family Movement, I said, “Pardon Me?” She replied, “I’m with the Planning Family Movement”. She didn’t have a collection tin with her so I supposed that she wanted to give me some advice, so I said to her, “Oh no thank you, we’re far too old for that kind of thing”. She looked at me as if I was crazy and I just walked off.
I guess you had to be there!
Jeepers it was hot in the night, I even put the aircon on at one point but then it became too cold so I had to turn it off. We were late up as we had no firm plans, so it was another late run, I was out by 08:30 and it was another stinking hot morning. But I took it slowly this morning and cut back on my pace and that seemed to do the trick.
I wanted to run to the big lake that’s at the opposite side of New Orleans from the Mississippi and set off thinking I knew where I was going, I did actually but the 8 lane Interstate was something I didn’t figure would be a problem, and it was.
I found a way around it and by the time I got to the lake I had done 5 miles.
The lake is massive, it’s almost as big and as the smallest Great Lake it is that big.
I sat on the harbour wall and dangled my legs just above the water and then remembered, Alligators, so I smartly pulled them up and sat cross legged a foot further back.
To get back I had to sneak over a railway line and over its embankments, I didn’t fancy running further than I had to do in the heat, but in the end I did just over nine miles. It was worth it though to see that lake!
My banana smoothie was just the ticket when I got back and so was the very cold shower too.
After a few chores we decided to take the bus into town and stroll along the river.
The bus came quite quickly and we were on our way.
As we were trundling along a lady got on the bus and sat opposite us, she was about my age but the thing is, on her right arm she had a tattoo. It wasn’t anything fancy, it had no colours, it was just an outline but it was absolutely disgusting, it actually shocked me, especially for a women to have such a thing drawn on her body.
I could see it clearly as I had my distance glasses on, but as Wendy hadn’t got her’s on she couldn’t make it out. I gave Wendy my glasses and told her to look. Meanwhile I looked at Wendy’s face to watch her reaction, now she was shocked.
I just asked Wendy for a comment and she’s lost for words, but she thinks it highly offensive and most likely arrestable!
Don’t ask, I’m not telling!
There seems to be a funny trend here with crazy tattoos, we met Mrs. Callaier yesterday, we knew it was her as she had it tattooed just above her bosom, in 2 inch letters, she even had the full stop to ensure accurate grammar!
The bus dropped us off and we got the tram downtown, it was busy but we got chatting to a couple from Cleveland who told us that they are visiting to enjoy the heat. They have 6 months of snow during the winter months and are glad to see the back of it.
We walked along the river and it was a little more crowded today, well it was Saturday!
We stopped in the shade and found a bench where we took some cold beers from the back pack, they had been wrapped in a towel to keep them cool and we each sipped one and let the afternoon roll along as the river went by, it was lovely.
We walked on and we came to a fantastic market where we browsed and I bought a few things, one being a very reasonably priced T-Shirt. It was hot and sticky mind so we sought solace in a bar. We were at the far end of the French Quarter and it was much quieter.
We bought two beers and ordered some snacks, or so we thought.
In the end we got Alligator meatballs, about 8, and Crayfish fish pies, again about 8, with stonking French fries, well they would be wouldn’t they.
They were cooked to perfection and they were very tasty, but there was far too much so they got the doggy bag treatment so supper tonight is a mixture of todays and yesterday’s doggy bags.
We walked back slowly to the tram, Wendy called into H&M to buy a belt as she forgot to bring any and I chilled outside listening to a blues band.
We passed a church that had a jazz band playing with a crowd of well-dressed people outside enjoying themselves, I thought it was a wedding, Wendy thought it was a funeral, either way they were having a good time!
The dam tram never turned up so we walked it back to the bus stop and we had a dead heat with the tram which did eventually find the right tracks.
The bus ride was a doddle and we even got to meet Mrs. Callair again, she’s so easy to spot you know.
We are in the van just now with the aircon on full and it’s just getting bearable. At 7pm we are off out to our camp bench with our mish, mash supper and Dennis can come and talk me to sleep because tonight I’ll have copy filed well before deadline!
New Orleans to Mobile
198 Miles
Dennis indeed came around last night and he stayed about an hour which was just about tolerable. As Wendy was getting nipped by the bugs we had to go inside, but Dennis did call a little later to give us his address which is really nice. You never know when you need a helping hand, so it’s always nice to be nice, good on Dennis.
Jeepers it was another hot night, stinking hot actually!
I got up at 05:00 as Wendy said she would run with me if I was up early enough and I was and she did. But she was very naughty!
I ran behind her for the first mile as she was scared it was a rough area which it wasn’t. After I thought she was comfortable I passed her but I kept looking back to make sure she was happy. I last saw her at about 1.4 miles when we crossed the road. I got to a massive church, it was 7am and people were queuing in their cars to enter the church carpark so I stopped to wait for Wendy, but she wasn’t there.
I was worried as she had been there until now, so I phoned her, twice and she didn’t answer.
I ran back to the van, she wasn’t there, I checked her on Find My Friends and she was locked at the campsite an hour ago. Now I was really worried, I thought some Ted Bundy type person had pinched her. Don’t laugh, it happens, all over the word.
I phoned her again and she answered and she was in a housing estate, nosing the houses that she was running past. Oh I was mad with her, why didn’t she phone to tell me she was dropping out? She is so nosy she can’t help herself!!!
After breakfast we left for Alabama and we took the route across the Causeway Bridge, which was a brilliant experience.
The bridge is 23.87 miles long and was, when it was built in 1956, the longest bridge, over water in the world, it is astounding! The Chinese have something longer now, but I’m guessing I feel more comfortable crossing this bridge than I would be crossing theirs.
We got to the end and no one had collected our toll money, we knew it was toll road and I didn’t want to get a fine so I parked up and walked to the toll booths on the East side where I was told by a very jolly and rotund lady in a toll booth that its free West to East and that I should head off East wards Baby!!
How Cute!
We drove on and entered Mississippi and headed to the resort of Biloxi, jeepers it was hot, very hot, too hot actually.
The thing about having a long Camper is it’s hard to park and so after some faffing we found a spot to park, well on the west side of town, along the coast.
We walked onto the hot sand and took a few photographs and doubled back. I was going to dip my feet into Gulf of Mexico but it looked like we were in the Gulf Dead Zone, so I didn’t.
More about that in future copies.
We carried on and eventually got to the City of Mobile, which was much bigger than we thought, it’s huge,
We didn’t stay, we took some photos and then headed to a camp site.
Wow what a site it is, we are in the woods, next to a fantastic river, Dog River, where after walking through a nature trail we found a spot to both sunbath and have very nice relaxation.
Wendy fell asleep in her deck chair and I chatted with the locals passing on my in depth knowledge about fly fishing. Thankfully they hadn’t a clue what they were doing so I sounded pretty knowledgeable.
Wendy woke up, after a while and cooed with a baby girl of four weeks old while I chatted with the babies dad. While I was chatting he said a strange thing to me, he said about the babies mother, “That’s my current wife”, blinking Eck, how many is he going for?
We got back to the van after 7pm, Wendy showered and fell promptly asleep, I guess I am not bbq’ing chicken tonight, it, looks like a shower and a ham sarnie for me. Wendy is pretty fast asleep on the bed so I guess that’s it for now. She doesn’t do heat very well these days does Wendy Gill, I guess it’s a lady’s thing!
Mobile to Vicksburg
240 Miles
Today is Memorial Day in the United States and it is a federal holiday for remembering and honoring people who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. The holiday is observed on the last Monday of May.
Jeepers I slept well last night and I was up late too, I didn’t go running until 08:00 and it was roasting hot, Wendy declined to exercise stating age reasons.
I had an interesting time of it;
Interesting Item 1: Jeepers this place is wealthy, there were some seriously expensive looking properties around. I was even nipped at by a very, little trophy dog, until I charged at him and he scrapered back to his rich Mummy.
Interesting Item 2: There wasn’t a straight line to run in the area as the pavement ran out on the outskirts and the Highway was just too narrow to risk it so I would periodically check my phones map to see what streets I could go down.
It was during one such map check that a man came directly over to me and asked my why I was running. Daft question, I’m in full running gear, vest, shorts and trainers, but I humoured him and said that I did it for fitness.
He told me that he used to run but he fell 50 feet and broke both arms and his neck.
It was at this point I realised that he wanted to talk but not listen so much, so I let him carry on.
He told me he was bound to be a cripple for life but then he found God and that God had healed his broken arms but not his neck and that now he had healing hands.
Now it’s around 8:45 on Monday morning and we I’m thinking where is this conversation going, and then he asked me.
Do you believe in the Lord?
Well, I thought here we go!
No I don’t, I replied.
He said, Have you no faith?
Yes, I have plenty, but just not in religion.
There’s much more to this and his healing hands but I have copy to post and although I respect his view to have his religious view, I don’t think he respected mine because as I said my good byes he told me to seek sanctuary in the bible and let god find me.
Now remember this, it’s 08:50 on Monday morning, I might have said before and no he didn’t get his healing hands on me!
After breakfast we hit the road but stopped soon after at the biggest, most massive supermarket I have ever seen or been in.
It was a Walmart and it was that big I lost Wendy and then I put my trolly to one side while I looked for a corkscrew and lost that too, it took an age to find but thankfully Wendy waited at the checkout for me.
And she really got the pip when we loaded all of our stuff onto the till conveyor for the girl on check out to say she was now closed, jeepers I had to cover my ears!
We set off again fully replenished with supplies and hit the Highway which was very interesting.
We passed through small and larger towns and the countryside was stunning, in no time at all we were out of Alabama and into Mississippi.
We stopped for coffee along the road which was a nice break and then we were off again for the small city of Vicksburg in Mississippi.
We arrived at 5pm and the city was deserted and then I realised why, it’s Memorial Day.
We found a place alongside the Mississippi to stay for the night and went for a walk.
There seems to be a river wall across the road and there is a large opening but it’s been closed with large wooden sleepers.
As we walked across the road a young man said hello to me and on seeing 3 large pumps I asked him if he knew what was going on.
He told me he worked for the city and that the wall is closed as the river is flowing high due to the storms up river. He said he’s there all night and runs the pump when the flood water gets high.
I asked him if the pumps could cope and he assured me they could for now, but that they expect much more water in the coming days.
The river wall is adorned with murals about the history of the town and it’s fascinating and there is a description plaque with every one.
There is a paddle boat docked near the wall, it’s a passenger ship called The Queen of the Mississippi. Wendy did some Googling and found out she’s on an 8 day cruise from Memphis to New Orleans, she’s also downloading the ships brochure for her next visit.
We walked a short way into town and it is crammed with wonderful, old buildings, some quite stunning.
We walked to the top of the multi story car park, which wasn’t hard as the town is built on a hill, and we marvelled at the view of the river.
After a while of taking in the town we went back to the camper and found that my mate on the pumps had started one up and it was deafening so we moved to another location a little further out and we are now bang outside the towns maritime museum which is an old shop and it’s very impressive.
We sat outside and saw the sun set over the Mississippi and it was stunning.
We also chatted to a few passer-bys which was very nice.
Vicksburg to Memphis
221 Miles
Last night we sat outside the van, and we were both enjoying the evening, I was writing my days copy when I nipped into the van for something.
I wasn’t taking any notice but a car had pulled up. At some point I heard Wendy taking to someone, who I thought was the young fella we had spoken with on his way fishing, just past us on the river.
What struck me was Wendy was asserting herself that she wasn’t an Australian so I looked out.
I saw a car and a man talking to Wendy, by this time he realised I was inside so I went out and I told him that we are from the UK and that we spoke the Queens English.
This started a chain of events which lasted about 30 minutes. The man was crackers so I humoured him until my patience was stretched and then I made leaving noises.
He wasn’t scary, he was just another madly religious person.
First he showed me the Redneck welcome which is where you touch left then right elbows and then do a two handed high five whilst proclaiming praise the Lord.
No I’m am not making this up, honest.
He wanted to take our photograph which he then asked permission to post on Facebook, and he tagged and then friended me.
We learned that he was married and that he was married in September 1987 as Wendy and I were and that he was 58 years old.
He suggested a wife swap which Wendy immediately declined.
He then made it quite clear that he is a recruiter for the Lord and made several references to palms and the gospels.
It was utter madness.
As my toleration from politeness to getting the right hump was fast approaching I told him we were off for a walk to see the sunset.
He hopped into his car as happy as Larry and shot off.
After a walk and then me finishing my copy I thought it best to change our location as I could envisage him bringing his wife down to help us connect with the Lord.
Jeepers, it seems the Bible Belt is as mad as I assumed it would be.
We settled down by the river a little closer to town and Wendy went to bed.
I did a little TV and bedded down to the hottest night’s sleep I have had for many years.
We had every window open and I woke at 3 am absolutely soaking with sweat.
I got up and dried myself off and drank about 4 litres of water.
I did get back to a fitful sleep but I was back up at 5:30.
I had breakfast and I was just getting dressed when Wendy woke, she looked like death warmed up.
There’s two things Wendy cannot cope with, lack of sleep and the heat and she got both in abundance.
I went running and left her with a nice cup of tea. It was very pleasant outside, with a warm breeze.
I ran along the river and I came to a makeshift work area where a big digger was loading buckets of river water into huge 4 x 4 loaders which were then taken along a dusty track to spill the contents slowly on the ground.
They seem to be very desperate to reduce the amount of water in the Mississippi River if they are resorting to such amateurish measures.
I got back to the van and I had a big banana smoothie to help me cool down, I put an entire milk ice tray into it!
We left town at 9:30 and headed along Highway 61 which runs parallel to the river.
For the next forty miles we were shocked to see so much farmland flooded.
The flooding was of biblical proportions, it was jaw dropping and so sad to see.
We could see entire homes fully underwater, cars, trucks and even an entire campsite too.
Some people had tried in vain to sandbag their homes but it didn’t help.
We saw entire farm houses and barns many of them almost completely under water.
The road was raised all along its length and at times it was like we were driving through a lake.
An awful lot of crops had been severely flooded and I doubt it could ever recover, at least for this season.
As the flooding started to thin out and as we hit upstream we could see people making attempts to prepare their homes against the raising water.
We stopped for coffee in a town called Leland, it’s where Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets came from, and you could see the town council were keen to tell you, there were signs everywhere.
Thelma Houston also came from there to, well I never!
We parked on a derelict fuel station and as Wendy made coffee a man in his 30’s walked over to chat. He was a smashing young man, ex-army, having served in Panama and Iraq.
I learned that his Dad had been a Fire Chief in Chicago and that he had persuaded the local council to grant him a licence so he could open up the first casinos in Mississippi State and he was making a real go of it.
We got back on the road and it was really interesting as we were going through small and large towns. I got a litre of vodka from a small town liqueur store and chatted with the owner for a while.
All of the countryside we passed was arable farming, maize, wheat and sweet corn.
We got to Memphis at 3pm and checked in.
We have a lovely spot in the woods and we are directly next door to Graceland.
I walked over to take a photo but I wasn’t allowed unless I paid $40.
So I took a long shot of the home and the external wall where it seems it’s OK to scrawl some sentimental message on.
As the suns heat was cooling we went to the pool to chill before I lit the bbq and cooked very nice pork loin medallions and super-sized shrimp.
Tomorrow we are going downtown to see if we can “Walk in Memphis with our feet ten feet above Beale”, as in that very famous song by Marc Cohn.
Don’t worry Avid Reader, matey from last night has been unfriended!!!
This was his last message to me, I’m sure it’s all very innocent, but I find it rather strange!
“SO PRETTY / SO GLAD TOO MEET YOU & YO WIFE GOD BLESS YALL”
Memphis
No Travelling
We had a better night’s sleep but it was still very hot and so we have decided to put the aircon on all night tonight.
We get by ok in our caravan as the breeze blows across both windows but it doesn’t in this van. Even sleeping with the main door open doesn’t help.
I was up at 5:30 because Wendy promised to run if she got up before the fierce sun got going, and she did.
I even caught Retro Heaven at Half Eleven, on Dearne FM and managed to guess the correct year, 1997!
Wendy went running around housing estates being a nosy bugger, I went along the Highway and ended up in Mississippi State.
After breakfast we broke camp as we had to take the van to Jiffy-Lube to get an oil change, well we are now passed 2,000 miles on our travels.
I have to say, being a bit of a world traveller no one does respect, decency or customer service better than our US cousins.
In today’s copy I am going to describe service beyond the call of duty.
First up - we are on the camp site directly adjacent to Graceland so it’s a bit pricey. But to save costs we haven’t got a sewer connection like most sites give and there isn’t a collective site where you can empty your tanks as you need.
Yesterday I asked one of the grounds men how to empty my tanks and he told me to pull onto an empty site that as a sewer connection and use that.
This morning as I pulled off our plot he stopped me and he said, “Remember what I told you yesterday Sir?”
I replied that I did, “Use an empty site to empty my tanks”.
So I did, now he didn’t need to help me but he really wanted to!
We drove across town to the garage where I had tried to book into yesterday, but they didn’t take bookings, it’s just drop by and they will fit you in.
I have to say we got exceptional service, we were treated like Royalty, mainly because the girls think I have a very manly accent and they melt when I talk.
Seriously they could not have been kinder or more helpful. As we left we all shook hands and I even got a kiss from one of the girls, now that’s exceptional service.
From there we drove down town and found out that we couldn’t get to our designated car park as the road was closed for some reason.
The SatNav tried her best to get me there but it was obvious our intended location was in the middle of this road block.
Never mind I managed to find street parking about a mile and a half from downtown.
We parked the van and any worries I had about the neighbourhood were dispelled as we were obviously in the right part of town. We were nicely parked outside a very nice and secure residential tower block.
I used Goggle Maps to get me into town but we needed to walk through the closed riverside road.
It was very clearly closed, there were barriers across the road and even the sidewalk, (Opps, a little Americanisation crept in there), anyway there were two security-men staffing the barrier so I asked if we could go down.
One chap met me at the barrier and said, “Strictly speaking it’s all closed sir, but there almost finished so if you walk down carefully and keep well away from the tractors and heavy equipment I don’t see why you can’t go down”
Common sense, is alive and well, it is in the United States anyway.
Imagine if that was in the UK, it would have been, “I’m sorry Sir under no circumstances can I let you through!”
His mate joined us and said, “Your Australian, aren’t you, I got your accent”, Wendy, quick as a flash said, “You didn’t, he’s English”.
Both fellas roared with laughter and we bid our fair-wells.
We walked through the Riverside Park and it had been closed because some kind of huge festival had been held and the crew were dismantling it all.
We had stunning views across the Mississippi.
The heat was on and Wendy was struggling by the time we hit downtown.
We headed to Beal Street and then I understood.
I have heard the song, Walking in Memphis for donkeys years but I never understood the lyrics.
It is:
“Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
W.C. Handy, won't you look down over me
Yeah, I got a first class ticket
But I'm as blue as a boy can be
Then I'm walking in Memphis
Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel?”
Memphis, what a city, it is fantastic, brilliant, superb even, but it’s also stinking hot.
It’s clean, it has some fantastic architecture, and it’s alongside the Mighty Mississippi River.
Wendy was struggling with the heat so I took her in a few shops to refresh with the aircon. We had a beer in the shade and we loved it.
We walked back, with me listening to the Europa League cup final, I was rooting for Arsenal but it just wasn’t there day.
By the time we got back to our Security Guard mates Wendy was done in. We stopped to chat to our new friend and he was concerned about Wendy and offered her a chilled water bottle but as we were only 100 yards from the van she thanked him but declined telling him to save it for himself.
At 3 pm we headed home, visited Wal-Mart and thankfully didn’t get lost this time and then went to chill by the pool.
By the time we were settled on our sun beds the clouds had come over, but it was 33 degrees so it wasn’t unpleasant.
Supper was a delight, bbq’d burger and shrimp.
We took a walk all around the camp ground to digest our dinner and marvelled at the size of some of the campers.
We chatted to a man who had just pulled in and he told us he met Elvis many years ago. His friend worked in a dark room in Las Vegas and he would develop the films that the photographers took of people at the Casino tables. Kind of like they used to do at Alton Towers when you were on a ride.
Celebrities would drop by and order photos of their performances, for publicity material, and Elvis walked in and chatted to him. He said that Elvis was a really nice guy and very down to earth. He did say though that it was before his weight gain, in his early vegas days.
But the thing about huge campervans is no one sits outside, it’s like the concept of caravanning is now lost and I suppose it is for some people and it’s because they drive a camper van bigger than most two up, two downs, complete with en-suite services!
As I sit here in the camp kitchen filing todays copy I am being blasted by Elvis through the campsites PA system, and its quite nice!
Memphis to St Louis
292 Miles
We watched the firefly’s dancing in the twilight last night, the woods were full of them and they were amazing to see.
We didn’t need the aircon on last night as the temperature had dropped nicely, so we had every window, roof light and the main door open and we both got a good night’s sleep. I was up at 6:00 am and Wendy followed soon.
We both went running, Wendy on another nosy expedition I followed the main road and then turned onto a residential road where the housing and the area got increasingly less wealthy.
While we were getting ready to leave Memphis our neighbour and his dog, an old Labrador called Sam set off for California. He is from California and was heading to Key West in Florida but his friend has asked him to bring his yacht back from Hawaii as he has just completed a race from Los Angeles to Honolulu and he didn’t fancy sailing it back.
He gets paid for this adventure and all his travel and food too, so it was too good an opportunity to miss. Jeepers I was dead jealous. He bid his farewells with Sam sat right next to him in the passenger seat as if she was the co-pilot. He was a smashing fella and I wished him a safe passage, Sam was pretty nice too and she liked a darn good belly rub.
We set off and left Memphis but not before the ever frustrating process of filling the van with petrol. You have to prepay, and as I don’t know the amount I want, I argue with the staff. I know I shouldn’t but they are so awkward with it. I am happy to leave my bank card and drivers licence, it’s been OK so far, but the further east we have got the more awkward they are becoming.
Thankfully I asked for $60 and that did the job and filled the tank, phew!
No sooner were we on the road than we were crossing the Mississippi River on an old rusty bridge. The river is very wide and it made for an interesting crossing.
We headed directly north on Interstate 55 and in a short space of time we came across a very prominent billboard that said, “Who Lynched Isadore Banks” along with a telephone number.
I asked Wendy to Google it for me and here is the result:
A billboard that can be seen from an Arkansas interstate is aimed at solving a cold case from 1954.
"Who lynched Isadore Banks?" the billboard asks. Isadore Banks was an African-American World War I veteran who was chained to a tree, doused in gasoline and burned beyond recognition in June 1954. The slaying remains one of the nation's oldest unsolved civil rights cases.
Below the question is a phone number on the billboard. When you call the number, you're greeted by a message with a brief explanation on who Banks was. It turns out, the billboard was put up by a group of journalists who are hoping to learn more information about the 65-year-old crime.
Banks was a pillar in the African-American community. He joined the Army at 22, in the final months of World War I. It's not clear from his military records whether he deployed overseas. He was given an honourable discharge on August 2, 1919. In 2010, 90 years after he served and 56 years after his death, he received military honours.
After he returned from the Army in the 1920s, he helped to bring electricity to the Arkansas town of Marion. He later became one of the wealthiest black landowners in a region with a long history of racial violence. At one point, he owned as many as 1,000 acres, according to newspaper accounts.
There are three theories that locals have repeated since Banks' killing on why people went after him in 1954:
-- He had beaten up a white man who had courted his oldest daughter, Muriel.
-- White men had made several offers on his land, but he refused to sell.
-- Banks was involved with a white woman who rented her land to him, and white people were upset.
The FBI and Crittenden County officials say they investigated the crime, but there has never been justice for Banks.
Now I know about some of the racial hatred in the Southern States but this was monstrously inhuman. I mean a lynching is bad enough, usually done by a gang of racist cowards, but this was totally despicable. I do hope that they can shed some light on the case, but as so many years have passed I’m not hopeful.
As we drove we saw lots of dead Armadillos and Tortoise along the road, I know it seems hard to believe but they are natural to the hot States, and as warming appears to be occurring they are moving further north all the time, don’t tell Donald though because he is a none believer!
We carried on the Interstate and pulled off for coffee after we had completed 150 miles which was just the tonic needed.
The weather has been overcast all the way, in fact it was downright miserable in Memphis, but hot nonetheless.
The countryside we had driven through so far was mainly arable land with crops growing abundantly in massive fields, some crops, maybe wheat or barley looked like coming close to being harvested. We haven’t seen any livestock farming for a long while, that seems to occur in the deep western States.
After coffee we carried on and we started to go into some hills which very quickly turned to a massive forest which ran for about 60 miles and until we started to get into the suburbs of St Louis.
As we drove on we saw yet more evidence of flooding, at one point it was creeping up the walls of a large electrical substation.
I asked Wendy to Google – “Recent Mississippi Flooding”.
It’s bad, it’s very bad, it’s the worst it’s been since the great flood of 1927 and severe flooding is occurring in 8 States that line the river.
The chap we were talking to last night, the one who had met Elvis told us that there had been record rainfall and snow in the mountains this last winter and that has yet to reach the downstream areas. He said that for the first time in very many years it looks like there will be skiing at some resorts on 4th July. When that eventually melts there might be big trouble, because it’s going nowhere fast other than entering people’s homes.
One community have now had their homes flooded for 50 odd days!
It’s quite bad in Iowa and that’s hundreds of miles to the North!
We carried on and we got within sight of St Louis downtown area and we could see the famous Arc. Our campsite is in Illinois State, just across the Mississippi and we hope to get a bus into town tomorrow.
We crossed the Mississippi yet again, this time on a much stronger looking, arched bridge.
Our campsite isn’t much to be desired. It was flooded yesterday, something they failed to mention when I booked yesterday. It’s been pumped out just now, but one man told us he woke to six inches of water around his van yesterday morning.
There are pumps littered all along the site so we should be OK, there is one going now.
We aren’t very near the Mississippi but the water is being pushed up the ground, it’s like a whirlpool in reverse and they have a pump keeping that at bay, hopefully.
Supper was a sausage sarnie, cooked by Wendy while I did some route planning.
We aim to go a little further north on Saturday to see something really special, but the flooding may put paid to that, I’ll check tomorrow, and then we aim to turn south east and head for the Atlantic Coast, but not before I have another interesting historical visit planned which I think will be quite poignant.
St Louis
No Travelling
We walked around camp last night just after sunset and like all the other sites we have stayed on, no one sits out at night. Everyone is inside their huge campers watching large screen TV’s with the air-conditioning on. As they are hooked up to mains electric, mains water and sewage, it’s like they are still at home and basically they are. This is camping U.S. style.
Water was starting to creep along the roadways and paths on the site too so the main pump, the big petrol one, was started and it seemed to do the trick as the water didn’t rise any further.
We had a fantastic sleep, it was quite cool, even the duvet came out. The bloody train was a pest though, why on earth do they have to sound such a loud horn at 3:00am? When I drove fire engines I never sounded my horns unless there was a need to do so, I would never do it in the dead of night, ggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
We both went running, I went left out of the camp and came to the bridges that lead into town, but they were like motorways without any pavement so I didn’t cross them.
Wendy went right out of the camp and indeed she did come across the Mississippi which she said was very badly flooded.
After breakfast Wendy washed the bedding which we hung to dry inside the van by using the washing line and bungees that I brought out with me and it works a treat. The van gets that hot in the day that the washing is dry in no time at all.
Now we have discovered that St Louis is not pronounced St Louis, it’s in our guide book, it’s pronounced St Lewis. Apparently Judy Garland got it wrong and it’s caused confusion there on in and we have heard enough locals referring to the city by the name, St Lewis, so we think our guide book has it right.
Kyle, who owns the camp site took us downtown in the mini bus at 10:00 and dropped us off at the Gateway Arch, what a structure it is, its phenomenal!!!
The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot high and 630 foot wide monument and it is the world’s tallest arch and the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. It is also the tallest stainless steel monument in the world.
Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States, which didn’t really get going until the 1800’s
Construction began in 1963 and was completed on October 28, 1965.
The Arch sways up to 1 inch in a 20 mile per hour wind and is built to sway up to 18 inches.
The arch is hollow to accommodate a unique tram system that takes visitors to an observation deck at the top. Now that is an experience!
The tram is made up of eight cars that you enter through four foot high doors and they can take 5 people in each car, and they are tiny, we were ok as we had families with kid’s share with us, but there must have been some tight squeezes for the 4 minute ride to the top in the others!
The views are stunning, you have to look out of very small windows, it really was an amazing experience.
After the Arch we strolled down to the river and she is indeed very high, from there we walked around the city, the sun was out and it was hot but not stiffeling. In fact Kyle told us more rain is due and that’s a worry as a levee has burst somewhere up north and there is still lots more water to come into the river.
This is a fantastic city, small and compact but it has some stunning buildings and the main square forms a playpark for children. In the park there are a variety of water parks and they were rammed full with kiddies enjoining themselves.
There is the oldest sky scrapper there, a big red brick building. Apparently the oldest was in Chicago but they demolished that to build a new and bigger one, so now the oldest skyscraper is in St Louis.
On our travels we learned that the ice Hockey Team are in the Final of a cup game and the city has gone wild as they have never won one before. They are even dressing statues in the team’s shirts. We also found out that there is baseball game on tonight, between the St Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. I stopped a guy in the street who had a Cub's shirt on just to check and I wished him good luck. He said it’s going to be some game as they are both bitter rivals. I guess it’s a U.S. local derby match.
We also saw the best City Museum ever, it was interactive and the kids loved it, especially the fighter jet on a pedestal, little Bradley and little Robyn would have loved it!
On our travels Wendy bought her customary Christmas Tree Bauble and just had to check out the hat shop as she’s in the market for one for Caroline and Bradley’s wedding next year.
At 3:30pm after a five hour walk, covering eight miles, we phoned Kyle to come to collect us, and he did within ten minutes. In another ten minutes I was drinking a very cold beer from my very cold fridge, in the heat of the afternoon.
The washing was dry and the bed was made, and then Wendy had wine.
We chilled for a while in the afternoon heat and then we walked over to the restaurant just outside the campsite, The Sawmill, for an early supper.
We ordered, I had smoked pulled pork with chips and coleslaw, Wendy had the smoked brisket and the same extras. I also ordered a side of chicken wings because Brad keeps telling me to do so.
The food came and it indeed was lovely, it was really delicious and we tucked in with the varying sauces that were on our table.
And then………………..a big fat man, the fattest man I have ever seen in my life sat on the table next to us, and that was fine, if he wants to be the world’s fattest man that’s OK with me.
He ordered his food, he then phoned a takeaway outlet, I kid you not, and then ordered his supper, and requested their special BBQ sauce, and then he put his iPhone on the table, he opened it up and then started to watch an episode of Star Trek – Voyager.
The restaurant was empty, apart from two other men, there were tables he could have gone to and did what he wanted, but no he did it next to us. The atmosphere was nice, there was nice music playing and it was all very nice, until he came.
I was going to jar him, I mean what could he do, squash me?
But a fella who thinks its acceptable to watch Star Trek while he is eating in a restaurant isn’t going to think it reasonable of me to ask him to stop and then I would get all stroppy and it would spoil my night.
I asked Wendy if she wanted to move to another table but she was happy to leave, in fairness by this point we were stuffed and we asked for a doggy bag and took back what was left, and there was a lot.
(You can see his very fat head on a photo of the restaurant if you look carefully – I’m not knocking his size, just his very bad manners)
As we left Wendy bought a local pudding, “Butter Cake”.
We have just eaten it, jeepers, it’s as sweet as you like and it’s bloody lovely. I would love to have it with hot custard on a cold, snowy, winter’s night.
Wendy is off back tomorrow to ask for the recipe!
We walked back and sat outside the van for a while eating our now found cake and drinking wine.
We chatted with some fellow campers who were just coming in for the night and then as darkness fell we went inside to escape the mozzies.
Tomorrow we are heading north, just to finish our love affair with the Mississippi River, that’s if the flooding lets us.
If we don’t post tomorrow night Avid reader, don’t worry, we might be off grid for a couple of nights, but if at all possible I will do my best to file my copy, I feel I have to just like the Pony Express!
St Louis to Grayville
221 Miles
I walked around the camp before bed last night and the flooding had claimed more camp ground territory and its now not possible to walk around the site so I had to double back, or go for a paddle.
We had another good night’s sleep and even the trains didn’t bother me, maybe they don’t run on Saturday mornings.
I went running, Wendy stayed in has she has a sore throat and wasn’t feeling well.
I found the river, or rather it had found me by closing the road. I ran along a levee wall for four miles and it was stunning. The flooding was off the scale, you will see the screen shot of my run and where the river is meant to be.
Just as I was passing a valve of some kind, someone must have operated it to let some water out, the sudden outrush of air made the water spout about 6 foot into the air which was a little unnerving, I must admit.
I got back and Wendy was feeling a little better although was disappointed when she found the restaurant didn’t open until later today, she wanted to buy some more cake and hopefully get the recipe.
After my smoothie and shower we set off for our next adventure, to find the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
The Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States at 2,202 miles long, the longest, which is the Missouri River, is 2,341 miles long.
The Missouri River joins the Mississippi River at a point just north of St Louis and had the Missouri been called the same name all the way along the length of the Mississippi it would have been the second or possibly the longest river in the world, somebody got that one badly wrong.
The Platte River runs into the Missouri, which then runs into the Mississippi, and the Ohio River runs into the Mississippi not far south of St Louis. So you can see down river of St Louis The Mississippi becomes a very large river.
The Mississippi is huge, wide, deep and very long.
We have crossed it quite a few times now, we first came across her in Dubuque in 2018 where we met Uisdean and Sandra, that was in Wisconsin which is a Northern State. In fact the Mississippi starts at Lake Itasca in Northern Minnesota which borders Canada.
The river was quite wide at Dubuque and it’s hugely wide when you get to Memphis and St Louis. We also met it at New Orleans which really is the last leg of its journey from where it pours into the Gulf of Mexico.
The Mississippi has been an important river route for almost its entire length with paddle steamers operating in the 19th Century and the river’s capture by Union forces was a pivotal point in their victory against the Confederate Army in the American civil war.
All along its length agriculture flourishes and it is one of the most fertile regions of the United States however since the 20th century, the Mississippi River has also experienced major pollution and environmental problems – most notably elevated nutrient and chemical levels from agricultural runoff, the primary contributor to the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone.
The Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone isn’t toxic, and its size varies, the biggest it has been was almost 7,000 square miles, just around where the Mississippi enters the Gulf. It’s dead for all fish life because there is no oxygen in the sea water.
It’s caused by the nutrients that are used in agriculture, we get it in the UK too, but we now have strict laws to prevent it. What happens is that the nutrients that are washed out of the soil from the fertilizer makes the microbes in the water grow wildly and then they take all the oxygen. In the UK we now have to have land barriers between the fields and any water course.
You might notice now that farmers don’t grow crops right upto the edge of their fields, it gives a barrier so the nutrients don’t get flushed into the rivers when it rains.
The Mississippi doesn’t pass through Ohio State but is its biggest polluter as the Ohio River flows into it, and the State has now started to adopt the land barrier farming method so it’s hoped that the dead zone will begin to reduce in size.
We found the confluence about 21 miles north of St Louis. There is a visitor centre there called the Lewis & Clark Centre.
As I turned on the entrance drive Wendy told me to stop and it was a good job too as a very large tortoise was taking a nap right where my wheels would pass.
I got out and he poked his little head out of his shell at me and I picked him up and carried him about 100 metres into the grass and pointed him away from the road.
I have never handled a tortoise before and I was struck at how heavy he was.
There is a huge tower at the Centre with three viewing gallery’s all the way up, the top gallery is 180 foot high.
The view was quite good, I could make out the point where both Rivers meet, just, and only because there was a photograph of what to look for on the wall.
The photograph is the one directly after the photo of the tower and the point is the far left side of the second row of trees on an island.
The Flood water made it hard to find!
The Lewis and Clark Centre is named after two soldiers who with an expedition party, were dispatched by President Jefferson in May, 1804 to travel the length of the Missouri River in the hope of finding a river passage to the Pacific Ocean. The expedition was a success but it took until October 1805 to get there and until November 1806 to return to St Louis.
After our visit we took the Highway in the direction of Louisville, we wanted to take the Highway and not the Interstate as we like to go through interesting towns.
We stopped at one such town, Lebanon, where we strolled the streets and had a very pleasant cup of coffee and a muffin.
Would you believe Charles Dickens has been there.
Back on the road Wendy did some Googling and found that he came over to see for himself the plight of the slaves.
He was horrified at their treatment and wrote about it in his book, American Notes.
Further study can be achieved by following this link, I would encourage you do read the story it is quite interesting.
https://charlesdickenspage.com/mobile/charles_dickens_in_america.html
We set off again and eventually we found a camp site in the woods near the town of Grayville. We were supposed to call in at the Police Station to pay our fees but there is a community event and the road was closed so I had to sneak through the streets.
We have now left the floods of the Mississippi River and we are off to find her younger sister, The Ohio River.
Grayville to Louisville
154 Miles
We went for a stroll last night, just into the housing estate which we were parked quite close to and it looks lovely. We were in a wooded camp site just off the park.
The housing looks really nice and Wendy was keen to run around in the morning as she likes to have a good nosey at them.
As we walked back we noticed a sign on the camp sign telling you to contact an out of hours number to register for payment. So I phoned it and it went to the local police station. The lady on the phone wanted me to drive to the police station to go and pay but I told her that I was already set up and didn’t fancy getting the van out again. So what happened, she sent the on-duty police officer to collect our camp fee.
I said I’d drop it in in the morning but she was insistent and said it wasn’t a problem. Sure enough five minutes later a really nice young man in his Police uniform and his big car came and took my fee.
He got his receipt pad out and wrote me a detailed receipt.
On his belt he had a gun, a flashlight, a taser and an array of other bits and pieces.
I asked him if he was busy and he said not yet, but he expected a bit of drunkenness at the street party. He told me the community were holding a fundraising party for the purchase of a new pavilion.
The fee was $15 but we only had a $20 note so he took it, left in his car and duly came back ten minutes later with our change. He really was a smashing lad.
We slept well and got off running before 07:00, Wendy went for her nosey run and I ran around the nooks and crannies of the town and I can tell you it’s some town, very affluent and they are very well provided with great facilities, a swimming pool, a lovely park with a lake, a baseball pitch, a very nice cinema and some nice looking cafes.
We left the site at 10:30 and before we left town I filled the van with petrol without so much as a sniff of trouble. I just lifted the nozzle and filled the tank and then casually strolled inside to pay the young lady. I guess Grayville is indeed a very nice town.
From there it was down the Interstate all the way to Louisville because we had no other option.
On the way we saw signs for a town called Santa Claus which wasn’t on our map. Wendy tried to find it but couldn’t but I pulled off the Interstate at the correct turn off because I knew Wendy just had to go and see the town called Santa Claus.
It was six miles down the road where we found it, and it is actually a town, with a town hall, with a Santa Statue outside it.
There was also the most Christmas shop I have even been to in the world, even at Christmas time. It was too spooky for me so I left Wendy inside and took a stroll.
Santa Claus is very small, in fact I think it’s a bit gimmicky, there’s a play park there, a big one called Adventure World, several Christmas shops and a town hall. I couldn’t see any residential homes so I’m thinking it’s someone’s idea of a profit making arrangement, well it worked because we did a 12 miles detour to see it, and for Wendy to buy an expensive Christmas bauble!!!
Back on the road and we were on our campsite just before two.
After connecting everything up we left on a mission to find a very special bridge over the Ohio River, 2nd Street Bridge, Louisville, Kentucky.
This is where it’s folklore that Mohamed Ali threw his Olympic Gold medal into the Ohio River. His trainer suggests he didn’t, his brother swears he did. Either way it was still a consideration, all because of how badly a man had been treated because of his race.
Ali won the Heavy Weight Boxing Gold medal at the Rome Olympics in 1960 and on his return to the US, he was refused service at a small dinner party because of his race. He was so infuriated that he had walked out of the dinner and threw his medal (which he wore all the time) off a bridge into the Ohio River. The hurt boxer said he did not want to wear a medal in a country where he couldn't be served.
Ali was a legend of a man when I grew up, I saw lots of his fights, but being only small I couldn’t remember them so I watched them again when I was older, thankfully Channel Four did a series.
I even saw the first film of his life when I was in Fiji in 1983!
I remember his appearance on the Michal Parkinson show, the one where he said that he was still a pretty boy.
I didn’t see it at the time but I have since read about his fight with Sonny Liston. Sonny was a big fella and was called “The Bear”. It’s rumoured that Ali, on the night before the fight, went down to his house and put a real bear trap on his garden lawn to unnerve Sonny, which it eventually did.
Ali was called the Louisville Lip by his greatest rival, Joe Frazier, who he had three titles fights against.
Ali was a showman and some say a coward because he refused to be drafted into the Vietnam War for which he lost his titles and went to prison. But personally I don’t think he was as it takes a big person to stand up for what you believe is right when so many are against you, and I think also history has proved him right, the war wasn’t just!
Of course he later won back his title.
For me, the one fight that stands out was his fight with Ernie Terrell. Before the fight in an interview Ernie Terrell called Alì by his former name, Cassius Clay. Ali wasn’t happy and called Terrell an Uncle Tom, which is another huge insult from one black man to another.
When Ali had Terrell beat during the fight he was repeatedly heard saying to Terrell, “What’s my name?”
You can see the clip here on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu2bW70K6JE
After the bridge we walked over to the Fall’s of the Ohio River, which were very interesting. The Falls have been made into dams now, with locks, so that ships can have an even level of water, seemingly ships used to flounder and sink when the river was either too low, or too full and fast.
The sun was out and it was lovely, we walked back to the van and had a BBQ supper, as we finished our supper we sat out and took in the afternoon sun. We are parked near the dog walk area and guess who passed us, a man walking a pig, a big fat pig.
Wendy did a double take. I got a quick photo, it’s not brill but it is definitely a pig.
Tomorrow we hope to explore Louisville, but more importantly the Ali Centre!
Louisville
No Travelling
We had, what I thought was another good night’s sleep, it was a bit nippy and I had to pull the duvet up during the night but I woke at 06:30 feeling like I had slept in.
I turned on my Dearne FM app and I was amazed to hear the Retro Gong sound. The Retro Gong only sounds to announce the imminent arrival of Retro Heaven at Half Eleven, but it couldn’t be, it was 6:30 am here meaning it was 12:30 in the UK.
Then it dawned on me, I didn’t sleep in, I had got up at what should have been half past five, but because we are so close to the time zone we must have picked up the time change a little early.
Ah well I did get to hear Retro Heaven at Half Eleven and I was only one year out, 1989, not 1990.
Wendy was later than me, well she always is and I was out before she had finished her tea.
I ran towards the river and along a very nice, brand new cycle route along the Ohio River, but it was a bit nippy outside too so for the 3rd day running I have worn my sweatshirt and jacket.
I got back just before 9am and had a bit of a frustrating time trying to contact O2 as my phone isn’t working as it should. I had to press number this, number that for option this and option that during 3 phone calls and it’s still not right.
I think though I have to accept that Wi-Fi and 3G isn’t the same as at home and is patchy at best and darn right hard going most of the time.
I also had to phone the local council office for our stopover tomorrow night, now I never once complained about the lady’s southern, Kentucky drawl as she spoke to me, but after talking for five minutes she just rudely said, “Sir………..I ………………..just…………….don’t……………understand………………you!”
Charming, I gave the phone to Wendy who took great delight at conversing with her in her normal Kent accent. Maybe it’s a Southerner thing!
Strangely, or more to the point stupidly, while I was talking to her she asked me if I would, “Like plot, 3, 4 or 5 siiiiiiiiiir”. I said, “I don’t know what are the views like?”
That’s when she suddenly couldn’t understand me, she realised she’d had a silly moment and had gotten all embarrassed, how on earth am I supposed to know what any of these plots look like?
After breakfast we set off to walk across the Ohio River into downtown Louisville. Wendy had mapped out the route and what a stonker it was.
We walked through some nice areas before walking across an old railway bridge, over the Ohio River and into Kentucky State. The bridge was brilliant, it had been made into a very nice, pleasant and very well used pedestrian walkway. And boy was it long, it must have been three quarters of a mile wide.
Once we were on the Kentucky side we walked alongside the river and I was astounded to see the warning signs telling people not to enter the water as there is run off contaminants and that it is subject to sewage outflows.
To be fair the river seem filthy to me and I wouldn’t need warning not to enter. But I have seen people fishing it.
This is amazing, and it’s a big gripe of ours, which is that the USA doesn’t seem to have got a grip on environmental issues. Carrier bags are given away willy, nilly, there is very little recycling and they allow sewage to enter river courses that have got the best part of 2,000 miles to travel through the country before it discharges into a very sheltered Gulf. But that’s not really a reason to pollute anyway!!!
Now I appreciate Donald is a little sceptical about Global Warming, and I know, despite the world’s leading scientists saying that it is really happening, that some people have differing beliefs. But sewage is sewage, it comes from, well I guess you know where it comes from, and I wouldn’t want it anywhere near my drinking water.
We got downtown and headed to the Mohammed Ali Centre but it was closed, it opens Tuesday to Sunday. But the shop was open and the lads on the front desk assured me that I can park the van in their car park tomorrow if I drop by, which I hope to do.
I bought a Red Bike Moment T-Shirt, this relates to an important point in young Ali’s life and it was a pivotal moment for him. I never knew this story so I was really pleased I got to hear it today.
Next we found the famous Louisville Slugger Museum. Here they make famous baseball bats and we called in for a browse, but everything was just so pricey.
From there we walked around the downtown areas and we marvelled at the beautiful buildings, we took an expensive beer in a downtown bar, $16 for one small and one large beer.
It was worth it as Wendy was now feeling the heat of the day and so the 30 minute rest did her and me the power of good.
Feeling refreshed we walked back down to the river and found a very nice spot to have an early supper, Joes Crab Shack. But I wasn’t having anything from that polluted river, I had steak and sea water prawns and Wendy had chicken strips.
The food was nice, the wine was lovely but they forgot to give me my creamy pepper sauce, which I did ask the waiter about but he said no it didn’t come with it. Then when Wendy had hers, at about halfway through she said I thought this came with BBQ sauce. She Googled the menu and both our meals should have had sauce, me peppercorn, Wendy BBQ.
Dining out in the USA is a little hard going, so I left it at that, the waiter was a nice lad, but clearly not very well trained.
We walked back in the afternoon heat, passing the Colgate Clock which is the second biggest clock in the world, and all in all we did just under 12 miles which is pretty good going in this heat.
Tomorrow I do hope to go to the Ali museum and then we will head due south for a one night stop in Kentucky in the hope we can find some good southern fried chicken.
Louisville to Tompkinsville
142 Miles
We both went out running this morning, I went over the pedestrian bridge and along the Louisville side of the Ohio and Wendy did her nosey routine, running around the estates.
The morning sun over the Ohio River was a sight to behold, it was stunning!
I ran right along the river and under an elevated interstate where a few undesirable types were hanging out.
But that’s ok, no one bothers a male runner.
It was good to be up as the city woke up, the traffic noise was loud and it made me so happy that I don’t have to do a morning commute to work.
As I ran I thought about the intended visit to the Ali Centre and I discounted it:
1, Because my desire to move on was too strong.
2, I know enough about him and I’m happy with that.
One more memory’s of him was a fight with another fighter he seemed to dislike, although he fought him twice, Gerry Quarry.
Ali hurt him so badly that Ali, in the 7th round beckoned the referee to stop the fight. Quarry could not defend himself and Ali hit him some more and waved his gloved hand and said stop the fight, this went on several times until the ref eventually stopped the fight.
After a shower and breakfast we were on our way, sadly though the Sat Nav had put us in an Interstate all the way to Nashville, well almost.
After 30 miles I pulled off the interstate and went shopping for a few items and some petrol.
I looked at the map and picked a town on some minor roads which should lead me to where we wanted to go, and off we went.
It worked a treat until we stopped for some bananas in the small town where Abraham Lincoln was born.
The Sat Nav didn’t like that and had us doing a detour past the place he was born before settling down again.
We then trundled along some very minor roads and towns to our destination.
We passed some very green and fertile agricultural land and it was very interesting to see.
As we are stopping at a secluded town site we went to check it out before paying the lady who couldn’t understand me on the phone yesterday.
It took us a while to find it but when we did we found it was very nice so we duly went and paid our camp fee.
As Wendy was paying at reception a very strange man came in, he was very strange indeed and he asked me if we were camping. I was reluctant to confirm we were but I felt compelled to do so as the receptionist seemed to know him.
So I said yes we are, he then said in a very scarily, country type, Deep South accent, “Nice place, nice people, ya’ll be very happy there”, I had goosebumps.
After a walk around the one horse town we shopped for some marshmallows for our camp site and we then went to make camp.
It’s perfect, we are all alone, two miles from town in the woods facing a very nice lake where huge fish keep jumping.
I collected wood for a fire and then we went walking, but not too far as it was stiflingly hot.
Can you believe we have crossed back into Central Time zone so we are again six hours behind.
Supper was a real cowboy meal, corned beef, which Wendy forgot to fry, eggs and thick baked beans, mushrooms and fried tomatoes.
It was lovely.
We then sat in the sun waiting for darkness to fall. As we did a lovely coloured Woodpecker started feeding in a nearby tree, he was so colourful, he was stunning.
Hopefully we will get a decent, clear sky tonight, as we are in the darkness it would be great to see the real night sky.
I lit the fire just before sunset and it went like a charm and we toasted s’mores as darkness slowly crept in. It was still quite warm and all very, very nice.
I had 3 s’mores!!!
I’ll let you know tomorrow how we get on Avid Reader, providing we live the night out as Wendy thinks matey might come and slaughter us in the night!
I’m not worried though, we’ll be just fine.
Tompkinsville to Roebuck
322 Miles
I woke at 03:00 and went outside to see the night sky but unfortunately cloud had developed while I had been asleep.
What I did see though was lightning in the distance, it was quite impressive. The silence was amazing too, the woods were absolutely quite.
I got back to bed and to sleep but I was disturbed by the thunder and rain showers that followed.
I woke at 06:00, this hour change and the in and out of time zone is causing us all kinds of confusing issues we just don’t know where we are!
The sun was out and it was hot so we both went running in vests. Wendy followed the tracks in the park and I went into town. Jeepers there were some big hills to climb, I think we are starting to move towards the Appalachian Mountains.
As it was nice I thought I would do an extra mile today but by the time I had to turn back after 4.5 miles the sun had gone and the sky was very angry.
No sooner had I turned back when the storm hit.
It was wild, thunder, lightning and very heavy rain, perhaps I picked the wrong day to ditch my jacket.
The rain was cold at first, just has Elvis described it but it became warmer the heavier it got.
At one point an open horse and cart passed me with an old lady and man.
The lady was holding a big umbrella over them. The man had a very long grey beard and they were both dressed for the 1800’s. In fact he was dressed like Abe Lincoln!
He was really struggling to keep two horses under control with the heavy rain and thunder.
I got back to the van soaked to the skin, Wendy had gotten soaked too and the storm went on for another half hour.
After breakfast we set the Sat Nav for Charleston, South Carolina by using the shortest route, which was 512 as opposed the fastest route which was 560 miles.
We didn’t expect to make it today so we would go as far as we can and settle down somewhere suitable.
The sky had cleared, the sun was out and the roads were steaming like old faithful as they dried out in the heat.
After about 8 miles we came across the same old couple with the horse and carriage. The poor horses must be buggered, they must have done 20 miles, but they seemed more settled now the weather was better.
We took small, quiet roads to start with but we climbed high into the hills. The first time we checked we were 900 feet high and the next time we were 2,300 feet high.
We stopped for coffee after 80 miles which was a nice treat.
After a while more driving we joined an Interstate and traffic was moving nicely. Then there was a clear sign that said “Move over in good time, the right lane is closed 7 miles ahead”.
Traffic was still moving at about 3 miles from the road works but was getting thicker so I moved over, only for everyone else to keep going in the right hand land which brought the Interstate to a standstill.
We crawled along for a mile then a truck behind me swung out into the right lane and slowly blocked everybody coming down, a couple of minutes later we were moving again. I wished I could shake that driver’s hand!!!
We left the Interstate just after Knoxville and came across the forest covered with huge vines.
The SatNav took us over the Smokey Mountains by way of a single carriage road that was tight but manageable with huge amounts of concentration. The views were stunning!
We were directed back onto the Interstate and just after 6pm we pulled into a rest area where Wendy cooked a terrific burger.
At this point we had driven 261 miles and 250 of those miles had been through thick and unmanaged wild forests and we were still in the Appalachian Mountains which we started to climb the moment we set off this morning.
After a while driving, at 7:05 pm and after 275 miles of driving from this morning we crossed the Eastern Great Divide which got me thinking. When we crossed the Great Divide before, when we were out west, I did some research that said that every continent has a great divide apart from Antarctica. When it said each continent as one, it must have meant, at least one. I must admit it did puzzle me because there is no way at all that the Mississippi, or any river for that matter, can climb over these mountains.
We also crossed into the Eastern Time Zone for what we are hoping will be the very last time. I know it’s not much, an hour, we seem to do it easy enough when we go to Spain, but this is the fourth time zone in just over two weeks and it’s like death by a thousand slashes. It’s given us the right old mess around and I’m happy to be done with it, jeepers I do hope we don’t cross it again.
As we drove the roads thinned out and we were making good progress. It had been our plan to break as much of the back of the drive to Charleston as we could and then wild camp for the night.
However during a break in driving I Googled some camp sites around Charleston and the nearest one was extortionate in price and we would still need to pay for a shuttle bus into town, at $20 a trip.
But I then came across a Blog written by someone who regularly travels the States in a camper and it said that there is a car park in Charleston that will allow camper parking, overnight for very little cost, and the thing is, it might be a little noisy, and the lights are on all night, but they have security on all night and it’s in the downtown area.
However we had a problem in that where we camped last night, although we had electricity, we had no water nor any means to dump our waste tanks. So that would mean me having to find somewhere to do it tomorrow.
But if we found a site tonight, we could do it all there, save time and get into Charleston at a decent time.
Time was running out but at ten minutes to eight I saw a sign for a campsite just off the Interstate. Wendy phoned them and was a little downbeat when the answer phone said that they were closed.
Not me, we are in the land of “The Donald”, you know, “The Stable Genius”, where profit is King. So I carried on, with me thinking that they might have some afterhours check in procedure and sure enough they did.
And now we are very nicely camped in plot 17 where we pay in the morning and carry on. It’s very nice sat outside, its nicely warm, we aren’t out of the forest yet, after over 300 miles, but at least we are below 800 feet. Wendy thinks it a little humid and is talking about a nice cold shower.
I have already filled my fresh water tank, and before we leave tomorrow I’ll empty the waste tanks then we will have three days where we can wild camp in a car park in downtown Charleston if they have space for us, here’s hoping!!!
I understand that Charleston is a very, beautiful city from both an historical and architectural point of view so I look forward to reporting back to you tomorrow night, hopefully from a downtown location!
Roebuck to Charleston
196 Miles
I was up at the crack of dawn, 5:15am, to be precise and I was out running by 07:00, I went left out of the camp site and Wendy went right.
There wasn’t much to see, it was a main road but it was quiet. I did run down one avenue which was lined with lovely houses, fantastic gardens and Olympic sized swimming pools, yes we were in another nice part of town.
After breakfast Wendy paid while I emptied the tanks and then we filled with gas, real gas, not US gas which is petrol.
We use the gas to heat the shower water, cooking on the stove and keeping the fridge and freezer cold. It works a treat and this was my first refill.
We weren’t out of gas, we had a quarter of a tank left but as we intend to camp off grid I didn’t want it running out.
The lad at the camp was smashing, he must had been minding the fort alone as he brought his tiny baby and the dog to sort me out. He was smashing because he charged me what we needed, not a flat rate like most people.
Just as we set off it started to drizzle and it did so for 196 miles. It was hot but overcast.
The drizzle really was drizzle and I had the windscreen wipers on the minimum setting all the way.
After 90 miles I pulled into a rest stop for coffee and while Wendy boiled the kettle I went to use the area toilet.
As often happens, a fella stopped me to talk about the van. I was happy to chat with him and he told me he was driving from New York to Savannah in Georgia to collect his Mum and then over to the far side of Texas to see his wife who is based in the army over there.
Jeepers that is a massive trip, his car was rammed full of stuff. He told me he hates the heat and that the humidity was killing him, I told him he needed to talk with Wendy as she melts at the drop of a hat.
We carried along the Interstate and there was a matrix sign that said, “Reduce speed, exercise underway”.
Wendy was puzzled but I said they are probably testing their emergency procedures.
Then the very next matrix said, “Road accident at mile marker 144, all lanes closed”. I thought that they were taking the exercise seriously and that any of their activities wouldn’t affect traffic.
At mile marker 131, just after we passed an exit the traffic came to a sudden stop.
We crawled on and off for a while and then sat for 25 minutes. During this time we found out that a serious accident had happened 13 miles down the road, a truck driver was dead and it wasn’t anything to do with any exercise.
Why on Earth they didn’t they turn that sign off when a real accident occurred, it beggars belief, we could have pulled off the Interstate.
Thankfully we only lost 40 minutes and not our lives.
We carried on without issue and we still had that dam forest around us until we were 20 miles from our destination.
We arrived at our destination and followed our instructions fully and we are now parked in the covered car park of the Charleston Visitor Centre which provides 24 hr camper parking for $18, which is perfect, if not a little hot as we can’t use the generator to run the air con, and we are bang downtown!!!
Wendy is currently melting on the bed and looking rather flushed.
While we were parking the rain hit much harder so as we went for a walk we took the brolly, it’s was still hot and as I got wet I dried immediately.
Charleston is fantastic, we found the Atlantic Ocean, I know that shouldn’t be hard. We also found a a fantastic market where they stock lots of interesting stuff.
Wendy bought her traditional Christmas Tree bauble, but this time it was a bit gimmicky, it had biscuits hidden in it.
After a walk to the sea front we walked back into town and I bought a bottle of British Navy Rum and from what the teller told us this was the oldest liquor store in the United States, I’ll try a dram tonight!
Mainly though we were starving so we headed back to a place we saw called “Sticky Fingers”. We were seated by our waiter, Maison, and we had our drinks within five minutes.
For dinner we ordered a Rib Sharer, and that came not much later and we both had a portion of coleslaw and baked beans.
The ribs were cut into four portions of two equal portions with differing sauces.
They were cooked to perfection and the meat fell off the bone, it was a delight, but also a stuffing too.
After filling our faces we walked back to the van via a long shopping street that was packed with expensive cloths shops where Wendy told me not to bother looking as I wouldn’t get a $10 T-shirt in any of them.
We got back to the van to chill but as I type the heat is stifling and I guess I’m going to have to take Wendy out for some cool night air.
It’s bedlam outside, there’s a bus stop outside so I guess it will be fun and games later on, but we have all night security, however they don’t look like seasoned warriors. Don’t worry mind, remember I’m a fully fledged Barnsley Man!!!
Today I haven’t forgotten my old fried Granville from Cutlers Avenue:
“When we lived in Barnsley we had a very dear old fella live up the road from us, his name was Granville Stewart. He was always round when we had a get together and loved having a good time.
There was also a fella at the bottom of our road, they were about the same age but they never got on, so I asked Granville about it one day.
Granville told me that they were both drafted into the war in 1939 and they both served in the Falkland Islands in the South Sea Protection Force but they never saw any active service.
They both served together until Granville was called back to Britain for some big operation in 1944.
It was the Normandy landings and Granville went from Normandy right through to Berlin in 1945, he’s mate never left the Falklands until the wars end.
His old mate was a top dog in Barnsley’s Branch of the British Legion.
Granville told me that he would never have anything to do with any organisation that glorified war, I guess the things that the young man Granville was, had been changed by the things he saw and most likely did during his time serving our nation.
There’s probably not many people alive that know Granville’s story, but I’m glad he confided in me”.
Charleston
No Travelling
We did indeed go out for a walk last night, just around the area where we were staying and it was heaving with revellers.
There were bars everywhere and most were full of youngsters. We didn’t bother, we walked a few blocks and went back to the van.
Before bed I put the aircon on to chill the van, by running the generator and then I opened all the windows and settled down.
I woke at 3 am drenched in sweat. It was roasting and there was no breeze at all in the covered car park.
I sat up for a while and opened the door, it was deathly quiet outside, there wasn’t any noise at all during the night and had it not been for the heat it would have been perfect.
I went back to sleep at 4 am but got back up a 5:30 am, had breakfast and went running, Wendy stayed in bed with tea.
Downtown Charleston is a peninsular much like Cadiz but a little wider.
I ran to the very rounded point of the peninsular and saw that the long front of about a mile had no parking restrictions and there was quite a lot of space. The neighbourhood is very nice indeed with enormous residential properties.
I asked two different men about the parking and they both confirmed it’s free parking, 24 hours a day.
I got back to the van and put my idea to Wendy and within 5 minutes we were trundling towards our new spot, alongside the cool breeze of the Atlantic Ocean.
As gardeners cut grass with huge petrol lawnmowers or blew grass away with noisy things, I fired the generator up and while Wendy dried her hair I mixed my smoothie.
It was lovely, we had the door open and the windows and we nod to people passing by.
At 11:00 we walked downtown to the market to fully explore it. We walked along the seafront and marvelled at our neighbours homes, they are stunning. In fact the city, or rather the downtown area is beautiful with such a wide diversity of residential buildings. Most of them built on the profits of slaves.
There are lots of horse and carts giving tourists rides. I’ve noticed the horses don’t look settled, in fact they look like zombies. The heat is horrendous just to walk in let alone stand out all day pulling all that weight. Some locals aren’t happy about it, like me and Wendy, and they seem to have started a campaign for better conditions for the horses.
We got to the market and it is quite a long, thin building with lots of stalls selling a multitude of things, in fact it’s the most interesting market I’ve ever seen.
We bought a hat each!
From there we walked down to an art market but Wendy got dragged into a make up store with the notion they could do something about her, so called, wonky eye. But the thing is she never told me she was going in so I walked a half mile before missing her.
I doubled back and found her being worked on with a make up brush my some right charmer, I wasn’t impressed!
This all stems from yesterday, when a girl stopped Wendy at a make up shop, gave her some freebies to tempt her in and then offered to apply some collagen to help remove the bags under her eyes, Wendy wasn’t impressed!
She caught me up and told me the stuff he applied cost $320 but he would throw in some other bits. Thankfully she had regained her senses and had declined the offer.
The art market was all very highbrow and we browsed briefly and then we caught the 1:30 pm Harbour Cruise by boarding the Carolina Belle for a hour and a half trip.
It was drizzling to start but the clouds cleared and the sun came out to roast us.
The trip was brilliant, the Skipper gave us verbal commentary, not prerecorded and it was really interesting!
Here’s some pointers:
Pirates were caught raiding their export ships so they hung 48 of them around the city and left them to rot and to be eaten by the birds. This they thought would deter further raids.
The first shots of the American Civil War were fired on Union Soldiers in a local naval Fort, Fort Sumter.
There are no sky scrapers in Charleston, firstly because the town is built on sand and they couldn’t build them. Secondly, when they knew how to build them by pile driving to the bedrock, the Town Leaders agreed they didn’t want to spoil the city and passed a law restricting the size of any building to be no higher than the highest church spire.
That Charleston was the main city for selling slaves and just less than half a million wore sold on in the city.
He also explained that the property where we are camped is some of the most expensive in the USA. Built by Ships Captains and Plantation Owners. They are both very distinct. The Captains
have a circular terrace from where their wives could see them coming safely home from sea and the Plantation Owners were square onto the sea breeze as a kind of early air conditioning.
As we docked we passed a ship called, Miss Gill, I managed a quick picture although the only Miss Gill we have now in the family is Leah.
After docking we walked back to the van as the sky clouded over and I cooked a lovely early supper of chicken in tinned tomatoes, baked beans, mushrooms and spicy sauce, it was a delight.
As we relaxed watching expensive boats pass our door the heavens opened and we were treated to a massive downpour and lightening display, I even had to close the door the rain was that heavy.
The rain stopped, eventually and we walked back downtown to the night market and we bought a few nice things which I am now worrying about the weight and flying them home.
We bought two of the, as advertised, best chocolate cookies in the world from a very nice lady who had made them herself.
As we left the market it started to spitter rain, and as we must have walked 12 miles today we took a ride back with a lovely girl Called Abby on her bike taxi. She chatted us all the way home and she’s from a town quite close to Hagerstown would you believe.
We are now settled in the the van and while typing I’m watching yachts come and go, this is a much better place to camp.
Charleston has been an absolutely lovely place to visit but tomorrow it’s moving day yet again.
After copy is filed I am having a large rum and coke to welcome baby Hutchins into the world, it’s been a most traumatic few days for me but all’s well that ends well!
Charleston to Homerville
244 Miles
We slept a little better with the breeze blowing through last night but then in the early hours the breeze went away and the heat returned.
I was up at 5:30 am again and had breakfast, I had the door open and saw a few joggers pass by.
I was ready to go out at 7:00 am and Wendy was about to get dressed when a young man stoped to say hello, he was from the Charleston Police Department.
So there I was in my running stuff, Wendy was behind the curtains and kept out of the way.
He was a real nice young man and seemed to be about 20 years old.
He told me that someone had complained about us and that we weren’t allowed to camp there.
I apologised but I told him that I had checked the area for notices and that I had asked two different people and while I appreciated that wasn’t authorisation, I had made a concerned attempt to be legal.
I also told him that we were happy to pay the fee at the visitor centre but it was just too hot for us during the night.
He accepted this and was sympathetic.
I told him we were about to move on and that we were heading for Savannah and he even offered advice on camp sites there.
He did ask though if we could move sooner rather that later as he was sure to receive more calls if we didn’t.
I thought fair enough, he’s been pretty decent so I agreed we would go, knowing we had got away with a nice nights rest and the lovely experience of staying there.
Now I do appreciate I wouldn’t want all and sundry parking their vans across the road from me. But these people have unimaginable wealth and like Abby said last night these people have very old money, meaning it came from plantation owners.
Now in the scheme of things that’s not much further than 4 generations back and these people are living in opulence which was gained from the absolute misery of an entire race of African citizens and this Barnsley Man isn’t doffing his cap to the likes of them!
But we moved about 8 miles further south where I found a lovey spot to park.
I went running, well I was dressed for it and Wendy pottered as she likes to do as it was too hot for her.
Jeepers it was a stinker, the sun was out in force and Wendy later learned it was 98% humidity.
I was drenched by the time I got back.
I ran listening to the cricket World Cup, England v Bangladesh.
I caught all of England’s brilliant innings and there were some great individual performances.
I got back,m to the van and I ran the generator for the hair dry / smoothie routine, showered and then we set off for Savannah, 103 miles away.
As we trundled along I listened the the Bangladesh innings too.
We stopped after 50 miles for a coffee and we parked alongside a river with a boat ramp.
As Wendy made coffee I took a walk to the ramp where there is a notice advising about eating any fish caught.
You can eat 1 Catfish per week, one something else per month and then never eat about 15 other species of fish.
This is due to the high levels of mercury in the river. I wouldn’t put my rod in the river anyway let alone eat any fish from it.
Well I did say the environment isn’t a big concern in the States!
The trees there were also adorned with some kind of fern which was blowing in the wind. It looked a little eerie so Wendy Googled it and found that it’s a parasite called Spanish Moss.
We carried on and as we approached Savannah we crossed a huge bridge.
We got to the visitor centre where we had been assured we could overnight for $12 and so we parked up in the appropriate, camper bay. Then we saw the sign, no overnight stays, $20 parking 9 to 5, Monday to Saturday.
Bugger!
We left immediately as it was already 2 pm.
I drove around the dam city and parked up twice only to find obscure no parking signs.
The city was nose to tail parking everywhere and I could not get my 25 foot camper in anywhere, so we left!
It wasn’t a big deal, Savannah wasn’t on our had to do list, that’s complete now and as been a great success.
We headed to a camp site deep in Georgia, but that meant we had another 140 miles to do.
But it didn’t matter, it was interesting passing through the small towns.
We passed through a town called Jesup and it had a huge chemical plant which stunk to high heaven. It was the most horrid smell I have ever smelt.
It was an obnoxious, unnatural smell that made me want to retch, it was vile.
How on Earth people can live there is beyond me.
After a while I stopped behind a truck waiting for a train to pass. The truck driver was out of his cab, pacing about.
After five minutes I got out to chat with him and he told me he had been there 20 minutes and it’s still coming through, and it did, I waited another ten minutes with him.
We chatted and he was amazed that I was from Great Britain, he wanted to know where we’d been and where we were going.
He was a good lad and needed to get home as he was tired but had 3 hours to go. The train passed and we shook hands and bid farewell.
Within 5 miles of our destination the SatNav took me down a sand road for the most difficult 2.5 miles of this journey, all to save an extra half mile on the tarred road, I could have killed her!!!
The site is nice, we are out in the country and the owner is very laid back, cowboy style.
We have mains power so we can put the aircon on if we need to.
Right now though, after a lovely meatball, chilli knock up by Wendy we are relaxing in the van with all the windows open.
Most likely we will get to Florida tomorrow where we hope to find a nice base to get some R & R for three or four days sunbathing by a nice pool, here’s hoping anyway!
Homerville to Shell Mound
157 Miles
We sat out last night watching the sky turn red after sunset, we also saw two squirrels frolicking in the very tall pine trees. Jeepers they were agile but one was clearly faster than the other as one gave up the game after sprinting to the top of the first tree.
I was in bed by 10:30 but I woke up wide awake at midnight so I got up and I enjoyed a cool beer sat at the table with the warm breeze blowing through the window and out through the door, which is the best place to catch the breeze.
I finished the beer and thought about a nice rum and cola, so I had one of those too and that was very nice also.
I then went to sleep and I didn’t wake until 7:00 am!
It was a little overcast and we both went out running along the dirt road. After two miles I came to the main road and ran along that for a while.
Running back I found a snake warming himself up on the tarmac, he was fast asleep. However he must have sensed my presence as he woke up and became quite feisty.
I left him to it and carried on!
I got back, Wendy was all showered and ready to go, it was too hot for her so she only did 4 miles.
After breakfast I filled the water tank while Wendy closed the windows. As I entered the camper she did her, “Oh my god, I’m going to die routine”.
I glanced at what had caused this outburst and saw a very tiny and very cute frog which she had somehow got trapped between the window and the fly screen.
While listening to a crazy woman scream don’t let that in here, I helped him out, (It actually wasn’t possible for him to get in, he was far to big to squeeze through the fly screen, but Wendy was too hysterical to understand that.
I freed him and then I emptied both tanks but he was still there when I was about to move on so I asked him to hop it, for his own good and off he went.
We drove to the filling station for petrol and Wendy went to get the pump authorised and ask where the towns laundrette was.
As I filled the van with petrol I saw a woman point to the laundry with Wendy outside.
I finished refuelling and just climbed into my seat when a young mad women grabbed by bare leg! It was the same women I had seen with Wendy.
Hello I said, “She says I won’t be able to understand you”. Wendy had obviously found the female village idiot.
Her name was Jamaica, the only one in town. Wendy joined us and we spent ten minutes trying to shake her off. Finally I had be a little firm, well I already knew her life story so I thought we’d given her a fair hearing.
The laundry was a doddle and off we set down the road to, hopefully, sunny Florida.
It rained through the night and again this morning but no sooner as it bucketed down, the suns out and it’s 30 degrees again. I’ve noticed since Charleston the southern eastern States have a very tropical feel to them.
Within our first mile the rain came, heavy and it didn’t stop until we were almost at our next stop, almost 150 miles. 3 hours of nonstop heavy rain.
The SatNav buggered me up again!!!
We had 6 miles to go and it took me to a sand road again. I didn’t go down, what I did was enter the town which is really close by into the SatNav and it was less than a mile away down this track, so I took it.
Jeepers it was rough going with huge puddles and low hanging trees.
Wendy was near panic stations and we had to have a little talk about remaining calm.
We got about a mile in and the road ended at someone’s property so I had to do a 6 point turn and go back. Wendy was beside herself and I said I don’t know why you worry, I’m the driver, I’m responsible for the camper. I don’t give a stuff about the van I just don’t want to die was the reply!
We got back safely to the main road and without damage, thankfully and we used Google maps to get us here.
And what a great place it is. We are on a small camp site on a nature reserve on the Gulf of Mexico. We have power and water and lots of little crabs that scare Wendy to death.
There are loads of sites and it’s only $16 a night, the cheapest in Florida, but we are the only ones here.
But they do have strict rules, no profanity and absolutely no alcohol. However as soon as we were settled, Wendy had the fridge open and poured herself a mega glass of wine, “This is exactly what what I need after such an ordeal” she said! She is such a drama queen!!!
I’m now sat in my deck chair watching the BBQ while drinking wine from a clean Root Beer bottle.
Supper will be pork belly and creamy cheddar cheese pasta, when it’s cooked!
We’ve made it to Florida our last State and we’re very much looking forward to seeing the Birthday party gang in a week and a bits time.
Warning - Robyn Shepherd - This copy has a photo and a video of a snake!!!
Shell Mound
No Travelling
I was awake at 4:00 this morning and snook another cold beer, Wendy’s worries I’m on a slippery slope but as I explain, it’s just nice to sit in the cool air and relax, with a cold beer.
I also popped outside and saw the night sky, it was stunning and I thought, great we are in for a hot, sunny day. I went back to bed and promptly fell asleep. And then the heavens opened and it chucked it down.
I was up at 6:15 and heard Retro Heaven at Half Eleven. It wasn’t a good year for me and I was 3 years out. Matt asked me where I was and then he did a piece about us, saying what loyal listeners we are, Wendy had just woke up and didn’t hear it.
I went running leaving Wendy to get dressed. First I went right and down the foot path under the trees to the nature reserve. There were tiny crabs everywhere and I had to dance around them to stop from crushing them, there were thousands of them. After half a mile I came to a lovely pier but it was heaving with crabs.
I got back, passing the campsite again and after a while I looked back and I could see Wendy in the distance coming behind me.
The crabs were out in force on the road and again I had to dance over them or crush them.
In fact there were lots of crushed crabs on the road and some huge birds were around eating them like vultures.
In fact, again, I came across one in my way and it was only when I shouted loudly at it did it move. Then I came across another tortoise sat in the road, he was smaller than the last one and I stood and chatted with him as I waited for Wendy to catch up. He hid in his shell as soon as he saw me.
Wendy duly arrived and was panic stricken, she’d survived attaching crabs, bullying birds who wouldn’t move for her and tiny green frogs. It was also stinking hot and she was all out of sorts,
The tortoise did for her and after about a mile and a quarter she turned back for the camper, emploring me to watch her past the nasty birds.
I put the Tortoise in the long grass, again!
I did my mileage and got back to find Wendy doing impressions of crabs with one claw attacking over their heads and bully birds with their wings out. It was funny and it showed she’s clearly not a country girl!!!
I later got photos of her scary crab and bully bird impressions, it’s not as good when it’s stage managed, she was much better when she still had fear from her experience this morning.
After breakfast and a shave and a shower we drove eight miles to the absolutely stunning village called Cedar Keys.
This is a beautiful area formed along a chain of islands and it reminded us of the Outer Banks of North Carolina from our Trip last year.
Here’s what Visit Florida days about the town.
“The tiny enclave of Cedar Key is a quaint, old-fashioned, Old Florida vacation spot – one that offers lovely beaches, productive fishing opportunities and lush natural preserves. It's a place that's short on traffic lights and long on relaxation. Cedar Key's houses and stores perch above the Gulf of Mexico on stilts, with the water lapping at their bellies. It's easy to find a tasty clam chowder and a cold brew in Cedar Key. The people smile and wave and the police drive spiffed-up golf carts. Sound like it might be your cup of sunshine”.
We did indeed see a Police Golf cart, in fact golf carts are a reliable form of transport in Cedar Keys.
We walked around and shopped, I bought a nice T-Shirt and it was all very nice. We had a beer in a bar and you would not believe what happened next.
A bird, of the feathered type, walked into the bar for lunch and was duly feed by the owner, king prawns nonetheless!
His name is Spike and he calls by everyday for his lunch and is a valued customer. But the thing is, the bugger never pays!
We had a good walk around in the blistering heat and then headed back to our camp site.
We got back, the heat was intense, the sun really was a demon so we put the aircon on and took our deck chairs to the boat ramp and smuggled some wine down and let the afternoon drift by.
A boat pulled in and the three fellas had been crab fishing since 6:00 am, it was now 4:00 pm.
There does seem to be a decency with young Americans that young Brits don’t do.
The lad who got off the boat to get the car and trailer was exceptionally polite to both me and Wendy.
He said, “Good Afternoon Ma’am, Sir, it’s been hot out there today but we have a good catch and we managed to hide under clouds where we could”. We chatted as he went about his work and this had he thinking, had this been at home we would have barely got a grunt out of someone his age. Different cultures, different standards I guess.
We sat there a while longer and watched a Pelican fishing for his, or her supper and we saw that it was a ruthless hunter, but then I guess it has to be. It could hardly fly later it had scoffed that much fish.
At around 6:00pm Wendy went back to the the van as the crabs had come out in force as the days heat subsided, she is such a wimp women!
Later I went back up and we had a delightful supper of BBQ’ed beef and salad.
We didn’t stay out too long as the critters were out in force, Nasty biting ants, horse flies and the crabs were too much to bear for Wendy.
I hope to get her back to the boat ramp as the sun sets later tonight, if I do I’ll add a photo, but I’m not hopeful as she’s been bitten to death today and she’s hitching like Michael Gove on cocaine!!!!
Today has been stinking hot and I do hope Caroline has packed her factor 95 sunscreen as she will be burnt to buggery in this sun.
Shell Mound to Port Richey
109 Miles
Jeepers it was hot in the night, I got up and put the aircon on, unbeknownst to me Wendy then felt cold and went and got the duvet from the top bunk and wrapped herself in it. I later woke frozen stiff and turned the aircon off.
Last night Wendy said that if she got up early enough she would go running today, so I got up at 05:00 am and had breakfast and waited for her, she woke at 06:00 and said she wasn’t going out, she doesn’t like the crabs, the birds scare her and she had been badly bitten at some point yesterday.
I must admit the bites do look nasty, she’s got them all over her arms, legs, back, chest, in fact it would be easier to say where she hasn’t got them.
I went out at 06:30, just as it was light enough to see properly and it was a good job Wendy didn’t come as the flies were all over me. The sun wasn’t fully up and the flies must have been out all night waiting for a Wally like me to come out for them to feed.
I have a new rule in this bush, if you think your being bitten, you are being bitten so act quickly.
I saw something cross the road, it was too big for a squirrel and too slow too. When I got to where I had seen it, I found it was an Armadillo, the first I have ever seen alive. He just snook into the bush as I got there but I did manage a half a photograph.
Then I came across a startled deer, it was huge, but hadn’t any antlers. It was startled because the bush was too thick for it to get away from me, so it ran alongside me for about 20 metres where it suddenly disappeared, it was cracking specimen. The crabs were out in numbers too, jeepers you have to dance around them to stop from crunching them, it does make out for a more intensive workout mind.
I got back and Wendy was up and about, doing her nails, as always!
After breakfast we did our moving routines and hit the road.
As we left our camp site Wendy was mortified to see a snake slithering across the road in front of us, she had a deathly face and I chuckled. She was safely tucked up in the campers cab, in an air-conditioned van where the snake couldn’t get anywhere near her, but yet nonetheless she was mortified.
We drove along Highway 19, which was as boring as bugger for the first 60 miles. We then started to get into built up areas.
We came across a section of roadway where we were warned that Florida Black Bears live, these are not as grumpy as there Brown cousins in Yosemite National Park and they won’t attack you on sight. Wendy did some reading and the safety guidance upon happening on one is to stand still and talk to it quietly. What on earth would you say to a towering seven foot bear while you are wetting yourself? That’s great guidance!!! I think run like the clappers would have been better advice.
We actually stopped in the middle of this area and had coffee, thankfully with the doors firmly closed.
We carried on and did a little shopping for supper, but we could not find any locally caught fish so we thought we would try when we got to our destination.
As we neared our new camp, actually we were seven miles from it, we saw an almighty storm appear before our very eyes. It just came together in an instant, and it was upon us within seconds. It chucked it down, I mean really hard.
The roads where about 5 inches deep in seconds, I slowed down but many others didn’t. It was wild, the wind was up too, buffeting the van. We popped out of the storm six miles later and when we did the last mile to our new site they hadn’t had any rain at all, how bizarre.
Our new site is lovely, the owners are too and we were made very welcome. Wendy loves it, she’s back in civilisation away from the crabs and the birds but the heat is just as intense, if not more.
In fact, Robyn make sure you get factor 100 for Alex, we don’t want him burning on this trip, the sun really is a demon when it’s out.
We took a walk to the nearest supermarket and bought some packaged fish, it was all they had but it looked nice. I also bought some seasoned rub for it too.
We got back and waited a while inside the van for the sun to cool a little and then we had an hour by the pool, the pool is lovely and warm and it made for a relaxing time.
By 4:30pm we were starving so I lit the BBQ and promptly dropped the fish on the floor and into the grit. Wendy mocked me but washed the fish and I applied more seasoning to it and gingerly put it on the BBQ and it cooked beautifully.
We had it with salad and corn on the cob and it was a real treat, a delight, actually, cooked to perfection, with a little grit thrown in for good measure.
After supper we walked to the State Park which is very close by. The land here, like where we have recently been is very tropical wet land scrub with nasties all around’ like Alligators.
Alligators like freshwater most, but they can tolerate salt water for a few hours, maybe a day, two at the most in salt water. And thankfully they aren’t as nasty as a Salt Water Crocodile, but I will still give them a wide berth just to be sure.
The park was great and we found the sea water but like you would imagine it’s like the Everglades with grass growing wildly along the shore. There has to be a beach around here and hopefully I’ll find it tomorrow.
We came across a Bird Dog Boat, (Local name), like the one we saw yesterday in Cedar Key, they are used to catch Mullet which is very plentiful around these parts. The boats engine is an outboard that goes through the vessel at the front of the boat so the fishermen can work their nets from the back without fowling the prop.
Here’s some info I found about Bird Dog Boats:
“A true bird dog has the outboard motor up near the bow with a hole cut in the hull so that the prop is in the water. Her stern will have a cut-a-way transom so that a gill net can be flung out the back as you circle a school of fish ... usually mullet.
The beauty of a bird dog boat is that as she comes on to a plane, the bow of the boat lifts up and thereby raises the motor shaft so that the propeller rides up in the water column.
As long as you haul arse, you can zip across very skinny water in a bird dog boat due to that simple fact.
I've driven them and they are wet boats in any kind of chop, plus they steer funny if you are used to normal boats.
I love their uniqueness and the way they evolved to do a particular function well.
Who was that first fisherman who cut a hole in the hull of his perfectly good boat?
The bird dog name probably comes from the fact that you drive these boats from away up at the bow while scanning ahead for schools of fish. When you spot the school, ya point in their direction and yell so your mate knows to get ready to deploy the net ... hence the name "bird dog".
(See ... you are pointing at game ... do I need to draw a picture here?)
Originally, these were net boats. Nowadays, they are mainly used for the clam farming industry ...at least around Cedar Key.
The net ban of 1994 severely limited the types and size of netting that could be used to catch fish, so for a while, a lot of bird dogs sat high and dry with nothing to do. Once the clam farming industry took off in Cedar Key, many old bird dogs found new life as clam boats”.
Walking back we came across a very large Tortoise taking his tea in the grass. He was fair chomping and not at all bothered by us to taking his photo.
He was a big fella, maybe 80 years old, I’m guessing here, but I’d like to think so.
We got back to the camper and the sun was still high at 7:00 pm.
We are sat out now with moderate bugs and it’s still warm, Wendy assures me that we are sleeping with the aircon all night, I don’t mind as long as that duvet is close to hand when I need it.
It’s been a very, nature kind of a day with us getting very close to Mother Nature!
Port Richey
No Travelling
It was another hot night so we did indeed sleep with the aircon on, and I woke up freezing cold. Even under the duvet, so I turned it off and then we melted. You just can’t win!!!
I was up at 6:00 am and it was quite sunny. We both left to go running, I was out looking for the elusive beach, but I never found it.
I did save a small tortoise from being crushed by a van, I saw it just in time as it was directly in front of the van so I stepped into the road and the van slowed to a stop. I picked the little fella up and took him where he wanted to be and let him go. He was a young fella as he had a very shiny, new looking shell, he was probably in his 20’s.
I got a very friendly wave from the van driver.
I carried on running and I came across Wendy in a very exclusive area with colossal housing. They each had a little boat park as this area is where the coastline is really higgledy, piggely and they have formed waterfronts all long on one side of the housing.
Each house as a boat hoist with a speed boat swinging while waiting for the next trip out to sea.
It all looked very nice indeed, but there was one drawback. They must have an issue with mozzies as they had to have large areas of the external area with like a huge frame from which a very large mozzie net was hung. It was all done in good taste, it was a proper set up but I don’t see much fun in lounging around under that, I wonder if you would get a speckled suntan if you stayed under long enough and kept still.
I did 9 miles and maybe it was a mile too far as the sun was unbearable, even at 9:00 am.
I got back exhausted with the heat, and somewhat drained but I took a lovely soothing dip in the pool and then I had my smoothie which is really good for recovery, I felt much better afterwards.
After I showered the clouds came out in force so we decided to do a little shopping. We took the van for a drive and found a great little shopping centre where I got exactly what I needed, new running shoes. I also got my iPhone home button repaired by a very helpful man.
While my phone was repaired Wendy went into TJ Max and was delighted to buy a pair of shoes, well she does like her shoes does Wendy Gill.
We took a drive to find a beach about 4 miles away and the heavens opened, it chucked it down and we were treated to yet another thunder and lightning storm, it was horrendous.
It had calmed down a little by the time we found the tiny beach and we got out after finally finding somewhere to park the van, and took a stroll.
We got 100 yards and the rain returned, we got soaked, even with the brolly up.
It was shame because the beach area, although small, was lined with great looking bars and had I not been wet through I might have gone and sampled a cold beer.
We got back to the camp ground to find our running gear, which we had left out on the bench to dry, was strewn around in the grit so we had to bag it and wash it at the camp ground laundry.
I did some work on finding sites for the next couple of days and by the time the washing had done the sun was back out and we went down to the pool.
The pool was lovely, we had almost 3 hours of hot sunshine where we laid back on our sunbeds and soaked it up. We took a nice beer and then a lovely glass of wine before heading back to the van at around about 6:00pm.
After yet another shower we set off for a supper treat to a local restaurant as advised by our camp hosts.
Before I go on, I must tell you of our local area.
There doesn’t seem to be a town here in the traditional way. We are on Highway 19, which is a six lane Highway, which is busy. And along both sides there are a multitude of shops, restaurants, car workshops, bars, shopping centres and financial services. There’s even a “Couples Shop” whatever that is, it does look a little seedy, if the window dressing is anything to go by.
The towns just run into each other, as you progress further from the Highway you get into more residential areas, and the closer to the Gulf of Mexico you get the more plush the homes get.
Wendy as an idea about the Highway layout and that is because it’s so hot all people want to do is drive to where they need to be and go inside where the air conditioning is there, do what they need and then leave. They don’t want to walk around a town centre because it’s so hot.
I think there is a wee bit of laziness too, two very large ladies drove to the pool today, from their campervan parked two rows back just to loll about in the water, now that is lazy, and unenvironmental!
We are in Port Richey, down the road is Hudson Beach, up the road is New Port Richey and you couldn’t tell where they start and finish if it wasn’t for the road signs.
We had supper in an establishment recommended by our nice site owner lady and what a stuffing we got, it was huge!
I had a fillet steak, only 6 ounce, with a salad and black beans, I also asked for a side of scallops, which came with a bowl of rice. Wendy had a beef steak skewer with a salad and garlic sweet potato. You would think that would be ample, but then double that and then triple that and throw in half price bottle of wine because its Wednesday and then an Onion Rose, also known as a Blooming Onion and your sides will spilt, (Google Onion Rose, it was lovley, and huge!).
We were very well looked after by Heather, our waitress, too!
Back at the camper and Wendy is now in her relaxed dress, stuffed so much her tummy hurts, she says it’s going to be a long run for her tomorrow!
We’ll see!
Tonight we had an official anoucment, its been some time comming, but tonight we celebrate the naming of Noah Donald Hutcheons!
Port Richey to Tampa
28 Miles
We didn’t have any issues overnight, although it was hot again but we survived, thankfully, for another eventful day!
I went running first as I was up smartish at 5:30am, Wendy followed a little later.
All I did was leave the camp ground and run down Highway 19 for four miles. I saw a major car accident involving 3 cars, all badly damaged but thankfully all casualties away to hospital. I saw another smaller accident with no casualties, just traffic mayhem and I passed a very old Chinese Lady who gave me a very warm smile and a very big thumbs up as I passed her on the pavement, she was lovely but maybe a little cookie!
I got caught in a downpour but it was just a passing shower, although the sky looked quite angry at the time.
I got back to find Wendy showered and ready to go and so I had my breakfast, showered and we were on the road by 9:30 am
As we couldn’t check into our campsite until 1:00 pm we thought it an idea to call into Tampa City for a look around before going on.
I had done some research and on a TripAdvisor forum someone had suggested Channel Boulevard for RV parking as Cruise ships leave the docks there and there is lots of paid parking.
So I set the SatNav for that location and we did indeed see lots of parking, with people holding signs saying park here.
So I pulled in and a young man said I could park along a building away from the cars, I got as close to the wall as I could and Wendy changed her shoes for a long walk.
The young man said someone would come around and take my fee, the sign said $9 a day so I was reasonably happy.
We walked around the corner and a young man did indeed approach me, he was very nice and smiling too and he asked me for $99!
I said, “I only want a day mate!” “Ah” he replied, “We only do weekly parking for the cruise liners”.
Bugger, I was nicely tucked away too. I asked him where I could park the camper and he said, “Nowhere around here, it’s all cruise parking”.
So we drove around the town for a while but we couldn’t find anywhere to park this 25 foot van so we opted for Plan B, go look at the, supposedly, beautiful beaches.
I asked Wendy to Google Map a street close to the Beaches and she said go here, so I tapped the address into the SatNav.
As we drove we crossed a very long causeway over Tampa Bay and it was very interesting to see.
After 15 miles we came to a stop where the SatNav told me to and Wendy said now you look to see where we can park. We weren’t anywhere near the bloody beach, women!!!
I looked at Google Mapping and as I had managed to park the van on a side street and that I would be very unlikely to find somewhere near the beaches, as we had already driven through them and they were crammed, I thought to walk it to the beaches and so we did.
I was a longish walk, near 3 miles, but the sun was out and we crossed another bridge and we saw a Party Pirate boat cross below us. It had loud music blaring out and the revellers were doing the, “YMCA” dance at the behest of the insanely crazy entertainment manager who was whipping them into a frenzy. Jeepers I was so glad I was on that bridge and not down there, it would have been purgatory, I would have had to sneak into a corner with my Pirates Rum and get as drunk as Long John Silver to get through the entire event.
But they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
We had 2 hours to get to the beach and back as we were in a two hour parking zone with the threat of being towed away if we were late getting back.
It took a little over an hour to get there and I had to leave Wendy so that I could go down to the beach and dip my feet into the Gulf of Mexico, it was nicely warm!
As I did I found people, hastily packing up and leaving, and then I saw it, an enormous and not very nice looking storm coming our way.
I got off the beach, smartish and found Wendy and as we started to walk back the heavens opened and we were subjected, yet again, to a torrential thunder storm. We had nearly three miles to walk back to the camper!
The rain was torrential, as it started I took my T-Shirt off and gave it to Wendy, my phone too and put them in her small back pack. She had her brolly and off we set.
I was soaked within minutes, but thankfully the rain was warm.
Wendy’s comfortable shoes weren’t so comfortable when they were wet and she struggled to walk.
As we were nearing tow away time I had to leave her and get back to the van before the tow truck came.
The rain was incessant. I kept looking back keeping an eye on Wendy and I saw her all the way until I went over the brow of the bridge. I knew she was safe, there was no one out, no one had passed me, nor was anyone likely to, not in this downpour.
I got back to the van, stripped off my wet shorts and as I towelling down Wendy arrived safe and sound, and just a little dryer than me, but thankfully the rain had stopped.
We had completed an epic walk to see a most stunning beach, we had been drenched in the process, but it was worth it, and we did chuckle at the experience.
We drove to our campsite, stopping for some shopping on the way and found out from a magazine that Kate Cambridge is expecting again, even though it’s not been on the BBC News website, and we arrived at our campsite at around 4:00pm.
We were checked in by a very official young lady who had me sign my life away over the rules of the camp.
The camp is lovely, it’s nicely located for both Tampa and the Gulf Beaches but it has a massive drawback. There is no local transport system to get us either into town, or to the beaches.
The drawback really is a 25 foot long camper van, which is small compared to most others, but still we find it so hard to get somewhere to park.
But don’t worry, Wendy has a cunning plan for tomorrow, which we will decide on when we see what the weather looks like. Actually, maybe that’s not such a good idea as the rain, the torrential rain can come from nowhere within minutes.
For supper we had last night’s doggy bags, it was lovely and we still had leftovers which we have now reluctantly put in the bin as we feel in this heat there is only one chance of microwaving it back to life.
After catching up on today’s news via Sky News at Ten, we took a camp walk and yet again marvelled at the size of some of these campers, they are massive. We saw one that had decking attached to it, wow.
On our walk we came across the pool and it’s quite impressive, it’s like Aqualand! So that gives us another option for tomorrow, should we get nice weather. It’s been dry since we got here, but then again Wendy, learned from the very nice lady campsite owner yesterday that we are bang in the middle of the Rainy Season!
Tampa
No Travelling
We slept with the aircon on last night, at Wendy’s insistence, and I must admit conditions were much better for sleeping, although I was fully rugged up being almost fully dressed in bed. I popped my arm out for a while and almost suffered frost bite, it was that cold.
Also, the air was really dry so I was up at least 3 times taking a drink of juice from the fridge. Wendy didn’t notice as she always takes a bottle of water to bed and sips it all night long.
I got up at 5:30 am and the van was freezing so I knocked the aircon off, phew!
I had run out of Branflakes and we forgot to get some more from the supermarket so it was a cheese sarnie for breakfast with my cup of tea, it was nice but I missed by flakes.
We went running together, I went along the Highway and Wendy did her nosey routine by running around the housing estates.
It was much cooler today, but that wasn’t much of a let off as it was still very hot.
The Highway was boring but I was listening to the cricket, England V The West Indies so I was happy enough, especially as we were bowling them out fairly constantly.
I was cross with the BBC! This is the Cricket World Cup, so you’d think they would allow Brits abroad to listen to the matches, but no they don’t, they don’t allow coverage outside the UK. But they let some games, it’s very frustrating.
The trouble for me it that the Wi-Fi has been poor throughout this trip, and the 3G service isn’t much better. As I have to use a VPN to get the BBC programme, it takes a little data to make it work, so that makes the programme drop out now and then. But being a smart cookie, I got the signal through the VPN, as it makes the BBC think I am in the UK, then I drop the VPN link as I have already got the BBC on the hook. I can then listen to the commentary almost uninterrupted.
The BBC are making me very mad of late, I have a TV Licence that I have to pay even though I am not in the country, I know I have said this before, but now with the removal of the free Service for very old people we are seriously thinking of taking our TV’s out. We mainly use Netflix now anyway.
Even Wendy is willing to forgo Strictly Dancing in protest, but she’ll most likely go over to Brads to watch it.
I got back and had a ham sarnie for breakfast and then we went down to the pool to laze around, and I listened to the Cricket as well.
The West Indies were all out for 213, but we had some injury concerns for two important batsmen.
The weather was mainly overcast but it was still quite hot and we were sweating nicely on our sunbeds and frequent dips in the pool were required.
England got off to a flying start with two Yorkshiremen opening the batting and it was all over with overs to spare, and with Joe Root getting another One Day International Century which was very pleasing indeed.
During the commentary Curtly Ambrose was getting extremely cross with the attitude of the West Indian players who seemed to have given up and were too busy interacting with the crowd to field properly. Curtly was a real sportsman who would have almost killed himself on the cricket field, he was one of the fiercest fast bowlers the Caribbean has ever produced so he knows what he’s talking about.
After the match I lounged around some more, Wendy read her book. I had seen a petrol station not far away so I took a walk thinking I might get a box of Branflakes..
The sun was out now and it was very hot, and with me not taking my hat, my head was getting very hot indeed.
Alas they only had bags of crisps, bottled drinks and full fat sweeties, well they would, wouldn’t they.
I got back to the pool and I sat on my lounger that promptly collapsed and I almost had my finger amputated, but that’s OK as it gave Wendy Gill a dam good laugh, she laughed so much she nearly had a lady accident, I wish she would as she does like to see me out of sorts!
No longer had I finally settled down when the drizzle started, and then the rain, quite heavy rain.
We sheltered under a brolly for a while but it was clear it wasn’t going to stop anytime soon so we went back to the camper where Wendy knocked up a very nice prawn and ham salad, early supper.
It was bloody lovely!
The rain was that heavy that a family of ducks came to play in the flooded road. The traffic had to drive slowly around them until they moved on, they were having a great time. I tried to get a photo but as I approached Mum hustled the chicks away from me.
After about 30 mins the rain stopped and the sun came out so we went back to the pool for an hour, maybe a bit longer, but at 5:30 pm the rain came again and so we called it a day.
We thought about walking to Waitrose in the rain for my Branflakes but it was about 3 miles away and it was just a tadge too far so it looks like another ham sarnie for breakfast again which is a shame as we buy our milk by the gallon and we have a full one in the fridge just waiting for me.
The rain continued for a long while but it is still roasting hot, it must be 100% Humidity and Wendy is talking about her third cold shower of the day.
Its Friday and I’m knocking off early tonight, it’s almost turned 7:00pm on what’s been a very light news day from the front line, but it’s been a very nice relaxing day, even though we have had to endure the odd downpour, well at least the ducks enjoyed themselves!
Tampa to Dade City
65 Miles
We took a walk around camp before turning in last night and there wasn’t a soul to seen. It was a lovely night, the rain had gone and there weren’t any critters hanging about but everyone was inside their huge RV’s with the aircon on.
So we went to bed with the aircon on but I turned it off at 3:00 am as I was frozen through!
Wendy woke at one point and opened the window and a lovely breeze swept through.
We both went running again, this time I went the other way along the Highway and I came to a very large supermarket within a mile of the campsite. I had asked the lad at the filling yesterday where the nearest one was and he said the Wal-Mart which was 3 miles away. I would have happily walked two miles for my Brankflakes, just not 6 miles.
We got back and I had a very nice smoothie and after a shower I implemented my cunning plan which was two fold:
A, Phone the car park superintendents office and ask them where was best for me to park.
Failing that:
B, I googled mapped a residential area in Tampa City and zoomed in on Street View looking for somewhere I could park the camper and I found just the place.
The car park superintendents office was closed as I suspected so we set off for the Street View location.
It worked a treat, I found a Street to park in and I asked a young man who was walking with his wife and parents if I was ok where I was and he said I was.
But even better, to save us walking downtown he directed us to a tram station where we could take the free tram downtown, and it runs every 15 minutes.
What a good result!!
I didn’t know it at the time but the tram station was in Ybor City pronounced “Ubor”, locally which is the historic centre of old Tampa.
We got to the station easily enough and sure enough a tram came and it took us into the heart of the city, free of charge!
Tampa is a high rise city but the Skyscrapers aren’t too close together and that makes it not so claustrophobic as what Chicago was.
We walked around, the heat was bearable but the humidity was quite high and we were sweating in no time at all.
Tampa is on Tampa Bay, obviously, which is a bay created from the Gulf of Mexico.
We walked down to the river walk and it was really nice, but very quiet with not many people around. But I guess like the City of London the downtown business area is going to be quiet during the weekend.
Two girls asked me to take their photograph on the bridge to one of Tampas Islands and one of the girls took ours in return.
We walked around a little further and got the tram back to explore Ybor.
The tram took about 15 minutes as it was about a 3 mile trip.
After getting off the tram we walked a block down and came across an amazing High Street!
It was lined with unique shops, bars and cafes, and lots of beggars!
It was amazing and all very interesting!
It seemed to be a biker type of place as there were quite a few old boys hanging around with their noisy bikes, smoking big hand rolled cigars and looking like they were real rough types, but they must have been in their 70’s!
As we walked we saw an amazing sight! A chicken with maybe a dozen tiny chicks feeding in the middle of the high street. We had heard loads of cockerels crowing but to see this was amazing, cars had to dodge them.
Later Wendy Googled then, here’s what she found:
The wild chicken population that currently resides in Ybor City are direct descendants of the chickens that lived in the backyards of the neighborhoods earliest resident’s over 100 years ago.
Ybor City’s chickens crossing the streets have become a welcome sight for those who live, work and visit the area.
There are many places to catch glimpses, and sometimes even good areas to find where they are by simply using your eyes and ears.
If you live in Ybor City, you can’t dislike the chickens, because like it or not they have been there longer than you.
As we walked I saw a man at a table through a cigar shop window, he was hand rolling big fat cigars.
I watched him make a cigar. He layered tobacco leaves on top of each other and then rolled them together and then he tapped the ends together to make the perfect sized cigar. He had them all stacked together in a nice pile.
He did this and all the while he had a big fat cigar in his mouth, which he occasionally drew on, without taking it out of his mouth!
After our walkabout we got back to the van to get some supplies, the main priority was meat for the BBQ and Branfkakes for my breakfast.
After stowing our supplies we drove on to our next campsite somewhere deep in the Florida woods!
We got there in good time but had a bit of hassle as the office was closed, Wendy did the a slight faux pas in not putting the international dialling code on the number to ring, which had been left on the parks office door for campers to call.
She had a fair point in not thinking calling a USA number in the USA would require their international dialling code, but it does that’s why it wouldn’t connect the call, anyway we are now in a very nice field which we have to ourselves.
We were in the baking heat of the afternoon soon enough and Wendy had the aircon on pretty dam quick.
The heat was intense and after a brief rest in the van we took a short walk around the park. We could see the storm clouds gather so we went back and sat outside the van.
Wendy was on tenterhooks as long bodied, flying creatures kept scaring her. She threw two glasses of wine over me as she jumped about in her chair when they passed her by.
It started to spit rain so we went inside, and boy did it tip it down. It was by far the worst and most exciting thunder storm we have had. Lightening struck all around us and the thunder was deafening!
It lasted a good 30 minutes, all the time Wendy cooked supper, pork chops, fish fillets and salad which we ate during the storm.
It’s passed now and the air is a little clearer.
I’m a wee bit concerned about getting the van bogged down when we leave tomorrow but I’ve checked the ground and it does seem quite firm still, here’s hoping for no more rain tonight!
Dade City to Orlando
94 Miles
We had a lovely peaceful night last night and thankfully no more rain.
We both went out running and the sun was up and very hot indeed, in fact Wendy only did a short run. I came across some very long legged birds that Wendy likes. We saw them walking around our campsite last night, they are called Sandhill Cranes. The males have a lovely read stripe on their heads but the females are just plain. I got a photo of them but they were in the shade so it’s not so good.
I also had a little nasty Terrier dog chase and snap at me, he lived in a real scruffy place, stuff was strewn all over the garden, but I chased him back and he tripped over his front paws in an effort to escape me.
I’ve been bitten before so I take no prisoners when it comes to nasty dogs, its Live and Let Die from now on!
Back at camp I had a lovely smoothie and for the first time I have tried smooth peanut butter and it very tasty, it was just the ticket actually.
We broke camp and we had to head south for 27 miles as the SatNav decided that, that was the quickest route. Thankfully we didn’t go over old ground and it took us a different route. I could have used the shortest route option but that may have took us over unpaved roads.
After 27 miles we took the Interstate North and you’ll never believe what happened, I thought it was crazy.
I was in the middle lane doing about 55 miles per hour when I was passed in the left lane by a pickup truck towing a trailer.
The trailer had lost its left wheel and the back of the trailer was being dragged along. It was a strange thing because it was a very large metal trailer but there were no sparks coming from it.
I slowed down, the trailer could have disintegrated at any point so I let this joker go, and he was going at some rate on knots, he must have been doing 80. People started to chase him, what idiots!
I kept him in sight and after two miles we came to a junction and a police car, with all lights flashing joined the Interstate and started to pursue him, someone must have called it in! But the bugger would not pull up, he stayed in the fast lane for about five miles.
Eventually he did pull over and the sole Police Officer was out and moving towards him, slowly. As we passed them more police cars were coming fast up the opposite carriageway to support their mate.
I have no idea what the man said in his defence, he could argue that he didn’t stop in the fast lane because he might have been a danger to other cars, but he had at least 15 miles to have moved over and he could have, but he didn’t. He deserves the book being thrown at him, or be shot!
We stopped at a rest area for coffee and I tuned into the India v Pakistan Word Cup cricket match and it was looking like an Indian walkover. Pakistan were losing wickets on a regular basis but rain stopped play and Duckworth Lewis came into play and they ended up having to do something like 28 runs from 3 overs. Aggers and Swanny weren’t happy as it gave Pakistan an unfair disadvantage they couldn’t meet and it meant that their run rate was disastrously affected which might give them a problem at the start of the illimination phase. But that’s DWL for you and Pakistan should have been more aware of it, Aggers saw it coming 2 hours before it arrived.
We got to our camp ground by a conflagrated route because there seems to be an awful lot of Toll Roads around Orlando which our SatNav is set to avoid.
Our site is very nice, we are very close to a nice lake and it was very hot when we got here.
Wendy was mortified as she had learnt that we are on a camp site which is Christian Owned and that Alcohol should not be openly consumed. As we approached the site there were signs to that effect and Wendy was such a grumpy bum!
We checked in and when we were at the counter a man came and asked for assistance to get his boat out of the lake before the storm hit. As we walked back to the camper Wendy looked up to the sky and said, “Yes, there it is”. The sky across the lake was as black as a coal bunker, it was wild.
Thankfully we got parked and hooked up before it hit.
Wendy had a good idea, “Let’s go over to the sheltered bench and watch the storm come in”.
So we did and it was very wild, so wild that we had to run the 20 yards back to the van. I had my flip-flops on and I had a double blow out which slowed me up somewhat. I got back to the camper, soaked right through to my underpants, my shirt was stuck to my back too.
The rain and wind was relentless, it was nearly as wild as last night.
We checked with Brad who is about 14 miles east of us and he and Caroline were still at the pool in the sun. Twenty minutes later it hit them and they had to rush in.
The storm hung around for much longer and it gave us both the right pip!
After an hour the rain eased and we took a walk to Walmart for some steak as I fancied a BBQ, the sky looked bleak still and I was sure there was more rain to come.
As we walked back we called in at Dunkin Donuts as we have no idea what they sell, we thought donuts which you could dunk in, perhaps chocolate, or honey.
We chatted with our server Graham, who was a little bemused at our question and then he clicked and explained that the company have now dropped the Dunkin part and they sell mainly coffee and food, and the odd donut. We were so pleased with Graham’s performance we bought six, mostly cholate themed donuts.
Wendy had seen a sign about not feeding the Alligators in the lake so she asked the chap on the gate about it when we got back. “Yes”, he said, “There are Gators in there, Ma’am, in fact a man complained that there was a 10 footer in his garden on the other side last week so they had to come and take it away”. “Also a women was walking her dog recently and a Gator went for her dog but she got between them so the Gator took a nip of her arm, well you couldn’t blame him could you?”
I don’t think I’ll be taking them up on the $10 canoe hire tomorrow, I’ll stay shore side!
We got back and I found that someone had took a sneak out of a donut, it wasn’t me, but I know who it was!
The rain came back but being a determined Barnsley Man I took my BBQ to the shelter and fired her up there.
And I cooked the steak and the fish perfectly, the fish was wrapped in foil with a little white wine.
The salad and coleslaw was nice too, in fact it was all a rather nice delight.
Wendy’s looking forwards to halving the donuts, jeepers we can’t manage 3 each tonight can we? Why not, the rain is still at it, but it is down to a good old Northern Drizzle just now, but I suppose we are still in the “Storm Party Mood”, so why not indeed!
I’ve included a photo of Cathy and Baby Noah in tonight’s copy as I know Granny is keen to see the little fella, he does look a little cutey!!!
Orlando
No Travelling
The rain lasted right upto bed time last night and even when I was asleep I could hear the pitter, patter of it on the roof.
I had to put Wendy to bed at 9:00 pm as she had nodded off at the kitchen table, just like little Bradley used to do. I was in bed by 10:00pm and I was awake at 1:00 so I got up and sat at the side door and watched the full moon as the clouds passed it by, the rain had cleared away and it was lovely. I had a can of beer and just watched the moon in the sky.
I snook back to bed very quietly but Wendy was awake too, so we had a wee chat and then nodded off again and I did not wake up until 6:30 am.
The sky was blue but the sun wasn’t up yet. But by the time I had had my Branflakes the clouds had gathered. We both went out running, Wendy followed me but peeled off at the lake and ran around that, and came back telling me about the amazing houses around the lake, she is such a nosey bugger!
I ran along the Highway and then turned left down a very long country lane where I came across a few cyclists. One man had so much sun screen on his face he looked like the mummy, he was a nice enough chap as he chatted as he cycled by, but boy did he look scary.
I sat on the grass for a drink as I was near the campsite and I was bitten to buggery on my legs by the nastiest ants ever. I killed the lot, I had to as they were running up my legs.
I got back and I had a lovely smoothie, I am now using smooth peanut butter and it’s just lovely and creamy.
I did some future route planning as its going to be busy for the next couple of days and Wendy did some washing. Having to contend with an IT based washing machine and dryer that required a credit card to operate it. I think we have spent about $3,000 doing this washing as I let Wendy do it on her own. Wendy is the next worst computer savvy person I know so I am expecting a very big bill!
After all that we relaxed by the pool. It was roasting hot but there was the odd passing cloud that gave us some respite. It really was hot and I had to nip to the van for an occasional cooling beer.
On one such beer trip I saw three small children in the lake, one was on an inflatable canoe, and the other two were in the water. They must have been about 6 years old and they were splashing merrily. Now I might be tainted by my Bush Survival Skills Training by Les Hiddins, the Original Bush Tucker Man, but there is no way I would allow my kids to swim in Alligator infested waters, supervised or not, it’s just too much of a risk. Remember a small child was taken by an Alligator in Disneyland recently, it was madness?
We watched a little Lizard menace a small wasp, it had it cornered but the wasp hid by my sandals and I helped it fly away, Wendy had insisted I help it but as it fly in her direction she swatted it away and she ended up shooing it into the pool and into an even more uncertain fate!
At 2:00pm I was brave enough to sneak some wine, hidden in pop bottles, which we drank while listening to Dearne FM. Sometimes a family would dip in the pool to cool off, but mainly we had it to ourselves for most of the day. In fact there is a Jacuzzi there too, but its water is about 40 degrees which is far too hot for this level of sunshine.
Brad and Caroline, who are about 12 miles away told us that their pool day was over as it was drizzling and big black clouds had gathered.
Sure enough at 3:00pm the rain started, only spitting mind so we went back to the van where I was duty cook.
I cooked pork chops, chilli beans, (Cowboy style) and garlic mushrooms. We ate it as the drizzle spattered us outside and boy was it tasty, it was lovely!!!
After Wendy washed the dishes we went over lakeside and sat as the rain continued to spitter, under the covered viewing area where we were joined by an old fella who had come in today.
He told us he had had a tyre blow out at 70 mph and it had unnerved him. We had seen the tyre repair man attend to him, he has a very big camper so it must have been a scary experience.
He was a lovely man, a lot older than us, and had had 8 brothers, of which he was the youngest and he has a son and a daughter and 9 grandsons, and no granddaughters would you believe.
He told us that he was from Pennsylvania and that after his Florida detour he was going to take his father-in-law to see Noah’s Ark in Kentucky.
This had Wendy intrigued and she did some Goggling, of which she is now an expert, here’s what she found:
“Ark Encounter is a Christian, religious and creationist theme park, the centrepiece of the park is a large representation of Noah’s Ark built according to the dimensions given in the Bible. Spanning 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high, this modern engineering marvel amazes visitors young and old”.
I’ve put a photo of it in the pictures below, it does look amazing.
As we talked a family of ducks came calling by on the off chance we might have some nibbles for them but unfortunately we hadn’t so they moved on, but I did get to stroke one of the chicks who was really fluffy and cute.
After chatting we chilled out in the van, it is our last night tonight and we have to give it a dam good cleaning tomorrow or we lose $50 of our deposit, which I think is a bit rich, I mean we don’t clean our hotel room after a night’s stay there do we.
From now on in our adventure continues, but tomorrow we hook up with Bradley and Caroline and then on Thursday, Alex and Robyn fly in. We have a few surprises up our sleeve so keep tuned in Avid Reader, it’s going to be interesting, hopefully!
Orlando
No Travelling
I was up at 6:10 this morning after a peaceful night’s sleep. We left every window, and the door open and there was enough breeze to keep us cool, it was lovely.
Wendy had run around the lake, along the residential streets yesterday and she told me that it was just over 5 miles, so I thought I would do that and nip in and out of estates to get my mileage up.
It was overcast when I set off, but that didn’t last long!
I was listening to the England V Afghanistan World Cup Cricket Match, and it was a topper, records tumbled.
The heat was just about bearable and I was well around the lake when I took a left turn and went a mile down that, I then came back and I came across a very exclusive street which I went down and it went on and on. Wendy’s nosiness must have rubbed off on me as I had to go to the end, just to see the stunning housing.
I was listening to the match with huge interest, and when Eoin Morgan hit his 9th six I was anticipating something big. I knew Chris Gale had the record, along with some others who he shared the record with but I didn’t know what it was, was it 14, 15, or 16 sixes in an innings, I later found out it was 16 so then I was counting every six Eoin got and he did get the record with a huge six, he is now the record holder for the most six’s in a One Day Innings at the World Cup. It was cracking, in fact England passed the World Cup record of 25 six’s in an innings and then I think the Afghans did well too in the six department making the number of six’s in a game another World Cup record, 33 in total. There were some other records broken too, in fact the BBC Statistician had the game of his life.
I on the other hand had overestimated my distances and in the end I did almost 9.5 miles in the sapping morning heat, jeepers I was wet through, completely.
I took a dip in the pool while Wendy packed our suitcases.
While I was drinking my tea I washed the last of the dishes and did an inventory of all our items, we were down a plastic glass, which we knew about from the start, but we were also down a tea spoon which we didn’t know about.
After breakfast we cracked on cleaning the van, Wendy did the inside with the aircon on full blast and I did the outside and the nooks and crannies. It was my aim to take the van to the jet wash but I wanted to get the five week old heavy duty grime off which I did with good old fashioned elbow grease.
Jeepers it was hot outside and I was dripping again within ten minutes. I had showered but that had now been a waste of time.
By 11:00 we were just about done and we were ready to move on.
As we weren’t supposed to check into our hotel until 4:00pm I took Wendy to TJ Max as she liked it when she visited a store recently.
I went into Walmart and bought a few essentials.
Wendy got back to the camper after me and had bought herself a very nice, soft leather backpack, which is really quite nice.
As we were driving to the hotel I had an idea of finding a “Family Dollar” shop as they are a good value general store.
It took us a while to find one, but eventually we did and we found a pack of 4 tea spoons exactly the same as we had in the van, for $1.00, it looks like Cruise America shops at “Family Dollar”.
While we were in the shop a storm blew through and it absolutely poured down, it was another thunder and lightning show so we had to wait a good while before we could get back to the camper, the rain was so heavy huge, deep puddles formed in the car park.
As it subsided, we ran over, me dodging the puddles successfully, Wendy wasn’t so agile and got her feet very wet.
We drove to a jet wash but they had a 7 foot height limit, so we couldn’t get in, but at least I had tried.
We got to the hotel at around 2:30 pm and after parking the van out of the way we were checked in by a very nice girl, who was a little hard of hearing.
She asked me to complete the paperwork, I said Wendy will do that, she’s my admin assistant.
As Wendy went to fill the forms in the girl said, “You do know that there is only one bed in the room you’ve ordered”.
Wendy and I both exchanged puzzled looks!
The girl clarified, “Well you did she that she was your sister!”
Wendy laughed, and replied, “He said I was his assistant!”
That could have been awkward!
It took us an age to trundle all of our baggage and stuff upto our 4th floor apartment, Wendy flagging in the heat.
As soon as all the stuff was in the room Wendy was in the shower as quick as you can say, “Air Force One”.
Indeed as I write this copy, Air Force One as just landed, Donald is kicking off his 2020 presidential campaign in Orlando tonight, what a coincidence, its big news on all TV channels.
We went, out for a walk, just to get our bearings, but yet again another storm came in and we got back just in time to see the rain shower clear the pool area.
Brad and Caroline have been at Universal Studios today so we watched the news and checked Donald’s progress.
We went over to Caroline’s and Brad’s room to wait out the rain, and just as we thought it was stopping, it came down, even heavier, so we ran for it.
We managed to get to the restaurant without getting too wet and it was a very nice restaurant too, if not a little loud! Brad told us there is a Volley Ball Competition on locally and the place was heaving with noisy young girls.
We all had something different, Caroline Lobster, Brad Chicken, Wendy Chicken Nachos and I had a Mawi, Mawi and Prawn risotto, it was lovely, in fact everyone enjoyed their meal.
A young girl must have had her birthday because the waiting staff sang happy birthday to her. Bradley said if that happens to me I’ll walk out, he’s still such a grumpy bum, even as he’s nearing 30!
Orlando
No Travelling
I had a stonking sleep last night and I was wide awake at 05:15 so I snook out of bed and had breakfast and it was lovely, by 06:00 Wendy was up and we were out running our separate ways by 06:30.
The sun came up over the outskirts of Orlando and it was very peaceful.
I ran down International Drive which is an area very close to Disneyland and Universal Studios and it’s a wee bit tacky on a Las Vegas footing, but thankfully it’s aimed at the younger audience and not gambling.
I got back and Wendy had just showered and she told me that she had seen Bradley out running, so that was 3 Gills out and about nice and early, and I believe Caroline was in the gym too.
After breakfast Wendy showed Bradley and Caroline the camper and they were very impressed and Bradley is keen to try one too, well it is a great way to get into the nooks and crannies of the country, if not the cities.
After the grand tour Wendy and I took the van back and we were pleased to say we passed inspection with flying colours, even though I didn’t get to jet wash the outside.
In fact the women who checked the van over was so helpful she even gave us two days rental costs back due to the issues we had had with the van:
None of these were a problem and I only mentioned them when they happened as it was part of the contract. Anyway she kindly gave me the two days which was brilliant, but somehow I think I’ll need it to pay for parking in Miami.
Brad and Caroline came out to collect us and take us downtown to get our hire car.
Brad had a Mustang Convertible and he raised the roof for our trip downtown, now that was an experience I’ll never forget!
This was the first time in my entire life that I have been in a convertible car with the roof off and it was just madness, well it was at 70 miles per hour!
The trip was 12 miles and it was wild. Caroline made sure her hair was under control all the time by twirling it around into a pony tail and then she held it all the way.
As we neared the downtown area we passed the arena where Donald Trump had had his election rally the night before, The Amway Centre.
Wendy’s hair was a complete and utter wild horse. It was everywhere and she chuckled along as we went.
Brad dropped us off at the hire centre and after a while looking for it we found it in the reception area of a Grand Hotel where we saw some of Donald Trump’s supporters milling around after the extravagance of the night before.
We got the car and would you believe it’s a Mustang, exactly like Brad and Caroline’s, but we were not given any instruction in its operation at all.
I could not get the bugger started, it was a keyless affair and although I followed all of the computerised instructions, it still wouldn’t not start. I went back to reception and the girl came and showed me what to do.
While she was there I pumped her for as much info as I could get, like how do I get the roof open?
We drove off, eventually, and headed downtown, to take a look at the city.
Jeepers this car is fast, it like a racing car, it has a five litre engine and roars like a lion, with the roof down I have all round vision although the sun is hot on my neck! At 50 MPH and below its fine, nice even, after 60 it gets hairy, at 70 its wild!
I parked up and we walked downtown and it was absolutely roasting, it was baking hot and I knew from the start that Wendy was struggling with the heat.
We walked for a few blocks and turned around and headed back to the car. We saw some lovely high rise buildings, we saw a very high standard of cleanliness and we saw a fantastic water park called Eola Park. There were even some older building mingled amongst the skyscrapers.
We got back to the car and set off for our hotel, 12 miles away. Wendy was a little worried that we might get caught in a downpour as we had seen on the weather channel this morning that this is supposed to be the last day of the thunderstorms, and we could see them building in the distance.
We got back ok and I checked the car over so I knew a little more about her and do you know I found an emergency release panic cord in the boot, how strange, like its common practice to abduct someone in your boot in the USA.
After while we joined Bradley and Caroline who were down by the pool.
The wind got up and it blew an airbed right into Caroline, just as she was taking a drink of wine. Her plastic glass was filliped and she was drenched in wine, into her face and her eyes. It wasn’t a laughing matter, but both Bradley and Caroline laughed in a very silly manner.
I saw it all happen, in real time and it was very funning indeed, but also a bit scary as wine spilled is wine wasted and that’s not a laughing matter!
Then the rain struck and then the massive thunder and lightning storm, which Bradley wrongly predicted would pass over without any problem.
It was carnage at the pool, it was like the sinking of the Titanic. Mums grabbed babies, toddlers were scooped up and people ran for their lives, we just took our wine under a parasol where due to the nastiness of the storm we were asked to leave for our own safety.
Wendy and I sat on our balcony and watched a most stunning lightning display. Even in the daylight the lightning bolts were truly spectacular, they were pure white and very visible.
It was clear that the sun would not return so we settled down for some R &R and then we walked out for an early supper.
We were going to meet Caroline and Bradley when they were ready in about 15 minutes but as we got across the road, about a half mile away, the sky went deathly black, there was a storm coming and a big one at that.
We decided to find takeout food and take it back to Brads and I was just going to let him know when I felt my phone going crazy in my pocket. It was vibrating and sounding an alarm. Somehow I had received a Tornado Warning!
As we were under shelter a man in a business suit stood beside us and called his wife and warned her to be careful coming to meet him as a Tornado had touched down in Disneyworld.
We found a burger bar and ordered some take out and then the storm hit, jeepers it was wild, the worse by far. The rain was relentless and the thunder and lightning storm was something else.
Thankfully I negotiated Wendy back to the hotel where she went and got wine and coleslaw for our supper and we ate it all with Caroline and Bradley while the world went mad around us.
After supper and some future food planning, way down south in Florida, we headed back to our room and relaxed a while before going to bed nice and early.
Today we gave our campervan back after completing 5,063 miles and taking in 14 States. She was a great experience and we have seen some wonderful things and met some really lovely people along the way, maybe even the odd one or two too.
But tomorrow we head for the main event In Miami, Bradley Gills 30th Birthday Bash!
Orlando to Miami Beach
242 Miles
Jeepers it’s been a trying day today, nothing greatly serious, just lots of things not going right.
I was up at 5:15 this morning and first thing was my new iPhone charging cable had not charged my phone, thankfully I had enough charge to go for my run.
Then my laptop charger started to play up and wouldn’t charge my laptop, darn it!
After running we set off to go back to the van rental centre as we had forgotten to take out our most exceptional item, the washing line.
Thankfully they had not moved the van and Wendy got it in no time, and it wasn’t far off our route to Miami.
While Wendy was talking to the nice lady at the van centre I tried to work out some things with the car.
It’s a very complicated affair, it is so advanced some of the things are beyond me. I did get my phone connected so at least we could get Dearne FM on the radio. I even managed to get the on board SatNav to work but I stuck with mine as I can trust her, well mostly!
I tried to fill up with fuel as it appeared the tank was half full. Wendy went to pay but they wouldn’t let her without prepaying. I said get $40, but the card failed, again. We used another card and paid for $40 of fuel but it would only take $10. The tank indicator is rubbish as it’s misleading. I now have to wait for a refund!
We set off and we hit the Highway for about 60 miles and it was empty, the cruise control was working well and it was great.
Florida has such a green countryside, it must be something to do with the constant rain and the sun.
We saw a few cattle farms but it was mainly green scrub.
We joined Interstate 95 and that was just as quiet.
After about 120 miles we got off the Interstate to try to find the costal Highway and we did but there wasn’t any coast.
The traffic was slow and we passed through a few towns and before we headed back to the Interstate we stoped at a Wendy’s Restaurant for a bite to eat.
I ordered a chicken bbq burger and fries to share, I also asked for a medium cola and a bottle of water. What I got was a bbq beef burger and a massive jug of cola, supper sized actually!
It was tasty but the server was such a ditty girl.
After lunch I called the bank and found out that they wrote to me at the end of May saying they were cancelling our cards due to MasterCard informing Tesco Bank of security issues. So we have two cards with we can’t use and two we can use at home, in Inverness!!!
We got back on the Interstate and has we neared Miami the traffic thickened, and Wendy did her meltdown routine. She went into full on flap.
Wendy Gill is the most scaredy-cat person I have ever known. A truck passed us and hit a pothole and I thought she was going to jump out.
I loved it, the roof was off all the way and it was great. The traffic was busy, they are all mad but it was fine!
I think I got flashed by a toll camera and later I found that there is no way to pay, I have to wait for the fine which will go to the hire company.
As we crossed a bridge to Miami Beach we hit traffic and we crawled along doing only a half mile in 40 minutes. A road was closed and no one would move over and merge in turn.
We eventually got to the apartment and Brad came down to take his Mum and the luggage up, I set off for the airport and refused to take Wendy, I’d had enough of her flapping for the day.
I got to the airport in good time without incident and thankfully there was a waiting area to pick passengers up.
I waited about 40 minutes and the two intrepid travellers duly arrived.
Robyn was desperate for the roof off and I raised it at the first set of traffic lights. It wasn’t safe in the airport as the roof was so low.
The drive in was good as I had taken a different route to the one with the road works but I did get another flash from the toll camera. The problem is this, there is one lane for toll traffic and they mingle up a lot, the SatNav can’t help as you are on the right Interstate.
We parked and settled in for a lovely chicken supper cooked by Caroline and Bradley.
It’s now 9:30 pm and there’s talk of a walk along the beach, I’m not sure if Robyn’s upto it, she’s flagging already after her 32 hour day.
Tomorrow is Birthday day for Bradley Gill who will be 30 years old at sunrise on the longest day, UK time!
Miami Beach
No Travelling
I slept well on my nice new bed in this lovely Art Deco Building but I was wide awake at 05:50 with Wendy right behind me.
We both left together to run at 06:50, Wendy set off along the coast, north bound but I had a difficulty with my Nike + App so I was delayed.
Jeepers it was hot, the hottest so far and I caught up with Wendy at 2.4 miles and she gave in and stopped. I stopped too and she took my water bottle and drank a quarter of it without asking, the scallywag.
I tell her, times many, take a drink, take your glasses as you never know when you’ll need them but she doesn’t listen!
Then she set off back!
By the time I got back I was soaking but I gave Bradley, the birthday boy, a kiss and a big hug from his Mums Midwife from 30 years ago.
Brad had been running himself and was just about to jump in the shower but I persuaded him to go for a swim in the Ocean with me.
Alex was up and he was dressed for running and went out just before Brad and I went swimming. We saw Alex pass as we walked to the beach, by now it was 30 degrees and it wasn’t 9:00 am yet.
The Atlantic Ocean was warm and soothing and we had a very nice ten minutes there just lazing about.
We got back and I had my smoothie while Brad showered, he’d somehow got a tick on his back and Caroline had to rescue him from it.
Alex got back and Brad opened his cards. The apartment was looking nice as the girls had jazzed it up, Birthday style for him.
I had a lovely smoothie and by the time I was changed all the kids had gone down to the beach so Wendy and me went shopping for a birthday cake and we found one exactly where Google said we would.
With the cake safely in the fridge we went down to the beach where we joined everyone in their beach tent type structure. Jeepers it was stinking hot.
I listened to the cricket all morning and we lost to Sri Lanka, badly!
We all spent a lot of time in the sea, even Wendy went in.
Robyn and me had an afternoon wine in the surf when something was spotted in the sea and an evacuation ensued. I can only think it was a sea predator.
Thankfully the all clear was given and we went back in. We were in the sea that long my hands were going wrinkly.
After some more time in the sun Brad, Caroline, Alex, Robyn and me played frisbee in the sea which was a laugh as we were all useless!
Apparently a plan had been hatched to get Brad from the camp so Wendy and Robyn could get the cake. Alex took Brad to buy a football and the cake was indeed produced. However, boys being boys, they never came back for an hour as Brad took Alex for a happy hour drink.
The ladies were not impressed by their lateness and trouble flared. I knew they were both idiots, but that’s boys and thankfully they came back in time before boiling point was reached.
They couldn’t light the candles due to the breeze but we did sing happy birthday Bradley rather loudly on rather busy Miami Beach.
Near enough 5:00 pm having had enough sun I went back to our apartment, showered and took a short nap before everyone came back and dressed for supper.
Our building is on the coast, directly across from the Atlantic Ocean and its very Art Deco, I just love the lift, it’s so old fashioned but it works a treat and we are up on the fifth floor before you could say, “Going Up!”
Supper was a rather glamorous affair with everyone dressed to the 9’s.
We took a walk downtown which was rather nice as we are in an area known as Art Décor. Wendy loves it, the streets are buzzing and the temperature is very nice, maybe a bit too warm and far too humid.
The kids fancy buying some beach blow-ups and we found a shop that had everything. A basic airbed cost $5 and they were so buoyed on with the cheapness of that that they are now looking at a blow up rodeo horse with bells and whistles for $25. How does that work, with batteries presumably?
For supper we went to Maxine’s Bistro and Bar which is a favourite of Brads and we had a really lovely time. The food was lovely, the prosecco flowed and Bradley being birthday boy had the biggest Margareta available. They even served our prosecco with a big sparkler for Bradley.
We sat outside for our meal and we were quite close to the road and all of a sudden there was such a loud revving sound which had Wendy in total shock and about 3 foot off her seat. It was two silly lads in a very fancy car, something like the Cartoon Pink Panther had, trying to show off to the girls. Wendy wanted to kill them.
We walked back along the board walk, stuffed and ready for bed. When we got back and we chatted a while and everyone slowly headed to their beds. It’s been a really lovely day but some of us, not me, but some of us, weren’t as careful with the sun toady as they should have been and we have some very red bodies!
Last thing last night I wrote to my school friend Joanne Turner to tell her it was Brads birthday this morning. Jo is a really lovely women and I last saw her in June last year at a school reunion. Jo was the duty midwife when Brad was born.
Here’s her reply:
Morning David
What a lovely surprise and I do remember it well, it was a special day :).
Have a great time with your family in Miami and give Bradley a big hug from me.
Jo x x
Miami Beach
No Travelling
We were late up this morning, not rising until 06:30, which meant we weren’t out running until 07:30, which was a mistake for Robyn who went with her Mum.
I went all around the Peninsular which was really interesting. There’s beach all the way down to the bottom, with a small pier leading out to the Ocean. Then there’s a marina with lots of expensive looking pleasure craft, most likely costing millions upon millions of dollars.
Then I managed to cross over a bridge network to some islands which had expensive looking properties. I returned via the supermarket where I tried not sweat on the floor while I bought some bananas!
Everyone had been out running this morning but it seems both Caroline and Robyn felt the heat the most, jeepers it was warm on the east side as that was where the sun was out in an almost cloudless sky. As I crossed onto the west side though, the sky scrapers kept the sun at bay for a good while.
Everyone was doing different things back at the apartment but they were mainly going out looking for breakfast provisions as we were off for a road trip to the Everglades National Park hunting for Alligators.
Robyn was the least keen on this adventure as she was sure she was going to see a snake, which is the creature which seems to hold the greatest fear for her.
It was a 60 odd mile round trip and we set off with the roof of the car down.
It was like having little Robyn back with us as all I could hear was her giggling and laughing as we drove out of the city. She loved it and is thinking of pawning all her worldly goods to get a convertible car.
It was fine while we were driving along as the breeze was nice and kept the heat at bay, but at some point we hit traffic and traffic lights, lots of traffic lights and we crawled along for a few miles and within no time at all everyone was baking hot. So the roof had to come over in order to save anyone from boiling or burning to death.
We have had a few burnt bodies on show today, despite the best efforts of high factor sunscreen. It’s thought that as the kids spent so long in the sea yesterday they might have had the false idea that the sea would stop them getting burnt.
It took us an hour to get to the Everglades Safari Park where we met with Bradley and Caroline and booked ourselves on an Air Boat for a tour of the Everglades National Park.
The trip was brilliant, through the Everglades, which despite public thinking, it isn’t a large lake but it’s a very slow moving river which moves about one mile every 24 hours. Also, all of Miami’s drinking water comes from there too.
Robyn settled down and we all enjoyed the trip despite the poor sense of humour from the Skipper of the boat. He went a little over the top about how Alligators sometimes jump into the boat.
We didn’t see any Alligators, for one, the heat was too intense. Whenever the boat stopped for the Skipper to give us a chat the heat was immediate and intense, so much so we were all dripping with sweat.
Two, because, as I know, Alligators are cold blooded and cannot regulate their body temperature so they spend a lot of time on sand banks, or along the riverside, in the sun and then only cool off in the water. As we travelled I never saw anywhere the Alligators could sunbath, so I wasn’t unduly worried.
We got back after about 50 minutes and we were taken to the Alligator compound which Robyn declined. The guide was great, he explained a great deal about Alligators and he even introduced us to a few, one big one called Greedy, who insisted on eating the biggest portion of chicken on offer.
After the visited we drove back without any problem and we were planning our afternoon of shopping, eating and beach time. The reality was that our car park was full, no more cars were allowed. I was following Brad and we tried another car park and we went in, but it was very dodgy but we had parted with $20 for two hours because we had a simple misunderstanding.
I resolved that misunderstanding by chatting with Bradley who, being a Yorkshire Man, agreed with me that it was far too expensive. I got our money back and we set off in different directions looking for a car park.
We dropped Alex and Robyn off and Wendy and me drove around for about a half hour and Wendy spied a car park at $25 for the night. We bagged a spot and one for Brad too, so after a hasty phone call and Sat Nav directions we got him in there too, I asked the car park attendant why it was so busy and he said that he didn’t know, but he agreed that today had been extremely busy!
After that escapade we chilled for a while at the apartment, while the sun was still relentless outside.
We went down to the local bar for Happy Hour and then we walked along the beach walk Market, it seemed very nice but we didn’t buy anything.
We all met up on the beach, where we had planned a BBQ, but we were foiled as it wasn’t allowed. Never mind, I took the gear and food back to the apartment and then joined everyone on the beach where we had a cracking time playing American football on the sandbank which as about 100 metres offshore, due to the low tide.
Caroline and Robyn had the best throwing hand out of the lot of us, needless to say Wendy didn’t join us, she sat in her deck chair sipping wine.
This was the best part of the day, the sun was out but it was a little cooler.
As darkness fell we all went back to the apartment and Robyn and Alex cooked the burgers.
The burgers were a delight, along with chili beans and corn on the cob, but has Brad and Caroline had eaten earlier they didn’t have burgers but nipped out for burritos a little later on.
Everyone shattered, exhausted even and it’s going to be an early night tonight as we have one more adventure up our sleeve for tomorrow, oh and I have been told its Father’s Day tomorrow too, how exciting!
Miami Beach
No Travelling
As I missed Father’s Day last week I got it today, which was very nice indeed, but more about that a little later.
I was up at 4:45, mainly due to the loud noise made by Saturday night revellers who were making a right racket, I wouldn’t mind but we are on the fifth floor with all the windows tightly closed.
It wasn’t a problem anyway, as I was getting up early anyway as we had big problems for today.
Wendy and I went running at 06:00 and has the sun wasn’t up yet, in fact it was still only twilight, I ran on the beach so that I could see the sun rise. Jeepers it was still quite hot, it must have been around 30 degrees, and I was roasting hot in no time at all.
The sand was ok for the first 3 miles but after watching the sun come out from the sea, which was a glorious sight, the sand got rather lumpy and it was like running through custard.
By the time I was off the beach I had almost emptied my water bottle but thankfully there was still plenty of ice left and I found a water fountain so I could replenish it, and boy was I glad I did.
I got back and everyone was up and about, both boys were out running and Wendy was dressed and ready for the day.
I got my Father’s Day pressies, a Miami Beach Lifeguards Vest from Brad and England Cricket team world cup shirt, both very much appreciated.
After a very quick turnaround we were out of the apartment and walking towards the cars for a long journey through the Florida Keys to Key West itself, a round trip of 331 miles.
And what a cracker it was!
Alex and Robyn joined us, the cars are so tight, especially in the rear seats that they wanted to come with the shortest legged members of the family.
The journey down was stunning and we did it with both the car roof on and off. On or off was dependent on the traffic conditions, if it was stop start it was on and if we were traveling fairly quickly and the conditions weren’t unbearable, especially for the two in the rear.
The Florida Keys were brilliant. They are a system of roads, bridges and causeways connecting hundreds of islands which streatch out into the Gulf of Mexico.
We saw some really interesting towns and engineering feats as we passed through them. It was brilliant, if not a little tiring.
The bridges were amazing, it was so interesting to see how the engineers and architects had paved a roadway through the ocean.
We stopped twice, once at Key Largo and for an exceptional lunch at Key Fisheries where we all had something different. Wendy and I shared a Conch Sandwich which came with fries and coleslaw, it was bloody lovely.
We had another 40 miles to complete before we got to Key West and again the journey was fantastic.
We landed on Key West and by accident we dropped on the pier which is the further South point of Continental United States. The pier was about 400 metres long and it was absolutely roasting hot, stinking hot, oh and actually stinking too as there is an abundance of sea weed around the Keys which made for rather an unpleasant smell.
The housing and residential accommodation along the Keys is stunning, it’s actually out of this world, they live with some truly amazing views in a fantastic climate, but they do have to live with that awful smell! But I guess if you’re born there you must be used to it!
We then moved onto a beach in a State Park, again it had that stinky smell in the air but then Alex bought me a beer and then after a short swim in the hot sea water I took my towel into a shaded area and took a short but very welcome nap. I used my sandals as a pillow much to the amusement of Robyn Shepherd.
We spent about an hour and a half there and then headed to a local restaurant which was famed for its crab’s meat, however we only wanted a snack but as they only did Cordon Bleu which had to be by way of a reservation we decided to head back north to Miami Beach for supper there.
The journey back was terrific, fantastic even and we gigged all the way home, well apart from the bit where I strayed into the other lane and Wendy almost had kittens.
We got back around 10:00pm and showered and went out. The kids had supper while we had a drink with them and then we left them to it, their food looked lovey and very tasty, it was all Cuban!
It’s late now as I file copy, after midnight actually and I am buggered, (pardon my language), but its been a really lovely, interesting if not tiring day.
Tomorrow we all spilt up, Caroline and Brad go back North to Orlando, Alex and Robyn go east to the Bahamas and Wendy and me take an exceptional long time to come home to Blighty.
Tomorrow’s edition will be late Avid Reader as we are jetting across time zones but I expect it to be across two days, so hold your breath and I’ll be there filling copy as soon as I get back!
Miami to London Heathrow
4425 Miles
I had a mystery women come and give me a very sweet kiss during the night and as the door closed, the good bye that I heard jogged my memory that it was Robyn and that her and Alex were leaving at around 5:00 for their flight to the Bahamas, I must have been fast asleep, and actually I had no bother nodding back off and I didn’t wake properly until around 6:30 am.
I went out running and it was very hot indeed, Wendy didn’t fancy it as it was far too hot for her.
I got back and everyone left was in packing luggage mode. Bradley and Caroline were heading north to finish their holiday in Orlando, going back to the very nice hotel that we had stayed in when we were there with them there.
As it was a very hot and sunny day Bradley and Caroline were heading to the beach in Miami until the temperature had dropped enough for them to make their journey.
I checked in for our flights online and I immediately received an email telling me our flight to London was delayed by two hours and that I had to pay for our baggage at the airport due to a BA mix up, I wasn’t impressed, on both counts…………..GGGGrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
We all left the apartment at 10:30 and we said our goodbyes. Wendy and me went for a shopping expedition, first stopping at H&M for Wendy to look at their cloths.
Jeepers it really was hot, stinking hot actually and I was lathered by the time we got there but thankfully their air conditioning was on full blast and I managed to cool off a little.
Wendy did her browsing and liked the cloths on sale but she could not find anything in her size. So we then set off for a few presents for some small children we know, but alas there wasn’t any which we wanted, they were just too Miami jazzed up, nothing really suitable. So the shopping expedition was a failed mission.
It really was hot, we saw a road sign stating that the temperature at 11:30 was 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
We decided to get the car and take a drive north along Miami Beach which really is an interesting island.
We got to the car park and I had to pay $20, which is the price for 24 hour parking, however we had only been there about 16 hours which seemed a little unfair.
When I got to the car I put the address for the car hire company, which was located at the airport, into the Sat Nav. However when the screen loaded the location didn’t look right, so I did it again with the same result. I then entered the address of the airport proper into the Sat Nav and it was almost in the same location, so I was happy I knew where we needed to go and roughly how long it would take.
I got to the ticket barrier and inputted the ticket, but the barrier did not lift. I saw on the ticket machine that I had to pay an additional $2. What!!! I called the attended who duly came, a queue was forming behind me.
She said I was allowed only 10 minutes from paying for my ticket to leaving the car park and that I had been there 16 minutes. I explained that I had been charged for 24 hours despite only staying 16 hours, so I had 8 hours owning.
That’s the policy she said, I said I’m not paying it, and I didn’t. It was unfair, I hadn’t been upto any mischief, I was just sorting my Sat Nav out.
In the end, after about 5 minutes, she relented and lifted the barrier and we were on our way.
We drove along Collins Avenue, northbound running along the coast.
We followed the left hand coastline which forms a canal like river where there were huge dirty big and very expensive private cruise boats, and the housing along the banks was unbelievable, someone is making lots of money in the United States to fund housing like that.
We across the bay inlet over a large bridge and parked in a car park where we took a short walk to the Atlantic Beaches.
Wendy stood hiding in the shade and I walked the last leg to the beach and I found them to be absolutely stunning, and not very busy, and not at all commercialised. I would love to have had my sun lounger and parasol there, along with a nice cool box of drinks and snacks.
But we were on our way home and just passing time.
We settled on a BBQ area along the inlet that forms the bay that leads to the canal, as there was some nice shade to get Wendy out of the sun.
We sat there and watched the pleasure craft come and go and it was very relaxing, if not really comfortable as we were sat at a picnic bench. People were cooking food around us and it made us feel peckish.
After an hour we set off for the airport, and just before we got there I filled the car with fuel for one last go of messing about with how much do you want to prepay sir. I explained that I wanted to fill my car and ended up paying too much which I am assured will be paid back into my account. I won’t hold my breath.
We left the car without hassle and joined the BA bag drop queue.
The queue took at least 50 minutes and Wendy was by now a wee bit grumpy, but I had an idea in mind.
When it was our turn and we were being sorted out I asked the lady dealing with us if she worked for BA and she said that she did.
I told her I wouldn’t fly with them ever again after the hassle they have given us. She asked me about it, so I told her:
The lovely lady didn’t charge for our bags and gave us a $19 meal ticket each which we were very grateful for.
We had a very pleasant meal and a very nice bottle of wine before security, which just soaked up the extra waiting time and it was all very relaxing.
Our flight duly took off and to be fair it was a very nice flight and we both had a good nap.
We are now in Heathrow, its 12:30 pm and Wendy as gone in search of a Weatherspoon’s bar for a drink a little later on, to help her in her preparation for the Inverness flight.
I’ll be back tomorrow Avid Reader to detail our last leg and to summarise the fantastic trip we have had in the Southern States.
Heathrow Airport - Home
459 Miles
While waiting for our flight I was amazed at how they now move planes around on the ground. They have a large flat base unit which grabs the front wheel somehow and then a person walks alongside it and moves it using a portable transmitter, something like my caravan mover. It’s brilliant and doesn’t require the engines running. I know they used to use a small tractor with a long bar to push them off the stand but this person was moving planes around like a shunter does to truck trailers in a goods yard, it was fascinating.
We had a late lunch in the very nice Weatherspoon’s bar so we even got to a bag a bar while waiting. We shared a chicken club sandwich which was really tasty and filling. I could not have managed a full portion myself. We downed it with a nice bottle of wine and we were feeling unbelievably wide awake despite not having a night’s sleep apart from a short nap.
Our flight boarded on time and we were all ready to go but we didn’t, and then at exactly 4:30pm when the flight should have left and man and a small girl boarded the plane.
For whatever the reason they were late, and we missed our flight slot, which is something you should not do at a busy international airport.
Sure enough we were pushed to the back of the queue and we had to wait until about 7 or 8 take off and landings before we got our turn. In the end we were 45 minutes late.
That did it for both of us and we ended up napping on the flight home which was what we both wanted to avoid as it would prolong our evening as we try to avoid jet lag.
We landed and after collecting our bags we found that the queue at the taxi rank was extremely long and there wasn’t a taxi to be seen. We knew it would be a long wait so we waited for the bus which came just as the last couple got into a taxi.
The bus actually was a good option as it allowed me a chance to get some groceries for supper and breakfast while Wendy waited at the town taxi rank in Inverness.
We got a taxi with ease and the lady driver was lovely and happily chatted away. Her brother lives in California and she hates the heat there as Wendy was telling her about the heat of Miami.
Would you believe the dam taxi overheated at Bunchrew and we had to call for assistance? Thankfully someone came and took us home in about 10 minutes. The lady felt awful, she was mortified, she apologised about 25 times and I told her, it wasn’t her fault and one apology was more than enough.
The lad who collected us to finish the leg home didn’t want to take any money due to the inconvenience, but I gave him twenty quid to give to the lady as I’m’ sure she needs it now and it was about the right amount we would have paid anyway.
Wendy was thrilled to be home, so was I but it was much later than intended and I had a run to do. I am doing a Race Your Pace Challenge this year and I have to run 250 miles per month, so I have to average about 8.4 miles per day. As it’s late in the month I would have had to do a couple of longer runs to make the deadline so I pulled on my gear and went out.
I didn’t get back until 10:30 pm and I found Wendy all washed and in her jimjams but like me she was now fully wide awake.
We caught up with the news and chitter-chatted until 12:30 am and then went to bed, but I was still awake and so I watched some Netflix on my phone before turning in at about 2:00 am.
I slept solidly and woke at 9:30 for a toilet break and then got back into bed and never moved until 11:00 am and even then I had to force myself out of bed as I felt dreadful. Wendy slept on and woke about 45 minutes later, feeling exactly like me.
I guess it will have to be a late night again before we get it out of our system.
But it was well worth it, we have had a fantastic time traveling the South United States meeting some lovely people and seeing the amazing countryside.
Here’s our travel stats:
We covered 14 States
We covered 5,778 miles
We used 550 gallons of fuel
The United States of America are stunning, the people are mostly polite and if it wasn’t for the awful events of gun violence we see on our news, and the odd gun shop you would never know they have a real problem with gun violence.
I would say they aren’t the greatest country in the world despite what Donald says, they are very patriotic which is great but I qualify my statement by these simple facts, which are:
That’s it folks, this trip is over and I’m already planning our next adventure. Thanks for reading, I do enjoy getting comments from my most faithful Avid Readers, see you next time!
Home to Fraserburgh
143 Miles
Here we go again with another impromptu blog update.
The weather was that poor at home yesterday I asked Wendy to book us into the Wetherspoons Hotel in Fraserburgh for tonight.
My reasoning is that I have completed all of the Highlands, Aberdeenshire, the major cities, Galloway and the Borders.
Peterhead and Fraserburgh are the only two towns in our local area that needed visiting and would you believe both towns have a Wetherspoons bar for me to bag!
So after exercise, a shave and a shower this morning we set off east bound along the A96.
We have travelled the A96 to Aberdeen when Robyn was in University there many times but this time we deviated by turning left just after Fochabers and went along a road we haven’t been on for many years, since Brad was 15 and we had our last family day out together, it was a milestone and one we all enjoyed.
We passed the small towns of Cullen and Banff and loved trundling along the coast.
I missed a turnoff but it didn’t matter as all roads headed east.
We got to Peterhead at 3pm and it was bloody freezing cold, 12.5 degrees and a force 10 gale! Thankfully I had taken my big parka and so had Wendy.
We have been to Peterhead before, with Robyn in winter and it was very bleak so we didn’t hang around and left soon after arriving.
This time we had a good walk around but our first impressions of it being bleak were confirmed.
As I come from Barnsley and Wendy comes from Sheerness, both areas of dubious character we both feel qualified to say that Peterhead is grim, it really is.
We walked down to the harbour after a beer in the very nice Wetherspoons Bar and we could see the infamous Peterhead Prison across the Bay.
It was still cold so we got back to the car and 18 miles later we were in Fraserburgh pulling up outside our hotel for the night.
Fraserburgh is by far a much nicer town than Peterhead, not only the architecture, but the climate was warmer too.
We checked into our room which is very nice and we went for a walk around town and we saw what both Peterhead and Fraserburgh have in common, bloody seagulls, they are everywhere!
The amount of bird droppings on cars is unbelievable, shop windows and of course the pavements too. What a racket they make as well!
Seagulls are protected in the UK and can only be culled under very stringent circumstances, and they bread like rabbits.
We saw a much larger fishing fleet here, there were hundreds of boats, large and small in the harbour.
At the Lifeboat Station we found a memorial to three lifeboat crews who over the years had lost crew members, too many crew members on three separate occasions, years apart! How sad.
Wendy went back to the hotel while I drove to Lidl, a mile away, to get some white wine.
Once there I bought the wine of the week, two bottles of Pinot Noir.
Wendy wasn’t impressed as I had bought red wine, not Pinot Grigio which is what she likes, how was I to know?
After supper, which was very nice, we walked back to Lidl to correct my silly mistake.
As we walked we came across a lovely coastal caravan perk which overlooks a fantastic beach. It was a little windy and the surf was up with some kids out on their surf boards.
We got back to our room sometime later and chilled out nicely.
Tomorrow we intend to visit Spey Bay and find somewhere to stay for Mary’s, (Carolines mum), birthday party on Saturday afternoon as she lives in Forres.
Night, Night Avid Reader it’s been a lovely if a little tiring day!
Fraserburg to Home
129 Miles
I woke at 07:00 this morning to a very bright sky with the sun blazing, but my weather app said it was only 8 degrees outside so after a cup of tea I dressed warmly for my run.
Wendy dressed for her run too, but she could only find one running shoe in the bag that I had packed. I immediately fell under suspicion and I was hung, drawn and quartered on the spot, it was all my doing. Wendy had concluded this after searching the hotel room for her missing shoe.
She jumped back into her jimjams and went straight back to bed.
As soon as I was outside I could hear those bloody seagulls squawking loudly and swooping all over the place!
Soon I was running along the stunning beach at Fraserburgh at low tide and it was fantastic, what a beach, and who would have guessed.
The sun was out and I was roasting hot, but it was well worth it.
I stopped for a drink of water and I looked at the map and saw that I could do a circular run through an old fishing village which I did.
I had drunk my water bottle far too soon. But being a resourceful fella I nipped into a small Cemetery 3 miles east of Fraserburgh and filled my bottle at the tap there.
I noticed a war grave as I came out and stopped to look at the headstone. The poor lad was only 23 years old and was killed 9 days after the war in Europe had ended.
He is buried as far away from his home country, Australia, as I think anyone can be on this world and I wonder if his family ever knew what become of him, his poor mother…..
I’ve tried to find out what happened to him but all I can find is that he was called Curtis Warren Wheelock and that his resting place is Grave 96, Cairnbulg and Inverallochy Burial Ground, Rathen.
His grave is very well tended to!
I got back to the hotel and Wendy had showered and dressed so after I had had a quick shower we went down to the bar for a very yummy Weatherspoon’s Breakfast.
We got back to the room and had a cup of tea and packed our bags and got all of our stuff together and that’s when Wendy found her missing trainer, under our coats which were at the bottom of an open wardrobe, it had been knocked slightly under the bottom which was raised about 10 inches from the floor. Obviously it was still my fault, but I did point out to Wendy that she was the one who had conducted the thorough search.
We loaded the car which had been covered in seagull droppings, would you believe?
We followed the Coastal Road which was a real delight!
We stopped at Sandhaven, a small fishing village and then the crem-de-la-crem of all villages, Gardenstown.
What a beauty it was, it was very similar to Cornish Coastal villages and hidden down along a ruggedly steep hill. In fact it was almost like Polperro but without the hundreds of visitors or the tacky shops. It was stunning in the morning sunshine.
We had to drive along a very narrow road which had a big drop along one side, Wendy did her having kittens routine but we were fine. We found a very nice looking pub there too, I think I might have to make a note for a future trip there!!!
From there we carried along the coast and called into Spay Bay where the famous River Spey enters the Moray Firth. This was another stunning location, it wasn’t very densely populated with housing but it did have a small caravan park, again its been noted for a future visit as it looks like there are some very interesting costal walks to be done there.
Our last visit was to check out a camp site in Findhorn where we are going to stay on Saturday and Sunday as we have been invited to Marys birthday party BBQ at her home in Forres, which is about 5 miles away.
That done we headed home via Lidl in Inverness for some shopping before getting home at around 5pm.
And that’s that, what a cracking little interlude we have just had, outstanding!!!
The north Aberdeenshire and Moray Coast is as stunning as any other in the United Kingdom and even more so in bright sunshine!!!
Edinburgh to Alicante
1238 Miles (Doesn’t Seem Far)
We had a delightful meal with Alex and Robyn last night, Seafood Paella, it was very tasty and I seemed to have had a disproportion of jumbo prawns, which I honestly didn’t know I had until I had finished and someone made comment on my pile of prawn cast-offs.
I went to bed not long after Alex and left Wendy and Robyn chatting.
I was fast asleep when they both came into the bedroom, Robyn to say good night and Wendy to go to bed, it went downhill from there.
Wendy thrashed around like a fish out of water all night, the duvet was on, then off then off again, it seemed like it a thousand times and then at 3am she started faffing with the blinds and opened the window, both of them actually, fully open.
I tried to tuck myself up nice and snug but oh no, the wriggling continued for another hour.
The thing is that Alex and Rob’s new house is so well insulated that any heat developed in the house stays there, so the cooking heat just built up and stayed indoors.
It’s great for the winter time, with low cost heating bills and their tiny carbon footprint, not so good for me after a reasonably good days sunshine.
I was up at 7am and Alex was just dressed and almost ready for work, not long after Robyn turned up along with Wendy in tow and not long after Alex and Robyn set off to work.
I had my breakfast and left the house with Wendy for the morning run.
It was nicely sunny outside and I ran down into Musselburgh which was rather nice in the sunshine. While running the last mile to the small harbour I hit a very strong headwind that seemed to follow me all the way back home.
I was roasting by the time I got back and jumped into the shower as soon as I had my sweaty gear off.
I had my traditional smoothie then we both drove to Dalkeith to collect a special delivery letter containing this coming weekend’s tickets for the Proclaimers at Edinburgh Castle which could not be delivered as no one was home when the post came the day or so before.
Tickets in hand we got back to the house with time to spare where I did a little home accounting and waited until it was time to get a taxi.
We were going to take the train into Edinburgh and then get the tram to the airport, but we would have had to lug our cases to the train station which is best accessed through a rough path and then the cost would have been very close to the price of a taxi so I did something that I haven’t done before and I will most likely not do again, I ordered an Uber Car via the Uber App.
As Robs new street doesn’t seem to have been registered on any mapping service I put the address down as 4 Old Craighall Road which is the house directly outside Robs new street and well within view from the house.
In fact whilst booking I gave the driver, who I had been automatically told was called George, instructions to look at the first house on the new development, directly outside of number 4 and he would see a red car on the drive and the suitcases ready to go.
All was good, the app counted down George’s progress in minute segments and then I got a message saying George had cancelled and that a new driver would be assigned. I wasn’t happy, what had happened to George? Thankfully I had left plenty of time for such an issue.
Tarik, was our new assigned driver I was told about 5 minutes later and we went down the countdown palaver all over again but this time we reached zero and then a map of the car came up on my screen and a message, “I am here” flashed up.
But he wasn’t outside number 4.
I sent message after message, he assured me he was outside number 4, but I held out and after a few minutes I went looking for him. He was parked in a cul-da-sac about 400 metres away and off the main road, not even on Old Craighall Road.
Tarik was an old Asian fella and he said there must be another number 4 has he was outside it.
He was using his phone as a Sat Nav!!!
Thankfully we got to the house and loaded up and got to the airport without incident. Well apart from him not being a registered taxi so we had to go into the general public drop off and therefore I had the £2 charge added to my bill.
The 14 mile drive cost £28, which wasn’t bad if it hadn’t been for all the messing around, sorting the car out myself.
I’m pretty sure I’ll have to be desperate to take Uber again!
We had already checked in online so all we had to do was drop off our bags, which has now turned into a self-service function with us having to scan in our boarding cards, print a baggage tag and then trundle down to a bag drop point. I began to wonder should I reach a much older age I might not be able to handle how quickly the modern world evolves around us.
We bagged a Weatherspoon bar before going through customs where the girl with very little English serving me gave me a pint of beer, instead of the half I had asked for and two glasses of wine.
Having plenty of time it was nice to relax before heading through security which thankfully wasn’t too difficult and we headed for an early supper in the departure side at another Weatherspoon’s bar.
I had a very tasty lasagne and Wendy had a very bland burger. The trouble is Wendy doesn’t like any condiments and as the burger bun doesn’t have butter on it, it makes it a very dry experience for her, she should have had the lasagne like me!
Our flight was well over an hour late on take-off and we sat on the hot and sweaty plane for what seemed like an age, but eventually, and slowly, take off we did and we settled down while the two little girls in front of us went into meltdown for some unknown reason.
This was the nosiest flight I have ever been on so I lost myself in my earphones and watched a film on Netflix. I nodded a while and then went back to my film. A little later we had the bumpiest landing ever with Wendy almost hitting the ceiling. As I was in the midst of a car chase on my film I wasn’t really fazed by it.
We disembarked and would you believe our bags were first off the plane, now that is a first.
We got a cab and the very nice driver gave us some tips on the layout of the town on our way in and he said we were staying in a very nice hotel which is next to the best beach in town.
And our good luck didn’t stop there, we got a room upgrade on check in, we have a suite with two bathrooms, a hallway and a sitting room. We have luxuries beyond our wildest dreams and a very long corner balcony to boot. I might enjoy my time here.
We headed out for a walk and a beer in a nice square but went back after one drink taking a nice bottle of wine from a supermarket to drink on the balcony as we went.
Alicante
No Travelling
I slept like a tot last night, I woke at 6:30am but as it was pitch black outside I thought I’d have another hour. I next woke at 8:30, and it was still dark outside, and then it dawned on me that we have very efficient black out curtains.
I got up and closed the bedroom door behind me and opened the lounge curtains to a day that had started about 3 hours before.
After a quick cup of tea and a breakfast bar, I was ready to go running, Wendy had stirred and had counted herself out of any exercise at all today.
I set off just after 9am and within 3 miles I was in a heat storm, it was absolutely stinking hot. I had only my vest and shorts on and I could not find any shade as I ran north towards Benidorm.
It was brutal, the worst was between miles 4 and 6, at 7 I knew I could make it back, but only just. I was baked through!!! Darwin, Australia was the worst, ever, Miami Beach was pretty bad, but this was a very close third because the heat was dry and the sun was hot, so hot that the first sign I saw just after setting off said 31 degrees.
I got back and dropped into the shower, which was set on very, very cold.
I towelled off and Wendy and I went for a most delightful breakfast downstairs in the restaurant.
There was everything anyone could ever want for a breakfast treat, even the orange juice was freshly squeezed.
After my quick shower I was sweating in no time at all so I cooled myself down by sampling every fruit juice on offer, Orange, Pineapple, Apple, Grapefruit, Tropical and they were just the ticket. For my main meal I had a very nice selection of cured meats and bread, oh and two glasses of white wine, which I think I very much deserved.
As we were late down the pastries had been cleared away before Wendy could snaffle one for her morning cuppa, but she’ll be ready tomorrow, I’m sure.
After a cup of tea in our room we set off for a laze on the beach which is directly next to our hotel, Postiguet Beach.
This is a stunning beach, but by the time we got there, say 12:00, it was heaving, crammed to the rafters. But being resourceful, we had our towels and sun brolly with us so we staked out some territory away from the madding crown, for a while anyway.
I went for a walk, I bought two very nice deck chairs, some beers and wine and took them back to our spot. Wendy approved my purchases and settled down in her new chair, under the brolly.
The beach was very full, but it was all very good natured and enjoyable. I listened to ITunes while Wendy read her book. I sat in the sun with factor 30 very well applied and Wendy occasionally came out into the sun.
It was lovely, the sun bed area was absolutely mobbed with the beds being about 3 inches apart, but we were fine in our own little world.
And that’s where we spent most of the day, apart from walking along the beach in the surf, I never moved a muscle all day.
At 5:30pm we left and dropped our stuff off at the hotel and took a walk around the marina, which is massive by the way. We saw a square rigger, tall ship and Wendy said, “That looks untidy at the rear”, “Yes”, I replied, “That’s because its rear mast looks to have been smashed in a storm”. Untidy indeed.
The sun was still hot so we took refuge in a downtown outside bar before meandering back through the market.
Supper was taken at sunset on the voluminous balcony and our evening tucker was very nice ham, bread and a tin of mussels, all washed down with white wine.
As it gets dark I’ve mooted the idea of a short walk around the pier but Wendy’s not so keen, I’m thinking she would like an early night so she can get up early to run before the heat for the day starts.
I think I’ll win out and a short walk will occur, but my alarm will be set for reveille at 06:00 sharp as I’m not going out into a furnace again.
Night, Night Avid Reader!
Late Night Supplemental – We did indeed go for a late walk around the marina and we saw a wonderful boat tied alongside, I fancy trying my luck tomorrow and knocking on the door and asking for a look around, you never know!
Alicante
No Travelling
I was sat on the balcony late last night and what can only be described as a herd of cars came rolling past the hotel with their horns blaring and with the occupants waving some kind of flag. It was deafening and woke Wendy Gill from her deep sleep. I later found out it was the Algerian fans celebrating their teams win against Senegal in the African League of Nations cup final, there was even fireworks set off too, all very over the top if you ask me.
I had a very nice sleep and my alarm woke me at 6:00 and I was up, but not really wanting to but I did and it was dark outside. I opened the balcony door and I was amazed at the noise I was confronted with, there is a disco directly across from us and it was just tipping out, yes at 6am!
But the thing is, no one was drunk, there was no staggering around, no one wanted to fight and the young men and women all seemed to be relaxed in each other’s company, no nasty atmosphere at all.
By the time I had had my cuppa and washed my face it was day light and the sun was just coming up, over out hotel as I went running.
Wendy went out too, but she went North, I went South.
I came across loads of nightclub kids, all behaving and having a nice time, and I didn’t see any of the stuff you see at home, like puddles of vomit. The Spanish kids seem to know how to have a good time without hassle, good for them.
On my run I went to the main port then I came back over some hills into town, I saw the big bull ring and the market, funny how they were so close together.
I got back to the hotel starving and after a shower we went for breakfast in the most stunning breakfast room I have ever visited. We are eating our bacon and eggs overlooking the med, and it’s very nice indeed.
After a cup of tea in our room we headed to a small secluded beach that I saw yesterday, which was exactly a mile north of our hotel. The beach behind our hotel was closed as the police had some kind of incident going on, the helicopter was up, and divers were out as were three rescue boats. I later found out that it was something to do with drugs, drug running or drug induced death, I don’t know, but the police presence was pretty hard on.
We walked along carrying our deck chairs, cool bag with beer and wine and our brolly and we set up in a nice quite location. But what we didn’t figure was that it was a Saturday and every local person had had the same idea, beach day!!!
We were mobbed, it was total space invasion, in fact at one point Wendy had to move as she had some young man’s toes near her feet.
Jeepers don’t you see some sites!!! I’ll leave it at that, well apart from the fact young women seem to be hell bent on crazy unintelligible tattoos on their bodies these days, not that I was looking, but it’s so in your face, you can’t avoid it!
After a good sunbath we headed back via a very local bar where I used my fluent Spanish to obtain two beers and then two glasses of white wine, the bar man said my Spanish was excellent!
After a shower we hit the old town and we had a delightful seafood tapas, although I had the lions share as Wendy was scared of the fish bones.
From there we walked up the hill, the only one hill in Alicante and had another glass of wine. That’s where we came across a Pride March, and I loved it. They had a drum band and they were brilliant, they were fantastic even and the atmosphere was very friendly.
Back at the hotel we sat on the balcony and drank more wine while we watched cars queuing all the way down the main street to get into the casino. Blinking Eck they were queuing so long their luck must surely have run out!
Early to bed tonight as Wendy has a mission for us tomorrow, I do hope I am up to it, I do believe it’s a belter!
Alicante
No Travelling
I woke this morning with my alarm at 6:45 and I went out onto the lounge balcony and as soon as I opened the door the noise hit me, it was disco night again.
We must have some seriously air tight doors as you cannot hear anything inside.
There were many more young people this morning, I guess some had to work on Saturday so Saturday night was hair down time. And this time there was some evidence of over intoxication with the odd gang of lads holding onto each other as they staggered home. But again, there wasn’t a whiff of trouble
I was out running just after 7:45 and the town was buzzing, I don’t know if it was the kids letting off steam or the remnants of the Pride gang who had partied all night, either way it was more like Saturday afternoon than early Sunday morning.
I ran right up the main street. Alicante isn’t particularly hilly, but it has an incline running up from the coast and into the hills. It’s a gradual climb and it took me three miles to get it behind me. I passed the Bull Ring and the crowds had thinned out now, I had left them behind.
It was hot and it was also quite windy too.
I got back and Wendy was back from her run and all showered and ready for breakfast.
Breakfast was a treat, I had ham and cheese on toast which was very nicely swilled down with a rather nice glass of champagne, yes, it is that kind of hotel!
After breakfast we headed out for Wendy’s choice for today, to visit Castle Santa Bárbara.
Castle Santa Bárbara, which stands on Mount Benacantil overlooking the city is perched 166 metres above the city, and it affords some of the greatest views of Alicante, its bay and the vast Mediterranean stretched out at its feet.
To gain access you can walk up the steep road to the rear of the hill or you can pay 2.7 euros and take a lift right into the heart of the Castle grounds, guess what we did?
We took the lift.
The lift itself is amazing as you have to walk about 300 metres along a tunnel before you come to the lift entrance. As luck would have it we rode up in a lift car crammed packed with excited oriental people, and you do not get anyone anymore excited than oriental people looking at ancient European stuff, they were rather giddy to say the least.
The views from the top were stunning, it truly is a wonder of the world, how on earth did they build this there on top of this huge hill in the 9th Century? You can see the small crescent shaped beach we were at yesterday, it looks tiny!
We meandered around for a good while, taking in the views and then we slowly walked down the hill. We could see the top of the Bull Ring? Is bull fighting really real, I mean do they really do that? I’m sorry but that is something quite barbaric for a national sport. I know we have idiots at home who fight chickens and dogs but that’s illegal and not a national sport. The Spanish need a little more culture, they should perhaps try their hand at cricket as we know they can play football.
By the time we got to the bottom we were ready for a beer which we took in a very nice bar. The beer was cold and tasty and very much what we needed at that time.
We walked in the direction of our hotel and stopped for a glass of wine at the bar we tried yesterday, and again it was just the ticket. In fact we had two glasses each and a portion, to share, of the most delightful tortilla I have ever eaten. It was really nice and the total bill for it all was less than 8 euros, what a great find this place is.
The owner likes me, he goes out of his way to make me feel welcome, and that’s a great way to get visitors in. The bar is very much a local bar, it was heaving today with families taking tapas, but he still went out of his way to serve me and chat, albeit mostly in sign language.
We dropped Wendy’s bag off at the hotel and we got half way around the harbour where the bar that juts out into the harbour was just calling out to us. So we stopped and spent over an hour with a bottle of wine and a very simple but very tasty meat and bread selection.
It was just lovely sat there whiling away the time on a nice sunny Sunday afternoon.
We headed into town and it was nice and quiet, we did stop for another drink but only because now we were getting a little tired.
Back at the hotel we changed into beach ware and walked along the surf all the way along the beach, it was heaving and all Wendy could talk about was what all of those bodies were doing in the sea, she hardly set foot in the water and when she did she had a big grimace on her face.
At the far end of the beach there is a kind of rock breakwater and there was a women, I don’t think I can say lady, who was topless bathing and having a fag at the same time. She looked like something from a Les Dawson sketch, she’s the beauty I just happened to catch while taking Wendy’s photo!
As we walked back a police beach patrol man, (yes the police do patrol the beach, regularly) whistled and a man in the depths of the water said, who me, in a kind of pointing fashion and the Police officer nodded. I don’t know what it was all about but three young girls, about 12 were also told to get out and the man was given a right roasting by the Bobby and marched off the beach to an uncertain fate. Now I am guessing here but this had all the appearance of someone who should not be alone with young girls as they might me on some kind of register, its good the Police were on the lookout mind, or they knew where to find him.
It could of course be something completely different, but I don’t think so.
Supper was an early affair, a ham sarnie on the balcony as the last of the sun flooded the town.
I’m tipping an early night tonight as we have walked well over ten miles!
Alicante
No Travelling
We did go for a walk out last night as it was far too early to settle down. We went out of the hotel and walked along the elevated walkway down towards the main entrance to the port. However we found yet another disco, a waterfront one which was outside and blaring unintelligible music at an alarming sound level. It was ear busting and just not what you need for a good night out.
We left it behind us and slowly walked back.
Wendy was in bed by 10:00pm and fast asleep before you could say, “I fancy a nightcap”.
I wasn’t far behind.
I was up though before my alarm clock went off, at 06:45, and even though I sneaked out of the bedroom quietly, Wendy Gill was up and dressed for running before I had finished my cup of tea.
But in her haste to get going she performed a school boy error. She went out and forgot to take her key. I got a text message from her five minutes later asking to be let in. The problem is I can’t hear the door when the lounge and the front door is closed and she didn’t want to wake the hotel up by knocking loudly on the door, the silly moo!
I went out and I went north along the beach and did a 9 mile run to keep my average up, as I need to if I am going to make my Race Your Pace Challenge of doing 3,000 miles in 2019.
On mile three I found out that I was todays selection for the new feature on Matt’s, the new early morning presenter on Dearne FM’s Morning shows Retro Heaven at Just Gone Seven slot with my Aretha Franklin choice of I Say Little Prayer.
I got back at around 9:20 and we shot off down for a hearty breakfast for me, a sausage and mushroom sandwich, Wendy a sausage and boiled egg combination which was finished off with a nice little pastry.
We didn’t opt for the Champaign toast this morning as I could get used to it and that’s an expensive habit to form!
After breakfast we set off to find a quiet spot on the main beach, thinking that it might not be as busy as it was during the weekend, wrong again, it was!
But we did find a nice spot at the back of the beach where there aren’t any beds for hire.
We set up camp and I made sure the umbrella was properly screwed down as it was a tadge windy and I had seen two or three take off as we walked along.
The sun was hot and Wendy did her old lady routine of sitting under the brolly and then having five minutes sun, this went on and off all day.
At some point in the morning we had a visit from the local bobby, but as usual he was too late to attend to the lost child, this had been taken care of admirably by the sun bed attendant, it seems the poor boys parent didn’t know he was missing.
It was a very hot day and I sat in my deck chair listening to Dearne FM while Wendy read her book. At one point we had a few clouds come over and we even had the odd spot of rain. It was during a point when Wendy was in the sun, but she was back under that brolly in double time, you would think we were going to be subjected to downpour of Noah proportions, it actually lasted about 45 seconds and put down just enough rain to spot the sand. From that point on it was wall to wall hot sunshine.
I went for my mid-afternoon walk and I saw some very inappropriate sights, mainly from women in their latter years who should have known better.
I got back and by now Wendy had been surrounded by sunbathers who don’t seem to understand there might be personal space etiquette even on a crowded Spanish beach. They were that close they were almost touching her. In fact three girls came and made so much girly noise I had to kind of remind them that they had invaded my space and maybe they ought to be a little more respectful, thankfully that worked and they all nodded off!
We left the beach just after five and we had a very nice cold beer in a beach side bar and then we went back to the hotel and washed the sand away and did a bit of relaxing as it was still quite hot outside.
As we left the beach we were disgusted by the filth that some kids who had been near us had left, plastic bottles and waste paper. I cleared it up and put it in the bin that was a mere 10 metres away.
You know it makes me cross, the next generation blame all of the worlds woes on us and preceding generations but they have the same responsibilities as us to make sure the planet is litter free, they should also stand up to the plate and talk the talk, I know it’s not all of them, but It’s good sizable proportion of them.
We went out for a walk around the marina and that nice boat I like is still docked. We talked with an English Couple about it, they were jaw dropped amazed at it too and we concluded that we’d need a lottery win of gigantic proportions to be able to afford it.
Here's the link to the companies website for a nose around if anyone is interested:
https://www.boatinternational.com/yachts/the-superyacht-directory/kamino--86235
It was still hot at well gone eight so we sat in a beach side restaurant about 200 metres from our hotel. I had the sword fish and Wendy had a burger, and with a bottle of wine it all came to 29 euros which is fantastic for such a prime location. There was one drawback, people were strolling along as we were sat at our table, now I don’t like to be snobby but they were a little too close to my main meal!
We sat there for a good long time and we watched some kids on the beach enjoying themselves doing urban street type things, it was brilliant, what a show, I wish I was 19 again. They were walking a tight rope and bouncing off a rubber buoy which they had sunk in the sand. It was really good to see, we loved it, but the general public got in the way a few times, the scoundrels!!!
It’s been a lovely day, hot, sunny and relaxed, bed time soon though as I’m just about getting used to the Mediterranean time zone!
Alicante
No Travelling
I went running as normal this morning and by mile 1.5 I was shaky hungry. I had had only a very light meal last night which I thought was OK as it was late. I had a breakfast bar with my tea before going out but I was buggerd almost as soon as I started. I had drunk all of y bottle by mile 3 and had to stop to recover every two miles after that, jeepers I was starving by the time I got back.
And I ate the table top!!!
I had a bowl of muesli with extra nuts, walnuts and raisins. Then I had a two smoothies, two glasses of orange juice, two slices of bread, ham and scrambled eggs and a boiled egg. I was fit to bust but I felt an awful lot better.
After a cuppa in the room as per tradition we walked down to the crescent beach, but not before stopping at the Spar to get two 1ltr bottles of water as it was going to be stinking hot today.
All along the outside wall of the Spar was a large group of what I would call Beavers, all in uniform and lined up and out of the sun, all being very well behaved and a little excited. I was excited for them, I wonder what they were going to do.
We got to the beach and it was much quieter with less bodies on than the main beach. The water sports team were doing a great job of entertaining some little kids first taking them out on paddle boards, one with about 8 of the rascals hanging on for dear life. Then they went out sailing and lastly before they were let loose to run around in the compound, they went, or rather tried to wind surf. Blimey they were off their boards and off track more times than I had breaths. They were all in good form and loved their day out.
Next up, to steal the show was the most adorable Golden Labrador. He came with a young couple and he had a small England football firmly gripped in his mouth and he would not let anyone take it off him except his human lady friend.
He would run along the shore and then leap into the surf, he did this all morning and then well into the afternoon. He loved it!!!
At one point his human male friend threw the ball so far I thought he would never get it, but he did the rascal, he even found the closest place to come ashore and then he ran around the shore line to find his friends.
Lots of people, including me tried to get his ball but he would come upto to and just not give it up.
Jeepers it was hot on the beach and without any breeze at all. Wendy never once came out from under the brolly. I sat in my deck chair and drink nearly all the water as my mouth kept drying out.
I watched the news of our new to be Prime Minister and I saw his speech. As I see it there’s 3 possibilities, 1, He’ll mature with the responsibilities of the job and sort out the current situation with the country and its differences. 2, He’ll make us a right world laughing stock and end up insulting some important trading nation we end up grovelling to. 3, He’ll do what almost everyone before him as, say lots and do next to nothing.
I’m betting on number 3!
It was that hot on the beach we could only manage four hours and then we walked back slowly.
We called into our local bar, well it’s not really local, but all they have is local trade and DG as customers. Today we had a very welcoming cold beer to start with and then I ordered some Pork in a very nice sauce, some Russian Salad and some Tortilla and bread and it was all very tasty.
The bar is called the S.C.D. Marina but unfortunately it’s not on TripAdvisor so I can’t leave them a glowing review.
The food was that tasty that I wrote a message for the cook in Spanish on Google Translate and then I played it back to her, she was dead chuffed and as I had ordered two glasses of wine I got what was left of the bottle and it nearly filled both our glasses, all for 20 euros!
We got back to the hotel and showered the sand off and then we walked a couple of miles to a large shopping centre that I had seen when we were at the Castle at the weekend. It was roasting hot still and Wendy was flagging as we got there.
It was a failed mission as I was looking for spirits in plastic bottles for me to bring home, they didn’t have any. But we did call into another local bar and got great service form a young lad behind the bar. He spoke not one word of English but wasn’t fazed by that, we did everything in sign language and we could not have got on better.
As we walked back the beach was still crammed with people, many of which had come down after work.
We sat and had one last beer in the beach side bar and we watched the kids doing their tightrope walk routine again. It looks like they are practicing a new double step move, which includes a hop. They are in the early stages but they seem to get it at a 50% success rate.
It was well past 8pm now and we were both shattered, Wendy has another plan for tomorrow so we walked back to the room, Wendy sat on the balcony while I filed my copy. I think an early bed is calling both of us, but it will have to wait a while yet as the sun is still beating down on us.
Alicante
No Travelling
It’s was business as usual on today’s run, I didn’t get shaky hungry and I didn’t drink my water bottle too soon.
I did see an amazing sunrise and despite me being a little early today to ensure we made our morning deadline, it was as hot as hell when I got outside, and it’s been like that all day long.
The disco was going strong at 6:30 and I did indeed pass a group of four girls who were as drunk as you can possibly get without passing out. They weren’t any trouble and they had stuck to the golden rule of staying together. But they looked no older than 16 and they were also stick thin, anyone minded could have picked one of them up and took them away, the silly things.
We had a delightful breakfast which we took at a nice leisurely pace and then after tea in our room we left and went to get drinking water at the Spar.
This was a little strange, the lady serving at the Spar was crying for some reason. I would like to have talked to her but I have seen her a few times and I know she doesn’t speak any English. I do hope it’s not too upsetting for her.
With our water in our back pack, off we set for our day trip to Benidorm. We were on the 11:00 Sea Cat which should take an hour and a half.
It was a good sized vessel and we set off on the dot at 11:00.
We passed the Galleon Ship which we thought had a broken mast but as we passed it I think it’s designed to be lowered for some reason. I don’t know why because the main mast is much higher too.
It took us a while to get out of the harbour as it’s massive with both an inner and an outer harbour sea wall.
But when we did the Skipper opened the engines up and we were away, at speed.
The only drawback, OK, well maybe two was the silly loud and very annoying disco music played over the loudspeaker and there weren’t any outside seats, just a standing only bar on the rear deck.
The trip out was most enjoyable and the noise of the engines drowned out the noisy music.
There were almost flat calm sea conditions but we were chugging up and down like a mad thing because we were going that fast.
The coastline was very interesting and it was really nice being out on deck. We stopped briefly at Puerto El Campello before heading off again.
Soon enough Benidorm came along our port side and we could see that double tower monstrosity which we first saw last year.
And speaking of monstrosities as we left the boat we climbed the steps up into old town and on entering the British sector you have to go down a long steep, narrow road, something like the old Hovis TV advert.
There was a large and very fat family coming up the hill at the bottom and fat dad who was shirtless must have challenged his son to a race to the top. Dad set off and the lad gave him a head start and he caught his dad near the top just as they passed me. Dad gave a late spurt of, (I’ll be kind and say pace, but it was more like a trundle). But what got me was all of his belly fat and man boobs were jostling about in every direction like a jelly in an earthquake! It was most off putting and very, very British!
We walked all the way along the new town beach which took us about 45 minutes as we had to dodge electric scooters and double mobility cars.
It was hot, very hot, the first sign I saw said 36 degrees and a later one said 38!
Wendy was melting on her feet so we had a very nice cold beer at the top of the beach. This is where I saw something new, it was a beer tower that could hold six litres of beer with a tap at the bottom so you could draw your own drink when you wanted. On a close look I could see an ice tower in a plastic pipe that runs through the inside of the tower to ensure it is kept cool while its being used, what a good idea, for about eight mates, not such a good idea for three people.
Feeling refreshed we walked back and I saw a high-rise building which looks like it’s made out of timber, it was 15 floors high and it had wooden cladding on its veranda ceilings and it also looked like it had timber cladding on the outside walls too. If that ever caught fire that would be one massive Roman Candle.
At the end of the beach we had a late lunch. We shared a portion of meatballs in a very yummy sauce and a portion of very spicy mussels, we also had bread with a very garlicky mayonnaise sauce, boy will I be dry tonight.
By the time we had strolled around the old town and had a beer in an old and well-hidden British bar it was time to board for the return trip where we sat in the sun on the rear deck on our towels, with me using my sandals as a backrest on the metal railings. We bought a beer each and then we snook a glass of wine which we bought in the supermarket, we drank it from the glasses we had had our beer in, in a kind of sneaky camouflage!
We got back to port just after 7pm and I can say it was a fantastic trip back, the sun was cooling and I stood on the deck railing, drinking wine and listening to the woeful cricket, it was lovely nonetheless.
What was nice was that I was back on the sea in a hot country, the Beauly Firth is occasionally nice on a very lucky day, but it’s not the Med in mid-summer!
Alicante
No Travelling
We went for a stroll last night and we found a very nice street bar overlooking the Med. The young fella running the show was very nice, polite and very respectful. It was nice, the heat of the day was still lingering and the sun had set and it was getting nicely dark.
We had a couple of glasses of wine and as we left I bought a tub of exceptionally nice chocolate chip ice cream, it was lovely.
Wendy didn’t want one, but ate 1/3 of mine, the scoundrel!!!
We sat up on the balcony until it was fully dark and it was rather nice, we were in bed by ten.
I had such a nice long sleep I did not wake until 7:30 and it was very warm by then.
I threw my tea down my throat, Wendy stayed in bed with a sore head and I left for my run.
Jeepers it was warm, but I have now established my run routine and I can stop for a drink in two places where I can get some shade.
As I ran around the marina I was dismayed at the amount of rubbish floating in it, they were mainly plastic cups, but wrappers from fast food joints and cardboard was also in abundance.
Again, I think I’m laying blame at young people as there was another disco last night, I didn’t see it as it had shut by the time I was up but I saw the usual stragglers heading off into the morning sun.
Would you believe there is a huge yacht that’s on exhibition on the roundabout near our hotel where it displays a logo about removing plastic from the sea, it looks to me like the locals need to listen to their own advice!
As I got to the other side of the marina I was gobsmacked, but I guess I shouldn’t have been as I saw a small boat plying the waters collecting the rubbish in a keep net. I guess they have to keep it at a minimum as there are some very seriously expensive boats in the marina and they wouldn’t want them taking their expensive mooring fees to the small harbour two miles up the road.
I got back and Wendy, after taking some pain killers, was fine and already for breakfast so off we set.
I had a very modest meal of muesli, extra nuts, extra walnuts and extra raisins. This was followed by some chunks of melon.
Today, on day 8 of our holiday we decided to stay at the hotel and take the day relaxing on the sunbeds, it was very nice too.
The sun loungers are on the first floor and it’s in a quadrant type place so the sun goes behind the building, but not until after 6 and by then we had had enough sun anyway.
There is also a very nice pool, it is under cover but thankfully the roof is retractable and it was open for the kids to splash around in the sunshine and not pester me.
Wendy read her book, I listened to the very interesting cricket Test Match, boy it was a match of coming and going, it had everything. The England Night Watchman got 92 on his debut test match, and his innings now seems to be the only one that might just help England out. Although there was some hard hitting by Sam Currin and Stuart Broad at the end. We are now relying on a good last wicket stand to make it a 200 run chase for the Irish tomorrow. It was rained off early as a severe thunderstorm hit the cricket ground at Lords which was a shame as our batsmen had their rhythm going.
Around 2pm we went for a beer in the hotel bar, which was another gobsmacking moment as it cost 6 euros for two small bottles of beer.
Thankfully we were issued with plastic beakers which we could take into the pool area and that’s where I had the idea of nipping to the Spar to get three small cans of beer, a packet of gourmet crisps and a box of sarnies, which all came to the very reasonable sum of 6.25 euros.
They were a treat to eat too, back on my sunbed, sarnie in hand with my can of beer poured into my plastic beaker, camouflage style yet again!
I listened to the cricket all day and I monitored the news back in the UK and I see the heat record for July has been broken. It’s been stinking hot here too, but thankfully we had a very nice breeze on the balcony. In fact this is the first day that Wendy has sat out in the sun all day, it’s been hot but very nice too.
Around six we left the sunbeds, Wendy showered and accidently locked me out of the room, I had to phone the daft bag so she could let me in.
We then took a walk to last night’s bar and as we listened to the cricket on Wendy’s phone now, (mine had run out of battery in the heat), we had a spicy pork fat and cheese toasted bagel which was very nice, oh a glass of wine of course.
The cricket was rained off so we chatted a while and then when I paid the bill I got an oversized tub of the tasty chocolate ice cream only for the Old Bag not to want any. She wanted to get a bar of chocolate from the Spar but didn’t want to cross the road to get to the shop.
One the way home I bought two pairs of shoes from a market stall. I know I have pushed the boat out but I did like the look of them and they are very comfortable.
It’s almost 9pm now and I bet my next move after filing copy will be a shower and then a walk to the Spar to get a bar of chocolate. The suns just down and I might just enjoy the walk anyway.
I don’t think I’ll sleep anyway, the crickets on a knife edge.
We did indeed go for a walk, first off around the marina and then to the Spar but it was choc a block so we went to the other supermarket that I can’t spell, Carfore? That was very busy too and it was still hot, 32 degrees at 10pm so I added a chilled can of beer to my shopping basket and drank it slowly in the square before heading for a nightcap on the balcony.
Night, Night, I hope you all sleep OK in the heat, me on the other hand have a nice air conditioned room so I should be fine and dandy!
Alicante
No Travelling
Well that was another nice night’s sleep, and I was wide awake at about 6:15 but I managed to eke it out until 6:45 so I wouldn’t wake Wendy too early. But no sooner had I put the kettle on that she appeared, like death warmed up and got ready to go out and was gone before you could say S*** off a Shovel, (an old mining term).
The thing is Wend doesn’t like the heat and almost dies if it gets too hot for her so if she doesn’t go now, she won’t make it back.
Me on the other hand, I like a leisurely routine and a good old sweat on my run.
Today I did my staple run which is now the norm, taking me around the harbour and along the beach, 8.5 miles which keeps my average up just nicely.
I had a hearty breakfast of a toasted bacon sarnie this morning, with lashings of orange juice and I even took a cup of exceptionally strong coffee, wow that was a shock to the system.
The only thing missing from our lovely breakfast spread is a good old fried egg, I would love one, just one, that would do. I understand they aren’t easy to make and keep for a buffet breakfast, in fact most hotels that I have been to that make them have a person making them to order, but I guess that’s a big expense. Never mind, a boiled egg with a little salt is a good substitute.
After, we headed for the hotel terrace and I bagged the best placed sunbeds, I had to do a bit of artificial lingering as I waited for a French family to depart but there was no way I was missing out on these two. Wendy joined me a little later as she was caught by the pool security and had to register us for today. We thought that once we had registered we were booked for our stay, but as we share the facilities, and they are good with an exceptionally well equipped gym and a hydro circuit of hot pools and other paraphernalia which we share with the hotel next door, security is extra tight so as to not have riff raff coming in off the street. It’s fair enough I guess as there are lots of kiddies enjoying what’s on offer, and they leave me well alone which suits me fine!
I listened to the cricket and it was a stonker, we were all out first ball and we had a lead of 182 runs when rain stopped play. After an hour they restarted and we annihilated Ireland. It was a terrific spell of inspired bowling.
It was so exciting I had to go for a walk, so I took off to the shop for some supplies and I had a little walk around the harbour. By the time I got back we had taken 7 wickets.
I then got myself back on my sunbed and marvelled as the last wickets fell, it was stonking, Ireland were all out for 38. It was a game of records, I can’t recall them all, but I think England only getting 85 in the first innings and then coming back to win was one of them. Oh and the night-watchman making 92, who went on to take man of the match was another.
It was a cracking game and Ireland did themselves proud, although I doubt they will feel like that.
More sun bathing ensued, I listened to Lianne on Dearne FM while Wendy read her 6th book and she left me when the shade took her bed space at ten minutes to six, I waited another ten minutes and then I lost the sun and went up for a shower.
I started to file copy while the long process of a lady getting ready for a night out commenced.
By the time Wendy was ready, it was getting close to 7pm and the sun was still out at the front of the hotel so we went for an evening’s stroll and some supper.
We strolled along the front, which is an historic part of Alicante, browsing through the stalls where we came across a young man selling prints. His work was very good, he even engraves glass which was stunning. We settled on a print of the Old Town which will go nicely with our collection of prints from around the world.
We walked on and we booked into the most stylish restaurant in town for supper on Sunday night, our last night. It’s on the 26th floor of the highest building in town and we took a ride in the lift right up there to make our booking. The views are stunning and I took a few sneaky shots but you can’t see them until Mondays copy Avid Reader, I’m just teasing here, with a little look forward.
From there we walked along the harbour where we saw some stunning motor cruisers, some looked just a little too, “Hi Tech”, like they are Russian Spy Vessels, I’m sure they are, well it wouldn’t surprise me if they were. We then went down the back streets where we had a very delightful supper outside a small café, where the lads outside had the perfect patter to bring in the punters.
One was a local lad and the other was from Worchester and he was a top lad. Of course he had all the fanny, like telling two German girls to come in and celebrate Germany Day with them, which they did, knowing full well there is no such day, but they had a good meal and they knew all about his charm, one of them called it his, “Blah, Blah, Blah!”, but she said it with a German accent and a face to match.
With full tums we walked back to the hotel were we sat on the balcony and saw a stunning sunset sky settle into night time.
It’s been very hot today, but I can see some late night clouds gathering, maybe we will get a thunderstorm to end this trip, here’s hoping anyway!
Alicante
No Travelling
I was up at 6:30 and I was well into my cup of tea before Wendy showed up. She was out in a flash and I followed soon after.
We had to be smartish as we had a day trip planned to Tabarca Island, which is 10 nautical miles from Alicante.
Breakfast was smashing again and although we didn’t linger we did finish with a nice flute of Champagne, well it is the weekend, isn’t it!
We had very little cash on us and the queue for the boat was very long when we saw it on our trip to Benidorm so I planned a military manoeuvre and I briefed Wendy.
I’ll go to the Spar and get some water and then I’ll look for a cash point. You go with the bank card and let me know if you can buy the ferry tickets with the bank card because the ferry to Benidorm only accepted cash.
Phone me if you get the tickets and then cash isn’t such a big worry, or tell me if can’t and then I’ll do my best to find a cash point. I did a check of understanding and yes Wendy agreed to the plan.
We split up outside the hotel, I went straight ahead she went left to the ferry.
Not two minutes later I got a call from her, I’ve brought the wrong glasses, I need my readers and there in the room!
As I had the key I had to turn back to give it to her!!!
As we met she tried to give me the bank card, throwing the plan into complete disarray. No I said stick to the plan!
I got the water at the Spar, I went into town and I could not find a cash point. I was up and down side streets, main streets, the lot but I just couldn’t find one.
I phoned Wendy who was by now in the queue to ask if she could see anyone pay by bank card.
Yes, she replied, I can see a card reader.
Right the pressure was off, I could walk a little further as it was only 10:30 I had 30 minutes to get to her for the 11:00 sailing.
A couple more minutes passed and Wendy phoned me, she had the tickets!
I looked a little further but still I couldn’t find a cash point so I set off for the ferry.
I got to the ferry where Wendy was waiting at the gangplank looking a bit frazzled.
Where have you been we could have boarded ten minutes ago.
Wend, it’s only 10:40, what part of the plan didn’t you understand???
The trip out was lovely, we sat on the top outer deck and it was very nice apart from it being full of younger types all looking like they were going to party. On the way out of the harbour we passed the Pirate Ship again and we are still undecided if it’s damaged or not!
I went to the bar for a couple of beers and got cheekily harassed by a Hen Party, I don’t know what they were saying but I think it was something about me getting the beers up the ladder safely as the boat was rocking like a good one!
Of course I managed it, a Barnsley Man never spills a drop.
One of the lads was as ginger as can be and he was larded in sun cream, he had so much on he couldn’t rub it in any more. A little later all of his head was covered with a towel.
Now that’s bad luck, being born in Spain having Ginger hair!
We got to the Island after an hour but we had to hang around at sea until another ferry left as the harbour was tiny.
First up we headed to the far north of the island which was just under a mile.
The sun was out with a slight breeze and it was perfect. We were almost alone and the sea was crystal clear.
At the far north we found two smaller islands and the first one had a big religious cross stuck on it.
I later found that the whole island is a chain of 4 islands with the main one, which is by far the biggest, is the only one occupied.
We walked to town along the eastern shore and we saw lots of people sunbathing in the rocks, in some most precarious locations as there wasn’t a beach.
The main beach just north of town was mobbed, I mean it was heaving and all the sun beds were almost touching each other.
We carried on the coast and we saw more people in rocky outcrops. Then some big lads were jumping into the sea from great heights. It was good to see, but I think I’m way passed that age now.
I even looked down from where they had jumped and it gave me the willy wobbles just looking.
We walked around town and to the southern point which is just outside the town walls. At the point there is another smaller island that couldn’t really be reached on foot as the water was too high and the rocks just too rocky.
But sure enough there were lots of people on the rock sunbathing with all the brollies and cool boxes. Getting there must have been some feat.
We got back into the town square and managed to find a seat in an open air bar.
It took a while to come but the beer was cold and tasty.
We decided at that point to find some dinner and catch the 4:30 pm ferry back.
I’d seen a nice looking place on the east coast but when we got there the wind had gotten up to gale force and we didn’t fancy getting sandblasted.
We walked to the main restaurant area but as everybody had evacuated the beach due to the wind they were all mobbed.
After a while we found a table that had to be cleared, which it was smartish while we were sat there.
We waited 15 minutes and no one came to take our order, we didn’t even have a drink.
The Spanish when they get together seem to shout at each other, both women and men. The noise was crazy so we left them to it and walked out.
We went back to the first bar and ordered a litre of sangria. What we got was two half pint sized glasses with red juice and a chunk of ice. The one chunk of ice was that big it floated like an iceberg in the glass, and it was that big I struggled to get my fingers past it, and the side of the glass to get it out. When I did the contents dropped to a half glass.
This was by far the worst sangria I have ever had on the Spanish Mainland, it was just like Ribena.
As it was now 4pm we headed to the ferry and we walked into something like refugees escaping a war zone, it was packed to the brim, everyone had had the same idea. But thankfully the staff had it organised, there were three separate queues, one for the fast boats, one for one company boat and we had the middle queue for our companies’ boat. We boarded and left on time although we left plenty behind to wait another hour for the next boat, but selfishness is a very human trait and I was happy we were on board!
The crossing was fine and we got back just after 5:30pm. Wendy went to the hotel and I went in search of the elusive cash point. Would you believe I found one in five minutes, so with cash in hand I set off to buy some ham and bread for supper.
As I had used my reading glasses at the cash point, my sun glasses were on top of my cap as I walked along. I didn’t need them as I was on an enclosed back street which was in the shade.
As I walked a girl across the road who was holding one of those industrial type bin lids open shouted something to me, and then she did a point like action to the top of her head while looking at me. I said thank you and pulled my sun glasses down.
She looked dismayed as I carried on, so I thought better of it and went over to her. She explained in very good sign language that she had dropped her glasses into the bin and she couldn’t reach them.
Now I am a bit street wise and thought that this might be a ploy, a very pretty young woman engages with a daft old man and gets him to peer into a big bin, and then Bobs your Uncle there’s a gang of five wanting the contents of your wallet, and your phone.
So now my guard is up.
I couldn’t see anything apart from rubbish bags, and then I saw a man with a walking stick and told her that’s what she needed, a walking stick to rummage around with. I then thought I had done enough and left her. However two strides down and I saw another bin full of squashed cardboard boxes. I took one out, rolled it up and went back, still with my senses on full alert.
I pushed the bags around at the bottom and asked her which was hers, and she said no, and pointed. Sure enough there it was, a glasses case, right at the bottom.
Being good at hook a duck, I fashioned a little shovel on the end of the cardboard and had those specs out pretty dam quick.
She was so excited and very thankful I got a kiss on the cheek there and then, and it was bloody lovely, I can still smell her perfume!
From there I bought some goods in the Spar and we had a ham sarnie in the afternoon heat on the balcony.
It was turned 7pm by now but it was still roasting hot and still as bloody windy!
At 8pm I managed to get Wendy out and we took a walk into the old town and up passed a church she wanted to see and then we had a delightful sangria at one of our favourite bars, it wasn’t quite sangria but it was pretty dam nice. It was called Tinto Deverano, which translates as Wine of the Summer!
We walked back at 9:30 pm and it was still 31 degrees, it was so warm people were still swimming in the sea and having a dam good time of it. I saw a small yacht moored for the night just 50 metres away from our hotel and I was dead jealous, I would love to have been on that yacht.
All that’s left for me to do is file tonight’s copy and then I’m having a glass of wine on the balcony and then I’m heading to the land of Kippy Kipp, Night, Night Everyone!!!
Alicante
No Travelling
I didn’t sleep that well last night, boy did I dream, jeepers isn’t it strange how some dreams can be so steeped in reality, unbelievable.
I was up early enough and I had my breakfast but as I started to get my gear on I opened the balcony door and it was chaos outside. The night club was just tipping out and there were youngsters everywhere, it was like a zombie film.
I thought better of it and gave them an extra half hour, Wendy took one look outside and confined herself to extra bed duties.
I went out and I was dismayed at just how much litter was around the marina, it was outrageous!
I didn’t go on my usual run as I would have had to push my way through the crowds so I went around the marina, I came across the street cleaner and his brush and I wished him good luck. When I came back half an hour later he had called in the big guns and there was a motorised unit now tackling the worst of it.
In my excitement yesterday I didn’t tell you that Tabarca Island is the smallest habited island of any Spanish territory, it is so small there are no cars at all. In all I saw was one JCB machine which I guess handles the litter bins and a couple of small quad bikes, other than that it’s down to you to get about, on foot.
I did also wonder where they got their power from too as I saw no electrical generation, and we did a full tour of the island. There wasn’t any hospital facility and I can’t begin to wonder where their water comes from because this is the driest area of the Spanish mainland.
So after all it was an interesting detour which I am glad we took because I could see me next year looking at a map and saying to Wendy, two weeks there would be nice, now I know it wouldn’t, it would be hellish!
Back to today and after my run where I found a very nice OAP type beach we had our usual lazy breakfast and with no particular plan in mind we weren’t hung up on any timescale, in fact there was no rush at all because with it being a Sunday the pool didn’t open until 11:00 so we dawdled, and it was nice.
We got down to the pool by 11:30 and just chilled out on the sunbeds, Wendy reading and me listening to a new Motown radio station I have found.
We hadn’t managed to bag the best sunbeds but we did find some much more comfortable ones but after a while my head went into the shade so I went over to the other side where there was plenty of sunshine. I could also see some clouds building in the hills.
The sun still shone brightly and Wendy joined me a little later as her bed had fallen into the shade.
We stayed there until turned 4pm, I had enjoyed a few beers and then as the cloud had covered the sky, albeit only thin stuff, we went for a beach walk.
Jeepers that Wendy Gill is such a strange character, she doesn’t like to be too close to peoples bodies and hates the sand. I mean how can you hate walking through the surf on a Mediterranean beach, well Wendy can and she wasn’t happy.
But as compensation for the distress caused I took her to her now favourite bar for her favourite new drink. The sun was back out and it was quite pleasant.
We chatted with the owner, the nice lad I have previously detailed, he told us that his father gave him and his brother the bar six years ago and they are making subtle changes to it. I think they don’t want to offend their dad, but they also need the place to make enough for two incomes, it was alright when it was just dad, but now it needs to make enough money to fund two families so I guess a little change may be what they need. Anyway, we like the place and the drink prices are great.
From there we had one last tour of the beach, I figured we needed it as we had had an extra drink due to a language misunderstanding.
We got back to the hotel after buying our duty free goods in the Spar, well I had to as a bottle of brandy was only 7 quid and then we chilled for a while and then got ready for our last night out.
At 7:45pm we walked along the harbour and onto our restaurant, The Convistas, on the 26th floor of the largest building in Alicante and what a stonking night we had.
First the views were stunning and, there is a walkway around most of the building with just a glass partition which makes the experience so real. If it were in the UK you would require a harness and have to be encased in wire mesh, but not here, in Alicante!
We were attended to by a very nice lady who was just so nice, and she spoke good English.
We started with a very nice bottle of wine, with bread and cheese. For mains I had cod in a pea puree with fancy things and Wendy had the most delightful roast duck in a very yummy sauce, (I can’t think of anything else to call it, it was that tasty).
It was really good food and I could nip out onto the balcony and see what was happening below. It was fantastic there was a full brass band playing in the outdoor auditorium directly below and the sound was fantastic.
For pudding I had something very nice and Wendy had, again, a very delightful chocolate brownie. The sauce and ice cream was bloody lovely.
To top off a fantastic meal I had a whiskey sour while Wendy finished the wine.
After eating we chatted a while with the lady and her son at the next table, who were from Manchester, they were too-ing and fro-ing about going to Benidorm for a day trip having never been before, of course we urged them to do so!!!
We settled our bill, 85 euros for an absolutely wonderful dining experience with such lovely staff and fantastic views. Now I might have said before that I have eaten with Gordon Ramsay on a few occasions but this even outshone him, it was that good. In fact I would go as far to say that come and visit Alicante if only to eat at this resturant, yes it was that good!
After leaving we had a small walk around the old town before heading back to the hotel, stuffed, tired but very pleased with our night time experience.
After a glass of wine on the balcony we settled down to our last night in Alicante, it’s been a cracking holiday, I might even come back, but maybe not in the middle of a European heatwave mind!
Alicante to Edinburgh
1238 Miles
I had a brain wave last night while I was having my delightful supper on the 26th floor above Alicante Harbour, I Googled the Gallion Ship in Alicante Harbour and I found out that it is a replica of a ship that fought in the battle of Trafalgar, it was called the Santisima Trinidad and it had around 120 cannons on board.
It was reputed to be the largest vessel to sail at that time but it was slow in the water and was easy pickings for the English fleet.
The replica was made on top of another ship and it used to take visitors on board and even did the odd sail trip around the harbour when it was moored in Malaga. I can’t find out why anyone would go to such lengths to make the replica, I believe it was a private enterprise and they invested about 2.5,000,000 euros in the project.
It has its own TripAdvisor page but it seems that it was closed in 2013 and has been left abandoned ever since, so the mystery continues!
I slept in this morning and I woke at 7:00am when Wendy was up and about and tippy toing around like I do, which means she was making a right old racket.
I went running and did my last Alicante run in good time, 9 miles at 32 degrees!
Wendy had the bags packed by the time I got back and all that was left was for me to change into my dry cloths and we went down for a very nice breakfast.
Being our last breakfast I had a full English, Scottish, Irish, call it what you like breakfast, but it was bloody lovely and washed it down with 3 or 4 glasses of the very fresh orange juice that I am dearly going to miss, oh and we had a last glass of champers!
We then paid for our late check out, 2pm and then we settled down on the sun deck for a roasting couple of hours. It was that hot that I had to walk to the Spar to get some beer for me, and wine for Wendy.
You might have noticed, Avid Reader, that some of my photos have shown a picture of a large vessel at anchor in the bay. It’s been there for over a week now, I saw it go into the harbour and unload and I saw it come out again and then settled in the spot it’s been in since the Sunday before last.
Now it must cost a lot of money for a ship to be idle for so long. It looks like a grain, or ore carrier so I don’t think it should have any Gulf issues. I think it might just be saving money by doing a big engineering check-up while at anchor as opposed to doing it in harbour where it would cost a fortune.
At 2pm we checked out and put our bags into the store room and settled back on the sun loungers.
My foot ring is now nicely brown, if anyone doesn’t know the story, here it is:
Aunty Flo, who was an old lady by then, was babysitting me and because my booty kept coming off she tied it tight with elastic. It swelled up in the night and my Mother and Dad couldn’t understand why I was crying so much. When they found it Dad put me in a cold bath and called the doctor. My foot was so swollen the doctor said I would have lost my leg if I had not been put into the water. This ring has been with me ever since and goes brown in the sun, very brown actually.
At 4:30pm I had had enough sun, it was roasting hot, so we went to the beach bar for some food. I had a very nice steak and Wendy, because she had faffed about, chose a hamburger, why she didn’t say she wasn’t ready when the lad came by for our order, lord only knows, but she seemed happy when it came, with wine of course.
We sat next to some smoking people because that was the only table empty. They were smoking as we ate and it was a pest. I was all for having a go, but I thought no, chill Dave, it’s the last hour, I don’t want to end up in a Spanish jail for this, so I let it go.
The food was lovely and we got chatting to a tax exile who said he lives in The Cayman Islands, well he would wouldn’t he. He bored us to death about his issue with the Inland Revenue to the point where I had to tell him we had a flight to catch, Wendy Gill could not move fast enough.
We got back to the pool and we both showered and dressed in our coming home cloths and caught a taxi to the airport which was a very simple process.
Customs and security was a dawdle and we sat and chilled in a bar until we were called to our flight.
We were taxing to the runway when the pilot got on the tannoy and told us he had a technical issue and that we would have to return to the gate for check-up. This was greeted with a loud degree of booing from our fellow passengers and we did indeed return to an engineering section and after four engineers boarded and did a bit of gauge tapping we were deemed fit to leave, and so we did.
Foot note – If this laptop is found at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean, I want my Next of Kin to sue the pants off Ryanair!!!
The flight was actually fine, once Wendy had settled herself down with her iPad!
The wine was extremely overpriced but I thought Wendy needed a pick me up so I dug deep and paid for two small bottles and it almost cost what Boris has promised to spend in the next few months.
We landed on time, even after our wee delay and thankfully Alex and Robyn had come to collect us, after we had passed the stupid passport control queue which snaked around the airport, actually it made me think what is this Backstop all about, I’ve just flown in from Spain, which is in the EU but I still have to mess about with passport control, it now makes me think why the Irish are getting so uppity about border checks as we’ve just spent 20 minutes going through one!
Robyn came to the rescue with a bottle of wine for the drive home and a stonking sarnie for when we arrived.
Well that’s it for now, another adventure over and done with, Alicante has been terrific, the hotel was fantastic and the weather, a wee bit too hot, but apart from that it’s been a lovely experience, it’s now 1:20 am and I’m ready for bed!!!
Edinburgh to Durham
139 Miles
I’m going to depart from previous Blog protocol and detail the events of the weekend as I think it appropriate in the circumstances. On Friday morning Wendy and I took the car and caravan down to Alex and Robyn’s house in Edinburgh and later we were joined by Brad and Caroline who were down to see some shows at the Festival.
Robyn cooked us a very tasty Salmon Risotto meal which was a real treat and after a wee chitter chat we all settled down for some sleep.
After our mornings exercise Alex, Robyn, Wendy and me set off in the Shepherd Jeep for Leeds with the intention of seeing England play Australia on Sunday, day 4 of the 3rd Ashes Test match at Headingley.
Robyn wasn’t confident, England had had a terrible first innings batting and were all out for 67, Australia were in the process of setting us a substantial lead as well, so the mood was a little bleak.
Nevertheless, we left Brad and Carline on Saturday morning with a very nice picnic for us and a very nice lemon drizzle cake for Geoffrey Boycott, Aggers the rest of the Test Match Special Team.
We got down to Leeds without incident and settled into our hotel. Alex and Robyn treated us to a very nice Indian meal and although Alex tried to kill me with a hot and spicy taste of his starter it was a very nice meal.
We also knocked off a few Weatherspoon’s that day, 2 in Leeds and 1 in Knaresborough for good measure and then after a nightcap we tucked up in bed. England had managed to bat most of the day for their second innings having struggled to get Australia all out. It looked good, we were two down with Joe Root set for a big score.
After an early morning run upto the ground at Headingley, Wendy stayed in bed by the way, I was showered and ready for a bite to eat in the local Weatherspoon’s bar. I had a bacon sarnie and a very nice glass of orange juice and not long after we had a very nice walk up to the stadium in the very pleasant and warm August sunshine.
The weather was set for a very hot day so we were all dressed in summer cloths, the ladies had dresses on and Alex and I opted for shorts, I had my England Cricket team shirt on, well I just had to.
Alex smuggled a case of wine into the ground, carefully disguised as a picnic for four and we found our seats after a walk around the ground.
We settled down and after Robyn deposited her cake with Security we watched the match of our lives, it was stunning.
I must admit when Josh Butler fell I thought we had very slim hopes of winning, this was our last recognised batsman and it left Ben Stokes alone with the tail end, the now called “Lower Order”!
And the rest is history, it was a most memorable day and as we left that stadium everyone, including us were on cloud nine, well every English supporter that is, not so the Australians who were mumbling something about an LBW.
On that subject let me just say this, LBW was, prior to DRS, a very subjective opinion and the only opinion that mattered was that of the umpire. Both wrong and right decisions were made and howlers occurred, but it was swings and roundabouts and it just had to be accepted. Australia threw away their last DRS review on a no brainier not out call so that proves that anyone can get the decision wrong, tuff tit, you lost, we won and in a very big manner!!!
Walking back to the hotel we stopped off in a park where we consumed some more picnic leftovers and a glass or two of wine. The sun was still out and people were enjoying the very hot weather.
We walked back to the hotel and we let the younger gang members go out for the night while we stayed in our room, Wendy tucked up in bed and me watching the highlights of the match on TV, oh what memories.
The next morning I was up and out and I ran along the Leeds to Liverpool canal. The weather was glorious and it was a really lovely experience, it was amazing. I was in country solitude and only about one mile from the heart of a major Yorkshire City.
I got back dripping in sweat and soon after a nice cooling shower, we joined Robyn and Alex for a walk around the city where we took some breakfast and had a look at the canal before heading back home.
Getting out of Leeds was a bit hard going as the Caribbean Carnival caused us some issues but Robyn and Alex got us out and onto the A1.
We passed a terrible road accident just north of Newcastle, some cars had a hit a tractor and trailer and it appeared that the tractor had tried to get across the duel carriageway with 70 mph traffic whizzing past. We later learned that 10 ambulances were required and scores of people were seriously hurt.
One women challenged Alex’s reflexes by pulling right out in front of him while we were driving up the A1, thankfully Alex was upto the job and slammed the brakes on while politely fuming at the lady in question.
We got back to Edinburgh and after a very nice BBQ in the garden we relaxed in the house, watching, yet again, the highlights of the cricket, we even saw Alex pop up when Ben Stokes hit his reverse sweep for six.
After exercise and then breakfast we set off for Durham this morning where we are now camped on a most delightful camp site by the side of the River Weir about a mile from the city centre. We are on the small site in the grounds of the Durham Amateurs Rowing Club and it is quite delightful.
We set camp and while Wendy did some chores I set about putting up our new, air inflated awning.
Now that was a challenge, but at least I now know what to do.
Supper was a delightful meal of BBQ’d Hake fish, in white wine, with savoury rice, jeepers it was very tasty. We ate supper in the awning with a thunderstorm overhead and rain lashing down and all Wendy could say was that she hoped the new awning was waterproof, the silly mare!
As I wrote my report Wendy watched one of her favourite TV shows, The Great British Bake Off, the new series.
I think we need an early night tonight, I guess we deserve it as it’s been an intensely exciting Bank Holiday Weekend.
Here’s to Old Trafford for the 4th Test next week!!!
Durham
No Travelling
I did indeed have a very nice sleep, I woke at around 6am but managed to nod off again. I woke and Wendy told me there was a bird trapped in the awning and there was, a very large starling. Wendy got up and opened the door to the awning but the silly bird didn’t take the hint. It hung around desperately trying to get out of the closed window at the opposite side.
I got up and went out and that seemed to have done the trick because by the time I was out it had scarpered.
After breakfast we both went out running. The barman at the rowing club told us how to get up and over the river by going upstream. I went out and found the bridge to cross but as that was only two miles up I did a bit of freelance exploring and got lost in the process. Thankfully I came across an older lady walking along a very overgrown path along the side of the river.
She put me straight and I ended up in the gardens of a very big stately home, which was OK as it had a very big welcome sign on the entrance path.
From here I found the road which I had left originally but in a different place and in all I had done another 3 miles, which wasn’t bad. Thankfully my sciatica, although painful, wasn’t killing me as it has done the previous couple of days.
I ran back along the opposite side of the river and then I had to go almost into town, running past the campsite, as that was where the first bridge was where I could get back over the river.
It had drizzled a little while I was out but it was still very warm.
I got back to the caravan where Wendy was already showered and ready to go.
I had a very delightful banana and peanut butter smoothie and off we set for a day out in Durham City.
As we walked along the riverside it started to drizzle, only a small amount though and it was still mildly warm and it soon fizzled out.
We walked into the city and what a lovely place it is with a mix of very old and very new, and tastefully built buildings. The river winds arounds the city so it’s always with you and there are quite a few bridges, both road bridges and foot bridges. Some are very, very old, the oldest bridge was built in 1127 and some are fairly recent but the thing is, access to the river is never very far away.
As we walked we found a most delightful little indoor market that had some very good items on sale. Not that I wanted anything but I’m sure that if I did I would find it in that market. Actually scrub that last sentence, we did actually buy something. On our first browse we saw a very nice fresh fish stall and we stared open mouthed at the range of fish on offer, in particular there were some very large and fresh looking scallops for sale. But as we had bought sufficient food for the next few days yesterday we couldn’t justify buying anything else. However after leaving the market we headed to one of the Wetherspoon bars available for us to bag and that’s where, while having a very nice pint of real ale, I came up with the idea of frying scallops in garlic to have with prawns, which we had indeed already decided we would have with salad tonight. So after our beer we had the intention of meandering back to the market to buy some scallops which we later did.
We walked around the city and it’s not very big, but big enough to make it interesting with some very nice looking shops and not too many touristy looking shops.
We crossed the river and happened upon the second Weatherspoon’s bar where we shared a portion of loaded chips which are chips covered in melted cheese with small pieces of bacon to top it off. It was very nicely done and we both enjoyed it although Wendy assures me that I got the lion’s share of the melted cheese.
We did well to have this bite as there was a slightly longer and heavier rain shower which had thankfully moved on by the time we had left the bar.
As we walked we came across a West Indian busker. He was an old fella who was playing Bob Marley music out of an amplifier and he would occasionally strum a chord on his electric guitar, but the best bit was that as Bob sang his song the busker would chuck in the odd word, immediately after Bob had sung the same word, so we had Bob singing “Jamin”, followed by the busker shouting “Jamin”. I mean how low can you go in the busking community, is that even busking?
Our next destination was Durham Cathedral which is built on a hill and it is in the same area as Durham Castle.
The Cathedral is free entry which is brilliant, although a donation is strongly hinted at. This is an exceptionally generous gesture by the Cathedrals management team as I am sure they could rake revenue in if they charged as they do at Canterbury Cathedral. For me though it’s a very welcome gesture as I’m sure some families couldn’t afford the extortionate fees as charged at Canterbury, and it gives hard up families the ability to marvel, as I did at such a magnificent structure. I obviously left a very decent contribution!!
The Cathedral is absolutely stunning, it is an amazing building and we spent a good 45 minutes wandering around inside.
Behind the Apse there is a raised, walled area, which you enter from some short steps, within in it is a place with kneeling cushions that forms an area of about 4 square metres for prayer and quiet contemplation, there are bench seats around the wall.
As I entered I found a number of people moving around and studying the beautiful architecture but in the middle, completely alone and with no one taking any notice of her was a young women kneeling in silent prayer. Now I am not remotely religious but I found myself looking at this young women and I found the image inspiring and uplifting, how interesting!
From the Cathedral we walked over to the Castle but we had just missed last admission and it was a fee paying experience. I might have said before that I’m not into looking at suits of armour, or reconstructions of rooms of times gone by so I wasn’t at all disappointed that I couldn’t get to see the Castle, I would have liked a walk around the outside, but never mind.
We walked back to the caravan at around 5pm having had a nice 5 hour tour for the city. We walked back along the river and it was stunning, even if we had to get the brolly out to shelter from the odd short shower. All in we walked just over 7 miles, and it was worth every step, and every pint of course!
Supper was prepared by Wendy, who made the prawn sauce, prepped the salad and chopped me some garlic. I cooked the scallops and we settled down to a most delightful meal, it was lovely!!!
I washed up as Wendy is now into Downton Abby on her IPad and we settled down for an early evening.
I forgot to say, yesterday I was stung by a wasp as I was uncoupling the caravan from the car and boy did it hurt. However I managed to get the stinger out and squeeze the poison out in time so I didn’t suffer the swelling that Wendy got last week when she was bitten at home. What’s happening with wasps? I haven’t been bitten since I was a nipper and now it’s happened twice in the space of a week.
Durham
No Travelling
If I was bragging when I had a good night’s sleep the night before, I made up for it last night with an early morning wake up and then a toss and turn, dreamy, half sleep type of rest. I was dreaming wildly and waking up, then I would nod and go right back into the same dream. Strangely Robyn, my daughter, was a big star in the show, I remember that, but for the life of me I cannot remember her role, whatever it was.
I had had enough by 6:30 but I laid wide eyed looking around the caravan before getting up for breakfast. Wendy followed soon, well it’s hard not to be woken in a single room caravan, despite my tippy, toeing about.
Wendy went out running just before me and I followed soon after, hiding the caravan key under the spare water butt as per our usual arrangement.
I ran out in an upriver direction hoping to cover as much of the river as I could. I had found yesterday that I can’t go too far upriver as my run came to a dead, woodland end, as I was following a fishing clubs riverside pegs.
I passed the foot bridge and after crossing the road bridge I turned back and ran downstream passing another 8 bridges, which contained 3 foot bridges and five road bridges. No rail bridges were encountered which I found a little strange. I also found a little country lane before I turned around to come back and changed my mind about going to visit Sunderland today preferring the thought of a bike ride instead.
I got back, with my still slow time, my sciatica is still there but I am moving a little better, and I had a delightful smoothie.
I put my change of plan to Wendy and she fully agreed a bike ride would be very nice as it was a reasonably nice, sunny day.
We set off and the wind had got up and it was quite breezy, but we weren’t daunted by a bit of wind. We followed the path downstream and it was very pleasant and then we came to the quiet country road that I had found and we followed that. We came to the end of the road and we thought we were going to have to turn around but I saw a bridal path which was a very nice tarred path and it was ideal for cycling along.
We did encounter the odd hill and the wind was really blowing now, often right on our nose but the countryside was very nice with lots of crops already having been harvested, yes summer is coming to an end, the harvest is coming in!.
We rode on and we came across one small house and then the path turned into a single track road and then we popped out on to a main road right beside a massive fortified building which we shortly found to be Her Majesty’s Prison Frankland. It was huge with towering concrete walls, it must be a prison for seriously bad guys, and in such lovely country too!
It was shift change time too and heaps of staff were coming in, so many in fact they had to park their cars down a single country lane as the main car park was full.
As we passed the prison I could see long steel poles coming out of the flat roof of what looked like the main building. I asked Wendy what she thought they were for and she said that she thought they were there to stop helicopters from landing on the roof. Puzzled I asked an off going duty prison officer and he did indeed confirm Wendy’s idea about the helicopters, well I never!
We carried on further but came to a very big downhill section, and it looked like a dead end so we double backed and went into the nearest village, Brasside where we found a local bar and we had a beer each.
While we were in the pub I Googled Frankland Prison and I found that it is a Category A Male prison and it was originally opened in 1980 with four wings each holding 108 in single cells. A further two wings opened in 1998 to an open gallery design to hold an additional 206. A specialist Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) unit opened at the prison in May 2004.
The prison has increased in size in recent years following major redevelopment work including the construction of the new DSPD 'Westgate Unit'. In March 2008 it expanded again, with planning permission being granted for an extra 120 places at the prison.
All cells are single occupancy.
This prison is huge and I took a screen shot on my phone mapping where you will see the scale of it.
There is also a small Low Category and Youth Prison built adjacent to the main prison, jeepers this poor country village seems to be blighted with bad guys all around.
During my Googling I did indeed find the names of some of the prisons inmates, and currently Her Majesty as at her pleasure the likes of:
Michael Adebolajo
Levi Bellfield
David Beiber
Ian Huntley
Michael Stone
Michael Gordon Peterson (AKA Charles Bronson)
We even have one charming fella called Charles Taylor who was an African Warlord Jailed by the Criminal Courts at the Hague for crimes against humanity, who we said we would imprison for the rest of his life, which is pretty decent of us.
Sat there in the pub, looking at all this, kind of made my blood boil, we have all these really bad men living a reasonably comfortable life while other vulnerable people in society are struggling to get by, maybe there’s an argument right there, in those prison walls for a return to capital punishment. I bet we won’t get a referendum about that though, will we?
We rode back to the city and after a bit of shopping where we scoffed a very nice slice of Corned Beef Pie, bought from the very nice market, we took a glass of wine in the smallest bar in Durham, which is very appropriately named, “Tin of Sardines”.
This place really is tiny, it must be 4 metres long and 2.5 metres wide. There isn’t a bar as such, just a wall of shelves filled with lots of bottles, mainly gins, but they also sell wine, beer and other spirts. You really get table service, the barman just stands at the wall, he dispenses the drink and collects your payment all the while you are sat at your table. I would love to see what it’s like on a busy Friday night, I bet its heaving.
We set off back and giggled as we crossed a foot bridge as a man was in a hired rowing boat with his girlfriend and he was really struggling to get to grips with it, I mean this fella, and he wasn’t a young man, had no idea how to row that boat, I could have watched him all day long he was that funny!
We got back around 5pm and I cooked some very tasty pork chops on the BBQ. Wendy had jazzed them up with tomato puree and some meat spices and eaten with salad and coleslaw it was a very tasty meal.
I watched the evening news, which was as gloomy as ever and Wendy watched Downton Abby on her IPad, occasionally chuckling to herself at the goings on there.
After a suitable period of digestion we took a bike ride upstream to capture photographs of the two upstream bridges, so all in all I have all ten of Durham’s bridges for today’s copy.
As we rode we came across loads of people, young and old all exercising in their own way. Firstly there was a very large group of women all doing aerobic exercise in the Rowing Club carpark. Then we came across numerous running groups along the riverside paths and then heaps of people doing serious rowing training along the river.
Durham certainly is a fitness city. But then it has everything going for it, a beautiful river which is in touching distance of a city that is lined by footpaths set alongside a really lovely tree lined riverbank.
Durham certainly is a very nice place to visit, and this caravan park is perfectly located to see everything it has to offer. It’s been a lovely stay, moving on tomorrow!
Hartlepool
14 Miles
I slept a lot better last night although Wendy Gill didn’t, I woke up at 6:30am and found her playing games on her IPad sat up in bed. There was a cockerel crowing so that might have had something to do with it. I don’t mind cockerels, unless they are near Grannies in the back garden of someone’s house on an estate in Kent, like she had a few years ago!
But in the country, where they are supposed to be it isn’t a problem.
The wind was wild but it was very warm, at around 22 degrees.
I went running, again after Wendy had left as I need my painkilling tablets to take effect, and for, er, medical reasons I can’t take them too early. My anti-inflammatory tablets have the side effect of making someone depressed, or even suicidal, well that’s what the information leaflet said. But to me they’ve had no effect at all, no pain relief, or depressive feeling, that’s was until today.
I was suffering badly with pain and for the first time I thought I should turn back, but I didn’t, I kept going but it was depressing and it was agony.
I ventured off track today and I went hill running, up the hills surrounding the valley that the River Weir creates around Durham. I went past Durham University’s School of the English Language and from there on in I was running through waves and waves of Chinese students all filing into the University. There were masses of them, all looking at their phones or blocking the footpath, I had to push my way through, me being in agony and all.
I got back to the caravan and with Wendy’s help we took the awning down, and it wasn’t difficult at all, (remember this is our first go with the new air awning?). We even managed to get the thing into the storage bag, which is something I never thought we would do.
I then had my breakfast, listened to some radio and then I showered at the Rowing Club.
We set off for our new site which was much nearer than I thought and we were on site by 12:30.
The wind was by now howling quite badly so we decided against putting the awning up, well I guess it is a bit of a bouncy castle type thing and would most likely blow away in this wind.
We are settled in a farmers filed in the village of Hart, which is about 4 miles north of the old industrial town of Hartlepool.
I had to peg the cloths dryer down with very serious intent or my running gear would be strewn all over County Durham, after that we went to explore Hartlepool with low expectations!
We found the town after shopping in an Aldi store which we happened upon along route. We bought some essentials, wine, bananas, and milk and I took a shine to a Thai Green Curry mix which I thought would go very nicely with some chicken fillets we had in the fridge back in the van.
When we got downtown we paid for parking in a secure car park snack bang in the town centre and you know it’s not going to be an uplifting visit when there is a man begging at the carpark ticket machine. I wouldn’t mind but the fella looked about 30 years old, fit and active and I thought that he really should take a long hard look at himself and maybe find his last little bit of self-respect and start to look after himself. You can take it from that last sentence that I didn’t deposit anything in his cap!
We walked around a while and we found a large shopping centre which we went in later as we had more pressing business, bagging the Ward Jackson, a Wetherspoon’s bar.
And we could not have been served by a nicer barman. He was about 25 years old and just very nice and chatty. He gave us, what appeared to be a book of money off vouchers. He told us not to waste them in this bar as it is one of the cheapest bars in the Wetherspoon’s chain. He told us to use them when we get somewhere more expensive. I thanked him for his advice and he gave me 3 more books, what a smashing lad.
We then took a more detailed walk around town, but the thing is there isn’t much of a town, the large shopping centre seems to have sucked the life out for the place. There are only streets of cheap shops with no real focal point to the town.
We finished the town centre experience with a walk around the shopping centre but we found it a bit depressing, now was this me or my tablets. Well my last tablet had been at 07:00 so I guess that must have passed by now so I’m thinking it was down to the place itself, which wasn’t very inspiring, in fact I swear people walked around with miserable expressions on their faces, and this is on a Friday, which is supposed to be the happiest day of the week.
After two hours we had had enough and took the short ride to Hartlepool’s seaside resort, Seaton Carew, which is named after a French family.
Now this was a little better, with a kind of nice beach, but it had what appeared to be a chemical factory at one end and the Docks at the other, there was also a lerg windfarm just off shore.
The High Street was like a snapshot of Blackpool’s or Laysdown’s Slot Palaces. It was only about 100 yards long but it was lined on one side with amusement arcades and on the other with ice cream parlours and chip shops. It wasn’t anything special.
As it was now almost 6pm so we headed back but first we stopped at the very nice looking village pub which is about a quarter of a mile from our site. The beer was nice although Wendy’s wine was warm. As they served food I asked the barmaid if they did Sunday roasts and she replied that they indeed did.
I mentioned this to Wendy who thought it a very good idea to walk around on Sunday. I then looked at TripAdvisor to check their ratings and I was pleased to see they had a rating of 4.5 out of 5. I then read some reviews and the last half dozen give them terrible marks. I showed Wendy who read them all and then told me something was wrong, something had changed. Maybe the chef had been changed? But the thing is, you can get an odd nasty and malicious reviews from some grumpy bum, but they all seemed quite genuine in their replies, with most of them saying they had eatan there before and had given great reviews but they now felt it necessary to update their opinions. Whatever the reason we won’t be going for Sunday lunch now!
We got back to our camp site for a very nice supper of Thai Green Curried chicken which was a delight to make, and eat.
For the rest of the evening we relaxed listening to radio 2, firstly with Sara Cox and her request show and then a mildly amusing Tony Blackburn and finally with a Friday Night tribute to Stevie Wonder.
Now after all this Hartlepool negativity you might wonder why we chose to visit Hartlepool as I knew not to expect too much in the first place, but there are a few reasons for this. Firstly I like to explore what Great Britain has to offer, warts and all, but also our site is nicely placed for other areas we want to visit, so it’s not all doom and gloom, well here’s hoping!
As I file todays copy the sun has set and we have a very beautiful nigh tsky, so all well that ends well, tonight anyway!!!
The wind is still howling mind, we might have a bumpy night in store!
Hartlepool
No Travelling
Despite the wind, I slept quite well, well apart from the window being wide open at the side of me as Wendy gets too hot during the night, me meanwhile, I get blown all over the place!
I was up at 6:55 am and doing my tippy toeing routine around the van, but it didn’t help, Wendy was up within 5 minutes and drinking tea within 6.
Wendy went out running first and I followed about 10 minutes later. I came across her on a country lane, she was coming back. She told me a man had told her that you can walk to Newcastle along this route. It was a tarmac road but Wendy said it went into a rough track about a mile down the road and that she didn’t like it. I gave it a go, I got to the point Wendy had, and she had done well because there were very high nettles along the path, but it was obvious the farmer didn’t want anyone on his land as all other paths had been closed and this one was too far overgrown. It was a shame really as it was a very nice looking woodland.
I eventually found a road that appears to lead to the coast but by the time I had worked it out I was at my daily distance.
I found it very hard work again today and I was very despondent about it, I think I will ditch these tablets from now on, I’ve been taking them for about ten days and they seem to be building up in my system. I have only 3 more to take and they don’t seem to have helped with the pain, in fact it would be better to feel better in my mind and in pain than feel down for no reason.
I got back to the van and the wind was still quite fierce and it started to rain, not heavily but it seemed so by the noise inside the van.
We set off just after midday for our first destination, The Tees Transporter Bridge.
I have wanted to look at this bridge for years. There was a storyline involving it in the TV programme “Auf Wiedersehen Pet” in 2002 when the lads were supposed to dismantle it and transport and rebuild it in Arizona, USA. In fact the storyline was that good that people actually contacted the council to complain.
The bridge was amazing, but much smaller than we both thought it would be. It was closed too, for emergency repairs, but in fairness it would have been closed anyway due to the high winds.
The bridge is very particular and there were only ever 24 in the world, and there are now only 12 left. This one takes passengers across the River Tees.
Cars board a gondola and they are then carried across the river to the other side. There is also two separate, covered areas for foot passengers. They are popular because you don’t need to build expensive ramps as you do for traditional bridges. You just drive right up to it, drive on to the gondola and then drive off at the other side.
It really is amazing!!!
Here’s some Tees Transporter Facts:
From there we drove ¾ of a mile and parked up for a good look around Middlesbrough Town Centre.
The town was pretty decent, with lots of streets with stores open and doing well. There were at least 3 small shopping centres, again with lots of shops open and the sun was out too, albeit still a tadge windy.
The thing that I noticed was that an awful lot of people were smoking cigarettes, which is something you do notice, especially when you don’t smoke.
We had one small beer in a Weatherspoon’s bar before doing some shopping, where thankfully I found a new running jacket as my current one is on its last legs.
We came across some church bells that were set out in the street opposite a church where a wedding was taking place, the bells were ringing quite loudly too.
We then set off walking to another Weatherspoon’s bar about a half mile away and we came across two streets that seemed to have a party culture.
We also passed the town hall and it was stunning in size and architecture but the stone being very old did look very bleak.
We bagged our second bar and walked back passing the wedding crowd who appeared to have been asked to dress in a 1920’s theme as many of them looked like part players in a 1920’s gangster film, or it might have been “A Big Fat Gypsy Wedding!”
As we had ten minutes time left on the car parking, we strolled around the party streets and there indeed was an open party going on with a band, and street food. We walked down the two streets, Bedford Street and Baker Street. These two streets were once terraced housing that have been bought and made into boutiques, cafes and bars. It works really well and the atmosphere was terrific.
As we walked along we bought 3 very large scotch eggs, a wild pigeon one, a pork and chorizo one and a wild game and black pudding one, all for our supper tonight, they looked very tasty.
From there we drove a few miles to another north eastern town, Stockton on Tees.
This town did not disappoint either. The town has at its heart a very wide and busy main street that also hosts an outdoor market in the traditional sense. The River Tees is a stone’s throw from the High Street.
While walking we came across a large plinth with nothing on it, on closer inspection we found that an early train, a recreation of The Stockton Flyer, is housed inside the plinth and it gets raised every day at 1pm.
It was inspired by George Stephenson’s Locomotion No 1which was the first to run on the world’s first modern passenger railway - the Stockton and Darlington - and on September 27, 1825, it arrived triumphantly into Stockton.
Here’s a link to a YouTube page where you can see it in action, its well worth it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31oErylt0Ps
It cost £118,000 to install, I know this as I came across a Freedom of Information request from a Mr D Barnett whilst researching for tonight’s copy.
Wendy bought 4 punnets of strawberries from a market trader for the small sum of £1!
We walked the full length of the High Street and at the very far end we came across yet another Weatherspoon’s Bar, which we also bagged.
From there we crossed a very high Millennium Bridge that crosses the River Tees from the town’s only shopping centre.
The sun was out and the breeze had abated, a little, and it was very pleasant walking between an old and the new bridge.
Back in the car we set off back to the van which was by now about 12 miles away and we listened to the football scores being read out at 5pm on BBC Radio 5. This took both Wendy and me back to our childhood days of her mother and my grandad taking down the scores while everyone in the house had to be very, very quiet. That must have happened in every house in the UK every Saturday afternoon as football pools were the only way of winning a fortune in those days and nearly every house did them. Memories eh?
We stopped off at a few shops for provisions and then we got back to the van at around 6pm.
As Wendy was trimming the strawberries we heard a massive noise of something hitting the caravan. I thought we had been hit by a car, the noise was that loud.
I looked out of the door and saw a pigeon badly injured on the floor. It had flown directly into the van and had most likely broke its neck. I left him alone as I knew picking him up would most likely kill him, or her and I hoped against all odds that he, or she might just have been dazed and would eventually come round. It didn’t, it was dead 20 minutes later.
Supper was tapas, with a selection of trout flakes, crusty bread, olives, cold pork chops and something fancy we bought in Lidl a week ago, oh and of course the scotch eggs, which were a dream to eat. They were so filling we were stuffed and hardly ate anything else.
This has been a very interesting and surprisingly pleasant day out, after yesterday’s trip to Hartlepool I was expecting the same with Middlesbrough and Stockton, thankfully it didn’t turn out as such!
Hartlepool
No Travelling
We had a change of tack with last night’s bedtime ventilation programme, my bedside window was closed and the roof light above the bed was left open as was the kitchen window. It was bloody freezing, but I nestled down and I got a much better sleep than last night. I even allowed myself an extra hour in bed and I didn’t get up until 7:57am.
I was late running this morning, it’s my caravan job to empty the toilet cassette and as Wendy had checked us in, she hadn’t asked about the empty point. It took us both another 15 minutes to locate it in an obscure area which we had previously searched. Wendy went running and left me to it.
I was out about 20 minutes later and I ran down to the beach. I had to ask a very nice lady how to get there as it wasn’t very clear. She gave me very clear instructions and was keen to warn me about being cut off by the tide.
I got there and I did indeed see the possibility of being cut off by the incoming tide as there is a large sandbank that you could not make out and the incoming tide would be behind you before you knew it. With this in mind, I kept my eye on the tide as it was well on its way in. I ran a mile along the sand and came off the beach at the end of my 4th mile.
I asked yet another lady about running along the embankment and she assured me that I could get back to the estate from where I joined the beach.
The beach is quite something and there is an old rundown and now cut off wooden pier.
I got back latish as I had to keep stopping with leg pain but I did indeed make it back and I felt much better in myself as we say, Up North, and I then had an amazing strawberry smoothie from yesterday’s bargain.
We had a few rainstorms pass over as the wind blew them in, some of them were very heavy and we battened down for a few hours. This was quite nice as being in the caravan you can see and experience the elements at their worst but enjoy it from the warmth and comfort of central heating with all round vision.
I caught up with some admin duties as life doesn’t stop just because you’re on the road. My next job is to sort out caravan insurance actually, which is a third more expensive than our home and contents insurance, now that’s very bizarre.
The weather improved at around 2pm and we set off in the car for a visit to Seaham which is about 12 miles up the coast.
We arrived about 30 minutes later and the sun was still out but the wind was still a little troublesome.
We found Seaham to be a delightful little seaside town that had one main high street and a very interesting harbour.
The harbour had three outer walls and the marina where pleasure boats were stored were probably the most sheltered in the UK.
The main outer wall was closed to public access, it was for angling club members only, the buggers, as it would have been a very pleasant walk out there.
Never mind, we walked down the high street which was closed and all the shop shutters were down and fully closed, which gives the impression of it being a not very nice area, but its most likely that it’s a requirement of insurance that shops have them fitted. The few that didn’t have them fitted are mostly likely owners who couldn’t afford the short term high fitting payment which would eventually be recovered by a lower insurance premium in the longer run.
We nipped into a, yes you’ve guessed, Weatherspoon’s bar for a drink and a chat. This was a very, very nice bar with well-behaved kids and people just chatting and having a very pleasant afternoon. The tables were cleared appropriately and it made for a very pleasant visit.
From there we walked along the sea front and we saw the connection with the coal mining industry which was the reason I wanted to go and see the town. There were shops named after coalmining themes, The Lamproom, The Coalface and the Miners Arms. This was a coal town that had mines which ran out under the North Sea and the connection between coal and sea was made even stronger by the docks being constructed to transport the coal to the British Empire.
We walked along the sea front and we came across a remarkable sculpture of a WWI Soldier, Tommy. It had a poem inscribed by the sculptures artist on a brass plaque but as the sun was shining I couldn’t get a good photograph of it, but I later found it online, here it is:
“Now adrift in the wake of this glorious slaughter.. he'd seen many a soul cleansed in filthy water ..seen godless men reach out for the bible ..as lead tore the flesh from both friend and rival ..soon home to the joy and celebration of kin ..drunken slaps on the back at a favourite inn ..but heavy in his pocket lies a small piece of card .. and the note written on it will break a mothers heart”.
This amazing sculpture by Ray Lonsdale is 9 foot 5 inches tall, weighs 1.2 tons and is now a permanent memorial on the sea front, next to the Cenotaph on Terrace Green.
The sculpture was only supposed to be temporary but the local community, "Keep Tommy" Campaign group raised the £85,000 needed to buy the steel sculpture.
After that amazing little town we hopped into the car and headed for a “New Town”, Peterlee.
What can I say about Peterlee, well I guess, “I won’t be back soon”
The town was planned after the Second World War for mining families and the town centre is formed around high walled streets that form a kind of open air shopping centre, with a small shopping centre inside the walls.
The town was closed again and there were some likely looking characters using old fashioned mobile phones, which can be untraceable and are often used by criminal kinds!
One good thing was the Weatherspoon’s bar, which although not as good as the one in Seaham, it was reasonably a good natured bar, but with no families and some dodgy looking chancers frequenting it.
We had a quiet drink and then set off back, but before we left we went to look at the Apollo Pavilion which is a concrete structure in a housing estate on the outskirts of town. It passes over a small water course and its very concrete looking. It has been subject to vandalism over the years but it had been given awards and it has now been fully restored. It is a homage to the Apollo 11 Moon Landing and was erected in1970.
In December 2011 English Heritage gave the pavilion a Grade-II listing.
We didn’t stay long, it was that kind of housing estate where you get robbed by four year olds.
As it’s our last night in this location we went to the Historic area of Headland which is out of town but quite close to where we are staying.
The sun was still out as we walked around the coastline and we came across an impromptu street party which was now winding down and it looked like it had been quite an afternoon with the amount of rubbish around.
This was a very nice place, that could be a little better, but I guess it could have been an awful lot worse.
We got back just before 7pm and supper was everyman for themselves from yesterday’s leftovers.
Wendy had bought a bottle of the most disgusting wine from a local store as we had forgot that England closes down at 4pm on a Sunday, the wine is that bad that as soon as copy is flied I’ll be cracking open my emergency bottle of rum.
Hartlepool to Richmond
48 Miles
We woke up nice and early at 06:50 and I was out of bed smartish as I was hungry and in need of breakfast. Wendy was drinking tea in bed, as usual 2 minutes later.
Its start of the month banking day so I had some chores to do before I went running and as usual Wendy was out long before me, I also had to wait for my paracetamol painkillers to kick in.
I went out running and got to the Headland where we walked last night for one last look at the sea and although it was quite breezy the sun was out and by the time I was at the coast the tide was fully up and lapping at the sea wall and I loved it.
I set off back and my sciatica was very painful but I was confident of getting back in one piece.
However, silly me took a wrong turning in an estate and I ended up doing an extra half mile. I was in agony at 8.4 miles so I had to walk the last bit, it was a bummer!
I had my smoothie, and completed my ablutions with a shave and a shower. As at the start of every month, I use a new razor blade, which gives a very clean shave and with it being a five blade design, a very sharp razer I have to be very careful or I’ll nick myself as I have done in the past, not so easy in a confined caravan bathroom.
In no time at all we were all packed up and heading to Richmond, 41 miles to the south west.
As we drove along we were listening to the latest Brexit debacle on the Jeremy Vine show and I took a wrong turn meaning we had to drive through Tony Blair’s old constituency, Sedgefield.
Thankfully I manged to get back on track and despite roadworks close to Richmond trying to thwart us, the Sat Nav got us to our campsite safe and sound.
Jeepers Richmond is at the bottom of the Swaledale Valley and our campsite is at the top, of an extremely big, massive in fact, hill! It’s a killer but our little car pulled the van up without a problem.
We found our campsite which is about two miles out of Richmond in the very nice village of Hudswell. We are overlooking the valley and it’s very nice, although the wind is still giving us a bit of a battering.
After a cup of coffee we drove into Richmond where after eventually finding somewhere to park the car we took a stroll around town, and it’s lovely!
The main part of the town is a circle of shops which are formed around a church and market square and is itself formed on a hill. It’s a very nice place and has been described as the most romantic town in England. There’s also a very nice number of very good looking pubs and bars, in fact you could have a very enjoyable pub crawl there.
As we walked we found a sign on the wall of the building talking about a total eclipse of the sun in 1927, it happened at 6:20am on a June morning. The eclipse was built up to be such a spectacular event that the author, Virginia Wolfe took a train from London arriving late at a level crossing a few miles from Richmond at 3:30, from there they took an omnibus to Richmond. The eclipse lasted 24 seconds at 6.20am. The clouds were out, as they would be in Yorkshire, and they only briefly saw the sun, although it obviously went very dark, very quickly, Virginia felt that she had been cheated.
We took a look at Richmond Castle but decided against going in as it was no getting on and it was now late afternoon. As we strolled we walked past a man who had three black Labrador’s on leads, one of them being a puppy, the other two were seasoned dogs and were well behaved, the pup was feisty, the fella said as I passed, he was under training, I could see that he had his work cut out!
I called into a Chemist to ask advice about my sciatica but the pharmacist wasn’t much help so I left emptyhanded, he told me to consult my doctor, all the while doctors say go see a pharmacist before coming to see us!
I then came up with today’s night-time dining plan, dine in, or dine out at the village pub which is a few hundred yards from the site.
To this end we bought fillet steak, black pudding and beef sausage and a huge chunk of black pudding from a local butcher. My thinking was if we didn’t have it today we would have it tomorrow!
Thankfully I found another chemist and this time I got some sense and some ibuprofen anti-inflammatory tablets!
From there we took a beer in the local Weatherspoon’s bar which is just outside the town walls, and it was a rather nice beer and a very nice bar.
Wendy nipped over to the very nice Lidl across the road, it’s built of solid stone, most likely a planning requirement, while I went to get the car.
As I walked past the cricket pitch, I nipped in to take a photo and I found a most delightful cricket green where I would love to sit and watch a local match on a nice warm summer’s day.
After collecting Wendy from the shop we headed back to the van to unload before walking upto the pub.
Back at the site I chatted with the site owner, a nice old man, who showed me his very new information shed so that I could see the menu for the pub, and it did indeed look very tasty, the menu that is. I asked about the new shed, it’s massive and very, very new.
He told me and then showed me his old information shed, it was a small garden shed with a sign outside saying, “Mind your head”. He said despite that sign people still banged their head and then recently a very old man knocked himself out and had to be transported to Darlington Hospital where he was kept in for several days and that he required 17 stiches to his head wound. He then could not drive his car for several weeks and had to continue his stay at the campsite!
Supper at the lovely English Village pub, the George and Dragon, was a pure delight, it was the best pub meal I have ever had. I had locally caught rabbit pie, chips, mushy peas and gravy. It was hot, tasty and just bloody lovely. Wendy had a local lamb dish and some of my chips too which she liked as well.
The beer was very nice too.
After chatting with the waitress who told me that the pie was made in their kitchen, we walked back to the caravan and settled down as the wind got wilder and wilder and the rain started.
The heating is on, Wendy is chuckling along with Downton Abby on her IPad through her ear plugs, I’m listening to Sky News and the latest Boris chat to the British People.
Do you know, I don’t think may people believe a word he says, but then I think that not many people would trust Jeremy Corbyn with running the country either!
We are all in a right old pickle and my advice is to, “Keep Calm and Have a Pint”, preferably a pint of Yorkshire Bitter!
Richmond
No Travelling!
I was late to bed last night, I did that very modern thing of watching a TV box set, well a catch up of a TV series on Netflix that I never saw when it was on TV, The Peaky Blinders. I was on series two and it was escalating to an almighty big event at the Epsom Derby, consequently I was late up from bed this morning not opening my eyes until 7:30am.
The wind had howled throughout the night but thankfully no rain.
I was a bit apprehensive about the morning run as it’s very hilly here in the Yorkshire Dales, in fact Wendy Gill didn’t even get out of bed taking a second cup of tea back to bed with her.
I was worried about running the hills with my sciatic pain, but low and behold it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the day before and I really enjoyed my run, hills and all and I saw some lovely countryside. I came to another village just over 3 miles away, Downholme, and they have the most delightful looking country pub, The Bolton Arms, in fact it’s an Inn with vacancies when I passed at 09:00.
At the 4 miles turnaround point I stood having a drink and I could hear loud cracks of noise over the radio station I was listening to on my iPhone. I turned the volume down and then I could hear it clearly. It was the rat-a-tat-tat of machine gun fire. Soon after this was followed by heavier fire, maybe from an artillery vehicle. There was some military scrap being played out and it was quite eerie to listen to it in the pleasant Yorkshire Countryside
I got back to the van in a very cheery mood as I had made it there and back with just minor discomfort.
Wendy was up and dressed and had cleaned the bathroom and had two bags of washing ready for our trip to the laundrette.
After breakfast, off we set for the nearest laundrette, 3.5 miles away at Catterick Garrison.
Now I had never thought it but Catterick Garrison is a small town that has built up around the large army barracks there. The barracks in the largest British Army Garrison in the world with over 13,000 army personnel based there.
The army hopes to increase its size to over 25,000 by the year 2020 making it the largest population centre in the area.
Well I never!!!
There’s no wonder that large stores such as Aldi and Tesco have opened up there, in fact there’s a huge shopping retail park just outside the camps grounds.
We parked up and Wendy managed to get the last free washing machine, it was the busiest laundrette I have seen. There was just one women doing service washing but she had about 10 machines and 6 tumble dryers on the go. There was washing everywhere and we were amazed she never got it mixed up.
We had half an hour to wait for the machine to finish so we had a little walk around and we saw loads of army people going about everyday life in their camouflage uniforms, we even saw women too, some old ones at that!
The idea to site the Garrison there came from Lord Baden-Powell while based as Inspector General of Cavalry when he was based at Richmond Castle in the early 1900’s.
I didn’t take any photos, I daren’t as I saw a few signs warning people to be vigilant about terrorists. I didn’t want someone to think I was sizing a job up!
We got the washing home to dry and I took Wendy off for a short circular drive to show her the Bolton Arms and a monument in the distance from the top of the main hill.
We were back at the van in no time and after a cup of coffee and a slice of bread and jam we took off for an afternoon walk along the River Swale into Richmond.
And what a cracking walk it was!
The walk took us out from the rear of the caravan site and onto a nice woodland walk. First we walked along the side of grass fields and along a very deep, steep drop into the gorge below, it was very impressive if not a little dangerous, one small slip and you’d be down at the bottom.
We walked downwards and then along the river, there was a small bridge across the river but Len, the site owner, told me not to cross it as it only leads to the main road.
We walked along the river and over stone obstacles which was again a bit hairy, but very much worth the effort.
Now long after we got back onto a solid path and soon we were at the main bridge into the town, but still we were at riverbed level.
We walked further downriver to the famous River Swale Waterfalls and they were indeed quite stunning. They were that good they even reminded me of the Niagara Falls. Obviously they are not at such a great height, nor with the volume of water flowing down. But they have both a horseshoe and a flat faced fall like the Niagara Falls do.
We walked up into town and had a pint of beer in a Market Square bar, a pint and a half cost almost a fiver, not the £2.80 I paid for the same amount and I must say, better beer, in Weatherspoon’s yesterday.
Here’s some Richmond Facts:
We walked back a different route, a higher route to avoid the slippery path. Jeepers we were high, very high and sweating, as it was a very high path. Then would you believe we came back down to the river again at the foot bridge and then had to climb yet again to get back to the caravan.
All in we did about 5.5 miles and it was a very enjoyable afternoon.
We got back at 18:00, did some supper prep and then went for a pint in the Bolton Arms!
I had a nice pint there, Wendy had a soda and lime and we settled down to study the map for tomorrows adventure which we think we have now have in the bag.
As we left the pub Wendy said, “If you don’t mind me saying that pub is all, fur coat and no knickers”. Well that’s a statement to make, but I get where she was coming from, you see it’s all very country pub looking but not very friendly inside. People were whispering and not chatting, the staff were even whispering to the dinners, so I do understand what she was saying. It was also £4.90 for one pint and one soda and lime as well!!!
I cooked supper, salad, fillet steak and black pudding sausage, what a delight it was, it was actually an utter delight, it was a 10 on my yummy scrummy scale of 1 to 10, it was that good. The sausage were absolutely topping!!! Enough said!
We watched Bake Off and as we enter the “Show Stopper” round I am eagerly awaiting the next Brexit shenanigans in the House of Commons!
Richmond
No Travelling!
I was late up again this morning, for no reason other than it was a nice night and I sat looking out of the caravan window across the valley while I was in bed last night. This site is remote from street lighting and we are deep into the country and it was just too nice to miss this opportunity for peace, quiet and solitude.
I wasn’t up too late though, about 7:40, and I was wide awake and ready to go out soon enough.
Wendy went out running before me, this time I had to sort out the grey waste water, I do seem to get all the dirty job.
Just so you understand our location, we are high on the hills in the Swaledale Valley, however when we go to the main, and only road in the village and turn right we have a two and a half mile hill climb that is quite challenging in places. At the top there is a look out and then the road goes down, even more steeply to the village of Downholme, where the pub is where we went for a drink last night. Now that is a huge steep hill, you know it’s steep when there is a grit bin every hundred yards.
I set off up the hill and I immediately came across three serious looking people, with reflective jackets on and just either side of their location were very properly constructed road signs that said, “Community Speed Checks”. One lady and two men, all appeared to be OAP’s, one man had a speed gun and he pointed it at a passing taxi, the lady had a clipboard and wrote something on it.
They were all very polite to me and said good morning, but they did have the air of busybody about them. Now don’t get me wrong I bet people speed through the single road village and I guess it’s a job that needs doing, it’s just they seem to look like the people who would do it.
Just before the one mile point I came across Wendy Ann Gill who I tried to stop and have a quick chat with but all I could get out of her was, “I’m never doing that again!”, which I took to mean running up that hill.
I actually took a minor side road that took me another mile and a half, but then I came to a main road which appeared to be too busy and fast too run along. I stopped to look at my phone map in the hope that there would be a cross road I could take, but there wasn’t. However I heard the same machine gun sounds that I heard yesterday, but it was much closer. I turned off my earphones and I could hear the soldiers shouting to each other, it was like I was in the midst of WWIII.
I about turned and got out of there taking the same route back.
I got back to the main village road and I had to get to the top to get my mileage in. As I got there the wind was howling but I sat on the grass for a drink of water where I was chatted up by a lonely ewe.
I got back to the van and had breakfast.
We had planned a day out in the car for today and the weather although windy, the sun was out and it was reasonably pleasant so we set off for a tour of Swaledale and Wensleydale.
The road got narrow when we left Richmond and we had to go slow in places. Our first stop was in the village of Reeth where we went for a walk, and the heavens opened, it chucked it down. It started as spittle and then just got heavier and heavier.
Undaunted we did do a full tour of the village and got back to the car and carried on.
Our next stop was in the lovely small village of Feetham, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park to take a drink in the Punchbowl Inn.
We were impressed to see the pub was built in 1638, and it was a very nice pub with a lovely landlady and food was flying out of the kitchen and it looked delicious.
The place was full so we sat at the bar where the landlady told us there was an agricultural show along the road and has the rain had now increased people were leaving for an early lunch.
As we sat at the bar we could see a table of eight people sat eating lunch with a baby girl of about 18 months who was sat at the tables end with a bowl of sausage. The baby was in a high chair and watching Peppa Pig on her dads IPhone, with the sound fully on while everyone was eating their meal.
No one took any notice of the child, no one chatted with her and apart from her dad who was occasionally trying to shove some sausage into her mouth, without much success.
We were both not impressed, Wendy commentated on the child’s likely future behaviour. She would have not have any decent interaction skills, she wouldn’t know about table manners and she would likely not get along with other people because everyone ignored her. But at least everyone else at the table enjoyed their meal, even if everyone in the bar had to suffer Peppa Pig on loudspeaker.
This is shocking parental behaviour and it doesn’t bode well for the future.
If you can recall, Avid Reader, we came across this in St Louis this summer when a man sat at the dinner table next to us in a restaurant and watched an episode of Star Trek on his phone while he ate his meal. Owners need to wise up to this and stop it from happening.
From there we drove on and we did indeed come across the agricultural fair, which looked to becoming a damp squib with lots of people leaving due to the driving rain, well you couldn’t blame them.
Just after the village of Muker we took a left turn and climbed high into the Dales and went from the Swaledale Valley into the Wensleydale Valley.
This road was very high and we saw a stupendous waterfall across a small valley, but for the life of me I was not stopping the car and getting soaked to the skin just for a photograph.
Our next stop was at the very pretty village of Hawes where the rain stopped long enough for us to have a very nice walkabout, with our big coats on mind. As we strolled we came across a lovely fast flowing waterfall, on a fairly large river which was between two buildings. It looked very impressive and as I said to Wendy, this was the water running at the back end of summer, what must it be like in February.
Our next stop was Leyburn where we did do another walkabout but with rain looming we nipped into a bar for a beer and to see a little of the cricket, where we were amazed to see the wind blowing off the bales. In all my years of watching cricket I have never seen a cricket Test Match be played without bales, it was extremely interesting and from his body language it looked like England’s Skipper, Joe Root didn’t know the rules regarding this, which is, apparently, that the umpire will decide the fate of the batsman should the ball hit the wicket.
By 5:30 pm we had had enough and we gave up on our last planned destination of the day, the village of Bedale for another visit sometime in the future and we headed back to the van for some winter like comfort food of black pudding sausage, North Yorkshire Black pudding and fried eggs, and it was absolutely stonking, just what the doctor ordered!
Richmond to Galphy
36 Miles
I didn’t put the front window blind down last night as I wanted to be up nice and early as we had to depart our site by 11:00. The sun crept onto my face in bed at around 06:30 and I was wide awake in no time a good half hour before my alarm which was set at 07:00.
I had my breakfast and Wendy woke up, drank her tea and despite her protestations yesterday she got herself ready and went out hill running just before me.
I went shortly after and I did the same route as I had the day before which meant I had to go to the top of the hill to get my 8 miles for the day.
About a half mile from the top of the hill is a kind of crossroads, but it only is a gravel road which crosses the main road and disappears into woodland at each side of the road. There are road signs posted that say to beware of crossing tanks.
I haven’t seen any tanks but there was a squad of soldiers there, all in their camouflage gear with riffles and their faces painted black. There was about a dozen of them all stood in close quarters and looking a little perplexed while doing some, what looked like map reading.
It looked a fraught situation and a senior officer was there with them all, or a training officer. I knew this has he had a fancy cap and no webbing gear.
I ran past them and I don’t think they noticed me. On my way back, ten minutes later, I could see they were all sat in a line and one would stand and cross the road and enter the woods with their weapons ready, after they had gone about 15 yards the next soldier would then move out and follow. As I past them there were only 3 left and they were looking in my direction so I gave them a thumbs up and all 3 of their faces lit up and I got a wave back from each of them, and then the next man went out, to an uncertain future.
I say this as when I got back to the caravan ten minutes later I could hear an almighty gun battle coming from that direction, I guess they’d either found the enemy, or the enemy had found them!
We left on time and first we drove to the local Lidl in Richmond for some supplies and so we could park our caravan there while we nipped to the butchers in town for some more black pudding sausage.
The Lidl in Richmond is brand new and it is built entirely of stone and it looks amazing, it must have cost 3 times the normal price of a standard new building and I guess it was something to do with Richmond’s planning laws.
With our provisions tucked up we set off for our new location, a small site a few miles out of Rippon, a journey of 29 miles.
We headed down the A1 and got off at Bedale and from there we had a 14 mile journey on normal roads. We got within about 8 miles from our intended location and then it all went wrong.
Roads were closed everywhere and without diversions. Thankfully I manged to stop a local lady and she gave me some directions which was a big help as the Sat Nav took over later on. We did however go through some very narrow country lanes and we did indeed pass our campsite as the bins were blocking the bloody sign. Thankfully I’m not daunted in reversing into even narrower country lanes and we were on site soon after, and with an additional 7 miles on our journey.
We had the van sited and started to get the awning up and Wendy filled both water barrels from a hose close by. The awning was up, despite the very windy conditions, thankfully the sun was out. I pegged the awning down to within an inch of her life and Wendy put the table and chairs up and we had a lovely cup of coffee.
I went to pay our camp fees and I told the farmer about the local road closures and he told me that the roads are all being resurfaced for the World Cycle Championship which starts at the end of September. He said that it’s been a dam nuisance, well it sure was to me.
We have been waiting for today as Aldi bring out their new weekly range today and I fancy getting an electrical slow cooker for the van, I have used the oven before but I don’t like to leave the gas on too long when we aren’t there so an electric one would be much better.
I have had a small joint waiting to use it too so off we set to the Rippon shop and we bought one.
After making our purchases and as Aldi was very close to the town centre we had a little walk around the Cathedral, the town centre and the canal. It was only a short trip and we didn’t go into the Cathedral as we hope to do that tomorrow.
The town was busy and the market stalls were just being packed away.
We stopped in the Weatherspoon’s Bar, The Unicorn, for a very nice beer and after a walk to the canal we set off back to the van.
Walking back to the car we stopped to look in a nice shop window and we saw that an old fellow had fallen asleep in a chair, which was for sale, while his wife shopped!
We saw indeed some very nice resurfaced roads and lots of hand knitted bunting in the shape cycle shirts all over town which made it look very pretty.
Back at the van I was listening to the cricket, it’s not been a good day for England, and Wendy was sat out in the awning. I saw a man washing his toilet cassette out of the same tap as Wendy had filled our water tanks. I asked her about it and she said that it was a drinking water tap, there was a notice saying so on the tap.
So I went and spoke to the old man, who was a very nice and he told me the sign says, not drinking water. Wendy hadn’t got her glasses on and had not seen the not lettering on the sign, and she has been to Specsavers!!!
So after a very nice supper of something warmed up that had previously been slow cooked, muggings here had to empty two full barrels, wash them out, flush the system and wash everything else that had been used with the water.
Thankfully the only water we had drunk from that tap was the coffee which had at least been boiled beforehand. If we both die of dysentery in the night at least there will be a record of what went on!!!
She’s a bugger that Wendy, she never has her bloody glasses with her and guesses what’s written.
I fancied a walk to the local pub after the cricket so off we set, and it was just over a mile away, on a country road with no pavments and mad drivers, Wendy didn’t like it.
The pub was OK, a very nice, friendly farming type lad was running the show because the owner and his family and the cook and all the other staff were in Benidorm celebrating his 50th and his daughters 18th birthday. But they took the bloody cook too, so there’s no food at the pub, now that’s not good, I was going to book in for Saturady night and the watch the England match.
Wendy sat at a table near to where I was sat at the bar and I chatted with the young barmaid and then a girl came in and they talked country talk, horse ridng, braiding and hunting, boarding school got a mention, it seems to me that North Yorkshire is a very wealthy place, I guess that’s why Wiliam Haigh was their MP for so many years!
We got back and watched a little TV, I had some Rippon Black pudding with a glass of wine, it didn’t meet my expectiations, and its certainly nowehere near as nice as Barnsley BP.
See you tomorrow Avid Reader, that’s if I make it throught the night, what with the wind getting up and Wendy Gill subjecting me to biological warefare!!!
Galphy
No Travelling
I did say the wind was getting up last night didn’t I, well it got worse, much worse.
I nodded off without any problem, I could hear the wind whistling but it was fine and then sometime around 2am it really took off, it was gale force.
This went on all night long.
At one point I thought we were going to the Land of Oz, yes it was that wild. I opened the bedroom blind to check on the awning and thankfully, although she was getting a pummelling, she held her ground.
The wind was relentless and we were being regularly buffeted to the point that we were leaning over on two legs.
I would have spells of nodding off and then another big gust would rock us to the core and I would be wide awake again and checking on the awning. I did worry about the air inflated awning as it’s like a bouncy castle. I had given it a good pegging down last night but I did feel the need to get dressed and put some more pegs in. But then I thought, bugger, its wild out there.
This went on right upto daybreak, where I could see clearly the awning bouncing around but still remaining firmly rooted.
I dropped off again, and it seemed that when I was asleep Wendy was awake and visa-versa and sometimes we woke each other up with our tutting!
I gave up at 08:00 so I could listen to One Little Word on Dearne FM and yet another wrong answer was given. The prize money has now risen to £990 and it will be £1,000 on Monday if it doesn’t get won this afternoon.
As I had my breakfast I opened the front blind and saw that by now it was raining, quite hard. Wendy was still asleep and didn’t wake until I had the kettle boiling.
I hung around for a while but I thought that this was how it was going to be for the rest of the day, so got dressed for running. There was no way Wendy was going anywhere.
We also had some power outages and I had to go and reset the power breaker two or three times. As I was getting dressed it went again and as the switch box is quite near to our van I could see the site owner and a women at the box. I went out and said that I had reset it a few times already. The women was quite huffy and said yes there’s a problem and we’re getting the blame for it and she walked off in the direction of a large American type RV, who I am sure has lots of electrical using items as they do in the States, that’s why they have 50 amp power outlets while we only have 10 amps. I left them to it and showed Wendy how to reset the heating should it go again
I got out and thankfully the wind was a little calmer and I ran to the nearby village and off up into the hills.
Would you believe the rain stopped, the sky cleared and it turned out to be a very nice day.
I hadn’t taken my sun glasses with me as I was absolutely sure that I wouldn’t need them and I cursed myself when the sun bore into my eyes like laser beams.
I got back to the van and I must admit I didn’t enjoy my run, I was knackered actually, the nights shenanigans had taken its toll, but at least I got my mileage in.
Wendy said that the power had gone off again but it was steady now.
I had my smoothie and I was watching a fella outside plug into a spare outlet on our power box, low and behold the power went off, but he took his lead away, put our power back on and left our box alone and found another.
I was just getting into the shower when the old fella across came to our van and asked why the man two doors down had plugged into the other field power box where they have space for a few more vans. I said I didn’t know but I told him about how it took our power when he plugged into our box. He was worried his mate who is coming for a month today might not have power.
I was now getting grumpy!!!
I just got ready for the shower and his mate plugged into our box and tripped our power, I was in despair, there’s obviously a problem with that power outlet.
Thankfully I could shave, shower and dress and by the time I was dressed I could see the old fella try to restore our power and thankfully it went back on.
Before we went out for the day I put tonight’s dinner into the slow cooker and set it on a low heating, I then went and told the old fella that there’s an issue with that outlet, leave it alone, my dinner is on, or words to that affect.
We then drove to Ripon and had a very nice few hours walking around in the sunshine.
We walked all around the city and popped into interesting shops and when we had covered every street on offer we went and did a tour of the Cathedral.
And it’s another smashing Cathedral, built out of stone with a pitched, lead lined roof.
As we walked around I marvelled at the stone mason’s workmanship, it is fantastic and to say it was laid sometime in the Middle Ages is astounding. The Cathedral was founded in 672 and has been rebuilt several times but the crypt is the original one and it is the oldest church crypt in the Country.
We did wander down into the crypt, it’s very small and I must say, somewhat eerie.
We also marvelled at the wood carvings around where the choir sit, it is unbelievably amazing that this was carved many hundreds of years ago.
After our self-guided tour we sat for a while in the nave while the organist put some practice in and I really enjoyed it, I felt relaxed and rested.
From there we took a stroll along the river, a river that has a city ford for cars to cross, and we enjoyed a pint at a riverside bar. I was listening to the cricket from my portable radio but apparently a women close by was talking nonstop and using very bad language, Wendy said later. She was in her 50’s, and I’m being kind now. She interrupted me as I briefly chatted with Wendy about the cricket but I could see she was a bit rough so I didn’t linger in the conversation.
After drinking up we finished our walk and then did a short tour of the canal, which was very nice.
After a shop at Aldi we got back to the van and found that the slow cooker was boiling nicely and that all was good with the world.
I listened to the last of the cricket commentary and then settled down for some slow cooked ham, veg and Mrs Betty’s frozen Yorkshire Pudds.
I’m going to watch England V Italy at Rugby and then have a well-deserved early night, hopefully!!!
It’s now half time, England are 9 nil up but Italy have been very hard to break down.
Supper was lovely but I need to get my timings right because after 7 hours the spuds were still a little hard.
Practice makes perfect, so they say!
Galphy
No Travelling
I had a very good night’s sleep last night, I don’t even remember waking at any point, until 6:40am when Wendy Gill uttered a swear word amongst others, “Bloody Powers Off!!!”
It was, for a Nano second, and it came back on but the trouble is that it makes the alarm clock beep and it wakes us up. I opened my eyes quickly to see the clock flashing as we need to reset the time, so we really had no idea how long it had been off.
I have never known a site for such power difficulties, well apart from the ones in Portugal which don’t follow any semblance of electrical science.
I looked out of the window and I saw two of our neighbouring vans packing up, so maybe when they disconnected their supply they caused us a problem.
I got up and I had my breakfast and Wendy did too after her morning cuppa.
The weather was dry but overcast, but thankfully it wasn’t windy.
Wendy went out running and I did my morning chores with regards to waste disposal.
I eventually headed out along a new route and I went through a very pretty, but very small village which was beautifully built from hard Yorkshire stone. There wasn’t much there apart from lovely and expensive looking homes and a very nice village hall.
I them climbed for three miles into the hills of the Yorkshire Dales, it was straight up all the way and I ended up on top of the moor. There was drizzle on top and a bit of a breeze so I didn’t hang about. Needless to say I came back down faster than I went up.
On my return I had my banana smoothie and then after my shower I did some admin duties, finding cheaper caravan insurance. My renewal quote was £298 which is about £60 more than our home insurance so I did some Go Comparing and I found an extremely suitable quote for £168, which includes new for old cover and even European cover as well.
When that was all done and dusted we set off for a visit to the North Yorkshire town of Harrogate which was 12 miles away.
Our drive there was easy enough but there was a big salvage and boot fair with loads of traffic coming the other way, it was backed up for miles, there was even a poor bride in her wedding car stuck almost right at the back.
On arrival we parked in the multi storey carpark which was bang in the town centre and off we set for a walk around.
It was a lovely sunny day now and it was warm enough for my tweed jacket.
It was busy in town and we walked all around the town centre and there are some lovely stone buildings and small parkland areas. There were also a few statues too and some very expensive designer shops.
As we walked we came across a very famous Tea Room, Betty’s Tea Room, which I had never heard of but Wendy apparently had. Bettys has been offering afternoon teas, and a blend of British and Swiss cuisine since 1919. The original Bettys Café, the restaurant overlooks the floral landscapes of The Stray outside and I have to say it is quite an impressive building, which wouldn’t be out of place in Mayfair.
There was however a massive queue of people waiting to get in, the queue was about four deep and about 200 metres long snaking along the pavement. We didn’t go in, we carried on along the road and we eventually came to the biggest Weatherspoon’s Bar I have been in so far, the Winter Gardens which was originally Harrogate’s Royal Baths. The Baths were built so that visitors could relax and stroll in any weather. During the 1920s, people could relax here, amid potted palms, listening to music from a grand piano. In the 1930s, the Municipal Orchestra played every morning throughout the year, with free admission for the patients of the baths.
It was almost full to bursting with groups of men and women talking extremely loudly and we all know how loudly Yorkshire men and women can talk, Wendy called them Gobby Yorkshiremen!
After a nice beer we carried on with our walk and we came across the statue of Cupid and Psyche and it is absolutely stunning.
The storey is that Psyche is a princess so beautiful that the goddess Venus becomes jealous. In revenge, she instructs her son Cupid to make her fall in love with a hideous monster; but instead he falls in love with her himself. Psyche becomes an immortal and the lovers are married in heaven. Well that’s the Greeks for you!
The statue is truly a work of art and it was bought by a syndicate of Harrogate businessmen in the year 1862 where it was placed in the Gardens of the Spa. When the gardens closed in 1958 it was put into storage. It was rediscovered in 1989 and put on display in the town in this security glass enclosure. In total eight were made and one was owned by the son of Tsar Nicolas I of Russia.
After a little more walking we got back to the car and headed on our way back to the van stopping at the most delightful village of Ripley.
Ripley village is the home of Ripley Castle which has housed the family of Ingilby for over 700 years. It was an Ingilby who designed the current village on a French style village and it even has a Hotel du Ville style town hall, the words Hotel du Ville are inscribed into the buildings front elevation.
As we strolled we could see a wedding take place, through the castle gates, in the castle grounds, jeepers I bet that cost an arm and a leg.
We strolled around the village and it is indeed stunning, we saw the only pub, the Boars Head. Apparently there we three pubs originally but the local vicar didn’t like them trading on a Sunday and so he banned then from opening on the sabbath. As this was their most lucrative day they closed down and moved out of the village to start afresh somewhere else. The village had no pub for the next 71 years, what a bummer, religion eh?
I bought a most delicious pork pie from the local shop and Wendy had some very tasty prosecco and strawberry slice, which she adored.
We called in for supplies on the way home and I watched both the football and cricket simultaneously back at the van. The football was on TV and the Cricket on the laptop, the cricket didn’t end well but the football did.
Supper was last night’s leftovers.
Tomorrow is moving day, we are hoping to be close to a country pub for a very nice Yorkshire Sunday Roast!
Galphy to Wighill
31 Miles
Well that was another good night’s sleep, and we woke to a stunning sunshine Sunday morning without any bloody wind, what a winner!
It was moving day so I had to be up early and I was, 07:10 and after my pre-prepared breakfast all laid out for me, which is a first for this trip, I was out and about just turned 8am following Wendy who had pipped me by ten minutes.
I thought I might enjoy a different route this morning making 3 different ones on this stopover and so I checked my app mapping and I thought I had come up with a good one, and I ended up absolutely not only in the wrong direction, but in the wrong village altogether, how that happened I will never really know, I do suspect but I’m not fully sure.
But as we say, “All’s well that ends well” I found myself running to another village, the village of Grewelthope which was a most delightful village that had an amazing looking pub, the Crown Inn. I think I would like to spend a very cold winter’s night there, with the fire stoked and snow falling deeply outside, it was that kind of a pub.
I got back to the van and after breakfast we broke camp, rolling the awning up in record time, although it was a bit wet from the night’s dew.
We said our goodbyes to the only other people on site, the old fella and his wife from Durham and we hit the road. As we have now remembered that shops in England close early on a Sunday in England we called into the Aldi in Ripon before we set off to our next location.
What a performance it was, the car park is the size of a postage stamp and me with the car and caravan just about caused mayhem. Wendy was in the shop for about 20 minutes, she only wanted two items but the queues were so long it took an age for her to come out and I had to do three circles of the carpark to let people get home with their groceries.
The rest of the journey was fine and we found our new site without issue.
We called into the farm house to check in and we could see a birthday banner saying 100 years old today. We found out this was granny who had her birthday on Monday and that she had had a birthday card from the Queen and a telegram sent by Amber Rudd. This was thought to be a collector’s item as it might have been the only one she sent prior to her governmental resignation.
Throughout this day so far I was riveted to the radio and TMS eagerly listening to the commentary from the last day of the Ashes Test match, and it was a morning of ups and downs.
We got onto our site which is in a lovely open field with only one other van there. We selected a site away from the other van that had a very nice outlook and after a bit of hassle levelling we had the awning up in no time at all and then we were all settled in.
After a cup of tea, where I finished the last of my Ripon Black pudding, we set off for a bike ride to explore the village.
We got no further than 100 metres from the end of the drive as we had come across the local pub, the White Swan, where I nipped in to enquire about taking a nice Sunday lunch.
It was nearing 3pm and we were advised to take a table in the bar as they were about to get busy for the afternoon. Wendy was hungry and therefore very keen, so we propped our bikes against a wall and in we went.
Before we ordered we had a beer each and it was very nice, Theakston’s Light Foot, it really was very nice.
We ordered the Sunday Sharer which came with 3 meats, Chicken, Pork and Beef, one massive and very tasty Yorkshire pudding and an assortment of veg. When the beer was finished Wendy ordered a very nice bottle of wine.
The food was almost lovely, the beef was cooked to perfection, as was the pork but the chicken was as tough as old boots. It was dried and hard and it shouldn’t really have been served. The Yorkshire pudding was very nice, as was the gravy. But the spoiler was the chicken, in fairness a staff member asked us how the meal was and I did say that the chicken was very dry and she said that it had been under the halogen lights too long. Well that’s honesty for you, but for a third of your meat on a meat sharer to not be upto standard really isn’t acceptable. I made no more mention of it anymore, I had told a member of staff and they didn’t handle it professionally. As I think I have said before I don’t go out to eat a meal to end up falling out with anyone.
I did eat all my chicken, it was tough but I wouldn’t let the poor old bird die in vain, Wendy, however after her first portion did leave hers.
Now I could accept this as a one off mistake but on reviewing my photographs of the meal on it being served, it’s clear the chicken was hidden behind the other meats and I can’t help but think that this was a trick of the trade, which for me is a sneaky trick.
After dinner, which I might add I had one ear piece in listening to the cricket, I know it might not be considered acceptable but I was very discreet and I still held my attention to my surroundings and chatted as required. I monitord Wendy falling out with the local, young farmer, about a half a dozen eggs. I appreacated it was a very polite fallout but that lad was defiantly not letting Wendy Gill leave that pub before he got his pound, despite her telling him he would get it when she had change from her meal. Just for clarity the eggs were for sale on the fireplace and as Wendy was worried that they might all go before we got our change she took a box. But as bad luck would have it the farmer who the landlord lets sell the eggs in the pub came in and noticed a box missing, thus the great egg, (perceived) robbery had commenced.
I paid the bill, I gave Wendy the pound coin and she gave it to the young farmer and we got out with our lives, phew, well we are in Yorkshire and money is King!
We got back home and sat in the awning, me listening to the cricket and Wendy just chilling out.
As the sun set I got a message from my farming mate, David Brown, who lives in New South Wales, Australia, who was happy with the Ashes win, but he was more ecstatic that he had 11mm of rain overnight so hopefully his crops might grow a little more in the scorching interior heat.
Wighill
No Travelling
I was up at 6:30 this morning feeling quite chipper despite the cricket loss yesterday, ah well we can now all look forwards to the last test at the Oval on Wednesday, where it will most likely rain for 3 days.
I had my breakfast and it started to rain, little, soft pitter-patts of rain falling on the caravan roof. But by the time I was ready to go out the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared up. The sun wasn’t out but at least it was dry.
I found running a little more painful with my sciatica today and I’m putting it down to my current tablets not being strong enough. I must try to get some from the pharmacy and not the supermarket. Having said that it was a fairly flat as we are now out of the Yorkshire Dales and we are now entering the industrial areas.
Wendy went out too and even did five miles as she was now on flat land too!
After breakfast and a shower where by now the sky had darkened and the rain was coming down much heavier than before, we set off for a drive to the nearby town of Wetherby.
We had passed Wetherby Race Course yesterday as we approached our current village so it is a few miles out of Wetherby town.
We parked in a free car park which gave us two hours but having driven almost through the town I knew we wouldn’t need anywhere near that amount of time. As the rain drizzled down we walked around the very pleasant small town.
Wetherby is a small market town which was very popular as a rest area as it is located almost halfway along the old traveling route between London and Edinburgh.
The rain did spoil it a bit as we couldn’t linger around the many flower displays scattered around, even with our brollies up! But we covered all the streets and saw almost all of the shops and the very many cafes.
We bought a Breakfast Roll from a local butcher, we first had one in Ripon, it’s like a sausage roll which has an egg inside it and it’s crust is wrapped in very dry, crispy bacon, it was bloody lovely!!!
We walked down to the River Wharfe which is purely a Yorkshire River from start to finish and it is for much of its length the boundary between West and North Yorkshire and it is 65 miles long and it discharges into the River Ouse.
We did a little shopping in the local Morrsion’s and after about an hour we headed back to the caravan for a cup of tea before heading in the opposite direction, to Selby.
We chose roadside parking in Selby as it’s only a small town which is really one long high street with the Abby at the far end and the River Ouse.
I wanted to come to Selby for one reason which was to come and see the Selby Toll Bridge again. Selby Toll Bridge was the only crossing of the River Ouse in the Selby area and a man would stand in the middle of the bridge and take a coin, I think it was a shilling, (5p), from you. It used to cause traffic chaos as it was a very busy route for people traveling from the south to the City of York.
The current bridge was built in 1970 and is a replica of the 1791 bridge. For many years, the bridge was tolled. This caused lengthy tailbacks at the toll, often snarling up the entire town. In the 1980s, too much relief, the tolls were lifted, bringing much relief to the town. However even though the bridge is now free, it is still known locally as the Toll Bridge.
From memory I have been over the bridge twice before, once on a school bus going to York Railway Museum and once where I was driving and I did indeed put a coin in the Toll Masters hand, and yes I remember the traffic jam it caused.
We also did a tour of Selby Abby, which is another large church building. It was again stunningly built by craftsmen and it was a very nice and enjoyable excursion. By now the rain had stopped but it was still nice to be inside the dry and warmth.
The Abby was built from 1069 that makes it almost 1,000 years old. If I live to its 1,000 birthday I’ll be 108 years old, now there’s a thought!
We found a small opening in the Abby’s wall which was the only way Lepers were allowed to take part in the service, it is called the Lepers Peephole and it’s a long hole that runs transversally so that the Lepers could see Sunday Service.
I was a bit cross at a Chinese couple who were flouting any level of decency by, him, taking glamor shots of her while she held various poses in front of the alter.
Selby was to be the heart of the new Yorkshire Coal fields taking over from South Yorkshire and many millions of pounds were invested in building new mines in the early 1980’s. I knew a few men who transferred there and they found the conditions much safer than in the Barnsley area. They were however much deeper mines than those in Barnsley as they were much further from the Pennine Hills, where most of the Yorkshire Coal outcropped at the surface.
I did hear that generally they weren’t made welcome in the area and their families didn’t like where they now lived and most moved back when the last mine closed in 2004, there is a piece of Coal in the Abby to mark the closures.
We had a good stroll along the streets and we happened upon a new Wetherspoon’s Bar, The Giant Bellflower where we had an afternoon beverage.
Our last stop, Tadcaster, was on the way home as it’s about 3 miles from Wighill.
Tadcaster is famous for two things:
The Smith Brewery is massive, it is huge and it’s a bit of a blot on the landscape as its huge chimney spews smoke into the town’s air.
There are two Smith Beers, John Smiths and Samuel Smiths, Sam’s Smiths as it was called in Barnsley was always my favourite of the 2. Men would go into the bar and either ask for a pint of Johns, or a pint of Sam’s, I bet they still do.
The original brewery was founded by John Smith in 1847 and he bought and bought land in the coming years in order to expand the brewery.
John unfortunately died in 1879 and never saw his big brewery completed. But he left all of his estate to his two brothers, Samuel and William with some conditions, one being that should either brother die then the other gets the lot and when they die it gets equally shared to their descendants. Samuel had a son, called Samuel after himself, William never married and had no children.
Brother Samuel died first and his brother William built a much bigger brewery and transferred all the equipment from the old brewery into the new one in 1884 and then sold the business to the Riley brothers.
William died two years later and Samuel Smith junior inherited an almost empty building, while the new brewery flourished under the management of the Riley brothers, who as a result of a clause in the will changed their name to Riley-Smith. Samuel Smith took legal advice as to whether William had been entitled to remove the trade name from the Old Brewery, but the advice went against him. Nevertheless, such was the buoyancy of the brewing trade at that time that Samuel was able to re-equip the Old Brewery, open it under his own name in 1886 and run it in competition with the established firm of John Smith's, both continuing to flourish.
Why William did that to his nephew, no one seems to know, but it appears to have been shear wickedness and I am sure that John never intended for that to happen.
Again we had a short walk around the town and then headed back to the van for an early supper, (6pm).
We did intend to stay on this site only two nights but it’s been such an interesting day today, despite the rain we need another day for tomorrow’s adventure, the City of York!!!
Wighill
No Travelling
I was notified at around 6:22am by a message from my favourite son-in-law, Alex Shepherd, who heralded some very good news, the Knighthood of Geoffrey Boycott. I knew it would be controversial and it didn’t take long for them to creep from behind the rocks.
I was awake anyway so I wasn’t disturbed, I was just staying in bed so I didn’t wake Wendy.
After I had had my breakfast I had a look at my big toenail which is hanging on by the smallest thread, but it was still firmly stuck to my toe and it wouldn’t budge.
I managed to get my sock and trainer on and off I went running, following Wendy by about five minutes.
I ran into the country lanes and the sun was shining and it was very nice but at just after 2 miles I had a severe pain in my big toe so I stopped to take a look. By now the end of the nail which has been off my toe the longest had formed a sharp point and it was digging into the nail bed. I tried again to pull the nail off but the pain was just too much. I put my sock and trainer back on and off I went.
I got a half mile further down the road and I had to stop again as the pain was now unbearable. There was nothing for it, the nail had to come off and the pain to remove it had now been overtaken by the pain of it staying put, so off it came and I was able to carry on and get back to the van in one piece.
We had a smartish turn around because today we are going to the great County Town of Yorkshire, The City of York.
We had decided to use the park and ride bus as the cost of parking within the city is extortionate, for example it was about £25 for 3 hours at one place I had searched.
The park and ride was brilliant, it had loads of parking and the bus was waiting for us when we got there. It cost £3.20 each, return on the Bendybus and it was only 8 miles from the caravan site.
I do like a Bendybus ride because by the time any hill or turn movement gets through to the back of the bus it gets greatly exaggerated so it’s like being on a fairground ride. Wendy was nearly flung out of her seat at one sharp bend.
We got dropped off at the Tower and by now the sky was a little overcast.
The city was bustling though despite the overhead conditions and first we walked around the castle museum buildings and the castle itself, however we didn’t go up into the tower, it was just too expensive. It’s actually extortionate, but you can buy a single collective ticket that allows access to other sites, like York Minster, amongst other things, but that is very costly too, unless you intend to see everything on offer. But only being there for one day we just could not see all that a collective ticket would entail, so we didn’t bother.
From the Castle we walked all around York Minster Abby and what a wonderful building it is, it is immense and structurally beautiful, but it would also cost us £33.00 for us both to go inside so an outside walk would have to do, and it did, it’s a cracking walk as well.
By now the weather had changed and the sun was coming out and it was getting nicely warm as well, which was a real boost after yesterday’s damp squib!
After York Minster we walked around the Shambles and the nearby market. The Shambles was bustling with tourists, of the foreign kind, I’m a Yorkshireman I was just here for a home visit.
The Shambles is a street that resembles what it was like in the Middle Ages and had most likely not changed since then, apart from maybe the introduction of electricity.
We poked our noses in all of the interesting shop windows and pushed our way through the mainly Chinese and Italian crowds who seem to think that they have cart blanch to go whichever way they like and gather in such numbers that makes two way foot traffic almost impossible, but we got through.
It was now late afternoon so we crossed the River Ouse by one of the three road bridges and made our way for our first libation of the day, a nice pint of Ilkley Real Ale in a Weatherspoon’s Bar called The Punchbowl.
We settled dwon at a table and I was reading the news on my phone as it seems Sir Geoffrey’s Knighthood had started to cause some consternation. Wendy was sat opposite me and then she said, in a rather excited voice, “Don’t look now but guess who’s behind you?” I couldn’t guess, but from her excitement I could see from Wendy that it was someone very, very famous, maybe Tom Cruise?
Well it was Tim, yes Tim, Mr Weatherspoon’s himself. I never looked, I just carried on with my business and let Tim carry on with his. Wendy was gobsmacked, of all the 600 bars he has and he was in this one, in York at the same time as us.
I could hear Tim chatting with the bar manager, and he asked them who was in the kitchen today and the manager reeled the names off and Tim said he was going to congratulate them all, which I thought was a nice touch.
As we had finished our drinks I went to the toilet and guess who joined me? Yes of course, it was Tim!
I didn’t bother him, I didn’t chat, I guess holding court with a stranger in the toilets is something that Tim might want to avoid. But for a full 3 minutes it was just me and Tim, all alone and no I didn’t ask for an autograph!
I didn’t talk to Tim or pester him during our visit, but to confirm Wendy’s excitement I did take a photo of his chair when he had left.
Fully refreshed we walked along a section of the City wall and then we came down and walked down the River Ouse, going past all three bridges. As we walked along we saw some very nice residential terraced homes and Wendy marvelled at them and said how nice it would be to live there. But knowing about the Rivers propensity to flood, I told Wendy that I would be worried about the flooding, and that’s when I saw that each terraced house had a flood defence gate fitted into a flood defence wall. I guess I would be happy to live there now.
After we had completed the River Walk we walked over the last bridge and we went into the second Weatherspoon bar for an afternoon drink.
While we were sat there with our drinks, a lady tramp, yes a real lady tramp, walked up to the coffee machine and cleaned a mucky looking old paper cup in hot boiling water that’s meant to be used for making tea. She then poured herself a hot cup of coffee into her now clean receptacle and then she stashed some of the other offerings into her bag and left to go to the outside seating area where she checked all the ash trays for tab ends. She even checked the ones where people were sat, now there’s cheek for you, or maybe survival!
By the time we got out of the bar the sun was high in the sky and the temperature was about 19 degrees so we set off to finish the full walk of the city walls.
This was a brilliant experience as it is such a wonderful walk, with York Minster Abby never very far from view. The wall walk takes you through housing estates, behind people’s homes and past some very, very beautiful buildings. This is one of the best short walks in the world, despite the ups and downs of stairways and I would recommend it to anyone, as long as you can climb those dam steps.
During one period of down stairs walking, where we had to cross a road we bought a breakfast roll to share, again it was delicious, but instead of an egg it had the sausage meat infused with sundried tomatoes. The bacon wrap wasn’t as good as we have had before but it was still quite a treat nonetheless!
It was turned 5pm but the time we had completed the walk and by the time we had got back to the bus collection point we had had enough. My toe was killing me too!
The bus ride back was fine and after a small shop at Tesco’s we were back in time for the 6pm news, where Geoffrey was number one news item on ITV, but he was fourth on Channel 4 News.
Wendy made a lovely knock up supper of tinned chilli and cous cous, the chilli had a use by date of 2015 so we are 4 years out, but that’s fine, we have hardy constitutions!
As I write my copy I’m listening to the football through my earphones while Wendy watches the Great British Bake off, so far there has been 4 goals and Wendy is getting the jyp with me because I keep swapping TV channels to see the goals, jeepers it now 3-1 to England, I hope there aren’t anymore goals as it might not be the chilli beans that does for me through the night!
Wighill to Yeadon
25 Miles
I was wide awake again nice and early, maybe it was the wind maybe it was the heat patch that had worked very nicely all night on my back. Fat lot of good it did mind, my sciatica was still quite bad again today. My toe was fine though which was a relief, I had soaked it in hot salty water last night and it seemed to take the swelling down.
I couldn’t run though, not properly so I got dressed and did my running on the spot for an hour and 15 minutes. I ran slowly along the lane and I bet folk thought I was crackers. I can understand that but I’m in agony when I take too long a stride and my doctor said keep moving and running as much as the pain will allow and all the medical science says that too. I even get some respite from the pain when I do my dancing routine so it does help. But, it’s just so darn painful when I sit in the car for any longer than ten minutes, I’m really going to have to plan my route home, or get Wendy to tow the caravan so I can lie in bed watching a film!
I forgot to say something about our visit to the Weatherspoon’s Bar in Selby the other day, I did mean to but I had too much material so I let it slide and then it was busy yesterday too, but here it is:
As I went for the drinks I did allow to old ladies to pass in front of me has they had coffee cups, I really noticed them as they had very similar stripy jumpers on, both were almost identical.
Anyway I got the drinks and found Wendy at a table and after a while Wendy said, “Jeepers they are really kicking the backside out of the free coffee refills in here, they had a refill when you went to the bar”. Sure enough when I looked, the two same old ladies were refilling their glasses again. I said, “Yes I saw them too when I was going to the bar”. Wendy said, “It’s not just them, look around us”.
I did look around us and I saw table upon table of people of mainly older people sat around chatting, each with a coffee cup but nothing else. Then occasionally someone would go and get a free top up. In fact there was a young couple with a baby in a pram who were there in the window seat when we passed about an hour before. I might dash off a letter to Tim, seeing as he is so approachable, to let him know that I’ve now seen tramps and others taking advantage of his good nature recently.
The awning was wet when we took it down this morning as a hard shower past through for about 5 minutes just as I was taking it down, it’s now stored in the car as it’s just too windy to put it up at the moment.
Today we headed the short distance to our new site which is situated between Leeds and Bradford, we are in farmer’s field that’s in a kind of semi-rural area and we have two farmed deer in the field directly in front of us, they are that tame they come upto the fence to chat whenever I whistle them.
After we had settled in and had a cup of tea we set off for Wendy’s must do adventure on this trip, a visit to Ikea.
Our nearest store is only 14 miles away so off we set, I thought we’d be there in no time, but then I had forgotten just how busy suburban roads are now in England and it took us an age to get there.
Wendy has this new desire to change the ambiance of the caravan, I don’t know where this desire came from but she seems very keen to do so. She told me she wants to make the van more colourful and homely with nice coloured cushions and throws and she thought Ikea would be a good starting point for her, it wasn’t!!!
After driving all that way and walking around every isle, all we got was some candles for home, some napkins for next year’s wedding BBQ and something that Wendy says looks pretty, but she has no idea what it’s for but that she will find something to put in it.
She was very disappointed and has now vowed to get what she wants from the Wilkinson’s store in Barnsley.
To make amends for the poor shopping performance we took a short ride to Batley to bag a local Wetherspoon’s bar which we did, The Union Rooms. The building is stunning on the outside, apparently it was an old bank many years ago.
To say that Batley is now a little rough would be an understatement and I was more than happy to finish my beer and get ourselves back to the van, albeit from a now even more extended journey time due to it being the rush hour.
I have been to Batley when I was a young fella, there was Batley Variety Club which was a huge concern in Northern England in the 1970’s, here’s some actual real info about it:
When Batley Variety Club opened on Easter Sunday 1967, few people gave it much chance of success. Yet through imagination and sheer guts James Corrigan, along with his wife Betty, transformed a piece of wasteland on Bradford Road into a showbiz ‘Mecca’.
It was not only the talk of the town but went on to be dubbed the “Las Vegas of the North” with its fame even spreading across the Pond to New York and LA. The list of stars who appeared at Batley Variety Club is almost as legendary as the club itself with Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Eartha Kitt, the Bee Gees, Tina Turner, Roy Orbison and Dusty Springfield among those that graced its stage.
Along with my mates in 1980 I saw, Liquid Gold, who’s only song of success was, “Dance Yourself Dizzy”.
Back at the van, we postponed putting the awning up to dry it out as the wind was still at force 10 on the Beaufort Scale, instead I had a glass of wine while the deer grazed on the grass, as pain relief for my leg of course and then we walked the mile into Yeadon to bag yet another Weatherspoon’s Bar and have a chicken supper, for a midweek treat.
The walk to the bar was all uphill, a big hill, it was only a mile away but we both had a good sweat on when we got there.
I ordered online and we both choose something from the Wednesday Chicken Specials menu, Wendy had pulled chicken and chips and I ordered chicken breast, Mexican rice and a JD sauce. I also ordered a half rack of ribs to share. I paid online but after our drinks came a young girl came to tell me that the rice was all gone, so I opted for chips instead.
But on reflection I wouldn’t have asked for the ribs if I was having chips so when it all came I asked if the ribs could be wrapped up for me. Low and behold the very nice young lad took the ribs back to the kitchen and returned them in a very nice, purpose fit doggy bag, well I never knew Weatherspoon’s did this!!!
After dinner we walked back down Yeadon High Street and what a lovely little village it is, and it is a village, the problem being it’s been surrounded by a vast number of buildings and homes.
As we walked back the sun had set and the full moon came out and it made for a cracking skyline, even the deer were waiting in the twilight to welcome us back!
Yeadon
No Travelling
I was woken up at 06:00 by a petrol engine running. It must have been running some time as I came around slowly, then realising what was going on in my ears. There is a caravan with a car and a commercial van, and it was the commercial van that was running, the driver had set the van off and then he must have had to do something else, set his SatNav or nip back in for his lunch, either way the engine was running long enough to wake me up.
And if it happens in the morning I’ll be making something of it. The caravan club is really for leisure caravans, I don’t mind if people stay if they are working but they shouldn’t spoil it for everyone else.
I stayed in bed a while but I knew Wendy was stirring so at 6:20 I got up, not long after, Wendy came slowly out of her slumber. I asked her what woke her, “A motorbike”, was her reply. She’s not at her quickest Wendy when she’s just coming round from sleep.
I had breakfast and as we hadn’t any rush to be anywhere and I listened to One Little Word on Dearne FM and it was another wrong answer. The prize money is now £1,040 and I have absolutely no idea who is saying, “Reported”. It’s a women’s, an older women’s voice but no one’s got it yet.
I went running and Wendy stayed put as she feared there would be hills involved, and there were, big buggers. I ran down the hill out of the camp ground and I knew I was in for it because I went down on a steep incline for a good while. The road then turned into a path that went into woodland, so I followed it, looking for another route that would not be as steep as the one I had just come down. I came out of the woods and I came cross a women who was walking about 12 dogs! She had every conceivable breed, apart from an Alsatian, so I stopped and asked her that if I continue on this path, will I be able to get back to Warm Lane, where the camp ground is. She confirmed that I wold but that it would be a long way back. I said that’s OK and off I went and to get back I went up an even steeper hill, bugger it was massive.
By the time I passed the top of Warm Lane I had done 5 miles and my sciatica was really hurting but I had to do another 3 miles so I dug deep and followed the road we came in on yesterday. This road is 1.5 miles long and in that short distance there are 7 speed cameras, wow, that’s some revenue for the council.
I got back and Wendy laughed at me when I told her about the hills.
As it was mild and sunny we put the awning up to get it dry from the day before. By the time we were ready to go out the awning was dry so we packed it up.
Out first stop was the small town of Pudsey which is equidistant from Leeds and Bradford and it also has a Weatherspoon’s Bar.
Pudsey isn’t as opulent as Yeadon where we are staying, I would say its seen better days but the pub was nice and I did indeed learn something, the great Yorkshire and England Cricketer, Sir Len Hutton comes from Pudsey and played as a youngster for local pubs!
After a nice refreshment we took a walk around. One thing I can say about Pudsey is that they have a very nice Town Hall, but not much else.
Our next destination was the City of Bradford which was to be the scene of two milestones for me today, the first, the completion of visiting every one of Yorkshires seven cities and the other one of me bagging one hundred Weatherspoon’s Bars.
The Seven Yorkshire Cites are, (in alphabetical order):
My favourite is York, and I soon found out my least favourite, by a long way is Bradford.
There’s nothing to it, I never saw a curry restaurant either. The only thing it has going for it is the City Hall, the water park and the Cathedral. I know it’s a bit harsh but there’s bugger all else, and the multicultural myth is a myth, it’s bicultural, us and them, and there’s not much mixing!
It also needs a dam good litter pick.
The City Hall is very impressive and it is huge, it’s an old stone building and it is a massive presence in the city. Right next to it is a waterpark, it’s like a man-made lake but it’s only a few inches deep and the kids run around in it and love it. It was a breezy but warm day and there were one or two kids that braved the chilly water.
From there we walked to one of the main cultural areas as advertised by the City Council, Little Germany who the council says:
“Bradford has an impressive history and this is reflected in the striking architecture found throughout the city. Take a stroll through Little Germany where you can see Victorian Bradford at its best”.
Yes there are some stunning buildings, I believe that the largest area of Grade I listed buildings in the UK are in Little Germany, but they are all mistreated. They look shabby and run down and no one is doing any upkeep. It looked to me like that Santa Land which was prosecuted a few years ago for misleading people as the site was nothing like Santa Land, to me Little Germany is on the same par!
Thankfully the Cathedral was much better, it’s a small Cathedral and not as intricate as some, but it is widely used and there are areas set aside for a children’s play group and other meeting areas. While we were there, there were at least two groups of people holding small meetings in the Cathedral, where at least it gets some positive use, it was also free to enter with a donation being voluntary.
From the Cathedral we achieved our next milestone by taking a drink in The Turls Green which was my 100th Weatherspoon’s Bar bag!!!
After a drink we walked around the shops and bought a hot water bottle from the keenest shopkeeper on Planet Earth and we looked for a place to get a nice Curry Meal, but we never saw one.
To cut our losses we paid our parking fees before we entered our fourth hour and headed home for a lovely supper of Black Pudding Sausages, last night’s Pork Ribs and a fried egg, and it was delicious, washed down by a bottle or prosecco in celebration of today’s achievements.
I have been listening to the cricket all day today and I watched the highlights on Channel Five at 7pm. It’s been a day of mixed fortunes for England but at least we got some last minute fun with Josh and Jack, hopefully they will hold out tomorrow to get us upto something over 300, and even that might not be enough!!!
Yeadon to Rockly
40 Miles
Wendy Gill tossed around in bed last night like a jumping bean, after nearly 32 years I have never known her bounce around so much, she must have been dreaming she was on a bouncy castle, she was everywhere and I was just riding her wake, At 06:30 I was exhausted.
I got up and had breakfast and sometime much later Wendy woke up. I never heard the van man who I heard yesterday but Wendy said she heard him at 4:55 slamming his sliding doors two or three times. That’s really quite selfish, I think he might be staying on some kind of activity event as he has a trial bike in the back of his van. I was going to notify the Caravan Club about it but I think I’ll phone the site owner tomorrow and tell them, that’s a ridicules time to be making noise and it’s completely disrespectful, selfish and inconsiderate, but apparently normal behaviour by today’s standards.
The sun was up, it was a bit nippy but I went running and Wendy should have come with me because I ran following the main road in a straight line and although it followed an upwards course it wasn’t too steep. I got my four miles in and I went through a stunning village called Hawksworth which is high in the hilsl and its set overlooking stunning moorland. I appreciate that a sunny morning makes most places look nice, but this indeed was quite special. It also looked quite an expensive place to live with electric gates fitted to long, winding drives which led to massive properties.
I got back in poor form as my sciatica is still giving me some serious gyp but I am of the mind that it will get better just as quickly as it came on. In fact last week it was much better and my times were coming down, now they are sky high again and every step after 3 miles is agony. The thing is though, as soon as I stop the pain goes away. It’s just so draining when I am running, ah well that’s life.
I got back just as the cricket started and I listened to Jack and the rest of the team get bowled out for slightly less than 300. Never mind, I thought the Aussies might struggle at the Oval today, its mid-September and the heat of the sun isn’t so hot.
We were on the road just before 12:00 and our first stop was at the Morrsions store in Hunslet, Leeds to do our washing, of all things.
We have needed to find a laundrette for a day or two now and as I remembered Wendy talking to Granny about it and then Granny saying the Morrisons store on Sheppey has washing machines outside I googled it. Low and behold a Morrisons, not nine miles away, and in our direction of travel had them.
We got there and had our washing in an extra-large machine at £12 a pop in no time at all. Actually doing a large load doesn’t save any money as a normal load is £4, a large load is £8 and an extra-large is £12, so there is no saving for bulk buying. But never mind we had stuffed it to the brim and while I went back and kept an eye on the caravan, Wendy did some shopping. I wanted to keep an eye on the van, I know I’m not in the Highlands, I know what goes on around these parts and I wasn’t taking any chances.
We were back on the road 50 minutes later and on our site at Green Springs Caravan Park within the hour.
Green Springs is about 4 miles out of Barnsley and in a very nice country location.
As I set up camp Wendy filled the water barrels and put the washing out filling two hanging contraptions. It was a very good drying day so hopefully our mammoth wash will soon be dry.
We were in the car and heading to town quite quickly as it was turned 3:00pm and the market traders would be getting itchy and packing up. We were parked up on Princess Street and in the fish market before you could say, “There she blows”. I, after giving Wendy some mild chastisement about tonight’s menu as she kept chipping in, bought a very nice piece of tuna, half a dozen scallops and a few giant, peeled and cleaned prawns for the barby.
From there we continued upto Wilkinson’s so Wendy could eye up some future caravan purchases in her attempt to brighten up the caravan. In one store I even saw Christmas chocolates, I kid you not, Christmas chocolates in September, has the world really gone mad, I think that’s fool proof confirmation right there!!!
From there we looked inside the new town centre library, which I quite like, I’m not sure about the table tennis table which is amongst the books on the second floor, but I do like the feel of it as it has some very large windows where light will spill through even on the darkest winter days. There is even a very nice sculpture of Kes, and his Kestrel.
From there we did a bit more strolling before taking a pint of beer in the Arcade Micro pub, which was just a treat. I read the Chronicle in there, starting with the deaths column as my Granny used to do when I was a little boy. Thankfully I didn’t see anyone I knew.
On our way home we called in for a small beer at the Cock Inn which is a good old county pub not far from the camp site.
Back at the camp ground the sun was still out and as I listened to the last of the cricket I cooked a stonking supper on the barby. Wendy helped too with a very nice salad and very tasty cous cous.
It was bloody lovely and then after wash up I settled in front of the telly to watch the cricket, albeit on a crackly telly, as we are very close to the trees. Wendy wanted to watch some more Downton Abby on her IPad, but the bugger is very close to her download limit so I have had to place her on download rations.
But as I am sat her with my back against a hot water bottle and a heat pad on both my thigh and calf muscles Wendy is back in time and on episode 9 of series 3 of Downton bloody Abby nd yes I have offered to give her some of my download time just to keep her quiet!!!
Barnsley
No Travelling
I was wide awake at 6:00am this morning and so was Wendy as I had left the top from window blind up and the sun light was streaming in through it and I copped the blame for it, which I suppose is fair dues.
I had actually had a very nice and peaceful rest so I as happy and raring to go.
As I had my breakfast I sent Matt a reminder about the reunion tonight just to job people’s memory. Good old Matt he made a big deal of DG being in town, the international traveller returns to his home town, blah, blah, blah.
I was then sent a message from an old school friend who had heard the piece saying I was now famous.
The camp site we are on is at the bottom of a valley, and the way out is obviously up the surrounding hills, either way you go there’s a hill. I chose to go left and into town, Wendy went right into the village of Birdwell.
My route took me passed Arthur Scargill’s house and up Hound Hill which is the steepest hill in Barnsley, so they say and then upto Locke Park. I was hobbling on my bad leg and I was only doing a very slow run.
Bugger me, would you believe there was a park run on and I joined in at the bottom of the cricket field. Everyone past me, old young fit and fat and I was being urged on by well-wishing bystanders. Just my luck, I though park runs were only a Sunday morning event.
I had to run almost a mile with them, up and past the Park Tower and then I snook out quietly at the park gate near to the park café.
I turned around to go back not long after and I had a fear that I might be running against the park runners but thankfully they had completed their last lap and they were all re-hydrating outside the park café. And there was a good number of them, all gasping for air.
Park run has become a very popular weekend activity and it’s a great family event, even mums pushing prams take part, thankfully none passed me as I hobbled along.
I got back to the van and had a very refreshing smoothie for my breakfast and I sat outside listening to the cricket as it was a cracking September morning.
Not long after we took a ride out to a small Farm Café near to Penistone where they sell raw milk. Unfortunately after a 14 mile drive the café no longer sell the stuff. The waitress told me to check their website as they show where the next nearest farm shop that sells them are located. That was a lie, back at the car I checked and double checked and there was no mention of it.
We decided to carry on with our day and from there we went directly into town to buy some pork pies, black pudding and other items that Wendy wanted in her desire to spruce up the caravan.
This entailed a visit to the market and then onto Wilkinson’s. We split up for a short while as I wanted to get some heat packs from Poundland. As I went to join Wendy in Wilkos, I passed a young man busking outside Boots. He was a traditional busker with his guitar and no amplifiers. He was brilliant, I stood and listen for a while, and he was miles better than the two old bugger at either end of Cheapside who were belting out old crooning songs via very loud amplifiers.
I gave him a quid and I carried on my way. I fond Wendy loaded with stuff and ready to check out. After filling up with normal shopping at Lidl and one more pink cushion we headed back to the van. I went back the longer route so I could pass the Strafford Arms at Stainbrough see if there was a cricket match on today and thankfully there was, and it was still a lovely sunny day too.
After a cup of tea back at the van we loaded a porkpie each, the Branson Pickle, some black pudding for me and we set off for an afternoons village cricket.
But before we could attend to the cricket I had to take Wendy to a paper shop as the silly old sausage dog had bought the Daily Mail instead for Saturdays edition of the Times where she like to do the big crossword. We now have todays Sun, todays Times and Todays mail, it will take us until Thursday to read them.
At the cricket ground, I bought a round of drinks and we headed to the ground to scoff our food and drink our beer. The game was good, the sun was out, I think I even got my chops burnt the sun was that bright. We had to leave before the end of the game as I needed to get going to my school reunion.
Wendy dropped me off at the Mount Inn and the party had already started. There were two women there, Denise, who had organised it and Jackie, and then 3 more turned up. Sylvia Malison was there, I had forgot that my granny knew her and had designs on me and her many years ago, but then every girl I took home my Granny had me lined up with.
We had a really nice catch up and the evening flew by.
I was the last one there and I walked into town to get a taxi back to the camp site. Wow what an experience that was. I didn’t know that young women could be so foul mouthed, honestly it was an eye opener. Well I guess that’s the #me2movemnet for you.
I got a ride with a very nice young taxi driver who was as pleased as punch he got a long ride with someone almost normal.
I’m back safe and sound and Wendy is tucked up in bed with her iPad.
Although there were only six of us, tonight has been a lovely evening and well worth it as we have had a good old laugh about old times, I wonder if we’ll do it again?
Barnsley
No Travelling
I’m afraid there’s not much to offer today avid readers, it’s been a lovely and relaxing day with us both not getting up until just gone 8am. We both went running and we both went the same way as we did yesterday, with me avoiding Locke Park and the Park Runners as I couldn’t do with the embarrassment of being over taken by much older runners like I was yesterday.
I had to walk the last mile as my sciatica was giving me some right gyp, but I walked back just as fast as I do when I am doing my shuffle run.
It was another nice day but the wind was a little blowier but it was still quite warm and I got back just as the cricket started on the radio. I was riveted and I had the radio on both the transistor radio and the clock radio which is at the side of the bed while I was showering, I didn’t want to miss anything.
I do like Tuffers when he is on commentary, he is fun, he doesn’t take himself seriously, he pokes fun at himself, but he’s always quick witted and he knows his cricket. I have to admit I like Geoffrey too.
I had a banana smoothie and then we hung around the caravan until 2:30pm as we had arranged to collect my sister in law from home, which is close by as Michael and Mark were at Oakwell watching the Barnsley v Leeds game. Leanne would meet us all in Costa Coffee with the two little girls at 15:00. All went to plan and after a coffee, which Wendy and I didn’t take as we both dislike Starbucks and Costa coffee, it’s just too arty farty for us, we like instant Nescafe every time, we went for a late lunch.
From there we walked to a Turkish Restaurant where we had a most delightful dining experience. We were all seated together, the 8 of us and I had the mixed grill along with Mark and Leanne, Wendy had the lamb mince thingy and she liked it, even if she has no idea what it really was.
The girls were really well behaved, the staff were great and it was a really nice time.
We settled the bill with the girls getting a lolly each and then we walked to the new bar which has just opened alongside the new library.
The bar had a relaxed seating area with sofas and easy chairs and games for the kids. The music was a little bit loud but it was OK. The girls played in the tunnel and other rough and tumble stuff and we sat around and chatted. I asked Mark, who is a financial adviser where I should invest some money as the bank rate is terrible. His advice was to keep it in the bank as no financial companies are offering anything competitive just now due to Brexit uncertainty, thanks Boris!!!
Wendy and I played a game of Guess Who with the girls and I have to admit to making a few mistakes as the game has now been modernised in the #me too environment and it has the odd gender neutral person in it, who I thought was a man, Leanne, who was my assistant thought was a women. Now forgive me but this game is supposed to be aimed at little minds, so who on earth thought it ok to muddle up the sexes of male and female by introducing a few Political Correct characters, jeepers this country gets worse by the minute!!!
I kept checking my phone to follow the cricket’s progress and England were slowly taking wickets.
At around 5pm Mark had to go and see a client in Leeds so after they had left we chatted with Michael and Julia for a while longer and then we walked back to the car, in the late afternoon drizzle.
We got back to the van just in time to get my running gear off the line before it was completely washed out, although that wouldn’t hurt it.
We watched the cricket catch up on Channel Five+1 and although I knew that England had won I still enjoyed seeing them do it, it was a really good all round performance and I just wished that we had played with a little more control during the previous matches, but that’s sport and they have to learn from that which I hope they will do.
We have had a really lovely relaxing day today, not much happened but then that’s nice too. It was good to see Mark, Leanne, the girls and Michel and Julia and we really enjoyed our food.
As I sit here in my nice cosy and warm caravan all snug and relaxed, the rain has just got a lot heavier but we don’t care, its moving day tomorrow, we are going North, making our way slowly home, but not too quickly mind.
Barnsley to Skipton
62 Miles
We went to bed last night as the rain fell on top of the caravan, it had become very heavy but it didn’t stop me from falling asleep and that’s how I stayed all night long, I never heard a peep. However I woke at 6:00am this morning, and I was absolutely shattered, it was unbelievable, I was tired out doing nothing.
I had my breakfast and just after Wendy had gone running I followed her out. I got 1.63 miles and I had to give in as the pain was so bad. The sciatica moves around every day, mostly it’s manageable but today it wasn’t, so I walked back. I had got as far as Arthur Scargill’s luxurious house and I had to turn back, I should have called in on Arthur for a cuppa!
Thankfully it was a lovely sunny morning and I was in the countryside.
As we only had a drive of 90 minutes to our next site we took a drive into town to get a few supplies and we also bought a very nice piece of brisket from my favourite butcher in the Market. The brisket is going in the slow cooker for tomorrow’s supper, I have a new recipe for it and I’m rather excited about it.
We got back to the caravan site in good time to finish packing up and moving out. The rain had made the ground somewhat soft and the vans wheels had sunken in a little which made it hard to pull her out, but we made it and we were on our way, on the M1 heading north.
After about 15 miles we took the M62 and headed west for a few miles. We went a little wrong along the way and we did go about 4 miles out of our way, but that was fine as we saw a little more of the outer suburbs of Bradford. Once we got back on track we drove right through the centre of Bradford, driving along roads that we had walked along only last week. We still never saw any curry houses!
Outside of Bradford we were into the countryside and the North Yorkshire Dales.
The sun was still out and the countryside was stunning. From there on in we didn’t have any issues with the SatNav and we arrived at our site at around 1:30pm.
Wendy wasn’t impressed, we aren’t on a Caravan Club site as there isn’t one nearby, we are on a private site and it’s a little like a cattle pen without any decent views. Don’t get me wrong, it is nice and quiet and very tidy, it’s just that we are in little rows looking directly at another caravans back end.
As soon as I had got the van on site, levelled and all plumbed in I put my running gear on again and I did my running on the spot routine for 6.40 miles to make up for this morning’s shortfall. There is a huge hill nearby and running up it, very slowly but at a very fast pace is a very good workout and I was sweating in the sunshine in no time at all. I did get the odd look from by passers-by but I’m not worried about that, as long as I get my run in I’m a happy bunny!
The sun was very arm by the time I had finished so I showered and as soon as I was ready we walked the mile into town to see Skipton for the very first time.
What a town it is, on first glance, of about two hours, we really liked it. It has the very pretty Leeds to Liverpool Canal pass through it and the River Aire too. The buildings are all old and mainly built of solid Yorkshire Stone and the streets are very clean and tidy.
And of course there are loads of pubs.
Skipton is a rural market town and although the stalls were being packed away as we arrived, they will be there again tomorrow and we will do far more detailed exploring.
Wendy says that there are far better shops in Skipton than in the Highland Capital, Inverness, so I guess there might be some cloths shopping done tomorrow.
Skipton is really a beautiful town and what makes it so is that it is surrounded by high Yorkshire hills all around it, and the countryside is very, very prominent.
After a reasonable stroll around we nipped into a Wetherspoon’s bar for a drink and we ended up having a very nice spicy, meaty 8” pizza as a pre supper starter.
From there we chatted to a fella street cleaning as I asked him where we could find a local supermarket. He was a cracking fella and very helpful. With our additional provisions, including a tin of oxtail soup for tomorrow’s slow cooker delight in the bag we walked the mile or so back, uphill by the way, to the caravan.
The countryside was teaming with wildlife, with pheasants, rabbits and squirrels in abundance. I even saw a domestic rabbit running wild, he must have escaped from his cage and by the way he was running, he wasn’t game for going back, he looked quite at home running freely.
We got back to the van just as night fell and we had our final supper supplement, a cold pork pie each, with pickle and a tomato and spring onion for me, it was a double delight, a Barnsley Market Pork Pie eaten in the Yorkshire Dales, it was heaven.
As I file my copy Wendy is pinching some of my 3G data as she as almost run out herself by watching back to back episodes of Downtown Abby. She is on series 4, episode 2 on her IPad and as usual she is chatting and gurning to herself as the programme progresses, I swear she has no idea she is doing it!
It’s an early night for me tonight, I’m looking forwards to an extended tour of Skipton tomorrow maybe we can even get the bikes out if the weather holds.
Skipton
No Travelling
That Wendy Gill got her knickers in a twist last night, she had lost her distance glasses and she could not find them anywhere. She had a right cob on with herself. I told her that I had seen her go into the bathroom with them on but she insisted that she didn’t have them on in the bathroom. I left her to it and after a while she settled down with her IPad and her reading glasses.
Two hours later I went to the bathroom and there, sat as bold as brass, on the toilet seat lid were her looking glasses. I didn’t take them to her, I told her to go and find them as I wanted her to see exactly how and where she had left them, more chunterring ensued!!!
I woke at around 7:00am and when I opened the top blinds the sun was streaming through them, it was a lovely sunny Yorkshire morning.
I went running but I only got a half a mile away before I had to come back as the pain was so severe, I did my running on the spot on a very quiet uphill road but I did get the odd funny look.
I got back and the weather was glorious still so we did indeed decide to get the bikes out and go into Skipton and have a good look around and then take the bikes along the canal tow path.
First though I had to prep tonight’s supper and get it going in the slow cooker.
I braised the brisket in the frying pan and warmed my beef broth and red wine mix in the sauce pan and then I put them into the cooker with some mushrooms and a nice heap of garlic and set it going.
As I did so I was listening to the Jeremy Vine talk show on BBC Radio 2 and Jeremy was doing a session on the parents who are bringing their child up without any gender. The baby hasn’t got a gender specific name and even its grandparents didn’t know what sex it was for some considerable time. His mother is called Hobbit and her and her husband live on a house boat somewhere in Somerset.
They are doing this as there is so much gender bias in the world and they want to protect their baby so they can grow to be what they want to be without outside influence.
Well it got my goat up, I must admit I found it very disturbing and I think that poor child needs to be removed from them and given to a normal family, jeepers what is this country coming to?
With the supper slowing cooking along we rode down into the town and parked the bikes up and went for a good old stroll around. We both like Skipton, its setting is that it is surrounded by stunning countryside and the street and buildings just seem to work for it.
I found a hardware shop where I found exactly what I wanted, jeepers I could have stayed in there all day long!
We found a micro pub and we went in for a pint and would you believe the owner is from Kent and he was born in Minster Hospital which is where Wendy comes from, he was born in 1963 just one year after Wendy.
From there we found the most delightful shopping centre I have ever seen, it was adorable. It is covered by a Victorian looking steel frame with glass work covering the entire area, it was stunning and it was full of quirky little shops and cafes. It even had an upper floor area.
We took a look at the Castle but we didn’t go in, it was quite costly and we were happy to just peer at it from the entrance archway.
We did go into the Church though and it was a little belter. The Church was built on ground where a previous church had been and building started in 1,300. Like all buildings it has been altered many times and extended, a gift of £20 by King Richard III in 1483 went some way to providing a Chancel.
The name Skipton means “Sheep Town” from an old northern dialect. It was a very important Royalist stronghold in the English Civil War and it was used as a barracks for the Bradford Pals in WWI and it also housed Prisoners of War. It was also an important mill town and there are still mill buildings in town which appear to have been converted into flats.
With our tour of the town complete we took the bikes on an eastwards trip along the banks of the Leeds to Liverpool Canal. The sun was shining brightly and it was just such a lovey thing to do. The countryside around us was beautiful and we saw loads and loads of narrow boats plying the canals water. But do you know, almost all of the people sailing the boats looked right old miserable buggers, not one of them smiled or gave a friendly wave.
At the end of the track we came to a small town called Bradley where after a short tour of the town we found the one and only pub at the top of a steep hill and we had a half a pint each with the owners dog keeping us company in the very sunny beer garden.
From there we were back in Skipton in no time and after a bit of shopping in Tesco we biked back to the caravan. I had to push my bike up the worst of the hill as I didn’t want to aggravate my leg, but good for Wendy, who made it home none stop. Now that hill is very steep so she did good breaking that one!
I added some Brussel sprouts and onion to the slow cooker and then we took the car for a ten mile drive to the beautiful village of Malham deep in the Yorkshire Dales.
It was a tough drive as the roads were narrow and winding, but on getting there we were blessed with a very pretty place with two pubs and a blacksmiths, with England’s first and only qualified lady blacksmith.
It was now almost 5pm and after a good stroll we took one last drink in a very nice country pub. We had a half pint of Theakston’s Old Peculiar and it was bloody lovely. I even bought a large slice of chocolate, orange cake because Wendy had her beady eye on it.
I wanted to go to Malham as I had a friend with me on Operation Raleigh 33 years ago and I wanted to see where she had been brought up, and it is such a pretty place with a stream running right down it.
We got back for supper just after 6:00pm and it was lovely, the meat was cooked very nicely and the gravy was a delight. The chocolate cake was gorgeous as it had orange drizzle right through it!
Its dark now and ten minutes from Bake Off, Wendy is already excited and thankfully she has her distance glasses firmly on her head!
Skipton to Settle
20 Miles
I took 3 codeine tablets with my breakfast, these are super strong pain killers and they did the trick, I went running and I was in pain but these pills are a little like morphine, they slightly numb the pain but they make you a little high so that the pain is a sideshow to the main event of you being a little lost in your head.
I ran, slowly, down the very big hill into town and then I followed the canal footpath all the way to Bradley. The weather was lovely, a little cloudy with what they called on the local TV weather report tonight, Stratocumulus clouds.
I really enjoyed being out running again after two days of messing about doing spot running. The canal was busy with narrow boats going about their daily business, some with their fires going and with big clouds of smoke following them along like a wispy trail.
At four miles I found a bench and sat down for a drink of water and I popped another pill just to make sure I got back, and I did, I even managed the big hill without too much difficultly.
As I passed through the town centre I saw the market stalls being set up and it all looked very rural!
I got back to the van and Wendy took all my sweaty gear for a wash at the sites laundry.
She had some difficulty in getting a washing machine as one was broken and the other had just started a cycle. Never mind we could wait.
I showered and messed around doing some online chores and by the time Wendy had done the washing it was time to go, we left the site bang on time at 12 noon.
We parked in Tesco and Wendy did some shopping while I sorted out the details for our next camp site. We left the van in the Tesco carpark and we took a walk to look at the market and what a terrific market it was.
It was a real traditional county market and people had come from miles around to buy their goods. It was bustling and there were loads of variations on offer. Wendy bought about 4 months’ supply of olives which do indeed look very tasty and she even bought herself a new handbag, I wouldn’t mind but she has dozens of them at home and she wasn’t even looking for one. She just saw it and she just had to have it!!!
We got back to the car and then we had a lovely drive through the Yorkshire Dales National Park to our next site on the outskirts of Settle.
We followed the campsite owner’s instructions to find the site but we came unstuck on her last instruction, it was very easy to misunderstand and we did and we got lost and so we had to phone her and then do a tour of the town so we could get back on the right track.
We are parked up in a farmers field quite close to the town centre, we have a field of cows just across from us and they are always Moo-ing and looking in at us which is quite cute. The farmer even has a Highland cow in another field.
After setting up and paying our fees to the very glamourous farmer’s wife we took a walk into Settle and we loved it.
Settle is much smaller than Skipton but like Skipton it is surrounded by hills which are very prominent around the town.
We strolled around, first calling in at the train station to check the timetable. At the train station we saw the very famous Settle Station Water Tower. Settle Station Water Tower was one of eight watering places for steam locomotives on the Settle-Carlisle railway but is the only survivor.
During 2011 it was restored and adapted to be a private house, retaining all of its original features. The work was televised for Channel 4's Restoration Man series.
Various relics from the railway can be seen in the grounds of the Water Tower including a Navvy Hut that was built to house workers when the line was built and now used as a garage and workshop. It looks stunning and I would really like to take a look around it. They have a blog if anyone’s interested to see how they did it.
From there we walked into the town square and we were amazed at the beautiful stone buildings, there were some crackers, they were absolutely wonderful.
We looked for a good pub as I fancied a bit of midweek decadence in the form of a nice pub dinner. It was just before 4pm, maybe a little early but we found the Talbot Arms which fitted my expectations just perfectly. We went in behind a large group of people who didn’t know what they wanted so we left for a short while to do a little more exploring.
By doing so we found the telephone box that has been converted into the first ever story box, you simply lift the phone and press a number and you get told a story, it’s brilliant. We also saw lots of plant pot characters and we later found, in the pub that there is an annual plant pot competition which had just finished. There was even a giant plant pot man high on the hillside.
We also saw the Settle Folly, the Folly is a striking and impressive 17th century house close to the centre of Settle.
The Folly was built in 1679 by Richard Preston, a wealthy lawyer. His new house, standing by the old main road into the town, formed the centrepiece of his estate in Settle and was undoubtedly built to make an impact. It is such a show piece and I bet he wasn’t popular amongst the local folk in those days.
We got back to the pub and we had a lovely local beer and for food I had Cajun Steak, chips, salad and coleslaw. Wendy had a steak and ale pie with mash. The food was glorious, it was hot and very tasty and it was just bloody lovely. To finish we had a very nice glass of wine each.
We got in the pub at exactly 4pm and we left at exactly 5:30 pm. A man was sat at the bar with his wife, they were around our age. All the time we were there he sat at the bar on a bar stool watching a film on his IPhone. He had earplugs in and he never interacted with his wife all the time we were there. She got chatted up a lot by other local men who seemed to know her, but he never lifted his eyes. She even ordered the drinks when they needed them. Now isn’t that a bizarre way to behave, why didn’t he just sit at home and drink cans of beer while watching telly. His wife didn’t seem bothered mind, she seemed to be very much engaged in chitter chat with a man when I went to pay our bill.
As we left we took two pieces of chocolate cake with us for later, we had bought them of course!
We did a little more walking around the town, we even climbed a hill, but we gave up when it entered a very dark wood.
So we toddled off back to the van and settled down for the night, we had left the washing hung up on the airier in the van as it had started to spit rain when we were leaving. I had tuned the heating up and it was very nicely dry when we got back.
We later had our cake while watching TV and it was very nice, maybe not as nice as last night’s cake, but still it was quite tasty none the less.
It’s going to be an early night with the cows tonight, I bet the ladies are up at the crack of dawn, mooing along as the sun comes up!
Settle
No Travelling
I was up at 6:45 this morning and I peeped out from behind the blind and there was a very thick mist shrouding the camp site. I had my breakfast, quietly as Wendy was asleep, but she woke up just as the kettle boiled so she made herself a cup of tea while I was opening the blinds. Low and behold the sun was out and shining brightly.
I got dressed to go out and before I could say, “Fiddle Sticks”, the mist was back, with a vengeance, it was thicker than before, where had it gone and where had it come back from?
We both went out running together, although we went separate ways. I was on my extreme medication again and I headed off and I found the very exclusive village of Giggleswick, and what a lovely place it is. There is a very expensive looking Boardng school that had buildings that wouldn’t be out of place in an Harry Potter film. The dining room was something else, it was massive, it was a stone building and it was very nicely built. But I guess they have three meals a day there so they need a bit of luxury, not like a grab and go school canteen. The sun had burnt the mist by now and the countryside was stunning, and thankfully it hadn’t been too hilly.
I got back to the van at 10:00 and the mist was still lingering around the farm.
In a flash I had had my smoothie and then I was showered and ready to go, to the train station because today we are going to ride the very famous Settle to Carlisle railway, in brilliant, bright and hot sunshine.
The Settle to Carlisle railway is 72 miles long and crosses an almost remote rural route in Northern England. The line was built in 1870 and it has some very long tunnels and the very famous Ribble Viaduct.
We got to the station in good time but we were a bit despondent has the platform, and I don’t want to seem ageist here, was full of very old people who we later found out are on a great railways of Britain tour. Jeepers they were an excitable bunch.
We boarded the train, and we ended up in their carriage where they had a tour guide, a lady of around 86 years old, (that’s her in the photograph). She was very, very posh but she spoke very quietly and she constantly forgot who was and wasn’t on the tour. She would walk down to us and tell us about something along the route and then she would say, “You are on the tour, aren’t you?” Each time we said no, she said, “I’m not telling you anything else then”, but she did, several times.
We crossed the Ribble viaduct, but apart from flying through the air you wouldn’t know you were on it. However the countryside was stunning, we saw some absolutely beautiful views and some very nice looking and remote communities.
The journey lasted around 90 minutes and it indeed lived up to its reputation, we had glorious sunshine so I guess that helped make it even better.
We go into Carlisle train station just after 1:30 pm and off we set for a walk around a very sunny city.
We have been to Carlisle several times, in fact we have stayed a weekend there, and we like it very much. Carlisle is an interesting city as its been in both Scottish and English hands several times over the years. In fact it’s the oldest city not to be mentioned in the Doomsday book. Most likely because Scotland had her hands on her at the time of its writing.
We walked around the shopping areas first and the city was busy with a small indoor market and several buskers, two were actually terrible, both had backing music and amplifiers, one a male and one a female and they were absolutely murdering the songs they were trying to sing. The girl was singing an Adel song and the man was singing a Lewis Capaldi song, I mean if you cannot sing why try to emulate someone who is idolised for singing?
After the shops we found the Castle, which was an extortionate amount of money to go in and see so we just took photographs instead. We did however have a very nice visit to the Cathedral.
Carlisle Cathedral was built around 1133 so it’s yet another very old building which was built to exceptionally high standards of craftsmanship in a time when tools were very basic.
It is a Cathedral to behold, it’s not massive, but it is beautiful. It is surrounded by old building and it is just such a very nice place to visit. I sat a good while in the pews while Wendy explored inside, I marvelled at the delicate workmanship inside.
Our next treat was to go and find a picnic for our return trip and boy did we!!!
We found a local butcher that sold not only very nice pies but they also had a very tasty salad bar right in the middle of the shop. As I picked the pies Wendy filled her boots, not literally, but in a plastic container and she filled it with the best “pik n mix” salad I have ever seen, Robyn would have loved it.
So with two Roast Hogg Rolls, two teeny, tiny pork pies and one rather large and decadent Scotch egg we headed to Tesco to buy a bottle of wine and something sweet for Mrs Sweet Tooth.
After a beer in Weatherspoon’s, so Wendy could use the toilet, heaven forbid she should have to use a train toilet, we headed back to the train station where we carefully split up so we could enter different carriage doors so as to nab a table from where we could scoff our picnic, and I came up trumps. Only because Wendy had trouble working out which side we should sit going back so that we saw the other view. I did tell her, we sit on the right coming in, so we sit on the right going out and we get a different view!!! Never mind we got a table and we got the right view!
The picnic was open as we pulled out of Carlisle and it was bloody lovely, I saw people around us sneaking jealous glances as we chomped on, and drank our wine too.
On the way back we were again treated to wonderful views and somehow the return trip was faster than the outward trip, we didn’t have the fun of the older people either, which was a shame as they were quite entertaining!
We got back after 6:00pm and went back to the van to prepare for tomorrows departure.
As we settled down we were treated to a most stunning sunset over the lovely Yorkshire Dales.
Tomorrow we move on and I am really looking forwards to this next stop, it’s going to be a cracker, hopefully anyway as its somewhere I have wanted to visit for years. Oh and it’s the kick off of the Rigby World Cup too, oh what a weekend I hope to have!!!
Settle to Morecambe
32 Miles
It was a really sunny morning today but it was really cold in the caravan, I had to turn the heating up at 6:30 am and I got back in bed until it warmed up enough for me to have my breakfast.
Wendy went out running first and before she left I briefed her on where she could run out into the country. There’s a country lane that follows the River Ribble and I ran a short way along it yesterday so today both of us where going to run it.
I followed Wendy after about 20 minutes when my tablets started to take effect and I saw her coming towards me as I entered the lane. We passed each other and I went 3 miles along the lane into beautiful countryside, I passed the small village of Knights Table which was just lovely. It’s 4 miles out of Settle and out in the remote countryside but not that far away that you feel disconnected.
When I came back I ran over the town bridge crossing the River Ribble but this time I was on the opposite side of the road and I saw a lovely, but small weir with some homes alongside the river.
After I had finished my smoothie I took Wendy to see the weir, we parked in the car park for the riverside apartments and the ground floor flats really had a great outlook with their gardens going right upto the river wall.
The weir was really interesting, it had a fall of about 2 metres, there was also a fish ladder to allow salmon to get upstream so they can spawn. The River Ribble is a very important salmon river, so I learnt. There was also a hydro electric turbine which the river drives. The turbine develops a maximum out put of 44 kWatts. The average vacuum cleaner uses 1.4 kWatts so that means it can power 32 vacuum cleaners at any one time which is quite good to say it’s going 24 hours a day. However as it’s not rained for a few weeks the river was too low to power the turbine. Like all renewable power it’s not 100% reliable, unlike coal and gas.
There’s no need to worry about the salmon getting back down river as the turbine has rubber vanes so no harm comes to the fish, in fact fish farmers use these as pumps in order to move the fish around as they develop.
We got back to the caravan and we were hooked up by 12:00, just in time to listen to the midday guess of the long running phone in competition, one little word. Both Wendy and me were a bit disgusted to hear today’s guess by a young women, looked like an older dead Jill Dando, it was made worse by the young presenter who clearly didn’t know about Jill Dando by laughing about it, it was as all in very bad taste.
As we travelled we went along small country roads and we passed through some lovely villages. In fact we were only 15 miles from the coast when we passed from North Yorkshire into Lancashire. Yorkshire as a whole is a massive county and with a population of over 5 million people it’s has more people than the whole of Scotland.
We got to our new site at around 1:00 pm and I was a bit worried as it looks like a travelers camp site. There are no other touring vans, there are quite a few permanent vans and a lot in storage. That said we are in a nice big grassy field and we aren’t overlooked by anyone. I will be taking the car keys and the caravans wheel lock key with me when we go off site.
After we had settled in we took the short walk to the coast and I found that Morecambe Bay is exactly what I thought it would be. There is a very nice promenade that seems to have been developed as part of a flood defence system. We walked along the prom and we came across the Stone Jetty. This is a stone pier that goes out into the sea and apart from a small cafe there is nothing else apart from benches. This is a very welcome departure from fun fares and slot machines that blight a great many famous English seaside piers.
We carried on walking and I was looking out at the bay on such a beautiful sunny day and it was hard to imagine it was just over 15 years ago that 23 illegal Chinese people died out there cockle picking at after 9 pm on a cold winters night. We called for a drink and some very tasty loaded chips in a Wetherspoons bar and I Googled about the incident and I found out that two bodies had never been found until a fisherman found a women’s skull six years after. The skull was found to be that of a 37 years old women who’s husband was also killed leaving a 13 year old child in China.
After our drink and chips we walked further along the prom and then turned around to walk back and it got even hotter as we were now walking with the wind behind us.
As it was Friday we called for another drink in the Wetherspoons bar and we watched something of Morecambe life, and it’s not all pretty.
Morecambe has a few famous sons and daughters, Eric Morecambe who took his stage name from his home town and Thora Hurd a very famous actress both of whom were very famous when I was growing up.
As the sunshine and it’s heat continued we walked back to the caravancalling in at the cool for some supplies. This is where you realise your in a rough area as they have a dedicated security guard on duty st the cool, my security shields went into maximum alert.
back at the van we finished yesterday’s supper of Hogg sausage rolls and pik n mix salad and it was a delight.
as I file tonight’s copy Wendy is in bed and the wind as stated to pick up, I think we will keep the heat but we could do without the wind as we hope to use the bikes again tomorrow.
Here’s hoping anyway!!!
Morecambe
No Travelling
I neglected to say yesterday that we happened upon a film crew filming a TV Drama called The Bay while we were out and about. Downtown they had a huge crane with some kind of arty reflector on it and film crews jumping around, but we didn’t see any actors. We came across the actors on our way back to the caravan, they were filming a scene and when it was over the male actor was rushed away into a waiting van and he scarpered. The thing that got us though was the amount of lovey boxed water and snacks they had available, there was loads for them, I felt like dipping in when I passed. You can ser the photos in yesterday’s copy.
The reason I missed this event was because last night after drafting my copy on my laptop, just prior to uploading it, my laptop packed in so I had to rewrite my report all over again on my IPhone!
So now onto today!
Today has been absolutely stunning, wall to wall sunshine and at 25 degrees on the Autumnal Equinox it has been fantastic.
Running was good along the prom, we both ran in a southerly direction and I passed Wendy as she turned around. The weather was just delightful, so much so that I went the wrong way on my return, but I did indeed get back safely.
As we were late up we were a little late setting off on today’s first adventure, a visit to Lancaster, the county town of Lancashire.
Lancaster facts:
Over the years they have executed the most people outside of London, including 11 catholic priests and lots of witches.
The castle was built in the 1300’s
The River Lune runs through the town as does the Lancaster Canal
First up we called to the Wetherspoons bar to bag it which we did by having a nice pint of Ruddles best bitter.
From there we walked around the town and it is fantastic, the sunshine and the heat helped but it really was a fantastic town, who would have thought In Lancashire?
There were street markets selling everything you would want, there were food stalls too with lots on offer and there were some really good buskers. The atmosphere was terrific too, we both loved it!
We walked upto and around the stunning castle where Wendy saw a sign for HMP Lancaster but we have since learned that it was decommissioned as a prison in 2012, we’ll to be honest the building is just too good for the likes of those scoundrels!!!
We even saw a very nice wedding in the nearby church!!!
We carried on around town and then we found the canal where we were walked for a while. The sun was out, it was hot and it was brilliant!
I was curious to know the name of the canal so I asked 3 people and none knew the name of it, I thought it might be the Leeds to Liverpool Canal, it wasn’t it but it is connected to it at the southern end and it has 42 miles of navigational water way.
I know I keep banging on but the weather was stonking, honest it was!
After a shopping trip to Aldi on the way back we returned to the caravan and collected the bikes to go for a really lovely 10 mile bike ride along the prom to the far north.
Here we go again, but in the sunshine Morecambe Bay looked tropical, it was resplendent and beautiful, honestly words can’t really describe how good it looked.
There are two local lifeboat stations about a half mile apart and both boats had been launched. While I was reading about the Chinese cockle picker tragedy I read a piece from one of the Coxwains who said that despite the publicity about the tragedy they are still rescuing people trapped on the beach by the incoming tide and it’s averaging one person a week.
We got to the end where we found a most delightful Micro Pub where we had a pint and we fitted right in chatting to people and even stroking their dogs. We have been advised to go to the Royal in Heysham, the next town south of us, for our Sunday lunch tomorrow, it might just be a date!
On our return we could not find a fish and chip shop as was our intention so we nipped into Morrison’s where we bought some Monkfish, Scallops and extra giant Prawns for the barby.
Back at the caravan I lit the barby and I was immediately surrounded by the sites goose population who thought I might have some tit bits, but I didn’t and they soon scarpered because I was eyeing one or two up for the pot.
Supper was a real delight, I’m stuffed and as I file tonight’s copy I have across from me a very Strictly excited Wendy Gill who is very impressed with this years technical ability, well apart from James Cracknall who was wooden and solid, I’m thinking he’s first out this year!
Morecambe
No Travelling
I was in bed just waking up at what I thought was 7:00 am and I could hear little tiny pitter, pats of rain on the caravan roof. By the time I had the kettle on the rain was bouncing off the roof and the noise inside the van was almost deafening.
Wendy woke up so I gave her her tea and that’s when I realised it was nearly 9 am, I had my 6’s and 8’s mixed up and I was immediately out of sorts.
I needed to get out running as I wanted to watch the England rugby World Cup match that was on TV at 11:15, so rain or no rain I was going out.
Wendy wasn’t going anywhere!
I was soaked to the skin before I had completed my first mile but I didn’t mind as it wasn’t cold and there was no wind, in fact I quite enjoyed it. As I had a drink at four miles the rain suddenly stopped but it quickly returned with a vengeance as it banged it down even more.
I got back to the van just as the rain stopped. The difference between yesterday and today was quite noticeable, from hot blue sky’s to thick grey miserable ones.
Wendy had gone out running and she had gotten wet through too.
After a shave and a shower I settled down to watch the rugby and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We weren’t perfect, we made mistakes but we won and we won a bonus point too. What I liked was the coach rotating the team from the bench with a like for like player. This will help keep the team from injury which will be great if we are in the competition for a long time and it’s also good for moral as everyone got a good run out today.
After the match and with the rain now gone I cycled to Aldi for some supplies just in case we couldn’t find a pub for a nice Sunday Roast. Wendy wasn’t game to come with me but she did like the big bar of chocolate I brought her back.
As soon as my bike was wrapped up under cover we were off out in search of a Roast Sunday dinner. We met a couple in the micro pub yesterday and they advised us to eat at the Royal Hotel in Heysham which is about 3 miles south along the coast so that’s where we headed to.
The rain kept off and we walked along the prom and right into Old Heysham and Hey Presto we bumped right into the Royal Hotel just in time as the rain came back very quickly and very hard.
The Royal was just perfect, I ordered a pork roast and Wendy asked for the beef. Both meals came within ten minutes and both were very well cooked and we had loads of lovey fresh veg too, so much we ended up leaving some spuds as we were busting.
Thankfully the rain had stopped so we were able to go and find a very snazzy sculpture in Half Moon Bay which is adjacent to the huge Heysham Dockyard, here’s what the local paper said about the sculpture:
The SHIP at Half Moon Bay in sight of Heysham Port reflects Morecambe bay's landscape and maritime heritage and features two men sitting on the bow and stern of a ship looking in opposite directions.
Artist Anna Gillespie said: "I came up with the idea of a simple ship with people sitting on it, up high to see out over the bay. It's what people do when they sit at the sea and contemplate. It's what the sea does to you, gives you a break and space. Hopefully people are going to see this when they look at the sculpture”.
It’s quite an interesting and very appropriate sculpture and it is perfectly placed in this lonely field by the sea.
I used to drop trailers off at Heysham Docks many years ago when I drove for Argos on my days off shift from the Fire Station, so it’s been interesting to come back and see the whole area for the first time.
We are walked back and found the ruins of an old church with ancient coffins which had been scrapped out of a large piece of stone. Again what a stunning place for a church, in fact quite close to it was a modern church which is just set above the coast.
We walked back to the van and called in to Tesco for some sticky toffee pudding and custard for me, well Wendy had a huge bar of chocolate waiting for her.
It’s been a lovely Sunday, despite the rain, moving day tomorrow but we have no plans so you’ll have to tune in later to see what happens!!!
Morecambe to Home
335 Miles
It was warm last night so we slept with the large roof light open, that was until around 2 am when I heard the drizzle on the caravan roof. I got up and closed it and nodded off again not waking until 6:15 am where I jumped out of bed already knowing what I would find on the news, Thomas Cook has ceased trading, bummer!!!
I knew this was a possibility a few weeks ago but I thought it would get resolved, but it didn’t.
We have flights booked to St Lucia with them in November, strangely I have heard nothing from them all day.
We both went out running but the rain had gone and it was a really lovely morning and I went along the north prom, so did Wendy but as I had to check out a few camp routines, like where do I empty the waste, she was away before me.
I ran along the Stone Jetty and it was lovely and pieceful, and thankfully still sunny.
I passed Wendy coming back and by the time I was at 4 miles my sciatica was agony so I popped some more pain killers.
As I ran back I got to 5.5 miles and I came across a very long row of golden painted pebbles all laid out in a line. I stopped to marvel at the accuracy of the line but a few pebbles had been moved, probably by people inadvertently kicking them. I sat on a wall and I saw a lady walking her dog and replacing the stones in line.
I got back to the caravan, I had my smoothie and we set off home. We were going to see how the pain in my leg was, as it’s quite bad when driving, and then decide if we needed to stop.
Chatting in the car Wendy mentioned the row of golden pebbles as she had seen it too, she did a Google search but she couldn’t find anything about it.
We stopped for a coffee break on the M74, about 40 miles from Glasgow and I tried to find out about our Thomas Cook issue but I gave up after an hour of wasting my time.
We carried on and we got back to Inverness at about 19:40 as my leg had been as good as gold, it must have been those extra tablets I took enroute. Wendy nipped into Lidl for essential supplies while I bought fish and chips for supper. Jeepers I nearly had a heart attack, 16 quid for two fish suppers.
With the van on our drive we devoured our supper and to be fair it was very tasty.
After unpacking the van I did some more Thomas Cooking but I gave up as I found that there are two airports on the island, one at the far north and one at the far south. Thomas Cook, it seems, is the only airline that fly’s to the north, where our accommodation is booked, everyone else flys to the one in the south.
I gave up, I opened some wine and did some catch up on Peaky Blinders while Wendy knicked my data watching Downton Abby.
Just before I started to write tonight’s copy I Googled the pebbles, here’s what I found:
A huge turnout in Morecambe at the weekend saw a world record unofficially broken as more than 8,600 golden pebbles were laid out along the prom.
The line of pebbles marked Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and was organised by the Team Reece charity, which was set up by Overton schoolboy Reece Holt, who passed away in January.
Lancaster Royal Grammar School pupil Reece, 13, had been battling Anaplastic Astrocytoma, a malignant tumour that affects only about 10 children a year, since May 2016.
Team Reece have also been highlighting childhood cancer through their Paint the Town Gold campaign this month.
Sharon Ibbotson, schools and fundraising co-crdinator for Team Reece, said it is believed the world record has been unofficially broken.
All the evidence will now be collated and sent off for confirmation.
I say good for them for not forgetting their mate and I hope they get their record!
Well that’s another successful tour of GB in the bag, it’s been absolutely brilliant, we have explored new places and we have loved every minute of it, I’ll see you in St Lucia Avid Reader in November, or maybe not, who knows, we’ll certainly not Thomas Bloody Cook!!!
Home to Gardenstown
92 Miles
This is a quick impromptu report as we have brought Granny and Grandad to the tiny fishing village of Gardenstown and what a stunner it is.
We set off after a washing machine malfunction which delayed our departure, we left home just after 12:00 and we had a very easy drive along the A96 in an easterly direction.
After Fochabers we took the coastal route up through Cullen and onto Banff where we stopped at Tesco’s for some supplies, mainly wine as we have been informed by our landlord that the local Spar doesn’t supply it, well we couldn’t have that could we?
The weather although very blustery was fine, we didn’t have any rain which made for a more scenic journey.
And as we approached Gardenstown we were given a delightful view of the village from the heights of the hills surrounding this tiny village. Gardenstown is a very hilly coastal fishing village which is surrounded by very high hills and it has a very similar feel to that of some Cornish fishing villages.
We found our accommodation, a very tidy self-catering terraced cottage just a couple of very high roads up from the coast. Granny, Granddad and Wendy all liked the place although the downside is that it is far too steep for Granddad to be allowed to potter around the harbour area without the need to be driven down.
After settling into the house we took a little drive to show G & G the village and they liked it very much indeed.
From there we drove along a short road, over a hill to the tiny village of Crovie which has the most difficult access to any village or town that I have ever visited on the British Mainland. The road down to it is the steepest road going, and its single track too.
We parked up along the harbour wall and while G & G went for a stroll Wendy and me walked along the front of the only access to the village, the footpath.
The village comprises of one longish row of terrace houses which is accessed by the footpath, with the sea wall just opposite the path.
This is a very stunning village, but it is without any facilities, no shops, no pub either!!!
But it is very interesting.
Meeting G & G back at the car we drove back to base where after depositing G & G, Wendy and I walked down to the pub to check out the menu and we found a delightfully small little country pub, we could almost be in Yorkshire.
We were happy with the food offering and so we collected G & G and took them down for a delightful and tasty, basic pub meal. Granddad and me had a burger each, Wendy and Granny had the fish gougons, and it was all just cooked perfectly.
Granddad took a shine to a model creel so we bought it for him as a thankyou souvenir as he had bought us supper.
Back at the house we settled down and chuckled at G & G’s attempt at online contact with an old army pal of Granddad’s before we all settled down for the night.
Gardenstown
No Travelling
I do apologise for the short content in yesterday’s copy. I wasn’t actually going to detail this short journey, having been here before, but when I had further explored the beautiful village of Gardenstown and then Crovie I just felt I had to capture the memory. The trouble was though the Sky Go app on my laptop was playing up so I had to faff about reinstalling that so that I could watch the Walking Dead, as a result I had very little time to conjure up a more exciting report, hopefully I’ll address that now!
Gardenstown was founded in 1720 by Alexander Garden when he first settled here forming a small fishing village along the Moray Coast. Locally however the area is known as Gamrie after the bay and the original parish. There is the ruins of an old church nearby which was built in 1513, the Church of St John the Evangelist, so the area has been occupied for some considerable time.
Our living arraignments are G & G have the main bedroom with the ensuite bathroom, and a very nice and cosy looking double bed, we have the twin beds and the bathroom facilities on the ground floor, and I don’t mind one bit as I get two nights sleep without having Wendy wrestle and tug the bed sheets off me while doing one of her many night time thrashes.
I was up just after 7 am and had my breakfast in the kitchen before going out running, Wendy declined stating that the hills were just too steep for her.
I ran down to the shore and along the beach where I thought I would do most of my running, however I hadn’t bargained for high tide, and it was with only a short stretch of beach above the waterline.
I ran around the harbour, along what was left of the beach and then I headed to try to find a coastal path to Crovie, and lucky me, I did just do that. I found that from a coastal cliff corner where we can see a staircase going over that there was indeed a good footpath going all the way to Crovie.
From the foot of the staircase it was just under a mile long to the far end of Crovie village, so I ran it there and back 3 times.
As I ran along I can across a memorial to a ship, The SS Vigilant. In February 1906 the villagers had risked life and limb to rescue the crew of the SS Vigilant when, after engine failure it was driven ashore onto the Rotten Beach just down from the village. The vessel was a coal carrier that had been passing from Newcastle and every crew member had been saved from certain death.
Another interesting tale is of the two German spies during World War 2.
During April 1941, two armed men landed at Crovie pier from a rubber dinghy. It was a time of distrust. Road signs in the North East had been removed and the Emergency Coastal Defences were in place. General Ironside’s Innes Links Coastal Battery was yet to fire a shot in anger, but the general mood was fear of invasion and distrust of foreigners.
It was just before 6 a.m. on April 8th 1941, and three hours earlier the two men had been dropped a few miles offshore by a German flying boat. When climbing into their rubber dinghy, they had lost their means of transport when the Luftwaffe aircrew panicked and threw their two bicycles into the North Sea, where no doubt they lie to this day.
As they watched the seaplane take off for the return trip to Norway, they must have wondered what had possessed them to volunteer as German spies and what fate would await them when they made landfall in the North East of Scotland.
The two men were in fact Norwegians who had been recruited by the German security services to report on the Moray coastal defences. It’s a well-known story: they rowed ashore to Crovie pier and asked the man at number 27 how to get to Banff by bus.
It was April 1941. Very few locals spoke a foreign language despite the influx of Polish personnel into the Moray area.
Mr Reid at number 27 seemingly dialled 999 and reported the incident to the Banff Constabulary.
Used as double agents, the two Norwegians fooled their German masters for a few months before being allowed, in one case, to join the Norwegian Army and in the case of the second agent, to live out the rest of the war in an internment camp.
After a ham toastie and a shower we loaded into the car and took a trip to the small coastal village of Pennan where some parts of the 1980’s Blockbuster film, “Local Hero” was filmed.
Jeepers this was yet another very inaccessible village having to go down an exceptionally steep hill.
The village was similar to Crovie with its single line of Cottages which are built along the shoreline.
We all got out of the car and strolled along the village taking in the views.
We set off in the car heading to Fraserburg and as we drove we came across what we thought was a folly. Wendy and I got out and walked all the way up the stairs to the bottom of the structure and there wasn’t anything to tell us about what it was supposed to be, despite there being a car park at the bottom. There was a large wooden door, but that was immovable. Wendy did some Googling later and here is what she found about it:
Mounthooly Doocot stands on a hillock a mile or so from the Aberdeenshire coastline and Rosehearty village. It was built by a local estate owner in around 1800 and he clearly had plenty of cash to splash: considering that the purpose of a doocot is to house pigeons (for harvesting their eggs and meat), the building looks much too grand. Constructed in mock-Gothic style, it's a worthwhile stop if you're passing through this neglected northern part of the county.
From there we drove to a small village called Inverallocy to show Granddad a large and half sunken vessel which lies just outside of the harbour walls.
After a stroll around the War Cemetery we could hold our hunger back no longer and we headed into Fraserburg for a Weatherspoon’s treat, and what a treat it was, well it was Steak Tuesday!!!
I had a skinny steak but with a large portion of spicy prawns, Wendy had the BBQ chicken, Granny had a mixed grill and Granddad, to his utter delight had a large mixed grill, although Granny did relive him of half of his fried onion rings!
What a feast it was, it was bloody lovely and just what the doctor ordered.
After a stroll in Fraserburg, where Granny bought some essential supplies, new Jim, Jams.
With Granny and Wendy in the car we parked up at the harbour and Granddad and me took a stroll around Fraserburg fishing fleet that were berthed there. There were some very big trawlers, with huge nets and rigging, they must sweep the seabed clean of fish and anything else in the nets way! Granddad loved every minute of the 20 odd minutes we were there, and I must admit I did too!
After our stroll we re-joined the ladies and then we headed back to the cottage to relax until bake off.
This copy is now filed at just after 18:00 as Wendy and me are off for a little village walk before bake off, and I’m sure I am going to need my bed after that is over as it’s been a lovely couple of very tiring days exploring with G & G!
Home to Gatwick Airport
468 Miles
It’s that time of the year again in the Northern Temperate Zone, November, and with it comes drizzle, early darkness and all round dampness. This year’s get away is to be the Caribbean Island of St Lucia which is one of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located midway down the Eastern Caribbean chain, between Martinique and St. Vincent, and north of Barbados.
But first we have to get there and that was very much complicated recently due to the collapse of Thomas Cook Airlines as we had booked our flights out to the most northerly island airport, the George F. L. Charles Airport with them. This was our ideal choice of airport as it’s within almost walking distance of our AirBnB accommodation. However we lost those flights, but thankfully this week we got a full refund on them, well that’s something!
The refund was most welcome because in anticipation of the refund I had booked flights to Hewanorra International Airport which is at the very south of the island. This airport is located about 38 miles away from where we want to be, but we hadn’t any choice because no other international airline flies in there, the only airlines that use it are the short haul inter island companies. The only option would have been to fly to Barbados, or Jamaica and then take a separate and probably quite costly fight from there.
So I opted for Virgin Atlantic to the south and the move of airport was somewhat tempered because originally we had to land and hang around at Barbados, both on the way out and on the way back, with Thomas Cook, but thankfully Virgin flies directly, and nonstop.
I have arranged a private transfer by car to get us north so all in all, it is a tadge more expensive but at least we will have a shorter flight and the car drive north will give us an opportunity to see a little of the island as we travel.
As we were flying very early today we stayed the night at Brad and Caroline’s, where Caroline cooked us a very tasty ham supper, it was a real delight.
Brad got up with us at 04:45 and he very kindly dropped us off at the airport where we settled down and waited for our fight. The weather was horrid, it was chucking down with rain.
We boarded in good time but we set off late by 20 minutes which worried me as I had already planned how we would get to watch the Rugby World Cup Final before its kick off at 09:00.
The flight was uneventful until we came into land where we were struck by very high crosswinds. This caused some upping and downing of the flight. Wendy was a little put out by this and gripped her seats armrests with white knuckles.
We eventually landed safely and we disembarked onto a bus for a lift to the arrivals terminal where, thankfully our bags were waiting of us.
We exited the airport and we took a taxi to the small town of Horley where I had found a Weatherspoon’s bar from which we could both have a hearty breakfast and watch the rugby.
We got there just in time for the anthems and we settled down to a very nice, if not lukewarm breakfast, and a very poor performance from England’s rugby team.
I shouldn’t be harsh, they tried their best, but South Africa were just too good and too strong for the England team and we ended up with a bit of a whooping! Never mind at least they did try, very hard.
We got the bus back to the airport where we had to wait a short while until we could check in. Never mind it gave me time to go and get our flight tickets for tomorrow from the Virgin desk which will save us some hassle in the morning.
Back at the hotel I charmed the receptionist and got us into our room an hour early and not a moment too soon as Wendy was dead on her legs.
We settled in and Wendy ended up having a shower and a nap in bed while I nipped down to the absolutely brand spanking new gym to use the running machine where I spent the best part of an hour and a half sweating myself into a puddle.
I got back to the room having first had to ride the lift up with a group of people who said they really didn’t mind me being in with them, in my very sweaty state, I bet they gossiped a little after I left though!
I had an immediate shower, I rinsed my running gear out and I managed to get Wendy out of bed for a small walk around the departures area so that we are familiar with our surroundings in the morning as it’s bound to be very busy.
We got back to our room where I made supper, which was a very tasty bowl of spicy noodles and precooked chicken thighs which I very smartly had cooked and froze the day before. I sliced them into nice sized chunks and heated them up with the boiling water which was supposed to also rehydrate the noodles. It worked a treat and we had a most delicious knock up airport hotel meal.
I have to admit to having a short nap myself just before Strictly Dancing came on and I thought I was having a nightmare when I saw what Motsi was wearing, but I indeed was not asleep and she did really look quite a sight!
I managed to last out Strictly but I was in my scratcher not long after.
I was absolutely goosed, hopefully I’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight for tomorrows long haul flight to the hot tropical sunshine!
Gatwick Airport to St Lucia
4,225 Miles (By Air)
37 Miles (By Taxi)
Wendy was fast asleep before the credits had finished rolling on Strictly Dancing last night. I managed to stay awake another half hour and I watched Michael Portillo on his train journey across Australia and last night he was on the Indian Pacific which is the train we crossed Australia on.
I didn’t sleep too well, I woke just before midnight, then at 2, 4 and eventually 6 am when I knew the game was up and I got out of bed. I was dreaming all night long and I’m sure it was encouraged by the noise of the building. There was the mechanical whirl of air conditioning and then toilets flushing at all times. That’s the trouble with hotels close to airports, everyone is coming and going all night long.
Our hotel was actually connected to Gatwick Airport Departures by a small elevated tunnel. Each time we crossed I imagined we were in the time tunnel, this was a TV program when I was a nipper.
After Wendy had showered, washed and dryed her hair we went down for breakfast and it was a very nice spread indeed.
There was everything you would want and it was all self service. I had a sausage, bacon, beans and scrambled eggs, a right little treat. Wendy had something similar but we were both disappointed that the supposedly hot breakfast was the wrong side of lukewarm. But we ate it all, unlike other guests who had selected far too much food for their plates and had left it for some other poor bugger to clear away.
Back at the room I showered after a cup of tea and Wendy repacked the suitcases and miraculously managed to get both cases to weigh just under 23 kilos.
When we went to Antigua some years ago food in the supermarket was extremely expensive so for this Caribbean adventure we have packed as much food as we can and we are right on the limit.
When we were ready we left the hotel and strolled along the time tunnel and upto the Virgin Airline bag drop. Would you believe Wendy had one case weighing 22.6 kilos and the other weighing 22.7 kilos.
Security was busy and there was quite a long queue. We could have paid a fiver each and gone through executive security but Wendy didn’t want to. She said she wasn't paying to be treated just as badly, well she said something like that.
We snaked along the queue and a small fella chatted to us as we progressed, which made the queue a little easier.
I got to the security point, unloaded my laptop into a tray and then I put my backpack and jacket into another tray and sent them on their way through the scanner.
I beeped as I went through the metal detector and I had to take my shoes off and then get a full body X-ray, but thankfully I passed.
My back pack went through the X-ray and was selected for inspection and I had to wait in another queue of people in the same situation. As I came near to the front everyone in front of me had left a liquid container in their bag, ever one of the buggers, one fella had a massive, full, tube of toothpaste which was confiscated.
When it came to my turn the security chap had access to an X-ray monitor and could see inside my bag. He asked if I had any liquid and I said no, because I was sure I hadn’t. He then asked permission to look in the bag, which I allowed. I did warn him though that there was some very smelly sports cloths in there.
He did a rummage inside the bag and pulled out my paperback book. He gave it a good look over and then he apologised for my delay and he turned the monitor so I could see. The X-ray had captured the full spine side of the book and consequently the density of the pages from that angle made it look like a full bottle of liquid. It was interesting to see, they had even taken two shots of it and both showed it to look like a bottle. Well at least they are looking carefully.
We hit the Wetherspoons bar and slowly shared a bottle of wine to pass the time.
Isn’t it funny what you see in an airport. I saw one young women in a family group and she had longish hair with one massive roller at the front. It stood out as bold as brass! But what really caught my attention was that she had applied the most excessive amount of fake tan I have ever seen in my life. It actually looked like she’d used boot polish.
I told Wendy, “Not now, but in a minute look at that girl behind you with the roller in her hair”. She immediately turned around and looked straight over and almost chortled out loudly. And being a women she also noticed her mate who must have removed her rollers but had yet to brush it all through, what a pair they looked.
We boarded the flight and we were on our way just after departure time.
We settled in nicely and after an hour I noticed some activity behind me and guess what we had on our hands? A medical emergency!!!!
Yes it was all drama, a man two rows behind me was being attended to by three stewards, one was wafting him, another was reassuring him and the third was a dogsbody fetching and carrying. The man must have been in his 50’s and his mate next to him was doing a lot of gesticulating.
The patient was in an aisle seat so all those around him were having a good old nosey.
I, however being concerned checked our location on the onboard monitor and saw that it was nearer to fly back to the UK than go elsewhere. That’s where my sympathy for him nearly melted. But thankfully I did manage to give myself a talking to and thought, “What if it was me!”
I stopped looking and let the matter run its course. A defibrillator was produced after half an hour or so I snook another look. The patient was unconscious and he now had an oxygen mask on.
I took some comfort that a doctor had not been called and so I continued to monitor the situation.
My next peek was an hour later and I saw his seat was empty which I took as a good sign.
I settled down watching a film and I had a very nice lunch consisting of cream chicken, mash and peas. With a glass of wine, it was all very nice.
After the film finished I stole another look and the patient was back in his seat, large as life chatting to his mate like nothing had happened, the scoundrel any sympathy I had for him evaporated. I mean I thought I might not be looking at a tropical sunset tonight, all because of him.
The flight was good, I watched another film, I celebrated our good fortune with a very nice Bacardi and ate yet another meal of a cheese sandwich and a cream and jam scone about an hour before our arrival. Wendy muttered about the cheese sandwich not being civilised food, consequently I had her cheese while she ate the, now lettuce sandwich!
The flight ended well, apart from yet more turbulence where again Wendy gripped the seat armrest and nearly broke it off. I do try to calm her down but she gets all irrational when the plane is shaking like a leaf and dropping hundred’s of feet while travelling at 500 miles per hour.
We were the last off the plane and we had to endure the long queue to pass immigration which was somewhat backwards, if not actually very efficient in that everyone was given a very good grilling and they now know who we are and where we are staying.
Our bags were waiting as was our very chatty taxi driver, Quincey, who was a very interesting and chatty man. Quincy was very eager to try and sell us his services for our holiday duration but we politely “Ummed and Aahed” in all the right places.
Jeepers it was hot, 34 degrees C.
The drive over was about an hour as we had to crisscross from east to west to miss the vast mountain ranges. It was an interesting drive but as we approached our apartment darkness quickly fell upon us.
We found the apartment and after finding our host we were all settled in and it was my quest to find a VPN so Wendy could watch Strictly the Results Show. Obviously I already know who’s out but Wendy likes to watch it for herself.
The apartments nice, we seemingly have a stunning view but it’s too dark to see just now, but I’ll get a picture for tomorrows copy.
That’s it for tonight, it’s been an adventurous day, I think I’ll be in bed not long after Strictly, that’s if I can stream it of course!
Casteries - St Lucia
No Travelling
I did indeed manage to stream Strictly Dancing for Wendy last night, but not on my laptop, I had to use my I-phone, unfortunately we had to gather around the phone screen, but at least we saw it in all its glorified colour. We saw Mike saved yet again and Lady What’s Her face get eliminated, and not long after we were tucked up in bed with the aircon nicely droning on and sending us to sleep. But not before I downloaded a great bedside clock App. You see we are in a completely dark bedroom with no windows and we need a clock as there are no power sockets near our bed where we could plug our phones into and this App is brilliant staying on all night just like an old fashioned digital clock. I plugged my phone into the socket across the bedroom and we could both see the clock when we needed to, isn’t technology amazing?
Actually the aircon is very good, its quiet and it’s not too intrusive, by which I mean it’s not blowing us out of bed. But with the single sheet on the bed it just got a tadge cold for me, so instead of my vest I’ll sleep in a T-shirt tonight and see if that is any better.
We had a leisurely start to the day and I took a very nice bran flake breakfast curtesy of the last guest who left their milk behind, and it was a god send.
We both went out running at 6 am when the light had improved enough so we could see where we were going. I went along the beach and Wendy went into town.
The beach is stunning, but more on that later. The sand however was a little too deep and I gave up after about a mile. I then followed the main road north until the pavement run out and it came to some roadworks. I did run along the roadworks as it was safe to do so until it all ran out and it all became road. I learned from our taxi ride yesterday that the drivers here are mad, you know they are when official tourist info tells you to be careful because they are indeed mad. So I turned around and promptly tripped over a road sign that had had its feet buried in the soil, the problem being one foot was just above the surface and I caught my right foot on it and the momentum kept me going in a downwards direction, resulting in a scrape to both my hands. Thankfully they weren’t as bad as I have had before, but they were scrapes none the less!
I ran into town and I was sweating profusely, I only had my running vest on but by now the sun was up and the heat was intense. I was sweating so badly that as I ran I was discharging sweat like a rain cloud. This is something that I have never done before, exude sweat! I remember it was intensively hot in Darwin, Australia to the point that I had to drink litre upon litre of water, but that was a humid heat where I didn’t sweat much, this was a very much dryer heat which made me sweat like a waterfall in spate conditions!
I ran into the town and by 7 am it was a very lively place. People were going about their business and street food was being prepared and the smell was lovely and by the time I headed back I was starving.
As I got nearer home I called into a supermarket and bought some bananas, the trouble is I had to run them up the hill back to the apartment.
Now let me explain our location.
We are on a hill in an area called Vigie, it’s an elevated area just outside of the capital city, Casteries and it’s a very nice residential area. The hill is half a mile long and there are two sections to it, the first, which is about 200 metres in length is very steep, from there we turn right and run up to the apartment, but that’s not so steep.
Our apartment is half a mile from Vigie Beach which as I have said before is stunning, and there are several beach bars at the start of the beach too which is just very nice for us.
However there is an airport here too and we have to walk a further mile around the runway, and then a further mile into town. If it wasn’t for the runway we would be in town, from the apartment in about ¾ of a mile.
The supermarket is at the end of the runway, so I have to run the mile down the runway and then the half mile up the hill, with a bunch of bananas tucked under my arm in 30 degree heat. But jeepers when I had my smoothie on the balcony overlooking the Caribbean Sea it was well worth it.
After showering we walked into town, around the runway and I was dripping in sweat when we got there. A huge cruise ship which I saw enter the harbour had docked and no doubt its passengers were out on the streets and being fleeced by the locals.
It was really hot and we passed a small local creole kitchen, the one I passed while running, and the food smelled amazing. I snook a look and it looked a little rough and ready, just my kind of thing and I think I’ll keep it in mind for the first rainy day.
We walked though the market and we were a bit pestered to buy things. One women said, “Mr with the very nice smile, buy something from me”. I polity declined as she didn’t have anything remotely near anything I would want, and she said almost exactly the same thing to Wendy as she passed just after me, although she was called, “The lady with the very nice smile”.
We walked, and walked in and around the city and what struck me was that some women were immaculately dressed, they were really dressed to the nines in 34 degree heat, and they looked unflappable with their suits on and high heels, like good old power dressing ladies. Some other didn’t look so good, in stark contrast.
Wendy was flagging in the heat so we stopped at a bar where I gave bottles of beer back to the bar maid. I asked for 2 beers, I had bought the very same beers from a bar on the beach near the apartment for $5 and the barmaid here charged me $10. I actually gave her a five as she passed me the bottles, jeepers they were only small too, and she said no its $10. I took the $5 out of her hand and said no thank you I was charged $5 at the beach and walked out, the bugger was charging me double because she thought I was on the cruise liner.
By now we had to get back to the apartment, it was gone midday and it was stinking hot so while Wendy went into the supermarket I found the taxi rank.
I got back to Wendy and we bought about a weeks’ worth of supplies and we both sweated even more when the bill came to $191.
The taxi ride back was interesting as the driver took us another way, I did double check with him where he was taking us but the driver was very decent and explained it was actually shorter going over a hill, and it was, almost!
Back at the apartment we chilled with a beer on the balcony and we enjoyed a little bit of rainfall, which Quincy told us yesterday is called locally, “Liquid Sunshine”
I also did a currency exchange rate check and I found that the exchange rate for Eastern Caribbean Dollar is $3.5 to £1, so our $191 supermarket bill was actually £55, which wasn’t so bad as we did buy a weeks’ worth of supplies.
When the rain had stopped we took a walk along the beach, all 1.5 miles of it in the very nice afternoon sunshine.
I had one issue with Wendy, we had to pass a breakwater and you had to time the incoming tide just right to get around it, Wendy faffed about and ended up in the middle of it when the biggest wave hit. She got immersed in the sea water from head to toe, but thankfully she saw the funny side of it. But the thing is I ended up wet through too because I was waiting for her, jeepers she’s hard work sometimes.
I took a swim in the sea and it was lovely and warm, well I couldn’t get any wetter.
More Liquid Sunshine came along as we walked back.
At the apartment we both showered the sand from our legs and then Wendy made an amazing dinner of spicy sausages and rice with a few added extras. We ate our meal as the darkness came down and it was a real delight.
As darkness fell the night creatures came out in force and what a beautiful noise they made, it was deafening, but beautiful too. It’s actually the loudest I have ever heard it, and I’m a veteran of the great Australian Outback.
After supper I watched the Walking Dead online, well life, even in the Tropics must go on and afterwards we relaxed in the lounge before heading to bed nice and early.
We have set our body clocks on tropical time, bed at 9 pm, up at 5 am, just before sunrise.
We have equal amount of sunshine, 12 and 12 so we intend to make the most of it!
Casteries - St Lucia
No Travelling
We were both in bed well before 9 pm last night and sound asleep soon after, I woke thirsty around midnight and I had a drink of water and then I never muffed until I heard upstairs dog barking profusely at around 4:30 am. It didn’t bother us as our alarm was set for 4:45 but had it not been set, I would have been miffed.
We have to run before 6 am or it’s just too hot, so the dog really wasn’t a problem.
I ran around the docks and I saw two massive cruise liners come in. I was running in all the nooks and crannies and there were a few old shipyards that had seen better days.
I ran down a small cul-de-sac and a local man walked out of his drive as I was turning round. He looked at me and said good morning, and I returned the gesture. He then looked at me closer and said, “Do I know you?” “I said no, most likely not”.
He recognised my accent and said I am English too, apparently he was brought up in London from an early age and returned to the island of his father and took over the family home. He saw that I was from the north of England, and he said he liked us as we are the honest people.
He then told me that he was running for Prime Minister!
I asked him further and he said that St Lucia is crippled by crime and extortion from the drug cartels. He said that he is going to take them on and run them out of town and he is going to return the wealth back to the people who rightly deserve it. He said that they are poorly payed and are taken advantage of. I told him to be very careful, the Cartels are notorious killers who will kill at a whim. He said they were afraid of him and they were also afraid of what he will do when he is in office.
He seemed a very nice young man, he spoke to me nicely and considered, but I can’t help but think he might be a little deluded. He did ask me to, “Friend Him on Facebook” and I did look at his profile when I got back to the apartment. But I think I might just keep him at arm’s length!!!
My knee was really painful today, I hate to say it but it’s missing the bounciness of the treadmill. I think I might walk down the hill in the morning and run along the beach bare foot. I made the mistake of running in my trainers yesterday so I couldn’t get into the surfs edge where the more firm sand is.
I got back and showered and we set off for the beach.
It was a little overcast but it was early and sure to clear up, and it did.
We walked down the hill and we could see that there were now three cruise ships in the harbour, and they were massive, like floating cities.
We got to the beach and it was mobbed. Every sunbed was out and they were filling very quickly. There was one of those road trains parked up, the ones which give tourists a tour of the town.
We were approached by a bed steward who Wendy asked why it was so busy. The fella said it was people from the cruise ships. He explained that he has a contract with the road train man to bring the tourists to the beach and they then take his sunbeds.
We said that we would like two beds and asked him how much it was. He said that it was $20 for two beds and an umbrella. I thought that was OK, but I only had US Dollars as I had made the mistake of bringing those out by mistake. That’s OK, not a problem he said I can change them for US Dollars as well, as the lowest I had was a $50 note.
I gave him the note and he gave me $30 back and off he went. I thought, hang on that’s a bit much so I waited for him to come back and said that he had over charged me for the beds. No he said, I said should it not be $20 Eastern Caribbean currency, he said no, this is the cruise ship rate, $20 US. I said that might be the case but I’m not on the cruise ship, I’m staying here up the road. He said OK when you come back I’ll give you a lower price than it is today, but I’m afraid today is cruise ship price.
I said OK pal and left it at that knowing I had been fleeced but that he had made the bigger mistake as we are here for another 28 days and he’s now lost all that potential custom.
To be fair the beds were really comfortable and they were right by the Caribbean Sea, but we won’t be back again!
The sun was hot but we were both lathered in factor 30 sun lotion, with me having factor 50 on my head, just to be sure. We did also hide under the brolley from time to time.
I got into my book, a Frederick Forsythe novel, boy he is a very good writer. I’m pleased about that as I haven’t read much of late and I really need to get back into reading. The beers I took down to the beach were also very nice and cooling too.
Jeepers a passing storm blew by with a very rainy five minutes to follow, than as if it never happened the sun was out and we were roasting hot again.
The people from the cruise were all Americans and they were all very large, if you know what I mean. They boarded the road train back at around midday having been fleeced out of $20 for two hours of sunbed time. The train driver had a loudspeaker and as they set off he shouted, “The train is now leaving, what do we say?” and everyone aboard shouted, to a person, “Toot-Toot!” This was repeated 3 times as they trundled down the road, it was a bit cringe worthy.
After a while, with Wendy starving and me needing some tomatoes for a sarnie tomorrow, I walked down to the shop, which was a 30 minute round trip walk leaving Wendy soaking up the sun. The walk was nice and pleasant, down the perimeter of the airport runway. I must have been pestered about 43 times by taxi drivers wanting to give me a lift somewhere, but I declined politely.
At the supermarket I got my provisions, I got Wendy a very tasty looking cheery pie and some extra beer as I am running low and I walked back through the cemetery so I could walk along the beach in the surf.
The cemetery is right alongside the beach and the graves are made from concrete capsules in which the body is entombed, and there are some very elaborate graves, I can tell you.
I got back to the sun beds and did some more reading of my book, but not before searching for my reading sunglasses, which were still over my eyes. Wendy found this extremely funny and later relayed this to Robyn during a phone call. But I can tell you Avid Reader this is something that Wendy has done herself, many, many times before!!!
At 3:30 we left the beach as we wanted to try a little local restaurant at the bottom of our first hill. In passing we gave our order and went back to the apartment to shower and we returned for a glass of wine and two very tasty meals. I had a very large chicken thigh in a rosemary and BBQ sauce and Wendy had the Dorado fish in a garlic butter and lemon sauce.
Both meals were outstanding, the Chef and the elderly waitress were very good fun too.
We got back at the apartment just before it got dark, which is a little after 5:30 pm and we settled down on the balcony listening to the army of night creatures who have just come alive and they are very vocal tonight. I love it, is just so very tropical!!!
Casteries - St Lucia
No Travelling
We both slept like logs last night, no noisy dog, no noise at all apart from the night creatures, which I really like anyway.
I was up before the alarm at 04:45, I know it seems a silly time to get up on holiday but we have to fit in with the sunshine timescale. Light at 6:00 am, darkness at 5:30pm and its fine with both of us.
I ran bare foot along the beach today, Wendy wasn’t going to go out, she’s feeling a bit flu like, but she did drag herself up and went out.
I did two and a half laps of the beach and it was lovely, there is the odd small stream that joins the sea and there is a stark difference in temperature in the water, the river water is much cooler and it’s a little treat to run through it.
I saw yet another massive cruise ship come into port as I ran, it beggars belief how on earth they sail, I’d love to be on one in a storm and see it roll around
I had to put my sandals on though for the last two miles as the sand is quite abrasive in some areas and my feet were getting a little roughed up by it.
I wasn’t as hot either, I hardly broke sweat as the nice sea breeze kept me cool.
I got back and found Wendy still in her running gear as the water was on a go slow. It’s happened every morning, the water seems to lose its pressure until around 9:00 am. We are stopping in a very affluent area so I guess everyone is getting showered for work and so the pressure drops. Normally it comes on after 9, but today it didn’t so I got showered in the drips as, eventually did Wendy, who has her hair to wash too.
I had a lovely banana smoothie but I drank it too quickly and I got brain freeze. It amused me that I got brain freeze as it reminded me of eating ice cream as a kid, I used to lick my ice cream far too fast. Funnily I started to wonder where it came from, I mean my mouth isn’t connected to my brain, so I Googled it and I found that it actually is connected. The sensors in the roof of your mouth send a message to your brain telling you to slow down as your eating something far too cold. This had me thinking even more deeply, why would the body have such a sensor, we don’t normally in nature eat anything that cold, ice cream is a fairly modern introduction!
We walked down to the beach and into yet another sun bed to do. We haggled with one lad and we got him down to $20, Eastern Caribbean, that’s about £7.00, but we declined as he didn’t have any change for my $50 and I wasn’t going to trust him to bring me any back.
I spoke to a very nice couple from Bristol who were settled at the far end of the beach, they were from a cruise ship and I was asking them who they had paid for their sun beds, apparently a lad will come along ant take your fee. They were telling me about getting ripped off wherever they went. It was funny because I asked them where they are going next with the cruise, both gave different answers, she said Martinique, he said Barbados. We all laughed and he said, “We don’t really know, I don’t even know what day it is, is it Tuesday?”
They also asked me about the exchange rate for the EC dollar, I told them that my Revolut Card gets me $3.5 per £1, they said that they got $2.6 per £1 from the currency exchange on the cruise ship this morning. The poor buggers even the cruise ship they’re on is ripping them off.
We eventually settled down on our towels and I made a very nice pillow in the sand and laid down with my book, as did Wendy.
It was a bit cloudy which was fine by me as I had had enough sun yesterday, as had Wendy who is absolutely rubbish at not getting some kind of sunburn.
We enjoyed the relaxation despite the odd rainstorm where we had to hide under a tree.
It was all very nice and relaxed, the road train dispensed more American cruise people and they were no trouble at all. They kept nice and quiet on their loungers and taking the occasional swim. When their time came to go, the train took them all off, toot, tooting as they went.
I had brought a few beers with me and some rum and coke which I swilled on as I read my book, we ate a tuna sarnie Wendy had brought, she sipped on some wine too that she had brought and it was all very nice
About an hour later, another group of cruise people came, the Brits.
Jeepers they must have been on the Riff-Raffiest cruise ship going, they were loud, they were very fat, they were tattooed all over and they were a right old sight to see.
One couple got the beds beside us, they had two kids, a boy and a girl. The boy was a little horror, he screamed and screamed all the time, he was a right spoiled brat. But in fairness to him, his dad sat on the sun bed and never once got off it to play with his kids, all he did was look at his phone. I used to love playing on the sand with my two, digging big holes and burying each other in it. On one occasion I nearly drowned Robyn when our inflatable boat got hit with a big wave.
Anyway, the entire time they were on the beach he never got off the bed, she, the Mum, on the other hand went into the sea and played with the kids, in her dress. She was soaking through and even got on the road train dripping wet.
As we marvelled at this interesting sight a van pulled up and the driver started to dispense drinks from the rear. I thought this to be a highly commendable act, because the bars were over charging for drinks, that’s why we take our own down to the beach.
I went and asked if he had any rum punch, and he pulled a large container from a cool box and he said, “Indeed I do”. I asked him how much it was, “He said its free man!” He then said I get paid to bring the drinks by the cruise line. I told him I wasn’t on the cruise, he said, “I don’t care, you can have a drink”. I said, “I would like to pay”, he said “There’s no need man, enjoy”. A fella from the cruise ship was drinking there too and said, “Go on mate, fill your boots”, he was from Manchester!!!
So I did, I got two plastic cups of it, and I gave him $5 EC as a tip, I went back later and I got two more and gave him $10 EC this time, and that did me, I was scunnered. It was so strong I was nearly comatose.
I had a sleep, Wendy woke me when it was time to go and I had to toddle off up that bloody hill.
We got back to the apartment and I continued my sleep. Wendy cooked supper and woke me up, it was a lovely sausage sarnie, and I went back to bed. Wendy joined me not long after, but I woke fully refreshed at 9:00 pm.
I’m now sat in the lounge wide awake catching up on what’s happening in the UK on Sky News and I’m thinking I won’t get back to sleep any time soon.
I’ve been a very naughty boy today, but at least Wendy hasn’t given me a hard time, I might get it in the neck tomorrow mind, I’ll let you know.
Casteries - St Lucia
No Travelling
Avid Reader, today was Alex Thomas Shepherds birthday, happy birthday Alex, (He foolishly married my daughter last year, poor lad).
Wendy was real crook overnight. She has flu like symptoms and there seems to be a fair bit of it going around. Our taxi driver told us his wife had it badly and our host also told us that she had not been well.
I was up late last night after yesterday’s afternoon naps and I could hear Wendy coughing and spluttering in bed. She’s not been herself today, but forced herself up, but she didn’t go running.
I went out though, I walked down the hill to take pressure off my knee and then I went to the outskirts of the city as far as was safe to go. Jeepers I saw some sites, the housing across town is somewhat dilapidated and there are storm drains that seem to be full of all sorts of not very pleasant things. The thing is though that some homes are only accessed over small bridges across these drains, and they must stink to high heaven.
I also saw another massive cruise ship come in, it was that big it had to do a triple shunt to get it alongside, not long after it was joined by 2 others. No wonder tourism is St Lucia’s main industry.
It’s the opposite where we are, tucked up on our hillside location high above the town. We have lavish housing and some very large properties. We also have both the French and Mexican Embassies here. There is a pic of each one of them, the smaller one is the Mexican Embassy.
Both buildings are old colonial types.
St Lucia is an old British Colony, but it has been fought over by us and the French. Our landlady told me that there were six wars over the island, France held it 3 times, the British held it three times and kept it the last time, that’s why the local language is English. It’s actually really good to be in a West Indian nation that actually speaks the real Queens English. In Antigua, another old British colony, they speak Pigeon English which, from my memory, is double Dutch!
I got back home and found Wendy washed and dressed.
Have I told you about the water problems? I forget!
Every morning the water pressure drops really badly until around 9 am, it’s not a problem for us, but it must be a bugger for the locals trying to get ready for work. I guess everyone is getting up and ready for work.
Everyone seems to work nine to five as every road into town is solidly blocked by commuter traffic, thousands of people come here every day, and then jam the roads in the opposite direction when they go home.
Wendy had managed to get a shower as the water had come back on early but she still wasn’t firing on all four cylinders.
I offered to stay home with her but she said she’d feel just has bad at the beach so we went down there.
Jeepers it was windy, with sand blowing around a lot at times. It was those tropical trade winds that sometimes get out of hand.
We didn’t even bother haggling for a sunbed so we set ourselves out of the way at the far end of the beach where we had the place to ourselves. Well actually we didn’t as a large group of people congregated and did some kind of study. I first thought they were a religious gathering but then I saw they all had clipboards, and they seemed to be talking about the local area. Maybe it was a works bonding trip. Anyway they got some real good lunch provided, it was laid out on a table and it was a very nice banquet, I thought about grabbing a clipboard myself and mingling in.
I never did get to know what they were doing but I got a shot of them, any suggestions greatly accepted!
We had a very nice time on the beach, well as best as Wendy could and we both read our books. We weren’t bothered by any rain, however I’m on the balcony now writing copy and it’s banging down. Strangely we haven’t had any thunder or lightening yet.
At around 3 pm I took Wendy for an early dinner to a Creole Bar.
I have to admit it was a bit pokey and probably not upto scratch on the hygiene front. I did say to Wendy we could leave if she didn’t like it but she never said anything so we hung around. We placed an order and after about 5 minutes the owner took us across the square to another equally dismal looking place as she said she had now run out of food.
Anyway, eventually I asked for some chicken, noodles and pink peas, Wendy, being cowardly asked for two slices of pizza.
We sat outside, me on a tall stool and Wendy on a chair around a round table, with three dogs in tow, all begging for a morsel. My food was luke warm, but jeepers it was tasty, it was yummy. Washed down with a beer too!
The locals at the next table never bothered us, they were happy with our company and their afternoon bottle of rum.
When we left Wendy said she didn’t like it, it was like a drop in centre. I said, I told you we could leave if you weren’t happy, but you know what women are like, they’re never happy.
We walked back in the afternoon heat and bought some supplies at the supermarket before calling at the beach bar for a glass of wine.
We got back home just after five and showered the sand from our skin and settled down as the rain fell.
I got a face time call from my mate Dave in Australia which was quite nice.
I’ll watch the rain some more until darkness and then I’ll hide inside and try to finish my book.
Oh I do love the Tropics!!!!
Casteries - St Lucia
No Travelling
Wendy was feeling much better this morning, but not enough to go out running, staying inside to relax a little more and get a bit stronger, I think she’s at it!!!
I went out and I ran in two different directions. Normally I am quite good with my maths when I’m out running, but I was way off today and I ended up doing an extra mile, which in 30 degree heat and high humidity is a bit of a bugger, I could have kicked myself as I dragged my weary body up that hill.
But I had my morning smoothie and I was refreshed in no time at all.
We had a toilet problem, the flush mechanism broke in my hand. It had a very small plastic connection and it failed, well I guess it would if it’s been operated 1,000 times, I was just too flimsy for the job.
I duly reported the matter to our host by WhatsApp and we left for the beach.
I didn’t see any cruise ships come in this morning, nor where there any to be seen as we walked down to the beach and would you believe it, the beach was deserted, no sunbeds out, no sunbed dealers out, no one, well just one old couple who had the only two sunbeds out.
We found a spot to settle down and I went and asked the couple where they got their beds from. They were really nice and told me that they are from a hotel in the hills and they get complementary beds. They saw a man, as previously arranged and they got their beds.
I went back to Wendy and settled down on the towel on the sand. After five minutes the old boy came over and said, “I’ll nip up and see the fella and get you some sunbeds” I thanked him and off he went.
Five minutes later he came back and said the fella wasn’t there but that he had left word with the bar man for him to come down and sort us out. I had a good chat to him, he was a lovely old fella from Portsmouth.
We had a ten minute talk about this and that, and I found out that he wanted to do the North Coast 500, he was very keen when I told him we did AirBnB and he wanted our details.
After ten minutes he left for his sunbed and left us to it. Both Wendy and me read our books and we enjoyed the solitude of the deathly quiet beach.
After an hour the old fella came back and said that they were off back to the hotel and that we could have their beds and we could sort out the fella for payment when he came back. Wendy hummed a bit, as she would, but I said, “Wendy it’s not the Italian Job, we’re not breaking the law, are we?”
That did it and she had her towel on that bed before you could say, “Bobs your Uncle”.
And there we were all day long, sitting in the sunshine, dodging the odd rain shower and thoroughly enjoying ourselves, and sipping the odd beer that I had brought down in my rucksack, Wendy had even snaffled a small bottle of wine down too to have with her tuna sandwich. It was beachside bliss!
We sat there all morning and before you knew it was turned 2 pm, we had been there for four hours.
The beach was still empty but then a school run appeared in the distance and they all ran passed us. There was the determined leaders, the good athletes with all the gear on, then the middle runners trying their best, then the stragglers, some with running gear on, some with their uniform on, and then there were the wasters, mainly girls who were not ever going to break sweat, but instead they gossiped their way to the end of the beach. It was funny to watch, I bet if you watched any school country run in any part of the world it would look just like that.
A short time later, two women joined us on the beach, one each side of us, I guess they felt there was safety in numbers as the beach was that empty.
There are a half dozen beach bars where we go, all on stilts above the sand, some sell only drink some do food too. I go to a particular bar where the barman, Jackie, is a really nice lad.
I have noticed though that the bars who do food do not display their prices. They are frequented by tourists and by people who work at the airport. It’s not uncommon to see a group of pilots tucking into their food.
The thing is, there are two prices, the local price and the tourist price, which I think really stinks. Tourism is the backbone of this country and it looks like the locals are happy to rip off the mouth that feeds them. I now ask for the price beforehand and I walk off if it’s too high, they soon drop the price then. I had one sunbed seller almost begging the other day, OK I’ll give you local rates.
In the afternoon a rain storm quietly drifted by, while the sun was still out and burning us, and it produced a magnificent rainbow, it was rather stunning.
We left the sunbeds at around 3:30, having had enough sun for the time being and we took a rather nice, chilled glass of red wine at the bar. I managed to pinch some Wi-Fi from the airport and I had a message from our host about getting a plumber to repair the toilet. I told her not to bother, if she’s happy to take me to the shop, I’ll identify the bit she needs and fit it for her, it’s not a big job. She was as pleased as punch with the offer and we are off at 10:00 in the morning to source the item.
From there Wendy walked up to the apartment to start supper, a seafood curry and I did the two mile round trip walk to the shop to get some supplies.
Would you believe I saw another road accident, two cars had bumped on the roundabout and they were causing chaos, it was bedlam, the Police passed and did bugger all.
I got what we needed from the supermarket and I nipped through the cemetery so I could walk back on the beach and I came across a women with her car parked in the cemetery carpark with her boot up and she had a mobile bar and she was selling booze, now I really have seen everything.
Supper was lovely and we ate it on the balcony as darkness fell around us.
Wendy went in when the creepers came out and left me to it, I’ll give it five more minutes and go inside myself as they are even beginning to nip at me!!!!
Casteries - St Lucia
No Travelling
It was a really overcast morning when we got up at 5 am, but thankfully it was still hot. Wendy, feeling much better went out running first and I followed her shortly after.
I went left at the end of the airport runway and where I had turned around at the roadworks on Monday, I managed to get through today.
The road followed a wide’ish river which was a dirty murky colour, it may not be polluted it might just be run off of soil as it seems to have rained a fair bit overnight.
As I ran I passed a man who had a very large pickup truck which was full to the brim with coconut husks, he was chopping the heads off and collecting the water into small plastic containers, most likely to sell on. It was his location, on a grass verge at the side of a highway that just seemed so wrong to me.
I got back in good time and with the water back on I was showered and ready to start my day at 8:30 am. After my smoothie I did some Googling to find a car hire to meet my needs. I need a no frills car, scratched to death and in real bad order, as long as it goes I’ll be happy. The roads are terrible and the drivers are madmen, so I don’t want to be driving around in a nice new limonene.
I think I found one and correspondence was dispatched, electronically, to secure my request.
At 10:00 I met with Enitha to go to the plumbers for the required part to repair the damaged toilet. When I showed her the broken part she thought she might have one so we went indoors and while she rummaged around looking for it I spoke with her husband, Vincent. Vincent is a really nice bloke, and we chatted about sport. As I chatted with him I found him to be an academic type of man, there’s nothing wrong with that, I know some men who don’t know the right end of a screwdriver and he was very grateful that I had offered to help out.
We chatted about the old days of West Indian cricketers, Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards, Gordon Grenedge and of course Malcom Marshal. He even knew about Ben Stokes’s batting performance at Headingly. He was spot on when he said that Ben had gone through a bad phase and had come through it and had channelled his temperament into his batting.
Eventually Enitha found the part, but it was broken so we set off to the DIY store which wasn’t far away. We found the part easily enough and then we waited for the slowest check out girl I have ever come across, it took us longer to pay for the item than it did to buy the blinking thing!
I had the part fitted in a jiffy and I returned the pliers I had borrowed and Enitha was very grateful.
As the weather had cleared up considerably and it was now very hot and very sunny we decided to walk into town for a browse.
Jeepers it was hot and after walking the two miles into town, our first stop was at a shanty bar on the harbours edge just inside a market. The barmaid was lovely, she had a beautiful smile and a very welcoming nature, she was perfectly suited to her work, it was a shame she wasn’t very busy. I told her when I left that my next drink will be a rum punch, she smiled and said she had everything she needed for it.
The town was buzzing, it was an amazing sight.
The main street was closed and market stalls were set up, everything possible was on sale. Wendy bought her obligatory bauble for the Christmas tree, lord knows when the tree will go up as we are going to the Ilse of Man mid-December and we are all at Alex and Robyn’s for Christmas.
(The Isle of Man trip is a result of the Thomas Cook affair, we were originally flying to St Lucia from Manchester and we got there by flights from Inverness with Loganair. Consequently with the collapse of Thomas Cook we had to fly from London, so our flights to Manchester weren’t required. We had booked no cancellation flights but thankfully as it wasn’t our fault Loganair let us change them, but we have to take them within 3 months and the Isle of Man is the only place we fancied).
I have travelled the West Indies a few times before and it never ceases to amaze me the warmth of welcome you get from the local community. I remember during a visit to Antigua in 1984 where I attended a carnival to celebrate the 200th anniversary of emancipation from slavery, it was a fantastic party and I was the only white face there, and despite the occasion I was never made to feel uncomfortable, it was brilliant.
It’s the same here too, I know we live in modern times, but in the UK not everyone is in the modern frame of mind and racism still sadly exists, but it’s not something I have experienced while abroad.
We bought some street food, I had no idea what I should ask for but I saw a girl get a collection together for $10, so I asked for whatever she had had. It turned out it was fried chicken with a very nice spicy sauce, some deep fried bread and some fish cakes. We went to a small square where we sat on a wall and we ate it and it was absolutely lovey. Wendy in her very nice dress declined on holding the chicken so I fed her tit bits, but she devoured the fish cake and fried bread.
We wandered around a while and we went in and out of the market stalls, we found an indoor market where a stall was selling, “Enhancing Pills” at $13 for one. I was very curious but Wendy would not let me buy one. We are still unsure what the enhancing was all about?
We took a taxi back to the apartment and we were home for about 3:30. We took a walk to the highest area near us, there is a lighthouse there and when we got there we could see we were in for a stunning sunset.
Being officiardo’s of sunsets we needed to see this one with a bottle of wine so we doubled back to the apartment and duly got one.
We returned in time and we found an American tourist party enjoying a glass or two of wine just as we had intended.
The views were stunning and the sun duly set into the Caribbean Sea and it was all rather perfect. We got chatting to our American cousins and after I took photos for them we are now invited to their home in West Virginia the next time we are over, how easy it is to make friends at sunset.
As the sky’s darkened Wendy just had to get back for Strictly Dancing, but not before my supper of spicy chicken drumsticks and fresh bread!
Casteries - St Lucia
No Travelling
That Wendy Gill is absolutely crackers, she’s as mad as a March hare. We have to sleep with the air con on for her hot flushes, OK that’s fine. I sleep in a T-Shirt, shorts and I have a very large towel over me. The bed only has an over sheet so I need the towel as well.
This morning at 04:00 am I woke up roasting, she’d only turned the aircon off an hour ago, apparently she was cold. I on the other hand was roasting to death. Why didn’t she put another shirt on over her jim-jams? What a bugger, I will never understand women as long as I live?
It was pouring down when I got up, and I made my daring wife a cup of tea, which I took to her in bed, the bugger.
I mean it was bouncing down, the only morning I could do with a lay in and it’s a torrential downpour outside. It was raining that much we could hear it on the roof and we are in the basement! I went outside to see, it was fantastic.
We watched the Remembrance Service on TV before we went out running and it was very solemn. Did you see silly Boris walk out with his wreath before the squad were stood at ease? What a wally, why didn’t he ask what the protocol was, he’s the Prime Minister after all. And didn’t Jeremy look smart too, he wasn’t in his anorak, someone must have had a word in his ear, what with it being a general election and all!
I went out just after Wendy and the rain had stopped but the water tanks at the apartment, which I think we drink from were over flowing. I think our drinking water comes from the roof’s rainwater runoff. I don’t mind as it’s quite fresh and it’s not like in Cape Verde where it's desalinated and lousy!
As I ran I saw loads of people from the new cruise ship walking to the beach and they were all German, and one or two had Poppies on which I thought was very interesting, it being Remembrance Sunday.
My knee was sore today, more sore than normal and I think it was because of the humidity, as I ran along I could feel the rain water drying off the pavements with the heat and it was like a steaming inferno. The tropics are like that, it’s never cold, it’s just wet or dry, hot or humid, or sometime all four at the same time.
After showering and more rain we walked into town. I took Wendy on a different route which took us through the cruise terminal. Jeepers we were pestered to death. “Taxi Mister, Taxi Missis, it’s a long walk to the beach Mrs”
Those poor cruise people must get this at every port they land, Taxi drivers galore and people selling nonsensical trinkets. I have over three more weeks here and I am going to get two T-Shirts made, one with, “I’m not on the cruise ship” And the other with, “I don’t need a tax thank you” Do you think it will do the trick?
We had a wander in town but it was mostly closed with the odd market stall open for cruise ship people, of which we were thought to be, again!!
We stopped for a drink in the bar where we had a drink yesterday and it was quite nice as after another downpour the sun came out. It was now 1:00 pm and after a wee walk around town we got a taxi back and we headed to the beach.
We saw a lot more German people as we walked, in fact some on their battery powered cycles passed us and the lead rider, on seeing a car shouted, “Achtung Auto” which Wendy quickly interpreted for me as being, “Watch out, there’s a car” Thanks Wendy, I could have translated that myself, but then she followed it up quickly, with, “But then you would know has you had a German Girlfriend”, that’s another thing about women, they never forget, do they?
We took the taxi back to the apartment where we quickly made some sardine sarnies and went down to the beach, where after a short while we were mobbed with German cruisers.
Jeepers they don’t have any morality do they, German Cruisers? I saw four bare bums, five willies and six lots of bosoms as they got beach ready. In fact I was eating my sardine sarnie, and whilst I was mid-way through I looked up and I got a full moon not two yards away. Maybe Brexit won’t be such a bad thing after all!!!
The Germans came in wave upon wave of mini buses. One driver left his engine running, probably for the aircon, while he waited for his sun bathing passengers. It gave me the right hump, so as would Greta do, I shouted, “Oi, mate, turn that bloody engine off”, Wendy was mortified of course, but I had made my point and the engine was immediately turned off, much to Wendy’s satisfaction.
There were Germans everywhere, it was like the battle of the Bulge, but I didn’t mention the war. You could tell they were all from the same cruise ship because they all had white and yellow stripy towels. The man who makes hats out of palm leaves had a field day, despite him asking us for the 15th time if we would like a palm hat. “No thanks”, was Wendy’s reply, “We said no yesterday, the day before and five days before that too, no we don’t need a palm hat”
Thankfully after a while they all left and we had the last sun of the beach to ourselves after which we walked back up the hill and had a supper of pasta shells on the balcony as the sun set.
Wendy is so excited about Strictly Results tonight, I’ve been laying a false trail all day and she thinks that one of the girls are out tonight, but we know, don’t we Avid Reader, that its Mike!
Casteries - St Lucia
No Travelling
Well we had a right tantrum last night, we could not stream Strictly Dancing, Wendy Gill was not a happy lady. She was fuming, “Bloody BBC, they take my money while I’m not there but I can’t see my favourite show”.
The local internet just wasn’t up to it, we just kept getting the swirling logo on the screen. The thing is, I think, is that the BBC are so highbrow with their IPlayer it just needs to much data to download whereas Netflix can run on a whiff of data. I watched a film on Netflix, I mean how can we not see a 45 minute show on the IPlayer but I can watch a 200 minute film without any hassle on Netflix.
Wendy was so unhappy she fell asleep on the sofa and I had to wake her up to go to bed.
I went to bed not long after her and I had a lovely night’s sleep but I did wake at 2:30 to find her bimbling on her IPad, I gave her a piece of my mind, grabbed her and dragged her under the sheets and made sure she went to sleep. I was fast on 30 seconds after.
I woke at 04:45 and it was still dark outside but we hadn’t had any more rain.
We both went out running and I was back for about 8:15, Wendy was showered and already. The water was off and I had to do an Indian Rain Dance in order to get a good shower.
Thankfully we did indeed manage to watch Strictly this morning, phew!!! I thought I wouldn’t be able to keep the outcome a secret much longer. Wendy was pleased, but we did feel sorry for Mike as we thought Chris should have gone, but we won’t Troll him about it, life’s too short!
After my smoothie we left for the airport for our 10:00 appointment, to collect our hire car, A Suzuki Splash.
We duly met our young man and after going over the car we got the keys and off we set to the north end of the Island. The funny thing about looking over a car, is the subjective nature of what damage is and what’s just normal fair wear and tear. The car has almost 20,000 miles on the clock so it’s going to be a bit tired, so it’s hard to tell what’s damage and what is normal.
Anyway, off we set, and with the standard of driving I have seen of the local drivers I did my very best defensive driving that I’ve done since I had a Blue Light on the top of my car. They really are that bad. The roads are very bad too, with pot holes everywhere I thought that we were back in the UK!
The road north, just out of town is single carriageway and it’s all very slow going, which is fine by me.
We stopped at Gross Islet, which we were led to believe was a nice place to visit. Apparently they close the streets on a Friday night and they have street parties. Well let me say, it was a little bit scary. The housing was a little slum like and the people on the street all looked a bit suspect, and that’s me a Barnsley Man who has worked in Grimthorpe pointing this out. We walked one street, got back in the car and headed off. I didn’t even take my phone out of my pocket to take a photo, it really was that bad. Jeepers, imagine if you had booked AirBnB here, for a month, you’d be desperate.
Ten miles to the north we came to the top end of the island and it has some of the countries very best residential accommodation. There really is a large differential on the haves and have nots on this island
There are also a few holiday resorts that have private beaches and security at the gates so you can’t go and have a look around. It’s paradise but not quite paradise if you know what I mean.
We called in at Pigeon Island, it’s not really an Island but a peninsular where you are allowed to go in but only if you pay a $10 fee, we didn’t bother.
We did walk around the beach though and it was heaving, the beach is narrow and it was full of sunbeds, mainly full of older people. It was our worst nightmare so we didn’t hang about, we set off back down stopping at the supposedly pristine Rodney Bay.
Which turned out to be another disappointment!
We parked the car in the beachside car park and we saw a mobbed beach, again on a very thin strip of sand, and we were pestered by everyone, do you want to buy this, do you want a taxi, what are you looking at, do you need a bed, do you want to see what I have to sell. Jeepers it could be hard work, if we weren’t expecting it!
But we were and we are used to it. It is such a shame, we have been to Cape Verde, several times, and although the people there are very poor, more so than here in St Lucia, it seems to me that the population here are more mercenary in fleecing the tourist. I’m not sure just now but I’m forming the opinion that it’s the American Dollar that’s the cause of it. They, the Americans, who throw money about like it’s going out of fashion so local people think that everyone has that spending power. Me, I just like to be left alone and if I want something I’m happy to buy it for a fair price. Like I did at the duty free liquor store where I got a two 2 litre bottle of vodka for $14 US. That would have been almost 30 quid back home.
The girl wanted my driver’s licence, the address of where we are staying and the date of our departure. I told her we would have drunk it by the time we leave for home in 3 weeks’ time, she said that’s OK you can come back for more.
We called into a very large Maccey’s store, it was a mega store where everything was bought in bulk, so we bought wine, in bulk.
We called into a smaller store to get tonight’s supper, tuna steaks, before taking the car home, thankfully without incident.
By 2 pm we were on the beach enjoying the afternoon sunshine.
We stayed there until 4:30 where we walked back up the hill and had our very nice tuna steak, with salad on the balcony.
One last thing, did you know that St Lucia is the only country I know that uses British electrical sockets, it’s weird, but nice. The same can’t be said for their electrical distribution, there are wooden poles and wooden poles carrying electrical cable, it doesn’t look safe to me, but I guess it works, well it has so far!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
I had an issue free run this morning, well apart from my dodgy knee, but I did get caught in a tropical rain shower when I was almost back. It was lovely and refreshing, it cooled me down without chilling me to the bone. But it didn’t last long and was over within about 5 minutes.
I’ve been remiss in not detailing some facts about St Lucia and we are over a week into our trip.
St Lucia Facts:
Today after breakfast we left for a drive south to go and see the famous St Lucian Pitons which are two extinct volcanic mountains that rise like pyramids out of the ground. Gros Piton is 2,618.9 feet high and its close neighbour, Petit Piton is a little smaller at 2,438 feet high.
They are the iconic mountains that are always seen in films!
First though we had to drive through another tropical downpour, a very large and long lasting one this time. It was double wipers for the first 45 minutes before it slowly passed.
We drove up extremely high roads, using steep inclines and hundreds of hair pin bends.
Thankfully the roads were all in pretty good condition and we had a very enjoyable ride down. We stopped occasionally to look at the views and at one such place I was approached by a young lad who was aged at about 14 years old. I bought a tiny turtle from him and I found out he was called Sunshine, so he said, he came out of nowhere with his tray of goodies.
I bought the turtle for $10, EC, which is about £3.50. He said he needed the money for his mother and gave me the big puppy dog eyes and sad face.
The poor lad should be in school not touching up visitors for spare change.
There’s a big difference here between the haves, who usually live in a big house at the top of a hill, and the have nots who live in shanty towns by the coast.
We passed through several towns and we kept going all the way down and just before we got to the village of Soufrière we came to a stunning view point where we could see the Pitons in all their glory. This was also a tourist hotspot with a terrace being made available for people to see the Pitons and for market stall holders to ply their trade. Thankfully two coaches of American tourists had alighted just before us and the traders where busy fleecing them and left us alone.
We carried on, we went through Soufrière and around the back of the Pitons and that’s where all the tourist traffic stopped and we had the road to ourselves, but to be fair the road wasn’t greatly busy. We went through the fishing village of Choiseul and turned around as we had no gone far enough and we had seen the Pitons from two good vantage points.
We stopped in Choiseul and we found a small and very poor looking fishing village that tourists seem to pass by. We were looked at with wide eyes as we walked down the High Street.
I found the small harbour and took a look at the small fishing boats and there was a small fish market there where all kinds of wonderfully coloured fish were available for purchase, there was even a bucket load of Lion Fish for sale. I told Wendy that they are quite poisonous and a fella came back at me saying they weren’t. I know otherwise mate, I’ve seen one live on the Great Barrier Reef.
I later Googled them and here’s what I found - The venom found in the needle-sharp dorsal, pelvic and anal fins of a lionfish is NOT deadly to an otherwise healthy human being, though envenomation WILL cause an immense amount of localized pain, swelling and, in some instances, blistering and infection if not treated properly. I think that’s poisonous enough for me not to buy one and have to clean it!
I stopped at a small roadside café where we had a very nice lunch, I had turkey stew, Wendy had a Roti. I asked what a Roti was and apparently its chicken meat, combined with some spuds in a mild curry sauce which is wrapped in a chapatti. Both meals were lovely, they were very tasty indeed. The total bill, with 3 beers, came to $36 EC, which was about £14. I gave the waitress a $50 EC note, £18, which is well over 10%, but even though she said thank you she didn’t look over the moon. But as we drove on I thought this through and because the payment and the tip were combined, she might not get it all as it has to go through the owners till, I’ll bare that in mind in the future, but that’s the problem with Micky Mouse money!
We carried on to Soufrière where we had to wait in the car for about 20 minutes because a heavy downpour was lashing the village. When we got out for a stroll we found the place was nice enough, small streets, some nice looking bars and shops. We saw a memorial to a slave uprising in 1796 where the slaves beat the British army and earned their freedom.
As I was looking at the church a local man came up to me and started to give me the facts and statistics for the church, I knew where this was going. “Give me money for my help Mister”, “No chance mate, sorry I don’t give money out”. He followed me around and I ignored him all the while he was pestering me. He then walked up to Wendy and said, “Sister, give me some money”. I got a little mad then and told him to bugger off. Wendy heard a local women tell him to stop harassing people. I guess he’s well known for it.
We carried on again and drove around another village called Canaries, we were tired of stopping so I just drove around the very narrow streets and at one point we had to wait while a dog, who was sat in the middle of the road, finishing whatever he had scavenged. As we sat patiently a little old lady stood and watched me and as the dog moved and I drove on and she gave me the biggest grin ever.
From there we carried on and didn’t stop, covering the route, up and down and around those bloody bends. The sun was out and the heat was back up to 30 degrees. It had dropped to 23 degrees during the worst of the rain, but we still needed the air con on in the car.
We had travelled south a total of 36 miles, that’s a testimony of how many hills and bends we had traversed. The island is 27 miles long and we started 10 miles down for the north coast so we did some hill climbing today, the poor little car.
Oh and the car, a nice little Suzuki Splash has a bloody Japanese radio come SatNav, how on earth am I supposed to operate that, all the text on it is in Japanese, now I know I am a smart Alec, but could I get that SatNav or radio to work, could I bugger.
St Lucia, is a very lush and green island, there are thousands upon thousands of acres of bush comprising or tropical trees, including bananas and coconut and it is indeed very thick and it almost covers the entire island.
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
We had a terrific full moon last night and we woke up to it this morning, clear tropical skies are the only way to see the moonlight sky, it was fantastic!
I had another lovely sleep last night, in fact I was late up, waking at 05:14 just before the alarm sounded.
So I was out late running, and boy was it hot, it was the hottest morning so far, I was dripping in sweat.
I stopped for my last drink at 7 miles, and I had just timed my frozen bottle just right because I had the tiniest little bit of ice left in it as I drank the last drop.
Do you know that when ice melts the water temperature does not rise until the very last drop of ice has melted, that means I get an ice cold drink all the way around my run.
Sorry, I’m digressing, as I sat drinking my last drop of water I witnessed my third road traffic accident, yes my third in 11 days. It was a low impact accident, like all the rest. Two cars where at the junction, the first set off and stopped for some reason, the second didn’t stop and went right into the first. Crumple damage and broken tail lights were the result. Pleasantries were exchanged without a hint of anger, road accidents here are so matter of fact that it looks like a nice get together!
I got back, I had my smoothie, jeepers I was dripping wet, I showered and then at 10:00 we left for a drive into town where we could have a nice walk around.
I was, what do they call it, tailgated by someone right up my backside on the way down to town, inches from my bumper, and I to had slow down for several speed bumps, and they were right there behind me, nipping at my bum.
When we passed the airport, on the straight runway road, I was overtaken, and the driver was a Nun, a f*****g Nun!!!
I said that 3 times, a f*****g Nun, she was up my arse all that way, then she overtook me and the next 3 cars, I mean a f*****g Nun! Sorry Granny!
What hope is there for anyone if a Nun drives like the devil!
She was crackers, what in heavens name was she thinking, was she keen to meet her maker.
I have lost all hope!
We parked up and first we walked to the sea port, where the cruise liners dock, and took a look around. There weren’t any cruise liners in today so it was pretty quiet.
I bought a very nice Caribbean shirt, I had to try a few on as the sizes were a bit large, and the young girl assistant insisted on helping me out and buttoning it up for me, while my wife of 32 years just laughed at me
Anyway I bought it but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to wear it as it’s very summery.
From there we walked every inch of the town, jeepers it was hot, and my vest was soaking, despite Wendy putting roll on deodorant on my back to try to stop it happening, it didn’t work, it was just as bad as its been all week.
The town was buzzing and because there weren’t any cruise ships in we were the token tourists who got the attention. I don’t mind, as long as the locals don’t get shitty when I say no, mostly they don’t, but some do.
I know life’s hard for some people, they have to carry water from a local tap for their homes, like they have do in Cape Verde, but no amount of dollars I gave to any whaiff and strafe is going to help that, is it.
I was looking for a couple of portable sun beds, I’ve had it with being ripped off on the beach and I found two for £60 at the very last shop I checked. But when push came to shove Wendy didn’t want to buy them.
She was so unreasonable about it too and she never gave me a good reason not to buy them. But as she’s not on board I had to leave it. I knew there was more to it than she was telling me, but I had to respect her decision.
We called into the supermarket for some bananas and milk and then we rode back to the apartment where after a short while cooling down on the balcony we walked down to the beach.
And it was still roasting.
As there were no cruise ships in we had the beach to ourselves, it was lovely.
After a while I spotted some people on their own sun loungers, loving the sun, quite close to us. I said to Wendy look they’ve got their own sunbeds and they’re loving it.
And that’s when it came out, “But you’ve got to carry them down the hill and you’re getting too old for that”.
Talk about a kick in the *****, thanks Wend, I’m not on deaths doorstep yet you know!
Anyway, we enjoyed the sun some more, although Wendy didn’t like the sand.
Do you know my frustration with Wendy is that she won’t come in the sea with me, she will only go upto ankle height. This is the Caribbean Sea, which is about 30 degrees in temperature but she’s so scared that she’ll drown that she won’t come in with me. Robyn, or Caroline on the other hand would be swimming with me and enjoying it.
At around 4 pm when the sun had cooled we left the beach and headed home and we found two British girls on their own sun beds as we passed them. Wendy asked them where they got them from, they had brought them over as hand luggage from B&M and they cost £4.50 each.
I had to laugh!!!
We are now going to town tomorrow to buy the bloody loungers we could have bought today.
Its simple maths – The beds are $20 US on the beach, (£17), we have 19 days left, we buy those beds for £60, that’s a cost of 3.15 per day, she’s crackers, but on chatting with those girls, that did it for her.
Supper was a real delight, Wendy reheated the tuna from two days ago, with a fancy pot noodle, fried mushrooms, onions and peppers and the old fish curry sauce, from 6 nights ago, and it was lovely, I do worry for my tum tomorrow though.
We ate it has the sky darkened on the balcony and it was a real treat.
Tomorrow we go south again, westwards bound along the Atlantic coast, that’s if my co-pilot can get the map reading right, I do hope so, or we might end up in Jamaica!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
We were both up and about at 4:45 am this morning, I know, it’s a crazy time, but it works for us.
Wendy went running first and got back before the rain fell. I waited until 6:00 am as I like to catch the lasts of Matts morning radio show on Dearne FM, so I go when that’s finished. I got to mile 3 in nice hot sunshine and then it rained, and rained!!! Actually it rained very hard, I was soaked through, my trainers were full of water and I squelched along. The rain was that hard that rivers run through the streets, cars were ploughing the water up onto the pavement, it was that high it wet me right upto the top of my shorts. Thankfully I wrap my phone in a plastic bag so it didn’t get wet.
People in bus shelters had to stand on the seats to try to miss the waves of water coming at them. It didn’t help, they all got their legs wet.
It lasted for 30 minutes, I ran to six miles where it finally stopped and I managed a rest and a drink of water. The thing is though, I immediately started to sweat, so I was double wet.
I got back like a soaked rat, but it was really good fun. My kit is still drying out!
We had breakfast and set off at 10:00 to go and buy the sunbeds. What a snarl up the traffic was, it was traffic chaos!
I could not find anywhere to park and we were up and down the roads desperately trying to find somewhere to leave the car. I happened upon what looked like a dead end, but there was an area I could turn around in so I nipped in. There were warning signs about not parking there, and your car could be clamped. There was a man staffing a barrier and he came to me as I was turning around. I apologised for coming in but I said I was lost. I told him I needed 30 minutes parking so I could nip in and buy something from the department store, S&S.
He gave me his last space and made me promise to be no longer than 30 minutes. This should be a doddle as the store was 100 metres away.
Off we went, we found the bed we wanted and I had to ask the laziest girl I have ever come across to get me two. She said she would go and tell an Indian. That had me thinking, but within 5 minutes an Indian National did indeed come along, the owners I suspect!
Off he went and he took ten minutes to come back, but he did return with two beds. They were bound in twine and the girl never helped get it off, I had to do it and it took another five minutes.
Then the girl at checkout was on a go slow, it took her another age to get the security tags off and then she had hassles with the card reader. I was getting near the end of my tether but thankfully we left with them, although Wendy nearly sent another lady rolling down the concrete stairs when the chair she was carrying opened up and knocked her almost off her feet.
We got back to the car just on the 30 minute mark and I gave the very grateful man $20 EC, about £7. He had been a life saver, had it not been for him, we would most likely be still looking for a parking spot.
From there we headed south to the east coast, over the mountains.
We had a lovely drive over, and then we came across a truck, loaded with timber, that was not safely secure. Every time he turned or went over a bump his load would move, left or right.
This went on for miles, he even went past some police officers walking out and about and they gave him a good long stare, but they didn’t do anything about it. As we went over some big hills I was worried if he lost the load it would come down the hill and hit us, so I stayed well back!
Even his brakes were burning when he went down a hill, and there was some pretty big hills to go down!
I don’t know how he did it but he made it to the far south.
We got to the southern town of Vieux Fort and carried on around the coast to the village of Laborie.
This took a little finding as we had to go down into a village from a hard to find access road. But when we found it we thought we had found paradise. What a stunning little village it was.
It had a very nice short beach, a long pier and some nice looking pubs.
We walked out onto the prier and looked back at an idyllic village, it was stunning.
We walked on the beach and I watched some boys set a fishing net from the beach. They had one lad stay on the beach holding one end of the net, then two others, using a paddle board, laid the net in a large semi-circle back to the beach. Some other lads then helped them haul it in. Jeepers it took some effort to get it back.
But there in the net was about 20 to 30 fish, all around 8 inches long, not whoppers, but at least a good feed for them. It took ten minutes to do, so if they did it a half a dozen times they would have a good sized catch.
We walked up to the church, which was a very nice and cool building, where Wendy rested for a while out of the sun.
It was a very hot day now and we were in the very south of the island.
From there we drove back the same way and drove around Vieux Fort, we didn’t stop, it wasn’t anything special, so we just kept going.
We drove up the Atlantic side of the island and the sea was far rougher than the east, Caribbean side. I stopped on one small beach for a walk but Wendy stayed in the car, it was too hot for her by now.
From there we drove on, thankfully without incident and we drove into the fishing village of Dennery. We saw this village from a high vantage point when the taxi driver gave us a short tour on Sunday evening. It looked very nice, but down in the village it was a bit of a dump.
It could be paradise, but the beach was a mess of tangled fishing nets, plastic bottles and other human flotsam.
I parked at the harbour, where boats were still landing their catch and others nearby seemed to be in the party spirit with bbq’s burning and rum flowing.
I walked all around the harbour but Wendy went back to the car, there wasn’t anything for her.
From there we drove back to town, but not before finding a hillside location where we could took down on the town, and get a few nice pics.
I got back in time to watch the England game, despite the Wi-Fi messing me about, I missed two Harry Kane goals!
As I sat on the balcony watching the game, Wendy made a lovely chicken supper, it was a delight, I loved it.
We now have our sunbeds, we’ll see what the weather is like tomorrow to decide what we do, but the weather here seems to go from one condition to another in pretty much the blink of an eye.
I thinks it’s possible we might go up north and get lost on the hills, if there’s no copy tomorrow, you know we didn’t make it back!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
We slept like logs last night and I was awake at just gone 4 am, but I forced another 45 minutes sleep as it’s not light before 5:30 am.
I nearly got run over on the zebra crossing. I was running to it and one car stopped, I could hear another one coming, but it sounded like they were slowing down, but they weren’t. Thankfully I was on high alert and when I stepped out in front of the car that had stopped I was ready to jump back, and I needed to. A car coming in the second lane of the duel carriageway did not think to slow down. Perhaps the zebra crossing is too close to the roundabout and he thought that the car had stopped at a car waiting at the roundabout. Anyway, he was really sorry, he put both hands up and said fair cop, my fault. No harm done I gave him a cheesy grin and a big wave and we went on our, thankfully, separate ways.
I got to the harbour and I saw the 3rd of the 4 cruise ships due today enter the harbour.
It was going to be a busy day at the beach today.
I got back to the apartment and showered nicely and I sent an email to the car rental company as the car is getting more difficult to start when it’s warm. It now takes a good 3 to 4 long turns, and it feels like it’s not going to ignite, so I thought I would warn them so they can fix it before their next rental.
Hey, here’s a fact for you from my St Lucia fact sheet, I forgot it the other day, St Lucia is called The Helen of the Caribbean, after Helen of Troy, because France and Britain fought over her so often.
The country is actually locally known as Helen!
We took the car to the supermarket to get some provisions and then we parked at the beach and used our brand new deck chairs for the first time, well they were brand new!
We settled much further down the beach away for the madding crowd and I got into my book, I do like a Michael Connelly, Harry Bosch novel. The problem is, is that there are so many of them and I have read them out of order, well the ones I’ve read so far. But the thing with Michael is that his writing is constantly good and focused. I like Lee Child and his Jack Reacher, but having read all his books in order I can see the improvement in his writing and his better attention to detail which has incrementally improved over time, where Michaels has been the same good stull all the way along, anyway I am now on page 83!
After 12 noon I took the car up to the apartment and left Wendy on the lounger, and she was very comfortable indeed.
I dropped the car, got a cool bag of wine and beer and checked my emails. I found a message from the car hire asking me to swap the car as they were concerned for our safety. I guess it’s a fair point, I wouldn’t fancy getting stuck in the bush on some remote road, in this heat. But I wrote back assuring them that we weren’t going off the beaten track and that we are only hanging around the north, and the more accessible areas until we give the car back on Monday. Thankfully I haven’t heard anymore.
I walked back down to the beach with my wine and beer bag and I passed some workmen who have worked tirelessly, in the heat, cutting back overgrown grass on an old Colonial Building. I have seen them sweat their souls out these last two days, in fact I did think about taking them a beer. But jeepers they have done a good job. This house was covered from head to toe in a solid and very high mass of grass and other vegetation. Mother Nature was slowly taking her back into her fold, but they got her back. I am wondering what the intention is behind it? Maybe a new home for someone?
I got back to the beach after a brief chat with some sun bed Brits, I said hello to a fella reading an English novel and we got chatting.
Back at the beds we had a very nice afternoon, we drank one bottle of wine and shared the beers.
We were occasionally encroached upon by pesky cruise liner types. In fact at one point we had a Chinese duo take staged photographs. She posed, he snapped, all the while she was getting washed about in the surf, really is Instagram that important?
I went for a walk along the beach and I called into a beach bar where they do Creole food as Wendy has taken a liking to Salted Fish, Figs and Bread Fruit, so I chatted with the owner and arranged a table for 4 pm.
I had Creole fish and Wendy did indeed have the Salt fish. It was lovely, actually it was a delight! The owner asked me if we wanted our meals with Cheesy Mac. I said “No, I want it like you eat it, locally”, she gave me a big smile and that was that.
I also got two glasses of very nice white wine.
The food came and as I’ve said, it was delicious, and being Gills we wiped our plates clean. Well that’s not strictly true, I had to fork up the morsels that Wendy left on her plate. I do hope Caroline makes a better Gill that Wendy does when it comes to such matters!
We had two more glasses of wine and then I took the empty plates back to the bar and paid the bill.
The cook loved the empty plates and asked me to come back anytime soon.
The entire bill came to £35.00, and that was with a £7 tip, what a cracking Friday night meal, on the beach too.
The sun beds have been a very good investment, so far we have recouped £17 of the £57.32 we paid for them, so that’s 40.32 to go to be out of the red, I bet we do it with pounds to spare!
See Avid Reader, when it comes to Home Economics, I’m no Diane Abbot!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
Jeepers it was hot this morning, it was roasting, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky when the sun rose over the mid island mountains.
I had to have a 4th stop on my run, just to cool down.
I got back to our beach at the end, I stripped down to my shorts and went into the sea for a cooler, the trouble was the sea was hotter than me, it was like getting into a warm bath.
I walked up the hill dripping in warm water with my sweaty vests slung around my shoulder and even that didn’t cool me down.
I got back, Wendy had showered and was in her relaxed dress.
I sat down and drank my smoothie and Wendy jumped out of the bedroom in yet another outfit and she looked just like Dora the Explorer, and she was just the part right down to the last detail.
She did this because this morning we were going to hike around Pigeon Island.
Pigeon Island is a 44-acre islet in the Northern area of the Island. It was once isolated from the mainland in the Caribbean Sea and the Island was artificially joined to the western coast of mainland in 1972 by a man-made causeway built from dirt excavated to form the Rodney Bay Marina.
Composed of two peaks the island is a historic site with numerous forts such as an 18th-century British Fort, Fort Rodney used by the British to spy on French Ships from neighbouring Martinique.
The Island was fortified in the 1790’s by the British to watch for French invaders as their Island of Martinique is only 25 miles away, from the north, and they were always trying to take St Lucia from the Brits.
There are two peaks, one, the lower one, has a fortification on it, built in the 1790’s, Fort Rodney. The other, much higher used to have a radio mast on it which was used by the United States as a listening post in WW2.
We drove up, it’s only about 10 miles but the traffic was hectic so it took us about a half an hour.
We parked up and entered through the main gate and paid our entry fee of $10 US each and set off for the walk to the peaks.
Jeepers it was still roasting hot, but thankfully the path went under some trees so we had some shade.
The first peak, the Fort, was easy enough, it was uphill with some steps at the end.
I said to Wendy as we walked, how on earth did they have a Fort here in those days, on this tiny island, where did they get freshwater from.
The answer was at the top.
The Fort, really isn’t a Fort, it was a level area at a very good height from where they had cannons where they could bombarded the French from above.
The top was almost level but it tapered to a well where rain water would run and collect. It was then filtered through limestone to purify it, simple!.
Jeepers that must have been some posting for the soldiers, it was hot, sweaty and they lived at the bottom and had to hike to the Fort every day to keep watch, with not much of a social life either as they were on a tropical islet.
We walked back down to the path and then we headed up, much further upto what’s called Signal Hill, where the US had their transmitter.
Jeepers, that sorted the men from the boys, whereas we had seen lots of people walking upto the Fort, we passed very few on the climb up Signal Hill. It was a very hard and very hot climb, I was dripping in sweat, my vest was soaked right through.
I could hear Wendy huffing and puffing behind me, it wasn’t from lack of fitness, it was from the intense heat, it was, I know I’ve said it already, stinking hot.
It was more of a scramble than a walk and we had to grab hold of rocks to make sure we had grip of something as it was that high. The trouble was though, the rocks were roasting hot and they burnt our hands as we gripped them.
Thankfully we made it to the top and the views across the Caribbean Sea were terrific, we could even see those Frenchie’s on Martinique.
Thankfully being a capable traveller I had enough frozen water in my backpack to wait out a French siege, and boy did we drink that water when we were on top.
On top we met a really nice couple from South Carolina, they were on their honeymoon having got married last Saturday.
We passed a very nice 30 minutes at the top with them, while both Wendy and I got our strength back for the descent.
We got back down and although we were a bit jaded we had thoroughly enjoyed our mornings visit, thankfully we were up to the challenge, and its good we were because there wasn’t any warning about the severity of the climb, but I guess that’s life in the Caribbean.
We drove back to our apartment, but first we stopped at a supermarket for some supplies, I couldn’t go inside, my vest was dripping wet and I would have been frozen by the aircon.
I dropped Wendy off at the beach with the sunbeds and I took the car back and brought a sarnie and some wine down to the beach.
The beach was lovely, it was nice and hot but with a tropical breeze.
There’s a bit of a sinister feel about some aspects of the island that I don’t like, and that’s odd looking white men, who seem to enjoy the company of younger local girls if you know what I mean. I’ve seen it a bit, in fact the other day when we were at Rodney Bay I saw a big fat, old English man ask a local man who was walking towards him “Have you brought my girl?”, What time did we say, the local fella asked, “12:30” was the reply, “Oh I’ll go get her then”, the local replied.
It all seemed very suspect.
Well today were had our sunbeds on the beach and just behind us someone had a hammock tied between a tree and a car. In the car a large local woman sat, doing nothing, she sat there for about 2 hours, while a white American slept in the hammock. He woke up and he was obviously drunk. He started to mess about with her, kissing her and chatting to her, but there wasn’t any familiarity about the conversation. He kept drinking, beer and rum, straight from a bottle and again it all looked very strange.
They left with him driving at about 4 pm, I would have reported him to the police if I had been at home.
We also saw some good stuff too!
A man assembled some young kids, in their early teens and put them through a rigorous physical training regime. Mums and Dads hung about while, with his stop watch around his neck, he worked them out. It was good to see, he had them doing every exercise I know, they must have been at it for two hours, nonstop! Good for him!
At 4:30 we walked back up the hill and Wendy made a really tasty chicken curry, while I filed copy.
I have to be quick as she’s itching to watch strictly dancing.
But before I go I have to say its day two of sunbed savings, that’s another £17 saved, I’m keeping tally Avid Reader, I will keep you informed of our progress as we save!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
We had a lie in until 5:20 this morning and by the time I was out running the sun was up and it was hot, very hot actually, even hotter then yesterday.
I stopped by a small beach that I have passed this last two weeks, it’s near the highway but it’s a cracking little beach where hardly anyone goes. It’s a proper tropical paradise, shame about the highway though.
I managed to get back to the apartment, I didn’t stop for a swim, it was far too hot, more so than yesterday, which I think I’ve already said, but really it was that hot.
After a shower, and my smoothie and after chilling out we took the car to the big mega store and did a big shop. The car goes back in the morning so we wanted to get as much as we could to save us having to drag it up the hill.
We bought two cases of wine, a slab of beer, some recovery drinks for me and some chicken and the boot was full to capacity.
We took it back to the apartment where I relayed it down the bloody steps while Wendy readied herself for a trip to a nearby attraction.
Today we went about 5 miles north of Castries to the very much hyped village of Marigot Bay.
This is supposed to be the most stunning bay in the Caribbean.
Marigot Bay is located a short distance from the Saint Lucian National Marine Reserve. It is surrounded on three sides by steep, forested hills. The inland portion of the bay forms a hurricane hole, used to shelter boats from hurricanes.
Marigot Bay is a historic landmark, having been the site of a number of battles between the French and British navies.
The bay was used as the setting for the 1967 Dr Dolittle film!
It took us a while to find it as there are very few road signs. We did indeed follow a false track, which led us down a steep hill but we did find it in the end and I have to say it is very nice, very nice indeed.
The beach is across the bay and there is a free shuttle boat which takes you there, no doubt provided by the bar over there. We didn’t bother as we came to see the bay, not the bar.
We walked around to a bar and passed the best located barbers shop I have ever seen in the world. He was working too, plying his trade, for the first day in my life I wished that I had hair so that I could visit this barbers shop, located on a very nice Caribbean bay!
We did stop though for a drink in the bar which was in a cracking location, it was on wooden piles which went out into the bay, it was stunning.
The big problem was the price of two beers, $21.60 EC, I nearly died!!!! That’s $11.60 more then we pay on our beach. I had to have a laugh, you’re kidding me I said to the bar maid. She never cracked her face.
I would normally kick off, but it was such a nice setting that they really had us by the throat.
We walked back around the bay as far as we could and we saw the very nice local resort that Wendy thinks is far too expensive for the likes of us, maybe it could be a 60th birthday location for me?
We chatted to a local boat owner, Captain Jack, who said he could take us up the coast in his boat, I took his details but he did look like a Micky Mouse operation, insurance for one would be something I needed to establish, but you never know I might give him a call, as long as he doesn’t have loud music blaring out like we hear from the tourist boats passing our apartment, in fact ones just gone by, what a racket!
On our way back we called into another supermarket in a remote village where we bought some beef, hardly anyone sells beef on this island so we were lucky to get some.
As we left town, for our area, we passed a man pushing a large trolley on the main road, his cart was too big for the pavement, so he had it on the road, he was causing some right merriment amongst the Sunday drivers!
I had to take Wendy back to the apartment because she needed to visit the bathroom after the small bottle of beer, she’s become a right old mum these days, why she doesn’t go in the sea like everyone else gets me?
I then dropped her off at the beach, drove back and left the car at the apartment and walked down to the beach.
We decided on an early supper, or was that a late lunch at the beach bar and we both had stewed lamb. It was bloody lovely, I think it was neck lamb, whether it was or it wasn’t, it was very tasty and very well cooked.
The only problem was we were charged $10 extra then we were on Friday, see everyone is at it. It didn’t matter to me, I was going to give a $20 tip so she only got a $10 tip, or more likely they tipped themselves. But the thing is, I won’t go back, the problem is they can’t help themselves, or rather some people can’t, it’s in their nature.
Anyway, back on the beach we did get some rain and Wendy did her best gurney face. I told her so, I mean, who else from Kirkhill is sat on a tropical beach for a month in November, the trouble is, I’ve spoiled her over recent years, it’s all my fault!
After a while I could hear a small bell clanging and I looked up, you’ll never guess, it was the man with the cart and he was selling ice cream. The poor bugger, he had pushed his cart about 3 miles and the beach was almost empty.
I took a $5 bill and asked how much was it for an ice cone, he replied $3. I said EC or US, he said EC, for $3 US I could have two cones.
I gave him a $5 US bill and he started to give me change. I said no, it's $5 US for any man willing to work as hard as you do.
He said, “This is St Lucia, if you don’t work, you don’t eat”.
He then told me that he had been in business for 19 years and they he had been a very bad man, he was a Rastafarian fella with his hair under wraps.
Not that bad, he carried on, by now thinking he was a contract killer, no I was bad with women, I chase them, all the time. But 11 years ago I met my wife and I’ve been good ever since, I owe my life to ice cream, what a character!
He gave me a triple decker cornet and I said that’s enough after two, he said, “You kind to me, I look after you”.
We chatted further and thankfully the sun came out and trade picked up for him, each time he passed, he always gave me a wave!
When we first got back from the bay, we saw a group of people light a fire and start a hog roast. It was a big fat pig and it was completely white.
After about 3 hours I took a walk down to see what was going on and I stood and took a look. I was asked by a lad in his twenties if I was OK and I said that I had seen them light the fire and I was keen to see how it was progressing.
The lad was a really decent fella, a Cuban, my first very encounter and he introduced me to his dad and his uncle and we chatted about what they were doing. The fire is lit at both ends of the BBQ, but not so much in the middle as there isn’t much meat there. Everyone gets a shot at turning the pig and its great fun. The Cubans do it as an annual event, but this one was for his boss’s birthday.
I had a cracking time with them, and I told him that next summer me and my boys were going to have to try roasting a pig!
Back with Wendy I read some of my book before we headed back to the apartment.
It’s been a lovely day, but I’m now rushing my copy because someone is over excited about Strictly the Result Show, but I already know who’s out, Strike a Pose!
By the way, that’s another $20 saved with the sunbeds, it won’t be long until I’m in the black Avid Reader!!!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
We were both up at 4:45 this morning, the weather seems to be on the very hot scale of hot so we needed to be out running before the sun as up, and it was just about light.
I didn’t use my knee support today and although it was still sore, I didn’t feel that I was missing it, maybe it’s my codimol tablets, anyway I posted a very good time, well for me and my injury, 10:38 minutes per mile!
I got back and Wendy was all hot and bothered, not in a grumpy way, but in a heat kind of way. I must admit these last two days has seen an increase in humidity and heat.
What a grumpy bum she was last night, we could not get Strictly Dancing, it seems to happen every Sunday, not enough internet bandwidth.
Of course I get the brunt of it, it was all my fault, “Why do you have to write your blog before Strictly”, was all I got.
She had a right old gurn on and I told her so!
I had my smoothie when I got back, I cleaned the car so it was ready to be returned to the hire company.
Wendy made a sardine sarnie for each of us and then we watched bloody Strictly Dancing, and what a happy bunny she was, she was over the moon. She actually asked about 15 times, “Do we have time for Strictly?” Yes we do Wend, just let me get the car ready.
After that we had to double down to the beach as I was meeting the car rep at 10:00, or so I thought.
I dropped Wendy off with the sunbeds and our hand baggage on the beach, I parked the car and went to the airport and waited, and waited, and waited.
At 10:15 I sent a message to the car hire company, and the reply was that there had been a change of plan and the time was now 10:30!
I went back to the beach and I saw that a beach cleaning lady, (Yes they are needed after a weekend), was singling out some kind of nut from the rubbish.
I had seen over the weekend, one local was lad collecting them in a wheel barrow so I asked her about them.
She told me that they were almond nuts and she broke one open for me. I tasted it, it had a coconut taste and then she gave one to me for my wife, her words.
She told me that they are a good source of local income and that she would be cleaning some later in the week to sell.
They tasted like coconut, and Wendy agreed, we think we have seen Almonds grown in Portugal so after filing tonight’s copy I’ll look back and check. These must be something else!
As I was about to go back to the airport, across the road, I could see the young lad who had given us the car walk over to us and he met me. He is such a nice lad and as we walked to the car he pulled me out of the way of a wayward taxi cab. Boy did he swear at that taxi driver. He said, “You have to be careful here, the taxi drivers are all nuts”.
The car was handed over without any problems and I went and settled with Wendy on my sunbed.
Whilst on the beach, as I was reading my FBI, Michael Connelly novel, I noticed a young women beside a car behaving strangely. First she was sat outside the car on the sand, and it had L plates on it.
Then I heard her wailing, she looked like she was prying as she was knelt down and bowing up and down while making a wailing noise. I thought hang on here I don’t like the look of this. She was about 20 years old and it was all very strange. Remember we are beside an airport runway that has no real distance from the road.
She then locked herself in the car for 4 hours, without the engine running or the windows open, and no aircon on.
I knew she was in the car because someone parked next to her and their car alarm went off and she sat up.
At around 3:30, I went for a swim and she joined me in the sea, fully clothed, like she was cleansing herself! I had expressed my view to Wendy that this was possibly a jihadi attempt on an airliner and all I got was that I read too many FBI novels.
Well pardon me, are we not told to report suspicious activity, well that was very suspicious to me. Let’s define suspicious activity, well I would say that it’s not normal activity and the way she behaved, to me, that was not normal activity.
I went to the bar at around 4:0pm. I got three drinks, one large wine for Wendy, a small beer for me and a rum and coke, well it was after 4:00 pm.
It all came to $14 EC at Jessie’s bar, where yesterday a rum and coke and a glass of wine cost $18 EC at the same bloody bar, I said it yesterday and I’m saying it again today, they charge what they like here.
I got back to Wendy, and as I approached a wide bodied jet had just taken off from the airport.
Would you believe that jihadi Jane was just pulling out and driving off too.
My feeling is that she couldn’t go through with it, Wendy thinks I’m nuts, I bet the same could be said about planes flying into sky scrapers and knife attacks at Borough Market Wendy!
Anyway I snapped a photo of the car for the crime scene investigators, just in case.
The rest of the afternoon was, thankfully without incident.
We walked back up the hill, day 4 of sunbed saving time is now at £68, remember we bought them for £57.32, so from now on we are quid’s in!!!
Never underestimate a good Yorkshireman and his, or her’s, financial capability.
Supper on the balcony, cooked by me, was fillet steak, garlic fried mushrooms, tomato, cucumber and bread, and I had a good dollop of banana ketchup, what a delight.
Now it’s time for the Walking Dead, Wendy is in a delirious mood, apparently something called the Crown is back on Netflix!!!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
It was another hot running morning, I’m not whinging, I know that’s it’s pretty cold in the UK but I’m just detailing the facts of our day. I love the heat, but running in it is a little hard going, especially towards the end of the run when the sun is fully up.
The locals seem to go out running before us and are coming back just as we are going out.
I see a large lady every morning and she power walks and she has weights strapped to her wrists, I don’t think her wrist strength is her biggest issue, I think she needs to move a little faster.
I also see a local man and he is an Albino person, he is whiter than me but with a white Afro hairstyle. But every morning when I pass him he gives me a cheery hello, as does the lady with the weights.
In fact most people do give you a little nod, or a hearty hello, I even have had the odd local gesture, which is a fist raise.
I got back and jumped into the shower, a very cold shower to cool down. I then stood in front of the fan for about two minutes.
M smoothie is my saviour, I need it every morning and it’s great to help cool me down and fill me up. I don’t need anything after that until at least 5:00 pm.
We didn’t go straight down to the beach this morning as I did some work on making some arrangements for later on into the trip. There’s a few things we want to do, but I have to make sure they are Wendy-fied so that’s she’s not scared out of her wits, you know what she’s like!
We got down to the beach and it was the first time I had to carry the sunbeds down, but it wasn’t a problem, it was a little overcast, but still quite hot. The sun came out and took the heat to the next level, it was fearsome.
We got settled down on the beach and I had a couple of beers to help with my rehydration. Don’t worry they are very small cans, they are half the size of cans in the UK and I have worked out why that is, it’s because they would be roasting hot by the time you got to the end.
I finished my book, what a great ending, and as I settled down into my sunbed I saw the sky approaching us and it was almost black.
I walked to the bin with my beer cans and a man who was sat on the sand with his wife on beach towels asked me if the rain was coming.
We chatted for a while, they were really nice people from a cruise liner, there were two cruise ships in today. They were from Montreal, Canada and I had a good old natter to them. Like everyone else, they were of cruising age, older and they had no immediate recollection of where they had just come from, nor where they were going tomorrow, yet again I was given different locations to both questions by each of them. The fella eventually said, I know it’s a Tuesday, the cruise ship as the day plastered in neon lights about every lift entrance. I guess if you ever get on a cruise ship that resorts to that, you need to be considering that you are on an old persons cruise.
I got back to Wendy who had taken shelter under a palm tree and then the real rain hit, it lashed it down for about ten minutes. The sun came out and we moved our beds out again. But we had been lured into a false sense of security and it lashed it down again, it bounced down and after a half hour we walked back to the apartment, soaked to the skin but still roasting hot.
We chilled out and then at 4:00pm we took a walk into town, around the runway. The sun was roasting and very low in the sky, I hadn’t taken my hat nor my sun glasses and it gave me a bit of a headache.
St Lucia is a tropical paradise in some areas, in others it’s not. There is a terrible litter problem and tonight after a heavy rain shower we walked into town and the bay was full of plastic bottles. My pics don’t do the devastation justice because of the setting sun.
We went to two restaurants, the first was Wendy’s selection, The Balcony, and it looked as rough as guts, I really mean that. I was surprised when she took a seat, but then she gets embarrassed about walking out. Thankfully they only had cold food so we had a good enough reason for her to leave.
The second, and only place in town, was closed.
So with our eating out options now gone we bought some fresh supplies from the supermarket and got a taxi back.
The man was waiting directly outside the supermarket and he approached me, from the state of his car I doubt very much he had a licence to ferry passengers. The bloody thing wouldn’t start at first. Anyway, the price was right and we hadn’t far to go.
I asked the taxi driver where all the plastic in the bay came from and he told me the people up in the hills don’t care and throw their trash out and it gets washed down into the sea from the river. It was an appalling scene, the thing is so many people depend on the sea for their livelihoods!
We got back safely and Wendy cooked a lovely chicken and salad supper and I plastered it with my favourite, new condiment, Banana Ketchup, it is bloody tasty.
Now I’m going to settle back and watch the start of I’m a celebrity. I’m not an avid watcher normally but has James Haskell is in and Ian Wright, Wright, Wright I think I’ll be entertained by them. I have already seen someone who looks like a man pretending to be a lady. I know it’s not PC, but he sounds like a man and has hands like a man, he must be a man, surely?
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
While I was having my first breakfast I could hear Wendy pottering about in the bedroom and the bath room which is joined to the bedroom in a most peculiar way. Anyway, after breakfast I went in the bathroom and found my shaving cup on the floor, upside down, obviously trapping something Wendy didn’t like. I called her in, “Oh, I forgot to tell you I caught one of those tiny frogs in here, can you get rid of him?”
I did the routine of sliding some paper under the cup and trapping him in the mug. I took him outside and I thought I would have a chat with him before I let him go. The poor bugger was squashed to death. One of us must had stood on him during the night during a visit to the bathroom. I bet it was Wendy, I daren’t tell her though, she must not have had her specs on when she put the cup over him!
There are a lot of Rastafarians in St Lucia, and they are really friendly people. There is a Rasta tramp who sits outside a filling station, and I have seen him every morning, I have seen him sitting in the pouring rain and in the blazing sun, and he always gives me a cheery wave.
I’ve done a bit of research and here’s some Rasta facts:
Rastafari, also known as Rastafarianism, is an Abrahamic religion also referred to collectively as Abrahamism, as they believe along the lines of the Jewish religion and a single god, who they call Jah!
There is no central authority in control of the movement and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as Rastafari, Rastafarians, or Rasta’s. Rasta beliefs are based on a specific interpretation of the bible, that Jesus was Jah, in human form and that the Rasta’s accord Haile Selassie, The Emperor of Ethiopia between 1930 and 1974, central importance; many regard him as the second coming of Christ and thus Jah incarnate, while others see him as a human prophet who fully recognized the inner divinity in every individual.
They also have a strong belief in the continent of Africa and that it has been oppressed by the Western World. They believe Africa to be the Promised Land of Zion.
Rasta’s eat Ital food, (which is vital food, without the V) Ital is food which should be natural and enhance life, or levity, they also twine their hair into dreadlocks and both Wendy and I believe they don’t wash it has we have seen some terrible examples of it.
Some Rasta’s wear their hair under some kind of bonnet, some have knitted bonnets, and it looks so hot, in fact a Rasta passed me going down the hill this morning, he was only walking but he was absolutely lathered with sweat.
I saw an audacious piece of driving while I was out running. There is about 1.5 miles of duel carriageway on the Island and we have it just outside the airport runway, on the way into town, it’s even got a roundabout in the middle so there is about 0.75 of open road on each side.
A car was coming roaring down, a low slung type of thing with a loud exhaust. A mini bus was about to overtake a slower moving car. The low slung car dropped gear, nipping behind the car and shot out about 3 mm in front of the mini bus as in an undertaking manoeuvre. It was so close that there must have been a peel of paint between them colliding.
But the crackers thing is that at this time of the morning there is along queue of traffic into town, so matey, after undertaking had to slam the brakes on, chuck out the kitchen sink and slam to an immediate halt, directly in front of the mini bus. Lives could have been lost due to reckless stupidity.
We spent all day at the beach and in between clouds it was a pretty dam roasting day, it was a stinker and I was glad I was lathered in factor 30 sunscreen.
We were near our favourite palm tree, away from the sunbeds minding our on business when the two girls who had laid their towels near us started to do the most immense posing I have ever seen. They were taking photos of each other in turn in all kinds of pouts and poses. They actually faffed about under my palm tree. Wendy was chuckling at their vanity, I saw at least two changes of swimwear for yet more photographs before I had had enough and I walked to the bar to grab some Wi-Fi so that I could share it with the kids on the WhatsApp page.
I got back to Wendy and they were still at it, three hours later, they would retreat to their beach towels to occasionally check on their work, only for them to recreate their poses as they were obviously unhappy with the outcome.
Jeepers it was very hot and we quaffed a few beers and read our books.
At about 2pm we went to the bar and had a glass of wine. I saw I had a message from Robyn and Alex about a UK history quiz that they had both done. Robyn had 18 out of 24, Alex had 12. I had a go, and I got 16. I told Wendy about it and she had to have a go, and she just had to beat Robyn. She studied each question for an age before replying and ended up getting 17 out of 24, one behind Robyn.
I can tell you it was a very hard quiz, and Robyn being the family historian did herself proud. Wendy was gutted and blamed the glass of wine on her less than perfect performance.
We went back to the sunbeds for a bit more sun and reading and then left the beach at 4:00 pm having had a very restful and rain free day.
We walked back to the apartment with me carrying the sun beds.
Every time we pass the sun bed chaps someone has to make comment, I don’t care, they had their chance. Actually todays comment was, “Sell me those sunbeds”.
They must weigh about 20 kgs each and I’ll have arms like James Haskell by the time we leave this apartment.
Supper is on me tonight, it’s early and we are going to have, corned beef sarnies on the balcony. I will try my best to get them up to Robyn’s standards but I don’t think I’ll have to worry too much as Wendy is so hungry she is gnawing at her arms.
Tomorrow we head out for the first of our adventures and despite her agreeing to come along we did have a little attendance at panic stations this morning from Wendy. I can’t wait for tomorrows copy avid reader, it’s just like a bush tucker trial, will she make it or will the camp have to go hungry?
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
I made a lovely smorgase board with the corn beef taking centre stage last night, it was really yummy and we ate it out on the balcony.
By 8:00 however Wendy was starving so I had to make her some cheese on toast. As we have no grill, or toaster I did the toast on the gas hob flame, using two forks. That seemed to do the trick, I then put the cheese on top and popped into a warm oven for about 2 minutes and by then it was very nicely done. You couldn’t have told it from the real thing, and it was wolfed down in no time at all.
I don’t know what’s with Wendy these days, it must be the heat as she is constantly starving.
I listened to the start of the England V New Zealand cricket test match on BBC Test Match Special and we got off to a very pleasing start. I’m sure if Geoffrey had been in the commentators box he would have been happy with the very determined start they made, although a couple of cheap wickets fell the other lads knuckled down.
I drifted off to sleep listening to the commentary!
I was wide awake at 4:30 and I thought I had snook out of the bedroom without wakening Wendy, but the creaky bedroom door did for her and she followed not long after me.
We both went running at 5:45 and it was just light, the sun wasn’t up but you could see where she was coming from as the sky was quite red.
We took a lazy morning after getting back and getting changed. We hadn’t any rush as today is the first of our adventures, the Piton Sunset Cruise.
The catamaran leaves northbound out of the bay at 14:00 so at 10:00 we decided to walk into town, pay our boarding fees and then have a wander until 1:30 pm.
Before we left we lathered ourselves in sports sun cream, factor 30 and dressed appropriately for a day afloat.
As we got to the top of the apartment’s stairs and I said to Wendy we should get the brolly as the sky looks dark. “We aren’t taking that bloody thing, it’s far too big”, was her reply.
We got 400 metres and then it started to spit. “We’ll just shelter under those trees”, she now said.
It absolutely poured it down, the tree was no match for an umbrella and we were soaked.
In the end we had to go back to the apartment and dry off, reapply sunscreen and dry our wet cloths.
It chucked it down for another 40 minutes and at one point the rain was that hard we could not see the Caribbean Sea from the balcony.
Here’s the itinerary of our cruise, straight off the website:
“Cruise to the magical bay Sugar beach, nestled between the iconic Pitons and spend some leisure time swimming and snorkelling over the protected reef. Enjoy hors d’ oeuvres and cocktails as you listen or dance to sweet Caribbean rhythms, while witnessing a spectacular Piton sunset. Look out for the green flash! As the sun dips into the horizon, enjoy a beautiful St. Lucian sunset beneath the stars. Sail into Marigot bay which featured the tropical portions of movies Pirates of the Caribbean, Creature, Superman 2 to name a few”.
After drying off we walked out again, this time with the umbrella, and we did indeed need it as it spited and rained but thankfully we remained dry, well apart from Wendy’s feet. After spending about a year of her life in the Tropics, where it’s known to rain, she’s brought one pair of shoes, sandals, actually, that she can’t wear in the rain, only Wendy.
We got to the boat terminal and we paid our fees and we had a 40 minute wait for boarding so we took a walk to the duty free shops at the place where the cruise liners berth. It was mobbed, I knew a bar, locally, where we could get a drink while waiting. The sun was now out and we were thirsty, I know I said it was a bar but it was actually a shed.
But never mind we stood and chatted to the lady, who, yet again, because we is white, thought we were from one of the 3 cruise liners in. Anyway we chatted and she showed me her spiced rum. It’s a demi John of white rum with lots of herbs and spices in it including, sugarcane, cinnamon and other stuff. She gave us both a taster and it was lovely, it really was nice.
I promised to buy a full measure the next time we passed the shed.
As we walked back to the boat we could see a small fire which looked like it was at the market.
By the time we got to the boat the sky was full of smoke, there was a major fire in town. Jeepers if it was the market there would be a catastrophe, it is rammed packed with stalls and I bet they would try to save their stock as they wouldn’t be insured.
As we waited to leave the fire intensified, it was now a major fire but I had yet to hear a fire engine arrive, smoke was think in the air and it was a right old shambles. There were 3 cruise liners in and the one nearest the fire was in danger from the smoke and fumes,
We left after waiting 10 minutes for some people caught up in the traffic chaos and we sailed out into perfect weather.
As we left the bay, smoke pouthered over our heads, but as there was nothing we could do about it we settled down to our cruise.
It was stunning!!!
The west coast of St Lucia is amazing and we were treated to some fantastic scenery.
Eventually the Pitons came into view and they were stunning.
We settled into the bay between both Pitons and some of us went snorkelling, not Wendy, she stayed on the boat drinking rum punch!!
I snorkelled along and I kept away from the madding crowd. The fish were stunning, the sea was crystal clear and I found a gold doubloon, well a one dollar EC coin, but it was booty none the less and I near killed myself getting it from the sea bed.
The Pitons really are an amazing sight to see and despite the music from the boat and the lack of use of the sail I really loved it. I was, for the most of the voyage, at the bow of the boat and loving the rock and roll of the Caribbean Sea.
As we set sail back the food was dished out, finger buffet, and you had to be quick because some of the larger passengers had two plates ready.
The food was lovely, the punch, OK, and we chatted to people from Toronto and it was a nice trip back.
We got into harbour where there was still the linger of smoke in town and we walked back to the apartment, tired but happy.
It’s been a fantastic day, the sun shone all the time during the cruise, the only dampener was the fire, but hopefully no one’s been injured, well hopefully not.
I’ll look into it tomorrow and report back!!!
Heres a link to the fire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeZETiNOSbs
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
I was up at 4:45 am this morning, Wendy was fast asleep, even the squeaky door couldn’t wake her up.
I had my breakfast and washed and she just about managed to stir. I think the 9:30 pm turn in last night did for her, maybe the walk home contributed to her tiredness too.
As I dressed to go out her eyes opened and she told me she was having a rest day, and I said OK are you going to go back to sleep, “No I want my tea please”, was her reply.
Just as I opened the door to go, she lazily came out of the bedroom and had her running gear on, she said, “I’m not going far, I’m still tired”.
I left her to it and off I went.
As soon as I left the apartment I could smell the smoke from yesterday’s fire, and as I got round the corner I could see the smouldering mess still billowing out across the bay.
I ran my usual route and when I got to the town and the bay, the smoke was now blowing directly out to open sea, and there was lots of it.
There weren’t any cruise ships in the harbour, I did think they might change their schedule, but on second thoughts that would be very complicated and on checking the harbour website when I got back I saw that coincidentally no cruise ships were due in today.
That meant we had the beach to ourselves!
I got back and Wendy had been running, but she only run around the runway road, four times, because the smoke from the fire was still hanging about.
I had my shower, I sent my third email to the company I want to take our next adventure with and yet again they have failed to respond, do they want our business?
We walked down to the beach and indeed it was empty, we had the prime spots all to ourselves and boy was it sunny.
The sun was out but there seemed to be a large black cloud that skirted around the hills, but it didn’t bother us.
The heat was such that I had three or four dips in the Caribbean Sea to cool off, I also had a few beers as well, and with the cool bag filled with ice, they were very welcome indeed.
Wendy has run out of sweeteners, the ones she puts in her tea and coffee, so I was compelled to walk to the supermarket to get her some, so I did, in the roasting heat.
As I suspected they didn’t have sweeteners so I got her a small bag of sugar and, as requested, because she is always hungry, I also got her a cranberry and orange scone.
I got back to our beach location and I found Wendy fast asleep and snoring. I left her to it and left her to go get some airport Wi-Fi from the bar to check yet again on our, hopefully next adventure provider, still with no reply!
I went back to Wendy and found her chomping on her scone and talking to Carmel, a young British, and local St Lucian women who we have chatted to before. Apparently Wendy woke up, confused but saw the bag of food I had bought and tucked into the orange scone.
Carmel had seen all this and went to tell her I was at the bar.
We had a good chat with Carmel whose mother lives locally and she told us some funny local stories about black racism and why service is so slow in the Caribbean.
I got back on my sunbed because the sun was still shinning and it was still very hot.
After a while I went to the bar which Carmel had told me was her cousins, Wendy’s, and I bought two rum and cokes. I asked her if her name was Wendy and she said yes, but she had a very puzzled and scared look on her face, like I was from the Inland Revenue. I told her that her cousin Carmel had told me she was here and she asked where I had seen Carmel. I told her I had chatted a few times with her on the beach and she said, “I didn’t know Carmel was on the beach today”, oh dear, did I put my foot in it?
It didn’t matter if I did or if I didn’t because Wendy gave me too very nice, large rum and cokes, which, my Wendy and me sipped slowly as the sun slipped behind the trees.
As I have had a good deal of sun today, before we left the beach, I had a good old swim in the Caribbean Sea. I went out quite far and then I laid on my back just wallowing in the warmth of the sea. The Caribbean Sea is really salty so floating really is a doddle.
We walked back to the apartment and showered off. I had to apply lots of after sun because my chops were feeling a wee bit warm, I don’t know why because I have had factor 50 on my face all day long!
Supper was lovely, a Wendy treat!
It was her own selection, a few days ago she bought a tin of beef chilli, some braising steak and she cooked it slowly this morning, with onions, and reheated it tonight with rice and we ate it on the balcony and it was bloody lovely, it was a real delight, and we even have some left for a Saturday night snack.
As we sat I saw a tall ship pass and I spoke of my dream of sailing around the Caribbean, whereby Wendy said, “Don’t you know there’s Pirates of the Caribbean”, I said, “Wendy, it’s unlikely that I would be aggressively boarded by Johnny Depp and his mates, she chuckled at what she had said!
Tomorrow is Saturday in Castries which is the Mad Friday equivalent, the one before Christmas in the UK, but not the sales thing, it will be wild with street food stalls, markets and merriment and we hope to be right in the middle of it, that’s, of course, if the fire is finally extinguished!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
We were late up this morning, having to rely on the alarm to wake us up at 05:00. I had managed to find a snooze option on the new BBC Sounds player and I nodded off to Aggers and Co at 9:00pm in the full knowledge that I had two hours of cricket to listen to.
I woke with the alarm and Wendy was struggling too but we both went out running.
I got to the harbour and I saw the last of 3 massive cruise liners dock. The pilot was busy today, bringing them in and settling them down.
One, the Marella Explorer 2 was very impressive looking and I did some Googling, and I found that she:
The two statistics that amaze me are, its draught, its only 25 feet and it has 12 decks, wow that is amazing. The next is its weight, almost 72,000 tons.
Now let me explain a little physics for my avid readers who are not so sure of the subject. A ship, any ship, must displace its own weight of water for it to be able to safely float. Its stability depends on its design, and a low centre of gravity makes a vessel stiff and not too comfortable to sail in. The characteristics of a stiff ship would be a very short rolling period, which means the ship would return to upright after being heeled over very quickly and result in a very snappy and uncomfortable ride.
Whereas a tender ship, has her centre of gravity relatively higher from the bottom. This makes her a little less stable and she will roll ‘languidly' in the seaway. It feels relatively comfortable to people on board, but is fraught with risk of becoming unstable.
From what I have seen of the cruise ships they have a very high superstructure to draught ratio which I would think would make them more tender, but I guess they have very heavy engineering spaces well below the waterline to make them safe and comfortable to sail.
I know this avid reader because I was once a very highly qualified Marine Firefighter, see I’m not just a pretty face!
I was explaining this to Wendy on the way for a walk around town, she didn’t seem too impressed but I carried on in my thoughts about this and I wondered, how much would sea levels lower if every vessel at sea was removed from the water, I mean there were 3 cruise liners in one harbour today all displacing over 72,000 tonnes of water. I bet Greta’s never thought of that idea to obliterate global sea rising.
Anyway, I thought it all very interesting!
We walked round the cruise terminal and we were pesterd to death with men trying to sell us tours, taxi rides and everything else under the sun. One got a bit shitty when I said, “Mate we’re on holiday, we’re not from the cruise ship”. He said, “I’m only trying to make money”. I could have said make it by not pestering people, I did have a mind to but Wendy was getting a bit humpy with it so I left it.
Prices also rise when there’s a cruise ship in, when there’s three in it goes through the roof!!!
We were hoping to have a beer at the shed bar but it was closed but we came across a very enterprising women who had a cool box of beer, all at the right rate. I checked and I said, my now most used line today, “I’m not on the cruise ship”.
Jeepers, imagine everyday having to run the gauntlet of people hassling you the moment you step off the ship, it’s not for me.
We had a good walk around town and we bought a few Christmas stocking items for good boys and girls. I had to use my infamous quote on each occasion and I got a bit fed up with it but at least it worked.
We also happened upon the building fire and it didn’t look in good shape. It also had a knock on effect for local traders as the road was cordoned off. In fact the street food we had last week were nowhere to be seen.
We went for lunch in a restaurant complex. There were two places upstairs and a lad had snared two cruise type people for his place and he loured Wendy along too. But it wasn’t the one we were wanting to go to, but I heard him tell Wendy they were the same bar, they are joined at the front.
That was nonsense and I can’t believe Wendy fell for the bull***t, the silly mare.
But I grabbed her and took her to the one we wanted to go to.
But we weren’t impressed, the drink prices were twice as high, so we walked out. Now that’s a thing, Wendy Gill gets very embarrassed when I walk out of a place, but she was first to go today, she wasn’t paying twice as much just because there were three bloody cruise ships in town today.
We decided to go to a small restaurant we have found in the harbour basin. It’s near the cruise terminal but off the beaten track, where cruise liner types don’t go.
But before that we had another beer with our enterprising lady with the cool box. By now the heat was intense and there wasn’t much of a breeze. Wendy looked lovely in her dress but she was feeling the heat somewhat.
We got to the restaurant and we were the only customers there.
It’s getting towards the last week of this tour and we have been very good, cooking food at the apartment, mainly, so it was time to kick back and have a treat and boy did we.
We had a lovely meal, we both had the steamed creole fish, which came with a very fresh salad, stir fried veg, rice, beans and the fish was to die for, it was a double delight.
We sat on the veranda enjoying the food and the wine and it was all very, very nice.
The staff were great, the price was really good and we thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon. It’s a shame Barnsley lost!
As we left I was accosted by four local lad’s, all being about ten years old. I took them head on and insisted on shaking all their hands. One cheeky bugger asked for a dollar, so I gave each one a $1 EC coin. I think they were disappointed it wasn’t $1 US note, but at last they got something for their cheek.
We called in at Wendy’s bar at the beach for a drink and I introduced my Wendy to Wendy.
Wendy showed us, as we were leaving, a litter of kittens, their mum has had them in the roof of the bar, although there were three only one poked his or her head out to see us.
I managed to get Wendy back to the apartment, it’s been a really lovely day, but she’s shattered and she’s nodding on the settee. I do hope we can get Strictly online tonight, it’s not looking good as the bandwidth is low, she won’t be happy when she wakes up!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
We did indeed see Strictly last night and the download was the best it’s been since we have been here. Wendy was in a double delight, she was beside herself with excitement!
I know who’s out and I bet there’s tears involved, Saffron!!! She wasn’t happy about being in the dance off last week, so tonight when she goes she’s going to be in pieces.
I must admit I thought Craig was harsh on her and AJ last night, he seemed to pick them out and gave then very poor, in my view, marks, was it a 4?
We had a delightful sleep and we needed the alarm clock to wake us up for the second morning going, well I guess it was a Sunday morning.
There was only one small cruise ship in the bay this morning when I was out running.
My knee is very slowly getting better, I have now run five days without my knee support and although there is still pain, even with my Solphadol painkillers, it’s not excruciating pain as it once was.
I still have a little sciatica but even that is slowly subsiding, hopefully I’ll be fully recovered by the time we get home.
I’m on course, still for my “Race Your Pace”, target of 3,001 miles this year. I am currently on 2707.94 miles, which leaves me with 293.06 miles to do which is now at a daily average of 7.921 miles per day for the next 37 days. Boy am I looking forward to New Year’s Eve in a cold and frosty country!
Actually I have done over 3,000 miles in a year a few times, but not under the pressure of having to do it, which is very different.
Today we went down to the beach and I had to be very carefully with my face. I cannot believe I have burnt my chops. I have used factor 50 and 60 regularly on my face but I seem to have burnt my left cheek, I blame global warming and Donald Trump.
The beach was very quiet, the cruise ship was, we believe a North American tour as there were some very North American accents, either Canadian or USA. But they were few and far on the ground, in fact most sunbed fellas scarpered and left us to it, there was some Oriental type ladies exercising in the sea, fully clothed with hats on, jeepers they are always good for a laugh!
The quietness of the beach was fine by us, we like a quiet beach and we got one, that is until the Gangster mobs showed up.
Locals come to the beach on a Sunday, and usually congregate at the far end of the beach and that’s fine but this time someone had to have their car radio on full blast, I mean mega loud.
That’s OK I told Wendy, we are in the Caribbean, they love their music, it will be nice.
But it wasn’t, it was Gangster Rap, with swear words such as, F***, S*** and even N*****.
Wendy wasn’t happy, I mean there were kids present, to be honest it wasn’t Bob Marley or steel drums. But when a van full of grannies turned up we thought it might tone down, but it didn’t, it got louder.
That did us, we took refuge in the form of a very nice lunch at the beach bar. We did try for Wendy’s place but the chef was off today, but we did get some nice food at another place. Wendy, my Wendy, had the fried fish, and chips. I had baked chicken with local add ones. Both meals were lovey. I nicked some of Wendy’s chips because she also had a very nice garlic mayonnaise.
I paid the bill and I gave a $5 EC tip, Wendy, my Wendy, chastised me for my meanness, but when I told her that the prices had yet again been over inflated she accepted my rational. A country that doesn’t display a price list on its menu and picks a price out of thin air needs the Yorkshire treatment it deserves, and I’m the happy Yorkshireman not embarrassed to deal with the situation accordingly, the way I see it they have tipped themselves already before I get the chance to do so!
We had a wee bit more time on the beach, reading books, listening to Gangster Rap and at 4:00 pm when the sun had slid behind a cloud we walked up to the apartment.
But not before I bought a very happy Wendy Gill a slice of rum and raisin cake from Wendy’s bar, Wendy, my Wendy, loved it. She was in heaven and she even saved some for when she watches Strictly Dancing tonight, with a glass of wine of course.
As it’s a quite news day I thought I would give Avid Readers a tour around the apartment.
From the photographs you will see the apartment has large French Doors which open onto to our elevated balcony. We are in a basement type area but due to the slope of the ground, we are at the rear, very nicely elevated. We have a small kitchen which is lacking in some basic equipment, like no grill in the cooker or a toaster.
The pots and pans situation is minimal too but we have managed so far.
The bedroom is at the back and we have two ¾ beds pushed together, with a big crack down the middle. That’s not a problem as we stay on our own sides due to the heat. Thankfully we have an aircon unit in the bedroom which does keep the temperature down.
The shower is in our bedroom!
The toilet has, “Howdy Partner” type doors, and is again just off our bedroom. It’s a good job we have been married over 30 years as it’s not what you would call a honeymoon suite.
The good thing though is the balcony and the location. The airport runway adds at least two miles to our walk into town, but it also keeps the riff faff away, which is fine by me.
In fact we are in a very nice residential location which has a feeling of being very safe about it, so the walk up the hill and around the runway is well worth it for that alone, oh and it’s giving me arms like James Haskell having to carry the sunbeds back up from the beach!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
I woke nice and early and it was pouring down with heavy rain, it was bouncing off the kitchen roof, which is the only standalone part of our building that we have a roof over as for the rest we have someone living above us, not that we have ever heard them, they are as quiet as dormice.
Wendy Gill was not moving out of her bed, she was staying firmly put. Thankfully by the time I was out the rain had stopped, although it did spitter on me occasionally.
And what an interesting run I had. I usually run north for 3.5 miles, I then turn around and then run into town, to the harbour and just after I turned around after 3.5 miles I came across a tiny kitten who was wandering upto the highway.
I managed to shoo her away and back to the forest and would you believe she was joined by two others, her brothers and sisters. Then one of the others started to meander to the highway, where was their mum???
I manged to round them up, and I had to be a little forceful with them as I was worried they would go back to the road when I left. Hopefully mum would have returned, unless of course she’s been run over herself!!!
I’ll keep my eyes peeled for them tomorrow!
I carried on into town and saw another cruise ship tie up.
On the way back from town I saw that the traffic was backing up and when I got to the roundabout at the end of the runway it was traffic chaos. Something was holding things up at the other side of the roundabout, I went to take a peek and I found another car crash!!!
The cars were completely blocking the duel carriageway but thankfully a lone police officer had pulled out some plastic bollards and with the kindly help of another man they were directing traffic through one lane of the other carriageway so at least some movement was occurring. However this had the knock on effect of causing traffic coming into town to back up, oh boy, a lot of people were going to be late to wherever they were going this morning.
I got back to the apartment without further ado.
It was pretty overcast when I got back and sure enough the heavens opened so we hung around for a while.
I put my time to good use and did a little research on St Lucia’s cost of living and social benefits. The prices in the supermarket look very expensive to me, I saw a tin of soup selling at $10 EC, which is £3.50, I’m thinking such a tin in the UK would be somewhere under £1.
Milks expensive, as is meat and almost anything you can buy.
I looked at the pension system. Currently the retirement age is 63 years old and it will shortly rise to 65 years old. The pension system is funded by some kind of national insurance scheme and you get a monthly payment based on your average earnings, resulting in a person getting 40% for their final average pay. But as a lot of people are in very poorly paid jobs, and there are a lot of poorly paid people here, there is a minimum payment of $300 EC a month which is around £85.71!
That’s not much to live on, in fact the average wage in St Lucia is only $800 EC which is £228.51.
A little after 12:00 we took a walk into town, the rain had stopped but it was still overcast, so I took the brolly and thankfully I did because we got to the end of the runway and it banged it down. It became so heavy that we took shelter under a shop canopy with a dear old lady, who thought we were crackers as she’s seen us walking everywhere.
As we moved off I saw my Rasta mate, the tramp who I exchange pleasantries with every morning. He was sat out as usual in the rain without a care in the world, we gave each other a wave and a nod.
We got into town and thankfully the rain had stopped.
We called into the duty free shop and again we were constantly asked if we needed a cab, or if we would like to take a tour!
Downtown I found a bank and got some money out as I was running a little low on EC Dollars.
I bought a nice pile of bananas from a very grateful lady in the market, it’s such a shame! They work long hours, often into the night, seven days a week and there are just too many of them, it must be a pitiful existence.
We called into the tourist market and bought a painting at a knock down price of $10 US. I was offered one for $24 at the weekend.
I had a bit of a suspicion that a switch might have been made during the wrapping process, and I was even more suspicious when she told me to put it straight into my wife’s bag.
On checking it hadn’t been switched, it’s just a very old copy and it is a bit faded, but that’s OK as it is a genuine St Lucian Piton painting for our bathroom wall with all our other tropical paintings.
No sooner had we left the market when the heavens opened and the wind picked up too, there was just so much rain coming down that we had to take shelter in a local bar where we nursed a small beer each until the rain subsided.
After a quick shop in the supermarket we caught a taxi back to the apartment and arranged for the driver, “CJ” to collect us at 6:00 PM as tonight were off out for dinner at the most luxurious restaurant we have found to date, “The Coal Pot”.
The Coal Pot is a harbour front restaurant, tucked away, in a tiny corner of the Bay. I took a photograph of it as we walked past it earlier as by the time we get there it will be pitched black!
I watched a bit of I’m a Celebrity Get me out of Here”, to while away the time as yet more and then even more rain poured down.
We have a little bird fly in sometimes and she called by to visit which prompted me to put out some food for her.
“CJ” was indeed bang on time and he delivered us at the Coal Pot for a most sumptuous supper. The restaurant is something quite special, with the Caribbean Sea not two feet from our table.
The waiting staff were really friendly and nice and the food was to die for. Wendy had the duck and I had surf and turf which was tenderloin steak with half a lobster tucked on top. I had mine with a very tasty mushroom sauce, Wendy had a red wine and onion sauce, both were cooked rare and both were melt in the mouth tasty.
Wendy had a very nice chocolate cake and I had a Bob Marley cocktail, a vodka, rum and local fruit special, it was very nice too.
After our meal the waiter called our driver and “CJ” duly arrived.
“CJ” is an absolute top fella and he had us in stiches with some of his stories, the one about the ladies who run the bar from the boot of their cars at the cemetery is a killer, pardon the pun.
It’s been a rainy, scabby kind of day in paradise but I’ve loved it and this eveining was a very special event too. Wendy’s now on the settee, stuffed, with a glass of wine in her hand, I bet she’s running tomorrow, because I bet she’s put a pound or two on!!!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
I woke again nice and early at 4:30 AM and put the kettle on, I didn’t need my branflakes I was still stuffed from last night’s meal. Wendy laughs at this, but she’s never been a shift worker, her working life as always been 9 to 5.
When I worked in a coal mine, getting up at 4:30 to start a shift many of my mates would have a large dinner the night before and that would be their breakfast until snap time which was at 10:00 AM. Wendy thinks this is impossible, but I guess we are all made differently.
Anyway, she was walking around like a zombie ten minutes after me and in need of her morning tea.
Whilst I was in the bathroom I could hear what I thought was running water, it sounded like a waterfall. When I came into the lounge I could hear it yet again, another tropical downpour.
I waited a while, as did Wendy and the rain did subside, but the sky, having now turned to daylight, was very black indeed.
That’s when I decided to wear my waterproof jacket for running. Well Wendy laughed at me and said I would die from heat exhaustion. I told her I might be smart enough to take it off before that happened.
Wendy left first and I wasn’t far behind her and I did indeed wear my jacket, but it never rained!
I got to the spot where I saw yesterday’s kittens and thankfully they were nowhere to be seen, nor was there any evidence of them meeting a sticky end on the highway, thankfully.
I had to stop, as I was sweating a lot and then carried on.
I got into town and saw the second of two cruise liners tie up and then the bloody sun came out and for the last two miles I was boiling hot and I eventually took my jacket off at 7.5 miles.
I even had to call in at Wendy’s Bar for a bottle of water.
I got back to the apartment and yet another moody looking sky came over and it rained yet again. Not to worry I have backlogs of I’m a Celebrity to watch so I did that while Wendy read her book.
My friend the little bird came back but he didn’t come in to the lounge today, he sat on the balcony eating the branflakes I had put out for him. He was there ages, tucking in, until Wendy came in and disturbed him.
The sun came out again and I went and got myself ready for a day at the beach, Wendy wasn’t keen, but she reluctantly agreed to come along, and then it rained again!
I asked her what she wanted to do and she said, “Lets walk to the supermarket and get some tomatoes for supper, and see what happens”, so we did.
Wendy took me the long way around, going another route which she runs around in the morning. Here there are some stunning houses with views across the bay. We even came across some wild banana trees with a fair amount of fruit on them, but they were just too dodgy, in high grass for me to get to.
And it rained again, but thankfully we had the brolly.
I’m not talking normal rain here, I am talking a tropical storm with lashing winds and driving rain, all in 30 degree heat. The wind was so hard I had trouble holding the brolly against it. Then after ten minutes it stopped.
We then decided to walk to town to buy a coconut bird feeder.
A man on the outskirts of town makes and sells them and they are quite cute, and the lady with the cool box who sells drinks told us we could get one off him for $25 EC. We did go down yesterday with the intention of buying one, but I needed to go to the bank. I told him this as I passed him but the rain was that bad yesterday we took a cab home with our new mate CJ instead of walking past him as we intended.
Anyway, he was absolutely delighted when we went back today, he was beside himself as the rain had stunted his trade with the cruise passengers. He was so happy we had to have a gift of some funny looking fruit from him.
As Wendy was talking with him I went closer to the Bay to take a photo for the second cruise liner as I liked her 1950’s lines. A man who hangs around that area, a nicely dressed man actually, said to me, “You kept your promise and came back my man”, he then gave me the lower hand movement, which I thought was very nice of him.
We took a beer each from the cool box lady who told us it was her birthday, so on finishing our drink, I gave her a $5 EC note and told her to buy herself a coke when she finished work. I already know she doesn’t drink alcohol, but on walking back I could have kicked myself for not giving her more as she was hiding under her brolly in the bad weather not making any money on her birthday.
I know I can’t help everyone, but I am happy to try to help people who help themselves.
We walked back to the beach after getting some tomatoes at the supermarket where I saw a turkey on sale for over $102 EC, that’s just over £35, wow, the poor locals, I said yesterday how hard things are here.
We also bought a very interesting onion gravy for tonight’s supper, beef steak.
On the way back we called into the War Graves section of the cemetery as we have been meaning to pay our respects there. It’s such a shame, there are 48 graves from just this parish alone for both World Wars, where young men have died for a cause that really had nothing to do with them!
We had a couple of drink at the bar and watched the Brits who were from the P&O Cruise ship lounge like only Brits can do on the beach, boy were there some sights to be seen!
We got back and while I prepped supper Wendy took a shower and slipped on the floor getting out. I was worried as it looked like a bad fall but she was relatively OK as she hadn’t banged her head. I got her sorted out and got her to put ice on her wound so hopefully that will stop the swelling. I know she’s going to play on this though, she always does!
I went back to my supper prep and promptly cut the first finger on my right hand on the very sharp knife cutting sweetcorn up. However unlike some, I quietly sorted myself out and bandaged it up, boy was this a very deep cut, I might have to stich it later.
Supper was nice, the onion gravy was a bit salty and the steak was a bit chewy, which was a shame because we bought two identical packs last week and the first pack was lovely.
As night fell Wendy moaned as she has now caught up with all the back episodes of the new Netflix series, “The Crown”.
I watched a very interesting Sky documentary about a con man from the UK who has fritted millions of pounds from gullible people, jeepers what you can get upto if you have the nerve to do it.
I think an early night is in store tonight for a couple of silly crocs, hopeful the rain will hold off tomorrow and we can restart our beach holiday.
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
The boat I liked in yesterday’s copy was called the Marella Celebration and I was quite wrong in thinking she was a 1950’s vessel, she was launched in 1984.
She just looked so traditional to me, perhaps it’s because I have seen too many modern, “Pack Em In”, cruise ships enter the bay these last few weeks.
Here’s a link to more info on Wikipedia: (Grandad, just click on the link on Grannies IPad and it should take you there!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Marella_Celebration
I have the cruise ships itinerary for the Bay open on my laptop and I am gutted that the Queen Mary II is coming in the day after we leave. We took my sailboat, “Tara” out to see her when she came into Invergordon on her maiden Highland visit in the summer some years ago. It was a fantastic afternoon as we went with my old mate Jim Cooper and his wife Michelle.
What a scream came from Wendy Gill last night when a very large cockroach ran across the lounge floor. Thankfully my lightening reflexes had him cornered tut-sweet in a drinks glass. I was off my chair and I had grabbed a glass from the dresser and I was on top of him before you could say, “Lardy Dah”.
I had to get him as I knew that I had not gotten him my life would have been hell for the rest of the week. Wendy was already saying, “Where did he come from, has he been under my bed all this time, are his mates still waiting for me”.
We were both up at 4:15 AM this morning, I know its crazy but we are now fully on tropical time where we have 12 hours of night and 12 hours of day, give or take a minute and we can’t waste it.
We were out running at 5:45 AM and it was just getting light as we went down the hill.
My knee was sore today and I had a touch of sciatica again, it’s funny how they both seem to come at the same time. It wasn’t as bad as it’s been but it was at the lower end of unbearable. That’s the thing with getting older, everything takes so long to heal!
I didn’t see any cruise liners come in today, but there was one on the horizon as I was running back up the hill and Wendy said there was one in the Bay when she was down there.
I had to report a few issues to our host today, the iron doesn’t work, the blender doesn’t work, there’s no hairdryer and no snorkelling gear. I did so because even though it didn’t bother us we thought she ought to know. Wendy just wanted to iron a skirt yesterday for the first time and the iron didn’t work. I don’t need the blender as I brought my hand blender for my morning smoothie, but I was going to crush ice with it, and we don’t need a hair dryer nor any snorkelling gear.
But the message I got back from the host was a bit frosty, and she said she doesn’t provided snorkelling gear. I replied, that’s fine, but it’s listed on her AirBnB site so we didn’t want her to think we had taken it along with the non-existent hair dryer.
The weather was dry, with no indication of rain about so we set off for the beach at 9:00 AM, our earliest time. We got there just as the cruise train pulled in and we saw the poor cruise people bombarded with locals trying to sell them sun beds, hats, shirts and other paraphernalia.
I later found out that it was a cruise liner from the USA so I guess that makes them more vulnerable to local attack.
We took our sun beds and lounged around at the end of the beach and it was lovely. Local young people came and had a bit of a get together, it was all very nice with the kids laughing and joking, they weren’t monitoring their smart phones and they weren’t drinking alcohol, it was all just good fun in the surf.
I read my book, it’s my last one. Robyn bought me it for Christmas and I’ve saved it for this last few days, its a Harry Hole detective novel by Jo Nesbo. Jo is a Norwegian author and his work is translated into English by someone else. There are gaps in all his books but the writing is so good that you can forgive this and by page 132 I am now fully hooked, and it is a very fat book!
The sun continued to shine and we had three train loads of Americans come down to the beach. But the thing is I saw them pay $20 US for an hours use of the sunbeds and then an hour later off they toddled on the train, shouting, “Toot, Toot” at the conductors say so, what wallies! Jeepers they are getting ripped off right, left and centre. It’s like watching the sharks circulating when the train comes in, everyone is at them!
One couple had a child in a Papoose wrap and I swear he was 17 years old, he was massive, he surely must have been big enough to walk on his own. But then again I guess they were worried about losing him!
By 3:00 PM Wendy was starving so I took a walk along the beach to see what Wendy had in the line of cake at her bar. Sure enough there was cake there, Cherry cake. I doubled back to Wendy, I took her to see it and of course she just had to have a slice, so I had a rum and coke too.
Wendy devoured it, well almost as she did save some for after dinner.
At 4:00 Pm we left the beach and Wendy struggled up the hill, I guess she’s still a bit knocked up by yesterday’s fall in the shower. As a result supper was down to me, big fat pork sausages cooked in black bean sauce on a bed of rice.
I must say it was bloody lovely, Wendy has snook the last sausage, as there were five in the pack, for her midnight feast.
If the weathers good tomorrow we will have another beach day but with an added treat for Wendy, lunch at her new mates bar, Wendy’s. It is funny hearing the two Wendy’s say good afternoon Wendy.
It’s now 6:16 PM and we are sat on the balcony, it won’t be long before Wendy heads inside as the night creatures like to nibble on her. It’s been a lovely beach day, supper was a double delight, hopefully the sun will shine again tomorrow!
Footnote, Wendy has just gone inside mumbling, “It’s alright for you, they like to nibble me”, see that’s what 30 years of married life does to you, I can read her mind!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
I was up early again, at around 4:20 AM and I was woken by a new night creature noise, it sounded like a croaking frog outside our bathroom window. The little bugger didn’t half know how to croak, I’ll croak him if I get my hands on him tomorrow.
I had my breakfast and just as I was finishing my tea Wendy appeared and she looked knackered. She’s not been well since her shower fall and yesterday she was very off it. But this morning she looked terrible. I gave her a talking to and I told her to stay in bed. I told her, quite rightly, she’s a southerner and she shouldn’t try to keep up with me, a Barnsley man, she’s really not upto it.
She agreed with me and she stayed in bed.
I went out and my knee was still sore again, but again it was just about manageable.
I got to the port and I saw a container ship, The Vega Sagittarius unloading her cargo of containers. Castries has a modest container port and all of the imports must come in here.
As I sat and took my drink I saw a cruise ship slowly enter the Bay. Again, she looked like an older vessel as it didn’t have very many balconies like the more modern ones do. This is not a ship for Wendy Gill, she would like the master suite with a wraparound balcony.
This ship was called the Carnival Fascination and it was a more modern looking ship with what would be my worst sailing nightmare, pool flumes coming out of the top of the ship. It must be a kiddie attraction!
Back at the apartment Wendy had stayed inside and, after a little breakfast, was looking a lot better. She told me that she didn’t have much pain, but that she felt achy. That’s what falls do for you, when your younger you can shake them off but not when you’re in the middle years.
Don’t anyone say I said that please!
I had my smoothie, but only one banana today though as we were going to have lunch with Wendy, at Wendy’s bar.
The beach was busy, two American cruise ships were in today, the second was called Freedom of the Seas and had come in when I got back, and they were all good humoured and enjoying their short time at the beach. Jeepers, as soon as that train pulls in they are hounded by beach hustlers’, selling everything from snack to hats.
Wendy and I read our books and it was all very nice and comfortable.
At around 12:00 we went for our lunch at Wendy’s Bar, todays special was Salt Fish – One Pot.
I asked what One Pot meant and I was told it was a fish broth.
Now I may have told you before, Avid reader about Wendy Gills aversion to fish bones. When it comes to fish bones Wendy Gill is like a big girl.
Our meals came and from the word go she wasn’t happy, she found a fish bone. I said lets swap as I couldn’t see any in mine. “No, I’m ok, it will be fine” was her reply. But she wasn’t, where I scooped it all up on my spoon and I loved every morsel, Wendy picked and poked.
At the end she left a fair bit, I couldn’t finish it as I was stuffed.
“I think I have a fish bone stuck in my throat” is what she said. Well she would wouldn’t she, jeepers she isn’t a Gill is she.
Thankfully an ambulance wasn’t required and the beer she had managed to swill the killer bone away, oh, and also a good cough later on might have done it too.
We had more time on the sun beds then I set off for a beach walk to the supermarket as we needed a few items, the 3 B’s and two other things!
Beer, Bananas, Bread, Milk and Rum!
I had a lovely walk all along the beach and I nipped onto the road via the very nice beach resort.
I did a good shop, I bought a French stick for the bread and I got Wendy a big cholate chip cookie as a treat.
I packed my backpack and walked back along the beach.
As I walked I chatted to an older lady from Christchurch who is staying at a very plush resort up the hill. It’s the resort with the curtesy bus that brings them to their beach beds. She told me that she was staying here until the 10th December, then she fly’s home for a few days before flying back to take a Caribbean cruise over Christmas and New Year! Wow, now that’s class!!!
I got back to Wendy on the beach and I told her that I had a nice French stick for her, but actually I hadn’t!!!
The bloody thing must have fallen out of my knapsack while I was walking on the beach, what a bummer!
She wasn’t impressed! “What about my snack at 6, when I get a bit hungry, I’m not happy”
I went back to Wendy’s Bar and got her a rum punch to help her chill but she wasn’t having it.
“I’ll be starving and I’ll be grumpy”, she said.
Later on, I thought better of it and I went to get her a sandwich and a glass of wine at Jessie’s Bar.
Jessie is a really lovely young local man and has Wendy’s sandwich was being put together we chatted about this and that. We talked about where he lived, about the driving standards and about the weather.
Jessie is about 24 years old.
When the food came I asked him for the bill and he said $26 EC. I gave him $30 EC and I told him to put the change in the tip jar. Jessie gave me the $4 back in my hand and I pointed to the tip jar and said put it in the tip jar.
Jessie looked at me with sad eyes and he said, “It’s not for us”, I said, “What, how come?”
He said it’s a sad story but we don’t get it”
I was raging, I have been putting tips in here for over 3 weeks and the bar staff don’t get it.
The tip jar was full to the brim with American dollars, I was incandescent with rage, I was really not very happy.
These are local kids, working in a low paid environment and their boss is stealing from me, from other’s and from them, their staff.
But what could I do, if I say anything Jessie will lose his job.
I gave Jessie the $4 in his hand and he took them, as he did later when I gave him 4 more.
I told Wendy and she was as angry as me, as it is unthinkable, it is robbery and it actually is a sin of the highest order.
Any suggestions as to how to tackle this would be greatly apprecatated as I feel I need to confront someone about it. The Americans are really good tippers and gave their money to that jar thinking Jessie and his mates would get it, it’s disgusting!!!!
Before we left the beach I bought Wendy a shawl, or a table cloth, it’s actually very multifunctional.
I quite like it, it was on the beach stall where two ladies have sat all day, not hassling anyone and only selling the odd bucket and spade to the Americans.
I thought it a decent thing to do, Wendy thinks I’m a soft touch, maybe I am but as I said to her, “It’s easier for an elephant to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven”. For some reason she chuckled all the way up the hill home!!!
Back at the apartment the sandwich was snaffled well before 6:00 PM and I got half of it.
I think Wendy needs an early bed tonight and maybe I’ll let her go back to the beach tomorrow, I have to monitor her as she is a little southern girl at heart!
Foot Note – I really am not impressed that the owner steals tips which are freely given for the staff, I’m still seething actually!!!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
Wendy wasn’t feeling very good this morning, she had pain in her back, maybe her kidneys, maybe not. I nursed her for a while taking tea and paracetamol and she stayed in bed, but insisted I went out running. I wasn’t going to leave her but she said she would be fine.
I went out and at the harbour I saw two container ships, but try as I might I could not pick out the names of the vessels, they were just too far away and commercial shipping seems to have the names of their vessels written in smaller letters than their cruise liner counterparts.
One thing that did get me was the size of the visiting cruise ship, the Mein Schiff 2, what a whopper it was, it was massive. I had to go and run all the way around the Bay just to appreciate the size of the monster.
Here’s some facts:
Mein Schiff 2 is the second of two Century-class cruise ships operated by TUI Cruises. Built for Celebrity Cruises at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, she was launched on 11 July 1997, and was christened and entered service as MV Mercury on 27 October 1997
Length: 866 Feet
Bean: 106 Feet
Draught: 26 Feet
Decks: 12
Passenger: 1,912
Crew: 1,000
You know it really is true you cannot trust the internet for accurate information, there are two respected sites that give two very different details of the information I have listed about. I have gone with Wikipedia as they do try to be reliable, but I can’t for the life of me say that it is really accurate. What would Comb Over Donald call it? “Fake News!!!”
I got back to the apartment and Wendy was feeling better. I had my smoothie and asked her if she was up to walking down to the beach. She said she was because she could lay there just as easily as she could lay around here at the apartment.
We walked down and settled on our sunbeds and it was a very nice and hot morning. The beach was moderately busy with cruise people who had been shipped in on the train.
We both read our books and it was all very relaxing.
Wendy was feeling a little better and she started to mock me about my lost French stick yesterday, but I had prepared for this. I had brought my ear plugs down and I emptied her Spotty Rucksack and filled it with my vest, my sandals, wallet and specs. I started my ITunes and set off running along the beach, in the surf so that I could achieve two objectives:
I set off in just my shorts with the Spotty bag on my back and I ran the full length of the beach, which was just under two miles. I double backed half a mile and then left the beach for the supermarket.
Would you believe the duel carriageway was completely closed. Traffic was being diverted around the hills and it was yet again traffic chaos!
I looked down the road and I could see in the distance the flashing lights of the emergency services, jeepers it couldn’t be yet another car crash could it? I did try to find out what was happening online but there was nothing, not on any police or fire brigade website, nothing at all, just chaos!
I did however find an article from the man who called in the fire in town last week. He was criticising the fire service for both the time they took to arrive and the lack of action when they did get there. I also found that there was a response from some Fire Service Association, (not the real fire brigade) and they were very critical saying that the fire service in St Lucia needs to modernise if it wants to provide a 21st Century Service, jeepers I might be in line for a job here!
I got back to Wendy and I was sopping wet from sweat, and thankfully she was pleased with my supplies.
We stayed longer on the beach but at 13:00 we headed up to the local restaurant where we had had a meal in our early days. We both ordered a chicken rotie and they were both cooked to order, they came with a simple salad and a very nice garnish and they were very tasty.
I had a chat with the chef, as he came out to see how we were getting on, and he told me the wrap was made from floor and that the chicken curry was his own recipe, jeepers it was lovely.
We had a glass of wine each and 20 minutes after asking for it, Mrs McDougal brought the bottle of water for Wendy.
I call her Mrs MacDougal because we don’t know her name but she waves to us whenever we pass and almost every morning when we come back from our runs, where she is setting her tables out. She’s a funny thing, you have to get behind her lack of interest, her bruishness and her non smiling face to find a very lovely lady, maybe she’s from Yorkshire too!
Back at the beach and we read a little more, I had a swim and I could see Wendy was not feeling good again. The silly sausage had not brought any paracetamol with her and she was flagging. She had a sleep and when she woke she walked back to the apartment. I was happy to go with her but she insisted I stay, so off she went.
The sun dipped behind a cloud so I went for a drink at the bar with my mate Jessie.
I saw that after our chat yesterday that he had moved the tip jar from the front of the bar column to the rear so it can’t be seen. I know it’s there because I looked, but anyone not knowing, as most cruise people wouldn’t, would hopefully give him the tip in his hand so he can keep it.
This might work for a day or too but his boss is going to ask him why the tips are down. It makes my blood boil, people are tipping Jessie, he is a smashing young lad, who always has a smile on his face, he works from 7:00 AM to late at night, 7 days a week and his boss is stealing his tips. I am so angry I could murder the bugger!
Anyway, rant over, for now, I went back and found Wendy fast asleep in bed so I tiptoed about the apartment. She woke up after 30 mins and as she hadn’t taken any more paracetamol I gave her some more. She slept another two hours, waking only to get a sarnie, using the bread that I had gotten her. I did offer to make her sandwich but she insisted that she did it, hopefully she’s getting better.
She thinks she has a touch of flu, but hopefully she'll be back to normal tomorrow, I do hope so as she has another treat coming up!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
We both went out running this morning at 05:40 as Wendy was feeling much better after her 24 hour flu, (indeed!).
However once outside I had to spend the next ten minutes resetting my phone as it started to play up and would not do any function properly. I managed to get her going and as I ran I listened to Dearne FM, having to pay £5 of roaming charges to do so.
Matt had a late breakfast show and it was coming live from the Alhambra Centre and it was all very good fun.
After five miles I bumped into Mrs MacDougal who was most interested in me and my wife’s madness with running.
I got to town and I saw a massive cruise liner in, a P&O vessel, The Britannia. There was also a large sailing schooner berthed nearby, now she looked more like my cup of tea, but I could not make out her name.
Do you know what P&O stands for?
It stands for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. It actually began life just as the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company, Oriental was added in 1840 to reflect the company’s expanding services Eastwards beyond the Iberian Peninsular to Egypt and the Orient.
I got back and showered and we were on the beach for just after 9:00 AM.
The beach was empty, that was until a train load of cruise line people came in, all Brits of course.
A lady and her husband put their blankets close to our beds and he went off for a swim. The lady started to talk to Wendy and I caught her accent. I knew she was from Lancashire, Wendy thought Derbyshire. So when she next chatted I asked her. She’s from Preston, you don’t get much more Lancashire than that do you Wendy?
She was a really lovely lady and Wendy chatted a good while with her. I couldn’t hear everything because of the waves but I caught that she was a retired primary teacher.
I asked about the cruise, where they had been and where they were going, she had no idea, she couldn’t remember. She said, “I’m in my middle sixties now, I don’t know if I am coming or going”.
She really was a lovely lady but they left on the train after an hour on the beach, her husband spending the entire time in the Caribbean Sea!
As it was quite overcast we left the beach at 12:00 and headed up to the apartment, got changed and walked into town. We had three objectives, get some cash from a bank, buy another coconut bird feeder from Mr Coconut for a Christmas present for someone and then have a nice lunch out.
The first we did at the airport as there is a cash point there, that was good, nice and easy and it saved us walking across town to the bank.
We walked into town, calling into the supermarket for some bread for supper, if needed.
We walked into town, well as far as the harbour and Mr Coconut was spark out fast asleep in what looked like a flower bed. He was absolutely gutted, well he looked it to me.
We took a beer from the lady with the cool box and waited thinking Mr Coconut would wake up, but he didn’t. We looked at the Cruise Ship the Britannia, she was massive.
On finishing our beers I went and kicked Mr Coconut awake. It took a while for him to come round, he must have had some very heavy Ganga!
He started to piffle with Wendy but she cut him off and said, “I want to buy a bird feeder, are you selling or am I going”. By this time we had drawn a cruise ship couple in and I explained to them that Mr Coconut was a really nice fella but that he was blazing drunk, but that they could have his last bird feeder for $25 EC, they only had US so I even converted that for him to $10 US.
He was very happy, he had sold his last feeders, he could now go and either sleep or drink, I’m guessing drinking is what he went on to do. Look carefully at the photo of him asleep, he fell asleep with is phone in his hand, and yes I was just like Clint Eastwood kicking some punk!
We called into the cruise liner duty free terminal and I bought two litres of rum, but that took an age because the lady could not work the till. After about two days we left and headed to the Restaurant that we were at last Saturday.
We passed the sail boat that I had seen this morning and I saw her name, The Mandalay.
Jeepers I later Googled her, what opulence, I’m thinking I might want to take a cruise on her sometime in the future.
Here’s her website, she’s a beauty!
The restaurant is fantastic, the setting is brilliant and we sat looking directly at Britannia.
We both ordered the Goat Curry, a glass of wine each and we sat back and relaxed. I did a bit of Googling about the Britannia and I found out some very interesting facts, here’s a few:
Boy that is some size of a ship.
You can see why the locals get excited about selling their goods when over 3,000 rich people turn up on their doorstep!
Lunch was stunning, the curry was a delight and the wine just very nice, the setting was top notch too.
After lunch, because I had a few bones to lick I went to wash my hands in the toilet.
Every table is outside and there are some set in different locations in a large garden. As I walked out of the toilet I walked past a reserved table which had been given the lady treatment and I guessed an engagement might be forthcoming.
I got back to the table and the owner, who we later found out was called Chris, came to the table to chat. She asked about Wendy’s dress as she has it in pink, from Monsson. She had lived over 20 years in Bromley and her daughter is studying there right now, but she’s coming home for Christmas.
I asked her about the fancy table and she said that it was for her boys. Apparently the four boys who I had given a dollar to last week are from very poor families, whose parents can’t look after them properly. She gives them breakfast and supper every Saturday. She also is trying to teach them manners and do some schooling with them.
It was one of the lad’s birthdays, so she wanted to make it special for him.
She arranges for cloths for the boys and other needy stuff. She ensure that they speak politely and it seems to be working. She hopes one day that the boys will not mix with the wrong people and that they will remember someone was once kind to them.
We chatted for a long while about this and then I ordered a rum punch for my pudd, Wendy asked for a slice of Key Lime pie to take away.
Chris chatted at the next table for a while and has she left to go to the kitchen I chased her and I gave her $25 US, the last of my US money, I said put this in the fund for the boys. Her eyes lit up and she gave me a big kiss on both chops, it was lovely.
As we left the four boys were at their table and I gave Wendy $4 EC, one for each boy. I left her to it and off she went. Birthday boy is 11 today, she found out and she gave each one their dollar coin and they all said thank you to her.
We walked back and we were going to take a drink with Jessie but as we got there he was leaving.
“Mr David, where have you been all day?” He said to me. I asked him who he worked for a man or a women. He said he worked for both a man and a women, husband and wife.
I told him I wasn’t happy about the tips and he said that he had told them too. He said that he had worked in several bars and they had always had their tips. So now on he takes tips people give him in his hand and keeps them.
I said I wasn’t happy but that I wouldn’t say anything because he would lose his job, actually I said I was going to kill them.
I wished him a very happy Saturday night, and he reciprocated.
It’s been a very lovely day, Chris has restored my faith in human nature, but I still feel I have unfinished business with someone.
But I have to go now Avid Reader as Wendy Gill is sat with Key Lime pie on her lap waiting for me to watch Strictly Dancing and she’s getting very impatient!
Castries - St Lucia
No Travelling
I forgot to say yesterday that as we went out of the door running, I was last out and I found a horrified Wendy on the step. She said that she had seen a huge spider, the size of her hand, run up the wall and go into an open bedroom window of the flat upstirs. As she was telling me she had her palm out and she was doing spider’s legs movement with her fingers. I asked her to tell me again last night and she did her fingers routine, it is so funny, I asked her to let me video her doing it but she refused.
She did say though, “Thank god I saw that at the end of our stay here, if I had seen it at the start I wouldn’t have settled.
We were off out again running early and the sky looked very dark against the brightening sky.
I did my run and even managed to run all the way up the hill. I was about ten yards from the steps at the apartment when the rain started. I just managed to get through the door when it bucketed it down. I stripped down to my shorts and went back up the steps to the point, where on a small landing there is a water barrel that collects rainwater. It was overflowing a lot and I stood under it and the water was lovely and warm and I showered myself off, it was a great way to start the day.
Wendy did a little bit of suitcase packing while I had my smoothie and then we walked down to the beach. As we walked I saw a very colourful caterpillar, it was orange and red with little black bits, it was a big one too. It was crawling down a chain link fence and it went into the undergrowth.
We also saw a small humming bird on the electrical overhead lines, we saw it yesterday hovering near a tree, I managed to point it out to Wendy and it was lovely to see, they are such tiny birds too and so graceful as they go about their business. They can’t half fly fast too when they want to, as soon as he had finished his hovering he took off like a rocket.
The beach was quiet, there were no sunbed sellers, the ladies who sell their wares weren’t there, it was perfect and despite the early rain it was very hot and sunny too.
We read our books and it was all very nice, at 10:30 I went and did my last run along the beach, I did four miles and by the time I was back I was sweating a fair amount.
Just before I got back to Wendy I came across some young fellas playing cricket on the beach, they were having a right old time of it. The wicket was at the waterline and the field was set, it was a very traditional field with mid-off and mid-wicket in the sea and a slip in the surf. It looked good fun and I wished I could have gotten involved.
I was sweating so much when I got back that I nipped into the sea and had a jolly good cool off, it was lovely.
We ate a very nice sandwich on the beach that Wendy had prepared at the apartment and I had a beer or two, my last from the fridge. The cool bag from Grand Canaria has now seen better days, the Tropical one we bought ages ago, and so it was to be consigned to the bin when we walked up the hill later as we walked home.
Back on the sunbed I read some more of my Harry Hole novel, it is such a fat book, I am about ¾ of the way through and I have to say it’s brilliant. Harry has solved one murder by his unconventional methods and he is now onto his second and trickier one.
I walked to Wendy’s Bar and bought my Wendy, not one, but two pieces of Rum and Raisin Cake, one slice for now, one for later, I got myself a rum and coke, well I had to have a treat too.
I had a taste of the cake and it is lovely, you have to put the cake in your mouth and then after a while the rum slowly comes out and it is a real delight.
We both had a nap on the sunbeds but we were woken by a little girl who was with her dad in the surf nearby. She must have said Dad, Dad, Dad a million times, it was like being with little Robyn.
I had a chat with Dad, Dad, Dad and he said rain was coming, and boy did it, thankfully we were pre-warned and we were under the shelter having a drink at the bar where Jessie works.
It didn’t just rain it chucked it down, and guess who turned up, Mr Ice-cream, the fella who trundled by two weeks ago. I nipped down to him, in the rain, and got under his brolly. He didn’t recognise me, until I gave him $10 EC, in two fives. He said, “You’ve given me too much man”, and then he clicked, “It’s you”, he said. As I walked away he said, “There needs to be more men like you in this world”, I turned and said, “Yes and there needs to be more hardworking men like you in this world!”
He came upto where Wendy and I were sat and had a good chat with us, showing us photos of his farm where he grows Avocados, Oranges and Golden Apples. He also showed us a photo of when he got bitten by a centipede, his hand was very badly swollen. He told us that was just after the bite, the next day it was much worse and his entire arm swelled up and he had to be hospitalised.
I also managed to get Wendy on video doing her spider routine, it wasn’t her best performance but at least I now have it on record!
We also saw a young man with the worst case of shorts down his bum I have ever seen, it must have been a Guinness record, thankfully he had pants on!
As the rain stopped Mr Icecream trundled off with his cart while ringing his bell in the hope of selling more ice-cream.
The sun came out and we went back to the sunbeds, it was nice and hot again and I put my bed just outside the surf where the tide came upto me and rocked my sunbed, it was lovely.
Wendy actually had a swim in the sea, on our very last day, wonders never cease!
Carmel, our St Lucian friend who lives in the UK strolled by and had a chat with us, she was taking her Mum to her cousin, Wendy’s bar, for a drink and we had a good old natter.
Carmel wished us a Merry Christmas, I think my first, and she went to find her 84 your old Mum who had gone from sight.
We lasted a little longer on the beach and then we headed back to the apartment.
As I file todays copy, Wendy has some chicken thighs in the oven which we are going to eat with rice. I am going to do something with the last of the onion sauce, maybe add a little white wine and ketchup and boil it up. Wendy’s not keen but I’m sure I’ll win her round.
Its Strictly the Results show, I hope we can get decent Wi-Fi because last night we had to wait until everyone else had gone out for the night to give us some bandwidth, Wendy was very tetchy until I manged to get it for her.
I know who’s out of course, it’s ****!
Castries - St Lucia to Gatwick Airport
4,218 Miles
Today is the end of my 65th week in the Tropics, its Wendy’s 41st.
The Tropics are the region of the earth surrounding the equator and they include all areas on the earth where the sun contacts a point directly overhead at least once during the year.
The area of the Tropics comprise 40% of the earth’s surface area and 36% of its landmass.
The tropic of Cancer is in the northern hemisphere and the Tropic of Capricorn is in the south, you might recall us passing it several times during our Australia journey of 2015-16!
Both tropical regions are hot and humid, actually very hot and very humid.
Now that’s the facts, here’s my experiences of living in a Tropical climate.
Firstly, it’s hot, all the time, both day and night. The daily and night time temperatures very by about 1 to 2 degrees centigrade. There is no respite from the heat, save for air conditioning. It’s really the same between the summer and winter months.
The humidity is stifling, it varies a bit between the dry and the rainy season, but even in the dry season you get the odd downpour, which just increases the humidity.
Australia is slightly different because the interior is so far from the ocean, so it doesn’t follow the norms of what I have found on the smaller islands. In Australia’s interior the wet season seems to be monsoon like where dry river beds turn into raging torrents for a few weeks of the year.
You might think that if the climate is such a challenge to live in then why spend so much time here. The answer is I love it, so does Wendy, but to a lesser extent.
The hours of sunshine are also pretty constant only varying by about 40 minutes throughout the year. For the whole month we have been in St Lucia sunrise as been around 6:00 AM and sunset as been around 5:30 PM.
This is something I love, its hot at night, you can go to bed early and enjoy the full day of sunshine and heat for all of the daylight hours.
People living in the Tropics don’t lose out on any sunshine though, they get the same annual amount of sun as we do, it’s just concentrated around the same time of day, whereas we in Northern Scotland get 20 hours of sunlight in the summer and only 6 hours, if any at all, in winter, but who wants sunshine at 3:00 AM?
The only thing that really gets us is the heat when we are out running. Even though we go out before sunrise we are still sweating immensely within the first mile. I do the same mileage as at home, but I take a frozen bottle of water with my, which lasts me throughout my run. Wendy doesn’t take anything but sticks to around about 4 miles.
There is a breeze, they are called Tropical Trade Winds and they do offer a little relief. The trade winds are pretty much a constant, but sometimes they are slightly more than a breeze and at others more like a gale, but a very warm gale.
Today we went out running at 5:40 AM and it was roasting, it had rained hard during the night and it was very, very humid. I was dripping before the first mile, but I made it back, although I had to decline running up that steep bloody hill!
I showered and I had my last smoothie, it was a delight! Wendy had finished her miraculous packing of the suitcases and both came in at under 20 kilos.
We had everything tied down and at 9:00 AM we walked down to the beach for the very last time, me with our sunbeds under my arms.
Jeepers, our last day had to be a stinker, it was roasting with barely a cloud in the sky.
After I had laid the beds out I went and asked the two lovely ladies who have a beach stall if they wanted them when we left. I said that they were good beds and they were very pleased with my offer. One of the ladies said that she would make herself very comfortable when we left.
We laid on our beds reading our books for a few hours, with the odd beer chucked in.
I saw one of the beach ladies take, what looked like a bag of crisps, to a young down and out man who was sat idly by under a tree. She bent down and gave him them, he never said a word and she went back to her stall.
I went and said my goodbyes to Jessie and gave him his last tip, I also took a photo of him so that you can see he is a smashing young lad. The sooner he gets a decent employer the better!
At 11:45, after a last swim in the Caribbean Sea and a walk along the beach we handed over the sunbeds, I suggested hanging a sign on them saying $4 US for a days use, one of them said, “I think I’ll take your advice!” We both got a kiss from the ladies and we were on our way, up that bloody hill, at least I wasn’t lugging the sunbeds.
We showered and did the last of the packing, emptied the rubbish and swept the floor. I had to nip some more rubbish upto the bin and would you believe our taxi was early, by 15 minutes. Thankfully we did have chance to say goodbye to our host, Enitha.
I changed the time of our taxi for two reasons, firstly we should have vacated by 12:00, but Enitha said we could stay until 2:00 PM, but the main reason was the unreliability of the taxi drivers.
A cruise ship was 60 passengers short recently as taxi drivers had dropped them at their chosen attractions and having already been paid to return, never did. I booked our driver online for both journeys before we left the UK, had I known, I wouldn’t have done so.
It’s hard not to be judgemental when everything relies on that one person and if they can leave cruise passengers in the lurch they wouldn’t think twice about us two!
Anyway he came and after he had helped me drag the suit cases up the stairway we were on our way and we had a nice journey over the hills. As he drove we had a good old chat about what we had done during our stay and he was mortified when I told him how Jessie had been treated with the tip situation.
We were dropped at the airport just after 2:00 PM and we settled down in a café waiting for our flights to open. We had a snack, I had bacon, eggs, and salad with toast, which Wendy chuckled at for some silly Wendy reason, and she had a very nice omelette. Mine was fine, it was nice tasting bacon again, but my egg was overdone, in fact it had been cremated!
We left the café at around 3:30 PM and we were allowed to check our bags in and go into the departure lounge.
To say this is a basic airport is an understatement!!!
I bought two glasses of wine, it came to £18, on checkout and I said, “Wow, that’s pricey”, She replied with one, uninterested word, “Yep”.
As I had a little more Eastern Caribbean currency Wendy went down to duty free and bought a bottle of wine for £8, and we snaffled it in the same seats at the same restaurant, using their glasses, the swine’s!
We boarded on time but set off about 30 minutes late as the Skipper, a lady Skipper nonetheless was late getting from her hotel, Wendy wasn’t impressed.
After take-off I settled back and watched a few films.
For the meal Wendy had the pork and I had the chicken, Wendy liked hers, mine was over cooked and dry, but I ate it of course.
I managed about 3 hours sleep but Wendy never settled.
We did have some rough turbulence and I had to give Wendy some reassurance as I could see she was getting a bit worried, it did go on for a while mind, and the Skipper never gave out any reassurance, which led me to conclude that they were busy with it.
We landed just about on time, and we were off and with our bags with nothing to do apart from wait for four hours for our afternoon flight to Inverness.
Gatwick Airport to Home
466 Miles by Air & 16 Miles by Road
What do you do when you feel like a zombie and have five hours to kill at Gatwick airport? First we had to wait a couple of hours to drop the bag off so we sat in a bar and while Wendy had a cup of tea, I had a pint of Stella so I could drag it out for a long time.
While we were in the bar six huge gruesome looking male police officers did a sweep of the bars, along with a tiny female police officer, but where they had assault rifles, hand guns and all kinds of stuff on Batman belt style webbing all she had was a very excited spinal dog.
It sniffed at everyone and all the officers followed the dog like a conga line. Everyone was besotted with the dog and we all wanted a stroke, but imagine if you had a bag of dynamite in your case, you wouldn’t want it coming anywhere near you, would you?
At 9:30 AM we were allowed to drop our bags off at the Easyjet automated bag drop and from there we had an easy saunter through security.
We sat in the main departure lounge for maybe two hours and then, through boredom and fatigue we went into Weatherspoon’s and slowly shared a bottle of wine.
Thankfully we made it to 12:50, when our flight was called, without falling asleep and we boarded and we were off on time.
Both of us nodded on and off during the flight and as we were on the closet seats to the rear door, we almost froze to death when the door was opened and the cold Highland air blew in.
Thankfully Bradly and Caroline collected us from the airport and dropped us off at home.
Bradley had been through to home on Sunday and had put the heating on for us so at least it was cosy and warm, despite that though we lit the fire immediately and had a frozen pizza in the oven before you could say, Turn the heating up”.
Well that’s another adventure over for us, St Lucia has been an amazing experience and we have loved every minute of it, even walking up and down that bloody hill was interesting.
But don’t worry Avid Reader, we have a very short break coming up in the next two weeks on the Ilse of Man, that’s unless the next beast from the east strikes!!!
Edinburgh to The Isle of Man
138 Miles by Air
It was a late night last night sat up with just me and Alex at the end. We had had our election evening and we could both now see where it was heading so we took ourselves up to bed.
I never heard Alex get up nor him leave the house to go to work, but I woke just before 8 and got up and had breakfast. It was raining outside but I couldn’t see how hard it was because it was still quite dark, the day not yet starting in Edinburgh.
I ran down to the harbour at Musselburgh and I had the wind in my face as I got to the coast, it was freezing cold but the rain had stopped.
I had received a picture message while running so I checked it when I was sat at the harbour and it was from my mate Dave, from New South Wales in Australia. Dave was in his hospital bed recovering from double knee surgery. The poor fella, he hasn’t had any rainfall at his farm in two years and although he hasn’t been affected by the fires around Sydney, they have had some very bad dust storms pass through. I knew this because he sent me some photographs of one approaching the farm, it lasted two years. No he’ off his feet and his son has had to take charge of the farm, hard times for some.
I sent Dave a few pics of the harbour and the morning sea scene and he told me that it had cheered him up as he hasn’t seen a cloud in the sky in a long time.
I got back to Robyn and Alex’s house and showered and bimbled around and it was quite relaxing.
We left for the airport at around 2:30pm and we got there about 20 minutes early. The trouble with getting to Edinburgh Airport is that we have to use the By-Pass which is notorious for traffic jams and hold ups, so you just can’t gauge how much time you need. We lost about 10 minutes queuing to get onto the By-Pass but when we were on it the traffic flowed.
I had pre-booked the car park and when I got to the barrier automatic number recognition came into play and a big sign lit up saying, “Welcome Mr Gill, you are pre-booked, go and park up”. It made me feel very important!
The bus to the Airport collected us from bus shelter Number 3 and we were in the airport departure area in 5 minutes.
Edinburgh Airport is one of the world’s worst. It’s a Capital City Airport for Lords sake but it’s so old fashioned. First it took me an age to find the desk, but it didn’t open until 4pm and there wasn’t anywhere to sit so we stood for 30 minutes.
Thankfully the lad called us forward a little early, but after checking in we had to join a queue with our suitcases and dump them onto a conveyor belt about 400 yards away, the queue took us another 15 minutes!
Security is another nightmare, everything has to come off, belts, boots, laptops out, and any other electrical stuff too and then they still aren’t happy. Actually one lad ran back to the place where you pass the box over to go through the X-Ray, he had forgotten to take one shoe off and his box was already long gone. It was aright old performance, I asked the Security man if this was a regular occurrence, he said, “We get everything here mate” and he burst out laughing.
We grabbed some food in Weatherspoon’s, I had Haggis, Neeps and Tatties with Whiskey sauce and Wendy asked me to order Loaded chips with Bacon and Sour Cream, but I actually ordered her chips with Chili and Sour Cream, but she liked it, even though she doesn’t look like it in the photograph!
The plane was tiny and as we boarded I found Wendy in the boarding queue looking at it in amazement and fear.
It was even smaller inside, like a reverse Tardis!
I settled her down after first having to move a fella who was sure he was in my seat, but whereas I was supposed to be in 6B, with Wendy in 6C, he should have been in 6A. I patiently waited while he checked his ticket and he agreed with me that it was indeed my seat, he got up and shifted and we sat down.
I knew her nerves were on edge just by looking at her face, the plane was too small for her.
The pilot started the engines, as they always do with turbo prop planes, one engine at a time. The pilot waits until the port side is running smoothly before starting the starboard one, I know this because I have used this type of plane many times on my numerous trips to Stornoway.
“Does he know this engine isn’t on”, she said to me. “Wendy” I said, “Of course he knows, how does he not know, he’s the pilot, he know what he’s doing”. “He might have just not noticed”, she replied.
Thankfully the starboard propeller started to turn!
The flight over was steady and without any turbulence, it took 45 minutes.
We collected the hire car without any issue, well apart from one thing. The car has an empty tank, it has just enough fuel to get us to Douglas, the main town, and then I have to fill it. I can return it empty if I like.
I asked why, normally it’s full and I return it full?
“The fuel stations close early here and it’s just how we do it”, was the answer.
The drive to town was OK and we found our Premier Inn without trouble.
We settled in and stuck the car in a multi storey car park and then took a short walk around town.
Douglas looks quite nice, it’s very clean and there appears to be a very large bay, Douglas Bay.
But being tired we headed back, watched Gogglebox, what was Robbie Williams doing with that woman on stage, it looked pornographic.
Tomorrow if the weather is good we will explore Douglas, if not we will explore the island, but not before putting fuel in the car!
Douglas, Isle of Man
No Travelling
We woke at 7:15 am this morning and we both went out running at 8:30 am when it was light enough to go, jeepers it was cold and windy, but thankfully dry.
Wendy was a minute or two before me setting off and we both ran along the beautiful Douglas Bay, which is at least 2 miles wide. The wind was behind us going out and in our face coming back. Just before two miles I passed Wendy who was coming back and we completed a successful fist pump as we passed.
At the end of the Bay the road climbs uphill and out of town, which is where I went for another two miles. The hill wasn’t too bad, it was a gradual incline and I just went over the crest at the 4 mile turn around point and came back.
Coming back downhill wasn’t too bad as the wind kept me in check. I got back to the hotel and I quickly showered and we were out and about in no time at all.
We walked Douglas to death!
We found a craft market and the crafts on sale were all quite interesting. I drew Wendy’s attention to a chocolate stall where the young man was selling 3 types of very large chocolate egg. The choices were:
They were wrapped in chocolate brownie and then they were dipped in chocolate. They looked absolutely stuffed with calories! Wendy bought one, obviously!
Douglas is a smashing and interesting town. There is one very long High Street which is lined with a large variety of local independent shops and stores. The High Street is also very nicely trimmed and lit up for Christmas.
We covered the High Street and then we moseyed around in the nooks and crannies. We found the Steam Train Station and we saw a Santa Express about to set off and it was full of excitable children.
Douglas has a stunning sea frontage along the Bay with some really attractive Victorian buildings. The town is also very, very clean and tidy.
At 1:00 pm we took a very nice lunch of Tapas in a local bar. We ordered meat balls in tomato sauce, creamy garlic mushrooms, pork belly, Manx Queens, (tiny scallops), chicken in piri piri sauce and patatas bravas and it was all a very nice delight. We shared a bottle of wine and it was a very nice relaxing luncheon.
To let our tums digest we took a nice but breezy walk along the Bay, to the very far end. Thankfully the tide was ebbing and the sea spray had just about stopped blowing over the sea wall.
There is a small island just outside the harbour and there is a small castle like building erected there and it’s called The Tower of Refuge.
The Tower of Refuge, also known as St. Mary’s Isle, is a small structure erected upon a partially submerged reef, originally for the purpose of offering shelter to shipwreck victims until help could arrive.
The tower came into being after RNLI founder William Hillary petitioned for a sanctuary to be built on St Mary's Isle.
The reef on which it is built was previously often responsible for the damage and sinking of ships and so the tower provided both a visible warning for incoming ships and a refuge for those in distress.
At the end of the Bay there was a pub, it was at the start of the electric tram station, which is unfortunately closed for winter and there also seems to be engineering work now being carried out.
We nipped in for a drink and while we were there I did some Googling about the status of The Isle of Mans relationship to the rest of the UK, here’s what I found:
The Isle of Man is located in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland, it’s just off the Lancashire coast, quite close to Blackpool and is mainly served by the sea via Liverpool Docks, and there appears to be quite a fondness for Liverpool FC from what I have seen since being here. The Island is not part of the United Kingdom or European Union, but has the status of 'crown dependency', similar to Jersey and Guernsey, with an independent administration. Its inhabitants are British citizens.
Tynwald, the Manx Parliament passes its own legislation with the assent of the Crown granted in the Privy Council.
The Crown is responsible for defence and diplomatic representation, and acts on the advice of the UK ministry of justice. The Isle of Man has its own controls on immigration and housing.
The Isle of Man has relatively low taxes and this has encouraged a major offshore financial sector that accounts for most of GDP. Over recent years the Manx government has made a concerted effort to cast off the island's reputation as a tax haven, signing tax information exchange deals with over a dozen countries.
There is no capital gains tax, there is no inheritance tax, there is no corporation tax, there is no stamp duty, and income tax comes in very low indeed: the top rate is 20%. It is also capped at £120,000. No one pays more than that, so if you earn £1,000,000 a year you only pay tax on the first £120,000.
The island also looks pretty good in economic terms. It has 29 years of GDP growth behind it, and no debt. So it’s a great haven from all sorts of things where you can also pay a great deal less tax than elsewhere.
The Isle of Man isn’t a tax haven, but I think it comes pretty close.
While I was explaining this to Wendy in the bar she asked me why the whole of the UK can’t be a tax haven. Good question Wendy, and I am guessing that places like this aren’t meant for the little man, the little man has to pay in the amount of tax we, has a nation of 50 odd millions people do. This Isle of Man’s tax rules are for the likes of Mr Rees-Mogg who are smart enough to have clever financial advisors who know how to safely invest offshore. The Manx community are just lucky that their island has been chosen for this kind of trade. It must be lucrative for them if more than half of what the island earns comes from the industry, and from the size of some of the homes we have seen, someone is making some large amounts of money from it.
We walked back to the hotel and after a good 7 mile walk in the wind we were both in need of a rest and no sooner than we were in the room than Wendy was in her jarmies and all ready to settle down for the Strictly Final.
This is Wendy’s TV gold, it’s her most favourite night of the year, I wonder who is going to win, I do hope its Emma and Anton.
Douglas, Isle of Man
No Travelling
Wendy was beside herself last night, she had the Strictly Dancing final, she had the big chocolate ball from the market, she had her jarmies on and she had a glass of wine in her hand, she was in seventh heaven!
I managed to get a sniff of the chocolate ball, and it was very tasty, I had two nibbles and I had had enough, I thought it was a little too rich for my taste, although it was very tasty. It would probably take me three days to eat one, it took Wendy five minutes.
We both thought that Kelvin was a worthy winner of Strictly but both other finalists were good too, it was just a case of Kelvin being just far too good.
After that we watched, “Dial M for Middlesbrough”, it was utter rubbish. We watched it online on UK Gold and I even upgraded the Wi-Fi to superfast at the cost of a fiver just to watch it, what a waste of money!
It was the third film starring Johnny Vegas and Sian Gibson, (Car Share) in the format of a coach trip. The first was funny, the second not bad, but the third one was one too far, it was dire!
Here’s a review I found online, it looks like they thought the same as me!
“I felt that this time the formula was becoming a little… well, formulaic. There was a bit too much reliance on gross-out humour, too”
I read a while and Wendy went straight to sleep.
We both slept really well and I didn’t get up until 7:30 am.
We both went running and it was a nice dry morning with very little breeze. It wasn’t too cold either.
I ran across the river and I saw that the swing bridge which lets the boats out of the harbour has a weir. The tide was about half in / out and the weir was still a metre above sea level. My boat Tara had a draught of over one metre and some on the sail boats in the harbour must have much larger draughts than that, so thinking the water has to rise at least a metre and then over a metre more before the boat can get out, there must be a very limited timescale for the boats to leave harbour, jeepers getting back in must be a work of art too.
After breakfast we went in search of fuel, and I put £25 in the tank, and then Wendy reminded me what the lad at the car hire desk said, don’t put more than a tenner in at a time, I’ll just have to drive around in 3rd gear!
We then went to Tesco to get a sarnie and some food for tonight. The store was mobbed, I mean it was heaving and Wendy drew my attention to how much people were stacking their trollies with food, they were overflowing.
We set off on the road south with the intention of visiting all of the south of the island. As we drove we shared a packet of club sandwichs, which were very tasty and we were soon at our first destination, Castletown.
Castletown – Castletown was a very, very nice, pretty coastal town on the east coast.
The weather was nice and we had a good old walk around. We walked around a small harbour where we saw some young men surfing, now I know I said the weather was nice, but it is December and it was only 4 degrees C, but they didn’t seem to care and were obviously enjoying themselves.
There is a neat little castle in Castletown, obviously, and it was the Historic Capital of the Isle of Man.
That got me thinking about the name, “The Isle of Man”, so I researched it and I found that:
“Early in its history the first Celtic tribes arrived and began to inhabit the island; it is likely that these immigrants arrived from Ireland, as the current Manx Gaelic language so closely resembles Irish Gaelic. The island's name derives from Manannán, the Celtic god of the sea”
In the town square there was a very tall column with its very own Santa Statue on top, how ever he got there, I don’t know, I also don’t know if he lives there all year round!
After walking around the town we found ourselves back at the sea where I was amazed at watching seagulls who seemed to be feeding off some kelp which was close to the shore. They were riding the waves but when a larger wave came they all took flight until the wave passed, they then settled down and carried on feeding.
As we walked back to the car we wondered how the big boats got out from the inner harbour as there was a fixed bridge between the harbour and the sea and it had a very low height passage.
I couldn’t fathom it out so I asked a passing couple who told me that they have to wait for low tide and the yachts have to take their masts down, which seemed to be a faff to me as they must have to wait until the tide is at its very lowest.
We chatted to the couple for about ten minutes and we learned some good intel.
The Isle of Man’s population is evenly spilt, 50% are native and 50% are what they call locally “Come Overs” The lady was born and bred on the Island, her husband was a “Come Over”, from Sunderland.
One thing that’s shocked Wendy is the local accent which she thought would be more Irish, it’s not, it’s nothing like Irish or Scots, it's a good old Northern England Accent, it’s a little Lancastrian, but a little posher!
Our next stop was the small town of Port St Mary.
Again this is an east coast port with a very nice and tidy town.
The coastal path is very visible here, this is a path that goes all around the Isle of Man.
As we were hungry we took a chance on a local café and I had a very hot and tasty sausage bap and Wendy had a toasted tea cake. I had a black coffee and Wendy had a pot of tea, and I can tell you they were all very hot and very, very tasty and it was just the ticket.
On exiting the café we walked into a right old downpour, but thankfully we were heading to the car and we took the coastal path which got us there pretty quickly.
We took a detour to the very south of the Island to look at the Calf of Man which is a small island about 700 yards off the main island. The rain had stopped and we saw the sun begin to start setting, we had about an hour left of sunlight.
The Calf Sound, the narrows separating the islands, seemed to be in a right old turmoil, I didn’t think if I was a boatman here I would be going through those narrows!
Our last destination was the town of Port Erin.
This had stupendous bay and a beautiful beach. Thankfully the rain held off and we had a pleasant stroll.
I fancied a pint of beer so we took a walk to the Bay Hotel where we found the very famous Bottle Car parked outside, this car is in the shape of a beer bottle on a Citron 2CV chassis.
The bar was lovely and warm and it had a very warm coal fire where Wendy grabbed two seats while I chatted with the barman has he poured us two very nice local beers.
The hotel owner is also owner of a local brewery, Bushys and the beer is just lovely.
From there we took the high road, over some very high hills, to the west coast town of Peel. Darkness was falling by now but we could see some amazing sights, at one point we could see both the east and the west coast and we even thought that we could see the Irish Mainland, well we could certainly see a lighthouse blinking away.
We called into Peel and we liked the look of it so we decided to return tomorrow for some more exploring.
As we drove on it came to me that we hadn’t seen any supermarkets along our route, only small Coop shops. I then guessed the people we saw today in Tesco’s were people from the outer areas getting their Christmas supplies in before next week’s mad rush! Ah, Island life requires you to be very resilient and resourceful!
I’m already looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure!
Douglas, Isle of Man
No Travelling
I watched Sports Personality of the Year last night and I thoroughly enjoyed it and I was pleased that English Cricket did so well. It’s been a good year for them despite not winning the Ashes.
We had agreed an early start of 6:30 am for the morning and we settled down at around 11:00 pm, but I woke up, wide awake at 5:30 am and I was ready to start my day.
I waited until 6:00 and sneakily put the kettle on and had my breakfast, but no sooner was the kettle whistling, Wendy was wide awake. “I thought we said six thirty”, she said!
But she was soon as happy as Larry, sipping tea in bed.
We were again lucky with the weather and I went out running at 07:00 and it was dry, dark and the wind was quite light.
I got back to the hotel just after 8:30, my legs are going slightly faster, although my knee is still painful, but it is easing.
Wendy was showered and not long after we were off to the Steam Railway Station for a delightful breakfast, I was going to have the Famous Fireman’s Shovel Breakfast.
It was a delight, and it was indeed served on a Fireman’s Shovel.
I had two sausage, two rashers of bacon, a tomato, mushrooms, an egg, fried bread, hash browns, black pudding, tattie scones, baked beans and two slices of toast.
I was stuffed, Wendy was too and she didn’t have everything I had, in fact she snook a sausage in a napkin for later.
There must have been 4,500 calories on that shovel and I ate every last morsel, and I loved it!
The young waitress was very nice too and she made it all the better by just being so nice and friendly.
Fully fortified we set off for the next part of our tour, picking up from where we left off yesterday we were going to head to Peel on the west coast, but not before we took a detour, in Douglas, to go and see the house where one of the most famous British bands ever were brought up……………………….The Bee Gee’s.
And sure enough, a very nice semi, in a very nice area of Douglas is where we found the famous, “Blue Disc” above the front door. I got out of the car and took a photograph for today’s copy. Wendy, who had read up on it told me that the people now living there didn’t know that the Gibb family had lived there, only finding out when the request to fix the “Blue Disc” was made.
I bet they get fed up to the back teeth with people gawping at their house, actually now I think of it the lounge curtains were drawn, at 10:30 am!
Before I detail todays adventure I have a little bit more historical fact about The Isle of Man, today it’s the famous “3 Legged” symbol.
The Three Legs of Man remains the island’s symbol of independence, and whilst there is much debate about which way the legs should run, its meaning is undisputed: Quocunque Jeceris Stabit – ‘Whichever way you throw me I stand’.
We arrived at Peel after travelling along the also famous TT Motor Cycle Race circuit, TT stands for Tourist Trophy!
The road from Douglas to Peel was about 8 miles and it was mainly straight with the odd slight bend but there were quite a few crests in the road. I bet this is a very fast stretch of road, but one that needs to be respected as I could imagine the bikes coming flying over those crests at speeds in excess of 150 MPH.
The TT Race started in 1907 and it started on the Isle of Man because, by law, in those days the roads could not be closed for race use on the UK Mainland.
The full race circuit of the route is 37.73 miles in length and they undertake the race over a two week period between May and June every year.
The race is spilt into two sections, week one is the practice week, week two is the race week and the middle Sunday is a day where anyone with a motorcycle can ride the route, and it gets mobbed, would you believe it’s called, “Mad Sunday!”
There are 90 different race events and they are mainly based on bike engine size, although there are some age based race categories too.
The race is a time trial event with riders being set off, in order based on rankings, at 10 second intervals. So effectively they are not racing each other but against the clock, I actually don’t know if that’s any safer as there must be some overtaking occurring, between the more careful and the more carefree rider.
The TT is a massive money spinner for the island as it brings in huge crowds and I should guess that hotel prices go through the roof.
We arrived at Peel and parked the car on the sea front and we spent about 90 minutes in what I can safely say is the most unspoiled beachside destination I have ever seen in the UK. I appreciate there are some stunning beaches in the remote Western Isles, but these are actually unspoilt holiday destinations with very graceful and stunningly built hotels. There are no arcades, no stalls and just one ice cream shop on the sea front, it was just lovely.
The town has a lovely High Street, set back from the beach, (It was closing day though), a stunning small cathedral and an ancient castle set on a small island from where the towns harbour now sits.
Side note – By visiting St Patricks Isle I have now visited 38 Islands around the British Isles!!!
We thoroughly enjoyed our stroll around the town and then we headed north, along the coastal route to the very far north of the island.
We passed through several small hamlets but there were never more than a dozen houses strung together.
I stopped a couple of times and while Wendy stayed in the car where it was nice and warm, I braved the now gusty and cold wind to check out the coast line and I found that the north west coastline is basically sparsely populated, but it has a very nice sand and pebble beach running along it.
At the very far north we thought we could see Mainland Scotland and Mainland Island but even by using my phones compass we could never be fully sure what we were really seeing, but it was definitely land.
We drove down through to the middle of the north area of the island and we stopped for a very nice beer in a real good old village pub in the village of Sulby.
We made instant friends with Bella, the very friendly Golden Labrador who seemed to have the run of the pub.
The beer was lovely, another local best bitter.
After the beer and now fully refreshed we drove over what’s called, “The Mountain Road” to the east side of the island.
The countryside was stunning and we drove around Snaefell which is the Island's only mountain at 2,036 feet high. The road here is again part of the TT circuit and the road height is 1,360 feet above sea level, we even saw some light snow on Snaefell!
Wendy wants to come back to the island in the summer to take the electric tram which actually runs up to the summit of Snaefell.
The countryside looked very much like Yorkshire, obviously stunning!
We arrived back in Douglas just as the sun was setting.
After parking the car we walked down the High Street and called into a bar for a slow pint while we relaxed in company.
Back in the room I am trying to pursued Wendy to come for a night stroll around town, but seeing as she’s in her jarmies, in bed, doing her times crossword, after snaffling this morning’s sausage, I fear that its already a lost cause!
Stop Press – At 8:00 pm Wendy was going to give me a glass of wine, I said, “No thanks, I’m off for a walk”. She was out of that bed and into her big coat and hat before I had my boots on!
We walked along the prom, down the High Street, bought two chicken pieces and then took them back to the room where they were very quickly devoured!
Its cold out, but it’s a nice clear evening without the wind, it’s now time for book at bedtime!
Douglas, Isle of Man
No Travelling
I was up again early, 6:00 am but this time I managed to sneak around the room without waking Wendy. Wendy woke at 6:30 am as previously arranged last night and immediately asked for a cup of tea, in fact, after “What time is it?” “Cup of tea please?” was her second question.
I was out running again at 7:00 am and I passed Wendy an hour later as she was coming back along the prom, this time she pulled out of the fist pump at the very last moment.
We have been so lucky with the weather first thing in the morning. Apart from the first morning where there was a stiff breeze, today was clear, dry and there wasn’t a breath of wind, it was cold mind but nowhere near as it is back on the mainland.
After a cup of coffee and a banana as a poor replacement for my traditional smoothie we set off in the car. This time we are going to the far north east as this is the one area of the island that we haven’t been to yet.
We first stopped at the old town of Laxey which is a coastal town with a very tiny harbour.
The weather was terrific, it could not have been better.
We walked to the end of the pier and because the tide was at low water we could see the small river run into the sea. As it splashed along it sounded quite peaceful. The surrounding countryside looked stunning in the morning sunshine too.
We took a walk along the footpath which runs along the shore and we saw a man taking a big fat cat for a walk on the beach. The cat was freely walking, following the man, it wasn’t on a lead, it was just happily following the fella along as happy as Larry.
However it wasn’t a Manx Cat, we haven’t seen a Manx Cat to date and it’s a big source of disappointment for Wendy. Actually I’m beginning to think it’s a bit of a myth, maybe like the Loch Ness Monster!
The term Manx is the name of the Isle of Man and it comes from the traditional Manx language meaning Island, so anything originating from the island is referred to has being Manx, hence the Manx Cat.
Many Manx cats have a small stub of a tail, but Manx cats are best known as being entirely tailless; this is the most distinguishing characteristic of the breed, along with elongated hind legs and a rounded head. I do hope we can spot one before we leave tomorrow or Wendy will have to come back.
From the Old Town of Laxey we drove about a half a mile into the newer area where the old mine is located. We intended to visit the mine to look at the world famous Laxey Wheel, but first as I was now starving we called into a small Tea Room for a bite to eat.
And what a great find it was, it was called Browns Tea Room!
Inside we were greeted by a very friendly older man and we sat at a table. The place was a little old fashioned but that was fine.
I ordered scrambled egg and smoked salmon on toast, with black coffee, Wendy asked for a ham and cheese toasty, with tea.
The order came about ten minutes later and it was just perfect, my eggs were light and fluffy, the salmon was tasty and Wendy’s toasty was crammed with real chunks of ham, not the wafer thin stuff, this was proper ham.
With our belly’s full we took a walk upto the Wheel and it is indeed something else. It was required to pump water from deep below the ground where local men mined, silver, lead, zinc and copper. The mine closed in the 1920’s but the wheel is still operating.
The wheel is the largest operating water wheel in the world, but unfortunately being a winter time the place was closed, so we nipped over the fence for a better look.
Wheel Stats:
Being trespassers we didn’t hang around, but we did find a small café where they have an exact, tiny replica of the wheel operating along its wall. We nipped in and I got some video of it operating, it was amazing and we might just have to come back to see the real wheel operating in summer time.
We took the coastal route further north and we were running alongside the tracks of the electric tram which goes all the way to the northern town of Ramsay and because somewhere along its route it splits it also goes upto the summit of Snaefell.
We dropped into the small hamlet of Maughold which is the most easterly point on the island. At Maughold we walked to the lighthouse which was nice as the sun was streaming along the coastline and we walked back through the ancient cemetery where there is a small church. As we walked through the graveyard I came across the oldest gravestone I have ever seen in my life, it was John Gawn’s grave who was buried in 1773, wow, that’s well over 200 years.
We were disappointed with the town of Ramsay, which I think is letting the side down a little. The reason is the 1960’s planners got their way as there is a concrete residential, 10 storey tower block which looks totally out of place as well as a quadrated open air shopping area, again all made from 1960’s concrete. It all needs tearing down and something more traditional building.
There was some good news though, Wendy bought a very nice Christmas table runner there!
We headed back to Douglas and we took the mountain road back, thus completing our circuit of the TT Race route. Jeepers we were high in the hills and the views were stunning.
As I drove I had Manx Radio on in the car and we were issued a severe weather warning for a storm tomorrow, it’s going to be so bad tomorrow that the morning ferry sailing has been brought forward two hours, there and back, in an attempt to have her tied up before the storm hits, at around 5:00 pm, which is an hour before we fly out on the tiny aeroplane.
Wendy went straight into panic mode, I’ll have to get her a large brandy before the flight!!!
We entered Douglas at the very end of the TT track and we drove through the Grandstand where the race starts and finishes, that was a great way to end our tour!
We did a small Tesco shop and hung out in our room for an hour before heading out for a last pint of local ale.
As we walked to the pub, something came to me and I told Wendy that I had missed asking a question locally. I got to the pub and I did indeed ask two local fellas the question and the response was very interesting. I won’t go into it in this copy, but as we are home tomorrow I’ll include it in my trip wash up, it really is quite interesting Avid Reader.
Supper was taken in the Restaurant downstairs, jeepers were are now in our room, stuffed to high heaven.
We had the £15.99 meal deal which included a starter, a main and a drink.
I had a prawn cocktail, Wendy had the spicy chicken skewer both as starters, for the main I had Asian Ribs, Wendy had fish and chips. Every plate was perfectly cooked and they were very, very tasty.
I have 3 ribs left over wrapped in a napkin, that’s tomorrow’s breakfast sorted!
The Isle of Man to Edinburgh
138 Miles by Air
We went to the same pub along the High Street last night where we had had a drink the day before. We liked the place, it was a fairly big bar but at that time of day it wasn’t overly busy. I had chatted with the barman the day before and he was a nice fella.
The bar is a sports bar with a few TV’s on the walls and lots of sports posters. There’s a poster of David Beckham with Steven Gerrard in their England kit celebrating an England win and a large poster of Michael Vaughan celebrating knocking a century at Lords, both of these are on the entrance as you walk in.
I ordered two beers but I was disappointed the barman wasn’t the same lad from yesterday, this lad wasn’t so chatty.
When I had been served, I asked him my question which was, “Are you a local fella?” He answered that yes he was so I asked him my main question, “Who do the locals support when there’s an international fixture on?” At first he misunderstood me as he said, “We’re not allowed to get involved in stuff like Brexit we just have to take what comes”. It wasn’t the answer I was expecting but what struck me was the way he had replied, like he had some kind of chip on his shoulder about something that he felt was imposed on him.
I told him that I wasn’t asking him anything political and that I wouldn’t do that in a bar, I told him it was a sports question, “Who do the locals cheer for during an international match?” I purposely didn’t mention England, thinking I would let him answer and not lead him on, he could have said, Scotland, when they play, Ireland when they play and so on, but he didn’t he said that he didn’t know, he said people cheer who they want to cheer.
Now I know a wishy washy answer when I hear one, this is a cracking sports bar and would most likely be crammed during an international football match like a world cup game and he would be in an ideal position to observe who supported who.
I took the beer to our table and sat down and pondered his answer about politics so I did a little research about tax and United Kingdom financial support.
I found the personal tax rates which for the current year are:
The personal allowance before tax is £14,000 before any tax is deducted, in the UK it is, £12,500.
After that you pay 10% tax on the next £6,500 and then 20% on the rest upto a maximum now of £175,000, there is no upper limit and you pay no more tax after reaching £175,000.
In the UK you pay no tax upto £12,500, then tax at 20% upto £50,000 then the rate goes upto 40% for income upto £150,000 and then it goes to 45% for all income after £150,000 and there is no upper limit cut off, so if someone earns £1,000,000 they are still paying tax on it at 45% after the first £150,000, now that’s a lot of money.
From this we can see that even low paid workers get an additional £1,500 in their pocket tax free which is £300 a year by the UK tax rate. Even after that they pay tax at a much reduced rate compared to what’s paid in the UK on the rest of their income.
I then looked at one area of financial support that the Isle of Man gets from the UK Government and I found that the British Government has paid the Isle of Man more than £300m this year in a revenue-sharing deal that critics claim is subsidising the island’s zero corporation tax rate.
The arrangement, which was not disclosed to parliament, means the UK’s payments to the Isle of Man will be substantially increased at a time when the economy is growing slowly.
All of the above information was obtained through credible sources and I have manged to verify it as being correct. Now bear in mind that this is only one level of support, for the corporation tax system, how much else is the low tax burden of the Isle of Man being supported by the UK tax payer?
Maybe we should Brexit the Isle of Man too!
Anyway, as we were drinking there was a shift change of bar staff and the lad who served me yesterday had come on duty. As we left the bar I asked him the same questions, “Are you a local fella?” He answered that yes he was so I asked him the other question, “Who do the locals support when there’s an international fixture on?”
He looked me solidly in the eye and said, “Anyone but England!”
He then said, “Actually I am English, my parents moved here when I was five so I fit in as a local, but it gives me the pip too”. He went onto say, “Last year for the world cup I decked the bar out in England flags and I got loads of complaints”. I asked him if he was the bar owner and he said that he was. He carried on, “Loads of people asked me why are you flying all those England flags, and I said that they are the only home nation in the tournament” He then said that he even received an official letter of complaint about it and he wrote back that he supported all home nation teams in his bar and that he always made sure the pub was plastered in Manx flags when the TT race is on.
It just shows doesn’t it, what you can find when you look under the surface, it kind of gave me the pip too!
When I told Wendy she said, “Well that’s us not ever coming back!”
I got up at 6:30 and it was windy outside, but not raining, Wendy stayed in bed.
I did my run and manged to dodge the wind. I got back and met Wendy who was going out girly shopping as she liked some of the shops on the High Street.
I hung about the room and after about an hour Wendy came back with some new cloths.
We did a bit of reading before checking out at midday, leaving our bags at reception.
We strolled the High Street and I asked about getting a sandwich in the Sports Bar, but as they didn’t do food the nice owner directed me to another bar where we were given a tremendous sandwich. I ordered a club sandwich and Wendy had a pulled brisket wrap, she had wine, a large glass to start her off and I had a pint of very nice local beer.
The food was lovely, the portions massive.
At just turned 1:00 pm we braved a walk on the sea front. Jeepers the wind was hard and after a while we thought better of it as it was starting to drizzle. We got the car and then the bags from the hotel and took a ride south to see the Calf of Man on what was now a very stormy day!
The wind was up and Wendy was getting more nervous.
We called in for a coffee at the very nice café at the Calf and soon enough it was time to go to the airport.
We dropped the car off without any problem although there was more than £8.00 of fuel in it. That’s a right scam, I was going to bring it up at the desk, but then I saw the notice on the wall, “No refunds for leftover fuel – No Exceptions” I wasn’t overly fussed as we had done over 200 miles on an island 33 miles long and only 13 wide!
We checked in where the very nice man on check in found the need to explain to Wendy that the flight might be delayed due to the wind, “But don’t worry about that, its only if the wind is at right angles to the runway, if it’s from the rear or on the nose then that’s OK. The pilots won’t take any risks, you know?”
That did not reassure Wendy Gill one little bit, so on getting her settled in the departure lounge it was time for one more large glass of wine. I did ask for a large brandy and ginger but the bar didn’t have any ginger, so it was a case of Pinot Grigio, well not a case literally, although I am sure she could have managed that!
The airport lounge was one of the best I have ever been in with nice leather seating and it was very comfortable.
We boarded on time and Wendy was a little worried again at the size of the plane, and we settled in our seats, side by side and then we were asked to move to the middle emergency exits so we could operate them if needed as the flight wasn’t very busy.
I was only one seat away from Wendy and I could still chat to her.
Take off was a little hairy due to the wind and I saw Wendy gipping her seat with white knuckles so I leaned over to calm her down, it had little effect.
However the flight was fine from there on in and we arrived on time, caught the bus to the car park, got the car and we were with Robyn within half an hour.
I’ll do an Isle of Man wash up tomorrow as the excitement isn’t yet over, tomorrow we have a very short notice excursion to England and the way Nicola Sturgeon is behaving I might just not come back!
Millarhill to Berwick upon Tweed
52 Miles
Before I start today adventures I’ll detail my thoughts on our visit to The Isle of Man.
Wendy and I both loved the Isle of Man from many points of view, the villages and the town of Douglas were beautiful, well with the exception of Ramsay, which could do with a makeover.
The people on the face of it were all friendly and the place is spotless from a littler point of view. From listening to the local radio station while we drove around in the car it was plain to see that there is a very strong sense of pride in the island and its culture.
The spoiler for me was what I leaned in the bar about how the locals react to when England play international sports. For some reason, which maybe an extended stay would find, they have a chip on their shoulder, and I can’t see why.
It’s a beautiful island they are subsidised by the UK Government without any complaint, in fact I suspect that the average person in the UK has no idea how the Isle of Man is funded.
I appreciate that I am basing my conclusions on a minority of people, but from what I have experienced of living in Scotland, this kind of thing is firmly rooted in the psyche of the population, it might not be apparent all the time, it’s kind of a subtle thing, but it’s always there.
And that’s it, I would go back, I’d love to see it during the TT Races, but I bet it’s mobbed, and that it would be quite costly as well.
And so we come to today!
I was up at 7:00 am and I was out running after well gone 8:00 as it was still quite dark outside.
Thankfully last night’s wind had abated and it wasn’t raining. I went down to the harbour in Musselburgh, jeepers it was a grey day, but thankfully by the time I was back it had started to clear up.
We set off for England just after midday and our first stop was Holy Island.
Holy Island is only accessed by road vehicle via a causeway.
The modern causeway that is cut off twice a day by the tides, is about a mile long. The causeway was constructed in the mid-1950s. Until then—for 1,300 years—the Pilgrims Way footpath, marked with a line of upright poles, was the only access to the island. We saw the Pilgrims Way as we left the island and this route is by far longer than the road route and it must have taken some work to get across because the path looks extremely muddy
The causeway is closed two hours before high tide and until three hours after. At high tide the road lies under 1.5 - 4 metres of water and every year some silly people try to make their escape outside of the permitted times and have come unstuck. Apparently it’s a regular occurrence and the local lifeboat crew are often called to make a rescue. There are even refuge huts on stilts at intervals along the causeway for the silly types who get stuck.
We came here some years ago and Wendy drove the car over the causeway just before closure and the kids and me walked it over barefoot and we had the tide washing around our feet.
Holy Island is an ancient religious site, I won’t go into all of that as I would be here all night, but what I will say is the there is a stunning church there, St Marys Church.
The church is the oldest building on Holy Island, the only building that retains work from the Saxon period and it is very likely that St. Aidan worshipped on this site from arriving in 635 AD at the Priory which is directly adjacent to the church.
The Priory is now a ruin but thankfully English Heritage now look after it.
We walked down to the harbour and it was good to see that the old upturned boats which now form sheds for the fishermen are still being looked after.
The weather was pretty good and the views were stunning.
Despite it being mid-winter the fishermen were going about their working business and there was a smell of fresh fish in the air.
From the harbour we walked down to the old castle.
The castle was built in 1550, around the time that the priory went into disrepair, due to the reformation as proclaimed by King Henry VIII. In fact some of the stones used to build the castle came from the priory.
The castle is stunning and what makes it so is the fact that it was built on the highest point of a tiny island in the Middle Ages. The castle is very impressive and it is certainly as beautiful, if not as big as Edinburgh or Sterling Castles.
As darkness was approaching we headed to the Crown and Anchor pub for a very nice pint of real ale.
The pub was empty but we chatted to the barman and it was very pleasant.
The tide was still quite low and as there were still 3 hours to high tide we made the crossing of the causeway without any problem, although due to the slippiness of the road you do have to drive with a high level of care, especially if oncoming traffic is passing.
After checking into our Travelodge Wendy nipped to the Morrison’s store which is within throwing distance and bought some hot chicken pieces and a very nice salad from the salad bar and we had supper in our room, and it was very tasty indeed!
Berwick upon Tweed
No Travelling
I was reading my book in the chair and Wendy was bimbling on her I-pad last night at around 8:00pm. We both heard a stumble outside and Wendy was already concerned. I was fine and carried on reading, but then I heard something else and I opened the door, I only had my jarmy bottoms on as it was quite hot in the room, and I thought that I shouldn’t mess around if someone is having some kind of seizure.
In the corridor, outside our room, I found a man on the floor trying to hand crawl up the wall and he says, with a Geordie accent, “I'm pissed mate”. I took hold of him and managed to get his key and then I took him to his room, I must admit I was worried it wasn’t his room, but I had to get him somewhere.
He' says, "I'm sorry pal, I'm pissed" I said, "It’s OK I've been there". Thankfully I then put him in his room and told him to go to bed and not to smoke.
I’m not sure if he made it to the bed but I asked at reception if he had gone today and he had thankfully checked out, most likely with a very sore head!
I read my book some more and Wendy went to sleep, I wasn’t far behind her and thankfully the Travelodge was nice and quiet.
I woke and had breakfast just after 7:00 and I went running at around 8:30 am when it was reasonably light, Wendy stayed in bed with a second cup of tea.
I ran down the High Street and along the Town Wall. I have been to Berwick upon Tweed a few times and I never saw that it was a walled town. I guess being so close to the border between two ancient countries it was always bound to be an area of local conflict, with the town changing hands many times over the centuries. Anyway it was a nice morning and I enjoyed the fresh air.
I came to the pier and ran along that, jeepers it was long, it was just under half a mile long.
I later found out, well actually I could see for myself that it wasn’t a traditional pier as its main function is as a breakwater to protect the mouth of the River Tweed and its shipping.
I really enjoyed this, it was high tide and it was like being on the open sea.
I got back to the hotel and Wendy was ready, after a bit of pampering to conduct a booze cruise!
Alcohol in Scotland is subject to a minimum pricing level per unit and shops are restricted to what they can discount and have special offers on. As a result a booze over the border trade is becoming widely established and we thought we would make the most of it.
Aldi, Morrison’s and Tesco had a good deal in certain items, for instance a good bottle of wine at Aldi cost £3.89 and prosecco at £5.29.
Morrison’s had Lambs Rum at £13 a bottle and Tesco’s had a bottle of Glenmorangie on sale at £25 per bottle, oh boy did we fill our boots, I don’t know if the car will make it home!
After we had dropped the car off we set off for a walk into town to have our annual Office Christmas Party, just Wendy and me!
As we walked we saw a riverside walk which we decided to take. It was a long steep walk down to the river and at the top of the path was a slightly miffed lady.
The ladies dog, Hector, was missing in action. He was a Schnitzel and apparently he had done it before. The lady followed us down the steep track and we could not find him, the little bugger. Eventually Wendy spotted him right at the bottom of the track in the thick of the brambles. Despite his owner calling him politely, “Hector, here Hector, come to Mummy”, he never moved.
It was a bit embarrassing so I gave him my traditional dog whistle and that had him running up to me in no time at all with him licking my hands.
The lady had the lead on him and waddled off with, chastising him as she went back up the hill, again!
We walked along the river bank and under the three bridges, the railway bridge being the most stunning.
What a feat of Victorian engineering it is, it is amazing, and to think they did it all without the use of modern machinery is a testament to the workers dedication. I loved it, it’s now one of my favourite walks.
The bridge is called the Royal Border Bridge and work started in 1847 and its length and height made it bigger than any other bridge built before. Despite its name, the bridge does not span the border between England and Scotland, which is approximately 3 miles (5 km) further north.
The bridge is 659 metres (2,162 ft) long. It is constructed in Stone with brick soffits which make the arches. It has 28 arches, each spanning 18 m (60 ft). The railway is carried 37 m (121 ft) above the river level, it really is a stunner and I marvelled at it as we passed under it.
We entered town not long after and we had a very nice drink in a really good, Real Ale Bar.
We were a bit surprised as it was now well past 1:30 pm and it was supposed to be mad Friday and the bar was empty except for us, however by the time we were on our way the pub had been invaded by a large gang of workmen all eager to start their end of work festivities.
We had two venues in mind for our Christmas Office Party so we consulted Trip Advisor. Out of the two, one had a rating of 3.5 out of 1,200 and the other had a rating of 4.5 out of 1,000, so we went with that, it was called The Queens Head Hotel.
We could have not picked a better place, the food was stunning.
It was a small but full dining room and we were looked after by a very decent fella, who might just well have been the owner.
I had a starter, Peasant and Ham Hock, Wendy opted for a pudd instead of a starter. Then I had a very nice pork steak with a lovely mushroom sauce, Wendy had the turkey with sausage meat stuffing. The veg of brussels, parsnips, carrots and roast potatoes were really well cooked.
It was all very, very nice, the wine was very nice too.
For her pudd Wendy had Christmas pudding and a very nice brandy sauce.
It was the perfect Christmas Office Party venue!
We were so stuffed that we had to take a walk along the pier right to the end to help the digestion process.
It was interesting to see the sea and the pier at low tide.
From there we walked back to the hotel, which was about a mile and a half away, and we shopped all the way.
I bought a new book from a charity shop and some heat pads as my knee is giving me a bit of gyp.
It’s been a lovely Christmas Office Party day and in good old Gill tradition, we did it in style!
That’s the end of this current adventure Avid Reader, tomorrow we head back to Alex and Robyn’s for Christmas, Caroline and Brad will be coming down too so we will have a good old Shepherd and Gill Christmas, we have some plans for future adventures but as for now they have to remain top secret, so until then, I'm signing off - D.G. Out!
Could anything else go Wrong?
177 Miles
It’s been just slightly less than 8 months since my last travel report and I have to say that I haven’t missed travelling as much as people think I might have. I’ve kept myself busy at home, refurbishing the pond, fitting a new roof to the big shed, painting all the sheds and the garage and enjoying the evenings drinking wine.
Oh and after Robyn bought me a BBQ book for Father’s Day I am now big into BBQ’ing and I have bought a supper duper one with a rotisserie and we have had some cracking meals. We had a family meal with Granny and Grandad at the weekend with everyone home and two BBQ slow cooked pork shoulder joints, it was really tasty!
Yesterday we took a ride to see Caroline and Brad’s new house and on the way home I saw that I had an engine management warning light on, in the new car, it was the same warning light that we had on the old Skoda for 4 years, but it never caused us any problems.
I got home, cleaned the car internally and washed it in preparation for the trip and then I took her for a drive to see if the warning light affected its capability. It didn’t, but another warning light, this time for Ad-Blue warning light came on, jeepers!!!
I got back home and followed the Ad-Blue instructions, I filled the tank and tried to reset the counter but it wouldn’t work. There was nothing else I could do, I would have to seek professional guidance before embarking on a 650 mile trip with Granny and Grandad.
I went to bed early and woke at 4:30 am, got up, had breakfast and went running. I was back at 6:45, I had a banana smoothie, showered and then set off for the garage where I bought the car.
After a 90 minute wait I was assured by the engineer that it was safe to take the car and that I could get it reset along the route when I could find a garage.
Thankful, I drove home and after coffee we packed the caravan, closed the house down and loaded Granny and Grandad into the car. Wendy helped me get the caravan off the drive with the help of the mover.
All was going well, the car and van were nicely lined up on our single track road, but the tow ball would not open and release the security mechanism as the operating mechanism was stuck, most likely due to underuse.
I had to get the van back on the drive, and I messed about with it for about 90 minutes before I could get it to function properly and most importantly safely.
Finally I was happy and with Granny reloaded in the car we set off.
Our drive was thankfully uneventful and the car did perform quite well, although it’s not as nippy with the van on the tow bar as I thought it would be, maybe the wheels are a little seized as well.
One issue we did have was the new jockey wheel unwound and made contact with the road and I had to pull into a layby to sort it out, allowing a lorry to pass me that I had been trying to pass myself for several miles.
We arrived at Rob’s just after 4pm and I nipped to Tesco for fuel as by now I was running on fumes!
I also got Granny a few basic supplies for when she gets home because no doubt it will be late!
After parking the van on Robyn’s drive I found out that the latest disaster to befall us was that the caravan fridge door had come adrift in transit, it was completely off its hinges and on the caravan floor. Thankfully I am not a man to despair and set about putting it back on although I did need the help of Wendy in emptying the door of all its stock.
After the latest setback I went for a run because doing so would give us our best chance of an early departure tomorrow in the hope we can make our campsite before it closes at 8pm.
Supper was a delight, a bbq chicken meal, with excellent Yorkshire puds, timing was out a little but it was just what the doctor ordered.
Tonight I’m all for an early night, if I’m going to make the 450 mile trip with a caravan, I’ll need all the rest I can get!
Oh and to cap it all off, Brad has just mesaged me that I had left the back door unlocked and the shed door fully open, jeepers, now I know its bed time!!!!!
Riff-Raff
444 Miles
Well the sleep schedule didn’t go according to plan, I woke at 1:30 but managed to nod back off, then I woke at 4:15, roasting hot, I was that warm I couldn’t understand why, but I soon found out, Wendy had not opened the window when she went to bed. I couldn’t believe it, she has it wide open at home, on the ground floor, but not here on the first floor in Edinburgh, she thought I would be chilly!
After opening both windows widely I tried to nod back off, but I couldn’t, so I got up at 4:34 and had a cup of tea and because Robyn had hidden my Marmite I had to have a peanut butter and jam toasty, and it was lovely.
To pass the time I watched a bit of my Time Traveling show on Netflix and not long after Wendy turned up for a cup of tea too.
We loaded Granny and Grandad into the car just after 8:00 and off we set on what was a very easy road trip.
First up we listened to Zoe Ball on Radio 2, and she got us over the border into England where the weather turned somewhat misty, in fact as we passed Berwick upon Tweed it was almost a pea souper.
Ken Bruce took over at 9:30 and the first lady on Popmaster had the most horrific questions, the poor thing only got six points, but the questions were very hard, and obscure. She was from Barnsley too so I felt doubly badly for her.
We motored on nicely until we came across a camper van who was barely doing 45 mph on the single carriageway section of the A1 in Northumberland. There was a 7.5 tonne lorry between us and it and the driver was adamant to pass it, and he did manage to, on a hairy bit of road, but thankfully he got in just before anything came close to him.
The lady driving the camper went along on her merry, slow way for a few miles more and as I wasn’t game to overtake her she did indeed pull into a layby to let us pass. Wendy hurt her stiff neck trying to eyeball her as we passed.
I had to pull in and put air into a front tyre just before Newcastle as I had a warning light on but that was only a minor setback.
We got back on the road and we were passed Newcastle in no time, then Gateshead and the Angel of the north. I then had a very nice ham and coleslaw sandwich washed down by coffee and we carried on.
I had thought of several bottle necks along the route, Gateshead, the Metro Centre to be precise, Doncaster, Cambridge and finally the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge over the Thames at Dartford.
Having passed two of the bottle necks I was getting confident and we rolled along with now Vanessa Phelps chatting along the route. We covered such topics as the English Education Minister and the lack of plaster available for home renovations which was something I already knew about.
We stopped for fuel at the service area where there is a roadside building with a funny looking roof. I filled the tank with fuel and we all made ourselves comfortable by using the caravan toilet, no Covid worries there Avid Reader.
We carried on, making good progress, and soon we were on the M11 and through an area where there had been an accident, without any issue. In fact we were now making up time!
The M25 was busy but we managed good speed and as we approached the Bridge we could see massive tailbacks on the opposite carriageway which went all the way through the tunnel and right back to the M2, caused by a breakdown. Those poor people, they were down to a single lane and the tailback was about 8 miles long.
Steve Wright in the afternoon got us over the final leg and even though we weren’t impressed with the selection of songs on offers from the fella from Alnwick’s “None Stop Oldies” section, Steve, in his own way made for an enjoyable last leg.
From the M25, the A2 and then the M2 we were on fire and we went over the Sheppey Crossing and onto the Island in no time at all. The SatNav took us directly to the site and after a slight delay, where I made a slight schoolboy error, due to being a bit caravan rusty, I uncoupled the car and caravan and while I set camp Wendy took Granny and Granddad home.
And here we are, indeed we are! This is the riffiest, raffiest camp site that I have ever been on in my life, and I’ve been on some.
Check in was somewhat edgy as the attendant couldn’t find my registration, despite me already paying in full, he didn’t also display an awareness of good virus hygiene standards, so I kept my mask on, even outside but he still didn’t seem to understand the concept of 2 metres.
Jeepers, this place is heaving with people who don’t understand polite and private conversation instead opting for profanities with the odd, “Babe”, chucked in. This is not the site for the discerning camper, thankfully we are all inclusive, although I did have to use the one and only tap to get fresh water. Don’t fret Avid Reader, I washed both my hands and any equipment that came within one metre of that tap very thoroughly and precisely to my exact standards.
As I type my copy tonight I can see two local lads dragging a wheel barrow along flogging firewood to the campers, I guess you could say they are budding entrepreneurs but I think you can guess that it says more about the management of this site than anything else!
This is Some Camp Ground!
96 Miles
Well to say it was a very busy camp site with lots of tents all around us we went to bed at 10:00 pm and I never heard a peep, not even a whimper.
I woke at 5:58 am and got up and went outside to take a photograph of the sunrise and the man in the tent next door was snoring like a tornado jet engine, what a racket he was making!
I had my breakfast and Wendy was up with me not long after and we both went out running together on the stroke of 7:00 am. I had my ear phones in and I was listening to Matt on Dearne FM and so I couldn’t hear the snoring man. I could see Wendy laughing at something so I took my earplugs out and I asked her what was so funny.
“Have you heard that man in the tent next door snoring” she whispered. I don’t know why she felt the need to whisper because if anyone could sleep through that they couldn’t hear her!
I ran in my vest today as it was really warm when I set off.
Jeepers I came across loads of people and I had to do some serious zombie dodging as it appears that the good people of the south think that pandemic nonsense is all over and done with. There were people walking and bumping into people all along the Leas and even the sea wall all the way into town.
I got down to the Port and I saw that the two rigs that were here when we left are still in the Port. It looked like there was only one when we came onto the Island yesterday as both drilling rigs must have been lined up as we looked at them. This just goes to show just how bad the oil and oil exploration industry has been hit by the drop in the price of oil. There are loads of rigs in the Port at Invergordon up in the Highlands, in fact it must be full to capacity.
So if they are dragging them all the way down here there surely must be a problem!
I got back and had my smoothie, a shave and a shower and we nipped to G&G’s for a cuppa before we left for Hampshire. As we came down Minster Hill we could see a storm in the distance and before we got to the house, it banged it down.
After coffee we headed back to the site, decamped and took the M20, the M26, the M25, the A3, the A31 and several minor roads, in torrential rain get to the site.
We arrived and after a phone call with the owner we were on site and settling in.
It’s another one of these places, where Wendy says, “He’s got everything going on here”.
There is Highland Cattle, a camp site, outbuildings galore, most in various stages of completion, and would you believe:
The entire site is in complete disarray, apart from the camp site, thankfully. The chap is a nice enough fella, but you can see he’s one hell of an eccentric man and if it wasn’t for his difficulty in social distancing I would like to chat with him. He kept coming closer and I kept edging away and he never twigged why. In the end I finished the conversation and went back to the car.
We are in Alton because it’s within easy distance of both Andover and Winchester where we would like to explore, well as best we can.
I set the caravan up while Wendy sheltered in the car while the rain poured down. I had stripped down to my nylon shorts, a jacket and sandals as there was no way of avoiding getting wet, I just had to cut down on the amount of wet clothing that would result.
I had the van set up pretty quickly and after a cup of coffee we headed to Alton for a tour of the town.
The town is lovely and there are signs everywhere about how to shop safely and people seemed to try to observe them, which made it more of a pleasant experience as it might have been.
I called into a butchers shop for tonight’s supper as most pubs were fully booked for evening meals due to it being Eat out, to Help Out Wednesday!
The butcher was a top fella, a good old traditional fat butcher.
I bought some lovely Sirloin Steaks, 6 lamb and mint sausages, two pork pies, a hot dragon free range Scotch Egg, a piece of homemade black pudding and a bag of pork scratchings.
I asked him if I needed to cook the black pudding, like we do in the Highlands. We mulled it over for a while, me with my face mask on and him behind his plastic shield and we concluded that I could please myself as it had been boiled at 71 degrees C!
We walked around the High Street and ended up at a Weatherspoon’s bar, where Wendy suggested we take a pint if it was safe to do so. I reconnoitred the place before we committed and I was very pleased that Covid measures were very much in place and were being taken seriously.
Inside we had a very nice pint and a half of some local ale, which was somewhat fruity and very, very tasty!
On the way home we called into a small village called Chawton to see the home of the famous novelist Jane Austen, here’s some Jane Austen factoids:
“In 1809, Austen moved with her mother and her sister to Chawton, a tranquil Hampshire village. There, in a house given to them by her wealthy brother Edward, Austen spent her happiest years. All six of her novels date in their finished form from this period. Mansfield Park was published in 1814 and Emma with its heroine whom Austen half-jokingly predicted 'no one but myself will much like', in 1815”.
The building is stunning, but sadly because of you know what it was closed, although we do think it does open but with a restricted viewing.
Back at the caravan, with the rain continuing we sat around, watched the news and I cooked the steak!
The steak was tasty, but despite me cooking it medium to well-done it was still a little chewy, let’s hope the other selections I bought are a little easier to eat.
Tonight’s schedule is now a period of digestion with Netflix and early bed while the rain continues and the wind picks up, tonight might be a bumpy ride, maybe a wee dram will be required before my eye lids close!
Sweet F. A.
Travelling
Well I never knew that the term Sweet Fanny Adams, which was a term my granny used when I wasn’t going to get what I wanted, came from this lovely Hampshire town, here’s Wikipedia’s take on things:
Fanny Adams (30 April 1859 – 24 August 1867) was an eight-year-old girl who was murdered by Frederick Baker in Alton, Hampshire, 24 August 1867. The murder itself was extraordinarily brutal and caused a national outcry in the United Kingdom. Fanny was abducted by Baker and taken into a hop garden near her home. She was then brutally murdered and her body cut into several pieces, with some parts never being found. Further investigations suggested that two small knives were used for the murder, but it was later ruled they would have been insufficient to carry out the crime and that another weapon must have been used.
I never knew that, apparently it’s been downgraded to Sweet F.A. over the years!
I went running in lovely sunshine this morning, Wendy had her, still, stiff neck injury and stayed inside.
I ran around the nooks and crannies of Alton and it was lovely.
I passed a High School and I saw kids going in for their GSE results with nervous parents hanging about outside. When I passed on the return run about 20 minutes later I saw a single boy, on his own with what I thought were his result papers.
As there was a fence on the verge to stop the kids spilling onto the road I ran onto the road side of it and stopped to chat with the boy.
He was of Asian heritage and very nicely dressed in comfortable sports gear.
I asked him if he had his results, here’s our conversation:
Him -“Yes, I’ve got them”
Me – “Did you do well?”
Him, with beaming smile – “Yes, I did very well thank you”, he takes a step forward and I say “Whoa there youngster", but with a smile on my face!
Me – “Well done, good for you”
Him – “Thank you mister” even bigger, beaming smile.
I do hope that in 30 year’s time he will remember his interaction on this special day with a much older, sweaty, running man, who took an interest in his wellbeing, which will maybe help prevent the generational war that seems to be building up!
I got back to the van in glorious sunshine and enjoyed a lovely banana smoothie whilst sat outside watching the Highland Cows, well mainly the calf’s gambling about the field opposite us.
After my shower we set off for Winchester and then Andover, but not before calling in on our host to pay our site fees. He wasn’t in but I gave the money to one of his workers who took it into the house and logged it down.
When he came out of the house I asked that he do me a favour. “Tell your boss to fly the Union Flag the right way up as it’s currently upside down”, I said.
He looked up and laughed, “I’ll take great pleasure in that”, and he said, “He always mocks other people for doing the same thing”.
That’s two young people I have made smile today, maybe I’ll be spared in the generational war!
We arrived in Winchester just after 12:00 and we had a struggle to find a parking space. Thankfully on the third attempt I found one.
Winchester is lovely, well it is in the sunshine, but it was far too busy with people not giving two hoots about being safe. In fact it was another case of there never being a virus anywhere near us, no sir.
I could tell Wendy was getting uptight so I manoeuvred her safely to the Cathedral. Now this is something, Winchester Cathedral is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the greatest overall length of any Gothic Cathedral in Europe. It was massive and it was surrounded by a park where people were responsibly enjoying the sunshine.
From there we did some extreme Zombie dodging to get out of town and found a very nice river based country walk. It was stunning, it was a nature reserve where we did a mile long loop around an irrigated waterway system that had an amazing eco structure. The sun was blazing and it was just such a treat.
We eventually got back to the car and Wendy took the decision to leave Andover for tomorrow, I think she thinks she will be more comfortable tomorrow as Storm Helen might hit and there might not be so many Zombies to dodge.
I left her at the car so that I could do further Zombie dodging in town as we needed some mastic glue to fix a shower issue and crusty bread for supper.
On the way home we passed through a stunning village called Easton and we enjoyed a lovely pint of real ale at the Cricketers Inn. It was bloody lovely, just what I needed, an old English country pub, there isn’t anything finer!
Back at base we had a scrummy English tapas meal, sat outdoors with our friendly cows nearby.
After which we sat in the sunshine drinking white wine while listening to BBC Radio 2 with Sara Cox.
Wendy’s neck is no better so after rubbing some of granny’s cream into it she took herself to bed with a hot water bottle and she promptly fell fast asleep leaving me and you with an ITunes playlist as darkness fell.
Night, Night Avid Reader!
Wild Wind!!!
No Travelling
Jeepers did the caravan rock during the night, what wild winds we had. I had the window open beside me as it was still quite warm and the duvet kept getting blown off me, it was very strange.
I got out of bed at 7:00 am and it was blowing a right gale, even the Highland Cattle had hunkered down.
I checked the outside temperature using the car and it was a very balmy 19 degrees C, so the wind wasn’t a cold one.
I got ready for running, Wendy got up, made tea and went straight back to bed as she had absolutely no intention of going running on this windy morning.
I left her to it and I ran all the way through Alton with the wind mainly behind me but with the odd headwind which was caused by a strange swirling effect of this weird summer wind.
I went through a very nice looking village called Holybourne and ended up at my four mile turnaround on some very quiet country lane. After a drink from my water bottle I headed back, smack into the full force of the wind. It was hard going getting back, the wind was full on in my face most of the time with the odd swirling effect, again pushing me along from behind.
I got back, sweating from the heat and had my very much deserved banana smoothie.
After a cup of tea we set off for the town of Andover which is still in the county of Hampshire. I have wanted to visit Andover for many years and I have passed it quite a few times on the way to the West Country but I never dropped in. The reason I wanted to see the town was that in the late 70’s, early 80’s my good mate Gaz was stationed there when he was in the Army and he used to tell me about him and his mates exploits in the town on a Friday night when they were allowed out.
Our first stop was at St Marys Church.
This is a stunning Church, well worthy of Cathedral status as it is so beautiful. It’s a shame it was closed due to the virus because apparently the inside is something quite spectacular.
There was a church on the site from around the 11th century, but in the 1900’s it was considered unsafe. Here is what the description in the church yard states:
In 1840, Pigot’s Hampshire described Andover as “handsome, thriving, well-built, populous”, with the church “an ancient edifice”. It certainly had a Norman tower and nave but the church was considered too small for the congregation. It was also pronounced unsafe and in need of demolition. The benefactor, Dr William Stanley Goddard, a former headmaster of Winchester College, was determined to pay for a replacement.
However “unsafe” it was it nevertheless resisted all attempts at demolition and the engineers had to resort to dynamite to get rid of it! The present St Mary’s Church, completed between 1844 and 1846, is an impressive building of knapped flint and Caen Stone from France which was delivered to Andover via the Redbridge Canal. Look inside if the church is open - the interior is sensational.
Imagine having the funds available in the 1900’to pay for a whole church to be demolished and rebuilt!
I did a bit of digging at Dr Goodhard’s history and I found that he was born into a Merchants family in London and studied hard and became Headmaster of Winchester College where by strict discipline he raised educational standards and pupil numbers considerably. He retired in 1814 and had the church rebuilt in 1844 at a cost of £30,000, (how much would that be today?), he died in 1845 at the age of 88, one year before the church was completed, how’s that for bad luck?
After the church we headed down to the heart of the town centre and I was somewhat disappointed by it. It was OK but I guess I was immediately put off by the young woman dragging all her worldly goods in a cart along the High Street while drinking a pint can of Fosters lager.
The river although narrow was very clean for a town centre river and large trout could be seen dodging in and out of the cover from the river vegetation.
We managed a half pint of beer in a safe Weatherspoon’s bar, that’s us now having bagged 106 of their bars, we only have about 400 to go!
Wendy was desperate to go into the Wilko store, she loves Wilko but we haven’t got any around us at home. I asked her what she wanted to buy and she said, “Nothing really, I just fancy a browse”. I said hang on you can’t browse during a pandemic, whereby she then came up with a list of essential items that we desperately need in our life. So with her mask on off she went shopping for these exceptionally essential items. Ten minutes later she appeared with nothing to show for her skirmish with danger, apparently they didn’t have what she wanted.
We were back at the van for coffee at 3:00pm and then we took a stroll around the streets of Alton which despite the wind was a very pleasant experience. I nipped into the Coop for some milk and I bought one of Wendy’s Wilkos essentials, a packet of paper napkins only to be derided because they weren’t colourful enough, well they were plain white, but surely functionality is far above caravan matchability, not with Wendy it’s not!
We took the car then to a village called Odiham which is about 8 miles to the north.
We found Odiham to be just a very pleasant High Street with brand new, and immaculately ironed Union Flags flying widely in the mad wind. We strolled all along both sides of the street, occasionally dodging zombies but all in all it was a very nice English affair.
By 18:00 I was starving hungry so it was back to the van where Wendy knocked up a fry up supper of yesterday’s butchers Lamb & Mint Sausages with a very nice free range fried egg which Wendy presented with a lovely runny yoke, I also finished yesterday’s black pudding and it was all a real delight.
It’s been a fantastic day’s cricket from an English point of view with the first daddy hundred for Zak Crawley, actually it’s the best by an English player since Alistair Cook some years ago, let hope he goes on for a double ton.
It’s an early night for me tonight as tomorrow is relocation day and we are heading westwards into Wiltshire.
As I end tonight’s copy the wind is still blowing wildly, surely it has to stop sometime soon, hopefully before I pull this caravan though the Hampshire an Wiltshire Countryside!
Wiltshire!
68 Miles
I was up earlyish this morning at 06:15 am, well it is moving day and I do get a little excited. Wendy was up soon after and we were both out running at 07:30 am.
The wind had dropped a little, but not much but at least it was dry, and the sun was out, occasionally.
I let Wendy lead off and she went on her merry way to explore and nosey at all the nice houses.
Me, I went along my usual route, through town and into the country. It was a good job I’m always alert, Boris would be proud! As I approached the Coop I saw the sliding doors open and a man about my age walked straight out without looking and we were on a collision course. I pulled up and gave him my best Yorkshire, “Ei Up Mate, watch where you’re going!” and He nodded and apologised, behind his FFP 3 full face protection mask!
I carried on and as I came to near the end of my four mile stint I took a slight detour and followed a sign post to a small village. The village was called Neatham, actually when I got there it wasn’t a village but a collection of houses. The road eventually stopped at an absolutely stunning Manor House, Neatham Manor. It was in beautifully set gardens and behind a large wrought iron gate, with a very nice drive leading upto it. The only slight downside being that it is about a half mile from the M3 motorway and even at 08:00 on a Saturday morning you could clearly hear the drone of the traffic.
By the time I got back to the caravan the sun was out and I was sweating nicely. Wendy was back and was ready to go so after my smoothie and a shower we decamped and set off for the short drive across Salisbury Plain.
This was a stunning drive along a single carriageway road up and over the Plain. Thankfully there wasn’t much traffic behind me as I could only average about 40 miles per hour due to the up and down and the twists and turns of the road.
I always try to pull over for cars but there were only a few opportunities because it just wasn’t safe to do so, but I think they understood that because I still got a hearty wave when I could do, well at least that’s what I thought they were doing.
If you don’t know Avid Reader Salisbury Plain is used by the Army as a tank training area and there were loads of signs and clearly marked areas where I could expect to see a Challenger Tank come roaring through. But as we passed their Barracks we could see that there wasn’t going to be any manoeuvres this weekend as the place was deserted!
We got to our camp just after midday and settled into our very large, nicely flat field.
We followed all the Corona Virus procedures and put the caravan well away from any other vans, Wendy filled the water butts while I levelled the van and she followed the tap sanitising instructions to the letter. I then followed the dead letter drop instructions by making site fee payment in a brown envelope with my name clearly marked on it. Throughout the entire process we never once saw the owner, the delightful Mrs Stratton.
After a quick coffee and a sandwich we headed into town to see what Chippenham has to offer.
It was still sunny, but windy.
Wendy and I had a difference of opinion of the town, I liked it, I thought the River Avon and its park which was very close to the town centre stunning, and I liked the beautiful sandstone buildings.
There was a market on in the High Street and this is where I guess Wendy wasn’t comfortable as there was very little social distancing taking place, in fact we had to engage extreme zombie dodging measures and even though we didn’t have any close calls it wasn’t the best way to explore the town.
You know Avid Reader, people aren’t really considering the virus when they go about their daily affairs, it’s like it’s not an issue. I’m making an early assumption here, and I might have to change it later, but I think that people living todays modern way of life just cannot do a little hardship, understand a simple message and put themselves out. When we end up back at where we started in March will anyone who contributed to it accept their responsibility? I don’t think so!
After a river walk, which was lovely, I found the Weatherspoon’s Bar, The Bridge House which is located just over the main road bridge alongside the River Avon.
There was a very nice riverside jetty seating area where we plonked ourselves down, I ordered from the App and our drinks came very quickly. The bar seemed to be heaving inside but we had the jetty to ourselves. Now I am asking myself a question, is it a fair dinkum Weatherspoon’s bag if you don’t actually go inside the bar? Well I have reconciled myself with the fact that when they tally up todays takings there will be an inclusion of £1.90 from David Gill, so it’s a bag for me!
After a little shopping at a local Tesco’s we returned to camp listening to Zak Crawley Pass 200 runs and before he was stumped he had amassed a giant total of 267 runs, brilliant.
Back at the van, I listened to the cricket while Wendy read her Saturday newspaper and just after 5:00 pm I lit the BBQ.
I cooked chicken, two types of fillets, a hot fiery one and a mango and coconut one both ready marinated, Tesco style, and Wendy made a delightful salad.
As the bbq chugged on Mrs Stratton passed us riding on a trailer being towed by a tractor, there were several family members aboard the trailer with their legs dangling off of both sides, her elder kids and her grandkids, it was all a very jolly farming occasion.
Then out of nowhere Mrs Stratton presented herself and we had a very nice chat. See told us that they have had the farm over forty years and they have finally got around to digging the silt out of a small lake in the next field down and she told us to go and look at it.
Well then after a very nice supper of chicken and salad we took a walk down and it is indeed a very nice lake, very much in need of being de-silted mind you, but it was very nice and exclusive.
Back at the van the heavens opened briefly while I washed up and then the weather cleared and we had sunset directly in our big front window, it was a stunning sight!
Lazy Sunday - Again!!!
No Travelling
We had a lovely evening, the sky cleared to some extent and we could see the new moon just starting in the night sky. The wind was still going at it but it never bothered me, I slept like a baby and I woke at 06:00, on the dot.
I tried to nod off but Wendy woke soon after me and then the kettle had to go on and that was that.
I was worried about running as we are on some kind of high plateau and the road we used to get to town yesterday went down at an almighty incline for at least a mile and although I like a challenge, I didn’t fancy doing that this morning.
Wendy went out before me and I left just before 8:00 am. Actually it was a very good and interesting run, I ran in the opposite direction to the steep hill and after a mile and a half I came across a road that gently slopped in a down wards direction and it lead me to a most beautiful English Country Village, Sandy Lane!
There was a pub, The George, lots of thatched roofed homes, there was even a thatched church.
It was a really lovely looking place and on this Sunday morning it was so peaceful, I just hope the locals weren’t concerned about some sweaty looking man taking photos of their homes.
Actually we have seen lots of thatched roofs and when I was in the fire service we had to know where all our station areas thatched buildings were located, which wasn’t hard, we only had one when I was at Adwick-Le-Street in Doncaster, you surely couldn’t do that here in Wiltshire.
I also know that they take a lot of maintenance so I did some Googling and I found out that they are a real burden to manage, here’s a link to a site that gives advice on the maintenance of thatched roofs, (I know international readers enjoy these matters).
We were in two minds about today’s destination for a visit. We wanted to go to Bath which isn’t really too far away but we thought on a sunnyish Sunday it might be a little bit busy with tourists flocking to the narrow streets. We decided to go to Devizes instead with the thinking that we can fly to Bristol when the world is repaired and from there we can catch a train or bus to Bath. Another thought was that we most likely wouldn’t go to Devizes out of the blue and as it’s supposed to be an interesting town we thought we should go there instead, and indeed it was very intersting!
Devizes is only about 6 miles away so we were there in no time and we parked in the most suitable place for what I first wanted to do, visit the traveling musical Hurdy-Gurdy open air exhibition in a local park.
I found it very interesting, Wendy not so much, I guess it’s a marmite thing, I appreciated the engineering, Wendy thought it all rather strange, more so that her husband of 33 years liked it.
From there we strolled around the town centre with only minimal zombie dodging as there were wide pavements and open areas.
Now here’s a thing, Devizes was an important stronghold for the Royalists in the English Civil War and it’s where the Parliamentarians besieged them for several years. It wasn’t until Oliver Cromwell attacked and forced the Royalists to surrender in 1645 and then for good measure he had the Castle destroyed in 1648, and there’s now nothing left of what was once a mighty stronghold.
It’s no wonder that a town steeped in such important history that there are over 500 listed buildings throughout the town and a great many of them are in the town centre. Now this is something that I love and I filled my boots taking what I think are interesting photographs. There were a great many blue badges detailing what they were all about and how old they were.
We even happened upon a Weatherspoon’s bar and took a drink in a very quiet corner, thankfully it was almost empty.
We took the car to the outskirts of town to the canal and had a short stroll, as we did we saw a group of young women manoeuvre a longboat though a very tight lock system, they only opened one gate and as they struggled I could only assume that couldn’t open the other gate. No here’s a quandary, in this modern age, does a man offer his services to women in difficulty or will it be considered that he’s gas lighting them. Well I’ll never know because I didn’t dare ask!
From our stroll around Devizes we took a short car ride over to the small town of Melksham about 5 miles away.
This was only a two road town and it’s situated alongside the River Avon a few miles downstream from Chippenham. There was another Weatherspoon’s bar and if I am totally honest, that was why we were in town today. However after a small glass of wine, we did walk all around the town and again we found some lovely, old buildings, I really liked the Conservative Club!
We got back to the caravan at around 3:30 pm and as Wendy had slow cooked some rump steak in a tomato sauce with onions and mushrooms we came back to a most wonderful smell which immediately set our stomachs aching for food. Thirty minutes later we were sat around the table with a small portion of chips, the beef and some very nice cabbage, it was lovely!
After dinner we lounged around in the van relaxing and listening to the cricket where England toiled in the field after their earlier success in taking a wicket.
I really like the simple caravan life as it’s so easy to relax when you are at home in a huge farmer’s field with all the comings and goings of tractors and other farm machinery.
I feel another early night tonight as its moving day tomorrow, this time it’s for 3 nights, near Stroud, which will hopefully see us through Tuesdays predicted storm!
The Cotswolds!
45 Miles
I woke at 5:45 and as I was laying quietly I could hear the very tiny pitter, patter of very small rain drops.
I snook out of bed and made my tea and toast and started to listen to Dearne FM through my ear phones. Wendy woke about 20 minutes later and we chatted, but I still had my ear phones in and I said I think the rains stopped. “Not in my ears it hasn’t”, was her replay. Sure enough when I turned the volume down I could hear it getting louder and I could tell the rain drops had become considerably fatter!
That was that for Wendy and I made her a second cup of tea and then headed out to get soaked to the skin. Never mind I did a different run today and I came to a lovely looking gate house where the house was built over the gate and people actually live there as the lights were on. The gate was to an estate and while I took a look at it a mini car arrived and the gates automatically opened and the mini disappeared inside the estate.
Back at camp and the rain had stopped so after my smoothie and shower we decamped and made our way in a slightly Northerly direction and across some lovely countryside.
Not long after we entered the beautiful Cotswolds.
We found our site, by good luck as opposed to good directions as the area we are in has a massive postcode and the Sat Nav takes you in any direction it likes.
It’s a lovely little site, and by the time we were set up the sun was out and it was getting nicely warm.
After coffee we took the car for a trip to the small town of Stroud. Before that though we drove down a massive hill into the next village as we thought that was where our local pub is located. It was a stunning drive and we were in the bottom of a beautiful valley.
Alas, the pub, the Butcher Arms was heaving with punters, all the tables were full, both inside and out. As I only wanted to make a booking for later I thought we might have a chance, no chance, not today, nor tomorrow as they were fully booked. What the eck are people doing dining out on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday?
We carried on along the valley, climbed out and into a really, really beautiful village called Painswick. It was truly stunning and maybe while we are here we can take a look at it.
We carried onto Stroud and we found out that this is one hilly little town, with very little parking available, which meant we had to go around a few times before we found somewhere.
We found Stroud to be a very nice little place with a reputation for a café culture with a very friendly local community. It has actually been described as the Covent Garden of the Cotswolds by some eminent writer whose name escapes me.
We did see their friendliness, in fact we saw a man and a woman hug in the street and as we passed she said to him, “Tom, its lovely to see you, I haven’t seen you in ages”, now that’s taking being a good zombie to the highest level. We also saw some young men high fiving each other.
As we walked around we could see quite a few independent shops and Wendy even did a little outside browsing of the clothes rails, but as usual she didn’t buy anything.
Wendy was a little hungry so we found the local Wetherspoon’s bar and I ordered some loaded chips and a couple of drinks.
Fortified we walked up and down the streets and we found a nice little park near the church where youngsters were hanging out and being quite well behaved. This park led to a small park in the church grounds where we found the local down and out population drinking their body weight in cider and lager from tins, openly and not more than 100 metres from the police station. I guess they turn a blind eye to it as they tend to do with difficult customers!
We waked out of the town and I was determined to find the canal, which I eventually did. On the map it looked like a river but on close inspection it’s a canal that seems to have a large number of twists and turns in it.
After 90 minutes we drove back and through the again stunning Slad Valley dodging cyclists who seemed to like the challenge of these very long and winding hillside climbs.
As we approached the site when we arrived I did see another pub, so as tomorrows likely to be a washout with bad weather I thought to drive by there to see if we could book in and thankfully we could. So that’s us with a 5:00pm dinner table slot at the Foston’s Ash Inn!
We got back to the van at around 5:00 pm and after another coffee we set off for a walk in the woods down to the outskirts of the village below. We are camped right at the top of Slad Valley and it really is a very beautiful place. We walked in a circular route through the woods, picking the road on the return journey skirting the village whilst drooling at the beautiful homes that we passed. We both particularly liked the big house with the swimming pool alongside it.
We got back at 6:30 pm and while I listened to the cricket, hoping for Jimmy Anderson to take his 600th Test Wicket, Wendy made egg mayonnaise rolls and in particular made mine with onion, topped with grated cheese, which was another delight. Sadly it wasn’t to be for Jimmy as bad light stopped play. It might be a while longer for him to reach his milestone if the predicted weather comes along tomorrow as anticipated.
I think another early night is on the cards as the van might just be rocking and rolling in the small hours of tomorrow!
Storm Francis!!!
No Travelling
I forgot to say yesterday that when we crossed the Gloucestershire County line, at that exact spot we came across an airfield that was ram jammed with large aircraft that appeared to be parked up. There was every type of wide bodied, ocean going airliner known to man. It came to me this morning so I Googled it and I found out that it’s an ex RAF Airfield with an exceptionally long runway and its now called Cotswold Airport and on their website they actually advertise aircraft storage, well they do and its packed in all over the place.
I couldn’t park and get a picture because every possible nook and cranny had a car in it with aircraft enthusiast’s ogling at them.
Now onto last night and Storm Francis! Well he started off very gently, I thought I heard light rain at 3:00 am but at 4:00 am it was bouncing down, big style, it felt like the caravan roof wouldn’t hold out much longer. I got out of bed, found some ear plugs and went promptly back to sleep, that was until 6:00 am when the caravan began to rock.
It was now driving rain in a very heavy wind and I was in two minds, to go running or not. I figured not so I settled in with another cup of coffee and waited until Wendy was ready.
We went out at 08:30 and we had a challenged to attempt to get to the, what I think may one day be an, Oxbow Lake in the River Severn.
There didn’t seem to be any direct road to it but low and behold we did indeed get to a point on the river where I could give her a good look at. I was pleased we did too because there is a camp site there and it would be nice to come back one day and stay there and do some walking along the “Severn Way”.
From there we managed to follow the river all the way into the City of Gloucester. The river is quite splendid and the road ran along its banks in places where I could get out and take some photographs. Wendy was very keen for me to get one of a rainbow.
I really enjoyed that adventure and it was great to see a plan come together.
Then we were in Gloucester and I know absolutely nothing about the place, I don’t even know if it’s a town or a city. Well I found out it is indeed a city and it’s a very fine city, somewhere you’d do well to book in for a weekend treat.
First up we had to wait for a rain storm to pass before we paid for our parking, it absolutely banged it down for about 10 minutes and then the sun came out. We found our way into the city centre and we found it very pleasant, peaceful and although it was busy the streets were wide enough to give everyone a wide berth.
Our first stop was at a J.D. Wetherspoon establishment, The Regent, which we think was previously a cinema. I was hungry and fancied a bite to eat, Wendy didn’t take much persuasion and we both had a very nice bacon roll, I had coffee and Wendy had an orange juice and thanks to the Chancellor the whole lot came to a little over 3 quid!
I’ll say one thing, what I have seen about how J.D. Wetherspoon’s are managing their virus safety, they are doing it very well. There are crews of staff constantly wiping down with disinfectant and you can go visit the bathrooms without having to touch anything at all and all the sinks are exceptionally clean. All you have to do is find safe a table and order via the App and you’re good to go.
With our belly’s now satisfied we took a short walk to the Cathedral. I didn’t even know there was one here, there is and it is stunning, it is actually magnificent!!!
We were going to go inside it but the queue was quite established and it wasn’t going down fast enough. It was all inside but due to the virus it was a case of one out, one in, and people weren’t coming out fast enough. Never mind we walked all around it.
From there we went to a Beatrix Potter attraction which Wendy quite liked.
And from there we walked down to the River and then down to the docks. And what a splendid place it is. This is where the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal meets the River Severn at the northern end. This canal was once the broadest and deepest canal in the world and it is 16.5 miles long and was used to transport goods easier as it took out all the twists, bends and Oxbows of the River Severn. It re-joins the River Severn just past the town of Sharpness which is one of the most inland ports in Britain.
The docks area has been restored to make it a very nice tourist area like areas such as Liverpool and Salford Quays in Manchester have become. There is a blend of housing accommodation in old store buildings and with shops and department stores in others. It was quite a nice walk around as the sun was out now and while Wendy went into GAP to browse, as she likes to do, I bagged another J.D. Wetherspoon establishment, The Lord High Constable of England where I had a half pint of real ale, sat outside.
Before I had taken my first nip Wendy was back because Gap wasn’t up to her expectations.
We walked back through to the city and after we had established we had covered most of it we headed back to the caravan where on our return we found that the wind was just as wild, if not wilder.
Well I had to do it, I went out for my run and I got wet through and blown to death. I was exhausted running both up and down steep hills and I loved it. It was very hairy in the woods as there were some very large tree bows down, in fact quite a few were blocking the tracks. I have to admit I thought it best to leave the woods as it was just a bit too hairy and I made my way through the lower village. This meant that I had the steep hill to climb, but climb it I did.
I got back to the van and showered and as I sat listening to the cricket the van was being blown this way and that. That’s when Wendy concluded that the reason we are getting so much wind is because we are on the high point of two valleys, right on the ridge line, and she was right, that must be it.
Unperturbed we did indeed Eat Out to Help Out and it was a lovely treat. The food was really nice and the staff were all very efficient. In fact one waitress in particular was lovely but it was just such a shame we couldn’t see here face because of her mask, she did have lovely eyes mind.
We were both stuffed but Wendy did indeed managed to snaffle a takeout portion of Chocolate Brownie which she troffed no sooner had she gotten into her comfy clothes back at the caravan.
Tonight, I’m going to watch the cricket highlights and see Jimmy Anderson take his 600th test wicket and maybe have a wee whiskey to take in the last hours of the storm, or to make me sleep through it should it continue!!!
Laundry Day!
No Travelling
Well the night passed off without any issue and I never heard the wind but when I woke at 6:00 am it was quiet outside and it looked like the sun was breaking through.
I went running and this time I went across the road and up and down the Cotswold countryside, Wendy went out too but she went into the woods and didn’t much like it as it’s a very steep climb back up, very steep indeed. In fact I do remember her telling me that she walked her way back to the caravan.
I got back and after breakfast we went into town with 3 bags of washing. There’s roadworks bang in the middle of town, at a roundabout and it’s causing absolute chaos. I did get involved but thankfully I manged to accidently drop on the car park near the laundrette we were going to use.
We dragged the bags there only to find that a laundrette with about 20 machines only took pound coins, there wasn’t any option to use a card cash reader, nor was there a change machine. I left Wendy and high tailed it to the town centre and I luckily came across a Halifax Bank, my bank. I donned my facemask and went inside. There was one teller who was serving an 80 year lady through some transaction process which took an age. There were two boys between me and her.
After the transaction was completed the teller went on to tell the old lady that she is a very valued customer and they would like to call her to discuss her investment options, “Can we do it within the Month”, she said. I was hopping wild, the women is 80 years old, does she look like she needs investment guidance?
Next it’s the two boys, about 17 years old’ turn, with one of them clutching a bank card. Here goes, “My boss has asked for a statement about a month ago and it’s not arrived, can you give me a statement to take to him please? You know the answer don’t you, before I go on, here goes, again!
“I’m sorry I can’t tell you any details about an account that’s not yours!” Ggggggrrrrrrrr, I was almost incandescent with rage.
But here’s the best bit – on my eventual turn. I gave the teller a ten pound note and asked her for ten pound coins. “Do you have an account sir?” Ah-ha, I’ve got one! Was my answer. She replies, “That’s good, I’ll have to pay the ten pounds into your account before I can make the withdrawal”. Me, “I just want the cash, just swap the note for coins please.” You know the answer, “Sorry sir that’s not how it now works”.
OK I tell her just to take ten pounds out of my account, “Are you sure sir I can pay the ten pounds into your account”. Swear words are now forming because my parking ticket is ticking away faster than the bloody washing machine I hope to use.
Then, here’s the best bit, “I only have five pound coins sir, how can I give you the rest”, that swear word almost came straight out of my lips.
I say, “You are a bank aren’t you?”, “yes sir we are”, she replied, “But we are not a business bank and we don’t hold much cash”.
I lost the will to live and left with five pound coins, three pounds in 50p’s and two pound in 20p’s.
Thankfully the large washing machine I used only needed £4.20, phew!
When the washing was up and running I went back into town and bought some new trainers from Sports Direct, this turned out to be a simple process. I also nipped into Iceland for some provisions, again problem free.
Back at the laundrette and the washing was still on the go, of course there was no indication of how long the wash would take, beacuse that would be too helpful. So I went into the café next door to buy a coffee for me and Wendy, to drink outside in the sun.
Here we go again!
Me, “Two black coffees please.” The lady says, “Any sugar?” Me, “Yes, one in one and two in the other”.
Me, quickly following on, “Not too strong please.” Her reply, “Sorry I can only give you a shot.” I was going to say, “Well everyone else can do it”, but I declined and said, “I don’t suppose you have Nescafe instant?”
She than says, “Oh you want Nescafe?” Me, “Yes please.” Her, “Well you’ll have to go somewhere else then.” The cheeky cow!
I was going to buy some cake but I thought that she could go and bugger, the rude cow, and her coffee was the worst I have ever tasted!
Somehow we managed to put three carrier bags and the detergent container in with the washing and by now I was wondering what else could go wrong!
Thankfully nothing, phew!
After hanging up the washing back at the caravan we took a ride to Sharpness to see where the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and the River Severn start their interaction.
I’m really interested in this canal and I might just have to come back to cycle its entire 16 miles length.
The canal opened in 1827 because the River Severn was especially treacherous below Gloucester. In 1793 Midland’s industrialists together with merchants and other influential residents of Gloucester obtained an Act to construct a ship canal between Gloucester and Berkeley to bypass this bottleneck. Sea-going ships would be able to reach Gloucester.
The canal opened in 1827 — at 86ft 6in wide and 18ft deep, taking craft of 600 tons (with maximum dimensions 190ft long and 29ft wide), it was the biggest canal in England, a true ship canal. During the following decades, several large warehouses and a dry dock were built at Gloucester. The debt to the Commissioners was eventually repaid in 1850, though dividends were not paid until the 1860s.
With the increasing size of ships, particularly steamers, the entrance at Sharpness was seen to be inadequate. A new entrance and dock was opened in 1874. New warehouses were erected, both at Sharpness and Gloucester. Further improvements were made at Sharpness in the 1890s.
The docks and canal continued busy through to the 1960s, an important new cargo being oil and petroleum. However, as had always been the case, imports considerably exceeded exports. Sharpness docks are still active, though there is now little commercial traffic on the canal itself.
We walked around a small picnic park at the spot where the canal joins the River Severn and as the sun was out it was just lovely. We could even see the Severn Bridges which cross into Wales in the distance to the south.
From there we drove to a spot called Purton where we crossed the canal to take a short stroll, the weather was still nice at 23 degrees.
On the way back to the caravan we called into the nearby village of Painswick and it was really interesting. The buildings are stunning, mostly made of Cotswold stone, but the streets are narrow so we didn’t hang around. The church was yet another stunner!
Back at the van I cooked cod fillets on the BBQ and it was yet another delight.
Its moving day tomorrow, we are west ward bound, but not into Wales, take a guess Avid Reader, Bank Holiday is fast approaching and we need to settle somewhere nice!
I Do Like a Micro Pub, but?
29 Miles
It was a bit misty when I set off for my run this morning, Wendy didn’t want to go because she doesn’t like the hills and the roads. That’s fair enough you do have to have your wits about you for the first 400 metres as I have to run along the main road until I can get to a smaller and quieter road. Cars speed past on the road at an alarming rate and I have to say that women are just as silly with their speed as their male counterparts.
The sun burnt the mist off and by the time I was back at the caravan I had a good old dab on, I was dripping actually!
After a lovely smoothie I was in the shower when Wendy took a call from her brother Ian about something Granddad had been upto, I could only hear the Ums and R’s but I got this gist that Grandad had done something that didn’t sit well with Wendy and Ian.
As I dried off from the shower I could hear the pitter, patter of rain on the caravan so I double timed my dressing procedure and I had the van ready for the road before you could say, “Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Head.”
We were heading Westwards, past Gloucester and onto Ross on Wye a mere 29 miles away. Thankfully the Sat Nav sent us in the opposite direction of Stroud which was a blessing as the narrow streets and tight parking would have made for a difficult driving experience.
As we drove the drizzle turned into a torrent of rain and by the time we reached the campground the heavens had truly opened and it was banging it down.
The site we are on is a big site, because of the Bank Holiday it’s all that I could find.
I had to jump through so many Covid 19 procedures to stay here, I had to pay a £50 deposit by bank transfer I then received an email two days ago where I had to solemnly declare, by return email that me or anyone within my party had done or not done, A, B, C, or D with regards to visits to certain countries, coughs, high temperatures, etc, etc.
As we approached the site there were warning notices galore about not accepting drive byes, bookings only please, Covid this, Covid that, blah, blah, blah!
My instructions were clear, drive through the gate, do not get out of the car and wait for the park warden. Sure enough a man appeared on a quad bike. Got off his bike and walked right upto my window and asked me to wind it down.
Give me strength!!! Some people can’t practice what they indeed preach!
I opened my window to the barest fraction of a millimetre and he had to shout at me.
He took us to our camp pitch and then proceeded to tell me everything that was obvious to me, like where the electrical hook up is, where the tap is and where the waste points are, all of which were in clear view.
The rain didn’t let up and I got soaked setting up while Wendy sheltered in the van.
After a cup of coffee we walked into town, wrapped in our jackets and with an umbrella for each of us.
Thankfully this camp site is in a little oasis of a place within an industrial estate on the outskirts of town. It’s really nice, we have a couple of lakes and there is grass everywhere, and it’s only a short walk into town, and even better, we have a Morrison’s store at the end of the estate.
We walked all over town which we know has a reputation for small independent shops and stores and as we saw, indeed it does. I think you could buy almost anything in the world from an independent shop in Ross on Wye.
We found the 16th Century Market House which is a focal point in the town centre, sadly when we got there the stall holders had just packed up, perhaps the rain had dampened peoples shopping intentions.
We walked all around the streets, the rain wasn’t stopping us, but then there wasn’t any wind so we weren’t getting too wet. We found the old town walls and some bars we fancied. The church of Saint Mary is a prominent backdrop to the town and we had a good look at her, although they have the builders in making some access improvements.
We happened upon a Wetherspoon establishment, The Mail Room, where I had a pint of real ale and Wendy had a glass of wine. It was another safe bar so we sat comfortably on our own in a corner of the pub, with me watching the rain run off the roofs of the shops opposite.
Back out on the streets Wendy put her mask on and went into a curiosity shop as she quite liked a shopping bag in the window, she was back ten minutes later having talked herself out of buying the bag because she didn’t know where she would use it. I guess there’s some female logic in there, but I couldn’t fathom it.
We had passed a Micro pub which I fancied and it is quite close to Morrison’s but as we returned at 3:40 pm it wasn’t open, it was a ten minute wait so we did a bit of shopping for supper in the supermarket. We got back to the bar and as I was about to go in I could see one man sat down with his pint and one silly old man walking around whilst trying to roll a cigarette. I opened the door and he went to his table where his drink was then he came back and started pacing around again. The owner was behind the bar watching all this.
I closed the door and Wendy who was behind me asked me why we weren’t going in, I pointed to matey and I said look at him, he’s an idiot and can’t be trusted. And here’s the thing, if idiots don’t care about their own safety, then they sure aren’t going to care about yours, so you have to care for yourself, if you’re not happy then walk away and despite me liking a Micro Pub, it’s just not worth my good health.
The owner gave me a pleading look as I closed the door but I shook my head, he really should have had matey under control, well if he wants my trade he has to, maybe I’ll pop in in the coming days and tell him so. I know, I am such a Yorkshire Man!
The rain stopped the moment we got back to the van and while Wendy washed off the shopping as per standard Gill procedure I washed as much of the dirt I could from the front of the van.
We sat around reading the newspaper and listening to Dearne FM while eating crusty bread brought from an independent shop and nibbling olives and drinking a nice glass of white wine.
Wendy prepped the veg and I cooked a very tasty chicken tikka fish curry using some of the left over cod from yesterday and some prawns, mussels and cockles which we bought in Morrison’s, it was actually a triple delight and the rustic bread made it even more so!
After supper we took a stroll around the camp site as the rain had moved well away and we only needed our jumpers, thankfully.
It’s another early to bed for me tonight, its Matts last show in the morning and I want to hear it all from start to finish, that’s 06:00 to 10:00. I’m going to miss his good humour in the mornings, but thankfully he has managed to keep his job with the new owners of the Radio Station albeit not as a presenter!
The Forest of Dean
No Travelling
I was awake at 5:50 and I did indeed tune into Dearne FM and hear my mate Matt’s final show. He got off to a great start while I had my breakfast. Wendy got up, had some tea and immediately got dressed and was out running before I was anywhere near ready.
But I was out by 7:30 and I ran up hill for a few miles and then my phone signal appeared to run out and I lost the radio. I waited for it to come back but it never did. I checked my phone and I had four bars and a 3G signal but it wasn’t strong enough to get my radio station back. I high tailed it back to the campsite where I would have to run around the camp ground so that I could use the WiFi in order to get Matt back.
And that did the trick. I logged straight onto the WiFi, got Matt on and ran around the camp for another four miles. It actually wasn’t too bad as the sites perimeter is well over half a mile long, I did get a few funny looks mind!
His last show was a topper and he sounded a little tearful when he signed off, I’ll miss him, I’ve been running with him for a few years now as I like his sense of humour.
Wendy was washed and done by the time I got back and after my smoothie we set off for a day in the car exploring the Forest of Dean.
I don’t know much about the Forest of Dean, but while I was at the Fire Service College which is further to the east of the County, the locals there used to look down on people from the Forest as some kind of sub-human population and they were often the butt of their jokes.
I do know that in the 17th Century there was an abundance of coal mining in existence, not deep mine pits but deep enough to need a shaft and the dangers associated with that.
The smaller pits and by now some much deeper pits died out after the second world war as maintaining pumps to keep them dry became just too expensive, most likely because they were working old systems of operation which didn’t bring enough profitable coal out. I do know there are a few small mines still open, these are worked by “Free Miners” which is a trade that has been carried out for many centuries, in fact it is still covered as a right for traditional foresters by an Act of Parliament.
For our day out I found a circular route from Ross on Wye down to Coleford, Parkend and onto Lydney which is close to the Severn Estuary. The return trip took us to a very small hamlet called Awre upto Upper Soudley, Cinderford and finally Ruarden before returning to the camp.
We entered the Forest of Dean just a few miles out from Coleford and we found it to be a stunning forest with mainly English type trees, Oak, Chestnuts etc. It was stunning, and absolutely beautiful.
Our first stop was in the pretty, small town of Coleford where we took a walk around the shops. We bought some pork slices and some forest sausages from a very jolly butcher who had arranged his butchers shop so that he had a temporary chiller range the full length of his window, with all his meats on display. I then stood by the door and spoke to him through a Perspex screen where we concluded a business transaction.
The pork had a bone running through it so for each slice he had to hack at it with his meat chopper, from a great height. Jeepers I was worried I was going to get more than sausage with the pork!
There was a stone tower in the middle of the town but there wasn’t any description of why it was there. I later found that this part of the town was built around an octagonal open plan in 1820 with a church at its centre. However the church was pulled down in 1882 because it was now too small for the congregation and the tower was saved and it then became the town’s clock tower! The new church was built elsewhere!
The next stop was in Parkend, which is the end of the line for a small, volunteer run rail service that runs to the coast, unfortauanlty it only operates on Wednesday and at the weekend. The sun was out and it was really warm now and after a nice visit to the train station we called in for a beer in a very nice pub, The Fountain Inn. The pub was so nice I would love to live in a village that had such a lovely establishment at its heart.
We sat in the sun garden and there was an older couple with 3 large dogs, just after the fella went for more drinks a younger man came into the garden with two large Alsatians. It was turmoil, the dogs were straining on their leads and going berserk and the women could barely hold her three dogs in check. It was not an unforeseen event because as the lad walked down the steps to the garden all of the dogs set off, going for one another, he really should have just not gone in, never mind try to walk past her. Thankfully we were just heading off so we left them to it.
Next stop was Lydney where I think the less said the better, it wasn’t upto much and it wasn’t much improved by the flower pots that were made from old oil containers that adorned the river wall.
Now Lydney Old Dock, a few more miles along, was very nice, it’s very run down but they are working to bring it upto some semblance of a decent visitor attraction. The dock is a small marina type place but it has a gate at its entrance with the Severn Estuary and a couple more a little further inland and as it’s fed by a small incoming river the dock remains flooded even when the tide is out in the estuary. They really should have done this at Queenborough, as Granddad Bryan recently alluded to.
This would have been done when the dock was a fully functioning port many years ago when sea going boats landed their cargo. The Dockers would have been able to work around the clock and not worry about the state of the tide!
From this point we could see a huge storm raging across the estuary, it was immense with thunder and lightning.
Our next stop was at Awre where we found a small hamlet of very nice house’s with one ancient church. We walked around the church grounds and the cemetery and I was amazed to find a headstone with the date of October 1664!
We slowly drove back over what can only be described as a very hilly area of the forest but it was just as beautiful as what we had seen so far. Alas the heavens opened so we just drove through the town of Cinderford which did look to have suffered from economic decline over recent years.
Just be before we got to the camp site I called in for some provisions at Morrison’s which was mobbed with people and I did some extreme zombie dodging with my virus filter, FFP3 Facemask on. Boy did I liberally apply sanitizer before I got back in the car, I almost bathed in the stuff.
Supper was one pork slice and one forest sausage with salad and it was lovely.
It’s been a cracking days adventure, as I have already said the Forest of Dean is stunning, we covered over 55 miles in a circular direction and we were amazed at its beauty and I would very much recommend a visit if you have the time!
Hereford Cathedral
No Travelling
Well that was another good night’s rest with me waking up some time around 6:15am. I laid quietly for about a half hour before getting up and having breakfast. Again Wendy was up soon after and was out running before me yet again. I think it’s because I do more miles than her that she can just jump out of bed and get going, I have to carefully prepare, well I am an athlete!
It was a much nicer morning and the sun was out with just a bit of a breeze. I’ve stopped thinking about the hills and just put my head down and keep going up them. In fact today it was hugely beneficial because I came across a lovely hamlet with stunning country views.
I got back to the caravan and I saw a couple around my age, in the caravan three rows back from us, doing a joint exercise routine together outside their caravan. They were doing like an exact dance routine and, if I can put this politely, they didn’t look like they did much exercising.
I also saw that the Pitta Hut, which is a small food trailer just across from us, was open. There wasn’t any customers queuing so I thought I would have something. Wendy was in the shower so I shouted to her asking if she had had her breakfast yet. She replied that she had, and asked me why I had asked her.
“I’m going to get a breakfast pitta bread”, I replied. “Get me one too, a bacon one please”, was her reply to me!
So off I went in my sweaty gear and I ordered a bacon and egg wholemeal pitta and a double bacon one for Wendy too. I asked for a ten minute ready window as I needed to cool down and change and sure enough when I went over they were just ready.
We sat out in the sunshine and ate them and they were as tasty as tasty can be, on a yummy, scrummy scale of one to ten they were a twelve, they really were that nice.
Before my shower, I went to empty the grey water container at the grate in the middle of the field and I passed the exercise caravan and would you believe they were still at it, this time doing some synchronised routine with sticks in their hands, they looked really silly. I almost had to cover my eyes with my hands so as to provide an embarrassment shield. I had gotten back at 9:45 and they were still at it at 11:00, they cannot do that as a regular routine and still look as unfit as they do, or they hit the cakes as soon as they are done!
I told Wendy to go and fill my water bottle at the tap, I told her to go see what was happening over at that caravan, because you couldn’t see it directly from our caravan. Well she was gobsmacked at what she saw, and then she watched them constantly until we left for the day.
After a shower and a shave I did a little admin and I booked a camp site just north of Morecombe Bay for in a week or so’s time. Next I need to start into Cumbria as I fancy a trip around the coastline there too.
Not long after we were in the car heading to the City of Hereford which was about 19 miles away.
I had two things I wanted to do first up before any tourist activity could commence. The first was to secure some caravan towing wing mirrors as my old ones don’t fit the new car, although I can see reasonably well. The second was to get an oil change for the car.
I got neither, we couldn’t find the caravan store and Kiwk Fit were fully booked.
That last one was a bugger because that was also my car parking options for the afternoon, leave it with them and walk into town.
Never mind I found a car park close enough to the city so it wasn’t too far to walk.
After parking we headed through a passage which directed us to the city and we came out in the High street, on market day, it was mobbed!
Social Distancing seems to be two random words accidently put together and not some aspect of crucial safety from a deadly virus to the people of Hereford, they were going about their business like it was last summer!
We did not hang about, instead we took the back streets, which are far quieter to Hereford Cathedral.
We found it easily and safely enough, well it is hard to miss.
The cathedral was also open to the public, albeit with a restricted one way system, but it worked quite well so in we went. It’s another really lovely church on the inside and I enjoyed the arcetecture that much I even lit a candle.
From there we found a riverside walk, it wasn’t far but it was nice and we found a footbridge to get back over to the city side.
As we got over the bridge there was an ice cream van and I bought a double flake, large ice cream. Wendy didn’t want one but I did give her a lick of mine and a flake. I have to say this was the best, soft, creamy ice cream that I had had in a very long time, it was a real delight.
We had another skirmish with the High Street, but managed to dodge everyone we needed to. It was a shame we couldn’t get the full High Street experience because the markets looked to be selling some interesting things, never mind, safety first!
I followed the Wetherspoon App to find the nearest bar and we were soon there, and it was busy and there was a queuing system in place.
I persuaded Wendy to join the queue as there was only one couple in front.
It was our turn to go inside and I have to say it was all very safely managed. We found a very safe table, near the door, logged onto track and trace using the QR Reader and ordered our drinks online. The only problem we had was that we were on table 9 and not as we thought, table 6!
Whilst queuing we saw a very elderly man successfully evade security and sneak in to the pub. When we got in we found him at the table next to ours fast asleep without even a drink, the scoundrel!
We walked back to the car and we drove back to the camp site by way of very small country roads and we followed the River Wye as best we could and it was a really lovely drive, the views were again stunning.
Supper was another Wendy Chicken delight and 7:00 pm came and went but I didn’t manage to persuade Wendy to undertake a camp ground walk before we settled down for the night, so I went on my own. The place is getting full and folk are having a good time, so much so the two next door are almost pickled, well it is bank holiday weekend I guess!
Moving day tomorrow, I’m excited as there is something I have wanted to see for many years and tomorrow, hopefully I’ll get to see it!
The Industrial Revolution
72 Miles
I woke up at 05:02 this morning, I know the exact time because I was crippled with cramp in my left calf. Jeepers it was painful!!! I tried to massage it out as best I could without waking Wendy, which I thankfully did. I tried to nod off again but the trouble with cramp is that it lingers and needs to be worked out over a period of time so I snook out of bed with the utmost stealth and I had my breakfast without disturbing Wendy.
I was just getting ready to go running when Wendy indeed did wake up and after getting her, her morning tea, which was most appreciated, I was dressed and ready to go. I’m glad I did because I saw a most stunning sunrise, it was wonderful!
I managed to find the River Wye and I got some lovely early morning shots.
Oh, I forgot to mention that as I left the caravan the lady in the camper opposite us must have been awoken by her dog for a toilet break because she opened her accommodation door in the briefest of nightwear with the most unkemptness of appearance I have ever seen a women in the morning allow a man to see. You should have seen the look on her face when she opened the door and chucked the tiny dog out before looking up and following the feet in front of her, right up to my face. She could not close that door fast enough and the poor dog was left to fend for itself.
The river was looking fantastic in the morning sunshine and I even came across Wendy Gill most unexpectedly!
Back at the caravan I had my banana smoothie because I was so early that the Pitta Van wasn’t open for business so I couldn’t get my double sausage sarnie as planned.
Wendy was disappointed that, what she now calls the “Gym Bunnies”, were not doing their routine, in fact as we pulled off site with the caravan I could see the man of the team cooking bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms, hash browns, tomatoes, beans, black pudding and fried bread on his outside hot plate, I kid you not I saw it all going on.
I said yesterday that they looked unlikely athletes and the saying there’s nothing queer as folk rings true as far as they are concerned.
On the road we had a really nice drive to our new site, the sun was shining and we passed through some really beautiful countryside and we were on our new site within 2 hours.
It’s a lovely site, we are over looked by a full field of sheep and it’s like being back to nature. It is however a bit too much back to nature for Wendy because the grass in our camp has not been cut for at least a month, and it’s about 9 inches long.
Wendy hates long grass because there are creepy crawlies in it waiting to get her and I had to laugh as she went about her normal routine of filling the water butts up while I sorted the caravan out. She was running and hopping as she went with a 60 litre water butt and a short length of hose pipe in her hand, it was very amusing indeed.
After a coffee break we took a ride to get some supplies and the Sainsbury’s we went to were a model of safety for shopping during the pandemic. We were going to have smoked salmon and cream cheese for supper but because the weather was so good we just had to have a bbq. To this end I bought fillet steak, pork skewers and king prawns, and new potatoes for Wendy.
From there we went to the place I have wanted to go to for a very long time, Ironbridge!!!
Ironbridge village takes its name from the very famous bridge that was built in the 1770’s by the Grandson of Abraham Darcy who first perfected the smelting of iron with coke. This was deemed to be the starting point of the industrial revolution, however, the industrial revolution did not begin in any one place. Darby's iron smelting was but one small part of this generalised revolution and was soon superseded by the great iron-smelting areas. However, the bridge – being the first of its kind fabricated from cast iron, and one of the few which have survived to the present day – remains an important symbol representative of the dawn of the industrial age.
This is an important area of history for me, because I am the last Coal Face Coal Miner of a long line of a very hardworking coal mining family. Both my father, my grandfather and my grandmother’s father were of Yorkshire coal mining stock and we most likely went back to an age before the Industrial Revolution, in fact I will go as far as to say that my forefathers drove the Industrial Revolution. As testament to this I can confirm the sacrifices that my forefathers made as my Grandfather worked underground from the age of 13 until the date of his retirement at the age of 65 and that my Grandmothers father is entombed in the Old Barnsley Main Colliery Workings which is close to Barnsley town centre. This resulted in my Grandmother and her Mum and sisters being subjected to the disgrace of having to be relocated to a Poor House.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poorhouse
This in particular makes me cross whenever Scottish Nationalist’s mention that Scottish Oil is theirs, for me unity is not a moment in time but is really the test of time and that from time to time we all need someone to pull the weight when others can’t.
Phew, now that’s off my chest I can go on to mention the lovely BBQ I cooked while I watched a stonking England v Pakistan 20 x 20 Cricket match. I’m sure some may have been worried by the total amassed by Pakistan who opened the game with their innings, but England with Johnny Bairstow opening and the Captain Owen Morgan being on top form we romped to victory.
Tomorrow is Bank Holiday Monday, the 31st of August which is the last day of the metrological summer season and I intend to make the most of it. We are booked into the mid afternoon session at the Smoky Cow Restaurant and we are certainly going to Eat out to Help and make the most of the last of the Chancellors generosity, well we ought to because we will be paying for it in the long run!
Eat Out to Help Out – Duty Done!!!
No Travelling
Well we had a lovely night’s sleep, I did anyway, we left the front blind open and it was lovely to wake up and see the sheep nibbling the morning grass. In fact if it’s possible I want to come back as a sheep because all they do all day long is eat, sleep and then eat some more. Chuck in a bottle of wine and it would be my idea of heaven, well apart from that bit about ending up as a Sunday lunch.
Again Wendy was out running before me and I followed, jeepers it was a lovely but much cooler morning and it was great because we are now located in a tiny hamlet where we are blessed with quiet country lanes. I went on my run blissfully aware that I didn’t have to doge cars or zombies, I saw no one and nothing apart from lovely countryside. I did get lost mind, twice. The first I could understand as I was following my Strava mapping and I was looking for a road which turned out to be a bridle path, but when I worked that out I was fine and on the right track. On this bridle path I crossed a ford, there was a small bridge so I didn’t get my feet wet. The water was so clean and fresh looking that I filled my water bottle with its water which was sweeter than any highland spring water.
I then got lost again and I had to take the main road for a half mile, I do not know what went wrong but it wasn’t a problem.
Back at the van, the two other site residents were packing up and leaving so it looks like we will have this lovely field to ourselves, well hopefully.
I had to nip to Argos to change a damaged item I had bought yesterday and the queue was huge, but thankfully it went down pretty quickly.
After a coffee with Wendy back at the van we headed for the nearby village of Shifnel which is four miles away.
Shifnel is a lovely small town, or large village depending on your point of view, but very few of the town’s shops were open which Wendy found a little disappointing. She actually liked a dress in a shop window but I bet anyone five pounds that she won’t go and buy it tomorrow, I know, because I know what she’s like.
We had to be back for 2:00 pm as we were going to walk 3 miles to a pub that I had managed to find for the last Eat out to Help out experience.
As we got back a little earlier I mended the BBQ that I had accidently drove over as I headed out to Argos, I went straight over it because I lit it away from the caravan has I didn’t want the smoke to pester us. This is the best portable BBQ that I have ever had and Wendy Ann Gill was slightly amused when I ran it over, she actually sniggers when I mention it. But fear not D.G. has knocked it into shape and she’s good to go for my next BBQ, which might be some time soon.
We walked to the pub, the weather was sunny and sometimes a little cloudy, but it was never cold.
It was a lovely walk and I told Wendy some stories from my coal mining days, I thought I was being interesting and that she might be interested to hear them, but on questioning her it was quite apparent that I had bored her to death, jeepers she is so insular sometimes.
The restaurant, the Smokey Cow was a big smoked meat, grill type venue and it was absolutely perfect.
We started by sharing a portion of burnt belly pork ends which were cooked to perfection. Wendy could not put them in her mouth fast enough, however they were volcanic hot and she almost burnt her mouth on her first intake. I had no such problems as I had an asbestos mouth.
My pint of bear was lovely and so was the wine that Wendy had chosen.
We both had the same main, 16 hour smoked brisket, with chips and coleslaw, now this was really well cooked meat, it was melt in the mouth stuff. The chips and the coleslaw was lovely too.
We had two couples with two babies behind us, in accordance with correct distance procedures, but when they left they left dirty baby wipes on the floor along with food that the nippers had thrown from their high chairs. It was disgusting and very unfair on the staff who had to clean up after them.
Wendy asked for a chocolate tart to take out which was added to our bill, but as the sun was shining we rearranged the bill to take in another bottle of wine which we drink safely as we tucked ourselves up on the upper seating area.
Before we left I spoke with the General Manager and I told her that we had had a very nice dining experience and that the food had been a delight, she was very pleased that I had done so, I guess from the way some people treat them it was nice for her to get some praise.
We walked home with a lovely sunny and cloudy sky, we missed the turn off again and we had to walk along the main road again. Wendy could not understand were we went wrong, just has I had done this morning. I am thinking there is a hidden Doctor Who Worm Hole somewhere along that lane and it sucks us up and spits us out somewhere close to the man road.
It’s been a perfect Bank Holiday Monday, I do like an August Bank Holiday, actually I like Spring Bank Holiday too, it’s a shame we don’t have them in Scotland, we have the 2nd January though, how good is that, it’s dark at 9:00 am and again at 3:00 pm, who thought that to be the ideal bank holiday day?
As we haven’t had any new campers we have this field all to ourselves and it’s quiet and just divine.
Oil Change!
No Travelling
I woke at 05:59 and I was out of bed before the clock hit 06:00 because I had an 11:00 appointment with a garage for an oil change for the car.
I had my breakfast, watched a little news on TV and went out running at 07:00 and Wendy never stirred. I even left her a note so she knew I hadn’t been kidnapped in the night.
It was a really lovely, sunny morning and I set out to find the River Severn, I had an idea of where to go but I had no idea what I would find when I got there.
I ran along the main road for just under a mile then I took a small country lane which wound through beautiful countryside. As I got to about two miles I saw a huge house in the mist which I correctly guessed was as a result of the River.
I got to three miles and there was a stunning country house, which must have been worth mega millions, right in front of my nose.
The tarred road stopped there but there was a field full of cows and their calves but the gate was wide open and one calf was out of the paddock and eating the grass which looked far tastier than the grass in his field.
I went through the gate and ran down a rough track to the four mile point, I passed a man walking a Labrador and he didn’t seem to be put out with me being there so I carried on. At four miles I could not see the river so I carried on until I came to an eerie metal gate which lead into a woodland. I thought that going through there might be a step too far so I turned around to come back and in doing so I saw a short track which I knew would lead me to the river, and it did indeed!
I sat for a while and watched the water running past me, it was actually flowing quite quickly and it looked very clean and somehow peaceful.
I got back to the gate where I dutifully rounded up the stray calf, I got him back into his field and closed the gate, thankfully no other calves had followed him. That was my return good deed in light of my potential trespass onto private land.
Back at the van I found Wendy all washed and dressed, she’d not felt upto going out today so she had had her breakfast and relaxed in the sunshine.
After my smoothie we set off for the garage which we found reasonably easy.
It wasn’t as close to the town as I thought it might be so I asked the mechanic which direction the town was in. Well I may have well have asked to eat his lunch, he was so taken aback.
“You can’t walk to town from here”.
Apparently it was too far, but we did indeed walk, it was 2.7 miles to be exact and it took us 50 minutes!
When we arrived I was astounded, there was no traditional town centre! The town is covered by a shopping centre and there are no outside shops of any description.
I stopped and asked a man where the town was, “There isn’t one mate, this is it”, was his reply as he pointed to the shopping centre.
We found a Wetherspoon Bar and I was asked several questions by a safety conscious young man who was minding the door. Any coughs, high temps etc sir?, and this one made me laugh. Pointing at Wendy who was sitting down at an outside table, he said, “Do you both share the same household?” I said mate, we’ve shared it for almost 33 years. At which point he laughed and asked me to complete the track and trace procedure.
As I drunk my beer in the sunshine outside I Googled all about Telford and I found that it is indeed a new town which was formed in the late sixties by the merger of several smaller towns with the town centre being completely developed inside. The town was also named after the famous Scottish Engineer, Thomas Telford, although I undertstand that this name as not been widely accepted and some pople sill use their old address from their old town.
The shopping centre looks pretty modern so it must have been refurbished at some point recently. There are restaurants which can be accessed from outside incorporated into the centre and there is a cinema, a bowling alley and even an ice rink.
From my Strava App I could see on the map that there was a large park close by so we took a walk around it, it was another stunner with several water features and lots of play grounds with all types of swings, slides and climbing apparatus and they were all mobbed with little kids.
Pandemic, what pandemic? I do hope their parents aren’t the ones who are afraid to let their kids go back to school because as they sat in the sun their kids, as kids do unsupervised ran, around and climbed all over each other.
As the sun kept shinning and after a full circuit of the Fair we made our way back to the garage.
In all we had completed a walk of 7.7 miles.
The original mechanic wasn’t in, but I knew his name, it was Chris.
After I had paid another mechanic I told him to tell Chris that we had indeed walked to town and back. This new mechanic said, “Chris told me you were going to do that, are you mad, I never walk anywhere unless I am on holiday”. He seemed considerably shocked that we had walked into town, and he had the assembled pensioners in the waiting room in fits of giggles at his surprise.
With the car back in our possession I drove a short way to a small town called Wellington where we found yet another Wetherspoon Bar.
We walked around the town centre which my Strava App counted as being one mile in length before we settled in for another pint of real ale, I had a pint of Spitfire and it was lovely.
Back at the van we had a delightful supper of toasted French bread with smoked salmon with one slice with cream cheese with the salmon and on the other one we had it on scrambled egg, it was very nice indeed.
It seems we have another night with the field all to ourselves and its bliss.
Moving day tomorrow, we are bound for the Chester area!
One of Those Days!!!
72 Miles
I watched the Twenty – Twenty cricket last night care of Alex’s Sky web package. England lost but only on the last ball, the fact that the Captain was run out as he’d just started his innings wasn’t the best way for a younger player to start his career, but that’s what happened.
We had a stonking moon too, but the caravan front window was a bit mucky and I couldn’t leave the cricket so the shot on offer may not be the best, but at least it is a full moon!
It was a really lovely morning this morning and both I and Wendy went running. Wendy went to see the big house that I found yesterday and she loved it. I went on a circuit around the pub we went to on Monday and I got lost on the route, the thing is is that the village is just so beautiful that I’m looking at all the houses and I miss my turn offs. Not to bother I did like exploring the village.
I came across the school bus on the tightest of tight country lanes. It was so tight that I had to impress myself into the hedge in order for the bus to pass. I got a real hardly wave from the bus driver who seemed grateful that I had allowed him safe passage.
Back at base and the sun was beaming and warm. I had my smoothie and I managed to eek out the last of the water as Wendy thought there might just be enough for me to shower. There was, I did extreme water saving and kept turning the shower off to save water only to find that when we decamped there was loads left!
We went to the farm shop to buy milk fresh from the cow. It was a few miles down the road but when we got there they had forgot to put on their huge banner that I needed to take my own container, and we had only this morning thrown the last one we had in the bin, so I never got my fresh cow’s milk!
Back at the camp site I tried to turn the caravan around using the caravans mover only to get bogged down by the soft ground and long grass. I should have known at that point that this was going to be one of those days.
Unperturbed I managed to get the car and caravan hooked up and we were on our way, north bound upto Chester.
The rain started as just small spitter to start with, then the wipers had to go a little faster and then a little later they were on double wipe, it was raining that badly. Thankfully the journey was simple enough and we were on site at 12:30.
The rain had eased a little and I pulled into the sites car park.
This is an interesting place. We are in the country about 5 miles south of Chester and they have old farm buildings where there is a café, a farm shop, a garden nursery, a garden shed shop and an antiques business.
I had had emails between the owner and me and I had paid a deposit, the last one said something like, “Looking forwards to seeing you on the 2nd”.
But the shops are all closed as they are being refurbished the only fella open was the antique shop so I went in and asked him about where to park the caravan.
Me, “Are you anything to do with the caravan park as I need to park up?”
Him, “No and they aren’t here today, park where you like”
Me, “How do I pay the rest of my site fees?”
Him, “I can take it for them.”
Me, “Don’t worry, I’ll get in touch with the owners”.
So I parked up on pitch number four, only one other, number 3 was taken.
The rain started again but I had her on site and all levelled and fitted out just before the rain got really heavy.
After a cup of coffee we took a ride to the nearby village to see what they have and we were happy to see that there’s pubs and shops there so if needed we would be ok.
We then took a ride into Chester as we needed some supplies and so I programmed the Sat Nav for the address of a Wetherspoon bar. Well it was a wet day and we could bag one while we were shopping.
The Sat Nav took me to the exact spot and the pub was nowhere to be seen.
I then used to Wetherspoon App to find the location and we manged to find a multi-story carpark close by. We could not find our way out of that dam carpark, there were no instructions and after going up and down some tight stairways I took the decision to walk out the same way the car came in, it was a tight for the cars but thankfully no one came in our out as we walked up the slip way.
Next on the list was that the pub was not in the location as shown on the App. We were in the exact same spot but it was a doctor’s surgery.
I saw a young women and asked her for directions, thankfully she knew where it was and off we went, we had actually walked within 50 metres of it.
The rain was by now bucketing down and we were glad when we got to the door. However we were thwarted yet again because the doorman said that he wasn’t allowed to let anyone else in as the pub was full to its safe level. I said, “Mate, I’ve driven ten miles to get here”, I was only joking, it’s good they are being so careful. He was most apologetic and I asked him when we could go in and he replied when the manager says I can let you.
With that we headed to Tesco and then came back to the camp.
Back in the van I checked my emails and I had an email from the owner of the camp site. I’m not going into it in detail but here’s the bullets points:
Its plot 4 and I need to move onto plot 1 in the morning.
Someone in this caravan is not happy!!!
Never mind we have to be patient in this strange new world, but they could have sent me a message telling me how to sort myself out on their site knowing they wouldn’t be here. Actually they were here, but she was in the closed café which is behind a rope line barrier that says no entry, working upstairs, a sign would have been helpful, something like campers this way please!!!!
Thankfully the pork joint that we had with new potatoes, Brussel sprouts and carrots was a delight and it calmed Wendy down.
I’m watching Sky News and I can see that the Russian’s have been at it again, isn’t Vladimir Putin such a nasty piece of work, and there’s a pandemic going on too, jeepers, it could all end in tears yet!!!
A Much Better Day!
No Travelling
I woke at around 04:00 am to the pitter patter of light rain on the caravan roof and I tossed and turned from there until I got up at 06:00. Thankfully the rain had stopped but it was very overcast when I went out. Wendy stayed in bed as it was too wet for her to go out, she doesn’t like big puddles she told me!
It was a very warm morning though and I was a little overdressed and started sweating form the start.
I ran to the nearest village, Tattenhall and from there I managed to find the Shropshire Union Canal. And what a stonker it is, The Shropshire Union Canal runs from Ellesmere Port on the River Mersey to Autherley Junction, near Wolverhampton, where it meets the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, and from there I think you can get all the way to Wales.
The canal was built by none other than Thomas Telford himself, Thomas also built the Caledonian Canal. I Googled him earlier today and the man is a miracle, he started work as a stone mason and went on to build roads, bridges and canals. He was given the nickname the Colossus of Roads, which is a bit of a play on the Colossus of Rhodes, which was a statue of the Greek sun-god Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island of the same name.
He is an exceptionally interesting man whom I am going to do a little more reading about!
I sat under an amazing brick bridge to have a drink of water at four miles and two boats slowly passed me. They were going that slow I actually had a conversation with each tiller man. The first man told me he was going over to Wales and that he hoped that he’d be there in good time to berth his narrow boat and crack open some wine. The next one just did that very British thing as he talked about the weather, in detail!
I got back to the van and Wendy had everything ready for the move from plot four to plot one. The weather was brightening up and the whole process took us about 20 minutes, so it wasn’t so bad after all, just a pain in the bum!
After breakfast I did a little route planning and booked a few sites into Cumbria and after that we set off for the ancient town of Chester.
What can I say about Chester other than, Wow, what a truly stunning city, it’s amazing.
We parked the car in a side road we had come across the day before and off we set and with the weather looking changeable we took a jumper each and our light jackets.
First up we walked around the city walls, well as best we could due to refurbishment of parts of it. The walls are really good as you get to see the city from a higher vantage point.
I have to apologise at this point Avid Reader because I have taken about 200 photographs.
From there we took a stroll in a lovely park which took us to a lovely stunning riverside. The River Dee is really nice and the city has made the best out of it with a short commercialised, but tastefully done river side café and attraction area.
From there we walked around the shopping streets and the buildings are amazing, they are mainly very old building that have had their character preserved, there are some real beauties!
It was now getting warm and we carried our coats and I even had my jumper tied around my waist.
We came across the Roman Amphitheatre where in Roman time’s slaves and condemned men used to fight to the death, and it was somewhat like a mini colosseum.
The next adventure found us having a beer in the first Wetherspoon Bar we dropped on and it was again a very safe and pleasant experience. From there we followed the canal a good length from one side of the city to the other and we even made it as far at the canals junction with the River Dee.
However, I don’t think that this is a much used junction because the locks leading to it were full of water reeds and plants that surely would haven’t been so well established if canal boats were motoring by.
Back on the High Street we came across an outstanding City Hall which was just across the road from the Cathedral, it was like winning the lottery of lovely buildings.
The cathedral was just the ticket and I never fail to be amazed at how the stonemasons must have toiled all those centuries ago, their workmanship is just unbelievable. How the architect ever drew such impressive building too is another miracle, it was built in 1093 as a Benedictine Abbey and as been added to over the years.
Take a look at this website for some amazing unconventional and wacky things that have been done there, I’m not sure how the love scene on Titanic played out mind.
Having walked around the city for just under 8 miles we finished our amazing day with a pint at the Wetherspoon’s which was quite close to where we had left the car.
Back at the site it was now 22.5 degrees so we did a quick tour of the Antique shop before Wendy cooked supper of Pork chop, forest sausage and a most delicious cauliflower and mushroom cheese, it was a real delight!
The cauliflower cheese was volcanic hot and Wendy dropped a big head of cauliflower down her jeans. It ran the full length of her leg and landed on my bare foot, burning us both in the process. Although it was a painful event it was also a very funny one. Last night I got a stern telling off for dropping a mere and easily wipe-able morsel of food on my shorts, “That’s your last set of clean shorts”, was her scolding retort. Her jeans are now in the bag of washing as they are soiled the full length of her left leg. I did have to give her a little mockery about Karma giving her what for!
I hope tomorrow’s adventure is half as good as todays, if it is I’ll be has happy as Larry!
The Wirral
No Travelling
What a stunning sunset we had last night!
Both Wendy and I ran up the pavement of the A41 this morning, I did my eight miles, Wendy did her six. Jeepers it was a busy road which was chock-a-block with cars and lorry’s whizzing by. After a mile and a half on the return leg I could see a large patch of water through the hedgerow. I stopped and looked closely and I could see a lovely, tranquil, large pond with ducks and other wildlife going about its business not 3 metres from an extremely busy road. I sat and enjoyed a drink from my water bottle for five minutes with my legs dangling over the 20 foot drop.
I got back to the caravan and after my smoothie and shower we were off on the road for a whirlwind tour of the Wirral.
The Wirral is a kind of wide peninsular that sticks out into the Irish Sea. I first heard of it strangely enough on the TV programme Brookside in the early 80’s as it was from where a snobbish man had had to down scale due to redundancy to the Brookside Estate in Liverpool. He used to say with an air of snobbery, “We are not from Liverpool, we are from the Wirral!”
Yes he was obnoxious too!
Our first point of call was close to the town of Ellesmere Port to a point where the Shropshire Canal, the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey all meet up.
There is a regeneration initiative going on with a boat museum down there, which was sadly closed due to the virus, a new housing scheme with some very nice accommodation and even a Holiday Inn.
We walked around the canal and although there were a few long term moorings it again looks like the junction to the Mersey isn’t in operational use as there were just too many weeds in the water.
We got the general impression that where we were was a little run down, we did see some scrotie looking people on the canal side, and I am absolutely not a snob, I just know a scrote when I see a scrote!
Back in the car we were on our way to Birkenhead so that we could look across the River Mersey to see how Liverpool looks from this point.
Actually Birkenhead was as quiet as a mouse. We drove to a point to look across to Liverpool, with that done we drove into the heart of the town and happened, by pure chance, on a Wetherspoon’s Bar. Inside I bought two coffees, I paid with a tenner and I asked the barman to give me the change in pound coins which he very kindly did. I needed this change because today is, Washing Day!!!
We then jumped in the car and we parked in a lovely area, Hamilton Square. This was a cracking square with a lovely park in the middle.
The Town Hall is on one side of the square and it is absolutely stunning, in fact I’ll go as far as to say that it’s one of the finest Town Halls in England!
We walked around the square and cut through the park where we came across a memorial to PC. Dave Phillips who was killed in the line of duty, ploughed down by a car thief who only got twenty years for something like dangerous driving because he could not be proved guilty of manslaughter, it sounds a bit familiar to me, although the most recent case was manslaughter, where it should have been murder!
We had a good walk around Birkenhead and we quite liked it, it has some very impressive buildings and we even came across a replica of the world’s first submarine, and it was wooden!
Our next stop was in the small town of Upton where I had managed to find a laundrette.
We loaded our washing into the machine and set it on its way and then we took a walk around town. Upton is actually a two street town, but it has some very nice shops and a very happy butcher.
I went into the butchers and I bought, some beef burgers for tonight’s supper, some nice looking sausage, a very nice looking piece of traditional black pudding and two sirloin steaks.
The butcher was the world’s happiest man, he just loved serving me!
I snaffled the black pudd as I walked along, it was delicious!
Back at the laundrette the clock was still ticking so Wendy bought a pasty which we shared in the car to while down the last few minutes of the wash.
I went in and the machine had one minute to go, I went and got the bag from the car to put the washing in, I had a chat with Wendy and I went back inside, the clock still had a minute left. This went on for another 5 minutes and then the clock jumped back in time to 7 minutes remaining!
This must be the second worm hole that I have found on this trip, I’m sure I have been involved in another, I’ll have to read back!
Thankfully I did eventually get the washing out of the machine and then we headed to the seaside resort of New Brighton. What we found was a lovely seaside resort with very wide pavements and a lovely promenade where zombie dodging could be considered an easy sport.
We had a nice stroll around, there are slot arcades but not too many and without the excessive noise you often get. There was a large lagoon which was bounded by the sea wall and paths. I never really worked out why it was there, no one was using it. The weather was nice enough, with a slight breeze.
We took a beer in a Wetherspoon’s Bar before braving a shopping trip to Morrison’s. We are going off grid tomorrow, we are downscaling and we are trying to move to quieter rural areas before we start mixing with our family again, so we needed to get a good stash of supplies to see us through.
Our next stop was on the far west of the Peninsular, a small town called Hoylake.
Now this is a really nice, quiet place. We drove the full length of a rather nice looking High Street and parked on a very nice beach front walkway.
We took a walk to the largest Lifeboat Station I have ever seen. I knew why it was so big, the tide goes out for miles so any rescue at low tide requires the Lifeboat to be taken out on a tracked vehicle where the boat is carried in a cradle.
I looked through the window and the contraption was massive, with indeed the Lifeboat all ready to go in its cradle.
This was a really lovely place and well worth a future visit if we can find a camp site.
Back in the car at just gone 5:30 pm we drove directly back to the campsite via a motorway that I have never been on before and we double timed washing our supplies, hanging out all of the washing while cooking the burgers at the same time. Thankfully the plan did come together and we had a lovely meal.
It’s been another really interesting and enjoyable day, tomorrow is moving day in a fairly northwards direction!
Laptop Failure!!!
85 Miles
I ran to the lovely village of Tattenhall this morning. The village is beautiful with some really nice looking expensive homes. In fact even the new homes have been tastefully blended in and there is none of that modern design where architects go wild with their imagination and build monstrous carbunculs!
I really like this village as it has two nice looking pubs, a small supermarket, two Indian Restaurants, a news agents and even a tailor.
I would consider a winter weekend away from it all visit. There are lots of walks and paths, there’s the canal tow path to explore and Chester is only five miles away.
I came across something I have never encountered before on my morning run, cows crossing the road.
I did see them all politely waiting at the gate the day before yesterday but today I caught them mid crossing. They appeared to have full udders so I guess they were off to morning milking.
They were all very well behaved but I did have to dance around their droppings as I carried on running!
Back at camp and it’s moving on day. I do get excited about moving day as its a new adventure and today’s didn’t disappoint!
So after my smoothie, a shave and a shower we were on our way north bound.
The journey was really easy, we went on three motorways, one of them new to me. I seem to be bagging some new ones on this trip. I have done most of the major UK ones and now I’m mopping up the minor ones, the bizarre short ones!
We left the M6 at junction 33 with 12 miles still left according to the Sat Nav. Most of them were done on decent single carriageway roads but the last 3 miles were on a single track road with very few passing places. The road also wasn’t the most level we have ever been on and I did worry that all the cupboard doors had been flung open in the van and all their contents had been deposited on the vans floor.
Thankfully we only encountered a few cars we needed to pass and they were driven by jolly folk who seemed happy to pull onto the verge to allow us safe passage.
We made it to our destination, Mr Debly’s front garden. I had to use extreme wizardry to get the van settled and levelled without churning up his exceptionally nice, lush and very green grass.
Mr Debly s 90 years old, as deaf as a post but as sharp as a knife! He’s a smashing man but I do have to shout at the top of my voice to maintain a decent level of understandable conversation.
I haven’t seen any signs of Mrs Debly but perhaps I am being unconsciously gender offensive, Wendy must be too because she asked me if I had seen her as well.
I did however meet Molly, the black Labrador who as ammunition shed enthusiasm for strangers and she made me her bestest mate in the world with licks all over my legs. Molly is the kind of dog that gives affectionate barks of excitement, that and her never ending wagging tail make her remind me of my Jess.
Mr Debly told me he was given her for free because he thinks she was wanted as a gun dog but that she was terrified of loud noise so I guess she didn’t meet the jobs essential requirement specification. In fact my Jess was the same, she hated revving motor bikes and thunder.
Thankfully the caravan had only minor spillage of books from the shelf onto the bed, another bullet dodged!
After a coffee we set off on a twelve mile journey to get some funds from a cash point to pay Mr Debly's site fees and to get Wendy’s traditional SaturdayTimes Newspaper as she does like the giant crossword challenge that takes her all week.
As we drove I thought about tomorrow, we need a good days walk followed by a Sunday roast with all the trimmings including Yorkshire puddings.
I found a coop in the small town of Knotts End on Sea and after chatting with a lady who directed me to the village butcher. I bought, orange juice, milk, a swede and Yorkshire puddings in the coop, I didn’t need any other veg as we already have that.
Am I the only one who can’t help themselves in a friendly butchers shop as I came out with two fillet steaks and a nice bit of beef topside. The steak was for the bbq that I hope to do if the winds not too harsh when we get back.
After shopping we took a promenade walk along the sea which then lead to the river which separates Knott End from one of my favourite places, Fleetwood.
There is a passenger ferry that does a ten minute crossing every thirty minutes and as we walked we saw a round trip. It did look a bit dodgy though in the wild wind and it’s was bobbing about a fair bit. A return trip costs £4.00 so you would have to drink yourself to death to visit the only Wetherspoon establishment around for many miles to make the trip economical.
I did pass it through my mind but I dismissed it immediately as I know I like an adventure but I didn’t fancy rubbing shoulders with a ferry load of zombies just to bag a Wetherspoons.
Back at camp I had another nice shouting match with Mr Debley while I paid him his site fees. I also got another dose of my excitable doggy friend Molly.
She is adorable, I wonder if I dare ask to take her walking tomorrow?
For supper I did indeed brave the wind and I lit the bbq whereby I cooked two sausage, a fillet steak, a Sirloin steak for supper and two pork chops for tomorrow’s walk sarnies. We had the steak and sausage with a lovely home made coleslaw and left over cauliflower cheese and it was very tasty.
We are in a very isolated position on the fringe of Morecambe Bay with the sea about ten metres from our current spot.
It’s been another, lovely day despite having to rewrite tonight’s copy on my tiny iPhone.
Only for you Avid Reader!!!
Doggy Day Trip!
No Travelling
We had a traditional Sunday lie in today as I didn’t get out of my bed until 7:45 am, and it was lovely.
Wendy went out running first and I was out a little later and I did pass her on her return trip.
This mornings run was exceptionally nice as I had long country roads and they were very quiet. I got caught out with the weather because when I first looked out it was a bit chilly and very overcast. I had two sweatshirts on and my jacket and then the sun came out and stayed out and I was lathered with sweat, and I loved it.
As I ate up the miles I knew I was on a good run when I came across yet another canal, it was the Lancashire Canal and it eventually leads to its outlet In Morecambe Bay.
I followed the road and it lead me to the village of Glasson. It’s was now around 10:00 am and the village was buzzing. The local cafe was doing a roaring trade with 60 year old motor bikers flooding the village and drinking coffee.
Glasson is the area where the canal meets the Bay and the two final locks have a swing bridge between them.
To get to four miles I ran to the dock side and although I couldn’t get in as the gate was locked I did find the Old Smokehouse.
Back at the van the sun was shining brightly and as we had already decided to take a walk, we confirmed that we would walk to Glasson.
While I was in the shower I was pondering, as I sometimes do, if Molly, the site owners Labrador, would like to come on the walk and seeing as her owner is 90 years old, I thought that she can’t get many long walks.
As we were ready to go I went and asked Mr Debly if he thought Molly would enjoy a long walk and he told me to ask her, which I did. You could see from her excitement that she was up for it and with her on her lead we set off.
The walk was mainly a coastal walk along the Bay, it was a really lovely walk. We walked through cow fields and Molly behaved impeccably.
We then came out at the top of Glasson and soon we were in the village. It was still mobbed with old men bikers, there wasn’t a women to be seen amongst them, not a one, not even on pillion. Is motor biking the last bastion of masculinity?
Another takeaway cafe had opened up, it was a refurbished shipping container and the girl there was again doing a lot of trade keeping the bikers sustained.
Molly dragged me to a local pub where we sat outside in the sunshine enjoying a pint. Molly had a large bowl of water as she was quite warm in the sunshine.
As we sat there old people descended on the car park and congregated together, with them all milling about. They were dressed like walkers and their car parking was atrocious, in fact two or three of them should have their licenses taken away.
I was going to tell them that there is a serious viral pandemic, in case they didn’t know, and that they were very likely it’s favourite target but Wendy wouldn’t let me!
The group of about 30 took about 20 minutes to assemble and they were finally joined by a most glamorous old lady, wearing unconventional clothing. Wendy thinks she was wearing a Chanel Style Jacket and upon her arm she carried a most inappropriate hand bag.
It was so amusing to see so we had more beer and in the bar I heard one of them promise faithfulness that they were leaving their cars for an hour and would like a table when they got back, a likely story!
Refreshed we set off back and called into the Old Smokehouse where I bought two kippers, some smoked mussels and a bottle of locally brewed best bitter.
I refused to go in to the small store until the parents of the little kid who was wandering around touching and picking anything and everything had left, my blood was boiling at how stupid and selfish most people have been proven to be by this pandemic.
We stopped to have a roast pork bread cake with Molly sat between us. She just didn’t know who best to beg from so she darted her head back and forth between Wendy and me until I broke and gave her a good portion, followed by Wendy not long after we walked back along the lovely coast and by the time Molly was back at home I could see that she was tired.
As we walked we saw two women who had seven black labs all frolicking in the sea, what a racket they made. Molly wanted to join them but I didn’t let her because I might have lost her.
Her 90 year old owner was talking to her as I left, asking her if she enjoyed her day out. I’m sure she did!
I had been listening to the England v Australia 20 x 20 cricket match and now it was time to watch it on TV.
After England won we had the beef I bought yesterday and it was lovely. Well it should be it had been in the slow cooker for about 7 hours.
The sun is still shining as I file today’s copy and I really should go out and enjoy it. However I’m going to put my feet up, drink my best bitter and watch Soccer Aid!
Tomorrow’s another day of excitement, it’s moving day!
Rain!!!
20 Miles
What an utter waste of time it was watching Soccer Aid last night. Although some of the celebrity and the legends put effort and commitment in some of the celebrities were clearly not in shape, had no football capability never mind skill and they were an embarrassment to the match. That lad, Chunka, whoever he is, should never have been allowed to pull on an England shirt, for me, for someone to represent your country is an honour to be earned not just gifted. Oilie Murs and Mark Wright deserved their places while clearly some did not!
We did however have a lovely sunset!
I was woken up at 6:00 on the dot by the tiny, pitter, patter of rain on the roof which soon turned into a torrent.
I got up at 06:20 and had breakfast, Wendy woke and had her cup of tea and stayed in bed, she too could hear the rain.
I went out running and the rain did ease and then come back and it was on and off like that all the time I was out.
I got to the Lancashire Canal at the 3 mile point which meant that I could run along the canal for two miles, one out and one back.
At exactly 4 miles I came across two sets of locks. On each lock the westerly gate was open which is something I have never seen before, perhaps it’s tradition or perhaps it was someone passing through who doesn’t give a stuff and couldn’t be bother to close the gate!
Also at each lock there was a by-pass water stream that allowed water to run from the upper point to the lower one along a carefully constructed by-pas point, I’ve never seen this either.
I stopped at a field for my last drink and a few cows gathered and they seemed intrigued by me, the next time I looked up an entire herd was snorting in my direction so I thought it best to back off, which I did, very slowly.
We left Mr Debly and after a good stroking of Molly with the odd lick fir good measure at just after 11:00.
We weren’t in any hurry as we were only travelling 20 miles up the coast and we couldn’t check into the next site until 2:00 pm.
I looked at the map to find somewhere suitable to stop and I found the perfect place, Bolton-le-Sands.
Bolton-le-Sands used to be called plain old Bolton but the village decided to change the name when the railway line came through because the other Bolton was on the same line and it might be confusing for passengers. I think that was very decent of them although Bolton-le-Sands does sound a tadge pretentious especially when they located a few miles from the sea.
The reason I wanted to go was that the Lancashire Canal passes through the village and I thought we could pass the time by taking a canal walk.
Alas when we arrived it was still raining. I managed to find a wide road to park on so we braved walking into the village in the hope that when we got back the rain might have stopped. We got back at the caravan with some bananas, four bottles of Theakstones Old Peculiar Beer, two large baps, a jam and cream scone and tiffin.
The village was lovely by the way!
Back at the caravan and the rain was worse, it’s wasn’t raining cats and dogs it was raining elephants and rhinos, yes the rain was that heavy.
As the rain pounded the caravan roof Wendy boiled the kettle and we had a coffee each and split the scone, it was a double delight!!!
After a while the rain turned to mizzle so I asked Wendy if she fancied a walk along the canal. “No chance” was the reply, so I went on my own.
I walked a half mile out and it was lovely. The mizzle came and went as I walked but the canal here was stunning with lazy bends in it. Houses were built beyond the tow path and they each had a long garden with a gate letting them have canal access, I would love that.
We got to the site by negotiating very narrow, twisty turning lanes of about 5 miles in distance. I was followed by a equally wide camper van.
We arrived bang on 2:00 pm and I was shown my site by the camp steward.
As I was sorting the power out the camper van who followed me parked on the next spot. It’s a lone female and she’s quite friendly and she said, “I’m glad I was following you along those roads” and she’s right because I had to dodge all the large vehicles and sort out the traffic we met whereas she just had to hang back and follow me.
The weather was a little better and we got set up with out getting wet.
Our site is on the coast and is almost at the most north eastern part of Morecambe Bay, quite close to the River Kent.
We set off to explore the village despite the continued rain and we found it quite pleasant with some lovely housing.
We found the shore but it wasn’t a hanging around day so we headed for a pint in the pub, The Silverdale Hotel.
I was very impressed with their safety procedure, here they are:
This was all explained by a very tiny and pretty bar maid whose smile shone despite her medical face mask.
Sure enough full procedures were followed and we were sat with a pint of hand pulled directors choice in no time at all.
As soon as a couple who were already seated left their table our lovely bar maid sanatised their table and even did the laminated menu on the table too, very impressive.
After our beers we found the heart of the village, the cafe, the coop and the pharmacist and by now it was time to head back.
We had a supper of smoked mussels, quiche and tasty baps, with a glass of wine of course.
The rain has eventually stopped but at 6:00 pm and with us being in our comfy caravan cloths I don’t think we will be heading out again.
Maybe tomorrow we can do some serious exploring without the constant downpours.
Better Weather!!!
No Travelling
I went for a walk down to the shore last night, Wendy wasn’t game but I went anyway.
It was lovely, the rain had stopped and the mist had cleared and it was quite eerie but the best thing was that I could hear the warblers singing in the distance, loads of them.
Bed time came and went and I never heard a whisper, despite the camp being full with neighbours close by, the camp site was completely silent.
I went running first before Wendy was ready and I turned right out of the camp. After a mile I came to the end of the road and then ran on the mud banks of Morecambe Bay. A few yards further along I came across what I thought was a tower and I thought I would get a photo on my way back, but as I ran along the shore I could see an embankment which dissected the narrow area of the bay where I was so I took it.
I came out on a gravel road that had two options so I took the one leading to two bird hides. As I passed I caught a glimpse of one of the Hides names, something Morecambe? I didn’t think anything of it and off I went. Half a mile later I passed one bird hide then after a few more yards I could see a long board walk heading towards the last bird hide.
I ran along the board walk and came to within a few yards of the hide and I looked up. I nearly had a heart attack, there was the shape of a man in front of me and he appeared to be hanging.
I was stoped dead in my tracks, then I saw the name of the hide. The Eric Morecambe Hide, and on closer inspection it was a silhouette of Eric’s famous dance routine with one arm up and one arm down, I still didn’t hang around, I scarpered pretty smartish and I took the main road back and finished my run around Silverdale.
The weather was much improved and it was much clearer and warmer so we set off to visit some nearby villages.
The first one was Arnside.
Arnside was stunning, it was along the upper end of the bay and it was beautiful. There was a train bridge over the bay and that looked a fancy engineering feat.
We walked along the shore passing though the shopping district. The buildings were stunning, mostly elegant stone structures.
There were loads of birds watchers too!
Coming back we passed the shop fronts of some very interesting shops but browsing isn’t really a good sport when your wearing a mask and you know someone outside is queuing to come in.
Our next port of call was the village of Sandside. This is the last village along the eastern bank of the bay and there wasn’t much to it so we just passed through to the inland town of Milnthorpe where we did stop and check it out. There wasn’t much there, strangely there were lots of takeaways and a couple of pubs.
Our last stop was to the village of Levens.
This was a small, nicely residential place with just one village shop, a mini mart!
But the main reason we came this far north was to the see the River Kent as it’s the main River feeding into Morecambe Bay on this north eastern stretch.
We found the river at an interesting road bridge and we found a very nice clean, fast flowing river. It was a river very worthy of its status and was exactly how it should be, of having the honour of flowing into the bay.
Back at base we parked up near the farm house where I bought two litres of cow fresh milk and a half dozen free range eggs for supper tomorrow, to be had with the kippers we bought on Sunday.
It’s was around 3:00 pm and after coffee and a Chorley cake, also bought from the farm shop we set off to walk to the tower I had passed on my run.
It’s actually a chimney!
The chimney is a place called Jenny Browns point. Apparently Jenny lived on a local farm on that exact spot in the 1600’s and she married Mr Brown.
Along the wall we came acres Scouts Kiln which is an ancient lime smelting furnace. Seemingly the soil isn’t very nutritious around these parts so lime had to be added for crops to grow.
Now onto the chimney!
The chimney was built in the 1870’s by Robert Gibson who was the Lord of the Manor, and he incorrectly believed he had the rights to mine copper which was found a little further inland.
However the land was in the ownership of the Townleys of Leighton Hall and the copper was all theirs!
The furnace was built and indeed copper was smelted there but after a legal process smelting was abandoned in 1788. Robert Gibson died in 1791 and the furnace was demolished, however the chimney was spared and remains to this day, some 240 years later and it looks to me it could stand for at least 240 more.
We walked along the shore of the bay for a while but the tide rushed in and I didn’t fancy my back to a cliff wall in Morecambe Bay so as the sea rushed in I found a track which lead to the road.
We had a slight mizzle shower pass as we got back to the caravan so Wendy made supper from Sunday’s leftover beef and with the last remaining Yorkshire puddings we tucked into the food. I actually pigged out, there was loads of beef enriched gravy left so I spiced it up with some Reggie, Reggie Sauce and lots of brown pepper and scoffed the lot.
Two hours later and I’m still stuffed!
Moving day tomorrow out of Lancashire and into Cumbria proper!
Bad News / Good News
36 Miles
We did a camp walk last night and as we did a huge, coach sized RV camper decamped and left the site. There didn’t seem to be any urgency to get away as they laughed and joked with the warden before taking the beast of a thing down to the waste water emptying point.
Wendy had a thought and there’s good merit in it. With a big vehicle like that it makes sense, especially on these tight and winding roads to go when it’s not so busy, yes and I also added that the headlights also show approaching traffic.
I woke at 6:15 and opened a front, side window and I saw a most lovely sight, crystal clear sky’s and bright sunshine. It was a bit breezy mind but at least it looked like a summers morning.
Wendy was still asleep and never muffed at all. I had breakfast, boiled the kettle, got washed and dressed and left her fast asleep.
I ran down to Jenny Browns Point to see the sunshine on that part of the bay and it was indeed stunning.
I then got back to the site and then ran out into the glorious Lancashire countryside.
On return I devoured my breakfast smoothie and in no time at all we were off, climbing the very steep drive out of the campsite, all in first gear, it really was that steep and very long and windy, but the car managed it with ease.
We actually followed almost the same route as yesterday but without passing through the villages. We even crossed the River Kent at the same spot as yesterday.
I neglected to say too that the River gets its name as it’s source is in the hills surrounding Kentmere a mere 30 miles away.
It was a very pleasant drive down the Furness Peninsula to our campground which is very high above the small town of Dalton in Furness.
We were set up on camp in no time at all and after coffee we drove the short distance to the home, work station of a computer repair specialist who I had arranged to meet a few days ago.
I found the place easy enough and dropped the computer off but it was a pig of a place to get out of. Two houses had been built into an old quarry and the only access was through a gap between two rows of terraced housing. However the new road leading to the new homes was very tight, probably to save on cost, and there was nowhere to turn around. It required a special reversing manoeuvre in order to get out of the twisty turny place.
I’ll park in the main road and walk in when I go to get it back.
From there we drove to Barrow in Furness to return some jeans someone had bought in Next, in some long forgotten town, as she didn’t like them when she tried them on back at the caravan.
That done we parked up and took a walk around town.
Honestly, by sheer good luck we found the only Wetherspoons Bar in town so we went in for a drink.
I was again impressed with their safety measures and I even heard the manger tell a supervisor to go and close the doors as he now considered the bar full and he wanted visitor’s regulating. Fair play to him I thought, it wasn’t busy at all so at least his up on his game.
We continued walking around town, we have been before so we knew where we were going. I wanted to walk out to the middle of what I think is the main bridge across the inner harbour that serves the big BAE Systems plant where ships and submarines are manufactured. BAE is the largest single employer in town employing over 9,500 people, a third of the towns work force.
I wanted to take another look at BAE as many years ago whilst I was driving for Argos I took a wrong turning and ended up going down a long road towards the base and only managed to swing around just before the security gate where the staff must have been getting somewhat edgy as there was a huge submarine in the Harbour.
From there we got back to the car and we drove to the northern side of The Isle of Walney for a short coastal walk.
The Isle of Walney is a long and very thin island off the main Furness Peninsula, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. It is part of Barrow-in-Furness, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned by the Jubilee Bridge.
We walked along a beach path and it was quite breezy but thankfully not cold.
Out to sea in the distance I could see a hugely massive wind farm, honest it was enourrmass.
I later found it to be the second largest offshore wind farm in the world and it is 9 miles offshore and was built in 3 phases and in total there are 189 turbines and they can produce 1,318 mega watts of electrical power! In comparison Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station in Suffolk produces 1,320 mega watts of electrical power. That’s just 2 mega watts more but with significantly much more to go disastrously wrong.
Back at the van I was on supper duty and it comprised of fried eggs, mushrooms and kippers with me pigging a portion of baked beans and as tasty as it might have been, I don’t half feel thirsty now!
I’m off to pick my computer up at 9:30 pm and the bad news is I have lost everything stored on it, the good news is that it’s been super updated for me to start all over again, great!
Really Lovely Lunch!
No Traveling
I did indeed get my laptop back last night and although I have lost everything on it I do have back ups of my most important documents.
Here’s a handy hint Avid Reader – Send your important documents to yourself in an email – Give it a recognisable title and date it in the subject section and then save it in an email folder, I call mine, “Back Up’s”. Obviously, you can’t currently save data heavy documents like loads of photos, but its great for documents, you can even password protect them and they are always available even when you’re traveling.
For an hour I started to populate my computer, after first adding my McAffee antivirus software. Then I watched a Netflix serial on my laptop which was far better than watching it on my iPhone!
I was late to bed, and as Wendy was fast asleep, and after I had finished my serial, I closed my laptop down and in the complete darkness of the camp site I looked into the night sky and it was stunning. There is very little light pollution here in the heights of the Furness Peninsula so the stars were well and truly out.
I overslept slightly and woke at 06:30 and I was out running just before 08:00, Wendy didn’t go out, we are on the top of a very steep hill, two actually, one long one, one short, but exceedingly steep one and Wendy doesn’t like hills! Thankfully I am a Veteran of the Highland cross and long-standing Avid Readers will remember the runs at Urliup Farm in Australia, now that was a two-mile hill and a half!!
As I ran down a country lane I came across what looked like a stone chimney, it was stunning but I ran past it. However, on my return my curiosity got the better of me and I stopped and climbed into the field for a closer look. I found that it wasn’t a chimney but that it was a complete and purposeless tower, maybe it was a folly? If I go back that way tomorrow and if I see anyone I’ll be minded to ask and find out, if I do I’ll detail it in tomorrow’s copy.
Back at camp I showered and had a few cups of tea, I didn’t have my banana smoothie as I was saving myself for a treat, lunch with Lynn and Michael, (Alex’s grandfather).
We arrived at the house two minutes early as I hate to be late and Lynn and Michael were ready and waiting for us. Lynn had made perfect preparations for our visit and they were just how things should be. We all took a walk around their beautiful garden, its stunning actually, with established shrubs and bushes, plants and even a lovely, but almost hidden pond.
We made sure we all kept an appropriate distance apart and it didn’t deter from us having a very pleasant experience.
After a cup of coffee, we travelled, in separate cars to Roa Island which is at the south east of the Peninsula, which is connected to the mainland via a causeway. From there we could see the small island called Piel Island which lies about a half mile across the sound.
Piel Island is inhabited and there is an old castle and even a pub, you cross by way of a little rowing boat and you can even camp there. A visit there sometime in the future is very much on the cards, although I don’t think I’ll get the caravan over there.
Just before we arrived on Roa Island we passed another tower and it looked like yet another folly. I have googled myself to death tonight but I haven’t found anything about either of the folly’s that I think I have seen today!
Meanwhile on the island I also marvelled at the Life Boat Station which is built on high stilts!
Back at Lynn and Michaels house we had a very lovely lunch of Lasagne followed by a very tasty apple and almond cake slice with delightful clotted cream ice cream, it was all very nice.
Lynn had set our tables at a safe distance which it in no way detracted from the lovely afternoon we had, we chatted for a few hours and although the sun never broke through it was really nice to be sat outside with a great many wild birds visiting the nearby feeding station.
After saying our farewells, we headed a few miles along the road to see the ruins of the stunning Furness Abby!
Furness Abby dates back to 1123 and although it is mainly in ruins it is a stunning sight to see and it is now a popular tourist attraction. Luckily, we had the place to ourselves.
After a brief visit to Tesco for fuel and supplies we headed back to the caravan where we had the site to ourselves and I carried on repopulating my laptop.
Wendy settled down listening to a podcast of Dessert Island Discs and then we settled down for a nice quiet evening.
Its been a really lovely day and it was so nice to spend time with Lynn and Michael.
Its moving day tomorrow, Ravenglass here we come!!!
Happy Farmer!
28 Miles
Well I did run past the folly which is closest to me this morning but there was no one around to enquire about it, so that’s a failure. However, Lynn kindly sent me some info on the one we saw on our way to Roa Island yesterday and it is called Rampside Lighthouse and it’s also known as The Needle. Built in 1875 it is the last example of 13 such beacons built around Barrow during the late 19th century to aid vessels into the towns port. It stands 20 metres (66 ft) tall and is constructed from red and yellow bricks. Now that’s one success, thanks to Lynn!
Jeepers it was windy this morning, but thankfully it was dry and mild.
Wendy stayed in her bed with a hot steaming cup of tea, she wasn’t going anywhere near those big hills in this wind!
I managed to run to the outskirts of two villages Little Urswick and Greater Urswick, I actually turned around at my 4 mile point bang in the middle of both villages and the distance between them is so short I bet they become one Urslwick within the decade.
Jeepers it really was windy and I was glad to be back at the caravan where I chucked my running kit into the provided washing machine, well I would have been silly not to at a £1:00 a wash.
We did something we don’t often do; we took a visit before we left the site for Ravenglass.
I had got it into my head that I had been before to the small town of Ulverston so I wanted to see if I remembered it, I didn’t!
What we did find though was a very pleasant village with a wide range of independent shops, they even had a small indoor market.
The main street is built along a hill and it seems to work quite well with bit of a square at the top, there are a couple of side streets too which we also explored. I’m really glad we went; it didn’t take long and at least I satisfied my curiosity.
There is one thing I did know about Ulverston though and that it was the birthplace of one Great Englishman, Stan Laurel!
His real name was Arthur Stanley Jefferson and he was born in his grandparents' house on 16 June 1890 at 3 Argyle Street, Ulverston. Laurel first appeared with his future partner, Oliver Hardy, in The Lucky Dog (1921), which was filmed in 1919, but not released until 1921. He visited Ulverston in 1947 when he appeared on the Coronation Hall Balcony with Oliver Hardy. He died in America on 23 February 1965, aged 74.
As a young boy I loved Laurel and Hardy and my best ever film is when, as two fish mongers, they decided to buy a fishing boat and in doing so they would, “Cut out the Middleman”. It’s a classic and I think we still have the video somewhere at home.
We were off site within 20 minutes of us getting back and on the road, first northbound and then north west wards. The roads were very narrow single track roads to start with but thankfully they opened up onto single carriageway after about ten miles.
Spits of rain began as we approached the caravan site and we managed to get on our plot before the heaven’s opened. The site is very wet and the ground is very soft, I tried once to reverse the caravan, uphill onto the plot, but the cars front wheels began to spin at the first attempt.
I decided to use the caravan’s remote mover to get us settled but we both had to help the mover out by pushing the caravan from the front because the wheels where just not gripping the wet grass and to make matters worse the caravans front wheel was digging into the turf.
The rain came shortly after we had gotten inside the caravan and boy did it chuck it down; the rain was driving in the blustery conditions.
We sat inside and I read the paper while Wendy took the quiz section out of the paper and did the crossword. We had a coffee each and I shared the last Chorley Cake with Wendy, to be honest I had forgotten I had not finished mine the other day, it was four days old but it was still quite tasty.
After a while the rain eased and we took a drive up the rugged Cumbrian Western Coast. It’s a very isolated area, with a few small villages and hamlets dotted about.
Our first port of call was the Village of Ravenglass, and we found out that it is the only coastal town in the Lake District National Park. It is located at the estuary of three rivers: the Esk, Mite and Irt.
The weather was still spoiling things so we just drove around the village and visited the light railway, which we hope to take tomorrow.
From there we went to Seascale, which I would myself consider it to be a fairly large coastal town, actually its larger than Ravensglass and it has a much better beach.
As I took my photographs of the beach I could see the outline of Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant in the not too far distance.
Well it was only a seven mile journey so I had to go and take a look at the place, its been a big part of my whole life, it was always in the news, by way of radiation leaks when I was a nipper.
We got to the front gate, which was heavily fortified, and I took a few photos, I had visions of Royal Marines storming me with stun grenades but I managed to get away with it. I couldn’t take any long shots of the full site because there is woodland surrounding the site, I guess that’s why it’s there.
On the way home we called into the village of Gosforth and again it was nice enough but there wasn’t much to it. I guess a lot of people who work at Sellafield live in these small towns and villages.
There’s a small pub at the entrance to the village where we are located so we called in for a very nice pint of real ale. It was easy to keep a safe distance, although I had my eye on the barmaid as she just didn’t seem to mind too much in getting close to the younger male customers.
We had a very nice burger supper and as I listened to the cricket, we seemed to have been flash mobbed by a youthful group of kids who have had no difficulty in churning the field up and getting one of their cars stuck.
I guess tonight will go one of two ways, relaxing or not relaxing.
Our host is the happiest farmer I have ever come across so if there’s a problem I’m not getting involved, I’ll leave it to him and his 4-10 shotgun!
La’al Ratty
No Traveling
We had no problem at all with our small Ibiza Party Group last night. I went to bed at 9:30 pm as I knew I had to be up promptly and I never heard a thing. And surprisingly some of them were out and about when we went out running this morning.
After all the rain and wind yesterday we had a very nice night sky.
This morning Wendy did indeed get out of bed and go running with me at 07:00 am, I went right and she went left. I went out to the main road and completed 4 miles and on my return to camp where I then ran in the direction that Wendy had gone for another two miles. I passed Wendy about 500 metres from the camp on her return, she did look pleased.
When I went out of the village, I came across the local war memorial and the locals have knitted poppies and sewn them together and placed them on the memorial, it’s a very fitting tribute.
We are in an area, along the coast where the army train using live munitions, there are signs telling you so and everywhere there are flag poles galore with the red flags currently down which I do hope means that firing isn’t imminent. I say this because I went through a road closed sign and ended up at an army barracks, thankfully it was deserted.
I got back to camp and after breakfast we set off for a day’s adventure because yesterday we booked a return trip on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Steam Railway.
The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway is one of the oldest and longest narrow gauge railways in England, known affectionately as La’al Ratty meaning “little railway“ in olde Cumbrian dialect. It was 105 years ago in April 1913 that the original 3ft line closed and in 1915 the new 15in La’al Ratty was introduced.
The line runs from sea level at Ravensglass up into the Cumbrian Hills to the small village of Dalegarth for Boot at 210ft above sea level.
The rail line is 7 miles long and the journey takes around 40 minutes.
The Rail Company couldn’t be faulted in their safety measures, although there are still idiots of all ages around who think rules don’t apply to them, but we’re smart enough by now to spot them immediately.
The train carriages had been fitted out with Perspex screens to makes your section a separate 4 person cabin, and once you had bought your tickets no one else could join your cabin, and tickets were sold for every second carriage as well, so I think they had done as much as is reasonably practical.
We set off five minutes late for the family who are always late, just looking at them as they apologised their way to their carriage, you knew they were that family.
The train ride was absolutely stunning, it was a real 40 minute treat. The weather was brilliant too and we rode along with the sliding door fully open, we both loved it.
We passed beautiful rivers, saw massive mountains and marvelled at the pretty houses that we saw along the route.
We got off at Dalegarth just after midday and set off walking along the well signposted walks. First, we went to the Girder Bridge which was a hefty and solid construction which allowed passage over a fast flowing river.
The river was very clean and inviting so I went down to the riverside to help myself to a drink, as I did so, I came across a hugely fat lady in a state of almost undress, jeepers I cannot unsee what I saw.
Thankfully by the time I had drawn Wendy’s attention to the sight, the lady had managed to get into her swimming costume.
We walked over the bridge and a little further upstream. We then walked back down stream with the hope there would be a bridge to cross near our next destination, a small church.
As we walked, we came across the strange sight of this lady messing about on the river with her fully dressed lady friend, she was still in her costume, what the hell she was doing we’ll never know.
We didn’t find a bridge, we found stepping stones!
As soon as I saw them, I knew that there was no way in this wide world Wendy Gill would be using them to cross the river and I was right, obviously!
We walked back upstream via a different path and we did indeed cross the bridge.
The church is quite small but we didn’t go inside, we wandered around the cemetery and I came across the scariest head stone I have ever seen, it was amazingly scary and I wouldn’t want to drop on it in the dark!
With an hour for our return trip we had a pint in the only pub we came across, actually we sat outside in the lovely sunshine.
At 2:10 pm we boarded the train for our return leg which was just as stunning, but this time in reverse!
We arrived back a Ravenglass just before 3:00 pm and we decided to take a short drive to see Wast Water which was 13 miles away.
Wast Water is situated in the Wasdale Valley, and is 3 miles long, half a mile wide and 260 feet deep, and is the deepest of all the lakes, in fact it’s the deepest lake in England.
Wast Water is perhaps the most awe-inspiring of all the lakes. Surrounded by mountains, Red Pike, Kirk Fell, Great Gable and Scafell Pike – England’s highest mountain.
Extending the length of the south-east side of the lake are the Screes, consisting of millions of fragments of broken rock and rising from the floor of the lake to a height of almost 2000 feet, giving the lake an ominous appearance. These are what I think make Wast Water look so scary, I had been here before when I climbed Scafell Pyke, England’s Highest Mountain, at 3,208 feet high, and I wanted to show Wendy around, thankfully the weather was still very good.
After a short walk to the lakeside we returned to the caravan by way of the Gosforth Village shop so we could collect a few essential items, mainly Wendy’s copy of the Saturday Times!
It was Saturday night steak night and despite the time of day, and the clouds starting to spoil things I lit the BBQ and cooked the steaks and a sausage outside fully wrapped up to the high heavens!!!
Jeepers the food was lovely, cooked to perfection.
We had just finished eating and the heavens opened, thankfully I had cooked our food and sorted everything outside before the rain came.
Our Ibiza party pals seem to have been on the lash all afternoon so hopefully this, hopefully constant rain will keep them quiet until they are ready for bed!
Muppets!!!!
42 Miles
Again, I never heard a sound through the night and I slept like a log but jeepers it was windy when I woke.
This time Wendy went running on the right hand lane from the camp and I went left, along past the army barracks and along the shoreline eventually ending at Bootle Train Station.
As I came to the shore there was a message board detailing about Bootle’s most Famous son, Captain Isaac Shaw. Isaac was born in 1780 the youngest of nine children to a farming family. He joined the Royal Navy at 12 years old and he served for 20 years.
He fought alongside Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar and he helped win victory by saving Nelsons ship, The Victory.
His own boat, the HMS Neptune eventually had to tow the Victory into Gibraltar Harbour because she was so badly damaged.
Its amazing what I find when I am out running!
I got back to the caravan and quickly changed into my post exercise gear, jumped into the car to go and see if the little chuck wagon on the main road was open, and it was!
The van was staffed by a lady a few years older than me and she was really nice. As she cooked we chatted and I said I was worried that she might not have been open. She told me she is open every weekend at 9:30 am and that she drives all the way from Ulverston, that’s some journey for my bacon sarnie.
I got a bacon and egg roll for me and a plain bacon roll for Wendy. They each came with 3 rashers of top quality bacon and I had a really well cooked fried egg. I even bought two portions of blue berry cake, for later.
Back at the van I wolfed my sarnie down and it was really lovely, lathered in ketchup of course.
We were late off site at 11:25 am but that didn’t matter as we only had just over 40 miles to drive, and we couldn’t arrive at the new site until 2:00 pm, I also wanted to call in and take a walk around Whitehaven, which is exactly what we did.
We managed to drop on a car park directly in the town centre, quite close to the harbour. I had spent all my cash at the chuck wagon earlier so I was thankful be able to pay pretty quickly, online by, credit card.
The first port of call was the harbour and marina. I was impressed, it’s a very well designed harbour with two inner harbours and one outer harbour which gives both small and larger boats total safety.
To my surprise I found that Whitehaven has an industrial past based on coal mining, here’s what I have found about the town’s history.
The port development was linked to the exploitation of rich local deposits of coal and iron ore. Some coal mines extended for several miles beneath the sea bed. The first undersea mine in England was constructed in Whitehaven in 1729. By 1931 it was the deepest undersea mine anywhere at the time. Well I never knew that!!!
I did however find out about John Paul Jones as there are several pubs named after him and he has his own information board along the harbour wall.
Whitehaven was the last place in Britain to be attacked by American naval forces. On 23rd April 1778 during the American War of Independence, John Paul Jones arrived in Britain with the intention of setting the whole merchant fleet on fire. The alarm was raised, and he retreated forthwith. From the information board it states that he sent his crew ashore but they became fascinated and attracted by the pub culture and enjoyed themselves too much, returning to their boat during daylight somewhat incapable.
Here’s an alternative account of what happened, but whatever did or did not occur John Paul Jones seems to be revered by our cousins across the pond!
We walked through the harbour area and I have to say I quite liked it, we then did a little tour of the town, that was fine too but the shopping on offer wasn’t to Wendy’s satisfaction.
We dropped into a Wethrspoons bar for a drink before grabbing some supplies from Tesco’s which was thankfully across the road from the bar.
We got back into the car and carried onto our site which is about five miles north of Maryport, in a seaside town called Allonby.
It’s a nice enough site but the ground is soddened and if we weren’t on a gravel patch, I would be worried about sinking up to the axle, yes the ground is that soft!
After a coffee and a small slice of this mornings blue berry cake we drove the short distance to the small town of Maryport.
Maryport, as the name suggests is built around a port, however it is a port that completely dries out at low tide. It would be impossible to get any kind of vessels out to sea at low water, even the smaller craft were left high and dry.
We walked a round the harbour, it was actually quite large, and then we walked all the way around the marina. As there were no bridges to short cut, we had some walking to do, the wind was howling too, but it was 20 degrees so it wasn’t cold.
We got to the area where the harbour opens to the sea and as I walked around the corner to look down the coast I saw, in a carpark, a huge gathering of families. They were all over each other too, hugging and kissing. It was like giving two fingers to anyone remotely interested in try to suppress the virus.
By the time I had my camara on them they had scarpered in their cars although some of the younger kids walked back into town, don’t worry anyone, we gave them a very wide berth.
We then walked down the main street and I think its fair to say I won’t be rushing back to Maryport. There seems to be a very strange and, in my opinion, a stupid mentality.
As we walked down the road a man walked towards me and because the path was narrow, I moved into the road. As we passed each other the man, who was about my age said, “That’s a bit serious, isn’t it”?
I said, “Yes it is mate, its serious, it’s a very serious business indeed”, I repeated it and the second time I could feel the anger in my voice so I didn’t say, “Maryport seems to be full of Muppets mate”.
There were hordes of kids hanging about shop doorways, what on earth their parents thought they were doing is anyone’s business.
As we walked back to the car, I saw what might be an indicator to the attitude of the town. There are lots of residential homes that radiate from the main street all around town and down to the harbour, maybe it’s a closeness that their commons sense just cannot shake off, or maybe here really is a town full of stupid people.
Supper will consist of a pizza extravaganza because while I was shopping in Tesco the sudden urge to have one just overwhelmed me, much to the delight of Wendy who lives for pizza.
The wind is still blowing the caravan about, its kind of cute but I do hope it blows out before the morning as there is some cracking costal footpaths to run along and they go on for miles and miles!
23 Degrees, in Cumbria, in September!!!
No Traveling
I did my first beach run this morning, well I managed about 3.5 miles, since I last ran on a beach in St Lucia in November last year. I couldn’t do all of my run on the beach because the tide was high and there were too many pebble sections which is extremely hard to run along.
The weather was fine, the sun was breaking through but the bloody wind, although not as harsh as yesterday, was still blowing quite hard.
After my breakfast we set off with the plan of covering the north Cumbrian Coastline as best we could and then head down to Cockermourth if we had time.
The good news was that by the time I was showered the wind had dropped considerably and the sun was almost fully out.
Our first stop was at Silloth which was an incredible find.
We found nice wide, cobblestone streets in Silloth, there were a few local shops and a big floor mill.
We walked along a small, but beautiful park and came out on an amazing promenade. I only had a T-shirt on but that was fine because the sun was now really warm and the wind had gone and taken a day off. We strolled for a mile and a half along the prom and it was lovely. Even when we came to the end of the section we were on we found that you only had to go around a corner and you’d find the next section to walk on. It was busy, but not busy to require extreme zombie measures.
The prom was an exact double of the Lea’s in Sheerness although it was probably a little older.
As we returned to the car we concluded that a return visit to Silloth would be a very pleasant experience, especially if we had the bikes with us.
Our next destination was called the unbelieve name of Skinburness, well I never, I just have to find out how to pronounce this correctly.
There wasn’t much at Skinburness, it was just mainly very nice residential properties so we carried onto a small village called Cardurknock, which is around a small bay called Moricambe Bay. The countryside was stunning as we drove around the bay, but I guess the by now, clear blue sky and blazing sunshine made it look fantastic.
We got to Cardurknock and again there was nothing there, but that was OK because we were going to follow the road around the north coast and onto the coastline of the Solway Firth, this is the area of sea that separates Scotland from England.
However, after driving off we found that we were going to be thwarted as the road was closed due to urgent road works so we had to double back and pick our way to our next destination, Bowness on Solway.
We did indeed manage to get to Bowness and what a cracking little place it is. There is just one road through it but it was a really pretty place, and it had a lovely pub. As it was nice and warm, we called in for a cold beer and we were greeted by a lovey barmaid who did her track and trace routine then brought us some drinks. I asked if food was available as I fancied some chips and she told me that normally food was on all day. But then she said that her cook had just gone over on her ankle while going outside and was off to hospital, but that she would be happy to make me some chips, phew!
As they had a beer garden we moved out into the sunshine and we shared a portion of lovely, trdiational chips, cooked in a chip pan.
We left the pub after a delightful stopover and we found the start of the Hadrian’s Wall walk because it starts right here in Bowness on Solway. I’m not sure where the actual wall starts but the church was built with stone taken from the wall and some other stone buildings coincidentally had a similar stone colouring too.
I do know from previous visits to areas where the wall is still present that long after the Romans left England areas of the wall were pillaged as it was easier to do that to build homes as opposed to mining your own stone.
We walked a short stretch of the Walk and it got us back to the car to drive a little further to the village of Port Carlisle. There was only one road of housing in Port Carlisle, there wasn’t even a port or pub or shop either.
It was now getting close to 3:00 pm but we decided to drive the 21 miles to the small town of Cockermouth because it was still sunny.
In the sunshine we found that Cockermouth is as nice a small English town you would like to find, it was really nice, and there were quite a few pubs dotted around.
The town has grown around two rivers, the larger River Derwent and the smaller River Cocker. The Cocker runs into the Derwent just outside of town, I guess that’s why it’s called Cockermouth.
We walked all around the town and we bought a bottle of fizz in the local supermarket to celebrate our exceptionally good news.
I also bought a couple of cuddly toys, well I just had to didn’t I.
While I was in the Toy Shop, I asked the lady how to pronounce Silloth, she explained that’s easy, it’s has it’s spelled. Then I tried Skinburness, and this is a little trickier but if you say it like you say Inverness then you won’t be far wrong.
How many of you Avid Readers have just tried to say it?
As there was a multitude of small independent shops, we checked them all out and we made one more purchase, a dust pan and brush set for the fire place at home because the old set as just about had it.
With our day’s adventures complete we got back to the campsite to enjoy the last of the sunshine, first with a cup of tea and some blue berry cake and then with a very tasty prawn cocktail sandwich with bakery fresh bread.
We settled into the caravan and listened to music and as I type tonight’s copy I’m sipping prosecco and its all very nice!
Its been a very nice early autumn day, let’s hope it carries on for a few more days!
24 Degrees - Even Hotter Today!!!
No Traveling
I was going to run in my running vests today, I looked out and it was a lovely morning. Wendy went out before me and as I was sorting my gear out I heard the pitter, patter of rain on the caravan’s roof. I couldn’t believe it!!!
Because I was getting dressed, and not wanting to offed anyone, I had all the blinds closed so I couldn’t see what the weather was like outside, so I dressed for wet weather, with sweatshirts and a jacket.
As I left the van the rain or whatever it was had gone but it was still a little overcast so off I set. At mile two the sun burnt off the clouds and I was left roasting hot for the rest of my run.
I eked out my water bottle up to mile seven and then managed to get back without too much trouble, but boy was I sweating.
And its been sunny all day since.
After my smoothie and shower routine we took a 12 mile drive to the small town of Workington which was 12 miles away. Looking at the roadmap you would think that Workington is a coastal town but we didn’t find it close enough to the coast in the traditional seaside tradition. In fact, it’s not even close to the river which runs close by, the River Derwent.
We parked quite close to the town centre and after a short walk we were in amongst the shops. The place was clean and tidy and built around a pedestrian area. It wasn’t overly busy but it was nice enough, but there wasn’t much to see except shops. There weren’t any really nice old buildings or architecture to marvel at, it was all kind of nicely functional.
There’s nothing wrong with functional, but it just didn’t seem to me to be a place I would want to visit other than to shop.
Wendy took an opportunity to do some cloths shopping in Marks and Spencer’s while I waited outside where I manged to socially distance myself on a bench. Actually, it was a good opportunity for me to pay for our next camp site. We were going to head to Edinburgh tomorrow but I thought we aren’t going to be close to the Lakes anytime soon, and lord only knows what’s around the corner with increasing virus cases so we decided to find a site where we can explore the Lakes for a few days.
What a job I had finding a site, everywhere is solidly booked. I eventually found one by accident and we are there for two days from tomorrow. It’s located near to Keswick so we can explore the Lakes but without having to haul the caravan over any of the mountain passes.
After a while Wendy appeared from the shop with two pairs of trousers. It was then time to go and bag a Wetherspoon, which we promptly did.
As we entered the bar a young lad was waiting for us to direct us in hand sanitisation, he even took my contact details. I said I was going to use the app, but I guess everyone says they are going to do what they say they are going to do, but they don’t, so he was making sure!
I did find a couple of things about Workington while I drank my pint. It was an industrial area based on coal mining and steel but after that ended the town fell into decline, but more interesting is that Workington is home to the ball game known as “Uppies and Downies.” This is a traditional version of football, with its origins in medieval football, which was mob football. Since 2001, the matches have raised over £75,000 for local charities. An Uppies and Downies ball is made from four pieces of cow leather. It is 21 inches in circumference and weighs about two and a half pounds. Only three hand-made balls are produced every year and each is dated. This is the game that is played in Kirkwall, Orkney every Christmas and New Year’s Day and has done since time began!
After a drink we drove back with the intention of getting some BBQ food which I got from an Asda store. I don’t often shop in Asda so I found their shop layout all out of shorts and I kept having to retrace my steps to get all that I wanted. Thankfully it wasn’t busy and I did achieve my mission.
I also called into the New Balance Factory shop in the hope that I could get a new running jacket, but all they had was trainers and other clothing. That’s a shame because New Balance sports gear is pretty good stuff.
Back at the van we had coffee and Jaffa Cakes outside and then we took a walk along the village and onto the shore, that was a boob, as Robyn would say!
The tide was a long way out and it had uncovered some interesting rocks far off in the distance so that’s where I headed. As we got further out Wendy started to give me grief about inappropriate clothing. She was wearing a new pair of trousers and trainers. I said to her that we had actually set off for a coast walk, but she affirmed that she thought it was a beach walk and not a mud walk! I couldn’t win so we hightailed it back to the dry sand, as opposed to the very wet sand!
Back at the caravan and with the sun still nicely warm I set up the BBQ and got the coals glowing for the steak, fish and prawns, all the while chuckling to the very funny Sara Cox on Radio 2.
The food was bloody lovely, expertly cooked by me, of course. But by the time the supper was ready the sun had dipped behind the clouds and although it wasn’t cold, we didn’t fancy setting up for an outdoors feast only to have to pack it all up to come inside just as we finished.
Never mind, as I like to say the food was a double delight!
Jeepers, it just come to me, I also bought pudd!
It’s a buttons tip into mousse thingy, that’ll be a triple delight then!!!
The Lakes
34 Miles
I had a good run today, I discovered a beautiful Cumbrian Village called Westnewton. It was just really nice with a small river running all the way down the side of the road and it had a nice looking church and a stunning primary school, but I couldn’t get any photographs, the kids were going in and I didn’t fancy anyone thinking I was up to something dodgy. It’s such a shame you have to think like that these days, 20 years ago no one would have battered an eyelid.
There were however two things missing that my ideal village requires, a small shop and a nice, friendly pub.
I got back nicely sweating as it was another nice warm and sunny morning.
As we only had 30 miles to our next camp ground we hung around the van relaxing. It was nice because for the first time since we have been away, I was able to log into my Facebook account and watch the Andrew Healey live broadcast.
Andrew, who really, really, really Avid Readers will know from the Archive of 3rd and 4th June 2016, was the resident entertainment on the Indian Pacific Train when we were in Australia. Andrew lives in Melbourne and as they are back in full lock down, he has been doing an hour’s live show from his sofa every night at 7:00 pm their time which is 10:00 am in the UK.
Andy is a smashing lad and I think its hit him hard being unable to perform as an artist and also from the financial point of view as well.
You can message him and you can leave a tip for him, today I bought him a $20 cocktail. We even got a song dedicated to us, Escape, (The Pina Colado song), would you believe!!!
I would ask that if you have time in the morning, drop by Andrew and maybe buy him a drink, message him a request and I’m sure that you’ll get a mention.
I’ve shared his page on Facebook so you can find him from there.
We set off just after Andrew’s show finished at just gone 11:00 am.
The road was easy and after about 14 miles we entered the mountainous area and for a few miles we also ran along Bassenthwaite Lake which gave us some lovely views.
I had received a very long and detailed message from the campsite about safety measures but no location details other than the very basic address and post code. There wasn’t any map as some sites provide, there wasn’t even a road name. With me thinking the site would be easy to find I entered the postcode into the SatNav, and we ended up about 3 miles from the site and down a closed road. The road was tight enough as it was, but then have a caravan that you have to turn around and it’s not so easy.
I found a narrow lane I could reverse into but it meant holding all of the traffic up. Well it had to be done, it was an even more tricky manoeuvre because it was reversing up a steep hill.
I managed it in a oner, it was actually an outstanding bit of caravan reversing but I could smell my clutch badly burning so as I pulled away to go back up the hill I had to leave Wendy, who had been helping me reverse, behind as I couldn’t risk starting another hill climb from a standing start.
She must have had a quarter a mile to run when I eventually parked up, and it was all up a very steep hill.
Jeepers the car smelled very badly of burning clutch.
I phoned the lady at the camp site and I had a bit of a frustrating conversation with her, so I passed her onto Wendy and to cut a long story short, had we been supplied with the information we got from her beforehand we would have been set up on site 30 minutes earlier and with a complete clutch in the car.
The site is busy, but its really nice and we are surrounded by huge mountains.
The weather is still good, but just a little cooler.
After a nice coffee we set off to explore Keswick.
We parked a half a mile out of town because I know parking is at a premium in the Lake District. We got into town and it was very busy, there were people everywhere, but being experienced zombie dodgers, we managed to keep out of everyone’s way.
There’s one thing that really gives me the pip though and its peoples desire to swan about like romance is in the air and walk side by side holding hands. I do give them some very dirty looks and it won’t be long before I am in a conflict situation, as I keep biting my tongue.
Wendy donned her mask and bought a few items, a Christmas tree bauble and some stocking fillers and then we found the Wetherspoon’s Bar for a well deserved pint. I thought it might be busy as I had seen one café which was absolutely chock-a-block, and still people queued to get in. Anyway, I asked the lad on the door at the bar if they were busy and he said no, and they weren’t. We found a quiet table in the corner from where, by use of the Wetherspoon’s App I ordered a BBQ panini to share, a pint for me and a medium white wine for Wendy.
The panini was really nice, it was hot and very tasty, the beer was nice too.
Fully satisfied we took a nice walk around Fitz Park which runs a good way along the River Greta. The park was almost empty and it was a really well laid out park with a bowling green, kids swings, nice shrubs and trees and it even had a decent sized cricket pitch where the local team play.
Back at the caravan I listened to the cricket with England looking like they are not going to get a first innings lead that will give Australia any difficulty.
Well thankfully we did get to just over 300 so it gives the bowlers something to attack at.
Its now gone 5:30 pm, Wendy is warming two day old pizza up for supper and I’m sipping a pint of lager while listening to Test Match Special as it’s the last one day international, England V Australia. I’m going to file tonight’s copy early because I am going to enjoy the cricket, however it turns out, because it’s the last international game of the year.
Fair play to the West Indies, the Pakistanis, the Aussies and of course the England team who have all gone out of their way and sacrificed both their safety and family life to give us some summer cricket, good on them all!!!
What Stonking Weather!!!
No Traveling
I watched the cricket last night and if I live to be 200 years old I’ll never be able to fathom out why Eion Morgan, the England Captain, with Australia needing ten off the last over and with two new lower order batsman just in, gave the ball to the spinner who had already been knocked all around the park. You know what happened, the Aussies smashed us around and won and had balls to spare, and I despaired!!!
This morning the weather was lovely and we both went out running. Wendy who is terrified of hills did her best to avoid them and wouldn’t go down any hill at all for fear of having to come back up it. I on the other hand ran straight down to Keswick and I loved it.
It was market day in the town square and the stall holders were busy erecting their stalls and people were beginning to swarm in so I high tailed it out and back up that big bloody hill.
After breakfast we loaded ourselves into the car for a tour of the Lakes!
I had come up with a route that would keep us in touch with the most beautiful areas, but I wanted to keep away from the tourist traffic which was a challenge on probably the best September day ever in Cumbria.
First up we followed the normal route to Ambleside, but I took a detour into the village of Grasmere, and it was mobbed, it really was Zombiegeddon! I never stopped the car and we never even wound our windows down.
As we approached Ambleside, we got within 4 miles of the village and the traffic slowed down until at about 2 miles away, from where we trickled our way into the village.
Again, it was mobbed, people were jostling along the pavement, it was ridiculous. The police were conspicuous by their absence. Why on earth don’t they put out signs telling people to stay away. Again, we carried on and didn’t stop which wasn’t a worry because I have been to Ambleside before, but it was nowhere near as busy as it was today.
I pulled into a loading bay and set the Sat Nav to take me the shortest route, as opposed to the fastest route. This, I was hoping would take me down all the tiny routes which takes far more time even though it is a much shorter a distance to travel.
Our first port of call was Coniston Water but we went along the eastern route as opposed to the main route which is along the western shore.
The drive was stunning:
Coniston Water is the third-largest lake in the Lake District by volume, and the fifth-largest by area. It is five miles long by half a mile wide. It has a maximum depth of 184 feet, and covers an area of 1.89 square miles. The lake has an elevation of 143 feet above sea level.
Today it was like a millpond and it was exceptionally beautiful and clear.
Of course, it is also famous for the tragedy that befell Donald Campbell who was killed in 1967 trying to break the water speed record in his boat, the Bluebird. Donald Campbell remains the only person to set both world land and water speed records in the same year.
I actually remember all of this happening when I was a young boy of six years old, that’s how big the story of his death was!
I stopped a few times to take photos and at one point I came across a man on a paddle board, he was on his board and about ten yards from the shore, and he was fully dressed. I had a chat with him and he was such a jolly fella, I do hope though that he never fell in!
As we left the lake, we followed its river down the valley and we came to a small village called Spark Bridge were we found a nice pub where Wendy took a cup of tea while I had a cup of coffee. Jeepers the drinks took an age to come out but as we were sat in the bright sunshine of the beer garden we didn’t mind too much. The drinks eventually came and the waiter, a young lad, was such a friendly and helpful lad, that the delay was soon forgotten.
This really was a nice village with some wonderful looking homes.
Our next destination was Kendal and the Sat Nav again took us over the mountains where we enjoyed stunning high level views of Lake Windermere.
This road was another cracker, it was such a lovely journey and I only pulled over once to let a local builder go past me, and that was the only vehicle I think we saw along that route.
Kendal was a lot quieter and there weren’t any crowding issues, I thought this would be the case because as beautiful as it is it is further away from the Lakes and people being people don’t want to travel too far to explore.
I have been to Kendal before but Wendy hasn’t. It was really nice and we bought and shared a tasty pork pie, and I got myself a link of black pudding from which I snook a bite. I put it in Wendy’s bag and off we went.
We had a pint in the Wetherspoons bar and now we have all of Cumbria‘s Wetherspoons in the bag, that’s our first full county!
From the bar we walked down to the River, it’s the River Kent that flows through Kendal and it looked quite splendid in the hot sunshine.
Back in the shopping district we bought a couple of stocking fillers and we left it at that and found the car and set off for our next location, Bowness of Windermere.
Again, we had a treat of a lonely road trip and came out at another Zombie filled village.
I managed to find a good safe parking spot and we took a short, Zombie dodging walk to the Beatrix Potter Museum and then we managed to get down to the waterside of Lake Windermere. I saw a couple just a few years younger than me merrily walking hand in hand while taking all of the pavement up. I side stepped into the road and I could hear Wendy chuntering under her breath, “You carry on holding hands, I’ll just get run down by dodging you in the road.”
Lake Windermere is:
Our final destination was to take the Kirkstone Pass back to our campsite. Kirkstone Pass as an altitude of 1,489 feet and it is Cumbria’s highest pass traversed by road. Almost at the top is the Kirkstone Pass Inn which used to be a vital coaching Inn but today it was surrounded by tourists drinking their beer in the warm afternoon sunshine. The ride over and down the Pass was brilliant, with stunning views on both sides.
Back at the caravan we could smell the slow cooked sausage casserole which we had put on six hours previously as soon as we opened the door. We immediately became starving hungry and we ate it there and then. Jeepers it was a double delight, slow cooked thick, fat and very long Cumberland Sausage, it was to die for.
Its been a brilliant an interesting days road trip. Our entire journey took us around some of the best countryside the Lake District has to offer and we saw it all most solely by ourselves. We covered 91 miles and it would have been nice to have been able to have got out of the car more often than we did, but at least we will able to come back some day in the future. Had we joined the Zombie herds we might not have been able to!
Its now 8:30 pm and I have just remembered that the black pudding is stashed in Wendy’s bag, jeepers had I left it in there any longer in this heat it would have walked out of the bag by itself!
Its Over!!!
135 Miles
What a lovely morning I woke up to, clear skies and on my run I saw a stunning sunrise.
I went down to Keswick again this morning, Wendy went out, I’m not sure where she went but I bet it didn’t involve big hill climbs!
I saw a stunning sunrise just after I left the campsite, the sun came up from behind a mountain. That’s probably the last time I will see the sun rise again this year, but it doesn’t matter, it was nice to go out on a good one.
I got down to the town again and I ended my trip out at the cricket pitch again where I sat on a bench and drank my iced water.
On my way back through town it was beginning to come alive, it was 8:15 am and people were out and about, shops were getting ready to trade and they were busy with their preparations for a busy day.
I saw four blokes, they were my age and they were dressed in walking clothing. They were tight together on the small pavement and I had to go into the road to get around them. They did not give one toss at the sacrifice that some people have made or anyone else who is unlucky enough to come into contact with them.
I got back to the caravan and it was lovely, the site was buzzing, mainly with people getting ready to leave the site as we would be doing after our breakfast routine.
We left the site at around 10:30 and we were on the road to Penrith before turning north.
I wanted to go over a route that I have never been before, I wanted to take the A7 which would lead in a north easterly direction to Edinburgh.
We left the M74 just before the Scottish border and travelled along the last of the English country roads before we arrived at the Scottish Border.
I wanted to visit the town of Hawick in the Scottish Borders.
It is my firm belief that I have never been there before.
I managed to come across a very large car park just outside of town, I could see campervans parked in there so in I went. As I entered the car park, I saw that you can have 48 hours free parking. Immediately Wendy said we can have a weekend here in the caravan.
We walked into town, over a road bridge that crossed the River Teviot which is a fairly substantial river, especially as Hawick is one of the most distant towns from the sea in Scotland.
We had to then cross the River Slitrig which is a river that is somewhat smaller than The River Teviot. The confluence for the rivers is within the town where from there the River Teviot goes on to join the River Dee.
In January 2020 the River Teviot was the subject of heavy flooding as a result of Storm Ciara, so much so that a well-known restaurant, Sonia’s Kitchen, was washed, away on live television.
You can see it all happening by following this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv4HwHHJEEY
We walked along the High Street and there were some very nice looking shops that I would have liked to browse, but browsing in a medical mask isn’t my kind of thing these days so I had to give it a miss.
Our main mission was to bag the Wetherspoon’s Bar, and we did indeed find it and we found that it had an outside area where the sun was shining all over every available table.
Now I have to admit we have a difference of opinion about this bar, Wendy thinks we have been here before but I don’t think we have and I never recognised anything about it. However, it is on my meticulously kept list of Wetherspoons Bars that I have visited so Wendy thinks I have forgotten a previous visit and I think that I have made an admin error. I know which one it is, but Wendy doesn’t agree with me.
I ordered, via the App, a beer for me, an orange juice for Wendy and a chicken wrap to share.
After I ordered I went inside to use the toilet and I came back out just has the drinks arrived.
The chicken wrap followed not long after and it also had a portion of chips. As we had no condiments, I went inside to find them, but I couldn’t see any so I asked a member of staff where they were. The staff member was wearing a face mask and told me that the condiments would come with our meal. I didn’t get a chance to tell her that we had the food but no condiments when she said that if I wanted to roam around the inside of the building, I must wear a face covering.
Well that caught me off-balance, I have been in 19 other Wetherspoon buildings on this trip and I have never been asked to wear a face covering. I didn’t even see any signs telling me to do so here either. To avoid an argument, I had to eat salt and ketchup less chips.
The chicken wrap and the chips were quite tasty mind!
After we left the bar Wendy told me that she had her own spat with a smoker who asked her if she minded him smoking. As it was a no smoking area, she told him that yes, she did mind him smoking. He carried on anyway, but she never told me until we had left. I might have had a word with him about it, especially as he was an obnoxious young man!
We got back to the car and on checking the large notice I saw that caravans, trailers and horse boxes were not allowed to park there so I expected a ticket but thankfully we had not attracted the attention of the duty warden so we scarpered before we got caught.
The rest of the journey was lovely, going through some really nice countryside.
We are staying with Alex and Robyn, but we are staying in the van and not going in the house because we have been on too many Zombie dodging missions, well we have to be careful now.
Supper was a delight, Alex cooked a joint of ham by a method unbeknown to me, involving ironbru and roasting. However he did it, it was very tasty, as were the spuds and salads.
Well Avid Reader, that’s it for this journey.
I’m knocking off at this point, and I’m unsure when the next travels will be or where they will be going, lockdown Mark II is on the horizon and from what I have seen throughout the UK on this journey I can only blame the Zombie population of stupid people who live amongst us.
it's been another brilliant and interesting adventure, I can't wait until the next one, even if it's only in the UK, because there's always something interest to find!
Journey, the stats:
Nights Away – 34
Camps – 14
Miles Covered – 1,383
Places Visited – 70
Average cost per night - £18.43
Cost of fuel – £238.57
We still have to get home and we hope to be there on Monday or Tuesday next week, but there’s no rush, or maybe there is after seeing tonight’s TV News!
Sunshine!
46 Miles
What to do when you can’t do much? Take the caravan to the beautiful east coast seaside village of Portmahomack, and why not its only 46 miles from home, it’s on the Tarbat peninsula in Easter Ross.
We’ve been coming on and off for a few years now and we have even stayed on this campsite before. The site is owned by the Scottish Free Church – Continuing, which is a very highbrow Church. They are a Presbyterian denomination with congregations in the UK, Canada, USA and strangely Sri Lanka. They hold to the truth of the Bible in every word and love the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Well it’s everyone to their own in my opinion, but at £50.00 a week that’s terrific value.
We got to the site just after 1:00 pm and we were very carefully placed on our allocated plot by the Vicar, although he wasn’t in works dress.
He also gave me a rundown of the rules, which I knew anyhow, and these are:
No use of the electrical supply for any kind of heating. So that’s the water heater off, the space heater off, no kettles, no fan heater to dry my running gear and no hairdryer for Wendy.
I thought that last item might be met with some discontent, but no she was very happy with the rules, well as I have said at £50 a week, thats £7.15 a night, with direct access to a stunning beach, We can put up with that. We do have gas back up anyway, so we have very hot water and heating throughout the van, so we have no hardships really, well apart from drying someone’s hair!
As we are staying in one spot for a full week we put the air supported awning up, which in very bright and warm sunshine had me lathered and stripped down to my vest in no time at all. Well I do have to manually inflate the air tubes by way of a large manual pump because the small electrical one can’t pressurise it enough to hold the weight of the awning. Well at least I got a workout.
Soon enough we were sat outside in the sunshine drinking coffee and eating the lovely cake that Linda brought us yesterday when she came to visit with her new puppy, Bert!
We took a walk along the beach into the heart of the village.
The sunshine made it a very pleasant experience but we saw that the local restaurants didn’t seem to be open, however we thankfully found that the pub was open at 5:00 pm.
We walked around the harbour and we watched a fisherman hosing his small boat down after landing his catch of shell fish. Shell fish seems to be the local catch in the outer Moray Firth.
As we strolled along we saw a fish van but thought nothing of it until we thought about tonight’s supper. We back tracked pretty quickly and we were introduced to the character that is Lionel. Lionel is a French man who has all the French charm anyone would need to make you enchanted into buying his fish.
We loaded up with two huge monkfish fillets, which came with cooking instructions of pan fry each side for two minutes and then stick it into the oven for 8 minutes.
We also took 6 scallops, but he gave us two as a freebie, and we finished with two smoked haddock fish cakes and he chucked in a very nice tub of chilli prawns for good measure.
After buying a newspaper and a lettuce from the very well stocked small supermarket we walked back to the caravan to drop off the fish before heading back slowly to the village pub.
We walked back along the road and we saw two huge campervans head into the village and park up for the night in the local carpark. As we passed there were about 6 campers parked up there leaving very little room for local parking. Oh I am detesting the way that campervans are abusing the Highlands since the virus stopped them pestering the Europeans!
We got back to the bar with ten minutes to spare, but that was ok because we could sit on a bench in the still warm sunshine.
On the dot of 5:00 pm the pub opened and after our contact details had been taken, we were treated to the delight of a pint and a half of Happy Chappy Real Ale.
Back at the van Wendy cooked the Monkfish to perfection, following Lionel’s instructions to the letter and we had it with a very tasty salad, it was a delight.
Its bake off night and thankfully we have enough electricity to run the telly so I guess we will be tuned into that, but before that we managed a night walk along the beach to see a stunning night sky. We also saw a heron stalking fish; he was nicely silhouetted against the night sky.
Its been a stunning, warm late September day, can it last……………. let’s hope!
The Weather Had to Change!
No Traveling
I heard the pitter, patter of rain at about 3:30 am this morning, it was only light rain but it went on for a good few hours. I woke at 6:00 and it was still at it so I lingered half in and half out of sleep finally getting up at 7:00 to see the news. I knew that Donald and Sleepy Joe were debating in the early hours so I was keen to see how they had got on, I wish I hadn’t bothered, Lord Help us, it was dire and the less said the better.
I had the gas kettle whistling in no time and even with the whistle going full belt, it never disturbed Wendy who was fast out to the world.
The rain had by now stopped and in the absence of any wind the morning seemed to be shaping up after all.
Wendy woke up, eventually, and took her tea in bed while I got ready to go out for my run. Wendy wasn’t feeling like a run today and had the kettle back on by the time I left.
Today I wanted to go around the north of the Tarbat Peninsular as we have walked it before and it’s got some stunning views. It was a bit hard going over the rough coastline path and I stumbled a few times. I had one big blow out where I fell into a gorse bush. I had a split second to make a judgement, I was on a ledge and although it wasn’t a high drop, I didn’t fancy dropping onto the rocks below. I opted to go all out into the gorse and try to break my fall, which I did with my right palm and my right knee. I was prepared for the pain of the gorse spikes, but I wasn’t prepared for so many of them. When I looked at my hand it looked like I had been stroking a porcupine, I had that many spikes embedded, thankfully there wasn’t too much blood when I pulled them out.
I carried onto the Lighthouse which is at the far north end and I marvelled at it from below.
Tarbat Ness Lighthouse at 40 metres high is the third highest lighthouse in Scotland and it flashes four times every 30 seconds.
The lighthouse was built in 1830 after 16 vessels were wrecked in a storm and it really is a very solid structure.
I also marvelled at the robotic lawnmower that was busy mulching the grass at the foot of the lighthouse. I found it stuck in an enclosed stone wall area with only a very small opening for it to escape to allow it to cut the very much larger field. It did indeed find its way out and it set about cutting merrily away.
I got back to the caravan after a short run on the beach and just before I got to the caravan site, I took my trainers off and had a paddle in the sea. Jeepers it was freezing; my toes were numb in seconds. I have to say that I didn’t last 30 seconds and I high tailed it back to the caravan for my banana smoothie and a hot cup of tea.
No sooner was I back in the caravan than it was raining cats and dogs.
I had my breakfast and by the time I was ready for the day it was 5 minutes to midday so we stayed in to watch the excitement that is, “Questions to the Prime Minister”, that was one waste of 30 minutes.
As the rain was dropping vertically and not horizontally, we decided to carry out with our plan, a walk along Dornoch Beach and a trip to The Falls of Shin.
We got to the beach and we donned our wellies and over coats, I asked Wendy if she had brought my big socks, she hadn’t!
I had to walk with my wellies on and a pair of standard dad socks, they didn’t just go to sleep they had hibernated by the time we had finished the walk.
When I was a firefighter, I used to always wear my sea boot socks which were issued to us. All the others just jumped into their fire boots on the way to a shout, in the back of a jostling fire engine, but I would calmly and carefully put my sea boot socks on before getting the rest of my gear on, because there’s nothing worse than the distraction of a sleeping sock when you’re in the inferno of a house fire where you need to have your wits about you!
We left the beach after a 20 minute walk and as stunning as Dornoch Beach is normally, 20 minutes was enough today. Yesterday there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but today there wasn’t a sky in the clouds, the rain just kept coming.
We then drove up to the Falls of Shin which used to be a tourist attraction, we have been there before but that was when it was owned by Al Fayed and it was nicknamed “The Harrods of the North”.
It was destroyed by fire in May 2013 and this left a huge hole in the local economy and as a leading employer a vast number of jobs were lost overnight. Following the fire and after several months of Stakeholder meetings, the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust was invited by the Big Lottery Fund to submit for project funding to rebuild the popular attraction. It has been rebuilt and there is now a café and small gift shop although we didn’t go in. But they were right to rebuild it because it is such a remote area with very little else opportunity for this kind of service employment.
We did walk down to the stunning falls and they were indeed in full flow.
After a while of watching the water torrent down the hill, Wendy started to walk back up the steep foot path to the car. That’s when I saw the first salmon try to leap the rapids, it failed, the poor thing.
I called Wendy back and we spent the next 20 minutes watching salmon trying to leap up the rapids. The best one was a huge salmon who really gave it a good go, he was so high out of the water and he had propelled himself so much that he was visible for an age and we could see his entire body, his fins were flapping wildly in an attempt to fly his way up the falls, sadly he failed and was swept back down.
After the excitement we drove back through the lovely countryside back to the caravan where on arrival at 4:00 pm the rain eventually stopped.
We had an early tapas supper of Prawns, Scallops, Patatas Bravas, a selection of continental meat, and fresh rolls, it was bloody lovely. As we prepared supper at 5:00 pm the rain came again so it’s looking like a night of comfy cloths watching Netflix followed by a very early night, with ear plugs!
Rain, Rain and Yet More Rain!
No Traveling
When it started around supper time last night it did indeed rain all night long.
We really did have an early night, Wendy was tucked up by 8:00 pm and I followed her at 8:30 where after putting in some ear plugs I promptly fell asleep and only tossed and turned when the rain got really heavy. I woke at 8:00 am but as it was still raining I stayed in bed for another hour.
I got out at ten minutes to seven so I could have my bran flakes and tea with the 7:00 am news, however fate had a different direction for me as it was only 12 degrees in the caravan. The heating defect light was on which led me to think we were out of gas. I lit the stove for the gas kettle and confirmation was received as the flame went down and then out. There was nothing for it other than to get my wet proofs on and go outside to change the gas bottle.
I had to dig the spanner out which I keep close to the gas bottle, but as its infrequently used it get stuff piled on it. I must have made enough noise inside the caravan to wake the dead, but apparently not Wendy Gill who remained undisturbed.
With the heating restored I had breakfast, caught the last of the news and washed and started to do some admin chores, then Wendy eventually woke almost 12 hours after going to bed.
Wendy did indeed go running at the same time as me, she went along the road up to the lighthouse and I ran along the coast to the small village of Inver.
It’s not a straight forward run along the beach, there’s a small grass track to start with, then there’s lots of big pebble beds to hop around, and then there’s the slippery kelp plantations. Thankfully though around 2/3 of the run is on firm sand.
As I approached the village, the rain had let up but the wind had a bit of a force to it. There’s a small path from the beach to the village and its here I found a cairn, built to acknowledge the deaths of the local population from the Cholera outbreak of 1832.
I didn’t know anything about this so when I got back to the van I did some research, and here in my own words is what I found:
The outbreak originally spread from India in 1826 taking 6 years for it to eventually find its way in to France and then to England. I guess you can tell from this length of time that air travel wasn’t a thing back then!
It arrived in the Highlands at Helmsdale in July of 1832, most likely being brought from a fishing vessel from the township of Prestopans on the Lothian Coast.
From Helmsdale it quickly spread throughout the local area.
It spread very quickly through fishing communities on the east coast and in the Seaboard villages and reached its climax in the third week of August, after which it died down equally quickly.
The number of dead cannot be accurately estimated but it is known that half of the population of Inver died from it, has did a fifth of the population of Portmahomack.
According to Hugh Miller, of Cromarty, a local writer and geologist amongst other things, the disease took a worse form in Easter Ross than in any other part of Great Britain.
After a breakfast of toasted cheese and ham sarnies we took a short drive for a wander around Tain. I had a couple of missions to complete in Tain, one to get a new gas bottle and two, to get a few supplies for tonight’s supper.
The first mission required a stop at the filling station and all went well until I swapped my bottle. I had an ultra-light aluminium bottle but the only exchange I could get was a much heavier steel bottle. So now when I swap this bottle next time, I will have to pay more to get a light weight bottle back. I did a quick calculation in my head and no it wouldn’t have been cost effective to drive back to Inverness to swap it, bummer!
The other bits we picked up in Lidl and as the car park was empty Wendy came in with me and was beside herself as she had the middle of Lidl all to herself!
From there we walked around the small town and we found some lovely looking old stone buildings. The rain was lighter now and wasn’t so much of a nuisance.
We found a very nice small park in the heart of the town and it was really well looked after.
We covered exactly one mile trawling the streets of Tain and then we headed to Tain Pottery where Wendy bought a cruet set for £28! She did ask the lad if that was for each piece and he said, “No, but you can have one for £14 if that helps”. That made me chuckle!
From there we headed to Balintore on the coast for a pint of beer at the Balintore Inn.
The fire was lit and it was quite nice and safe as we were the only ones in the bar and the waitress was lovely although I never really saw her face because of her face mask!
After drinking up we took a walk along to the Harbour where life was going on as normal, a man was unloading his creels, most likely for a clean before the real bad weather starts and there was another fella line fishing from the end of the harbour wall.
We got back to the car as the rain came heavy again and we high tailed back to the van.
As I type tonight’s copy Wendy is starting supper and it looks like last night’s cycle will be repeated because its not really fit to go out again. Never mind Wendy will get in another 12 hour shift in bed, which can’t be a bad thing.
I’ll finish for now, but not before I detail that Portmahomack is unique on the east coast of Northern Scotland in so much as it has the only West facing East Coast Beach anywhere in Scotland!
19:43 - Addendum – What a lovely supper we had! Wendy found some two year out of date pasta in a cup and spiced it up with garlic, chilis, onion and mushrooms and on opening the fish cakes we found that Lionel, the fish man had given us two extra fish cakes, so I cooked two and froze two, I also cooked the last four scallops and we sat down to an amazing meal.
After the Sara Cox Radio Show had finished at 7:00 pm and as the rain had stopped, we had a really nice, albeit wind affected walk around the village.
We are now back in the caravan with the heating warming us nicely as the wind blows all around us!
Sunshine
No Traveling
The rain kept up most of the night and I was surprised to see lovely bright sunshine coming up when I opened the blind just after 7:00 am.
After breakfast Wendy went out with me, I ran along the main road in the direction of Balintore and Wendy went over to the small village of Rockfield.
The last time we were staying on this camp site we walked all the way around the northern head of the peninsular, from Portmahomack around the lighthouse at Tarbat Ness and along the coast to Rockford. However Wendy doesn’t fully remember it so she’s going over to jog her memory.
I used to like running while I listened to Dearne FM but since they went off air and were replaced by a much crappier Greatest Hits radio station I have been radios station-less. I have tried Zoe Ball on Radio 2 but she’s such an exaggerated lovey that she does my head in.
I have tried Isle of Man Radio but it’s a little too much like community radio so I have been searching and for the last week I have been quite pleased with Radio Gibraltar. They have a morning show with two co-hosts and then a lady takes over at 10:00 European Time, which is 09:00 our time and she has a 40 minute slot called the Time Machine and its quite good, today was 2010, I thought it was 2006!
The run out was one of those mind game runs, it appears to be uphill all the way out but when you turn around and come back along the same route its all up hill again, its strange but it does seem to happen a lot. I did do a good time though, 9 minutes, 19 seconds per mile.
That’s quite good, as a young man I could do a mile in 7 minutes, 30 seconds but age and injury has added time in recent years so todays was an extremely good effort.
I met Wendy back at the van and she told me that she had been over to Rockford and that it was coming back to her, but I’m wondering if she’s getting mixed up as we recently took Granny and Granddad to see Rockfield too.
After a breakfast and a rather nice cup of coffee and because the nice weather continued, we went out for a good walk, and guess where we went?
We walked nine miles all around the Tarbet Ness Peninsular and it was stunning. The weather could not have been better, light winds and bright sunshine.
First up we walked over to Rockford where we arrived just in time for high tide. We got there at 1:14 pm and high tide was at 1:18, and it’s a very high tide because today is the first phase of a full moon.
The walk along the Moray Firth side was fantastic, with the sea bashing against the shore and the rocks just yards from the path, it was really an atmospheric experience.
It wasn’t really hard going but there was one section where I spied a short cut which would save us a long detour. It was along the shoreline and it meant going over some rocks, Wendy wasn’t comfortable but I assured her that it would be safe, it was of course but she did hum and har all the way over.
When we climbed up from the beach we were at the lighthouse and in the bright sunshine it was a sight for sore eyes.
I took Wendy to see the robot lawn mower and she is definitely liking the idea of having one in our garden.
Now we headed along the west coast of the peninsular which was much calmer, as the Moray Firth now becomes the protected Dornoch Firth. The Dornoch Firth is sheltered by the wide land corridor which is about 10 miles long and which leads to the town of Tain.
The sun was still quite hot and we had both taken our jumpers off miles ago and I thought that while now we were walking into the breeze, we would need to put them back on, but we didn’t. In fact I was beginning to worry about my poor uncovered head getting burnt, the sun really was that warm, in October too!
We got back to the van at a little after 4:30 pm and I had a glass of beer and Wendy a small glass of wine, with our walking shoes off in the lovely nice evening sunshine.
After a short recovery time we headed out to the pub for a stonking supper, sat outside in the bright sunshine. The sun was that bright I had to sit with my back towards it as I hadn’t brought my sunglasses.
I had the chefs own Highland Burger and Wendy had the scampi, chips and peas. Both meals were really tasty. I actually had to deconstruct my burger as it had a burger, a slice of haggis, a round of black pudding, cheese and even two rashers of bacon. The chips were lovely too, proper hand cooked chips. The coleslaw was very tasty too as were Wendy’s scampi.
Just as we finished our food the sun set and we walked back to the caravan under an amazing sky, it was a 360 degree delight. The colours were terrific and I’m sure my camara doesn’t do it justice.
Its been a cracking days adventure but boy I’m sure we will both sleep really well tonight.
I might even have a whiskey for good measure!
A Dreich Day!!!
No Traveling
We did sleep well last night, I woke at 7:00 am and no sooner were my eyes open than the first pitter, patter of rain could be heard on the caravan roof.
The rain got steadily harder as I had my breakfast and when Wendy woke soon after she made it abundantly clear that she was not going out running.
I went out and I took the main road out of the village and turned right just before two miles and I took the road to Tain.
I was a fair bit achy today, I don’t know if it was our walk yesterday or my running PB, all I know is that I was back to running an average mileage of 10 minutes 27 seconds again today!
I have been meaning to take a photograph about the Gaelic name for both Tain and Inver as they are a bit of a joke. Tain in English, as can be seen is 4 letters in length, in Gaelic its 16 letters long. Inver at 5 letters in English is 14 in Gaelic, and they are, to me, totally unreadable not to mention unpronounceable.
The thing is though, is that an awful load of money has been spent by the Scottish Nationalist Government in replacing all the road signs in Scotland to have duel meanings, English and Gaelic, even though there are many areas of Scotland where the language is not used. I worked on the Isle of Skye for four years and I have to be honest, I never heard anyone speaking it, and I lived in the community and as a fire officer I met my fair share of local people and I was around and about every nook and cranny of the island.
In the 2011 census of Scotland, 57,375 people (1.1% of the Scottish population aged over 3 years old) reported as able to speak Gaelic, 1,275 fewer than in 2001. The highest percentages of Gaelic speakers were in the Outer Hebrides.
Schools who teach using the Gaelic language receive far more funding than traditional schools, its shocking! I know someone who’s two girls go to the Gaelic Primary School in Inverness because of the funding it gets but the girls refuse to use the language outside of school!
Obviously, this doesn’t grate me one little bit!!!!!
Wendy didn’t go running, but she did walk to the shop to get her morning paper, which cost a pound more than it usually does, she forgot her face covering and had to buy one for a pound, that’s her who swears she’s as safe as houses.
I got back to the caravan and the rain now started to come down much harder but that was OK I had had a hot shower and a small smoothie. I couldn’t have too much food as today we would be welcoming a pair of luncheon guests, Caroline and Bradley.
Around midday, I managed to convince Wendy to go for a beach stroll.
The rain was a little lighter and it was a good time to stretch the legs.
The tide was high again and the harbour was full of boats grounded by the weather.
I did find two interesting facts though, one, the village pub opens at 1:00 pm on a Sunday as opposed to 5:00 pm every other day of the week, the second was really amusing.
There is a house close to the harbour that has a very realistic tree carving of a dog outside the front door. I have admired it every time I have walked past it. Well today I saw the dog that the was the inspiration behind the carving, he was sat right there on his Master’s sofa in the same house. The carving is an exact replica of the home owner’s dog and there he was as large as life just pleasing himself.
We got back to the van and Wendy made some lovely chicken Enceladus for our luncheon date and soon enough our motley pair turned up. Its been a while since I have seen Caroline properly and she’s beginning to show the baby nicely now.
We had a nice safely distanced meal in the caravan awning with Brad telling us what he’s going to do with his new house when they move in at the end of October. It seems I’ve been pressganged into house moving duties, I’ve been given strict instructions to make myself available for a specific date. However, I will have to check with St Nicola if I am allowed to.
As we sat and chatted the rain became heavier and it was clear that it wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. There’s been a recent pattern I’ve noticed while we have been at Portmahomack, and that is we have two days of rain filled days and one day of glorious sunshine. So, it looks like I have to wait until Monday for my next glimpse of a blue sky, I guess that’s OK as we were spoilt rotten yesterday.
Well that’s it for todays copy Avid Reader, Its now almost 6:00 pm and the rain is battering on the roof of the caravan, but never mind, the heating is keeping us nicely warm. After filing tonight’s copy I’m going to relax with a Netflix murder mystery, have a glass of wine and count down the days to my upcoming birthday.
By the way, did I see Bradley sly a secret present for me for his mother to stash somewhere in this caravan?
Naughty Boy!!!
No Traveling
Jeepers that rain lasted all night long, and then the wind picked up and I was woken at 4:20 am with the caravan being shaken this way and that. The wind was howling and the rain was driving. I got up and watched a little Netflix.
I poured myself a sneaky vodka and fresh orange juice. It was lovely and very relaxing as the madness outside continued.
I relaxed that much that I poured myself another one and that’s when, I over heard Wendy Gill tutting from the direction of the bed.
I know it was a bit naughty but I was wide awake.
The series I have been watching is called The Fall, it stars Gillian Anderson of the X-Files.
She plays a senior detective and she’s been hunting a serial murderer who terrorises and slowly kills young women. I think he had killed about 5 women when he was caught. However, there is still one woman missing and he won’t tell them where she is.
Then out of the blue he says he will take them to find her and in the process he gets shot as does the detective who he is handcuffed to. They also find the woman who has been locked in her car boot for 4 days and is close to death.
Now here’s a thing!
The senior doctor in the hospital casualty department, who has been briefed on the situation tells his staff that they have to treat the incoming casualties based solely on clinical need. To this end all of the casualty crew are working on the criminal because he as been shot twice and the police officer who will likely sustain life changing injuries and the injured woman have to wait. I’m there sat thinking that this cannot be right, am I the only one that thinks this way? I don’t think so?
Anyway after I finished this episode I got back in bed and that’s where I stayed until I woke up at, get this, 11:22 am!
I even got orange juice, tea and toast in bed as well, what a treat!
I went running, the wind wasn’t so bad and the rain had eased a little, in fact I made it out and back without getting too wet. Obviously Wendy didn’t go out in the rain!
I got back and after a shower we nipped to Tain for a little shopping at Asda. I was in and out getting just what I needed and I was checked out by a really nice older fella. As I had my big mask on and I was buying prosecco he said, “I’ll just take it that your over 18 then.” I thanked him for asking and he said, “Its always nice to be nice”. I then told him that an old lady in Skye told me that many years ago, he then said, “My mother said, you’ll always get more with sugar then vinegar”. Well I laughed at that as I have never heard such a proverb as that before, in fact we both had a little chuckle.
We got back at 5:00 pm just as the heavens opened and the wind picked up, just in time for our walk to the pub, well what else can you do on a wet Sunday in Portmahomack!
Thankfully the walk to the pub was actually ok as we managed to grab a window of low wind and just spitters.
At this point I need to have a slight digression; an Avid Reader has been in touch to enquire about the recent purchase of the cruet set. Cruet in English is a salt and pepper shaker set and you’ll find their colourfulness in today’s photograph selection.
Now back to today, the food in the pub was lovely, I had the salmon and prawn bake in a spicy and mixed pepper sauce on a bed of tagliatelle, it was cooked to perfection. Wendy had the fish, chips and garden peas. Wendy’s fish was huge, it was more whale than haddock, but although it was nicely cooked she did think that the batter was a little baked.
But that wasn’t the most interesting talking point of tonight’s pub meal, there were two other items that require detailing.
The first was a Coronavirus stupidity, by a silly and stupid woman.
Booking a table is easy peasey, you book a table and as you enter your table is waiting and your name is marked on it with your dining time, simples!!!
However, when we got to our table the table opposite had a man and a woman about our age, with an older woman and a young woman with a baby. They were guests staying in the hotel. The young woman took the baby to bed and then the rest moved to a dining table with their name on it. The woman of our age then pulled the next table to theirs. The landlady was straight onto this and told her that the tables are set for the virus restrictions and moved it back.
“But in England we can sit as a group of six indoors”, the woman piped up. “But you’re in Scotland and you can’t here” was the landlady’s reply. “But our friends are joining us and we want to sit together”, she chippered on. “Well you can’t and that’s that”, was the landlady’s reply, all in a very nice manner mind.
So we now have 3 adults sat at one table and indeed their mates come in and take the next table, this is where the woman shows she’s really a silly cow! She says to the new couple, who are easily within earshot, “They’ve moved the table away, but we can still be sociable as we can keep changing seats”. Thankfully one of them piped up, “No we best not!”
And that Avid Reader is why this virus keeps spreading, its because of stupid people like her.
The next one is a cracker – It really is.
So a couple walk in to a pub with a cat in a purpose built cat backpack. You couldn’t make it up, Garfield, I later found out his name, is tucked up in a Perspex domed cat backpack. He was placed on the floor much to the confusion of Spike, the pub dog. Spike just didn’t know what to make of it all and stalked around Garfield all night.
Everyone was talking about it; it was the talk of the steamy as they say in Glasgow!
I even had to ask permission to get a photo, it was just such a ridiculous thing to witness.
Stuffed we walked home nice and easy, with no rain and just a little breeze. Maybe tomorrow will be our sunny day, it should be if the patterns stay’s the same.
Birthday Boy!
No Traveling
Jeepers what a downpour we had at 4:00 am this morning, it banged it down for 20 minutes and Wendy never flinched. It just got harder and harder and then suddenly it stopped.
It put me out of sorts because I had strange pains in my legs, similar to growing pains. I know growing pains are supposed to be a myth, but I’m sure I had them when I was a nipper, anyway I did have them last night. Maybe I’m shooting up to six foot sometime soon!
I had a lovely breakfast surprise with cards and pressies to open, it was all rather nice, even the sun was half out.
After breakfast I donned my running gear and set off along the road up to the small village of Inver. My plan was to run along the main road, down into Inver Village and then back along the shoreline as the tide was fully out.
I had the odd rain shower but they didn’t last very long. I had a phone call from Granny and Granddad who both sang happy birthday down the phone to me. Its an annual thing you know, it happens every birthday!
As I ran along the shore the rain produced a stunning rainbow, I could see both ends clearly. Sadly, they were both in the sea so no crock of gold for me. It’s a shame that I was so close because I couldn’t get a full photograph, but I hope the one I did get gives an idea of what it was like!
Back at the camp and I had my banana smoothie, its funny but I haven’t been adding peanut butter to it for a couple of days and I quite like it.
As the weather had cleared up we took a walk along the beach to the harbour and I called in the village shop and got the last of the orange juice as I had just run out.
We chilled in the van for a while, with me watching the last episode of my Netflix thriller before leaving for Balintore at 2:00 pm.
By the time we had got to Balintore the sun was streaming down and we took a really nice walk along the beach there. Wendy was collecting pebbles for her home project that’s she’s not fully explained to me. The beach at Balintore is beautiful and in the sunshine, it was just perfect.
After the walk we headed to the Balintore Inn to settle down for an early evening meal only to be thwarted once we had tracked and traced ourselves in! The chef had had to dash off and won’t be back until 5:30 pm, bugger!
Never mind, Plan B was implemented, we had steak in the fridge and I nipped in to the small Spar shop in Balintore where I bought a small vegetable pack, a bag of frozen scampi and a sausage roll to tide us over.
We drove back to the caravan where we whiled away a little time before we headed once again down Portmahomack Main Street for a pint of Real Ale, or maybe even two in the local pub.
And Plan B was shaping up quite nicely as we had a good old laugh with the staff when we got there. They have a very friendly attitude and its very welcoming. The barmaid is having her hair shaved off on Sunday to raise money for the MacMillan Nurses. We gave her a donation and she was dead chuffed with us.
Apparently, Spike was out of sorts last night, after Garfield the Cat’s visit. Apparently, he bit Karen the barmaid and a guest who is staying at the hotel last night. With this information in the public domain Spike was swiftly rounded up and deposited upstairs in the owner’s accommodation. Spike is thirteen and a half years old and might be getting a little nippy in his old age.
We also learned that a metal detector person has uncovered a small bomb of some description out on a farm track just outside the village and its now in the hands of the bomb disposal unit who may have to detonate it rather than try to move it. I guess he wasn’t expecting that when he started digging around!
I do hope it doesn’t go off in the night!
After a good chuckle in the bar we toddled off back to the caravan and the night sky was just closing in around us.
Wendy made a stonking supper; she really did pull it out of the hat.
The veg was a delight, cooked with a nice white sauce, the scampi was a delight too, obviously I took it with lashings of tartar sauce. The steak, which I bought in Aldi a few days before we left home, was cooked by myself and they were incredibly tasty.
As I type tonight’s copy, I can see that Wendy has got two mug in a cups sachets out for what I presume to be a virtual birthday cake. I’m hoping she forgets them because I am stuffed to high heaven!
It’s now fully dark outside and its been a lovely relaxing birthday.
We are homewards bound tomorrow, hopefully we will get a nice quiet night. Its been a really lovely, tranquil week here in Portmahomack. Its been good to get the awning up and live a bit of an outdoor life.
Its not been Portugal, but Portmahomack made a very good attempt at being a really nice substitute!
For my final guilty pleasure today, I do believe that the last episode of this series of the Walking Dead airs tonight. It was not screened due to the virus outbreak but now it’s been finally put together. As I said its been a lovely birthday and it just keeps getting better!
Night, Night Avid Reader!
Knapdale!
154 Miles
During Sunday lunch I tossed out my idea of helping local enterprises with us visiting a local hotel for Friday night. I had even looked at Friday and Saturday night on the Isle of Raasay but as the TV programme, Who Dares Wins are about to start filming there, all the hotel rooms on the island seem to have been booked out.
We chatted it over with Caroline and Brad, I did even think about getting Alex and Robyn up to Pitlochry with us all going down, but the Khyber Pass was well and truly kicked up as Brad and Caroline are going to Ikea on Saturday and are staying the night in Edinburgh, and also Alex as a football match to referee on Saturday afternoon!
Wendy suggested that she would like to take the caravan away as she feels much safer doing that, than staying in a hotel.
So as the lunchtime chatting continued, I got the map out and looked at an area which is on my to-do-list, The Mull of Kintyre.
I did a search of the caravan and camping club sites in the area and although there are no club sites there they did recommended two private ones, both of which were perfectly located for us.
The first was at Tavallic and was one about 150 miles away, and the other close to the town of Campbeltown which is a further 50 miles away.
Messages were duly sent to these two campsites and within the hour we were all ready to pack the caravan on Monday for yet another adventure, and why not, it looks like its going to be a long winter!
After making preparations yesterday I woke at 06:20 this morning to go out for an early run and I found, on opening the conservatory doors, the rain pounding heavily on the conservatory roof. Unperturbed I had my breakfast and got washed and thankfully the rain had stopped by the time I was ready to go.
I got to the Beauly River and back with having only one more small downpour which didn’t really bother me as there wasn’t any wind blowing.
After my usual banana smoothie, we did our final packing and we were off at 11:00 exactly.
The road to Fort William was easy going with very little traffic, in fact I didn’t have to pull over to let any traffic pass me because there was no need to.
I thought Fort William could be a drag as there is only the one road through the town and at this time of year, it being school holidays and all, that it would be chock-a-block with traffic as it often is. But today it wasn’t, we breezed through stopping only once for someone at a pedestrian crossing.
I have travelled the A82 from Inverness to Fort William many times but I have only been down from there to Oban about 3 times. I have never been south of Oban, except when crewing sail boats as it’s the only way to escape Loch Linnie into the Irish Sea.
The road from the Bridge at Ballachulish down to Oban is stunning, running along the shoreline of Loch Linnie.
At around the 85 mile mark we came across a layby large enough to accommodate our car and caravan so we stopped off to enjoy a coffee and some apple cake. I opened the gas bottle for Wendy and I went for a short walk along the shore before coming back to a hot coffee. No such luck because as soon as I opened the door Wendy said, “We haven’t brought the matches”. I say, “We don’t need them, use the hobs igniter”. Ha, she goes and then tries the igniter, without success. “It’s not working”, Wendy states with some slight smugness thinking she’s off the hook. “You have to put the power on first Wend!” Doh!!!!
Wendy must have made umpteen cuppas in the caravan using the gas hob, but today it seemed to be beyond her.
Never mind it was nice to relax while waiting for the kettle to boil.
We carried along the road on our journey and by now I was well into unchartered territory as I have never been on this section of road. I have to say it was fantastic, the scenery was amazing, it’s a shame there were so few parking places as I would loved to have stopped and taken some photos.
The road went up and down hills but the car pulled the caravan easily.
We entered what is called the Knapdale Peninsular just after 2:15 pm. It doesn’t look like a peninsular on the road map but I’m guessing that the road at Tarbert, a few miles down the coast, must involve a bridge crossing of some sort so that the Mull area becomes an island of sorts.
At a small place called Cairnbaan we took a minor road in the direction of the village of Crinan. It was at this point we came across the Crinan Canal. I was in my element, I had discovered yet another interesting, Great British Canal:
The canal is approximately nine miles long and connects the village of Ardrishaig, on Loch Gilp with the Sound of Jura providing a navigable route between the Clyde and the Inner Hebrides without the need for a long diversion around the Kintyre peninsula, and in particular the exposed Mull of Kintyre.
Work started on the canal in 1794 and was completed in 1801 but it was beset with problems, that was until Thomas Telford was invited to make suggestions on how to overcome the issues.
Queen Victoria famously used the canal in 1874. She started at Ardrishaig where she travelled to Crinan and then she and her husband Prince Albert boarded the Royal Yacht, The HMY Victoria and Albert. This highlighted the importance of the canal and from there on in its popularity soared.
We turned south just before Crinan Village and headed down for about 8 miles down a really tight single track road with very few passing places.
The road was a delight, it was beautiful, well apart from watching out for passing locals who know the road like the back of their hands and don’t expect a huge caravan to be in their way.
We got to the camp ground at 4:00 pm on the dot and we were settled in in no time at all.
Before supper we took a walk around the sheltered bay on which the village is built. We even found the village store where Wendy talked herself into opting out of Stopoctober for a night by buying a bottle of wine, only to be put back on track almost immediately as the shop had closed at 4:00 pm.
Supper was a real delight as Wendy had brought a good number of small curry portions that seem to have collected in the freezer and we had them with rice and French bread, tapas style.
Its now 7:30 pm and I’m going to watch Alex officiate at a football match, online, while Wendy settles down with the Great British Bake off.
Tomorrow is a day of exploring, weather permitting of course!
Nooks & Crannies!!!
No Traveling
I watched Alex referee the game last night, he did well and it was a good game of football, in fact it was a very good game of football.
We took a short walk around camp last night just before bed and the night sky was fantastic. As there is very little in the way of light pollution and with the sky being clear without a moon, the stars in the night sky were a sight to behold. It was tremendous, it has been ages since I saw the night sky like that in the UK. In fact, the night was so clear I think we saw Mars which, I believe, is close to Earth just now, on the horizon. It was a reddish brown colour and much bigger than any of the stars.
I didn’t sleep too well last night, I tossed and turned around and I seemed to watch the clock through the night. At 6:20 am I threw in the towel and got up.
I had breakfast and got washed, Wendy woke and I made her tea then I got changed into my running gear. Wendy has a new system for shoe storage and they are now outside the door in a large plastic container. I had to nip out to get my trainers and I heard some noise in the field behind us. It was just getting light and I could just make out their shapes, the field was full of red deer.
I had disturbed them and they were just thinking about making a run for it when one made a break for it. Then they all went, it was like the Grand National, at Beechers Brook, when all the horses jump over more or less at the same time. What a racket they made jumping the fence, I’ll be sure to be ready for them in the morning.
I went running south, down the peninsular and I found out that we are actually on a small peninsular off of the main landmass that stems from what I call the rump of Argyle.
The route was stunning, it followed a single track road that went up a very steep hill but from there it gradually levelled out and slowly went down to sea level.
I went through some lovely natural forests of Oak and Silver Birch, and there were very few plantations of Pine Trees. I could hear the wildlife wake up around me and the bird songs were really nice to hear. The best bit was that for my 8 mile round trip I hardly saw a soul, I was passed by one man in a truck and that was that!
I got back and after breakfast and a shower we were off exploring.
First, we drove down my running route right to the bottom of the peninsular, it was about 7 miles in total. We parked at an ancient and now defunct harbour at Keills and we could see over the water to the Island of Jura and it was stunning against the lovely skyline. This area isn’t populated much with just the odd farm house here and there.
From there we drove back along the track a few miles and then followed another track to an Island, Danna Island.
This Island is accessed by a very small causeway, which at low water makes it look like its part of the mainland. Danna Island now becomes the 42nd UK based Island that I can recall visiting.
I discussed criteria for an Island with Wendy and she came up with the perfect definition. Wendy says an Island is an Island and separate from the mainland, when if the manmade structure that is used to access were to be removed, you would get your feet wet as you tried to cross at high tide.
I agree with that and that’s what makes Danna the 42nd UK Island bagged!
On Danna we walked down a track and came to a house by the Loch’s edge. It appeared unlived in but it wasn’t derelict, it’s quite possible it’s someone’s retreat, and for that it was perfect.
We drove back north to our village and called into the shop for some provisions after which we drove the short distance to Carsaig Bay, which is just a mile away in a westward’s direction from the main village.
Carsaig Bay is just perfect and apparently from there you can see some stunning summer time sunsets.
We took the supplies back to the caravan and had a sarnie and a coffee before our next trip, this time we went north to the small village of Crinan.
The reason we went to Crinan was to see where the Crinan Canal meets the Sound of Jura and it did not disappoint. What a fantastic little place it was, the weather had been great so far with an afternoon temperature of 16 degrees centigrade.
Just before it opens to the sea, the canal has a lovely wide basin which was full of boats of every description. Quite close to the basin is the Crinan Hotel, which I thought looked like it needed a lick of paint and some other work doing to tidy it up. We even talked about a weekend there taking our bikes so we could cycle along the very nice cycle path that follows the canal. This idea was quicky dropped though when Wendy checked online as we drove away. A one night stay, with breakfast comes to £294 per night! Jeepers, that is a little steep for somewhere that needs a few coats of paint.
From there we drove all the way down Loch Sween on its eastern side, which is opposite to where we are staying.
This was perhaps the most stunning of todays explorations, we really did see some amazing views. The Loch looked beautiful and inviting with its clear waters.
It was about 12 miles down this side and so we jutted out further into the sea and we could clearly see both Jura and Islay in the distance.
Coming back along the track we stopped off at the small village of Kilmoray so we could walk down to the beach. The beach was very nice with its silver and unspoilt sands.
There was a small yacht at anchor about 100 metres off the beach and there was a dingy on the shore. As we got to the waters edge a little girl of about ten years old rowed her dad back to the boat and while he readied the sails the girl rowed herself back to shore to collect her mum and smaller sister before rowing all of them back to the boat. This just goes to show that kids can do anything if they are taught properly.
They set sail off into the slowly setting sun and off they went onto their next adventure. I must admit to having a tinge of jealousy as I would loved to have been on that boat!
We got back to the caravan just after 4:00 pm where we chilled for an hour before I lit the BBQ, well it as been a really good weather day, why waste it!
The BBQ was lovely, it was just cheeseburgers with salad but they were tasty all the same. I’m sorry to say that’s the last time I can use my Antony Worral Thompson BBQ, its just too unstable since I reversed over it in the summer, its a bummer as it’s been a dam good portable BBQ!
It’s been another topping day and we have covered every nook and cranny that this little peninsular as to offer and it’s been brilliant. Tonight, I’m watching England V Denmark at footie and then its bed time.
Tomorrow is moving day; we are southwards bound!
Poems!
69 Miles
I had a good night’s sleep last night but I woke from a bad dream with a start at 6:30 am and I had to get up as there was no way I would nod back off. It must have been England’s performance last night, jeepers they were shocking.
One of the worst players was Marcus Rashford, he ought to leave school dinners alone and concentrate on his football training!
We both went out running at the same time, and I had told Wendy I was going to do a nooks and crannies run. This is where I run around every possible street where I haven’t yet been but staying as close to the village as possible. Wendy liked the idea and was going to do the same in a different direction.
I set off for the small west coast district of Carsiag and it was looking really good in the early morning light. I ran around all the roads and streets, some going up some very steep hills. I turned around on the pier and retraced my steps so I could see the houses from a different side, there was some stunning properties.
I followed the road to the Cemetery and again it was a very nice sight to see as its set almost on the shoreline.
I then got back into our village and I then followed the road to the primary school which is at the top of yet another big hill. I bet the kids complain about that every time they go to school.
The road kept going and it became a smaller track and led to yet another hill. I came across Wendy running down and she told me to go find the old mill. I did indeed find the old mill but I was curious about where this track led me so I kept on it, and it did indeed go on and on. I didn’t get to the end so I turned around. It was a cracking track through a woodland whose leaves were now turning to the autumn colours.
I got back to the path which led to the mill and I took it. The mill as seen much better days and is a complete ruin. However, the stream that used to power the mill is still flowing so I followed that to the shore line and I found a concrete bench where I sat and rested, looking out to Loch Sween. I found a small book store at the side of the bench so I opened it and I found 3 books.
Book one was a book about the local area, book two was a book by a local poet and there was a writing journal where the local poet asked people to write down their feelings and poems. I read a few they were very interesting, it was such a tranquil spot so I guess it must prompt the artistic nature of some passing walkers.
I got back to the caravan and I had done almost 9 miles with my extreme run. I asked Wendy about the bench and the book store and she said she thought that it was a small bin and didn’t open it!
We packed the caravan and set off for Campbeltown at 12:00 and our first stop was about 13 miles along the road at a town called Lochgilphead. I have heard many people talk about the beauty of Lochgilphead and so I was keen to take a look at it.
It wasn’t what I expected! It was OK but it wasn’t the place of beauty that I had been led to believe it was, I guess the countryside around it must be the main talking point, because that is stunning.
We parked in the Coop and while I checked the map for directions Wendy did a bit of shopping.
We walked into town, which really is just a main street and we found Loch Gilp which I thought might have been a focal point of the town. It isn’t, all there is, is a grassed playpark along the waters edge. I thought there might be a port or even a marina, but I guess as the water at high tide was quite low, the water at low tide must go out some considerable distance making a boating area impossible. Never mind at least I had seen the place for myself.
We carried along the road and our next stop was just a few miles further south, the village of Ardrishaig. Ardrishaig is the place where the Crinan Canal meets the sea at Loch Gilp, which is really Loch Fyne. Straight away I could see why the canal starts and ends here, there is deeper water all round. I could also see the sense of having the canal too, like the Panama and Suez Canals they shave many, many miles off a trip to the other side.
We had to park some way away in order to walk back to the canal, but we had time to spare as we couldn’t check into our new site until after 4:00 pm.
The canal was interesting, I actually find it much better seeing a place with my own eyes then knowing about it and looking at it on a map, it just makes it all so real knowing and seeing how it all fits together.
Back in the car and our next stop was about 20 miles down the road to the small town, Tarbert which is a port for Cal Mac Ferries and connects the area to mainland Strathclyde, which makes it much quicker to get to Glasgow.
Now this did indeed live up to expectations, it was a cracking little port town, with a very nice and busy looking marina. Again, parking wasn’t easy, but I tucked in at a local car park, knowing that Wendy would have to guide me out. Finally, after all these years she’s eventually got the hang of it!
We walked around the small harbour front and we had to do a little bit of zombie dodging to get around safely. It seems that there isn’t anywhere in the United Kingdom that doesn’t understand the need for distance during this pandemic.
The sun was out and Tarbert looked lovely, this was a place I feel you could have a really good weekend stay.
Wendy did a good job of getting me back out of the car park and we drove on further south. The road was beautiful, first we drove along Loch Tarbert and then along the Sound of Gigha. Thankfully we pulled into a shoreside layby for afternoon coffee and to run down the clock for at least 15 minutes. Jeepers, the road was really straight at this point and lorries whizzed by and shook our van wildly, they were going that fast.
Feeling a little fuller after coffee and cake we set off again, and again the drive was beautiful. I really can’t express how good the views were, I guess we were blessed with good weather which does help.
As we got further south I asked Wendy if the bottom of the peninsular was hammer shaped like Stranraer is, no she said, “It looks just like a willy”, well I never!
Actually this got me thinking, so I did a bit of Googling when we landed on site, here’s what I found:
“Peninsular came into English usage around the 16th century. Its origin is the Latin word 'paene' which means 'almost' and 'insula' meaning 'island”
So, nothing to do with male anatomy after all!
We entered Campbeltown just after 4:00 pm and it looks quite interesting, but we carried onto our campsite which is five miles along on the far west coast.
We have a nice plot although we are on the second row of campers along the shore line which seems to give Wendy the right hump.
The plot as it own tap and we can connect to the sewers directly. Brad helped me develop a system of connecting the van to the mains, via a plastic box and a ball valve and it works a treat, Wendy can’t stop running the taps!
As soon as we had set up, we walked a mile along the coast to the local town and our only port of call was to the pub where we enjoyed a pint outside just before sunset.
Sunset was another stunner; we really have been treated with good weather on this trip!
On the way to the pub we did manage a short stroll on the beach and it seems quite firm underfoot which might make it good for running along!
Back at the caravan, Wendy made a really tasty sea food stir-fry supper of scallops, salmon, mussels and other fishy items, it was lovely and we ate the lot, tomorrows left overs too.
I guess that’s why at 8:30 pm I’m feeling extremely thirsty, in fact I’m as dry as a wooden god!
Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea, my desire is always to be here, oh Mull of Kintyre
No Traveling
That’s another nice sleep I had, I was told though that I was doing some extreme snoring at 1:00 am and the campsite was as quiet as a mouse too, I hope I didn’t disturb the neighbours!
It was another lovely dark morning when I woke at 6:20 am, I was up with some of Wendy’s apple cake for breakfast and just as it got light, I was off out for my morning run and I intended to run along the beach as far as I could go.
I had to run a half mile down the road, to the first tee at the golf club where we are allowed to access the beach, ta very much!
From there I ran south along the very nice, sandy and firm beach. However, at exactly one mile I came to a river in the sand. It was deep and it was wide, it did split into two smaller rivers as it hit the sea but although I could jump one, the other was far too wide for my little legs. It was also still very deep, even at this point.
I thought I was scuppered but then I thought that a river this fast and this wide must run through the golf course. So off I set, scrambling up a banking and onto the fairway. Sure enough 100 yards into the 2nd fairway was a bridge over the river. It was only for the golfers but I thought why not, so I did, I went over it.
I then had to juggle a route back to the beach, but at least I didn’t get my feet wet.
From there I ran to my 4 mile turn around point and sat a while on the sand. The sun had not yet cleared the sand dunes behind me but the light was really interesting. In the distance I could see the Paps of Jura and the Island of Islay.
I got back to the caravan without wet feet and had a laugh with Robyn on the phone.
After breakfast we jumped into the car for our first adventure, we were off to the Mull of Kintyre.
Mull of Kintyre was 18 miles away, and we could only get access to the Light House directly at the Mull. Jeepers for the last 8 miles the road went up high, steep and I mean really steep. At times it felt like I was driving from the back seat.
We eventually got to the gate which stops access any further, leaving the last 1.3 miles having to be undertaken on foot.
The gate was locked with a very sturdy padlock and chain so there was no way we could get the car down even if we fancied cheating.
This was one of the steepest roadways in the UK, I mean it was steep!!! It must average 1 in 2 throughout its length with it being 1 in 1 in some places. It was that steep it was hard to walk down, Wendy even jogged slowly down, it really was that steep. In all it was only just shy of a 1,000 foot drop!
We passed a man and his two kids walking back up at the halfway point and they looked shattered.
There were very few people about, I thought that there would be loads of Beatles Fans making the pilgrimage there but we saw only 3 other families make the journey.
We eventually got to the lighthouse after a walk of 35 minutes and it was well worth it. The views on the way down were stunning, you could clearly see Northern Ireland, you almost could touch Northern Ireland!
The weather was fantastic, the skies were clear and there was just a light wind. However, when we left the car at the top, it was quite nippy so we wrapped up, we paid for that on the return trip though.
We hung about the lighthouse for about 30 minutes, taking in the views and it was most enjoyable. We found out that you can actually stay in the old lighthouse keepers’ quarters, which Wendy quite liked the idea of. I wasn’t so sure, all I could think about was lugging boxes of wine down that hill.
The climb back up was a challenge, but one we were up for, in fact I think we got to the top faster than we went down. At the top I had both my jacket and jumper tied around my waist, my body warmer in my hand, my shirt unbuttoned and my vest was dripping with sweat.
We did pass a family of five going down, with two teenage daughters who were not keen on going at all. I think they had to be seriously bribed in order for them to keep going.
Back at the car and I had to strip to my waist, get my wet vest off and then let the wind blow me dry. The man who passed with the Highland Terrier gave me a very strange look, I bet he understood why I was doing it on his way back up!
From there we drove to the village of Southend which is a short drive along the coast and it has two stunning beaches.
The village itself wasn’t much to look at but we did enjoy a very nice walk along the beach, the sun was out and it was delightful. As I walked along the beach I was wondering if this was the beach that Paul McCartney and Wings had made the video for their very famous song.
Here’s a link to the song so you can see the beach, but don’t forget that was from 1977 some 43 years ago!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH7I-WV0LZA
I also saw a very interesting plaque that detailed a brutal night of horrendous proportions in 1647 on what was called Scotland’s Blackest Day. That’s funny, I have lived in Scotland over 22 years and I have never heard mention of it, although other historical atrocities keep getting harped on about, there you go!
After such an exhausting day so far, we took a drive to Campbeltown, which is the main town in the area and is locally know as the ‘Wee Toon’
I have to say though that the first impression that Campbeltown gives is that’s its seen better days and on a closer look I can confirm that indeed it had. You can tell the metal of a town by the number of scrotes who hang around the town centre and we found more than any towns fair share in Campbeltown today.
Not that it was all bad though, we did find a local whiskey store that was a treasure trove of delights. It was a shame that we couldn’t taste though, but I did jump in at the deep end and I bought myself a bottle of 58.5% proof locally made whiskey, it was a shot in the dark, but I felt I deserved it.
The lady in the shop was good fun and we enjoyed a chat with her.
From there we dawdled around the town a little more before going into a butcher’s shop for tonight’s supper, a meat mix up. I was served by the most lack of personality butcher that mankind as ever produced, the fella had not one ounce of jockalarity about him, his lack of personality would have won him an award if there ever was one for this category!
As we are now supermarket queuing again I joined the queue at Tesco’s for some supplies and as the queue was all elderly women, a man of my age felt entitled to go straight to the front, so I had to politely inform him of his ungentlemanly conduct and ask him if he would like to occupy the space behind me, thankfully he wasn’t a basher Bill type thug and I managed to pull it off, much to the gratitude of a load of Campbeltown Grannies.
We finished our tiring day back at the caravan, I tried a dram of my new whiskey and I had to double up with the water as it was like rocket fuel, phew, it did have a kick to it!
Supper was a super-size jumbo pork sausage, a Louisiana burger, stir-fried broccoli and new potatoes with a few chunks of garlic bread, it was a real Friday, fill me up feast and I loved it.
I know it’s hard to believe that Mr no personality butcher could make a Louisiana burger, but having now eaten it I can see that it certainly did contain his sense of no humour!
Island 41 – Bagged!
No Traveling
That was another good night’s sleep last night and I was up at my now regular time of 6:15. Wendy woke as I had my breakfast of apple cake and she wasn’t feeling too good. I think she might have had one too many glasses of white wine for her Friday night treat.
Despite having two cups of tea she wasn’t getting out of her bed to go running!
I went running and I ran into the village and beyond, to a small bird hide and then I noticed a track that took me past some sneaky, tight fisted, campervans who were parked for the night on private ground.
I went past the campers and I came across a secret, beautiful sandy beach and guess what I came across eating the seaweed? A herd of goats! I kid you not they were all there amongst the rocks at low tide nibbling the seaweed that was littered between the rocks and they were loving it. As soon as they sniffed me though they packed up and headed over the rocks, I didn’t mean to spoil their breakfast, maybe they had already had their fill! It was an interesting sight, but I do believe that goats will eat anything!
I got back to the main road and then I took a road that Wendy told me went up a big hill, and boy it was. It was exhausting and I just about managed a mile up it before stopping for a breather and then turning back down.
I got back to the van and Wendy was feeling much better, she was showered and ready to start her day.
I on the other hand was knackered and in need of my smoothie!
After a shower we left camp at 11:00 for our destination for today, the Island of Gigha!
The ferry across to Gigha is only 20 miles up the coast and I’ve wanted to bag it for some time so we thought it too good an opportunity to miss.
Gigha Factoids:
In 2001 the Island was placed on the property market by the owning family, the Holts, for £4,000,000.
The community debated whether to buy the Island themselves. The Islanders were encouraged by the local MSP, George Lyon, and other bodies to take this step. The community voted on the proposals and a Committee was elected with seven members, supported by advisors, to take the plan forward and the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust was established.
The Scottish Land Fund and the Highlands and Islands Enterprise supported the community’s plans with grants to secure Gigha for the Trust. And Gigha was finally handed over to the Trust on the 15th March 2002, a day that is marked on the Island every year as “Gigha Day”. The Trust is managed by a Board of voluntary Directors that are elected by the membership to develop the assets of the Island, and take forward plans and projects for the community.
However, the Scottish Land Fund required the repayment of £1,000,000 by March 2004, a difficult task for a community with a population of just over 100 people! The Islanders rose to the challenge and the funds were raised by the community through soup 'n' sandwich days, ceilidhs, sponsored slims, quiz nights, sponsored rows around the island, the sale of Achamore House, (A mansion that came with the Islands sale), and many more ventures. The one million pounds was paid within a year. The Islanders have since invested more than £4,000,000 in Gigha with the support of many agencies and a lot of hard work!
We boarded the car ferry at 12:00 and we were on the Island within 20 minutes.
The main township is Ardminish and its just a short car ride from the ferry landing.
We parked in a public car park near to the hotel and I was struck by how peaceful the Island was, you could easily hear the birds chippering.
We walked around the village and I bought some pure milk from the village shop, it came in a traditional glass milk bottle and it looks amazing, it even has cream floating at the top.
We had a short stroll around a tiny white sandy beach and then jumped into the car to go and take a look at the far south of the Island. There wasn’t much there but it was interesting to see. There is a small pier there which acts as a securing point for tying up the ferry overnight and we took a walk on it. The place is littered with ropes, wire and lobster pots and I got my foot caught in a large rope and nearly ended up falling in, much to the amusement of Wendy.
We got back in the car and then drove to the very far north of the Island along the main, single track road which we found to cover, from south to north, a total of 5.5 miles.
As we drove out of the village, we saw very little housing and a couple of dairy farms.
Again, there wasn’t anything at the far north other than the end of the road and the sea.
After a short stroll around we headed back to the village where I decided to buy some famous Gigha halibut from the shop, jeepers it was £19 for one large portion of 500 grams! I do hope it is as tasty as the shop keeper says it is.
We had a pint in the grounds of the hotel and we were amused as people, with kids, congregated near to the pub entrance, within the gated gardens, there was a right mob of them. I actually had to ask them to move to allow us to safely leave. They looked at me like I was silly or something and I’m sure I heard silly sniggers as we left for the car, I don’t think they were locals, maybe they were a bunch of holiday makers who thought it safe to get together on Gigha.
From there I had a short walk on a pier while Wendy waited in the car as by now, she was feeling a little cold.
We boarded the 3:30 ferry happily confident that we had given Gigha a good look at.
I’ve been intrigued with Gigha since the buy out in 2002, it was on all the news in those early years and its good to see they are making a go of it. They are even making money from their wind turbines as they sell of surplus power to the national grid, good for them.
Back at the caravan I got chatting with the lady in the van next door, boy can she chat, I must have been out 30 minutes, she never drew breath!
Wendy cooked a lovely supper of Chinese style pork chops, jumbo sausage and cheesy pasta which had been augmented by mushrooms, onion and broccoli, it was smashing!
Its Sunday tomorrow and we are planning on a lie in followed by a lazy day, lets see how that works out Avid Reader!
Seafood Platter!
No Traveling
I forgot to mention in yesterdays copy that I had walked out of the camp gates for my morning run and I was just setting my running app off when I saw a bus approaching and indicating to pull in. I wasn’t at a bus stop but he was stopping and it didn’t look like anyone was getting off. I waved my arm in a no I don’t want you kind of gesture while shaking my head.
It didn’t matter the bus stopped, the doors opened and the driver looked directly at me.
Cool as a cucumber I said, “I don’t need a bus mate”, he than replied, “But you waved me down”, “No I didn’t, you indicated before I waved and I was actually waving to tell you not to bother”. With that the doors slid closed and off he toddled, much to the bemusement of the passengers, judging by their expressions beneath their facemasks as they passed by. It was amusing but I guess you had to be there!
I did indeed lie in today and I did not open my peepers until 8:14, it was actually clear daylight outside!
Wendy actually woke at the same time too.
We both went out running together, in the same direction, towards Campbeltown on the main road. It being a Sunday in remote rural Scotland we knew the road wasn’t going to be busy, and it wasn’t.
I let Wendy set off first because I wanted to photograph two items for my Avid Readers along the route.
Photo 1 – There are two Telly Tubby type homes about a half mile from camp, they look really cool set into the hillside. I would love a look at them but I guess knocking on the door and asking for a show around is out of the question. Wendy did Google them and found that one of them can be rented on a weekly basis.
Here’s the link to their website:
https://www.hightrodigal.co.uk/
Its stunning, take a look!
Photo 2 – There is a car parked along the road on a plot of land where it can clearly be seen, about a mile from camp and it has placards in the car windows, big ones. It seems there’s a local conspiracy theorist around somewhere as he makes some pretty bold statements by using his car. The funny thing is, he really must be short of a few screws. I can understand, in a fit of temper and frustration, you might fall into thinking something is going on behind the scenes. But with the number of countries involved, some who have no love for the UK, and the shear amount of people who have been affected, surely in your reflective moments you really ought to think better of such public displays of stupidity. But the thing is, here’s a person who has carefully arranged to get large pieces of cardboard and has sat down and wrote out these not very carefully considered statements. How bizarre!
I only had a one banana smoothie after my run because we were thinking about eating out. I checked the local pub for availability but they were fully booked.
We decided to take a gamble and if we couldn’t get anything while we were out for the day, we would get a take away from Campbeltown on the way back to the caravan.
For todays adventure we drove up the east coast road from Campbeltown up to the small township of Skipness.
As we left Campbeltown we saw a large Island just at the inlet to the harbour and it did appear that there may be some kind of causeway access to it. The Island we later found out is called Davaar Island.
We carried along on the road and it was a 30 mile journey through some stunning country side. We were either running through tree lined single track roads or running along the shoreline with the Isle of Arran clear in view across what we now believe to be the Firth of Clyde.
The scenery through the tree tunnels we happened upon was stunning, the leaves in their autumn colours were a sight for sore eyes.
We arrived at Skipness at around 2:00pm and we found it a pleasant little place where the homes all reside beside the road and the sea, it looked a really nice place to live, but there were no facilities, no shop and more importantly, no public house of any kind!
Jeepers I was hungry now and as I left the village looking for somewhere to turn around, completely out of the blue we came across a sign that had several messages on, but the one that caught my eye was, Skipness Seafood Cabin, Open Sunday to Friday 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.
I did a double take and I also saw that there was a smoke house there too which was also open.
The site is at an ancient castle, Skipness Castle.
The Seafood Cabin is an outside establishment along the shore of the Loch under the careful eye of the castle, the setting is stunning!
There were a few spare tables so we ordered a meal, a seafood platter for two, a beer for me and a small bottle of wine for Wendy, oh and a basket of bread.
In no time at all we had a full platter, bread and to cap it off as a perfect meal, we each received a small bowl of mussels in a lovely creamy sauce.
There were four types of salmon, two types of crab, oysters, langoustines, scallops and a very nice side salad. It really was an afternoon delight. The beer, from Arran, was very nice too.
There were chickens wandering freely amongst the tables just for that rustic effect, I even had to shoo one from the table top as she was fancying something from my plate.
It really was a really lovely treat!
The thing is though, we were there for about 40 minutes, sat outside, I had my small coat on, my parka too and a hat but by the end of the meal I was feeling a little chilled. It was 12 degrees outside and there was only a slight breeze but we both felt the need to take a walk to warm up. This doesn’t bode well for pubs in the winter months if we are not allowed to go back indoors sometime soon!
After settling our account and giving the staff a very well deserved tip, we took a walk around the castle to the smoke house where not only did they sell smoked fish, they had a little craft section with baby clothes. I was in my element and in no time at all I had two items, one for Baby Gill and one for Baby Shepherds Christmas Stocking!
On the drive back we broke the journey up by calling in at the village of Carradale. Carradale is a largeish residential village with a tiny shop, a few small hotels and a working harbour. It looked like a nice and safe place to live but it did give the impression of boredom as we saw not one sole.
I parked at the harbour, took a few pics and then we were back on the road.
I topped the fuel tank up at a filling station in Campbeltown where I also bought a large tub of Magnum Ice Cream which we had while watching the night sky settle down back in the caravan.
Its been the perfect day to end a really enjoyable trip. The weather has been fantastic, its about to change for tomorrow, but I don’t really care its home time tomorrow.
My only regret is that on getting back to the caravan I found out that you can indeed walk over to Davaar Island, 3 hours each side of low water, which means that to bag this Island I’ll have to come back at some point in the future, well I guess there are worse things to have to do!
Links to:
The Seafood Cabin:
https://www.skipnessseafoodcabin.co.uk/
Skipness Castle:
https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/skipness-castle-and-chapel/
Bloody Rain!!!
201 Miles
The rain started as we went to bed and I can remember nodding off to the faint drizzle softly falling on the caravan roof. I woke at some point in the night, I didn’t bother looking at the clock, instead I scrambled around with my fingers on the top shelf looking for my ear plugs and I was just so grateful that I found them both at the first attempt.
The rain was now pounding the roof and after inserting my ear plugs, I drifted back off to sleep only to be woken again at around 6:45 am. Jeepers it was raining heavy.
I had a Plan B in my head, if the rains as bad as they said it would be, we would head home first thing and I would go running when I got home.
Plan A was either to go running or go to Davaar Island and walk over to it. The tide was perfect at 7:30 am and then that would be that Island bagged and again I could go running when I got home, but alas the rain put paid to that!
I got up around 7:00 for breakfast and I watched the news on TV, by now the rain was at its hardest and I wasn’t fancying getting the caravan hitched up to the car. I got back in bed for another half hour and low and behold the rain stopped.
Quick as a flash I was dressed and sorting the van out at double time because the rain was coming back, this was just a short respite.
We were off and heading along the road at just turned 8:30 am, our quickest departure from a caravan pitch in years.
The roads were quiet and pretty quickly we were through Tarbert and then Lochgilphead.
The rain had started almost as soon as we had set off but at least the roads were fairly quite and we were making progress.
We passed Oban, which despite the rain seemed to be bustling with shoppers.
Just outside of Oban I dropped on a nice long layby where I pulled in for a spot of lunch. Wendy had made egg, mayonnaise sandwiches which we had with a nice cup of tea.
I had the heating on in the van and it was all very civilised.
It was still raining!
Back on the road and as we neared Fort William the rain turned torrential; it was bucketing down.
We were through Fort William in no time and home by exactly 3:00 pm on the dot!
After sorting the caravan out, I had a small sarnie and a coffee and I did indeed get my run done. I went to Beauly, in the rain but it wasn’t too bad.
And that’s it for this latest adventure. We have been home just under four hours and I’m already itching to get off but there’s the issue of this dam pandemic and then there’s also two babies on their way, oh and of course there’s Christmas.
So, it looks like I’ll be spending my first November in the UK since 2014, oh well, mustn’t grumble!
Fife
158 Miles
How is it at almost 60 years old I still get excited when I’m going on a journey to explore somewhere new, I was up at 5:30 this morning with, “On my way” excitement!
I was out running to Beauly and back at 6:45 and I never saw a soul.
The caravan was ready to go as I had coupled it to the car the day before, but we did have an issue with the electric mover. I tried it yesterday and I could not get the nearside motor to work. I tried my best but I wasn’t successful.
As the council have put a new fence up around the old ditch across the road from our drive, my room to tow the caravan out of the drive is somewhat limited and there is a possibility of damage on a fence post if I misjudge it slightly. It’s never been a problem because I can get the van out safely with the mover, alas not today. So, I came up with an ingenious solution, I sawed the offside fence post out with the chainsaw and gave myself another metres room!
I did have one more go with getting the mover going by talking it over with a technician from the helpdesk but after doing as instructed I concluded that the issue isn’t electrical, I had power at the brushes and the brushes were in good nick, the problem must therefore be mechanical, a seized drive most likely.
We were on the road by midday and the run down the A9 was fine, but with the lifting of travel restrictions across England and Scotland there were an awful lot of campervans heading north for the holiday weekend.
The Satnav took us an interesting route when we were south of Perth, we went along to Dundee and over the Tay Road Bridge. We drove past the new Victoria and Albert Museum just before we crossed the Tay and I have to say, as a modern museum its architecture leaves a lot to be desired.
Its hard to understand the Satnav routing nowadays because it piggybacks onto my phone and computes real-time road network data and then selects the most advantageous route. Which, don’t get me wrong is great but as it doesn’t give you a reason why its decided on a specific route, you’re always wondering what’s going on! With it being a UK wide bank holiday weekend, I put my trust in the Satnav and she seemed to work it all out in the end because we were on our campsite by the allocated time and without any delay.
The site is lovely, we are on high ground overlooking the Tay Estuary and its very, very nice. We are four miles from St Andrews and away from the madding crowd.
We got on our pitch with a nifty bit of reversing and a little help from our neighbours who lent a hand with a wee push. I made the mistake of putting Wendy in charge of the hand brake who applied it almost as soon as we got the van moving. She apologised profusely and explained that she panicked as soon as the van moved, she was immediately moved onto mere pushing duties and I took over the brain work!
After coffee and cake, we went off in the car to go and explore St Andrews.
St Andrews, wow, it certainly packs a punch for a small coastal town. It’s a really lovely place with some stunning architecture, a beautiful old harbour, a ruined castle, monastery and of course the famous University and golf courses.
The weather although a bit chilly, was comfortable when well wrapped up.
First up we parked at the harbour and walked around the sea walls and we took a look at the beach, but with the famous, “Pink Full Moon”, the current high tide was very high and there wasn’t much beach to see.
I did see some very handy looking open water swimmers out a good distance having a whale of a time, in fact I counted at least a dozen of them so they were either on a club swim or in some kind of race. I must admit they were hardy because there was a fair chop to the sea and it must have been freezing cold.
From the harbour we walked along the coastal walk taking in the ruins of buildings long gone, in fact there did appear to be some kind of town wall.
We walked through the town which is very affluent and I can see why, as you seem to get a very nice kind of student as the one’s we encountered were all polite and very good with their social distancing.
The town is basically two main streets, North Street and South Street with interconnecting streets criss-crossing in-between.
There were some really nice looking shops but by the time we were there it was coming up to 6:00 pm so most were closed. The outside bars however were bursting and social distancing wasn’t on anyone’s mind there. On any other day I might have enjoyed a Friday afternoon pint but not today, not at any cost, even though I am a double vaccinee I’m still not taking any chances.
After a nice walk around town and viewing the Kate and Wills Landmarks, like the café where they first met and the flat where they first, er, kissed. I mean is nothing private?
Back at the caravan Wendy cooked a lovely beef burger supper while we had a little rain, it wasn’t anything much and I don’t think it will prevent me from getting a good night’s sleep.
I’m intending on being in my bed just gone Gogglebox avid reader and I’m really looking forward to what tomorrow brings!
Visitors
No Traveling
We watched Gogglebox last night and I did intend to finish the last 40 pages of my book, The Lincoln Lawyer, but I could not keep my eyes open so I had a small rum and coke propped up in bed looking at the lovely night sky and I was fast asleep in five minutes.
I slept well as the site is very quiet but I did wake at 4:30 for a bathroom visit and I was worried about getting back to sleep but in the end I was off again and didn’t wake until 7:00 am.
The sun was shining and the views around were great, but it was cold, jeepers it was cold, it was only 2 degrees outside.
Wendy who had been up before me, there’s a first, was out and off running as I was eating my breakfast.
I was out at 8:00 and I came across Wendy on the quiet single track road that leads west wards from the campsite. I came across Wendy just before my first mile, she was coming back and she was almost breathless at the top of a very large hill.
As I passed her she whispered, “It’s a steep hill”.
The road was empty of traffic and the views were stunning in the morning sunshine. I got to the bottom of the hill and I came across a lovely river that was running down the valley. I started to climb out of the valley and out of the sunshine into the shade of the hill and I came across a really nice spot by the river for my four mile drink stop. The scene was stunning and I had it all to myself.
I got back to the caravan in the sunshine having climbed back up Wendy’s big hill and I sat in my deck chair and had my cool down overlooking the nearby village of Leuchers.
After breakfast I nipped to the small village of Leuchers, where there is an RAF base, to get a few supplies and I drove through the small village of Guardbridge and as I did I went past a road called David Finlay V.C. Place. I later googled this and found that David had earned his Victoria Cross in the first world war. He was a Lance Corporal at 22 years old in the Black Watch, (Royal Highlanders) and had led a bombing party of 12 men in an attack until 10 of his crew had fallen. He then ordered the two survivors to crawl back and he himself went to the assistance of a wounded man and carried him over a distance of 100 yards of fire-swept ground into cover, quite regardless of his own safety, for this he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
The poor lad was killed in action in Mesopotamia in 1916.
Prior to leaving for the shop I helped Wendy do a Covid 19 Lateral Flow Test and thankfully she produced a negative result which was just perfect because when I got back to the caravan we had visitors, Alex, Robyn and of course Baby Rose had come for a day trip.
The next five hours was spent kissing, cuddling, feeding, changing and sniffing baby Rose, and that was just me!
We sat in the van for a while while the rain dropped and we drank coffee and ate some very nice chicken curry that Wendy had made. The rain eventually stopped so we took Rose for a lovely stroll in the pram where we all took a turn pushing her along.
She was as good as gold and was chattering away all to herself in her pram and only grumped a short while on the return trip because no doubt she was getting hungry again.
There is a pub about a half mile from our camp site and I did fancy a nice pint while sat on the benches outside at some point over the weekend. However, the signage which had been placed on the tables had us all raging. Every table had a printed sign on it which said, “Reserved for village locals”, and to cap it all it was all in shouty upper case letters! That put me right off and I might just be tempted to make comment about this on their TripAdvisor page!
Apart from that we had a really lovely afternoon with Rose obviously being the centre of attention and she did her best to steal the show and quite right too.
Alex had a good, big fat belly laugh at my sports kit or rather at its condition. I had to bring it in from the dryer when the rain came and the T-Shirt I wear is a little bit worn, and some might say is in need of going in the bin. However I have great memories with that shirt and as Wendy will tell anyone, I do get close to personal items!
Our visitors left just after 5:00 pm and we headed north in the car to the small village of Tayport which is located at the very far end of the Tay Estuary.
We parked down by the marina and took a nice walk around the harbour walls. We could see directly across the estuary and over to Dundee. The views were great but the sky was threatening another colossal downpour.
After the marina we had a short stroll around the village and there were a few small shops and a couple of pubs but it was almost deathly quiet with very few people about.
As the wind had a bit of a chill to it, as it would at only 8 degrees, Wendy had had enough of the sightseeing and wanted to get back to her nice warm caravan and into her comfy clothes.
As I write tonight’s copy I am desperately hoping that I can finish my book later, and for good reason too. The reason is, is that there is an Amazon Prime film all about it and as the book is by the very good author, Michael Connelly, who wrote the Harry Bosch series of books which in turn were made into an excellent Amazon Prime series, I’m hoping that the film, The Lincoln Lawyer will be just as good and that I might be able to sneak it into tonight’s entertainment package before my eyes close tightly shut!
Day Trip
No Traveling
I did manage to finish my book last night and it had one last twist for me. It was a cracking book but now I have only two left from the author but these are based around a completely new character, a journalist who we have never heard about in any of the Harry Bosch series.
It did rain hard during the evening but being tucked up warmly in the caravan we weren’t put out by it and thankfully is had stopped by bed time.
I ran into St Andrews this morning and it was another nice sunny one too.
On my way I noticed that all the cars on the main road had had their wing mirrors pushed backwards, not folded inwards but actually pushed backwards. In fact the first car had its wing mirror hanging off and it was only held in place by wiring. There must have been 8 cars that this had been done to. I’m speculating here but I am wondering if it was someone with a grudge against not being able to get a drink at the outside tables at the bar as the seats are reserved for local villagers only.
The road into town is one single road all the way down. And it is downhill too, but thankfully its only a gentle incline so its not too bad for the return run. The town was nicely busy with lots of people enjoying a morning coffee outside at the pavement cafes. I got to the monastery where I sat and enjoyed looking at it while I had my drink stop before setting off back.
Would you believe I took a wrong turn on the way back and ended up doing an extra half mile!
After breakfast we set off for a day of exploring and on leaving the village I saw, where the cars had been damaged, the AA Man was repairing the mirror that was hanging off and a poor young woman in her twenties was desperately watching him. What bad bugger had done that? I’d like to give him a dam good talking to, and I’m saying him because I cannot for the life of me think that it was a girl that had caused the damage.
Our first stop was at the Old Course at St Andrews, and yes it was a cracking old golf course. The Old Course is considered the oldest golf course in the world and is commonly known as 'The Home of Golf'. It is a public course over common land and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links Trust under an act of Parliament.
The course was packed with people strolling around and it was all very nice. We walked up to the beach and it does look a cracker, it is massive but it was busy with Sunday morning family walkers.
We walked in a circle back to the car and we passed some really lovely old, Victorian looking coastal buildings. I would say that I like St Andrews to the point that I could see myself having a really nice hotel weekend break here, but only when its really safe to do so. Well, I would like to enjoy the hospitality of the local establishments in reasonable safety.
I was now happy with my brief visit to St Andrews so we set off in the car for a drive along the East Fife coastal route and that was another smashing experience.
Our first stop was a small harbour village called Crail.
The harbour at Crail was absolutely stunning, it was small but perfectly made, in the 12th Century. How on earth they ever lugged those huge stones to make the harbour wall in those days I will never know, it was a work of art!
From Crail Harbour we could see the Isle of May which is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth, approximately 5 miles off the coast of mainland Scotland. It is about 1.5 kilometres long and 0.5 kilometres wide. The island is owned and managed by Nature Scot as a national nature reserve and my daughter, Robyn, does the conveyancing of it for the Inland Revenue, or some other secret service.
After a nice walk around Crail, which again I can see me coming back for a weekend in winter visit, we jumped back in the car and drove to the port town of Anstruther.
Anstruther was very busy with people enjoying the warmish sunshine. The temperature had hovered around 10 degrees all day but when the sun came out it did get up to a balmy 13 degrees and the sun was reasonably warm. The seafront café outside areas were doing a roaring trade and they were packed to the brim. There was also a fish and chip shop from where a queue of people went around the front and around the side up a long alley where people waited patiently in line for what must have been an hour wait, I do hope the food was worth it.
After a nice stroll along the seafront and the two harbours, one being a small fishing boat working harbour, we got back into the car and drove to our next destination, the small coastal town of Elie.
As we drove along the main coastal road, I spotted a very busy looking Farm shop. It looked busy because the car park was full. As I fancied a bit of a treat for supper, I thought I would give it a go and if it was too busy, I would drive on. Thankfully it was a large shop and it was really quite safe to browse around.
I was like a boy in sweet shop and before we left we had bought more than £40 of meat. I’m particularly looking forward to cooking, and eating the Venison loin sometime next week!
Elie was stunning, it has a most fantastic beach and the local business were very much geared up for it. There were paddle board hire companies, a great looking pub with a really well thought out outdoor area and a really nice view point which looks out to the Firth of Forth.
On the walk I stopped a fella to ask how the name of the town was pronounced, and its spoken in the way of eely!
Again, I’m thinking its another cracking weekend break kind of place.
After a good walk around the area it had turned 4:30 pm and we were getting a little tired, well we had walked some miles, so we headed back in the car just as the heavens opened and it poured with rain.
We were 14 miles from the caravan but by the time we got within 1 mile of the site the rain had stopped and the ground was dry. Hopefully my running gear that I had left out on the dryer would be nice and dry, and thankfully it was!
From 5:00 pm onwards we relaxed with me having a nice slow real ale beer, and Wendy a glass of wine while watching one of my favourite shows, Come Dine With Me!
The heavens opened for a while but by now we were nicely settled.
Supper was prepped by Wendy and cooked by me, rare fillet and rump steak from the farm shop, along with a nice crisp, fresh salad, it was delicious.
I’m excited for tonight’s TV viewing, Call the Midwife followed by, Line of Duty.
Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey am I excited!
Rain, Rain and More Bloody Rain!!!
39 Miles
Well, what can I say, last nights Line of Duty was utter, utter rubbish. I thought we were hunting a criminal mastermind not a half arsed numpty who would have trouble tying his own shoe laces. The plot was too stupid to be believable too, maybe they need to go back to basics next time, if there is a next time that is.
It was another lovely clear morning but Weather Carol had warned me on the breakfast news that rain would be with us by 4:00 pm.
I ran down to St Andrews for one last time but I was worried about the traffic on the road without pavement, it was only when I was half way down that I realised that it was bank holiday Monday and as it turned out the traffic was light, I guess everyone was still in bed enjoying their day off.
I got back to the van and after breakfast we broke camp with the intention of being on our next site, which was thought to be around 40 miles away, before the rain came.
We are in the Kingdom of Fife and from what you hear from Highlanders you would think that Fife is a rough area. Kirkcaldy I believe is, and I base this only on my experience of some women who I shared a railway carriage with some years ago after I’d been down for a Scotland v England Calcutta Cup game. I’ll be the dashing gentleman and not reveal any details save the poor trolly man who supplied them with copious amounts of wine almost lost his trousers on more than one occasion and its safe to say we all breathed a sigh of relief when they got off at Kirkcaldy.
However, what we have seen has been beautiful countryside, lots of lovely sandy beaches and pretty little coastal towns. The agricultural land is split between arable and livestock and there are lots and lots of polly tunnels, in fact we have seen whole fields of them. They are not the original, get blown away looking ones either, the ones we saw looked very 21st Century and capable of standing up to any storm.
Fife's existence as a distinct entity can be traced back to the Pictish Kingdom of Fib in the centuries after the departure of the Romans. It is for this reason that Fife is commonly referred to as "The Kingdom of Fife", or simply "The Kingdom, there you go, that’s todays lesson for you!
We got to our site just as the rain started, so Carol was a little off with her timings. An old fella with a very posh accent showed us where to site the van and he said that the rain was expected to get much, much worse later in the day. I thought that’s exactly what Carol said this morning!
We moved quickly and we had settled down just before the heavy rain came and we enjoyed a nice mug of coffee along with vinegar cake as the rain began to pound the roof of the caravan.
We set off for a sight seeing trip just after 1:00 pm with our first stop being North Queensferry. I have been to South Queensferry a few times and that is a pretty little place, but I’ve never been to North Queensferry, although I have at one time when I was staying at the Premier Inn closest to the old Forth Road Bridge run across the Bridge and put a foot down just inside North Queensferry.
The rain was now pelting down but we did get to see all three of the Forth Bridges from a good vantage point. In fact it would be nice to come back in better weather and walk around taking in the views. North Queensferry was very nice with some lovely residential buildings but it did lack the attraction of the amenities of its Southern neighbours as there were no bars, cafes or other tourist attractions.
From North Queensferry we drove along the coast to Dalgety Bay.
We called into an Asda store along the way and bought supper provisions for me to cook when we go on our visiting trip tomorrow. We don’t often shop in Asda and we had trouble working out what was where and we did at least two full length walks of the store looking for what we wanted.
Dalgety Bay is a bay on the Firth of Fourth and its basically a large residential housing estate with some really nice properties. There are a few shops but not many. We toured the coastal road and I really wanted to get out for a walk because the views of the Firth were stunning but the driving rain was just too off putting!
Our next stop was at Burntisland where we did get out for a walk along the High Street, jeepers it was driving rain and we were getting a right good old lashing. The rain was so bad that as we passed the car on our tour of the High Street Wendy gave up and sought shelter in the car while I completed the full circuit.
By this time we had had enough so we drove back to the van where I am now sat writing my early copy. The rain is pounding off the caravan roof but that’s OK as I am nice and warm, and I have a pint of Orkney Dark Island beer in my plastic pint pot that I got from Headingly Cricket Ground during that epic hot summer’s day in 2018.
My intention is that after my copy is filed I am having an early supper of beef burger, fried egg, mushrooms and fried tomatoes and then I am going to watch the film the Lincoln Lawyer on Amazon Prime and I hope to be tucked up in bed by 9:00 pm with my ear plugs in so I have minimal disruption from the foul weather.
I do not care in the slightest what the weather does tomorrow because tomorrow I’m off to visit Rose!
Visiting!
No Traveling
I did really enjoy my film last night, it’s not often a film is as good as its book but this did a very good job of it. I guess it benefits when the original author helps with the screenplay too. There were areas where I had more back ground info on what was happening but I didn’t think it detracted from the main storyline that someone who hadn’t read the book might have had either.
The rain kept up through the night but the wind never really picked up as Carol said it would do. It didn’t bother me anyway, I had my ear plugs in and I never felt anything or heard a peep until my eyes opened at 07:00.
It was only spittering so I went out for my first run in this new area and I could not believe my eyes when I got to the end of the farm driveway and I could see the hills, they were topped with nice freshly dumped snow. I had put my shorts on because when it’s raining my tracky bottoms get soaked and start to weigh heavy but boy did my legs feel the nip.
We are in the foothills of the Cleish Hills. The Cleish Hills straddle the boundary between Perth & Kinross and Fife. The hills are made up of tuossocky grass moorland and apparently have a real hill feel to them despite not being particularly high, however they were high enough for snow to settle today.
I managed to run around some lovely country lanes and I saw very little traffic of maybe two or three cars. It got very hilly at the 2.5 mile point and I was blowing by the time I got to the top but the views were worth it. It’s a shame I wasn’t looking at them with a nice blue sky background. When I was out I came across a nice Union Jack flapping valiantly in the wind, its not a sight often seen in these parts, it brought a smile to my face!
Wendy didn’t go out this morning instead she took another cup of tea back to bed just as I was leaving.
I got back to the van in time for Popmaster and soon after breakfast and a shower we were heading south and over the Queensferry Bridge to visit Rose who was 41 miles away. I actually didn’t realise we were so far away but thankfully by this time the bridge traffic had calmed down and we were there within 40 minutes.
I had done my Covid 19 Lateral Flow test prior to leaving and I was negative so I was safe for a cuddle with Rose. I think the Lateral Flow Test kits are brilliant although I don’t like the tickle at the back of my throat when I use the sampler there. I believe there are some issues with incorrect tests being returned but as they produce a false positive then at least its defaulting to safety instead of giving you a false sense of safety.
I do worry about some people though, if say a youngster who had to take a test prior to last weekends pop concert had tested positive and they were all set to go with their mates, what would they do? No one other than you knows the outcome of the test, you don’t have to send a photograph of your test result so if they don’t have any symptoms or feel unwell might they be tempted to just report back that the test was negative and go to the concert? Having seen people flouting the rules for over a year now I’m pretty sure I know many people would.
We got to Rose’s house at 12:30 but the little minx was upstairs with her mum having her lunch so I had to wait a while until she had finished and came back down.
When she appeared, she looked lovely in her pretty, colourful dungarees.
After the health visitor had been we took Rose for an afternoon walk down by the sea front in Musselburgh.
The weather although cold, especially when the wind picked up, wasn’t as bad as it could have been. There was an almighty hail storm before we set off but thankfully the sky remained dry throughout the hour long walk.
Rose was on her bestest behaviour and was soon fast asleep not long after we had set off, I obviously took charge of the perambulator. Concerns were raised by her mum about my lack of brake use when stood. I guess this is a mum matter because Caroline is exactly the same with Bradley when he has Eleanor in her pram.
We walked along the sea front and onto the harbour where the tide was well out. I wanted to show Rose the boats but I guess I need to leave that for a future visit because she didn’t seem all that excited about them.
Rose woke just as we got back to the car and of course granny jumped into the back seat so she could chatter to her on the drive home.
Alex had just about finished his work for the day by the time we got back and soon I had the dinner in the oven. Tonight’s delight was Chinese style BBQ chicken which I roasted in the oven as its far too cold and breezy to light the BBQ.
It was very nice and tasty but I’m not sure if there was enough meat on offer as by the time we sat down to eat we were all starving. I bet Alex has a snack to tide him over before he goes to bed.
After supper and a pleasant facetime chat with Great Granny I managed to drag Wendy away from Rose and as we left for the caravan the Shepherd family were getting ready for an evening’s walk.
The road back to the camp ground was light with traffic and we were back in no time at all and pretty soon we were sat eating the donut’s Robyn had given us, with the remnants of last nights clotted cream, before settling down for the night!
A Surprise and a Really Lovely Day
No Traveling
We woke to lovely sunshine this morning, which was a very pleasant surprise. The temperature however wasn’t very pleasant, it was just hovering above freezing.
Wendy got herself out of bed and was soon into her running gear and she was out long before me. Well, it does take me a while to get all my jumpers on.
I met Wendy as she was coming back at about 3 miles out. We always try to find a circular run but as I have said before it does take two or three days before we really get to know the local area. As I had come across a ‘T’ junction and turned left yesterday, today I turned right and low and behold I ran in a very nice seven miles circular manner finding the small village of Saline on the way. I had to do an extra mile when I got back but at least I did find the bones of a good circular circuit and Wendy is double excited about doing it tomorrow!
While I was taking a drink stop I sent a message to Brad as he had sent me a message, Robyn must have seen the messages and she would have known that I had stopped and so she rang me with a very tempting proposition. “Shall we meet and go for a walk over the Forth Bridge”. Yes, I accepted the proposal and we agreed to work out how we would meet.
When I got back to the caravan, I had already decided not to tell Wendy of the arrangement but I did message Robyn with our meeting point and time and we were all set.
After a lovely smoothie breakfast I showered and whittled around as I needed to make the rendezvous time as best I could and I had to waste some time. Robyn was driving from home and it would be about a 25 minute run for her.
We got to the rendezvous point and I spotted Robs car and she had picked a perfect parking spot. Quick as a flash I stopped right behind her and told Wendy to quickly get out. Not thinking herself she jumped out and I drove off.
When I had parked up and got to them, Robyn was laughing because her mum didn’t know that her and Rose were behind her and she had to shout her over. Wendy was deliriously happy at the surprise!
We wrapped Rose up in her pram and we walked all the way over the Bridge, thankfully we only had a very light wind, but it was still cold. We walked along the eastern side because the western side was closed due to maintenance but the views were stunning.
At around the halfway point we were hit with an almighty hailstone storm. The stones were vicious, they were peppering us like tracer bullets. I took a direct hit on my nose and boy did it sting. Rose slept through it all and never muffed, not once.
With the storm over, thankfully in a short space of time, the sun did come out.
We got to the end of the bridge and looked over the views of North Queensferry and drooled over the lovely looking properties down there. There was the perfect cottage with a stunning summer house and direct access to the Firth and get this, their own little beach.
Rose slept on as we walked back and this time we were saved the hailstone downpour!
We got back to the cars and while Wendy fed Rose in the back of Robs car, Robyn and me did some shopping in the nearby Tesco, Robyn shopped for colic relief for Rose and I shopped for tonight’s supper.
As its our last night on the road I thought that a nice Tapas would be in order and so I shopped accordingly, and I did what I always do, I shopped for the 5,000! But I’m sure that it will all get eaten in the coming days.
With Rose refreshed we took the short drive to South Queensferry and took another little stroll. However, Rose was a little unsettled and the thinking was she:
A, Might be hungry
B, Might need winding
C, Might have a touch of colic
D, Might just be a little grumpy
Attempts were made to feed her some more milk and she did indeed take a little but she was still a little unsettled so after a lovely 3 hour afternoon together we thought it best for Robyn to get Rose home and settled before the by-pass traffic built up. So off they went and we were later assured that Rose had slept all the way back and was as good as gold for her Mum.
Wendy and me were quite tired out by this point, well the walk had been over 4 miles and with all the extra excitement of a surprised afternoon with Rose I think it was rightly expected.
It was 3:30 pm when we separated and I had the idea to go and visit the small village of Dollar which is just a few miles away from our campsite.
I am glad we did too because it’s a really lovely little village, somewhat like a North Yorkshire Village and it was at the foot of the Cleish Hills.
We walked around the small High Street and looked at the nice looking shops and I bought a few local beers from a wine shop. As we strolled the clouds gathered and it looked like another storm was blowing in so we headed back to camp fully satisfied with our day out.
Supper, I have to say was a quadruple delight, cooked or presented all by myself.
We had, Garlic Prawns, Spicy Camembert, Smoked Salmon, a Cold Meat selection, a greenish salad, chicken goujons, French Bread, Spanish Tortilla and a selection of Olives and it was absolutely delightful.
The meal was a lovely finish to a lovely day and an altogether fantastic tour of Fife, home tomorrow, well I have to do my thing to spoil Nicola's day!!!
Home Again!!!
151 Miles
We had a visitor to the caravan last night, the lady owner who is in her 70’s. She was just checking that we were nicely settled in and she wanted to ask if we had had any issues. We had a good old natter for about 10 minutes.
I asked her about the Highland Cows which are in a really bad condition in a field across from their access road. I was diplomatic with my question but she said they don’t own that land, it’s held by the Tinkers, her words, and they are often in the sights of animal welfare society’s because of the poor conditions they are in. She told us they only have 100 sheep now that they are getting on, jeepers that’s some lambing at a ripe old age every year.
We had a really nice sunset sky too and the rain kept off all night and I slept nicely but I was disturbed by someone on her iPad at around 5:30 am. When quizzed about it later this morning she said, “Well it’s not the middle of the night is it?”
I woke properly at 07:00 and I could hear the pitter, patter of rain on the roof but it wasn’t much but I was surprised when I looked out to see a dusting of snow slowly disappear.
Wendy ran around the circuit but at 7 miles it was a little long for her and I followed shortly after.
We had a leisurely breakfast and set off for home at around midday.
Traffic was light on the roads but there was a fair amount of snow on the A9 in places although the gritters had been busy and the road was clear.
We got home at around 4:00 pm and I managed to get the van reversed onto the drive and unpacked before the rain came.
And that’s it, another successful tour of a small part of the UK has ended.
But not for long, watch out later this week Avid Reader a big adventure is to commence on Wednesday, best not to say too much just now as I want to leave you wanting more, but even if I do say so myself it will be a cracker!!!
All at Sea!!!
120 Miles
I was up nicely excited at 06:00 this morning, I had woken at 04:00 but I forced myself back to sleep. Its that traveling excitement, I just love it.
By 09:00 I had had my breakfast, done my run and was back home just as the heavens opened, and boy did it chuck it down.
After my smoothie, and then my shower we did our lateral flow testing as per the requirements of the ferry company. I have to admit to finding it a most unpleasant experience and I gag every time I put that the sample stick at the back of my throat.
But thankfully we were all negative so I then loded all of our results onto the NHS website.
By 11:30 I had the car nicely packed and by 11:50 we were on our way.
By 11:54 we were heading for home because someone had forgotten the spare car key that they had been asked to take with us about 20 minutes before.
At 12:05 we finally hit the road, through absolute pouring rain.
The SatNav changed its mind on our route by the time we got to Inverness and instead of taking us through Dufftown we went on the A96 instead.
The rain was incessant all the time we travelled but thankfully it was coming vertically as the wind hadn’t got up!
We stopped at the junction with Old Meldrum as there is a decent sized roadside café there and we had a little time to waste.
It was nice inside, it was one of those cafés, come souvenir shop, come very expensive clothes shops where after tea and cake Granny had a little browse about for the first time this year.
When we were back on the road, as we approached Aberdeen the SatNav did a small detour to avoid traffic but we were still at the promenade with an hour to spare.
We parked the car and would you believe it had not rained in Aberdeen, it rained all the way over but it had stopped at the city outskirts, it was very misty mind!
We had a little stroll and then we drove around the harbour to get our bearings and we took some photos of our ferry from outside the harbour walls. From there we drove to the south side where we could look down at the harbour from a high roadside viewpoint.
We were in the queue for the ferry at 17:01 but we didn’t board until 35 minutes later.
Boarding was a doddle as we had prebooked a lift car park spot so Granny didn’t have far to walk and in no time at all we were on board and in Grannie’s cabin having a drink to celebrate our arrival.
We had to be sharpish mind because supper was at 18:30 and we were supposed to sail at 19:00.
As Wendy got Granny and Granddad ready for dinner, I did a quick tour of the boat and found that everything was located one deck above us. We were in the dinner queue at 18:30 because I wanted to see us leave the Harbour.
I have seen the Shetland Ferry Leave Aberdeen Harbour many, many times over the years that Robyn was at Uni here but I have never been on the ferry. I could have taken the ferry when I was in the Fire Service but it was always much cheaper to fly and hire a car for the duration on my trip so I never got to use the ferry.
Supper was really nice! I had Shetland Lamb Curry, Granddad had a meat pie, Granny had fish and chips as did Wendy, and they were all perfect. Mine was really tasty but I had to rush it down because no sooner had we sat down than the Skipper had cast us off and we were on our way.
Thankfully I did manage to see us leave harbour. We passed the Silver Darling Restaurant and then the Port Authority Building and no sooner than that we were out at sea and heading north along the Aberdeenshire coastline.
As I was stuffed from my main course, I could not eat the cheesecake dessert so I took it and put it into the cool box in my cabin for my breakfast in the morning, well when I am out in the field, I eat whet I can when I can, just like Jack Reacher!
As arranged, I found the rest of the gang in the bar where we were going to enjoy a nice glass of wine before bed, alas the bar was closed due to…………………the bloody pandemic.
We did get Granny and Grandad into our cabin for a drink but they were both shattered so off they toddled to their cabin for an early night. I can’t blame them because we dock in Lerwick, Mainland Shetland at 07:00 in the morning.
Tonight is going to be an interesting cruise because although the sea state is calm along the coast of Scotland there was a notice at the reception desk informing that conditions are rough when we enter the Fair Isle Shipping Sector.
If no one knows, Fair Isle is the most remote normally inhabited Island in the UK as it lies directly between The Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands. I say normally inhabited because there is one Island which is more remote, St Kilda, which is in the North Atlantic, 40 miles off the coast of the Western Isles, but that is only a military base and that’s the only population there and obviously the workforce’s travel arrangements are taken care of by the M.O.D. whereas Fair Isle has a sizable civilian population who have to eek out a living on the Island and come and go with the rest of the UK at their own expense.
I’ll let you know how the crossing goes in tomorrow’s copy Avid Reader; lets’ hope it’s an interesting one!
21:05 – Addendum – Just been on deck for a last look out and boy is it misty. Its' dry and there’s no wind, but the boat is starting to rock, just a little, but it will send me off to sleep just nicely!
Shetland!
284 Miles
I woke at around 12:20 for a bathroom break and nodded for the rest of the night. My bunk was lovely and comfortable and as previously stated we did hit some rough sea when we passed Fair Isle. I loved it, the motion of the vessel would lurch every 3rd or 4th wave and it would reverberate along the hull of the boat and it would rock me nice as I lay in the darkened cabin.
I looked out of the cabin porthole and I could see the outline of Fair Isle in the distance so I knew we were in the right spot for a bit of a rough ride.
I also looked out when we were just passing Sumburgh Head meaning that we were now running along and up the east coast of Mainland Shetland.
I got up at 06:00 and had a hot mug of tea and my cheesecake from my supper the night before, it was toffee cheesecake and it was really lovely. I ate it in my bunk like a naughty boy but I was careful with crumbs!
I took Granddad out on to the rear deck to see our approach into Lerwick Harbour and we were both pleased that although the sun wasn’t beaming through the sky, it wasn’t raining or howling with wind.
No sooner had we disembarked the ferry than we were parked up for an early morning stroll along the main street of Lerwick with Granny in her wheelchair.
Lerwick was just how I remembered it from my last trip, which must have been 13 years ago. The town was immaculately clean and tidy and as we strolled along we saw a council worker sweeping the streets.
It was a little nippy when you got caught with the wind but it was pleasant enough and there were very few people around, it wasn’t yet 08:00 so I guess we were a little early for trinket shopping.
We completed a tour of the town and then we took the car and headed to the far north end of the Mainland, to Isbister which was 41 miles away.
The road surface was how I had remembered them, perfect without a pot hole in sight
Shetland, at the beginning of the North Sea Oil Boom, did a financial deal for the use of its harbours, ports and facilities for Oil Producers which in turn has generated £1.7 Billion which has been invested into the local infrastructure. The roads are all in excellent shape, almost every small village has a sparkling new community hall and almost all, even the remote Island communities, have excellent sports complexes and training grounds.
The High School and Sports complex in Lerwick is brand new and looks state of the art, they may not have the best of the weather in the UK but they certainly have the best local infrastructure.
Our first stop was at what is called Mavis Grind. Mavis Grind is the narrowest isthmus in the United Kingdom and it joins the northern and middle of the mainland by a narrow piece of land no more than 30 metres wide. But what it does in a physical sense is that it separates the North Atlantic Ocean from the North Sea by a very short distance and from the old days of the Viking Invaders to the 1950’s boats were dragged across the separating land to prevent the need to sail around the wide island headland of Mainland Shetland.
Granddad loved this and we got out of the car to survey the area and to see how much of a job that would be, thankfully the weather was on our side.
We then got to the top of the Island and Granddad loved the scenery, and it was his furthest north position of the United Kingdom. By now we were in real isolation with very few farms and residential homes.
Our next stop was at a small community called Hillswick on the south western side of the north end where we dropped on the St Magnus Bay Hotel where we were just lucky enough to be able to get bacon and sausage sandwiches and very hot tea and coffee.
The landlady was really lovely and made us all feel very welcome. The food was really nice and tasty and my coffee was just the ticket after such an early start.
Fully refreshed we then drove over to Mossbank on the eastern seaboard and we passed the Oil Terminal at Sullom Voe which is the largest oil terminal in Europe. Oil is piped from the North Sea Oil Fields of Brent and Ninian where it is loaded onto oil tankers for worldwide distribution. In fact, it still had extra carrying capacity and so now takes oil from some of the newer fields. Sullom Voe is therefore a very big employer of local residents.
At the ferry terminal I explained to Granddad how the ferry operates out of Mossbank to accommodate the northern outer islands of Yell and Unst.
Our final drive was over again to the far westward side to the small community of Sandness which again is very sparsely populated. This is where yet another outer island can be found, the Island of Papa Stour.
By now we were approaching our hotel check in time and as much as we had loved our afternoons sightseeing we were in need of some R&R, so we set off back to Lerwick to check into our hotel and by doing so I found that Granddads tour of Shetland Mainland’s northern outposts had covered over 140 miles!
With everyone settled into their rooms I went out for an afternoon run whereby I was fortunate enough to be able to find my old running route from my previous visits to Lerwick when I was a fire officer in the Highland and Islands Fire Brigade.
I got back to the hotel feeling a little chilled, well it was only 8 degrees outside and I did only have shorts and a few sweat shirts on, and so I jumped into a nice hot shower.
Before supper and for a last treat we took Granny to see the Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick which she has fondly seen on a TV program called Island Medics. That really was the icing on the cake as she now feels her understanding of how the hospital and its outer island supporting crew’s work is complete.
Supper was very nice, taken in the hotel restaurant, where I think we were all stuffed to capacity, after which we managed a drink with Granny and Granddad in their room before relaxing in our room.
We are going for a late breakfast tomorrow with a few possible options after checkout before we board the ferry for our journey home!
Sumburgh Head
I slept like a log last night and I never heard a peep, not even a squeak!
I was up at 07:00 and I a cuppa while watching the news quite discreetly so as not to disturb Wendy who was still fast asleep in her bed.
We had arranged with Granny and Granddad to take a late breakfast in the hope that the dining room would be relatively quite at 08:30 and thankfully it was.
Breakfast was really nice, both Granny and me had the kippers, I had mine with a fried egg and mushrooms. I coated them with white pepper and it was just lovely. My fried egg was a delight too, nice and runny for my toast to dip in just as I like it.
We took another cup of tea in our rooms before checking out at 10:00.
The hotel had been really good for the night, the staff were all great, the food was nice and it was quite warm and comfortable too.
We had two options for our first adventure, shopping in Lerwick or a trip to the nearby town of Scalloway.
We decided on Scalloway first.
Scalloway, like every Shetland word is not pronounced as its spelt, Scalloway in the spoken sense becomes:
Scallawah – (But even now I’m not doing it justice).
Anyway, Scalloway is about 5 miles to the west of Lerwick and it was the original capital of the Shetland Islands but it changed to Lerwick for some reason in the 1700’s.
The weather was fine again, but cold, again! I parked the car and loaded Granny into her wheelchair for a push along the High Street.
I had, by chance, parked the car close to the monument to the Shetland Bus. Granddad was tickled pink. The Shetland Bus are revered Norwegian soldiers who undertook covert missions against the Nazis who occupied Norway, and their base from where they left to undertake their missions was at Scalloway.
We do have a laugh when Granny is in the wheelchair because every time I have pushed her I have almost tipped her out, every time. The thing is that she is such a willy worry too, so it makes it so much funnier.
We made it as far as Scalloway Castle which was built in 1600. The castle was actually built on the shoreline but due to land reclamation it is now found several hundred yards inland.
We found a shop in the High Street that sold Shetland knitwear and as I could not find a parking space Wendy, G & G left me behind while they went for a browse.
A parking space did become available and so I joined them in the shop. As I got in Wendy said, “Mum wants to buy you a woollen hat, can you choose one?” As there was a selection of about 30 woollen caps, I took my time and selected a very nice blue one and I said, “I would like this one please Granny”. I put the hat on my head and showed everyone my selection.
Wendy immediately said, “No, not that one, I don’t like it”. My reply was, “Wendy, why don’t you pick me a hat that I will like please?” Now I have a lovely grey hat, with little white Shetland sheep embroidered into it. Now why didn’t I pick that one in the first place!
After our walk we got back in the car and drove to the western community of Hamnavoe which was about 3 miles away. Hamnavoe is a small Island community which is accessed from another small Island and both are accessed by small single track bridges.
Hamnavoe was interesting and there were some really nice homes there but sadly there weren’t any shops for Granny to browse.
We got back to Lerwick around midday where after loading Granny back in her wheelchair we did indeed browse the High Street. Boy did she get her fill of browsing, after ten months of no shopping, the sky was her limit.
We have presents galore and some very nice garments for Granny herself from M & Co!
We stopped in a small café where Granddad and me had the most delightful hot chocolate I have ever had, it was really lovely, hot and chocolaty with extra chocolate on top which slowly meted down into the drink. Wendy and her Mum had tea!!!
Fortified we went further along the High Street where Granddad bought his much desired Puffin ornament which he intends to display on his bathroom window sill.
While they were in the shop, I was outside looking through the shop window and I saw a T-Shirt that tickled me. You have to have an understanding of the mentality of some communities Avid Reader, and the Shetland Islanders, at the very far north of the United Kingdom are a very proud and a resilient bunch of people. For instance, they don’t like their islands to be called anything but the Shetland Islands, the Shetland Isles is a very big no, no.
But their biggest hate is being put in a little box on a map of the UK to save space, somewhere near Dunnet Head, or just off Aberdeen, it drives them wild and they have bombarded the Government to make it illegal to do so.
So, here’s this T-Shirt proudly displaying the outline of the Shetland Islands with the rest of the UK in a little box placed in a much more insignificant location.
After a good shop we took the road south to Sumbrugh Head.
Sumburgh Head is the most Southerly point on Mainland Shetland
Now this was a cracker to finish on.
Sumburgh Head is around 25 miles south of Lerwick and you have to cross the runway of Sumburgh Airport to get there.
The views are stunning and the coastal scene is fantastic and Granddad just loved it.
On the way back to Lerwick we stopped off to take some photographs of the very famous Shetland ponies and then after a brief stop at Tesco for some essential provisions and then Fort Charlotte, we headed for the ferry home, and straight into our only anger management moment of the trip.
Because of Grannies walking difficulties I had contacted the ferry company and asked for easy access to our cabins. Our outward trip wasn’t a problem, we were parked at the side of the lift which took us directly to our cabins.
There is a protocol to follow which I won’t bore you with here Avid Reader, but on parking in the queue to board both Granny and myself sensed things weren’t right, and they weren’t, not by a long shot.
Eventually we ended up on the bottom deck and on parking I squeezed out of the car, because the cars were that tightly packed, and looked for the lift, and there wasn’t one, there was just one set of raking ladders, these are ladders only found on board vessels and they are very, very steep!
I quickly ran to back the car just as an operative was tightly parking a car right behind me.
Here’s how the conversation went:
Me, “Hey pal, where’s the lift”.
Operative, “There isn’t one, you have to use the steps”
Me, “My Mum can’t climb those steps”
Operative, “She’ll have to use the car ramp then”
Me, (With blood beginning to boil), She can’t, she can hardly walk, in fact she can’t even get out of the car we are parked so tight!”
Operative, “You should have told us beforehand”
Me, (Now on full meltdown, in a just about to rip his throat out mode), “I did prebook I have your coloured mirror hanger hanging on my mirror”.
The operative on seeing their mistake did recover quickly and by using his radio he stopped all traffic and I had to reverse back against the traffic until it was safe to turn around and drop everyone else off at the lift and then exit the boat to be boarded later.
Jeepers I was fuming.
But thankfully I did indeed later park in an acceptable area which is very close to the lift and I joined everyone for drinks at Grannies before we departed the Shetland Islands.
Wendy, Granddad and I watched us depart Lerwick from the top outside deck, we even saw the Pilot leave the boat and then we were on our way.
Its now 21:00 and we have had a lovely supper, we have left Granny and Grandad for the night having just sailed past Fair Isle. We have to dock in Kirkwall before we get to Aberdeen in the morning and its looks like a nice easy crossing.
I’m on my third glass of wine as I file copy, and I am just feeling my earlier anger slowly dissipate, but I still think I might need one more glass of wine and maybe a vodka before I am fully settled for the night!
284 Miles
120 Miles
Homeward Bound
I nipped up on deck just before I settled down for the night, as we were passing the Orkney Islands and just before we docked at Kirkwall.
I watched the Orkney Islands slip by and it was quite nice as I had the deck to myself.
I got back to my bunk and it took an age to upload my copy, it took so long that by the time I had finished we were docking at Kirkwall. I put my ear plugs in and nodded off and I never heard another peep, that was until 4:30 when I took a bathroom break and saw Wendy sat up in her bunk bimbling on her iPad!
I was straight back to sleep and I woke fully refreshed at 05:45, I had tea in bed, with last nights Orkney Island Fudge Cheese Cake and I jumped into the shower so I could see the ferry enter the harbour at Aberdeen.
I was just out of the shower and dressing when I saw through the porthole that we were already in Aberdeen Harbour, bugger and double drat!!!
Never mind I did take some pics through the porthole.
We disembarked without any hassle and after a brief stopover at Tesco’s in Huntly we were home at 10:30.
The weather was lovely at home so I went for my run and then when I got back I was into my household chores and I chopped my current wood cuttings, after which I showered and made a seafood and a meat feast pizza for the bbq.
And that’s that for this adventure, it’s been a cracking whistle stop tour of Mainland Shetland and its one hopefully Granddad will remember for years to come!!!
Home to Ullapool – 55 Miles
Ullapool to Stornoway – 52 Miles
Ferry Terminal – AirBnB – 2 Miles
I thought it would be a good idea to get granddad over to Stornoway in the last week of his Highland Fling so I booked the car onto the ferry and I managed to find an AirBnB that had some ground floor facilities for our use.
I was out of bed at 05:20 and after breakfast I was surprised to see Wendy getting dressed into her running gear too for a pre-ferry run.
It was a really lovely morning; the wind had dropped and the sun was shining nicely and I had a very good sweat on by the time I got back.
After knocking off a few chores we were on our way, in the car over the hills to Ullapool.
We set off at 13 minutes after 9 am and the roads were clear and we made very good progress.
The drizzle started just after we had passed the routes highest point but it wasn’t anything to worry about and we made it to the ferry terminal in good time.
What a surprise we had when we arrived, the car park was full and we had to queue in the road until we could enter the waiting area. We were given a lane where all the cars there would be given direct access to a lift and it worked really well because we parked just outside of the lift door, all we had to do was roll out of the car and into the lift.
First, we tried the Observation Deck where there are panoramic views of the voyage, as its just below the Bridge, but with social distancing rules all of the seats were taken by the foot passengers who get early access to the ship. Luckily, I went and found some decent seats in the bar area, and although we were at the stern, we did have access to the outside deck areas.
We settled down into our seats and by the time we had cast away we were already tucking into our picnic. I had a lovely Skate Sandwich from the fish that I had cooked two days before, it was a delight!
To wash it all down I did indeed find the bar and bought wine for Granny and Wendy and a can each of Tenants lager for me and grandad, and it was just the ticket.
Granddad had a walk on deck but was back soon enough to finish his drink and then we settled down for a reasonably pleasant crossing. At one point both Granddad and I went on deck but it was now raining and visibility was really low due to mist, not a great welcome to the Western Isles on what was supposed to be the hottest day for the year, but hey, never mind it is the Outer Hebrides.
On docking we did as instructed and made our way to the car deck only to be thwarted by a campervan at the head of the traffic line next to ours, who had broken down. As a result, off loading was a long process as we had to reverse back and then drive around him, as we passed by we could see several Cal Mac engineers with their heads under the bonnet, presumably trying to rectify the fault.
We were at the AirBnB premises in no time but I had a few issues texting the landlady, however I did manage to get her on the phone and pretty soon after that Wendy was being given the grand tour while I tried to watch the England Game on my phone on the BBC I-player.
We were all in the house by half time and after getting the bags from the car, and then having put G&G’s phone and tablets onto the Wi-Fi system I settled down to watch the rest of the game.
It wasn’t a classic, but a wins a win and although we didn’t paint the town red with our performance Croatia didn’t manage to get a decent shot on goal, so I’m happy with that.
After the game we took G&G down into Stornoway for a stroll along both the inner and outer harbours and although there was a little drizzle about, we didn’t get a good old fashioned Stornoway soaking, and the wind wasn’t as harsh as it could be.
Granny liked her stroll in her new wheelchair as she can now see much more of her whereabouts.
When we got to the outer harbour where the ferry docks we came across a very tasteful and thoughtful memorial to the sinking of His Majesty's Yacht Iolaire.
The Iolaire sank with great loss of life at the entrance to Stornoway Harbour on 1 January 1919. The sinking of the yacht was one of the worst maritime disasters in United Kingdom waters in the 20th Century. Although the Iolaire struck rocks just yards from shore, at least 201 men out of the 283 people on board perished — most of whom were Royal Naval Reservists returning home from the First World War.
John F. MacLeod of Ness from Lewis saved 40 lives, swimming ashore with a heaving line, along which many of the survivors made their way to safety.
The impact of the disaster was devastating to the Islands; 205 passengers were lost, representing almost an entire generation of young men from the Islands.
The story is easily found online and it’s a real tragedy from beginning to end and I bet very few people in the United Kingdom know about its occurrence, much like the Oaks Mining Disaster in Barnsley!
Granny withdrew a substantial amount of funding from a local cash dispenser and after that we headed back to the car and then back home where Wendy did a good job of knocking together a hot and very tasty chicken curry, where I now have to admit that my eyes were bigger than my belly and I ate far too much.
And that’s that for our first taste of the Outer Hebrides, tomorrow we go out into the countryside to explore, heading north first and then hopefully west, south is for Tuesday because we have to pace ourselves as Lewis and Harris is, by landmass, the largest Island aside from Mainland Britain and Ireland in the British Isles!!!
What a Lovely Day!!!
No Traveling
I woke early and I was out running, with Wendy following me, at just turned 7:00 am. I went one way from the apartment and Wendy the other.
As I jogged on I had my bottom felt by a passing jogger, the mucky bugger, thankfully for me it was a women.
I wanted to run my old route through Lews Castle grounds and then onto Stornoway town. I was worried that after over ten years I might not find it as it takes me a few days of running locally to find a good route, but thankfully it came back to me as I plodded along.
The grounds of Lews Castle are stunning and the river from the moor, which runs down to the harbour is just beautiful.
The weather was sunny when I set off but I did have to endure at least 3 seasons of the year, Spring, Summer and at the end, with its wild wind, Autumn made an appearance.
I loved it mind, it was nice to be back.
After my smoothie we loaded Granny and Granddad into the car in the hope that we would find some kippers at the famous Stornoway Smoke House, sadly it was closed. Never mind I have seen a new smoke house, the Lewis and Harris Smoke House not a half a mile away, that bugger was closed too!
Never mind we are going to Uig on the West Coast and I was sure we would find some there.
We nipped back to the apartment to collect our sandwiches for the day and then we set off for the far north of the Isle of Lewis to the Port of Ness and the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse.
Just before I left the apartment, I sent my friend Danda a text message telling him that I would come and find him as I was in his area. Danda is a cracking man who I have known many years. He was the Officer in Charge of Ness Fire Station and I have spent many a happy hour in his company both at Operational Incidents and at Road Traffic Accident Competitions. His Stn were the best team in the UK some years ago having won the national championship, they even represented the UK in the World Championships. That’s not bad for a small Retained Duty Stn on the Isle of Lewis. I even took them to Belfast to compete once.
We arrived at Ness Harbour and the scenery was beautiful, we saw Gannets diving into the sea in search of fish, we saw the clear blue waters and we saw the old harbour. Danda made an appearance to tell me where he lived and so arrangements were duly made for a cup of tea after our trip to the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse.
After a stroll around the harbour area we took the short trip to the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse and Granddad loved it. The scenery was stunning and the sea, hundreds of feet below us, was amazing, it was wild and wonderful, frothing and bashing against the cliffs below us.
So far we had had no rain but the wind was picking up somewhat.
Our next stop was at Danda’s house, where we all sat in his lounge and had a very delightful hour chatting over things. Mari, Danda’s wife, made us coffee and she threw in some very tasty ham sandwiches and a very wide selection of biscuits. Granddad and I filled our boots, well it would have been disrespectful not to.
I have to point out that Danda’s house is lovely and that he has the most amazing ground floor bathroom. It is massive and very nicely done, I mean you could hold a party in there. Granddad was so taken by my appreciation of it that he had to see it for himself, and he whole heartedly agreed with me.
Back on the road we travelled along the peat lands that is Lewis, with its very stunning scenery and we stopped at a restored Shieling, (Very small house of olden days), and we very much enjoyed looking at how hard life would have been in days gone by. All I can say that for a family of six it would have been really, really cosy.
Soon we were at the Callanish Standing Stones. Thankfully I recalled my knowledge of the area and instead of parking and walking a long way, up the hillside to the Stones from the Visitor Centre, I recalled a small road that runs along the Stones and went up there and parked right at the rear entrance of the fence that surrounds the stones.
Jeepers it was windy!
The Calanais, (Gaelic term), Standing Stones are an extraordinary cross-shaped setting of stones erected 2,500 years B.C. They predate England’s famous Stonehenge monument, and were an important place for ritual activity for at least 2,000 years.
We don’t know why the standing stones at Calanais were erected, but our best guess is that it was a kind of astronomical observatory.
From there we drove along the stunning roadside to the far west coast of Lewis. Boy were we now in remote country.
First, we stopped off at the village of Valtos, with its stunning beaches. After a while and after asking two local fellas we found the Fire Station that I had had built and then the local shop where I did indeed buy some Uig Smoked Salmon and two pairs of Kippers for supper.
From there we drove off into the wilderness and we saw the wild west coast with the North Atlantic Ocean battering the cliffs and shoreline. We were at the very end of the road and that was that, we turned round and drove back the 40 miles to our apartment in Stornoway.
We got back a little before 6:00 pm and after I had dropped everyone off at the apartment, I called down into town, to Tesco for some supplies.
Supper was a super, duper delight of Stornoway Black Pudding, Uig Smoked Salmon and Kippers and free range duck eggs that I had bought from the roadside in Ness.
I said no traveling today, but we did cover 153 miles!
Bad Weather!!!
No Traveling
I was up and about at 5:45 this morning and I was off running at 6:45, after my tea and vegemite toast. It was a little cooler but the wind was much less fierce.
I ran into town and past the power station and onto Sandwick Bay. The power station is massive, and it's driven by huge diesel turbines. The whole ground shakes when you get near to it, but the worst of it is, there is a council estate all around it. How they live a normal life Lord only knows, I think it would drive me stark raving potty!
We were on the road by 10:15 and we first went to the large village of Point which is to the east of Stornoway. Point is for all intense and purpose an island, had it not been for the construction of a roadway the sand barrier that separates if from the mainland would have been swept away many years ago. During bad weather the road is closed completely and The Point does effectively become an island. The wind, especially at high tide makes the roadway just too dangerous to use. The Fire Service used to send a fire engine with a crew over to standby in case an incident occurs while the road is closed, it does get that bad.
The Western Isles are the worst part of the UK for severe winds, and I should know, I’ve been here often enough over winter. The thing is though is that it’s just part and parcel of everyday life for the Islanders.
From The Point we stopped briefly at the exact point where the Iolaire sank. There is a memorial there too, but the track was just a little too long and the wind, now, a little too fresh for the walk down.
We drove down through Lewis, through Balallan, which was known as Bandit Country when I worked here because of the tetchiness of the locals, in fact during one incident the local police patrol car was torched.
Actually, Balallan is supposed to be the longest village in the Western Isles and Northern Scotland, at 4 miles between the Village boundary markers, according to Wikipedia. I measured it, as I would, and found the distance to be 2.8 miles. That just goes to show, don’t trust the internet for a factual source.
We drove on and into the Isle of Harris where by now we were being battered by wind and driving rain. We passed Tarbet and then we drove over the hills which actually resembles the Moon more than planet Earth before we entered the village of Leverburgh.
We carried on without stopping and ended up at the small community called Rodel, at the very bottom of Harris. From my previous visits I know that there is a hotel, the Rodel Hotel, but there were no signs for it but I did eventually find it. It was closed and under some kind of major refurbishment.
When I was in the Fire Service, when the kids were about 14, I took them all the way from the top of Lewis, to the bottom of the Hebridean chain at Vatersay. I was working but we saved the service money by camping in a tent as we went, thankfully it was better weather than we had today.
We took a very nice meal in the Rodel Hotel but Wendy has no recollection of it. In fact she has only vague recollections of the entire trip. This was the trip where Robyn rescued Martin Haigh from his sinking canoe on our trip over to the Island of Taransay.
We retraced our steps and then detoured over to the Isle of Scalpay which since 1997 has been accessible via a very high road bridge.
We had been looking for somewhere to find a hot drink and maybe some cake but everyplace we found was closed, and most looked permanently closed. Thankfully there were very clean public toilets at the harbour on Scalpay so we all made ourselves comfortable.
On the way back to Tarbet we did indeed find a small photo gallery open and as they also did hot drinks and cake’s we nipped in for some respite. This is where I found my new best friend, a dog called Clio. Clio was behind a fence but she would drop her stick over the fence for you to throw it for her to fetch. I would still be there now if Clio could have had her way.
The tea coffee and cakes were just the ticket and the owner, a very nice young man told me the reason so many small cafes were closed was because they had gone out of business due to the pandemic as they got no government support. He said the only reason that he was still going was because of the support his parents had given him.
Wendy and granny helped out by buying cards and a very nice Harris Tweed, hand made cushion each. I bet he was thrilled that we had called in, well anything to help a deserving fella. He told us that he and his wife had a 3 week old baby which obviously helped melt our hearts.
Back on the road we had a surreal chat with granny!
During the trip we had talked abut the fella, Kim, from Inverness who had absconded to the USA and had faked his own death because he had been charged in Edinburgh on 3 counts of rape. He had led the police on a right old merry chase in the US, but they had him and sent him back and this week he got 15 years prison time.
Anyway, we were in the car and the news came on and some fella had gotten 10 years prison time for something quite frivolous and I just muted to Wendy that KIM should have got more than 15 years for whet he had done to those poor girls. Granny heard me and said, “Is that that fella you told me about. The one who when the police found him had women’s knickers under the floorboards, and sex toys?”
Wendy and I were astounded, firstly, I never thought I would every here granny utter the word, sex toys, in my life, but also because it bore no resemblance to the story Wendy had told her. We did chuckle, it was so funny.
I said, “Granny, this is comedy gold, its going in the blog tonight!” I then said, “I can see Robyn now, spitting her tea all over her iPad screen when she reads this”.
We drove on through the terrible weather, with granny making us laugh and after reaching Stornoway, we took a short jaunt to my mate Martin Haigh’s old house so that I could send his wife, Andrea, a photograph of her old house. She loved it, by the way.
After a brief stop at a local beach, we headed to the Coop for tonight’s dinner, meat pie, chips and mussy peas.
It’s been a cracking couple of days, with Granny and Granddad providing us with comedy gold, but tomorrow is home time and we have to brave the Minch in what might not be good sailing conditions, we will see!
176 miles today, well it is the UK biggest Offshore Island!
2 Miles
55 Miles
52 Miles
Windy, Very, Very Windy!!!
I was up at 5:30 this morning and whilst I was just finishing my breakfast I received a text message from upstairs, “Tea please when you come up”, charming, I’m sure.
I was dressed and ready for the off at 6:30 and after throwing her tea down Wendy was ready to go too.
I have tried to explain how to find the river in the grounds of Lews Castle to Wendy, but she didn’t manage to find it yesterday so today I ran in front of her and led her up to it. The river is stunning, it cascades down the hillside and it is surrounded by woodland, rhododendron bushes and very nice flora. At the point where the river meets the sea there is a small island that has quite a covering of rhododendron bushes and it looks stunning in the morning sunshine.
The route to it is mainly uphill and obviously when you get to the river and its heading to the sea it’s now a downhill route and in places the river falls nicely through the rocks.
When we got to the sea the sun was shining and it was glorious and had it not been for the gale force wind it would have been very pleasant. Having done my duty, I sat on a bench overlooking the harbour and let Wendy continue back to the apartment. The sun was shining and the scene was stunning, in fact if it wasn’t for the isolation, the lack of retail infrastructure and the dam, horrible weather most of the time, Stornoway would be a nice place to live.
I carried on running and got back to the apartment at around 8:10 with the wind really blowing hard and I was beginning to get concerned about whether the ferry would sail or not!
When I got inside granny was ready for me with her book. “Look at that paragraph” she said, which she pointed out. Well I did laugh, it was word for word what she had said in the car the day before, word perfect in fact.
She was right she had heard it before and technically it was Wendy she had got it from, because Wendy had given her the book which she had herself read.
After my smoothie and shower we loaded the car for our return trip across the Minch but not before I had checked the CalMac travel disruption website to check that the ferry was indeed running.
Having a few hours to kill we first off all went down to the famous Stornoway Smoke House where granny bought plenty of smoked fish and cheese supplies. Sadly they didn’t have any of their very tasty smoked mussels, which when eaten at room temperature with a glass of chilled white wine are just delightful.
From there I parked the car just adjacent to the town centre where we loaded granny into her wheelchair and wrapped her up tightly because the wind was still howling and it was looking like rain any time soon.
We walked all over town, right up to Bayhead where the last of the shops are and Wendy and granny occasionally popped into the odd shop that took their fancy, but they didn’t buy anything at all.
During our stroll I was gutted to see that it looks like the Criterion Bar is permanently closed. I was gutted because this was the last of the traditional Hebridean bars, that I used to frequent on my long tours of duty over in Stornoway!
With around 90 minutes to kill we went for a coffee at the very nice café that overlooks the harbour from the first floor and which gives great views across the Minch with the panoramic windows.
Sadly though we were on the next table to a young woman who had a young girl with her, of about 4 years old, and while the mother Facetimed her friend the little girl was left to eat her happy meal with Peppa Pig blaring loudly on her mothers iPad! I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again cafes and restaurants need to get to grips with how people use technology around people who want to just sit back, relax and enjoy the coffee.
As we exited the café the wind was still roaring and we got back to the car just as the rain started.
With only 40 minutes to kill for the ferry, and as it had been decided that a snack might be required mid crossing, we went in search of sausage rolls. I had seen from a visitor’s map board in town that Stagg Bakery had a shop somewhere in the industrial area, just outside of town.
Stagg bakery from my time working in Stornoway was a long established family bakery, but could we eck as find it. We drove around and around, we ended up back in town where I asked a local fella who pointed me in the right direction, very close to where we had been circling.
On getting there Wendy found them to be completely unhelpful as it appeared to be a distribution plant. I mean why on earth would you have a bakery distribution plant on a visitor’s board in a town centre?
By now it was time to join the ferry queue and once we were in our designated line Wendy nipped to Tesco’s, which is very close by, to get some provisions.
We were on the boat in no time at all and settled in our seats where granny and Wendy caught up on the TV programme, The Sewing Bee, on their respective iPads, and I finished the end of a film on my phone while granddad read his paper.
In no time at all we were almost across the Minch with just a barely noticeable rock and roll of the vessel.
We were back home by 18:04 and thankfully the sun was shining and the temperature was in the 20’s. Now as I type this copy the trip seems to be a whirlwind in my mind and I think its going to take me a little time and maybe a nip or two of rum before I’m fully recovered from this short relaxing break!
178 Miles (21/06/21)
441 Miles
Summer 2021
We kicked off our Summer 2021 tour two nights ago by driving down with Granny and Granddad, and the caravan and stayed for two nights with Alex, Robyn and Rose.
We got down on the afternoon of Monday, 21st June, Bradleys 32nd birthday and as Rose had requested a Father’s Day for me on the Monday and not the Sunday, we had a very nice selection of BBQ pizza which was an utter delight, I also got a very good Yorkshire Cricket Sweatshirt for my present.
Rose was as always just such a sweetie!
On Tuesday I went for a nice morning run in gorgeous sunshine, down to Musselburgh Harbour which was stunning in the morning sun. I helped a lorry driver out, he had gotten slightly stuck under a railway bridge as his load was too high and he was extremely grateful for my very capable help, but boy could that fella swear!
I had a few admin matters to attend to during the day, one being sorting the return of Alex’s mitre saw, that’s the last time I buy anything electrical online from Screwfix!
Then in the evening Alex watched the Scotland football match with his mate in the outside Fanzone that he had made for the England v Scotland game, and Granddad and I watched the England v Czech Republic match in the lounge.
I was in bed just after the game because I knew I had an early start. We’ve been sleeping in the caravan to save Robyn work with bed changing and so I was fast on by the time Wendy came to bed and I never heard a peep.
I woke at 4:45 am and I got up and snuck around having my breakfast and I was out running at 5:45. I went down to Musselburgh Harbour mainly because I like to see the Harbour, but the morning sky was a little overcast.
I got back to the house at just after 7:30 and after doing a few chores and having my smoothie we were all loaded in the car for our journey to the south east of England.
We had a cracking trip down; we didn’t have any hassle apart from the odd selfish driver who would not let me out to overtake. We took two stops, one to check the car tyres because the pressure warning light had come on. I didn’t find any problems so off we set again.
Then with about 180 miles left of the journey I stopped to fill the tank with more diesel. I had left it so late as I knew at that point I would have enough fuel to make it to Kent and have some surplus in case of stoppages on the M25, which I did expect at the Dartford Crossing.
We actually got to the Dartford Crossing, and going from Essex into Kent you use the Queen Elizabeth Bridge, without any issue. In fact, for the time of day, 5;15 pm, the traffic was relatively light, not so on the opposite carriageway where when crossing from Kent to Essex traffic goes via the original Dartford Tunnel, there was a fair amount of slow moving congested traffic that was backed up all the way to the M2, the poor buggers!
Dartford Crossing Facts:
The Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing, commonly known as the Dartford Crossing and until 1991 the Dartford Tunnel, is a major road crossing of the River Thames in England, carrying the A282 road between Dartford in Kent to the south, with Thurrock in Essex to the north.
It consists of two bored tunnels and the cable stayed Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. The only fixed road crossing of the Thames east of Greater London, it is the busiest estuarial crossing in the United Kingdom, with an average daily use of over 130,000 vehicles. It opened in stages: the west tunnel in 1963, the east tunnel in 1980 and the bridge in 1991. The crossing, despite not being under motorway restrictions, is considered part of the M25 motorway route, using the tunnels northbound and bridge southbound.
Described as one of the most important road crossings in Britain, it suffers from heavy traffic and congestion.
The bridge is tolled and it currently costs £2.50 for a one way crossing for a car. It used to be double price for a trailer but since it went automatic a few years ago it seems that the number plate camera technology cannot pick up whether it’s a car alone or a car with a trailer or caravan, luckily for me!
The toll is paid online and you have until midnight on the day after your crossing or your issued with a penalty fine, which must also rake in additional funds because in today’s busy life it’s just so easy to forget to pay the toll. That is why I pay the toll prior to travelling Avid Reader!
We got to the campsite which is just off the Isle of Sheppey at 17:45, and after dropping the caravan, Wendy took G & G home while I made camp.
Wendy came back with precooked provisions of a slow cooked chicken casserole and French bread, lovingly made by Ian and Karen, which we ate gratefully in the van after we had finally sorted ourselves out.
Hopefully we can have a relaxing day tomorrow and do some much waited for visits to family members we haven’t seen in a long while.
The Bridge!
No Travelling
What a stunning moon we had last night; it was lovely. I sat in the dark and looked at it and somehow fell fast asleep. I never felt sleep slip over me I just remember being woken up and told to get in bed!
I was up a little before 7:am and it was a bright and sunny day. I checked my Weather App and it said the temperature at Iwade was 8 degrees so I went out running in a couple of sweat shirts and promptly melted!
It was roasting and to make matters worse I didn’t have any ice in my water bottle because I couldn’t fit it in the freezer, it was luke warm to boiling by the time I took my first sip at the four mile turnaround point.
On my way back something happened that I bet hasn’t happened to many Sheppeyite’s!
I was halfway over the lifting bridge when the alarms sounded and the gates began to close. I had to double away or I was going for a ride. I think the operator was pulling my leg a little as he gave me a hearty wave when I managed to get to his side.
But sure enough there was a largish vessel out in the Swale taking on board a Pilot to get the boat into Ridham Docks.
Traffic built up pretty quickly but thankfully I was on the right side for the caravan park and so I made my way home.
I collected a small English Flag from the verge, I’m guessing it had come off a car as there is a lot of them around with the little flag poles on the car roofs.
I got back and I had my smoothie in the morning sunshine, it was now 24 degrees centigrade!
We set off for Grannies house at around midday and as I dropped Wendy off, I collected Grannies passport as we needed a photo copy of it for her Blue Disability Badge, I also needed some drill bits to make a slight alteration to our new sun canopy.
The first shop I went in to would not take my Scottish £10 note. I wasn’t happy, it was more the way she said, “I’m not taking that!” that got my goat up, and I’m not even Scottish. I hadn’t taken my reading glasses with me, I just had my distance sunglasses and I could clearly see that I had got a perfect set of drills for the job, so I paid by card and scarpered.
I then called in to the Post Office to buy a large A4 envelope and again the teller would not take my £10 note. I asked him, “Why won’t you take it, don’t you trust them?”. He replied, “It’s not me mate, its Post Office policy in England that they don’t take Scottish notes as we have no way of checking if they are legitimate”. It sounded rubbish to me but what could I do.
Finally, I found a place to copy the passport and I was attended to by the nicest lady I had met so far today, she kind of pulled me out of my escalating dive into grumpiness!
I got back to Grannies and I found a major clerical error in the Blue Badge application, the wrong details had been entered on the form, crossed out and then written above the box where they should have gone. Now I know from my Fire Service days that some forms have to be filled in accurately as they are scanned in and it spoils the process should it be incorrect.
As we couldn’t really take the chance, we sent an SOS to Lily at her home about 10 miles away to see if she could run another online form off for us so we could complete the process.
On leaving Grannies we went along the old road back to the caravan to send Lily the documents and would you believe we got stuck at the old bridge again as a yacht wanted passage through the Swale. Wendy was fizzing and I had to give her a little chat about being patient when things like this happen, I mean it was my second time today, is that a record too!
We took the back roads to Lily’s house and boy are those country lanes tight, and people drive so fast and must think the road ahead is clear because we had a near miss or too, defensive driving techniques are certainly required around these parts.
Lily was looking lovely and cute with her baby bump now very much on show. She’s such a tiny girl too which makes her bump look much bigger.
We didn’t hang about we headed off back via a caravan shop as we needed a few bits and bobs and then we called into Morrisons for some shopping essentials.
Back at the van Wendy made an early supper while I did the alterations to the sun canopy and it seems to have done the trick. So far, I’m very impressed with the canopy but its not had the test of a real downpour or anything other than very light winds, so time will tell if it’s up to duty with DG!
Supper was lovely, bolognaise with mushrooms, peppers and crusty rolls, all eaten outside in the afternoon sunshine.
At 5:30 pm we called into see Granny and Granddad before heading up to Angela’s house which is a couple of miles away, closer to the coast.
We ended up having almost 3 hours with them, Martin was there and Beck’s little girl, Penny, and it was lovely to see them all. We had a good old chat and catch up and then would you believe James turned up.
James is a smashing young man and I’ve known him from being a tiny little boy. He’s turned into a fine strapping man now who is 40 years old with three lovely young girls and a beautiful wife, Rita. I can remember his wedding like it was yesterday, most likely for the opening line of his wedding speech!
James was a builder until after the first lockdown ended. James has always been a talented sketch artist but with having a family and responsibilities he never really did anything with his art, until lockdown. James got his pens and pencils out and started messing about and posted a few drawings on Facebook and it really took off. Now he has commissioning’s all over the country, he’s landed a good one in Birmingham and is developing his ideas for the project. He is even running a couple of children’s workshops for the local authority.
Now he’s closed his building business, he works part time at the local Tool Station where his building knowledge is a big asset, and he works on his art at home.
I’m dead chuffed for him, I really hope he as some success because he has got real talent.
Back at the caravan we had a little drizzle overhead but it didn’t come to anything, however it looks like the super moon tonight is going to be a damp squid as there’s too much cloud cover.
Dog Eat Dog!!!
No Travelling
I slept like a log last night and boy was it warm, I even considered opening the window but I was asleep before I could decide.
I ran over the old bridge to the Island and instead of going left, towards Halfway, I went to the right towards Minster, and I found that I had a tarmac footpath all the way to my four mile point. When I go the other way I have to run on the road for about a half of a mile and the traffic speeds past me. This new route must be a new route as it wasn’t there when I last did this run, but then it’s been some time since we stayed at Mrs Jenkins Camp Ground in Iwade, which is only just off the Island.
It wasn’t as hot as it was yesterday but I did still get a good sweat on.
I took my smoothie outside and it was lovely, the sun was breaking through the clouds and it was rather nice for a Friday morning.
I did a few admin duties, which I think I might have said before is essential when you’re away from home for a long time.
Wendy did some home duties, bed changing and towel rotation necessities, her intention being was to use Grannies washing machine while she could.
At around 11:00 we set off to collect Granny and Granddad and then we went for a walk along the Leas, on the Thames Estuary directly across the water from Southend.
The weather was kind to us as we strolled along and although the sky looked angry it never bothered us by being unkind.
I was pushing Granny in her wheelchair and I wanted to take a photograph of the beach huts so I pulled up and started to get my phone ready in camera function when all of a sudden I could hear Granny speaking in a concerned voice, “I’m moving, I’m moving”, and she was, straight towards the sea wall edge where she would have had a metre drop onto the pebble beach had I not been quick enough to grab her from the abyss!
Wendy almost wet herself laughing, it was like a Little Britain moment!
We stopped at a point and sat down on the wall to admire some street art.
Wendy had found The Moo Mop Mouse!
Apparently, there is a person who as been going around the Isle of Sheppey during lockdown and painting his storey of Moo Mop Mouse.
Granny knew the story but didn’t know who the artist was, although he had been on local TV, but he had disguised his face. Seemingly he is known as the Sheppey Banksy!
I Googled Moo Mop Mouse and found that he/she was very popular on a Facebook account with over 3,700 followers and he/she is even on Twitter too.
After a while we set off back and thankfully, we didn’t get any rain.
Back at Grannies and we took Granny and Granddads bed down as a new one will be delivered tomorrow and for tonight, her and Granddad will have to campout in the living room, how exciting for them!
We had a coffee and I had a ham sarnie and we left them to it and went back to the van to hang our washing out.
From there we drove to an excellent camping store, Camping International in Chatham for some essential items they they didn’t have in the store yesterday.
The main item I wanted was a bit for my battery drill that would put the caravan legs up and down and I actually found one. I do have one, but its one I made myself in my workshop and although it does do the job, its not centred so it makes the drill wobble about when I use it. I was dead chuffed I found a replacement though.
After our shopping trip we were going to go to Lily’s for a cuppa and a chat with Michael and Lily. However, Lily called and told us that Cooper, their spaniel, had tried to eat a bumble bee and in the process he had been stung and his face was swollen quite badly and that a trip to the Vet was required.
After some humming and aring we decided to knock the visit on the head, mainly due to the traffic, it was horrendous. It was encroaching rush hour traffic and by the time Lily would have been home and we had had our visit we would have been looking at traffic madness.
The drive back, along the old roads was crazy, people were on two wheels coming around blind bends, jeepers they are loonies around these parts, what is it they say, we lead busy lives, wow, with the way they drive here it’s a wonder they have any length of life!
As my Scottish money is not acceptable around these parts, we drove over the Old Ferry Road to Morrison’s so I could get some out of the cash point. Jeepers the traffic coming off the new bridge was horrendous; it was backing up all the way back to the bridge itself an it was only just gone 4:30pm.
Coming back from Morrison’s no one would let me cross the roundabout, even though the traffic heading to Leysdown was almost standing. I had to force my way through and even though I wouldn’t have held him up one man was determined not to let me through. He had a steely determination about him and that’s when I thought that I really am living in a dog eat dog world, Lord knows what it will be like when the Zombie Apocalypse happens!
We went back to the caravan and took our bikes down to the local pub for our first drink in an English bar for a very long time! Sadly, it wasn’t anything to write home about. We took a pint and a half of John Smiths’ bitter and it was what I would call bland, it was cold enough but it had no body, it was a typical South of England pint, even though there had been a fair attempt to give it a head, it wasn’t a thirst quenching pint!
Supper was an utter delight, cooked by myself of course.
Supper was:
It was a double delight, yum, yum in fact.
Bike Ride
No Travelling
It was nice and warm this morning so I went out running in my vest and then the sun came out from behind the clouds and it got even warmer. I ran through Iwade and up to the village of Bobbing. It was a straight run up and down but it was one of those runs where it feels like you’re running uphill on the way out but when you turn around to come back you still feel that your running uphill. It didn’t stop me posting a cracking time though, I did an average mileage of one mile in 9 minutes and 26 seconds. I know its not Mo Farrah but it’s the best I have done in a long while and I had a good old sweat on by the time I got back.
I had my smoothie sat outside in the sunshine and it felt like Portugal.
After breakfast, a shave and a shower I loaded the bikes onto the car and set off to Grannie’s house, calling in at Morrisons for a few provisions and Grandad’s newspaper.
Jeepers, Morrisons was heaving with people, the queues were horrendous and they didn’t have a copy of the Times or the Daily Mail newspaper so I tried the filling station across the road, none there. I the tried the mini mart at Halfway and all they had were The Sun.
Matt Hancock must have sold some news papers this weekend, well he has been very popular on social media with him being the butt of some very funny jokes.
We got to Grannies and had a chat, Ian turned up and then Karen and then after a bit more chatting Wendy and me set off for a bike ride around the sea wall, starting in Queenborough.
As we got to Queenborough we found a few market stalls along the harbour area so we got off our bikes for a stroll. There were some really lovely things, trinkets mainly, for sale but we didn’t buy anything because we now shop for baby girls, and there wasn’t anything there for them.
We carried on and found the sea wall, the sun was out now and it was quite nice cycling along. The route goes around the perimeter of the docks and this is where the Port store the foreign cars that come into the dock. As usual the area was full of new cars, some look like they have been there for ages. So much for a new car when some poor sod eventually gets it!
We carried on and we left the sea wall at Blue Town as the Dock area is in this part of town and obviously it is a secure area. But its no real hardship because the dock wall and the buildings around Blue Town are all interesting to view.
At the outset of this bike ride we did intend to look for more of Moo Mop Mouse’s escapades around town, but as the weather was so good and the sea views quite interesting it kept going out of my mind, so I don’t know if we passed some of the artwork or not!
We re-joined the sea wall at the large Tesco store which is at the end of the High Street area of Sheerness and I saw a Chinese family of four cooking a BBQ on the steps which lead to the sea, (the steps actually form a promenade to the sea at this point), and the food looked amazing. As I passed the fella gave me a wave, probably because I was drooling, and I shouted, “That looks good”, and his reply was, “It will be soon”.
We carried on, dodging bare bodies covered in unsightly tattoos, fat male bodies and dogs on retractable leads. I stopped for an ice cream from a van which had just pulled up at the point where the jet ski’s go into the sea. It was busy there but not many people had an ice cream despite it being a nice sunny day.
We carried on along the sea wall where the beach huts are and then we pushed our bikes up the hill to the top of the cliffs. We passed through a rather nice looking static caravan park and then headed back to Grannies on the main road at Minster.
Wendy wasn’t keen on going on the main road and at one point shouted to me, “Turn into this street and we’ll go another way, the drivers are all nuts!”.
So, I did as I was instructed and we meandered through an estate before re-joining the main road, which thankfully was a bit wider and the cars could speed past us at warp speed, but also give us a wider birth.
We got back to Grannies and then took Granny and Granddad with us to Tesco as I needed some fuel and a few other provisions for supper tonight, and, I thought I might get that all elusive newspaper.
The first port of call was the newspaper stand where I found copies of The Times but the two shelves allocated to the Daily Mail were empty. Being a resourceful fella, I took a copy of the paper that is used for display purposes, it had all the supplements in and although it was a little wrinkly from being pushed down the plastic display case, it was still a readable copy that Granddad could read.
Back in the car we took the scenic route home and after dropping Granny and Granddad off we went back to the caravan to drop off our supplies before heading out to go to a pub that I had seen in Bobbing this morning. The Dancing Dog Saloon is some kind of American themed bar, but it was closed so that was that. I did look a little further afield for a country pub but there was nothing in the additional five miles I drove so we came back to the caravan where Wendy relaxed with her Times crossword while I got the barby ready and prepped the salad, all at the same time while watching the British Lions thrash the Japanese at Rugby.
The barby was a big success, fillet steak, lamb steaks, prawns cocktail and salad and for afters a nice Belgian chocolate & Salted Caramel Pot from Tesco’s finest range.
We are having a nice easy night tonight with an early bedtime because tomorrow is moving day. The sun canopy is packed up, the outside seats are in the car and we are as ready as we can be for our getaway to Sussex.
I just hope the roads aren’t too busy, but they shouldn’t be because it is a Sunday tomorrow!
45 Miles
Medical Debate
We were in bed by 8:30 pm last night so we could get up early for a cuppa with Granny before we left for East Sussex.
I was up at 5:30 am and out by 6:30, Wendy wasn’t so sure about going out so I left her in bed with a cup of tea.
It was really, really misty and it was quite breezy too, but it was fairly warm and I was sweating before I got on the Island.
I ran onto the Island one last time before we leave and the wind was in my face going out but thankfully it was at my back on the return trip.
When I was in sight of the main bridge onto the Island, The Sheppey Crossing, I saw 3 ambulances cross onto the mainland from Sheppey with their blue lights on and this was on three separate occasions, 1 on the way out and 2 on the way back. I think that I am in sight of the bridge for about 45 minutes so if this is repeated over a day there must be very many Hospital emergency cases from The Isle of Sheppey to the nearest Hospital, The Medway, in Gillingham.
The furthest point on the Island to Gillingham is 24 miles, so that’s at least a 30 minute emergency drive to get a badly injured casualty to medical care. I know that there is the Kent Air Ambulance Service but they are not always able to respond due to weather conditions.
Debate in Parliament in 1990 as chronicled in the Hansard Register.
Rodger Moat MP for Sheppey - I welcome this opportunity to raise in the House the closure of acute hospital services on the Isle of Sheppey and the urgent need for new hospitals on Sheppey and in Sittingbourne. I am pleased that my hon. Friend the Minister for Health is here to reply to this important debate.
Three months from now we face the closure of acute medical and geriatric services on Sheppey. Three years ago we saw the closure of surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology on Sheppey—a modern maternity unit. Before that, some years ago, the full casualty service, children's wards and the paediatric service were also closed.
In the debate Mr Moat raised many of the issues that I have heard over the years, but even now 31 years later there still is no emergency medical provision on the Isle of Sheppey.
I got back to the caravan and Wendy had done a short run to Iwade and back, but she was showered and ready to get moving. After my Smoothie and shower, we were sat in Grannies kitchen within the hour sipping a nice cup of coffee. Ian, Karen, Jessica and Freddie the dog was there too. Freddie seemed a little unsure of me and took some time to settle which was a shame because he’s a handsome little fella and I would have given him a good stroking!
After saying our goodbyes, we were off to the caravan site to collect the caravan for the short trip to Sussex.
The journey was nice and pleasant, we drove on main roads and some side roads and we only had one small issue going through a village. Large vans had parked close to the traffic lights and as the road was narrow I had to go over onto the other side of the road. It was busy but I just went for it and the oncoming cars had to go onto the pavement for us to pass each other. I’m sorry for any agitation caused, but you can’t be a shrinking violet when you’re towing a caravan through England’s country towns.
We are staying on a working farm, its not a big place but we have sheep, geese, hens, turkeys and lamas all in front of us. In fact, the lady sold us some of their bacon and sausage after we had parked up and Wendy made a most delightful brunch just before we set off to find Zof and the boys.
We got to Zof just as the rain started, and it poured it down. Conner had mown the rear lawn so we could sit in the nice tidy garden before he had gone to work. Alfie had been cutting the hedge as we arrived, but alas the rain was too hard for us to sit outside, so we sat in the lovely open glazed conservatory and chatted.
Zof made coffee, and mine was far too sweet for my liking and she guessed from the look on my face and we had a bit of a laugh about it. We caught up on family news, the boys are doing well, Alfie is now 15 and Conner 16. Conner is at weekly boarding school but his term as now ended and he as 8 weeks off. He has a job at a local pub where he is a kitchen porter.
Zof’s mum now only runs the launderette in Richmond, London from Thursday to Saturday and she then spends Sunday to Wednesday at her cottage which is two doors down from Zof’s.
The rain became relentless and when Conner came in from work he was soaked to the skin because he had cycled back.
We had a good chat with Conner and Alfie who are really into boxing and regularly train at a local gym. It’s helped that Zof is a kick boxing champion as they already have very good ring skills. I enjoyed the chat, it was nice to talk with the boys about a sport I know something about and have taken part in, there’s no excuses in boxing, you have to learn quickly or you end up with a very sore head!
After a while I persuaded Zof to take us to see the pub where Conner works and I am glad that I did because it’s a really nice place and I ended up with a pint of real ale, Sussex’s Best Bitter.
It was really enjoyable being in an English Country pub with a pint and watching people enjoy themselves, I could have still been there now.
We dropped Zof off at home and we went inside to say good bye to the boys and we made arrangements for tomorrow.
We got back to the van and the sun canopy had a massive bulge in it which was filled with rain water. Thankfully no damage had occurred and in a short space of time I had an additional pole stuck up from the clothes airer in the form of the long handled sweeping brush, and, after yet more of a deluge I think I had got it cracked because the water is now running away.
I did intend to get some pics of the farm animals when I got back but it looks like they have all hunkered down for the night away from the rain. The lamas are the only one’s game for hanging about, I guess this weather might be similar to their home, South American climate!
Funny Weather!
No Travelling
I slept like a log last night, again we had another early night and I never heard a peep from the animals. We have animals not 20 feet from our bedroom and they didn’t squeak or squark all night long. I heard the turkeys gobbling as we went out mind, they make the strangest of sounds. They actually sound as I imagine space aliens would sound!
We had to take the car to St Leonards this morning as we cannot run around the campsite. The A21 is at the end of our drive and there isn’t any pavement, and the cars zoom along at almost 200 miles per hour. We are well away from the road though, we are in the field which is accessed through a very muddy track into the field we are in. The car is in a right state after two trips out.
We parked in St Leonards, which is very close to Hastings and then ran along the sea front.
The morning was yet again very misty, but there wasn’t any wind nor rain, thankfully.
It’s not the most pleasant of runs because the place looks so run down, even the beach huts don’t look inviting and they cost an arm and leg to buy too.
We got to the end of the four mile turn around but Wendy had gone a slightly different way at the last stretch so I took a drink on the prom, she was around the back on another road, the silly sausage.
I caught her up at 7 miles and she was flagging a bit with the heat so I gave her some water and let her cool down a little before pushing her off for the last mile.
We got back to the car and I caused a little mayhem. The road I needed to take was closed and there wasn’t any diversion. I couldn’t go back because that was one way so all I could do was go left.
It took two grumpy onlooking cars and one very bad swear word for us to realise we were going the wrong way on a one way road. Ah well no harm done!
We got back to the caravan and the rain started again so we just took a very leisurely breakfast and relaxed in the caravan.
Eventually the rain eased and at 11:00 we headed to Battle for a walk around the High Street. As soon as we had left the car and got onto the High Street it started to rain, and Wendy who wasn’t feeling good hadn’t took her coat or an umbrella. I gave her mine as it didn’t matter if I got wet because I had a hoodie in the car, but thankfully it didn’t chuck it down, until we got back to the car.
Battle is nice, its supposed to be the site of the 1066 Battle, but Zof said last night that its now disputed and may have been fought somewhere out of the village. Either way poor Harold gets bad press for allowing an arrow to hit him in the eye, but not many people know what he did in the days leading to the Battle.
Harrold was the only English King to fight and defeat and drive the Vikings out from our shores for good. This battle took place in East Anglia, and then the day after he marched his army down to Battle where we all know what happened next!
Battle is nice, there are some lovely shops but when its raining and you have to mess about masking up to look around a shop its really kind of off-putting, so after doing a full tour we drove on down to Hastings.
We got back to the car and it chucked it down and it stopped just as I parked up.
We walked around the old area where the fish stalls are and made our way to the cliffs where we could really see the mist hanging about. It’s a strange one really, the mist looks like a harr, but the harr we get at home only comes on really sunny days when there is high pressure and no rain, but here it was chucking it down.
At the foot of the cliffs a teacher was doing a geology class with some older boys. None of them looked at all interested and as he explained about the rocks being formed in the Crustacean Age at between 100,000,000 and 488,000,000 years ago I could see two who was sat on a bench and they appeared to be nodding off!
From there we walked around the Old Town streets, which has some very nice retro shops, we even took a nice coffee with cakes there before moving onto the pier.
Hastings Pier was built in 1869 and has survived a major fire and also having 24 metres of its length cut away during WWII so that the Nazi’s couldn’t launch an invasion from it.
The pier was dead, none of the attractions were open and there were very few people milling about. But by this time the sun had broken through and we were carrying our coats.
Wendy still wasn’t feeling very well so we took the weight of her feet in a Wetherspoons Bar, and I had a pint of ale and Wendy a glass of wine.
It was roasting by the time we got out and as we walked up to the car the sun was burning into our backs, it really has been a very strange weather day.
The Satnav messed us about on the way home and I’m pretty sure we did double the distance getting back, all it had to do was find A21 as it was a straight line from there but it seemed to be unable to do so.
As it was dry at the caravan we took in the sunshade and did as much as we could for our getaway tomorrow, I need to be onsite before the England match. Ideally, I would like to watch it in a pub, but if I can’t find one which isn’t heaving with football fans I’ll happily watch it at the caravan.
As soon as we had done as much as we could we drove to Zofs. A deal had been struck yesterday where she would leave me ingredients and I would cook supper; she would leave for work at 5:30 pm and I would have it ready for when she got back at 7:30 pm.
Thankfully I only had to boil some potatoes, make a salad and warm up a very tasty beef stew that Zof’s mum had made for us.
That all done, Zof came in on time and we sat down at the table and we all had a really nice meal. The beef was stupendous!!!
We sat around the table for an hour before saying our goodbyes at around 9:00 pm.
Back at the van as I filed copy I listened to Best Smooth Jazz and drank a glass of wine.
Wendy is feeling a little better so hopefully after a good night’s rest she’ll be back to her normal self.
I on the other hand will be an excited little boy, its moving day tomorrow and its also England V Germany in the Euro Championship!!!
90 Miles
Is it Coming Home? Possibly!
Wendy wasn’t upto running this morning so I was off in the car on my own to St Leonards at 06:30, and today I ran to Hastings. The weather was the same as yesterday and it even gave me a little drizzle, but it was still quite warm.
I ran through the old fishing area and upto the cliffs and I did a tour of the old town and to get my mileage in I went over towards Bexhill, but only for a mile or so.
I got back to the caravan and Wendy was showered and feeling much better.
There was a rain shower as I had my breakfast and I was thinking about getting my rig out of this dam field. It continued to rain as I broke camp but stopped just before I needed to hook the caravan to the car, but by now the damage was done as the ground was soaked.
I engaged the rollers of the caravan mover and tried to get it to move the caravan the 2 feet I needed to make the connection, but they were slipping on both wheels. The amount of mud around the tyres didn’t help any. Thankfully I managed to reverse the car back and onto the tow bar.
On leaving the site I slipped and slid a bit but then I got traction and turned around in a wide arc and made a run for it.
I didn’t go through the tracks because I just knew the tyres would lose grip and I’d be in a pickle. I drove out of them and on the grass, or what was left of it and I made it with just a little slip and slide about.
We got on the road and had a nice drive upto the M25 with just a little tailback at some road works.
Dartford tunnel had a little tail back but nothing to worry too much and in no time at all we were on the M11 heading north.
We got off the motorway with just 3 miles to go and we skirted the town of Bishop Stortford.
We were on the last leg of the trip with the Satnav saying we had a half mile to go and we passed the campground entrance. That was a bummer and it wasn’t our fault, it was the fault of the camp ground owner because they had the tiniest sign that you could ever have, it wasn’t even properly aligned for it to be seen from the road.
Thankfully I am a capable driver and I carried on until I found a turn around point and thankfully there was one not too far along.
However, I missed it the second time, the sign wasn’t visible from this approach, well I never.
I turned around yet again and then I got it, only to find a very tiny entrance to the site. At this point Wendy said, “People who own caravan sites should be caravaners themselves because they would know what it’s like!”
I couldn’t disagree.
The lady who answered the door was a slack as Alice, thankfully we are seasoned bods and we had two caravan cables so we managed to put the van in a very suitable spot.
We ran the cables out to see what options we had and thankfully we managed to get power to where we wanted to be.
I parked the van and got out of the car and almost stepped on the biggest, deadest rat I have ever seen. He was on his back with his four paws pointing skywards, I told Wendy to be careful but she still yelped loudly when she came across him.
We got settled down, I moved the rat to a more favourable area and his fly mates followed him.
After a snack we cycled along the canal path and into Bishop Stortford.
We are about 20 yards, through a small gate, from the Stort Canal and its just a gentle cycle into town.
The Stort Navigation is the canalised section of the River Stort running 22 kilometres from the town of Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, downstream to its confluence with the Lee Navigation at Feildes Weir near Rye House, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. Apparently, the tow path is available along the entire canal which makes it a 26 miles round trip!
Bishop Stortford is a nice little town and the canal took us directly into the heart of the town.
We locked our bikes up and we strolled along a nice long High Street where there were lots of nice looking bars, Cafés and independent shops. There was a shopping centre which we went into and found a few items in Wilko which we needed.
On our way out we had a beer in Wetherspoons and then we were back on our bikes, for the big game.
We got back to the lock, and the bridge that takes us over to our site and would you believe a fella had a chainsaw going in the garden right next to our van. Thankfully he stopped and I settled down with the TV.
The match started and it was all very nice and then that chainsaw started again.
I gave him ten minutes and then I had to go out and have a chat, here’s how it went, (bear in mind I have my 1966 red shirt on):
Me – “Mate, Oy, are you going to be long with that?”
Him, after taking his helmet off – “Why, am I keeping you up?”
Me – “I thought here we go!”
Me - (again keeping my cool) – “I’m watching the match and your saw is spoiling the reception and I can’t hear it either”
Him – “Ok, sorry pal, I’ll stop now”.
And that was that, I’ll take him a bottle of wine over tomorrow.
What a game!!!
England played really well, and we had some luck and they had some bad luck, but that’s life.
I was pleased it was Nil – Nil at half time because I could eat my supper, as cooked by Wendy, in reasonably good spirit, tuna stakes and a pasta mix.
The second half was cracking, we finally came alive and I loved it.
It’s now 20:37 and after a nice canal walk, I’m almost ready to settle down for the night.
This is a stunning canal, lined with Ash Trees, and wild life is abundant, ducks, other birds and mozzies! I can’t wait to explore further, that’s if the rain keeps off.
It’s been 26 degrees at home too!
The Stort Canal
No Travelling
I had a lay in today and only got up just in time for the 7:00 am news. Jeepers, from the coverage on BBC Breakfast and then on the mad Zoe Ball BBC Radio 2 show it would appear that England have won the Universe Football Cup Final last night when they beat Germany. Now I have to admit for feeling dead chuffed last night but we’ve a long way to go before we can really celebrate. And then there will be the tears should we get dumped in the coming games.
Anyway, I listened to the podcast of Sara Cox’s show from last night which aired during the game. She got herself all over excited when the first goal went in and did the same when the second went in, the silly mare.
This morning I ran along the canal and into town. The canal only goes for about a mile, just through town and then it becomes the River Stort and is unnavigable to boats. Wendy went along the other side and ran 3 miles into the country.
After breakfast we got onto our bikes and we cycled the entire route of the canal, from our campsite, it was a 28 mile round trip.
The first six miles was hard going, over very rough tracks and basically just tyre tracks going through fields. Then for the last 8 miles we had very nice graded paths which were a real treat to cycle on. It took us half as much time to cycle this section then it did on the first leg.
The canal is stunning and we passed some really interesting canal boats on the way. We also saw some appalling ones too. The owners had even made the area around their birth pretty messy as well. It appears to me that there are two types of owner, those that live or just own a boat for occasional use, but who really look after their craft. They paint it, make it nice and colourful, they put boxes of flowers on them and they are always tidy.
Then there’s the other types, the ones who have no hope, no intention of looking after their boats and if they live in the squaller that they appear to do then they clearly have mental health issues. We passed one such woman, I passed her and when Wendy passed her, I could hear the girl scream something at the top of her voice, but I couldn’t hear what she said, so I asked Wendy.
Apparently, she was screaming at someone in the boat and what she said was unrepeatable, it contained the worst swear words known to man and Wendy wasn’t going to repeat them.
The canal was built in 1769 and it utilises the River Stort for most of its way and there are 15 locks to make it navigable.
As we rode on I could see the amount of innovation that had been employed to keep the canal regularly topped up with water, and when you think it was built over 250 years ago without any modern apparatus, it really is a testament to man’s ability to overcome problems and work things out.
We saw a flock of birds swooping down like swallows along the canal, but they looked like small seagulls with black heads who I thought were Turns, but later we couldn’t really identify them, they looked great though! We also saw a Water Vole swim the entire width of the canal, isn’t nature tremendous?
We got to the confluence where the canal joins the Lee Canal system which is over 28 miles long and which goes right into the heart of the city of London. From London you can also join the Great Union Canal which then puts you in a position to connect to the entire canal system of Northern and Southern England.
We rode along the Lee Canal for a mile until we found a pub, the Rye House where we ate our sausage sandwich before going in for a pint of real ale. Wendy had made the sarnies, the sausages were the left overs we got from the farm at our last camp site. Wendy, who is not a condiment person said to me, “I haven’t put any condiment on them because I thought it would be nice to taste the nice sausage meat”. Me, an ardent condiment fella said, “And I would like to have tasted my lovely sausage with some nice English mustard or peri peri sauce thank you very much!”
The drink was lovely, sat in the garden and as we came out we took a walk around the Rye Gate House which was just across the road from the pub.
The history of Rye Gatehouse dates back to 1443 and has been home to royalty, ghosts and an assassination attempt! Now the Gatehouse is a grade 1 listed building featuring high-quality diaper brickwork and a ‘barley sugar twist’ chimney as well as a string of underground chambers or dungeons. It was originally part of a larger walled building with a moat surrounding it.
We turned around and headed back and the first 8 miles was easy peasy, the last six were very sore on our bottoms!
We did meet some nice people, a young couple painting their boat who we stopped and chatted with and also a man with his daughter and two Labrador dogs, one black and one golden, both had been swimming. The golden one didn’t want a stroke but the black one did so I gave him a good stroke, but when he walked passed Wendy he gave himself a dam good shake and wet Wendy through.
We got back at the van at around 5:00 pm after over 4 hours of cycling and we were starving.
Wendy had the frying pan out before you could say bacon, egg and mushrooms and it was cooked in no time at all. Again, the bacon was leftover from the farm and the eggs were a delight, given to us by the man in the van next to us at the farm just as he departed for home.
Fully fortified we relaxed a little before heading out!
Yesterday when I was looking for a Wetherspoons Bar I saw on the App that there were two bars close by. We bagged one and I thought I’d bag the other tonight, but no it wasn’t to be. The other one is at Stanstead Airport!
So we went to Tesco for fuel and supplies instead.
We are close to Stanstead Airport; the planes regularly go over head which is quite heartening and I like it.
Its moving day tomorrow but we aren’t going far, but we are going to stay at a fruit farm, how exciting!
31 Miles
Sunshine at Last!
I was up at just after 6:00 this morning and I had to tippy-toe around the caravan making my breakfast as Wendy was fast asleep. However, I forgot to take the very sensitive smoke alarm down before I put my toast on and it screeched its full 200 decibels just to remind me.
Wendy is not the most relaxed person at the best of time and she shot up like an electrical current had whizzed around her body, but thankfully she went immediately back to sleep and didn’t waken until I was almost ready to go out.
I left her with a cup of tea and headed off to run around the town of Bishop Stortford and see as much as I could.
I ran down the High Street as market venders were getting set up for the day. It was nice and sunny so they would be hoping for a good turnout of customers.
I ran up a hill and into an area with some very nice and expensive looking homes.
I saw an opening in the road and what looked like lush and well-kept grass so I snuck my head in and I found a massive, very well kept cricket ground, it was a topper!
I found out that it belonged to a private school and it was very, very well kept, the outfield was as good as most people’s lawns. There were also about 20 practice nets too.
I ran all around the perimeter and I came to another field where they were just setting up for a clay pigeon competition. How much must the fees for this school be?
You can understand why the Left Wing element think we live in an unequal society, imagine if these facilities were available for all school children, we would win the Olympic games every time!
I got back to the caravan and I found that Wendy had not been out today, she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep and woke around 3:00 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. She said that she could hear the planes coming to land at Stansted Airport. I never heard a peep with my ear plugs firmly embedded.
I had frozen some milk ice cubes to have with my smoothie today and it did indeed make my drink much creamier, it was lovely. I have done the same tonight too and I have some double cream I can add.
We left the site just after 11:00 and we were here on our new site at exactly midday.
The sun was out and it was lovely.
This is a working farm that has diversified into other profitable areas.
They have a fruit farm, its strawberries just now with raspberries coming soon. They have a large and noisy playground, a horse show jumping arena and even a massive dog obedience training area that was packed as we drove in. There’s even a little café.
Oh and, I shouldn’t forget the small grassed airfield and the 3 caravan parks.
Yes, indeed everything is going on here!
After making camp we had a cup of tea and went to pick some strawberries. It wasn’t a hard task because the berries were plentiful and we soon had our punnet full and when it weighed in at 1.3 kg’s I was almost stunned with the price, £7.30, they’d better be tasty!
We dropped the strawberries off and drove down to the town of Stevenage.
Stevenage surprised me, it was lovely, clean and tidy but very 1960’s. In fact, I found a memorial from when the queen laid a stone and that was in 1959, so it is there or there about in the 1960’s prefabricated mix.
There were plenty of shops around, a small shopping centre and a terrific little indoor market where I am sure you could buy anything you would want around the house.
Strawberries were on sale for £1.50 for two punnets!!!
We covered the entire town area and then we headed out of town, through an underpass and into, after about a mile, what is known as the old town.
The new town had only one public house, and now I could see why, they are all in the Old Town area.
The Old Town is just a High Street with the odd off street and its really nice. With it being a nice sunny day people were out and about eating and drinking. You might be forgiven for thinking it was a weekend, it was that busy.
We bagged our 3rd Wetherspoons of the tour, The Standing Order and I was a little miffed that after ten minutes of waiting our drinks hadn’t arrived. I went in and enquired, politely, and I was told they would be with us soon.
Fair enough they came within a few more minutes but I wasn’t at all happy. It was obvious Wendy’s glass had not been filled with the correct measure for a medium glass of white wine.
Before you could say, “Don’t diddle a Yorkshireman”, I was in and asking for a proper measure, and it worked because now it was between a medium and a large glass. Jeepers there’s nothing worse than a short measure!
Fortified we walked back through the underpass and over the bridge back to where our car was parked at Tesco. We nipped in and bought a few items, cream for the strawberries obviously and we spent over £10 so we were within the limit of over £5 to qualify for the free parking.
Then that turned into a faff!
There are touch screens outside, along the walls, where you have to enter your registration number and then enter a code which I thought was on my receipt, it wasn’t, as I learned from the lady at the screen next to me. I have to have a dedicated parking code on a separate ticket, well that was yet more faff, but I eventually got one and managed to input it properly.
Back at the site and the sun was still shining and it was nicely hot so we went for a walk to get our bearings and we came across the airfield and then another way to get to the small village of Gravely.
Supper was BBQ’d pork slices with a Shepherd potato salad and a green salad followed by strawberries and lashings of very nice thick cream.
As I file tonight’s copy the sun is hanging about a fair bit so I think I’ll take to my deck chair and have myself a nice glass of wine.
Night, Night Avid reader!
The Cows!
No Travelling
What a stunning night sky we had last night; it was like being at home.
I was up and out running later this morning, not leaving until after 8:00 am, Wendy went about 5 minutes before me.
Two issues I have encountered today as now left me in know doubt that Great Britain as a global force is totally buggered, and I am not talking about Gender None Conformist matters either!
More later.
I found a track that took me along country fields and onto section of cycle lanes which took me to Stevenage’s Old Town. It was a five mile drive there yesterday but it was only a 2.5 mile run. I even covered a good deal of the newer town centre before having to turn around.
The use of cycle lanes with pedestrian underpasses is fantastic!
It was lovely and warm so I ran in my vest.
Issue One!
I read on Yahoo News that The EU will not allow UK travellers into the EU if they have had an Indian produced Astra Zeneca vaccination, please see an extract from The Evening Standard Below:
As many as five million British travellers who were given India-made versions of the AstraZeneca Covid Jab could face a possible ban from Europe, according to reports.
A version of the AZ jab produced by Covishield at the Serum Institute of India (SII) is currently not recognised by The European Medicines Agency (EMA), even though it is no less effective than jabs made elsewhere.
As a result, reports say UK holidaymakers given this vaccine could be denied entry at EU border crossings when batch numbers are checked on digital Covid passports.
When I got back to the caravan, I tried to find out what my vaccination status was. In the Yahoo News Item there were three numbers which identify the 3 Indian produced vaccines and seemingly the identifying numbers are printed on the vaccination cards that are given out in England, not so in Scotland, we don’t even get a card, so I can’t tell what I have had
After a lot of faffing about online I managed to log both myself and Wendy on the Scottish NHS webpage and eventually after requesting our user names, which should have been issued with our letters, which weren’t, because I have mine stored on my laptop and I checked it, I found that I have been given the Astra Zeneca vaccine, which doesn’t tell me anything I don’t know.
If I had been silly enough to have booked a flight to say Spain I would now be sweating because I have absolutely no idea what AZ vaccine I have had, nor could I prove anything to the Spanish Border Control. This seems a very big bugger up by the, “Very Clever Scottish Government”.
After my smoothie which was a banana and strawberry one today, we drove out to a laundrette in Hitchin to do our huge pile of washing, only we couldn’t because we forgot to bring the pile of pound coins we needed. Don’t worry I said, we can go into Hitchin, have a look around and I’ll call into the bank and get some.
What a cracking small town Hitchin is, I know everything looks Rosey on a sunny day, but this was a cracking place. There were plenty of interesting shops, bars, cafes and even a Wetherspoons, which we bagged by taking a cup of coffee there.
Issue Two!
I saw a Halifax Bank, which is the bank I use. I went in and the male cashier was free so I strolled up and asked to withdraw £10 in one pound coins from my account, please?
The reply was, “Sorry sir I can’t do that we don’t stock £1 coins, we only have what people deposit and no one has deposited any today”.
Me, “Are you kidding me, this is a bank and you’re telling me you don’t stock £1 coins”.
Cashier, “That’s right sir, the security firm that delivers our money will only allow the guards to carry a certain weight, and the coins are heavy so they have to make more trips to the van and back. This introduces more of a risk of a hold up and so the security company charge a lot more for the delivery of coins, so we now don’t take any in”.
My jaw dropped and almost hit the floor. I said, “Did you really say what you just said, you’re a bank that doesn’t have coins”, I shook my head. I really could have had a fallout but then what would that achieve, it might have helped my blood pressure I suppose!
I departed in defeat and relayed the story to Wendy who I think still doesn’t believe me.
After concluding our stroll around Hitchin, we took a 25 mile drive through really beautiful English countryside to the new town of Milton Keynes.
The Satnav took us right into the heart of Central Milton Keynes which reminded me of an American town with all the criss-cross of roads and avenues.
We got out of the car after parking easily and we walked along Midsummer Boulevard which seems to be the main road in town. We walked downward and all the buildings are fairly high and of modern construction with an occasional shopping centre breaking the line-up.
We found the first Wetherspoon bar with ease, where we had a nice small white wine out in the sunshine. We both, at the exact same time, told a lad to get out of our personal space, Wendy very politely, me not so.
From there we retraced our tracks along the boulevard, which is quite wide and nice to walk along in the afternoon sunshine. At the very top there is yet another shopping mall which we passed through on our next mission, to bag the second Wetherspoon bar where we again sat outside and took a small glass of wine.
After a little further exploration, we went and completed one of Wendy’s ambitions, to find and visit the Milton Keynes Concrete cows.
We found the cows after a short ride and they were there for all to see in a small field by the roadside. These aren’t the original cows of the 1960’s, those are now in a museum somewhere, but these were pretty good replicas.
After a drive back, again through nice countryside, I dropped Wendy off and went back to Hitchin to complete today’s original mission of doing the washing.
Thankfully I had the place to myself and I started todays copy while my washing went around and around!
I got back to the van at around 7:15 pm to the smell of tonight’s supper, pork chops on a bed of stir fried noodles.
As Wendy was finishing supper, I closed the window behind me because of an irritating noise outside. Wendy pointed out of the window and said, “Is that the source of your irritating noise”.
There it was, the Virgin Balloon being inflated just over the trees directly in front of our caravan. They used an electrical heat blower to get it up and then topped it off with the gas flame. Within minutes they were off in to the summer evening sky. There must have been a dozen to 20 people packed in that basket. They have a cracking night for it mind, I wonder if they will manage to get back. They might do as they did seem to have some kind of propellor on the basket.
Tomorrow we will decide what we will do when we see what the weather gives us, its supposed to be windy with rain, I think the term downpour was used when I heard it on the weather this morning!
Addendum – 21:03
After some more research I have found the following about our vaccinations:
The Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in the UK or Europe, sold under the brand name Vaxzevria, are currently the only vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which regulates vaccinations in the bloc.
Thankfully we both have been given Vaxzevria version!!!
Letchworth Garden City!
No Travelling
Boy did it rain hard in the night, it fair bounced on the caravan roof. Wendy, in the morning said the rain was doing huge plops on the roof, she then proceeded to give me about a half dozen verbal plops so I understood what she meant!
We had pulled the sun canopy out before settling down for the night last night, to cover the washing that we had to leave out. It’s a good job we did because it would have been soaked.
I ran to what I thought was the village of Baldock this morning but I could only find residential housing, the town sign definitely said that it was an Historic Town so I must have missed it.
I had a few chores to do after my smoothie, first the shower has not been draining as it should so I sealed the outlet and poured some drain cleaner down it, which reminds me I must go and unplug it or Wendy will flood the bathroom when she’s washing her hair in the morning.
I also had to sort out our directions for tomorrow as we are moving over to the Cambridge area to visit Aunt Glen.
Oh, and I had to phone Specsavers in Inverness for when we get back because we have a very tight time window as we are going back to Edinburgh soon after.
That done we set off for the ancient town of Hertford which was about 15 miles away.
The weather was very overcast but at least it wasn’t raining.
I had read that the town of Hertford, which is the County Town, was blighted with traffic problems despite the existence of the 1960’s A414 bypass. Thankfully as we entered the town, we came upon a very busy short stay carpark. The car park had a one way system and just as I entered a car was pulling out of a spot so I nabbed it quick sticks.
I wanted a cold drink so we nipped into the only Wetherspoons Bar in town and we both had an orange and lemonade and while we sat there, inside, taking our drink, the heavens opened.
It was still raining when I had finished my drink so I ran back to the car to get both of our coats and an umbrella, thankfully it wasn’t far and the rain was much lighter now.
I got back to the pub and met Wendy outside, as we strolled along the road, I noticed the end to end traffic crawling along in both directions and it wasn’t going anywhere fast.
We strolled around town, it was nice enough but it wasn’t the medieval town I had been expecting, apparently all of the old facades have been covered with modern structures to make them look more appealing.
It was just turned midday and most of the bars where chock a block with young men boozing, most had football shirts on but none of them looked like they could kick a ball let alone run around for 90 minutes. A fella and his mate, who were about my age passed me and I heard one of them say, “They’ve started way too early, they’ll be waisted by kick off time”. Well, they would be because that wasn’t due for another 8 hours.
I also passed a café which was absolutely filled to the gills and people were even queueing outside, patiently waiting for a table. I had to laugh because the young woman who was serving tables looked rushed off her feet and she had her mask firmly planted under her chin. It looked to me like a super-spreader event. How on earth can people be so silly, vaccination and all!
We walked all around the town and then I went looking for the canal, now this is interesting.
Hertford is at the confluence of four river valleys: The Rib, The Beane and The Mimram all join the River Lea there and its where the Lea Navigation Canal starts its course.
We stood at the point of confluence and it was quite a sight to see. Thankfully the rain had by now stopped.
We did short stroll along the canal path and called into a supermarket for some provisions.
As we came out of the store the traffic wanting to leave the car park was tailed back all around the carpark and people were sat in their cars waiting to join the queue to get out, they really do have a car congestion problem.
After dropping the supplies off at the car, we walked, from the car park, over a small bridge into the gardens of Hertford Castle Gate House.
The castle was built in the 900’s although the building has long gone and the Gatehouse, which was an extension, was built sometime in the 1,400’s is the only building left standing.
Back in the car we drove back to the caravan for a cup of tea and for me to take a look at my slow cooking supper, before driving five miles up the road to Letchworth Garden City. Now this was a nice place.
Letchworth Garden City was the first, so called Garden City in England and it was built after the second world war in an attempt to better peoples lives by moving them out of tenement housing into homes with space and greenery around them. They achieved their aim because it really is a nice town with tree lined roads, wide streets and lots of grass.
The town was also the home of the first roundabout in Britian, which opened in 1909!
The town is really nice too with plenty of shops and what I call poky areas where there are small bars and cafes.
We bagged the Wethrspoons but would you believe they had completely run out of white wine in glass measures, but they were still selling full bottles of it, how does that work?
Anyway, Wendy was not impressed so I had to get her a small bottle of prosecco to console her, I had a very nice pint of real ale.
On our way back to the car I bought a punnet of strawberries and a very nice, gooey, slice of chocolate cake for Wendy to have after her supper.
Supper was very slow, and long cooked oxtail beef, with mushrooms, new potatoes and peas which all went in the pot. The meat was cooking in one bottle of Theakston’s Old Peculiar Beer and although I say it myself, it was absolutely delicious.
I’m filing an early copy tonight Avid Reader and I know you’ll have guessed why.
Wendy oved her chocolate cake too!
I am going to settle down and watch the match tonight and see if England can get us to another major football tournament semi-final, here’s hoping!!!
0 - 4
22 Miles
What a game it was last night, the first goal was very welcome but it was a nervous 40 minutes until half time, in fact we were lucky not to concede a goal in that time.
But they came out after half time and cracked 3 into the back of the net and all at a nice time interval. I was dead chuffed for Jordon Henderson, what a cracking header.
So now we hold our breath until Wednesday!
I went to bed a very happy fella and slept really well, I must have because I didn’t wake until 7:30 am.
Wendy was awake not long after and had her tea in bed, and then got ready to go out.
We went out at the same time, Wendy stayed local and I ran to Stevenage for the last time. I do really like Stevenage and I would dare say you could have a very nice time here. There are a few hotels of which two are a Premier Inn and a Holiday Inn.
I was taking my drink when I checked my phone and I saw Dr Jaffery’s daily Covid update, (Our GP has given a daily Covid update on Facebook every day since the pandemic began), and he’s becoming increasingly despondent, which is not like him as he as always tried to raise morale. Apparently, Scotland have now double the infection rate of England and he can only see things getting worse and he fears for the next two weeks. I have also seen on social media that Nicola is getting some bad publicity about it, but I’m sure her army of followers will manage to blame Boris for it. Wouldn’t it be funny if Boris banned the English from visiting Scotland like she did with people from Manchester?
I got back to the van and we took our time showering and eating breakfast and we set off for our new site at a little after midday.
It was only a 20 mile drive and it was all going so well until we got there, or rather we didn’t!
The farmer, who is listed with the Caravan and Camping Club has no instructions as to his location, other than his address which is 25 Cambridge Road, Foxton. I loaded this onto the Satnav, and we drove by nothing resembling a campsite when the device said we were there. I had to drive on another 1.5 miles before I could find a turning point.
Wendy and I checked the details online and we managed to find that they had a website and there was a map on it. By enlarging the map, we found that he wasn’t on Cambridge Road, the site is on Barrington Road, which is a road off of Cambridge Road. We did indeed get there in the end and he has a very nice Camping and Caravan Club Sign to say you’re here, but there was nothing on Cambridge Road to direct you.
As I entered the drive there is a monster, electric gate that has a key pad and speaker. There are buttons marked for the farm and the campsite so I pressed them and both dialled a phone number which wasn’t answered, they both went to voice mail. I was now on the point of total grumpiness; Wendy was already there. Thankfully a man in a car approached from the camp ground which is a good quarter of a mile away and he opened the gate for me and let me in.
I parked up on the camp site and went looking for the farmer.
Now bear in mind, when I phoned and booked the site, I was asked to make a payment of £54 for 3 nights by bank transfer, which I immediately did.
I came to a farm house where two large black Labradors were barking at me like mad, but that’s OK because all they wanted was a stroke. A man turns up from the house and he’s a couldn’t give a stuff type of a guy who is around my age.
“Are you Mr Mead”, I ask, “Yes I am”, was his reply.
“I’m booked on your site and I couldn’t get access, a man had to let me in”, I say.
“Oh”, he says, “Are you booked in?”
“Yes!”
Its now raining and although its quite warm I’m getting wet while he messes with his phone.
“What’s your phone number” he asks.
I give him it and yet more messing about occurs.
He then says, “He’s not booked you in, are you on a plot?”
“No, I didn’t know where to go”
“Ah” he says, “Can you wait?”
“NO!”
He then finds a sheet of paper with the plots drawn on it and he tells me to go to plot 1.
He then reels off a mobile phone number so I say, “What do you want me to do with that?”
“It’s for the gate, you phone that number and the gate opens” he says.
You can now see which way my temper is going but I know it’s happening and I try to be calm.
“Give it me again?” I say, “What did you get to” was his reply.
Its like dealing with Ronnie Barker, was this fella taking the mickey or what!
Anyway, the number was eventually inputted into my phone and I left him to it and then we made camp. Thankfully we have a nice plot with a lovely view of Cambridgeshire.
After a Covid Lateral flow test, both of which were negative, a nice cup of coffee and then a passing storm, we set off to find my Aunt.
We had them most lovely time with her too, she was ready for us. Aunt Glennis had made us cucumber sandwiches, with her first home grown cucumber of the year and home-made Barnsley parkin.
We chatted about old times and of her Grandad, who was my Great Grandad. The poor fella was killed in a roof collapse at Barnsley Main Colliery, and because it was too dangerous to recover his body he was entombed there. I try to go by the old pit, as the head gear is still there, whenever I visit Barnsley.
We filled Wendy in on areas of my mother’s family, on things she wouldn’t know.
It really was a very pleasant 3 hours and we’ve made arrangements to go back tomorrow and take her into Cambridge for a little stroll around and a meal somewhere.
We left Aunt Glen at around 6:30 and we went to find a store to get some eggs for supper, its kippers tonight, the ones Granny bought us when we were in Stornoway.
Driving back, we called into our local village to see what was there, and as there was a nice looking country pub we called in for a pint.
The beer was nice and as I went to the toilet a local lad made me feel very welcome with a nicely timed, “Alright mate”. Actually, it really is nice to be made welcome by locals in pubs, not like walking into the back bar in the Old North Inn at home where everyone stares at you, and I live locally too!
I got chatting to two fellas asking what the atmosphere was like last night during the football match. Both said that although they weren’t in the pub, they had heard that it had been a good night.
I explained that I would like to watch a game in a pub in England because I live in Scotland and that whenever I have been in a bar there, for an England game, some locals boo England and cheer the opposition. One of the fellas pipes up, “I’m from Scotland and its like it here for me”.
I said, “No its not mate, I don’t believe that, I was in a pub in Barnsley when Scotland beat France in France and the bar erupted in a collective cheer”.
“Ah that’s Barnsley, you’re in the North there, they are much nicer, down here in the south its not like that at all”, was his reply. Jeepers I could feel Wendy Gill’s thoughts on that statement.
Supper was a double delight, the kippers were a treat, very meaty and tasty and the eggs were perfectly cooked by Wendy.
It’s an early night tonight, but I’m a bit worried about these passing storms and my canopy. But I guess it will either survive or it won’t, I can’t nursemaid it when I’m not here, its just going to have to stand on its own two feet.
Family History
No Travelling
I slept pretty well last night and I was up at 6:20, Wendy soon followed and we both went out running in the slightly breezy but really lovely Cambridgeshire Countryside. The rain kept off and I managed to find a circular route with just one wrong way incident.
I passed through some smashing small villages and I drooled at their very inviting country pubs. I found a particular one to be a very big draw and I planned to make a return trip to see what the inside is like, and their beer too.
I got back to the van at around 9:00 am and as we had arranged to collect Aunty Glennis at 12:30 we had a couple of hours to kill and we did it by relaxing, listening to the radio and drinking tea!
The car was still filthy with mud since our experience at the campsite in East Sussex as I haven’t been able to find a car wash where I could have washed it myself. I saw that there was a hand car wash just across from the road junction where our site is and as it was a nice morning, I thought I would take it there.
I pulled up and four lads got to work and I apologised for its state. They laughed and took it well. They were all of Eastern European origin and they worked really hard and fast. They were like a well oiled machine and it was done in no time at all. I was asked to move it across to the other side of the yard where two of the four fellas leathered the car dry.
The total cost was £12, but I gave them £15 as I think they deserved it.
There is a train level crossing just outside the carwash, on the main road into Cambridge and its always closing. On my exit it had just opened up but the traffic had backed up considerably. I was waiting to get out almost longer than it had taken to wash the car. Then the barriers came down again, thankfully a man let me out before anyone could block my exit. The traffic built up pretty quickly again too.
The weather had been reasonably good as we set off to collect Aunt Glen and we were hoping that we might get through the day without getting wet!
We collected Aunt Glen and first drove to a very nice place she suggested that we might have lunch. It’s an orchard tearoom where during nice weather you can sit outdoors in old fashioned deck chairs under the apple trees.
The sun was out and the setting was idyllic, but closed.
Some staff members had been sent a text message from Test and Trace saying they had been a close contact with someone who had Covid 19. What a bummer!!!
There was a sign that the owner had put up explaining the situation. It made for sad reading really. How could you run a business where, say 100 people pass through everyday and through Test and Trace someone who visits tests positive so all your staff on duty that day have to isolate for 10 days. If 100 people visit every day, someone is going to test positive at some point every now and again, it could wipe you out!
We drove onto Cambridge and parked in the main shopping centre and took a stroll around as best we could. Aunt Glen gets a little out of breath so we were limited in what we could do but that was OK, it was warm and we were in the right part of town to see the River Cam and the Punts, and the important University buildings of Kings and Queens College Universities.
We took a very tasty lunch in a nice back street pub where we each had a toastie, Wendy and Aunt Glen had Hunters Chicken and I had a Philly Steak toastie and I also had some chips.
Boy I was stuffed when I had finished and I didn’t think I would eat another morsal all day, but Aunt Glen bought me and her a very tasty ice cream from a small Italian Ice Cream parlour. It was delicious, and then I really was stuffed.
We took Aunt Glennis home and while I took a walk down to the bottom of her garden Aunt Glen put the kettle on, jeepers her garden is long, it must be over 200 metres and at the very bottom there is a farmer’s field with lovely views.
We sat and chatted around her dinner table and she showed me a copy of my Great Grandads Death Certificate which she had found overnight.
Alfred Wood died on the 19th August 1916 at the age of 40 years of age, from the shock of haemorrhaging and by injuries to his left lung and abdomen he received during an accidental fall of roof in Barnsley Main Colliery. I think my Granny was no more than eight years old, Aunt Glen’s mum was six years old.
There are some inconsistencies of date on the death certificate, the inquest was held before he died which was very strange and they had his place of death as Becketts Hospital Barnsley. Both Aunt Glen and me were told, separately obviously, that he was entombed at Barnsley Main. I think the mention of the hospital is some technicality of mining law at that time. I believe the story that was told to me by my grandmother to be correct. Being a mining student of over 8 years and a coal face worker for 6 years I know that roof falls in my days were pretty dangerous places to work in close proximity to, they must have been much more dangerous in 1916. I guess that all could be done was to leave them underneath whatever it was that fell.
It was a very sobering thing, to hold onto a copy of my great grandfather’s death certificate knowing that my life line has been very closely associated with Yorkshire Coal Mining. My Great Grandfather, my Grandfather, my Father and finally me were all coal miners. My Grandfather worked from the age of 13 to the age of 65 underground and all he got on his retirement was a paper certificate. Me, I was a coal face worker from the age of 18 and I was the youngest shearer driver that I know of. Very few people today would know how much of a respected worker I would have to have been to be in that position at 24 years of age. To be a shearer driver was the highest level of coal face workers, so I did do pretty good, but then again, I did have all that history behind me!
I am the last of a long list of Yorkshire Coal Miner’s, now isn’t that something to tell my granddaughters?
We left Aunt Glen at around 6:00 pm and we made arrangements for tomorrows adventure.
We got back to the caravan and I nipped into the village to buy some Lucozade and would you believe I got trapped by that bloody train crossing again. I got to the junction but because the barriers had just lifted from a train crossing, I could not get out due to the traffic. I had to wait until the barriers came down again for another train before I could nip out and get to the front of the queue, jeepers I hate these barriers!
Eventually back at the caravan, and after a brief rest we nipped out to go for a pint at the Little Rose Pub, but unfortunately it was closed. We drove onto the next village and found an old pub there. The barman was a very friendly fella and he made us very welcome, and his beer was very good too. But it was one of those pubs that’s become trendy and is also a Thai Restaurant, and it didn’t have the traditional pub atmosphere. Never mind my quest for a traditional old English pub goes on, at least I know of one good one in Barnsley so I’ll at least get one experience on this trip!
Trumpington?
No Travelling
What a downpour, at 6:30 am it actually bucketed down, it was almost a biblical event. It woke us both up and so I got up, made a cup of tea and watched it fall.
Wendy stayed in bed drinking her tea.
I hung around for a while doing some admin duties and it did eventually stop raining and I went out running at 8:00 am, Wendy stayed in bed in fear of getting her feet wet due to big puddles?
I enjoyed the run but I did come across some speeding cars when I was running on the road. In fact, one car had to stop suddenly as cars were coming in the opposite direction and then another stopped behind her.
I gave a thank you wave to the first car and the driver, a woman, gave me some verbal and was clearly not happy about having to allow me safe passage. I did the same to the other driver and I got a nice wave back and a smashing smile from her, strange eh?
Anyway, on my run I spotted a lovely looking country pub and it did cross my mind that I needed a Plan B for lunch with Aunt Glen. I mulled it over while I was running and as I came back past the pub, I checked the opening times and there was a note on the door saying something like – “Sorry we can’t do evening meals, but our lunch menu is still available from 12:00 to 2:30”. So that was plan B sorted.
I got back to the caravan and because I couldn’t get any bananas last night, I had a strawberry smoothie.
While having a cuppa I checked the website of the Orchard Tea Room and I found that they were closed again today, thank goodness for having Plan B.
Before we set off to collect Aunt Glen we nipped to Tesco in Royston, about 6 miles away and got my bananas for tomorrow and a few other essentials.
Aunt Glennis was disappointed for us when I told her about the Orchard Tea Room but she was pleased about the alternative option.
We got to the pub, The Queens Head in Newton at just after 1:00 pm and after checking that they had room for us we settled down at a table inside.
Our order was:
Aunt Glen – Stilton Cheese Sandwich
Wendy – Smoked Ham Sandwich
Me – Roast Beef, (Cooked Pink) Sandwich and a bowl of their famous Brown Soup
Aunt Glen asked the waiter if they could give her a bit of a green side salad and the lad said he could accommodate her wish.
Our soft drinks came first followed by the food. I have to say I was very impressed; the sandwiches were spot on and my soup was delicious, it was an oxtail based broth and it came in a large mug.
Well, that shut us up for a while, we ate it all up and it was a real delight.
The pub was my kind of old English Country pub and I decided to call back that evening for a pint.
We took Aunt Glen back to our caravan and we sat and chatted and drank cups of coffee and tea for well over an hour. It was nice reminiscing about days gone by and of our family members no longer with us.
Aunt Glen had wanted to show us Jeffery Archers house as it was close to the Orchard Tea Room yesterday but we didn’t go that way as we left and I think because of the disappointment of not being able to have lunch there we forgot about it. I suggested we call by that way as we took Aunt Glen home.
On route we drove through the village of Trumpington. I forgot to say yesterday that for some childish reason my lovely Aunt Glennis, whom I have known all my life to be one of the nicest, loveliest people in the entire world, and her sidekick Wendy Gill, get the giggles whenever the word Trumpington is mentioned, they are in fact quite infantile with it!
I managed to park the car not far away and off we went. Jeffery’s house is very accessible and its very nice but I wasn’t comfortable taking a photograph of it. I know I have taken photos of people’s homes before, but that’s been to emphasise and to make a point, not to just be nosey, I thought that was a bit too much, so I didn’t. I did though take a photograph of the statue in his garden.
The statue is of the Poet, Rupert Brooke.
Rupert Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially The Soldier. He was also known for his boyish good looks, which were said to have prompted the Irish poet W. B. Yeats to describe him as "the handsomest young man in England".
The statue is described in a Way Stop Website:
'Next door at the Old Vicarage now live Lord (Jeffrey) Archer (whose novels include Kane and Abel and Shall We Tell the President) and his wife Doctor Mary Archer, herself an expert on Brooke. On the 11th June 2006, former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher unveiled a life size statue of Rupert Brooke in the Archers' garden at Grantchester. They had commissioned sculptor Paul Day, who produced the Battle of Britain Monument on London's Embankment, to create it. Appropriately the Union Jack was removed at 2.50, on the 11th of June - the couple's 40th wedding anniversary.'
I have also learnt from Aunt Glen that Grantchester is an interesting TV series that I should watch, I will, as soon as I finish with Clarkson!
We dropped Aunt Glen off at home and she gave us a tour of Peter’s, her sons Art Decco House, that he is refurbishing. Peter lives two doors down from his mum and his house is stunning. Wendy is a big Art Decco Fan and she loved it, I must say Peter has impeccable taste and this house will be amazing when it’s complete. I did take a few photos, for copy purposes obviously.
Peter is currently in France so he wasn’t at home!
Having said our final goodbyes to Aunt Glen we left her to go back to the caravan and prepare for moving day tomorrow.
I think I have said this before, my Aunty Glennis is my last living relative from my mother’s generation. She and Uncle Peter, when he was alive, were always good at visiting my Granny, and was always very nice to me and then Wendy. Uncle Peter was great with our kids when they were little too. I am just so grateful that out of all my Aunties from my mothers’ side, Aunt Glennis is with us today and will be for some time to come!
Having done as much as we could for tomorrows departure, we went to this afternoon’s pub for a nice pint of real ale.
What a treat it was, we chatted to local fellas and the owner. We were sat at a really old table that seemed to have had a small wedge that had been crafted into the table. I asked the owner and he said that it had been a very poor attempt to make a repair many years ago and that now it was an authentic piece of the pub’s history. He also told me that the pub has been in the family for three generations. I told him we had had lunch there and that we were impressed with the service we got and that we both liked the pub for its friendly and welcoming culture.
While we were sat down Wendy told me to look up at the ceiling and I found that a cricket ground had been recreated on the ceiling. I asked the owner and he said that during the long lock down he had painted the ceiling after many years and then, being a cricketer himself he recreated his village’s cricket pitch with the trees perfectly placed as they were at the ground itself.
I do really like this pub, good chat, good food, good beer and cricket, what’s not to like, it’s my new local!
When we came back to the caravan, that bloody, bleeding railway crossing was closed and it was yet again causing traffic chaos!
I won’t miss that!!!
The South of the Midlands
57 Miles
No rain this morning, but it was very overcast as I set off for my run, Wendy was out too.
I ran in a straight line along the A10 and almost into Cambridge. There is a free park and ride just off junction 11 of the M11 and I intend to use it to explore Cambridge properly the next time I am in these parts.
Thankfully I didn’t take any wrong turns and I got back to the caravan without any difficulty.
Wendy said I should buy Aunt Glen a book last night, “Coming up Trumps: A Memoir”, by Jean Trumpington! Apparently, Aunt Glen had said she would like to read the ladies autobiography. It must have been during one of their silly, giggling moments.
Anyway, I ordered it off Amazon but instead of using my usual credit card, I used my debit card instead. I did this because my credit card is behind with my payments and I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself on it. It’s been doing this ever since the start of the pandemic, I can’t for the life of me think why because it’s supposed to be an automatic process.
Because I was waiting for all the payments to appear on my credit card so I could clear them I looked at my account on my App. Would you believe that Amazon had not only taken one payment for the book, but they had taken two payments for it. I checked my debit card account and they had also taken a payment from that too! That’s 3 times I’ve paid for this book!
I got onto Amazon, first up they said that the debit card had declined and so they took the money from my usual credit card.
Of course, this is all in a chat room with Abbygailadingo, (I’m not kidding).
I told her that I had not authorised any payment from my credit card and then I said that the debit card had not declined because the funds had gone out of my account.
Lots of me to you then occurred in the chat room, but I never got a satisfactory answer. My parting shot was I’ll wait 2 days for the funds to be back in my account or I’ll be calling Jeff!
Its just unnecessary hassle and its so dam time consuming, and downright frustrating.
We were on the road by just gone 11:30, there wasn’t any rush as it was just a short drive North.
Over the years of travelling around the UK I have compartmentalised England. There’s the South Coast, The Middle South and the North of the South. Its kind of based loosely on both location and accents, but it does work, well it does in my head. The North of the South for me is Cambridge, north of that becomes the South of the Midlands. Then there’s the Midlands, the North of the Midlands and then the South of the North. Sheffield is the start of the South of the North. The Middle of the North is Durham and the North of the North is anywhere up from Alnwick.
Doesn’t everyone do this?
Anyway, we are now in the South of the Midlands and the weather is a lot better, we had had 24 degrees C as we made camp. It was actually a bit uncomfortable and I had to take my England shirt off so as not to ruin it for future use, here’s hoping!
After a small bite to eat and a cup of coffee we had to go to Sainsbury’s to buy a few things and get some cash to pay our camp fees. We nipped back to the caravan as its only 3 miles away to put the milk in the fridge and pay our fees before we headed out to visit what we found to be the very delightful town of Stamford.
Stamford is a cracking town; it has some really lovely looking old buildings and what I really like is that they have blended any new construction in very well. You can tell the newer buildings apart easily enough but the fact that they have made the effort is brilliant.
The town has 17th and 18th-century stone buildings, older timber-framed buildings and five medieval parish churches. Stamford is a frequent film location. In 2013 it was rated the best place to live in a survey by The Sunday Times, and quite right too, I like the look of it!
We had a good old walk around town and Wendy spent an awful long time in a few shops and came out empty handed. We bagged the Wetherspoons Bar, The Stamford Post, it was nice and relaxing sat there having a small glass of white wine.
We did a final tour of the High Street and then went just out of town, across a river bridge and into what looks like an older part of town. The sky was looking very grumpy with dark clouds forming, it was hot enough for a bit of a thunder storm. We walked along the river, The River Welland, which is lined on one side by quite a few different, well established trees.
We got back to the caravan just before 5:00 pm and we relaxed in the heat. It was a tad blowy outside so we sat inside with most of the windows open, even the big front one, and with the fly screens down it was the perfect environment.
Wendy knocked up a cracking supper with a, “Going out of date”, tin of curry using meat that we took from the freezer at home which we had frozen sometime in the Christmas period, thankfully we have very good constitutions!
Wendy did a Facetime call to her Granddaughters; Rose is now at our house in Inverness and Eleanor was at home with her mum and dad.
We took a short walk around our camp ground, we are very much in the country, but not too far away from the village of Ryhall. We met an old chap on the site from Ilkley, he’s mad about cricket and his dog is called Bumble after David Lloyd.
We found a path through a corn field but as we got to the end the path ran out and the last 20 yards to the road leading to the village was very overgrown. Wendy would not tackle it so she went back and I walked it down to the main road to get my bearings.
It’s now 7:45 and I’m filing todays copy, lets hope we can get through to the final tonight and then we can enjoy our first major final in too many years, here’s hoping!
Rutland Water
No Travelling
What a lovely night sky we had last night, again it was like being at home.
The football was pretty good too.
Do you know, there’s good luck an there’s bad luck, or if you prefer its circumstances that are out of your control and whichever way they take, you can’t do much about it.
Last night the ball seemed to go the way England needed it. I know they are a very fit and capable bunch of young men; their skill is amazing but yet you still need it to go your way, and last night it did. I wasn’t worried at all, even when we went one down, I just knew it was going to be our night, and it was.
I’m so excited for Sunday, and although I might like to win it outright, the squad as done a tremendous job in getting to the final, albeit with a little luck, so win or lose I’ll be a happy bunny!
I must have over exuberated during the extra time period because I was very lethargic this morning. I wasn’t hung over but I did have to drag myself out of bed.
Boy it was hot running out this morning, it was lovely, the sun was out and it was very warm. I ran into Stamford and I tried to go along the river but the path ran out so I had to go into a housing estate.
I got back for 10:30 and it was really nice out now, so nice that I got my deck chair out, and one for Wendy too, and I sat and I had a lovely smoothie out in the sunshine. I also had my cup of tea before a shave and a shower.
Before I got my running gear off, I loaded the bikes onto the car because today we were going to do something that I have wanted to do for a very long time, visit Rutland Water.
Actually, we weren’t just visiting Rutland Water, we were going to cycle its circumference, all 23 miles of it, and what a lovely day to do it.
Before we set off, I did a little bit of Google research. I knew that there are four car parks, provided by Anglian Water, but I also knew that the best way to cycle the route was to get the worst out of the way first, and that’s the circular cycle path of the Hambleton Peninsular. I found the car park closest to the peninsular was at a place called Barnsdale which was 3 miles away from it.
I loaded the Satnav with the car park address details and the ten mile journey took no time at all and soon we were parked up and we had the bikes off the car and we were ready to go. Our route started on the north, western shore.
First up we followed a series of trails through wooded areas and sheep fields. The route wasn’t great at this point, it was a bit of a dirt track with some hard core, but it was much better than the canal track from last week.
We cracked the peninsular off pretty quickly and then we were on the road to the beautiful village of Egleton.
The track was much better now and we were up and down hills and in and out of woods.
At around the halfway point we found a pub, The Horse and Jockey and they had some outside seating. We had brought a sarnie each with us but Wendy didn’t want to sit on their benches and eat her own food. I had thought about going down to the pub in the nearby village for supper tonight, but re-gigged plans, we could have a meal here and then eat our sarnies tonight.
Good idea, bad outcome!
The beer was good, Osprey Cask Ale was bloody lovely. The meal wasn’t though, the chips had either been out too long under heat, or had been reheated in a microwave. Even worse the burger bun had been made with some strange ingredient; Wendy thinks it was Saffron.
Whatever it was it had an overpowering flavour and for the first time I have ever known, Wendy made a complaint about the chips!
We were offered more chips but it had taken so long to get them in the first place we couldn’t hang about, especially as a large group had come in and their order was most likely being cooked at that point.
As we finished our meal, an old lady came up the hill from the cycle route and she was almost gasping for breath. I did think about going over to her but she seemed to catch her breath. Well could she park her bike in the purpose built bike rack, no she couldn’t, why she couldn’t do what everyone else did beggars belief.
She stood there, hands on hips clearly waiting for someone and eventually her husband turns up, and he is absolutely knackered. Well, she’s trying to get him to put his bike in the rack, like hers and it keeps falling over. Jeepers did he get ratty with her.
“Linda, leave it Linda, leave it, and shut up”
They must have never been on a bike in their life, and had no idea of the exertion required, let alone know how to park their bikes in a bike rack.
Along the route, because there are two bike hire companies, we did see some unfit people having a go. We also saw some much smarter people on electric bikes, we even saw an electric tandem.
After our meal we carried on, there are some short steep hills on the route so it wasn’t a surprise to see a few people pushing their bikes for twenty metres or so to get up them. There were also a number of signs advising cyclists to dismount before some steeper downhills and to cross cattlegrids, it such a wossy world these days!
The paths along the south shore were much better and most of them were tarmac. I was now riding in my vest because it was so hot.
We stopped at Normanton Church, which is stunning, before cycling along the dam wall and back to the car.
It was a lovely experience but a little tiring in the heat of the day.
Back at the car we drove to the small town of Oakham which was just lovely. The towns and villages in this area are very similar to the ones found in The Cotswolds, stunning!
We had a drink in a bar, Wetherspoons of course, and then took a walk to the Castle.
All of what’s left of the Castle is the Great Hall where big and impressive banquets took place. Apparently, any nobility who set foot in Oakham had to bring a Horseshoe for the Queen, and the walls are adorned with them.
We got back to the caravan after 6:30 pm and we sat out with a glass of wine, the sun was still shining and it was 23 degrees, we even ate our sarnies!
The sunset was stunning but as night fall came the heavens opened and its now pouring down with rain, its not bothering Wendy Gill mind, as she’s fast asleep in her bed after a good day’s cycling!
Here’s some Rutland Water facts:
Pork Pie's
No Travelling
I had a cracking sleep last night, I even had the window open right at the side of me, I think summer has eventually arrived.
I got up at 6:30 and tippy, toe’d around so I didn’t wake Wendy.
I had my breakfast and I was almost dressed to go out when she woke up. I made her some tea and she said that because she was a little achy after yesterday’s bike ride that she wasn’t going out today.
I was out for 7:45 and it was a lovely morning, the sun was out and there was very little breeze.
I ran around the nearby village of Ryhall, I ran along every street and every road and I had clocked up five miles before I took my first drink on the small river bridge which gives access to the village from the south.
This is the River Gwash and as I rested, I looked own into the crystal clear water and I saw five small fish all just hanging around in the current, in the exact same spot. They must have been feeding off something coming downstream.
The River Gwash, is a tributary of the Wellend, this is the river that runs through Stanford. The River Gwash is also the main river that keeps Rutland Water topped up.
Having completed my running challenge in Ryhall I left the village and followed the river for a few miles.
I got back to the caravan and I sat outside in the lovely hot sunshine, first with my smoothie and then with a nice strong cup of tea. It was lovely, it’s the first time I have enjoyed my breakfast outside of the caravan in a very long time.
After showering we set off for the 22 mile drive to the small town of Melton Mowbray, the home of both the famous Pork Pie and Stilton Cheese.
The drive was nice, although we did do 7 miles along the A1. We passed through some really nice looking villages. Most of the villages had a small pub and I was very envious of the locals who could easily walk there.
We dropped on with parking in Melton as there is a Morrisons store just at the start of the town. We had plenty of time with the 2 hours free parking we got and as a thank you we did intend to do a little shopping in the store for weekend provisions.
We found Melton a very nice place, very similar to Oakham but just a little bigger.
We walked around in the sunshine and I saw a butcher who was selling the famous Melton Mowbray Pork Pie. But at £5 for a large pie, I thought I would look a little further afield.
We dropped on the Wetherspoons bar, The Kettleby Cross!
This was a new build pub but still the walk to the toilets was like walking through the Long Room at Lords, they were at least half a mile away down some poky corridor.
We sat out in the sun, with a soft drink and it was very nice!
After our refreshment we carried on exploring and we took in the very famous Church, St Mary’s Church. St Mary’s Church dates mainly from the 13th–15th centuries and it has been described as "one of the finest parish churches in Leicestershire.
I have to admit it is a stunning building, and we walked all the way around it to admire it.
Back on the High Street Wendy bought two almost identical dolls for two very special little girls back home, and I came across a very nice shop selling Melton Mowbray Pork Pies.
There was a queue outside as the shop had a maximum occupancy of four people. Now this pipped me off. There were two old couples who went in the shop before me and they did not only take the maximum occupancy capacity leaving me outside, but they messed about for an age inside, picking up and putting down every size of Pork Pie that was in that shop.
Why on earth did it take a husband and wife x 2, to buy a bloody pork pie. I never needed Wendy to come in and help me decide, my blood was boiling. They even faffed coming out of the bloody shop. I was in the queue that long that I struck up an intimate conversation with the lady behind me. She was laughing as my frustration boiled over!
Eventually I was in the shop and within 35 seconds I had two pork pies in my hand, I paid for them at the counter and left the premises. What was so hard that those old buggers could not do???
Wendy being much kinder than me said, “They’ve just forgotten the rules of the pandemic”.
Anyway, as we strolled on, we came to a queue, a long queue mind, for a sweet shop that for some reason wasn’t open. I just wanted to ask why they were queueing because it looked like they had all been hypnotised by Paul Mckenna.
Having conducted a thorough walk all over Melton Mowbray we got back to Morrisons and finished off by getting some supplies. The main item being some Yorkshire Puddings and a very nice piece of beef brisket to slow cook in Theakston’s Old Peculiar, to eat just before the match on Sunday.
We had a very early supper at 15:00, Melton Mowbray pork pie and salad.
I have to say that being a pork pie enthusiast, and being a Barnsley Man, I think that our pork pies are pretty good, but credit where its due, today’s pie was very, very nice. Thankfully I bought two!
Mary Dickinson (in the 1700’s) a noted pork pie maker, is credited with using the first wooden dolly to raise the pastry case: she is considered as the originator of the hand raised Melton Mowbray pork pie.
This technique creates the bow-walled appearance!
The Melton Mowbray Pork Pie now has a PGI Status, granted in 2009. This means it has to be made within a certain geographical location.
If you draw a line around Stamford, Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton and Grantham, you’ll find Melton Mowbray is in the middle!
We sat outside to eat and the sun was very hot, it was stinking.
After dinner I had a chat with the old fella who looks after the site. He’s been here 12 years and he loves it. He really is a nice old bloke, but he has the bushiest eyebrows that I have ever seen any man have.
We took a walk into the next village to a country pub I saw this morning, but I wished I hadn’t. The owner wasn’t interested in chitter / chat. There was a large group of locals all sitting together in the dark as we entered and they did that old classic of going very quiet when strangers walked in. It was a real good, old fashioned, super spreader event!
I tried to talk to the owner but he never engaged, I mean of course why would he, he’s got his stuck up local trade to tide him over.
We hoofed it back up through the field as we thought a storm was brewing. It was but it didn’t come until we had been back about 30 minutes.
Its early copy tonight, as the rain pounds the van, I’m listening to Best Smooth Jazz with a glass of wine and its just a really lovely night.
Its moving day tomorrow, Sleaford here we come!
Butchers?
32 Miles
What a downpour we had last night, it chucked it down. We weren’t treated to a thunder and lightning storm but we did get an occasional far off crack of thunder. It was raining hard when Wendy went to bed but that didn’t stop her from almost immediately falling asleep.
The rain stopped just as I went to bed so I settled down in bed with a nightcap listening to the Trevor Nelson radio show on sleep mode. I had the window open and I was looking out across the Rutland County night sky.
I ran to Stamford one last time this morning and I got a cool hand slap from Wendy as she passed me on her return.
The market stalls were being erected as I passed through the town and it looked very colourful in the morning sunshine.
After breakfast I said my good byes to the old fella who manages the site. He is a smashing old boy as I’ve said before, and it was nice to see him before we left.
We drove along country roads and we were soon out of Rutland.
I didn’t previously state that Rutland is a landlocked county in the East Midlands of England, bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest length north to south is only 18 miles and its greatest breadth east to west is 17 miles. Rutland is the smallest county in England, historic or otherwise.
I also forgot to say that the tiny village, Whitwell, is one of the smallest villages in Rutland, it only has 19 houses, plus The Noel Arms pub.
Whitwell claims to be twinned with Paris France. In 1980, regulars from the pub, the Noel Arms wrote to the then Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac, proposing the link and with a tight deadline for a response. As no answer arrived from the Mayor's office by the set date, the village unilaterally declared itself to be twinned and erected road signs to that effect.
The drive north was only 32 miles, but it was in an almost straight line.
We were met at the campsite by the owner, Mrs Bayley, and she is such a lovely, elderly lady with a very nice smile. I didn’t have any cash on me but she accepted my promises to go into Sleaford and get some from a cash point.
The site is really lovely, we are in a corner with trees and flowers all around and it smells amazing. We even have our own private tap and Wendy picked up on that straight away asking me, “Have you brought our water contraption?”
The water contraption is the plastic box with a ballcock on that connects directly to the tap, by a hosepipe, and feeds us an endless supply of water, meaning that one of Wendy’s campsite duties is now redundant.
After making camp we drove the 5 miles distance to the small town of Sleaford. We parked in Tesco carpark which was conveniently located at the end of the town centre.
We found Sleaford to be a delightful small town with an abundance of nice buildings. The town is however suffering from traffic issues with a constant stream of cars driving through the town.
There is a small river that runs directly through the town, The River Slea. The River Slea is an 18 milelong tributary of the River Witham, in Lincolnshire. In 1872 the river was described as "a never-ending source of pure water", and was a trout river renowned throughout the East coast of England.
The river has had its ups and downs over the years, and in the 1980’s it completely dried up, but she’s back now and I must say, she is one of the cleanest rivers that I have ever seen, let alone one running through a town. I even saw fish in the river, in the heart of the town too!
We took a drink in a Wetherspoons Bar and from there we walked back to Tesco’s to get some shopping. We both noticed that the local accents have now changed from a softer southern accent, to a softer, more northern accent. That said the East Midlands accent is a far different one from their cousins in the West Midland and the Black Country.
We had hoped to find a local butcher so we could buy some famous Lincoln Sausage but there wasn’t a butcher to be found. I even asked a lady where I might find one but she told me that the last one had recently closed.
We did our shopping in Tesco’s and we got back to the caravan only to realise we hadn’t got the site fees for Mrs Bayley.
Never mind, as soon as we had unloaded the shopping and had packed it away, we took to our bikes to cycle to the nearby village of Ruskington. Ruskington is about a mile and a half away and it was no hardship to cycle it there because the land in Lincolnshire is so flat.
In Ruskington we found a Coop supermarket, 3 pubs, 2 butchers, (Now closed), a small stream, a church and some very nice residential housing.
I got cash from the Coop cash point and then we took a short ride around the village to get our bearings.
Back at the site we walked over to Mrs Bayley’s house to give her our fee and we had a chat about the lack of butchers. Mrs Bayley told us to shop at the local butchers in the village on Monday morning and that we would not be disappointed in doing so!
Supper was a feast of a BBQ, Fillet Steak, Yellow Tuna Steak, Lincoln Sausage, (Tesco’s own brand and most likely made in Dagenham), Garlic and chili prawns, and a very tasty salad.
We ate outside, again, in the lovely Lincolnshire Countryside.
Early bed tonight for DG because he’s hopeful that tomorrow, Football might be coming home!!!
England
No Travelling
I went for a walk last night as the sun came out and the sky was a lovely colour. I walked to the end of the nearby lane and it was all very peaceful.
We are at the start of the Fens and quite close to the Wash.
The Fens is an area of 400,000 hectares, stretching from Lincoln and Boston in the North, Cambridge to the South and Peterborough to the West. It includes large parts of the counties of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire and smaller parts of Norfolk and Suffolk.
The single obvious factor uniting the Fens is the low lying, level terrain. Much of the land is below sea level, relying on pumped drainage and the control of sluices at high and low tides to maintain its agricultural viability.
To maintain water levels in the Fens, and mitigate the risk of flooding, water must be pumped into the rivers and out into the Wash. Organisations known today as Internal Drainage Boards were formed to maintain the watercourses and pumps. Members of each board include elected farmers and local councillors who represent the interests of people living and working in the Fens
The Fens cover an area of nearly 1,500 square miles and there are an estimated 4,000 farms in the Fens covering all sectors of agriculture and horticulture. This includes arable, livestock, poultry and dairy farming as well as a large number of farms growing vegetables and ornamental plants.
While the region is often referred to as the "breadbasket of Britain" due to the volume of cereal crops grown here, it is also a linchpin of vegetable, salad and flower production - growing a third of the UK's fresh vegetables and more than a fifth of its flowers and bulbs.
The soil of the Fens is seemingly some of the most fertile in the United Kingdom.
I made a big boob on my run this morning, there was a chill in the air as I set off, so I wrapped up with a sweatshirt and my jacket. One mile into the run the sun came out and it had a huge beaming smile. The temperature shot up and I was bathed in sweat before I turned around. Thankfully I was smart enough to ration my water so I had enough for the return run. I got back nice and safe, albeit a little wet!
As it’s the big game today we are having a traditional English meal, slow cooked beef brisket, with new potatoes, mushrooms, onions, garden peas and of course, Yorkshire puddings.
The meal was prepared before we set off and a low heat was set for the slow cooker.
Today we went to Boston, with the main purpose being to find a laundrette as Wendy says we are in a desperate state!
The drive across the Fens was stunning in the sunshine. The land is so flat, you can see for miles upon miles. The only thing of any height that can be clearly seen are the steeples of village churches. Some from many miles away!
The farm land was looking very healthy and the crops of all varieties were growing nicely. We passed fields of corn, sugar beat, sweet corn and rapeseed oil.
The drainage ditches were very much visible and they were doing their job of keeping the land dry.
We got to the laundrette and found it almost empty, just one old fella was in using the tumble dryer and every washing machine was available for use.
We loaded the biggest machine and filled it with coins to the value of £4.80. There weren’t any instructions on how to use the machines. There were a few pictures but nothing related to how to operate the machine. I pressed the buttons but I could not get the machine off the cold water setting. Never mind, at least the clothes should smell better.
We took a walk into the town as we had a 40 minute wait and we didn’t like it one bit. This will most likely sound racist to The Woke Brigade, but the town was unkempt and unfriendly and full of suspicious looking Eastern European males. Yes, I might have worded it differently and of course how could I know they were shifty? Well to say that I thought I was in one of the Taken movies would be an understatement. The only accents I could hear were all foreign and the was an uncomfortable feeling to the place.
Now, I’m as European as anyone I know and these chaps did not look like they intended to make a significant contribution to the country’s economy. Yes, I have made quite a few assumptions here, but they are based on my lived experience, (now there’s a woke word), of a fair amount of travel and observing men and their attitudes over many years.
We took a drink in Wetherspoons and found a fair few English Football supporters and there were a few England shirts worn in there. Funnily enough I didn’t see many walking around town.
We got back to the laundrette just in time to unload the washing machine and put it into the car before going back into town.
The town does have a massive and very beautiful church.
St Botolph’s Church dates from 1309 and it is one of the largest parish churches in England, and its steeple is again one of the highest in England at 272 feet high and it can be seen for miles around. I have to admit, it’s one cracker of a church.
The state of the town is what I would call unloved, which is a shame because it has a very nice wide area where I’m guessing a market meets a couple of times a week. It also has a very interesting tidal river, the River Witham, which flows through the town, cutting it in half.
After a good explore we headed to the car and drove down to the town of Spalding some 15 miles to the south.
Spalding was a little better than Boston but it did have a very high number of Eastern European shops, which are very much advertised as such. Wendy wanted to find a sports shop for some new running trousers. We knew that there was Sports Direct somewhere in town so I asked a man where it was. “No problem”, he said, “Its down that way”, and he pointed down a road. “How far is it”, we both asked, “50 metres”, was his reply.
He lied, after walking 50 metres with no shop in sight I did a google search and I found the Sports Direct shop to be at least 2.5 miles in the complete opposite direction. The fella was Polish and I was wearing my England Football Shirt, was there any need for him to do that?
We found another Wetherspoons Bar and so we had a small glass of wine each before walking back to the car. Jeepers the bars were packed to the brim, it sounded like they had all been on the lash since midday, and it was now only 3:00 pm. I bet half of them will be in no fit state to watch the match.
We had parked along a lovely little river, the River Welland, which is the same river that flows through Stamford!
I checked the map and I could see that the river tops up the Coronation Canal, so we drove by that way for a photograph of it.
We didn’t bother looking for the Sports Direct Store, we headed off home to sort our washing and to have our supper.
Supper was a double delight; it was lovely and the beef was the most beef tasting beef that I have tasted in a very long time.
Its now 7:30 pm and I am now getting myself in the right frame of mind for the match, the big match!!!
Bummer, we lost, on penalties, no shame in that!
Rain!!!
56 Miles
It was raining hard when Wendy went to bed last night, it was bouncing off the caravan roof, but thankfully it had stopped by the time I had drank my commiseration Rum just before my bedtime.
It did however start again as we woke at 7:00 am and it rained all the way for my run.
I sought some shelter in the graveyard of a local church while I had my drink stop before venturing out again. It stopped just as I got back to the caravan, I was soaked.
Wendy had been out too and she must have been even wetter because she didn’t even take her jacket with her, the silly moo!
After breakfast we got the van ready for the road but I left the power lead in place because I wanted to go down into the village, to the local butcher for some authentic Lincolnshire Sausage before I left the county.
The butchers was a little cracker, and had my fridge not already been at bursting point I could have bought any number of tasty looking meats. His black pudding didn’t look bad either.
I bought a pound of Lean Lincolnshire Sausage for £3.80 which didn’t seem bad and I must have got about 8 links. That will go in the fridge for Wednesday night’s supper, as we’ll be having Sunday nights leftover beef brisket tomorrow night.
You have to be really canny when you are on the road with a small fridge and freezer, and meals have to be planned days in advance to avoid any unnecessary wastage, as I’ll explain when we get to tonight’s dining experience.
We were on the road just before midday, just in time to get settled for Wendy’s favourite Radio Host, Jeremy Vine. Today’s topic was, “Can we be proud of England’s Football team?”
The road was very straight forwards today, it was mainly just the A17 north and up to Newark where we picked up the A46 which took us almost directly to Loughborough.
We had one big hold up along the A17. I thought it was roadworks but it wasn’t. We inched along for about 30 minutes before we came to the cause of the obstruction. It was an artic, flatbed lorry with a payload of steel, broken down and blocking our lane. Thankfully the drivers on the other side were being mature enough to stop every ten to twenty cars and then allow a good number of us through, there wasn’t a Police Officer to be seen. I eventually got to the front of the queue and to be very thankful at being flashed over by another lorry driver.
We got to our site at just before 1:30 pm, and after humming and haring about the price of the site, £24 a night, Wendy was very pleased when she found out we have our own tap, where we can again use the water contraption. We also have direct access to a sewer for our grey water and to top if off we have cracking wi-fi.
After a bite to eat and a cup of tea we headed the 6 miles to the nearest town, Loughborough.
We parked in the town centre for two hours at the cost of £1.60 which I thought was very reasonable. As I was at the ticket machine, I saw a lady walk from behind a wall so I asked her if I could get to town by following that route. She said it would bring me out at the heart of the town, and jeepers it did, and it must not have been more than 20 metres.
What a smashing town it is too!!!
Nice wide avenues and lots of traffic free areas, a nice shopping complex where all the stores are accessed from the outside. There were lots of small shops too and two Wetherspoon Bars for us to blag. The first one we got immediately as it was quite close to where we had entered town.
We both had a small white wine and then went back out in search of a Sports Direct store for Wendy. We found one easily and she got the gear she was wanting, ¾ running leggings with a zip pocket for the caravan key!
Back on the street we walked around in complete safety.
Its fair to say the town has a very strong Asian influence, but that’s OK, everyone was going about their business nicely and there weren’t gangs of men looking menacingly at by passers as there was yesterday in Boston.
Before we had left for the town, while I was drinking my tea, I had done a little research on the town and I was aware of a couple of things:
As we were walking through the town, I spotted the top of the war memorial tower. In a minute I had Googled its location and Google maps took us directly to the park where it was built, what a stunning construction it is. It is truly the most magnificent war memorial I have ever seen in the UK, and as I look out for them on my travels, I have seen a few!
Loughborough Carillon, (A Carillon is a percussion instrument with at least 23 bronze cast bells that are in fixed suspension and are designed to be sounded harmoniously together).
The Carillion is a dedicated war memorial and it is visible from several miles away as it is 152 feet high. Its bells were the first four-octave carillon in England, the concept being associated with Belgium where so many British servicemen lost their lives during the 1914–1918.
It really is the best war memorial I have ever seen in the UK and only beaten as the world’s best by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
As we left the park we walked straight into the second Weatherspoon’s bar where Wendy had a Ginger Ale and I had a pineapple juice.
We did a little more shopping and we concluded that Loughborough is a nice town to visit, it has safe streets and good shops, it must have because Wendy bought some clothes there!
We drove back, via the “Chain Ferry” which we saw signs for on the way to town. We parked up and walked through a gate, passed some very strange looking timber homes and we found the last Chain Ferry in Nottinghamshire, in fact its one of the last hand pulled ones in England.
The Normanton-on-Soar Chain Ferry is a volunteer-run ferry service providing trips across the River Soar. The ferry, first mentioned on a map from 1771, is believed to date as far back as 1200AD. The Ferry operates on Saturday and Sunday, between 1st April and 30th September. I would say the crossing is about 20 metres and takes you over to the other river bank where there are lots of walks. Unfortunately, we leave the area on Friday so we won’t get to use the crossing.
Back at the caravan we were starving so it was all hands on deck for the creation of knock up tapas. Using left over pork pie, leftover pork sausage, well out of date cockles and other dodgy dated item we had a lovely supper. We also opened the bottle of Prosecco that I had bought to celebrate last night’s football glory!
Its an early night tonight as we have some major exploring to do tomorrow!!!
Don’t Drink the Sanitiser!!!
No Travelling
I had a reasonable sleep last night but I did wake up when a plane went over. We are on the flight path for East Midlands Airport and the planes come in to land just above us and they were going all night long. I was OK with my ear plugs in but they squeezed themselves out at some point and I was woken up.
I couldn’t find them anywhere in bed so I got a fresh pair from the bathroom and that was that until 7:00. Wendy who won’t wear earplugs kept getting woken by them!
I ran with my vest on this morning and I thought that I might have made another boob as it started to mizzle as soon as I was off camp. But thankfully it cleared and it was quite hot when the sun came out.
I ran through some beautiful countryside today and some really pretty villages.
In one I found a bus shelter that had been kitted out with shelving and there were loads of books, DvD’s and even some jigsaws for people to borrow or swap with. How good is that community to respect someone’s very good intention? Its brilliant!!!
I also came across another canal, the trouble is I don’t think it’s a canal, I can only find the River Soar in that area on the map so maybe it’s a navigable river. The River Soar does eventually run into the River Trent a little further north, and that in turn runs into the Humber Estuary. Maybe from the point I found it, its large enough to support canal boats but the rivers flow isn’t too fast to make it hard work for boats coming upstream.
Today’s first job after breakfast was doing my washing in the camps wash house. They have us by the short and curlies on the site because we aren’t allowed to use our washing airer which means we have to pay £6 to use the washer and dryer. I played silly yesterday and hung it all out, but I guess I have to follow the rules I signed up to. No doubt the small print of the terms and conditions clearly states no washing is to be hung out.
The second job was to clear the shower drain using Mr Muscles strongest drain clearer, I think it’s been a success because it’s running away nicely now.
Chores done we jumped into the car and headed off to the small city of Derby.
I have never been to Derby, its funny as we lived reasonably near when we lived in Barnsley, but then again, we lived near to so many large towns and cities. Sheffield, Leeds, Doncaster and York, to name a few.
I had also never been on the roads we drove on and some of the roundabouts were the worst going, they were big but the lanes didn’t seem to run into the exit I wanted. Thankfully the roads were quiet so I didn’t have any real hassle.
We parked the car in a secure car park in the heart of the city. I asked a young fella eating his lunch on a wall which was the quickest way into town. Thankfully the lad was a decent chap and in no time at all we were in a very nice and safe city centre.
You will never believe Avid Reader, we came out directly at another Wetherspoons Bar. We didn’t go in though, we walked around the stunning cathedral and then down to the River Derwent. The cathedral was unfortunately closed so we couldn’t go in.
We had a chat about feeling peckish so we did indeed go into the bar and we had a BBQ chicken and cheese panini to share, and a small glass of wine each.
This bar, The Standing Order was a cracker, it was stunning inside. I don’t know what it was in a previous life but she looked pretty good now.
After our snack we walked the streets from top to bottom, it was sunny and warm and we cracked off a good few miles. We dropped on another Wethrspoons and we had a ginger ale each in there but we didn’t hang around because there were some very unsavoury characters. I think we had made our way to the wrong side of town, and if you’re going to find the local worthies, as they call them in the Highlands, you’re going to find them in a Wetherspoons Bar.
Having walked the city to death we found a lovely river walk down the River Derwent.
This was a lovely walk in the sunshine and we were always close to the river.
The River Derwent, from Derby, makes its way south where it joins the River Trent at a point south of Nottingham and then it meanders through South Yorkshire, onto East Yorkshire and out into the Humber. Looking at the map of the direction both rivers eventually take, it never fails to astound me how nature works, and works so well!
Eventually we came to a very nice and very big park where we sat on a bench for a while and enjoyed the river and sunshine.
After our 3 hours visit, we made our way to the car and went through the very good security procedures to get the car out. Actually, the car park was very well organised and you were issued something like a bank card on entry, where you had to log your cars numbered location onto a computer. This somehow locked your car in place and it could only be released by you producing the card at the computer again. I have no idea how it worked but there was some kind of electrical bollard within the central portion of each carpark space.
We called into our local village, East Leake, to get some orange juice for the morning and we called into the local pub for a pint. We sat outside in the sunshine and I told Wendy about the bar maid. I went inside and I asked what beer they have, she told me about the lager and cider but I asked what bitter they had, Guinness, she replied. No, that’s Irish Stout I said, she had to go and ask someone what bitter they had. Eventually she came back and told me it was John Smiths, so I asked for a pint and a half. She told me to take my seat and she said she would bring it outside.
Just as I told Wendy about the Guinness, she came to our table with just my pint! The dozy mare met Wendy and me when we first came in, did she think I was just drinking by myself while my wife sat and watched me? This has happened before Avid Reader!
Supper was bloody lovely, two day old slow cooked brisket reheated for 15 minutes and the meat just melted in your mouth, on a yummy, scrummy scale of 1 to 10 it was 94!!!
Addendum @ 20:55
I Googled how the car park works, here’s what I found, that’s if you’re interested Avid Reader:
The World's Safest Car Park
At our multi award-winning car parks we offer a 24/7 manned, zero-crime and a guarantee against vehicle related thefts. We were named as the 'Safest Car Park in the World' and were voted '10th Safest Place in the World' by Science Technology USA.
As well as winning numerous industry accolades and awards; we have received countless local & national press coverage and have been featured in Channel 5's Fifth Gear as well as BBC's Crime Beat programme.
We pride ourselves on our level of customer service and our professional, friendly staff operate on a 24-hour operation, seven days a week and are always ready to assist customers whatever the time of day or night.
How the 'Safest Car Park in the World' works
On arrival to the car park the customer collects a smartcard from the barriers ticket booth; the smartcard logs the relevant car and arrival time information. You will then be able to enter the car park.
Park your car in an empty bay, each parking bay is fitted with a movement senor and is monitored by at least two cameras at any one time; In total each Multi Storey Car Park car has around 300 cameras monitoring each car, pedestrian access, stairwells, entrance and exits. (All in place for the security of each car and the safety of our customers.)
Once parked you need to activate your bay's sensor by placing your smartcard ticket against a Bay Controller found on each floor in the stairwells and inputting the Bay number where you parked your car.
On your return, your sensor is de-activated when you pay your parking fee at one of the Pay on Foots.
It's that simple.
Any attempt to break into your car once you have left the Multi Storey Car Park will activate your bay sensor and set an alarm off in the Control Room and activate specific cameras monitoring your car. The Car Park immediately locks down, No cars are able to leave or enter and all external pedestrian doors are locked until the incident is resolved.
The Control Room is manned 24/7, 365 days a year.
Nottingham – The North of the Midlands
No Travelling
I had a really crappy sleep last night, and I can’t blame the planes because my ear plugs stayed in place all night long. I was dreaming, and then I would wake up, and as soon as I nodded off again, I was back in the same dream, but it had moved on a little. This happened about five times and when I eventually woke at just gone 7:00 I was knackerd!
I didn’t boob with my running dress this morning; I was spot on with my vests because it was stinking hot and sunny all the way out and back. I managed to run on pavements all the way out and back and it was lovely, I stopped once for a drink and then hurried back.
I did get a wince in my back just before I got back to the caravan and then it turned into a real pain where I had difficulty moving.
Nevertheless, I had both my smoothie and my cup of tea out in the morning sunshine and I could have been in Portugal, the heat and sunshine was so intense. Only the absence of the waves crashing on the shoreline prevented me from having the full Mediterranean experience.
After breakfast, a shave and a shower we were in the car by 11:00 and heading for the city of Nottingham. I have been to Nottingham once before, by coach, from Barnsley as an 18 year old to the Nottingham Palais Nightclub, it was so sophisticated it had a revolving dancefloor.
How 1970’s was that?
After a nice drive, again through the countryside, we parked the car in the heart of the city at The Victoria Shopping Centre and after getting our bearings we were out and into the lovely city of Nottingham.
It was busy and on one street we had to do some extreme zombie dodging, this was down the only narrow street we encountered, from there on in we had very wide streets and we were perfectly safe.
The first place we happened upon was a massive open space. It had a huge Whitehouse Type building and there was a terrific open space in front of it that was packed with people sitting around and enjoying the sunshine.
The place was surrounded by very nice buildings, but the sad thing was that the biggest and oldest looking building was the Debenhams Store that most likely had only just closed.
We carried on and walked around, and we found Nottingham to be a very nice place. This wasn’t always the case because when we lived in Barnsley, Nottingham on our local TV News was the gun capital of the North, or what I call the North of the Midlands, (I think that Chesterfield is the start of the South of the North). It was also home to lots of drug related crime, I guess that might still be occurring but that’s most likely on large housing estates and tower blocks and not so much in the city centre.
We bagged our first Wetherspoons Bar at this point and it was quite nice, I had a half of lager and Wendy had a Ginger Beer.
From there we walked to Nottingham Castle, which I never knew existed.
As we approached, we saw that it looked like that you had to pay to get in, and because all we wanted to was to see the grounds, we gave it a miss and decided to walk around the walls.
We found the Robin Hood Statue, and at this point I became worried that my kids didn’t know the story of Robin Hood and his merry men, well they have been in the Highlands since they were 8 and 9 and they did study all about the Jacobite’s, maybe they missed the infamous story of Robin, Maid Marion, Little John and Alan-a-Dale?
At the bottom of the castle, we found the Nottingham and Beeston Canal not too far away.
As it was still nice and sunny, we meandered around the old mill buildings, which were now bars and restaurants and then walked a short way around the old tow paths of the now disused canal.
Unfortunately, the canal is no longer fully navigable although some sections are used for narrow boats which are simply used for canal side accommodation.
We got back to complete our Castle circumnavigate and I was intrigued to find that the castle is built on a huge rock in the same way that Edinburgh Castle is.
There was a very nice residential area around the castle, it was so nice that road access for vehicles was only permitted by way of bollards which would only be lowered when permission to cross had been verified. It seems that the Sheriff of Nottingham is still protecting the rich.
We got back to the main gate of the castle and we did seek to walk around the grounds, by payment of course, but this wasn’t allowed. I must admit I snook around the barrier rope to snatch a photo and when challenged by security I had to apologise and say that the Robin Hood in me just had to challenge authority.
We then knocked off the last Wetherspoons Bar before we headed back to collect the car.
On the way back to the caravan we did a slight detour to take a look at the village of Kegworth which was the site of the infamous 1989 plane crash.
The flight was flying from Heathrow to Belfast and was a Boeing 737-400 plane, when a fan-blade broke in the left engine, disrupting the air conditioning and filling the cabin with smoke. The pilots believed this indicated a fault in the right engine, since earlier models of the 737 ventilated the cabin from the right, and they were unaware that the -400 used a different system. The pilots mistakenly shut down the functioning engine. They selected full thrust from the malfunctioning one and this increased its fuel supply, causing it to catch fire. Of the 126 people aboard, 47 died and 74 sustained serious injuries.
The plane landed on the embankment of the M1 Motorway and you could see the damaged area for some years to come as you passed up and down the motorway.
The village of Kegworth was small but very nice, however I could only get a close up photograph of the church because a retaining wall at the church, which is the central feature of the village, had fallen down and its reconstruction was causing massive traffic problems for the local community.
Back at the caravan and I sat outside in the sunshine while Wendy, who wasn’t feeling too well had a nap in bed.
It was quite hot and I have to admit to having a snooze myself in the deck chair.
Wendy woke at around 6:30 pm and I could see her pour herself a glass of wine before pinching my sun bed while I got the BBQ ready.
The Lincolnshire Sausages were a real treat for supper but we have saved some for nibbles tomorrow.
It’s now almost 9:00 pm and Wendy is in bed reading, while yet another holiday flight passes over head. My back seems to have recovered from its earlier injury and tomorrow looks like another hot and sunny day. We have no plans other than seeing how the weather really is!
Luncheon Treat!
No Travelling
What a lovely warm evening we had last night, Wendy was in bed early has she wasn’t feeling too well, I might have said yesterday. I on the other hand sat and watched the final episode of Clarkson’s Farm, which although it is quite funny, it is so obviously staged!
I can’t get over his wife, she’s 12 years younger than him and he’s punching well above his weight in the looks stage, its obviously his lovely warm and charismatic personality that she finds attractive in him.
We had a really lovely night sky with planes going overhead and I managed to get a shot of one, I wonder if its people rushing back from Ibiza?
Its was another warm night and I slept with the window beside me fully open. I slept much better too, and so did Wendy because she woke up feeling much better.
After breakfast, which for a change was bran flakes for me and not toast and marmite, we both went out running. I had my vest on, and I thought Wendy had hers on too, but has she had been outside before getting changed, she realised it wasn’t as warm as we thought and changed into a T-shirt without telling me, the scallywag. As a consequence, I was a little chilly until the exercise warmed my body.
I ran along the first route I did on our first morning here, but at the two miles point I turned left and down a hill, instead of going right as I had done before.
Eventually I came to the stunning village of Sutton Babington. Sutton Babington is a very long country village High Street of over a mile in length. There is the odd side street but not many. There is a lovely looking pub, the Kings Head, and I did fancy a late lunch here today, but I found out that they don’t open until after 4:00 pm.
I ran past the primary school where I saw something that I have never seen at any school while I have been out running, and I have passed quite a few schools. The parents, with their children, all formed a very socially distant line and at the head of the queue a school teacher was taking the children in, one by one and sending them inside the school. The queue was a really long one and it snaked all along the pavement. It was really good to see but I do wonder how they manage during winter.
There were some really lovely residential homes in the village but then I guess its very nicely located to Nottingham, Derby or even Birmingham.
I got back to the caravan with a firm plan that we should take things easy today and I set about finding a pub where we could walk to and get a decent lunch. None of the pubs in the village did food, apart from the one which we drank at the other day, which we didn’t fancy.
I had looked at The Star which is in the village of West Leake and is only a mile away, but I looked at their menu on the board outside the main door as I ran back and it said the restaurant opened at 6:00 pm. I wasn’t too optimistic when I looked at their website, but it did indeed say they are open for food from 12:00 until 3:00.
They only way to make a booking was by an online form which I completed, asking for a 1:30 pm table.
As we needed some supplies, we cycled down to our village of East Leake, to the local coop.
We got back at around 12:30 and as I had not been contacted by the pub to confirm or otherwise, our reservation, I had to search for their telephone number. I explained to the lady answering the call that I was waiting for a reply and it turns out that we are already in the diary, and that she was looking forward to seeing us, I wished she’d told me before mind, I was already to commence Plan B preparations!
We walked down to the pub, and we were slightly late as it was just over a mile and a half and not just under a mile as I thought. As we walked down, we were buzzed by at least 3 planes coming into land, in fact they were so close we could wave to the passengers on board.
We got to the pub and we had the option of sitting inside, outside, under cover or out, out!
We chose, out, under cover because it still wasn’t sunny enough to enjoy the sunshine.
I had a pint of real ale and Wendy had a glass of wine, for mains I had a burger and Wendy had some amazing chicken thing, which I cannot for the life of me spell.
When I placed my order, it came to me, brioche bun, I never asked, so I did, and it was!
After a bit of too’ing and fro’ing Wendy had it sorted, I would have my burger but with a baguette, but it couldn’t be, “built for me, because the shapes were wrong”.
Never mind what I got was delicious, it was actually a double ale burger and it was stonking, whatever Wendy had was very nice too.
We were stuffed with our mains, but we sat chatting with the lovely couple on the next table to us. They had a very delightful baby girl of about six months, Millie. She was just adorable, and her mum let me take her photo because I could have taken her home with us. It’s a shame cuddles aren’t allowed!
After a while we did indeed share a New York, Vanilla Cheesecake and it was bloody lovely, I could have had two!
As we walked back to our site the sun came out and it was gloriously sunny, so sunny that we sat outside.
I was in the sunshine, Wendy, who now has to watch her skin, was under the fishing umbrella because she has given Eleanor one of our umbrellas and the umbrella from the caravan is in the shed because we never put it back in the caravan after granny had it at the summer BBQ.
Its now 7:15 pm and the sun is still baking, its an early copy file for me because I think tonight, I should be pretending I’m on the Costa Del Sol sipping Dakari’s as the sun sets!
Night, Night Avid Reader!
Home!!!
63 Miles
It was a stunning morning today, hot and sunny and it was definitely a vest day, no doubt about that. Although Wendy did run in her T-Shirt!
Would you believe that I dropped my reading glasses in a river? I sat on the walls of a high bridge and has I had got a message while I was running, I wanted to read it. I was searching in my back pocket for them, which was a really silly thing to do because there was a 20 foot drop. I pulled them out and let go, I knew instantly what I had done and turned around just in time to see them plop into the river.
So I never got to read the message until I got back.
I did get back though and as soon as I did, I put the bike rack onto the car and loaded the bikes. I disconnected the hose pipe from the tap and the water contraption and after under running it like a good firefighter, to make sure all the water was out before I stowed it in the front cabin of the caravan. I did this because…………….Its moving day.
It was stinking hot as we packed the van and at one point Wendy had to take comfort under the shade of a tree, she was melting.
As we got into the car I could see the outside temperature was 27 degrees centigrade.
In know time at all we were heading north on the very busy M1 Motorway.
It was very busy indeed, lots of lorries and cars and we were on sections which were mainly Smart Motorway where there is no hard shoulder. I do hate these new contraptions, too many people have been killed while stuck in a busy lane because they have broken down.
Thankfully we got passed Sheffield and it reverted back to a good old fashioned motorway with a hard shoulder.
We were on site and ready for a coffee at 2:00 pm.
We have lots of visiting to do today and we wanted to start with Mollie and Lawrence at Old Royston, way out to the far flung north of the Barnsley boundary. Sadly, I could not pre-warn Molly as I didn’t have a phone number and I don’t have any online contact details for them. We would just have to drop on them and if they weren’t in, we would leave a note with my phone number so we could arrange another day.
After coffee we headed out for our first chore, to visit Barkers Butchers in Barnsley Market to get some meat for a BBQ tonight.
We parked out of town and walked in and it was chaos because the council have ripped out the underground toilets in Peel Square, no doubt because of the drug dealing that I know goes on around there. They have the place surrounded by Herris fencing but as the square is obviously surrounded by buildings, they have put the fencing quite close to them which means that there is only a narrow path for people to walk through. The council could have made both paths one way, but they didn’t, so people were squeezing past each other, super spreading.
We took a long detour, up Wellington Street and onto the Market from there, just to be safe.
In fairness to the council, how many of the nut jobs who frequent Barnsley Town Centre would take any notice of a one way safety system? Not many I can assure you, Avid Reader.
It’s been a couple of years since we have been to Barnsley and the reconstruction of the town centre is coming on leaps and bounds. Its all taking shape and the council have to be congratulated for their investment.
We got into the market and thankfully we were the only ones at the Barkers stall and we bought, two Barnsley Chops and two very large pork belly slices.
We got back to the car after a quick pedestrian detour to Morrisons for some supplies, which we carried back to the car.
I thought it best that before we start doing a visiting frenzy, we ought to do a lateral flow test each. I didn’t fancy doing it on Pitt Street West, where we were parked, so I drove up to a parking spot at the park close by to the old Becketts Hospital where I though we would have some privacy. We must have looked very suspicious to the man passing, walking his dog, as we did things on our lap and pushed things up our nose.
By the time we had arrived at Old Royston, half an hour had passed and the results were both negative, thankfully.
I parked the car across the road from Molly’s house in a proper parking bay and I rang their door bell.
Molly answered and she was a little taken aback when she saw us, in fact I think she was a little choked. After we all got over our emotional reunion we sat in their lovely back garden, Wendy and Molly drinking wine, Lawrence with a glass of pop and me with a black coffee.
We had a very good catch up with them both. Laurence at 85 is doing really well, although he has had an issue with his leg that needed hospital treatment.
Molly was fretting that she couldn’t feed us despite us telling her we had enough meat for our BBQ to feed twenty people.
Anyway, we had a really nice time with them, at almost 2 hours in the sunshine.
After saying our farewells, it was back in the car where we called into a Coop, for cash from a cashpoint for our camping fees and then we were homewards bound.
The traffic was much lighter and we were back on site in no time at all.
We pulled onto our site and we have new neighbours, who were bathing their tiny baby in the bath outside their caravan. Well, we just had to call in, uninvited of course, although we were made very welcome, to look at the baby girl having fun with her granddad.
In no time at all, I had the BBQ lit and the meat on, they would take some time to cook because they were huge. I guess when I get inside Barnsley Market my eyes suddenly become too big for my belly.
Tomorrow we are booked in for breakfast with Ian and Jayne Wragg, followed by a visit to see Mark, Leanne and the girls.
I’m filing tonight’s copy, sat outside in the evening heat while the meat is cooking nicely on the BBQ.
I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow, Avid Reader, but I’m already thinking its smelling very nice!!!
Mollie and Lawrence
No Travelling
An Avid reader has asked me who Mollie and Lawrence are:
They are my friend, Deb Harley’s parents and they live at a lovey row of cottage houses in the small hamlet of Old Royston, just outside of the Barnsley Council Boundary.
I met Deb, along with Ian Wragg, Roy Jarvis and number of other people when I joined the South Yorkshire group of Operation Raleigh Venturers in 1985. Deb went to Honduras while I went to Australia, Ian went to Peru and Roy sailed the Caribbean.
I had been living in my grans flat for a few years while gran stayed in my room at my mothers, but while I was in the West Indies watching England play cricket in March of 1986 my granny went into an old folk’s home and her flat was vacated. As I didn’t fancy moving back into my room Deb suggested I could move into her room as she was leaving for the summer with Camp America. Deb OK’d it with her mum and dad and I moved in and it was a great summer.
I was a full time student at Doncaster College doing my HND in Mining Engineering and I was hard studying for my exams. England were in the world cup in Mexico and I used to get up in the night and study while watching the England games. This is where I saw the infamous hand of God incident.
I went on my Operation Raleigh Expedition in July and came back in October and left the coal industry and moved to Dorset working on a building site for the winter, and I have kept in touch with Deb, Mollie and Lawrence ever since. In fact, when my kids where 2 and 1 year old we took them to visit Deb in the small Californian town of Pescadero where she had married a local man and its where she still lives.
The BBQ supper was absolutely delicious and both the pork slices and the Barnsley Chops were cooked to perfection, I will now doubt be inundated with requests to take some back to Scotland.
I was woken at 3:20 am this morning by a flock of birds who were having a disagreement outside my bedroom window. I could not get back to sleep so I got up at 4:00, tippytoed about and just as I was about to get dressed for running, Wendy woke up.
I went out running at 5:15 and I saw an amazing sunrise just as I left the caravan park.
I ran up some massive hills all the way up to Locke Park Tower, boy I had a right sweat on when I got to the top! Going back down was easy, peasy!
I got back to the caravan and had a dam good shower; I was sweating more than a hog roast!
As soon as I was dry, dressed and done up to the nines we left to visit Ian and Jayne Wragg. Traffic was light and we were there for 9:15 and we found Ian down on his allotment, behind his house sweating cobs, strimming his monstrous weeds. He was absolutely knackered and in need of sustenance which was duly provided by Jayne in the form of an, Alfresco Breakfast, of a mixed berry fruit salad, heaps of yogurt and a fine selection of French pastries, butter and jams.
What an utter delight it was!!!
We sat in the sunshine and chittered and chattered and it was just lovely.
Isn’t that the nice thing about very good friends, you don’t have to live with each other day to day but that you can just pick up where you left off and carry on from there.
I would still be there but for Ian having to go meet his daughter, Kelly, at a sales convention in Harrogate.
Leaving Jayne and Ian’s we took the laundry that Jayne had kindly done for us back to the caravan to hang up and dry.
With that task complete we set off for our next visit of the day, back over to Royston to see my nephew, Mark and his wife Leanne and their 3 daughters, Leah, Lucci and Elli.
By now the sun was stinking hot and after Mark and Leanne had shown us around their new, although dilapidated house, which is not too far from their current house, we sat in the garden and we had a very cold drink.
Mark as bought a neighbouring house, which, to be fair has been very badly neglected, in fact it’s a right dump and it smells to high heaven. However, Leanne being a very smart cookie, has all the relevant plans drawn, the builders all in a line and she is ready to project manage a new home for them all and they hope to be in, within a year. I do wish them all the very best of luck, but knowing Leanne, it will happen, on time and on budget!
We left Mark and Leanne to their family as they arrived to celebrate her dad’s birthday, with a BBQ cooked by Mark, good luck Mark in this heat, and we left to go to town.
We had changed our mind for supper, instead of having out of date salmon risotto, we thought it could last one more day in the fridge and we bought a T-Bone steak and two lamb burgers from Barkers, in the Barnsley meat market.
Before we went back to the site, we drove passed my dads old house to see that the new owners have really got to grips with it, with new doors, windows and a smashing Orangery as an extension at the back.
We had to do it, we had a very nice cold beer at the nearest pub to the camp site before settling down in the big field for some afternoon sun, well I did, Wendy was under the fishing umbrella.
Supper was, eventually scaled back to just lamb burgers, so we now have a massive T-Bone Steak and a rapidly deteriorating piece of salmon in the fridge on what has been the hottest day of the year.
After tonight’s copy has been filed, I’m off into the big field to see the night sky draw in, well it has been 31 degrees today and I’m not complaining, although Wendy is!!!
27 Degrees @ 9:00 am
No Travelling
What a scorcher it was this morning, I knew it would be because we slept with most of the windows open last night and we didn’t get up until 07:55. I had to laugh at the news of Boris being pinged on the NHS Covid app, and that he didn’t have to isolate because he’s special. The man is an arrogant, selfish, hypocrite who even he’s most ardent supporters must see him for what he is. I saw that by the time I got back from my run they had suddenly changed their minds and would indeed now be isolating.
Wendy didn’t want to go running in the heat so I drove up to Locke Park, alone, to run my favourite Barnsley Circuit. From the park I go to Stairfoot, then up to Cundy Cross, Monk Bretton, up to town, then to Barnsley Hospital at Gawber, then Pogmor, Broadway and then Kingston, through the estate where I used to live as a nipper, and finally back to the park. The circuit was 8.1 miles and as it was 27 degrees when I drove up to the park, it was a very hot run indeed.
I got back to the caravan and Wendy was out of bed, dressed and ready to crack on with the day.
After my very refreshing smoothie we were off and out on the road to Cawthorne Park on a desperate shopping mission for Wendy. Wendy had seen a dress she really liked in a Sea Salt shop in one of the towns we have been in, but they didn’t have her size. Apparently, the Cannon Farm Garden Centre sell a range of Sea Salt clothing, so that’s where we were heading.
We got there in good time and we parked in the carpark and walked over. Jeepers it was hot in there because they have the roof covered in with glass for the plants. I was soaking it was that hot.
Thankfully, although they didn’t have the dress she liked, Wendy did have a fairly successful mission because she bought another dress and a shirt, she was so pleased with her purchases that she even bought me a bottle of Yorkshire Pudding beer.
After the shop we took a full walk of the park, starting by walking along the river. As we passed two people someone shouted my name. Its was Julie, Mark and Jenna’s mum. She was sat in the park, in the sunshine with her mate.
She was gobsmacked to see us, but she did know we were around because Mark had told her. We had a very nice chat with her before continuing our walk.
Wendy and I both agreed that the parks grass and the grounds in general were very neglected, the grass was well above Wendy’s shoes, which is something she very much dislikes. The side of the river was covered in nettles too, so much so that I could hardly see the river.
The grounds are owned by the same family who run Cannon Hall Farm and they seem to be operating the grounds more commercially. There was a new paddle boat section which even had some of Wendy’s favourites, The Swans! But the cost of a 30 minute session was £10 for two people and £4 per additional person. So, for a family of four it would have been £18. 18 Quid for 30 minutes would have wiped us out for a month when our kids were small, that’s outrageous! Obviously, we didn’t give them a go!
We walked up to the House, Cannon Hall, which still looks pretty fine and then we walked back down to the car.
We had a little time left so we drove to Locke Park for yet another park walk, before I would be meeting my brother at the Red Lion at 4:00 pm.
The Park wasn’t too busy, on this very hot summers day but we enjoyed our walk, taking in the Park Tower first. Then we walked down to the café where I had a very nice chocolate ice cream, with a flake. I gave my flake to Wendy and I noticed just how thin the flakes are these days.
My ice cream was utterly delightful, it was very tasty. I’m normally a Mr Whippy type of person but this ice cream was very thick and very creamy, it was also a very nice large one and only cost £2.30.
We walked up the A, B, C steps to the old cricket field and back to the car. Wendy always manages to mock me that she knew about the steps being engraved with the alphabet all the way up to the top. I had never noticed them before and I grew up playing hours upon hours in Locke Park as a kid. I think the engraving are something new and so I never really noticed them because in my days there was nothing there for me to notice.
Wendy doesn’t buy this logic, although it works for me!!
At 3:45 pm Wendy drove me to the Red Lion Pub which is very near my brother’s house, on the main Barnsley to Sheffield Road. On the phone, my brother Michael told me that there had been a car crash outside the pub, directly where the outside seating area was.
Jeepers it must have been carnage as the wall had been smashed down and the wooden benches had to be removed and replaced, thankfully it was late and no one was sat outside. It was just after England beat Germany at football so I am wondering if someone driving might have been over exuberated.
I had a good couple of hours with Michael, chatting about old times and our kids and the time flew in no time. Wendy came to collect me at 6:00 and we still chatted at least a half hour more.
On the other table, I saw a young man wearing a North Coast 500 T-Shirt so I excused myself and I went to talk to this young man.
I walked up and said, “Excuse me have you done the North Coast 500?”, “Yes”, he said quite excitedly, “How do you know I have?”
“You’ve got the T-Shirt on”, I explained.
“Oh”, he said, “I thought you recognised me”, was his reply.
Well, his girlfriend and I nearly wet ourselves laughing, I mean how would I recognise someone driving past me in a car along any road, let alone the NC500.
He was a nice enough lad and he saw the funny side of what he had said.
I chatted with him a while and went back to the table and soon after we left Michael to head back to the caravan.
Its now gone 8:00 pm and we have had a stonking salmon pasta meal made by Wendy.
I’m just a little worried that the salmon portions used might just be a little iffy. They were bought from the Tesco out of date shelf, we should have eaten them yesterday but we didn’t. They have been in the freezer and accidently defrosted twice so I’ll cross my fingers that we make it through the night without suffering dysentery.
Hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow Avid Reader!
Another Hot One!
No Travelling
Thankfully neither of us suffered with any problems from last nights out of date, twice defrosted and lukewarm in the fridge salmon, I woke at 6:00 am and I sneaked out of bed, had breakfast and was almost dressed for running before Wendy woke up.
I later heard on the news that the heat was very oppressive during the night, but not for me, I had the window at my side of the bed fully open, with both roof windows fully open and the bathroom one too. In fact, at one point, I had to nestle down into the duvet, it was lovely.
I gave Wendy her cup of tea in bed and she was talking herself out of going running this morning so I came up with a plan. I would drive to Wigfield Farm, check the milage distance, go running along the Trans Pennine Trail with Wendy and then turned back so that Wendy could take the car back to the caravan and I would be left to run back and do my 8 mile distance.
That did it, Wendy knew that there wouldn’t be any hills, or not much of them as the Trail is an old, Yorkshire – Lancashire Train Track.
We set off in 24 degree heat and by mile 2 Wendy was sweating cobbs. We stopped for a breather and then we carried on to the 2.75 miles point where we turned around to come back to the car.
The Trans Pennine Trail is brilliant, for the first two miles we ran on an asphalt path and for the rest of the way we ran on a good track.
As we went over a bridge on the M1 I stopped to take a photograph of the traffic, expecting it to be very busy on Boris’s Freedom Day, but it wasn’t, there were hardly any cars on it, at 09:00 in the morning!
We got back to the car and Wendy took off back to the caravan and then I ran the 2.5 miles back, and I arrived back just as she climbed out of the shower.
After breakfast we headed into town to get some very much requested presents of the cooking variety.
The heat was quite intense as we parked in Morrisons car park and walked over the dual carriageway and into town. We split up, Wendy is a very big fan of Wilko and wanted to go and buy some things, I nipped in to Sports Direct to look at cricket bats and then in to Barnsley Meat Market to get my supplies.
As this was Freedom Day, as described by Boris, I was worried that people would have a demob mentality about mask wearing and social distancing and I was very pleased that the majority of people I encountered were wearing masks.
At the butchers stall I was very impressed that every staff member on duty was wearing a mask as well, but I would assume that they would because Barnsley is a very high hotspot of coronavirus infections.
I was amused to see though that even though they did not have to wear a mask, there were still a large number of people wearing their masks under their nose, I mean how thick are these people, do they think that breathing through their nose only prevents them from getting a virus infection.
Here’s my Barnsley Market Shopping List:
6 x Large Barnsley Chops
4 x Small Pork Pies
1 x Belly Pork Slice
1 x Link of Black Pudding
1 x 1 lb of Beef Shin Beef, (For my slow Cooker)
1 x Large T-Bone Steak (For Uisdean)
I also wanted to buy a White Rose Flag for Yorkshire Day as mine is getting tatty, but I couldn’t find one.
We got back to the caravan at around 1:00 pm just in time to stow the meat into either the fridge or the freezer, along with the pies and black pudding and then head out over to Staincross to visit Dave and Kate Leishman who have just moved back to Barnsley after leaving the Highlands.
We had a little trouble finding their house but when we did, we were made to feel very welcome. Dave joined me in Highland and Islands Fire Brigade from South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue. I knew Dave very well before he came North as I had been in the Training Department as an Instructor when he did his two day assessment course. When I first met Dave, I was impressed with the fact that he was so determined to join the Fire Service, and that he performed so well over the two days that you couldn’t pass him as a very good potential recruit.
He was an hairdresser in his previous career and the bugger used to come to my Station when he was off duty, and charge my men a couple of pounds to get their hair cut while they were on stand-down, by using my electricity, the cheeky monkey.
He was also a good lad when he came North and he wasn’t afraid to get stuck in and tackle issues that needed tackling, he was also a very good operational officer.
When he retired earlier this year, he didn’t want a retiral function but he did come to see me before he left for Barnsley but I was in St Andrews so I never saw him off, but I did promise I would see him when I was next in Barnsley.
We had two very enjoyable hours chatting in their kitchen with him and his wife Kate.
He has a lovely house, set over three floors with the middle floor having a lovely view over the countryside, well it will be when the road workers digging the road up move on!
Back at the caravan we prepared for moving day tomorrow and then I lit the barby, while Wendy made a very nice salad, and then I popped the T-Bone Steak on the heat!
While I was at the butcher’s counter, I asked the lady if I could take a photo of the T-Bone to send to my friend as it was a present for him, she was so chuffed that I wanted to that she gave me centre stage.
Anyway, I did indeed send Uisdean the photo, and here was his reply:
“Wow…….. so, so excited. How mouth-watering is that. You’re a good friend X”
The T-Bone was cooked to perfection and we sat out eating it in the evening sunshine. I thought it was cooked to perfection but Wendy, being a fussy so and so thought that the fillet had some sinus in it, well of course it will Wend, that’s what your teeth are for!
Moving day tomorrow, see you in North Yorkshire Avid Reader.
What a Beautiful View!!!
79 Miles
What another lovely cool night we had, with the majority of our caravan windows open.
I did wake up at one point and I found Wendy bumbling on her iPad and then when I got up at 6:30 am, she didn’t muster until 07:30. Then she declared she wasn’t going running, after I had waited for her, the bugger!
So, I left her, happy as Larry in bed with a cup of tea and the morning sunshine bathing her through the open window. After the weekend rush we now had the whole field to ourselves and we could leave every window open, the one to the bathroom too and not be troubled by anyone. There’s something very nice about getting out of the shower and having a warm, but slightly cooling breeze helping you to get dried.
I took the car up to Locke Park again and then I ran one of my very old routes through the West of Barnsley. It was a run that I used to do many, many years ago as a teenager and I was astounded that I remembered so much about it.
It was another stinking hot run though and I am so grateful that I can run in any condition of heat and cold, well I do train for it with my 3 sweat shirts and hoodie!
I had to dodge the bins in Higham mind, it was bin day and the bin men had done what they always do after emptying them, leave them anywhere, the more the obstacle the better.
To finish I ran through Locke Park and as I passed the Café I was almost lured inside with the lovely smell of cooked bacon.
I got back to the caravan and Wendy was washed and changed and acting like Madam Muck lounging around the caravan, out of the heat, doing her puzzles.
I had a slightly thicker smoothie today and it was bloody lovely, and not long after I was de-camping in my shorts only, as I would have ruined my shirt with sweat had I had it on.
The Satnav took us north on the M1 Motorway and pretty soon we were eating the miles up on the A1 and then the A64. It was only when we got within 5 miles of Malton did, we leave the main road.
The night before we travel, I always check the direction for the next site on the Camping Club, or Caravan and Camping Club website. But last night I could not find it on either site so I rang the owner who said don’t worry there’s no problem finding us.
But there was, the Satnav took us through a very tight gate and then along, what I can only describe, loosely, as a farm track.
Thankfully I held my nerve, as Wendy bit her fingernails, and I eventually found a place in the field to turn around. I was a bit worried that I might get bogged down, but with very other few options, I went for it and managed to keep moving through the deep and wet grass on to the track again. “Who Dares Wins” as always been the Gill family motto, or was it, “Where there’s a Gill, there’s a way”, Yes that’s it, that’s the one!
We did find our site soon enough and what a cracker it is, it’s the best view we have ever had from our front window, it is absolutely stunning and we both love it.
The heat was still on as we made camp but Wendy was beside herself when she saw that we had an individual tap where we could connect the water contraption to.
After making camp, and having a coffee we took the car to the nearby town of Malton.
I had wanted to go to Malton on a previous trip to the North Yorkshire Moors but we could not fit it in. However, I am so glad that I did this time, what a smashing little North Yorkshire Town it is, it’s just so lovely.
We parked in the heart of the town, in a council provided car park, free of charge for a maximum stay of two hours. We didn’t need two hours, but it was nice it was on offer.
We found some really good local shops selling a range of different things. In fact, there was not one national chain shop in the town at all, they were all independently owned.
At the first shop we came to we bought a lovely shopping bag, with our beloved Yorkshire Rose on it, although it does have a little too much green on it, we can forgive them that because it was only £2.25.
The very next shop we went into we fell in love with it straight away, the lady hand made dresses and other things, but she had a really nice range of baby girl dresses.
Now I know both my girls have said that they have enough clothing for their babies for at least five years, but there was no way that I wasn’t buying my granddaughters a dress from this shop, so I did!
From there we walked around this very quaint Yorkshire Town and then we took a pint of Tetley Real Ale in a very nice beer garden, it was very pleasant sat out in the shade on a hot afternoon.
After a very good tour of the town, we took the car back to the caravan site and we walked around the farm yard to try to find a running route to the village. We are just out of the village, by about ¾ of a mile and there isn’t any pavement on the road, and its far too busy for even me to consider using. However, we have found a route through some rough tracks to the track we got lost on earlier, which leads almost directly to the village. I guess fate made us take that route and now Wendy won’t have that excuse in the morning, the one where its far to dangerous for her. The only things she might encounter tomorrow is Zombie Cows, but I guess that’s highly unlikely
Wendy made a delightful supper of Chicken, Haggis, and Broccoli in a peppercorn sauce. We sat out in our nicely elevated position and enjoyed the evenings heat and a delightful meal.
The wind has got up a little now, and it’s blowing nicely through the caravan like we were in Portugal. We are really hopeful of a stunning sunset tonight, so much so that I might take my wine outside to watch it!
Happy Birthday GG!!! xx
Wetwang?
No Travelling
What a wonderful sunset we had last night, I tried to stay up to see the night sky turn red, Wendy was asleep in bed and I simply nodded off on the seat and I woke when it was all over, so I skunked off to bed.
It was another cool night for us, with the windows in the van all open, I’m really getting to like this.
It was very overcast when I woke at 6:45 am and I had my breakfast before Wendy woke. As she wanted to go out running, I waited for her so we could meander our way down to the village to see if we could find a safe road on which to run.
We did indeed find one but at 2.5 miles Wendy was feeling the heat and she turned back for the caravan.
I carried on and eventually turned around at the beautiful village of Langton. This was a small village with about 30 houses, but they were really nice houses. They weren’t huge or ostentatious, although there was one big mansion, with a large gate which had lions mounted on it, no these were more cottage type homes, but they were really nicely built. It would have been the perfect place to live but it didn’t have a shop, nor a pub.
I got back to the caravan and it was still overcast so I made my smoothie and I had it in the caravan, although it was still very warm at 22 degrees.
We had a day planned and our first destination was Beverly.
I have wanted to go to Beverley for some time, and I narrowly missed out when we went down the east coast a few years ago.
As we drove, we went through the village of Wetwang. Now this jogged both Wendy’s and my mind, but we could not figure what its significance was. It eventually came to me as Wendy was Googling it on her phone.
The BBC Yorkshire Regional Weather forecaster, Paul Hudson, seems to occasionally drop Wetwang into his forecast.
Now here’s what Wendy found on her Google:
Richard Whiteley, who most people know as the first host of the TV quiz show, Countdown, used to be the presenter, for many years, while I was growing up on Calendar. Calendar was ITV’s version of the 6:30 pm regional news. What’s not widely known is that Richard was an ardent Yorkshireman and was one of the men who first developed the concept of August 1st being Yorkshire Day in 1975.
Richard, through The Ridings Society, started Yorkshire Day as a protest to the Local Government Regionalisation of 1974 which saw the creation of the County of Humberside, which was made up of parts of Yorkshire, North of the Humber Estuary and Lincolnshire to the South of the Humber Estuary. It wasn’t a very popular move in Yorkshire at all! I mean who would be daft enough to try to split Yorkshire?
Now, back to Wetwang. Richard, in 1998 became the Honorary Mayor of Wetwang after numerous jokes from him about the East Yorkshire village. When Richard died in 2005 this left the seat vacant and in May 2006 Paul Hudson was made Honorary Mayor of Wetwang, which then led to him using the village in his forecasts whenever he could get away with it.
Mystery solved.
What a beautiful town Beverley is, it is smashing.
The sun burst through as we arrived and we saw the town in all its glory.
The streets are nice and clean, there are at least 3 outdoor areas where seating was arranged for various pubs and cafes, and it has its own Minster, Beverley Minster.
Wendy loved the shops an she could not get her mask on fast enough to go into a Sea Salt shop as she is still looking for the dress, she found a few weeks ago. Sadly, that dress was only available in size 22, but to make up for that disappointment she did indeed buy another summer dress.
We went into the Minster and it was rather nice but to take photos I had to buy a photograph licence for about £4.00, and I wasn’t fussed about doing that just to take a few pics.
There were loads of small independent shops and Wendy at one point said that she would like to live in Beverley, so she could shop in the lovely shops, drink in the lovely bars and look lovely after her many shopping trips!
After walking all around the town centre we bagged the local Wetherspoons Bar and pretty soon after we were enroute to the small town of Driffield.
Driffield was about 12 miles to the north of Beverley and although it was signposted as being Driffield all the way there, it suddenly became Great Driffield when we crossed the town boundary.
Driffield didn’t have the wide streets of Beverley but it was a very pleasant place. It has one very long High Street that is lined with shops.
We had to do some deft Zombie Dodging because the pathways were very narrow, but we managed alright and I don’t think we picked up an infection.
I did buy a new cricket bat in a small, family owned sports shop, it’s a cracker and I’m in love with it already. I can’t wait to get my bowling machine out when I get home.
It’s the heaviest bat size allowed by the MCC, so I’m guessing its for 20 x 20 cricket.
I lovingly took my new bat for a drink in Wetherspoons Bar and then we high tailed back to the caravan to check on tonight’s supper, Beef Shins, from Barnsley Market, in a vegetable soup and Speckled Hen Beer mix.
Supper was looking lovely and after a little TLC from me we took the car for a drive, back to Wetwang, for a stroll around the village and a pint in the Black Swan Pub.
Wetwang is lovely except that its on a major route to the east coast and it is again plagued by traffic.
The housing is very nice but the traffic noise must be such a pain for the residents.
We took our beer, a pint and a half of Black Sheep in the very nice and sunny beer garden before walking the long way back to the car.
Supper was taken outside under the sun canopy and I have to say it was a real delight.
Supper was, Beef Shins, Mushrooms, Onions and Vegetable soup bits served with broccoli.
It’s been a very hot and sunny day and as I type tonight’s copy, the bikes are loaded on the car, the sun canopy is stowed away and everything we can do for tomorrows move that can be done, has been done.
Tomorrow, Whitby here we come!
North Grimston to Whitby
36 Miles
Dracula!
Well, I managed it last night, I stayed up until nightfall and I saw a stunning night sky, first the red sky at the front of the caravan and then later, I saw the moon rise at the rear of the caravan. Wendy was in bed early; she does need her sleep when it’s been a long hot day.
I woke at 6:00 am, I turned over and went back to sleep for another 40 minutes.
After breakfast I went running, but Wendy didn’t as she didn’t want to go out in the heat again, and it was hot, jeepers it was roasting.
It wasn’t a very interesting run; I ran towards another village but as I got to the outskirts the road was closed for some reason and it was CCTV monitored. I have no idea what it was all about but I didn’t want to fall foul of officialdom so as I neared my turn around time I turned around and I made my milage up at a cross road.
I got back to the caravan and Wendy was sat outside lardy-darring in the sunshine, it was hot and getting hotter by the minute.
With only having to drive 36 miles over the North Yorkshire Moors I took my time with my smoothie, and I had a very leisurely shave and shower.
By the time it was time to break camp the heat was almost unbearable, it was 29 degrees.
The drive was almost directly north and over the hills. I was a little disappointed that there were no parking spots for me to pull in and let the traffic behind me pass, in fact the only one I came across was just five miles from Whitby. I did slow down on straight sections though so that they could overtake me. The trouble is you always get one who won’t overtake, even when there is acres of room, and it makes you look the bad guy for everyone who is behind them.
We got to Whitby at just gone 12:30 and we were making camp in very bright sunshine.
The camp is a little crowded, and we can shake hands with our next door neighbours, through the windows, well almost!
It was roasting so we had a cup of coffee under the sun canopy.
As we were a little uncertain about our location in relation to town, I asked a lady who was passing which way we should walk to get down to the harbour. Well, she got that close that I thought she was going to sit on my lap. I held my breath as long as I could and then just as I was about to pass out, I got out of my chair and I sat on the caravan step. I think I was pretty smart at doing this as I made it look like I did it so that I could look at her directly and not from over my shoulder.
Anyway, she answered my basic question, can we walk to town, but then she went on and on about short cuts which I cannot for the life of me remember because I was just trying to survive her lack of social distancing. That bloody Boris as something to answer for!
We walked into town, following the route that our new friend had advised us to follow and we were there in 1.25 miles which was only just outside the distance in our camp brochure, that being 1 mile exactly.
Jeepers it was very busy and we very nearly didn’t bag the Wetherspoons Bar, however I did a reconnoitre, using my FFP 3 Face Mask and I found a seat away from anyone else and we were safely surrounded by plastic screening. It was worrying though, to see so many people not giving a stuff.
After our drink we made our way across the swing bridge, which had been closed to allow a boat through. This in turn created a lot of pedestrian traffic and we stepped aside for a while to allow it all to calm down before we crossed the bridge.
By now the crowds in the old town were immense and again no one gave a stuff. Wendy put her mask on and I did my breath holding exercise to very good effect. See Avid Reader there are enormous benefits to being very fit for my age, I can hold my breath, whilst walking for at least 90 seconds!
Wendy saw a rack of dresses and darted over to check them out an at one point I thought that she might buy one, but she did her usual can’t decide and so she didn’t buy one, I can never understand how this works with her.
I saw a pub who sold Theakston’s Beer on draught so I donned my mask to check its safety status. I’m glad I did because inside it was a super spreader event unfolding right in front of my eyes. It was like the good old days; people were almost sitting on each other’s lap. There was no segregation at all and as much as I wanted a pint of Theakston’s, it just wasn’t worth risking my life for!
We had to do some more Zombie dodging as we walked up to the old monastery, but by now we were into our stride.
We found another, less popular route back down from the monastery and then we crossed the bridge again, over the River Esk Tributary, and into yet more mayhem. Again, we dodged our way along and we walked up to the cliff walk that goes to Sandsend. At the Captain Cook Memorial there was a fella busking and playing brilliant tunes on a piano. He was brilliant, he was so good that I bought his CD.
As we walked off, he played the James Bond theme tune and it was brilliant, sadly its not on the CD, (Too many brilliants?).
We walked along the cliff top and we called in and we shared a cheeky bottle of wine in a small hotel bar that was open to non-residents. No super spreading was encountered here, we were no longer with the hoi polloi, we were with the cliff top residents who knew how to behave in a pandemic.
The wine was actually delicious and we chatted and watched people as they walked past.
We walked back to the caravan and we had done almost 8 miles on our walk, but by now the air was a bit nippy because a sea harr had settled over the area.
For supper I cooked:
It was bloody lovely, taken with a delightful salad and hot baked crusty bread, it shouldn’t work but it did.
Tomorrow is adventure day as we are going for a walk with a school friend of mine, I do hope the sun comes back out!
Tonight, we are going to sleep with the windows closed, even though I have eaten 17 bulbs of garlic, I’m worried that Dracula might still get to me!
No Travelling
Walkies!
This is a very busy but its also a very quiet caravan site, I never heard a peep all night, I never even heard the bird’s morning chorus.
We both woke around 6:00 am and I got up to make tea and I watched the news while Wendy sipped her tea in bed. After a bit of hassle looking for my ear phones, we were both out running at 7:15.
I ran down to the beach, which starts off with a monster hill climb before going down, a long way to the prom. I got into town and I did the full Whitby Harbour wall tour. I ran along both the north and south harbour walls. I even took in the extensions to both sides and it was a little unnerving running along fairly narrow planks that had a substantial space between them, and that I could see the drop to the sea below. I made myself run straight down the middle of the pathway because had I been near the side, I am sure I would have tumbled over as the planks and the way they were laid were quite disorienting.
I ran back along the beach but I had a massive climb back up to the road to take me back to the caravan. I think I had forgotten just how hilly Whitby is.
After my smoothie I jumped in the car and drove the short distance to Lidl. Jeepers, I was amazed at how little they had on the shelves. There were very large gaps all around the store but the spirit section was completely bare, thankfully I wasn’t needing any. I did hear a store assistant explaining to a shopper that a large number of staff had been told to self-isolate by the NHS App.
I got back to the van with enough of the provisions I needed, but I am going shopping soon because we are heading deep into rural Northumberland next, and we need to take everything we need for three days as there are no shops anywhere near to our camp ground.
At 10:30 we set off to walk the mile and a half to Alison’s caravan park. Alison Jenkins was a school pal of mine who I have kept in touch with over the years, and her and her husband David, keep their touring caravan on their site all summer season.
We got to Alison’s at the agreed time of 11:00, just to see her and David walking down to meet us. I have never met David, and Wendy has never met Alison or David, or for that matter, Jarvis, their four year old Cockerpoo.
After introductions were made, we set off for a beach walk to the small village of Sandsend.
It had been overcast during our run but very soon after we set off the sky cleared and we had a very, very hot day ahead of us.
We chatted as we walked and we all got on like a house on fire. David, I found to be a really nice and interesting person. He had retired, about fours years ago, as a Senior Mental Health Nurse. Alison, I knew had retired from her position as a senior nurse, specialising in dangerous infections a few years before.
Jarvis was the best behaved dog I have met in a while, and he happily chased his ball and was constantly bringing it back for David to throw, time and time again.
We had to leave the beach as we approached Sandsend as dogs weren’t allowed on that stretch, not even well behaved dogs like Jarvis.
We walked through the village, along the seafront and it is a really beautiful little place with a few guest houses, hotels and pubs. It really is a very interesting and lovely place.
Because they have had their caravan on the site for 3 years, Alison and David knew where to take us. Soon we were climbing up the coastal walk of the Cleveland Way and we ended up at an old mineral mining site on the cliffs high above the sea. What an interesting place this was, it was like a moonscape and the view from there were stunning.
Jarvis was placed on his lead as he was sniffing around the cliff edge a little too close for the comfort of his human mum.
We turned around at this point and back in Sandsend we stopped at The Hart Pubs beer garden for a good old fashioned pub lunch.
I had Whitby cod, chips and mushy peas, Wendy had smoked salmon fish cakes, David had a steak and Alison a crab salad.
The plates were piled high with food and we were all stuffed to the gills when we had finished. In fact, Wendy left some chips and her peas. We also had two pints of very nice Wainwright Real Ale which was delightful.
I didn’t really know how full my tummy was until we started to walk back, I was at bursting point.
We got back to Alison’s caravan where much to our amusement, David nor Alison could work out how to erect their own deck chairs, what a laugh we had.
After we had made arrangements for tomorrows adventure, and a nice cup of coffee, we walked back to our caravan where after an 8 mile run and an almost 10 miles walk, I needed to soak my poor feet in a bowl of hot water. I sat out in the afternoon sunshine as I did and it was lovely.
I don’t think I can eat another morsel tonight and even as I type tonight’s copy I am still stuffed to the brim. It’s a Friday night and after a lovely day out I am feeling quite tired, the sun is still out but its now starting to hide behind some clouds.
As we walked today, we saw a tremendous harr out to sea, it was massive, it actually looked like a huge tidal wave that was about to come crashing down on us. I do hope that it stays out at sea and doesn’t spoil our plans for tomorrow’s adventure!
No Travelling
The Cinder Trail
Alison let me know last night that Jarvis had hurt his paws while walking with us yesterday and that David had, had to drive to Scarborough to get him some medicine to make him comfortable. The poor mite, the pavement was hot though yesterday and the paths we walked on must have been rough on his little paws
I bragged about how quiet it was on the campsite last night, but this morning I was woken by a menagerie of seagulls having a party outside my bedroom window at 4:15. What a racket they made, and then all of a sudden it was over, that was it, they left and I was wide awake.
I slid out of bed so as not to disturb Wendy, I had a bathroom visit and I took a cold drink out of the fridge and then got back in bed and forced myself back to sleep, this time with ear plugs in.
I woke a couple of hours later and got up for breakfast, Wendy soon followed.
It was an overcast morning and we both went out running, I went down to town and then along the beach to Sandsend and Wendy did some exploring. Wendy went looking for the Cinder Track!
The Cinder Track is a walking and mountain bike track to Robin Hoods Bay, from Whitby.
We had arranged, yesterday, with David, Alison’s husband, to go on a bike ride along the Cinder Track to Robin Hoods Bay. But as we were slightly uncertain about where we would find the starting point, Wendy took it upon herself to find it for us.
The Cinder Track, between Scarborough and Whitby, is a popular off road route through the North York Moors National Park, just inland from the stunning North Yorkshire coast.
The Cinder Track is a disused railway line between Whitby and Scarborough which closed in 1965, after 80 years of service, but the 21-mile-long track is still there, providing a wonderful off-road route for cyclists and walkers right along the finest part of the North Yorkshire coast. It's known locally as the 'Cinder Track' (after the original surface laid down for the railway line), and has all sorts of quirks and highlights). The section from Whitby to Robin Hoods Bay is about eight miles.
We met David at the start point and off we set. The track to start with is very nice tarmac but it soon reverts to its original railroad base of coke waste, on which the railway sleepers were laid.
The route took us upwards for about 4 miles, but that was OK as it was a gentle climb and we were peddling nicely along. Enroute, we passed people cycling in the opposite direction and people who were out walking the route. We did come across some really unfit looking people who were beginning to regret their decision to make the trip.
We got to a point, somewhere just beyond half way where the track went steeply downwards, peddling was a doddle, but it was also a worry because we would have to come back up this way.
The route was mainly within a tree line but as we got closer to Robin Hoods Bay, the more we saw of the North Sea and the stunning scenery.
As we approached Robin Hoods Bay, we had to stop to let a couple through as the path was narrow there. The couple were about our age and they had very nice bikes, but boy did she bitch about it. “It’s taken us 40 minutes to get from the Bay to here, how far is it to Whitby?”
David being the very nice man that he is said, “Just follow this track, its only 8 miles on to Whitby”.
That did not go down well, and I could hear her chuntering to her husband as they cycled off.
We locked our bikes up in the cycle depot at the main car park and we walked down the very steep road down to Robin Hoods Bay.
It was busy, but not dangerously so and most people did their best to keep out of your way.
The tide was well out and we strolled on the sands, jeepers there were people out walking miles along the shoreline. In fact, I was worried that some of them might not make it back before the tide traps them against the cliffs. There were enough warning signs telling people though, so it was their fault if they got stuck.
David, took a bacon sarnie, from the best bacon sandwich café in the world, (their advertising slogan) and then he rode back to check on Alison and Jarvis, who after his injuries from yesterdays walk was doing much better today.
After a very good tour of the village, we jumped on our bikes and cycled back, stopping once only to buy cakes from an enterprising lady who had set up an honesty cake shop along the route. We bought 4 cakes, all costing 50p each, we bought two buns for later and one slice of banana cake for me, and a piece of parking for Wendy. My banana cake was truly delightful and Wendy raved about her parkin as well.
Back at the van we swapped our sweaty clothing and went shopping.
First stop was Lidl where we managed to get enough meat for the next phase of our trip. We are going bush for three nights so we need to be self-sufficient. They were lacking wine in Lidl, amongst other things so the next stop was to the Coop Superstore in the heart of Whitby. Jeepers the shelves had been stripped bare here and there weren’t any pickings, so we changed tack and I found a petrol service station Spar which the panic buying public had not thought to plunder yet, and we got everything we needed there.
After dropping off the supplies at the caravan we walked about a mile and a half to a pub that sells Theakston’s Old Peculiar Beer, on tap, the White House Pub.
I knew I would get my pint in Whitby and it was really lovely, it’s the best beer I have ever tasted, but at 5.6% it’s a little strong. However, in the end I had two pints and Wendy had two halves, thankfully the walk back sorted us out.
I cooked supper on the BBQ, Chinese spiced pork chops and sausage, while watching the British Lions play South Africa at rugby.
I ate my lovely supper still watching the game and it was with a sense of great satisfaction that I finished my lovely supper with a Lions win!!!
Trebles all around tonight, barman!!!
Tomorrow is going to be a nice easy traditional Gill Sunday, hopefully with a very nice Sunday roast in a good old Yorkshire pub!!!
No Travelling
Steam Punks!
I was awake at 06:30, so much for my easy Sunday morning start to the day, I’m not sure what woke me but I did hear caravans moving out as I had my breakfast at 7:00.
Wendy jumped out of bed and even further exasperated my easy morning by declaring that it was time to go.
Normally I don’t mind if Wendy goes out running before me, I usually hide the key and that’s that. But this is a very large site with what Basil Fawlty might call, “Riff, Raff Elements”, around and I don’t trust a lot of people and Riff, Raff types even less. So, Wendy had to wait for me to get ready.
We went out just after 8:00 and I ran directly to the cliffs and made my way into town along the path. It was a lovely warm morning so I wore my vests, and I had got it right for once because although there was some very high cloud, the sun popped through and warmed things up nicely.
I bumped into Wendy on the harbour wall and I managed to get a hand slap from her. From there I covered almost every street in town, because it was Sunday morning it was reasonably quiet so I could move easily and safely around the streets.
I need some Vaseline for my feet so I was on the look out for a Poundland, and I found one, and it was on a very steep hill, would you believe.
From there I crossed the River Esk by way of the old Whitby Swing Bridge and I followed the road along the river. I eventually came to a very steep hill, but there was a pedestrian, marked, walkway which led behind some riverside apartments. I followed this and I ended up on a really interesting trail through some woods and along the river. However, I had reached my turnaround point and I am now keen to see what the other side of the river brings tomorrow.
Back at the caravan and Wendy was all showered and was just tucking into her toast.
I was hot and very sweaty, and very much in need of my banana smoothie.
We had a good old laze around and it did indeed get nicely warm.
At 11:30 we took off for a walk into town, along the sea path.
First up we called in to the Whitby Pavilion, which is a big building by the sea, just as you get into town. I wanted to go inside and see what all this Steam Punk was all about.
Steam Punk?
Steam Punk is futuristic, yet retro at the same time, Steampunk is truly one-of-a-kind. The genre blends the aesthetic and technology of the 19th century with elements of science fiction. Its literary and audio visual works take place in an alternate reality where technological progress is based not on electricity, but on the steam engine.
Steam is a central element of steampunk. The technology featured in this universe is generally just as advanced as that of our modern world, but it uses steam as its energy source instead of electricity, gas or oil. As a result, steampunk technology takes on a retro look reminiscent of the Industrial Revolution era.
As Douglas Fetherling so aptly put it, “Steampunk is a genre that imagines how different the past might have been had the future come earlier.”
The steampunk aesthetic is inspired by the fashions of Victorian Era in England (1837-1901), but also by the Belle Epoque in France (1871-1914) and the Civil War era in the United States (1861-1865). The clothing from these eras is often modernized by the addition of mechanical elements with gears showing.
Now that’s the official line, what I saw was a load of people dressed up like they had some kind of statement to make, but that’s just me. I guess they weren’t hurting anyone so let them have their fun.
Actually, we didn’t get very far inside the building, it was rammed with Steam Punkers who are obviously immune to 21st Century viruses, well they must be because there were not many face masks on show, I suppose it would spoil the look.
We retreated and as Wendy was feeling thirsty, we took a drink outside the Royal Hotel and we watched the Steamers parade around the Whale Bone Arc area.
After the drinks, I walked over to take a photo of the pianist who plays his piano at the Whale Bone Arc. I bought a brilliant CD from him the other day but I forgot to take his picture. I’m glad I did because today he was in the mood for Steam Punk, well he did dress accordingly.
We walked all over town, and we found a few streets we had not seen before. I got my Vaseline and then we came across a very nice Micro pub where we sat down, rested our feet and had a very large glass of wine each.
From there we wormed our way back to the Whitby Pavilion where things had calmed down somewhat and we walked around the market stalls where Wendy bought Caroline and Robyn something very interesting each. I do hope they like it, Wendy seems certain they will, I do hope they do.
The sun was still shining brightly and we walked along the sea path, its not really a prom because its halfway down a hill, and we watched people scramble their stuff together as the tide came racing in. In fact, we did come across a few people who had been caught out by it.
As we were booked into a bar at 4:00 pm we lazily walked around and even sat on the golf course, in the sunshine to pass ten minutes.
As we waited in the pub for our dinner, we saw two lads walk away from their table outside and leave half of their pizza and chip supper on the table. Jeepers the seagull were down, en-mass in seconds. The lad’s almost full drinking glasses were knocked over and it was a right feeding frenzy. What bothered me most was that two 20 ish year olds just thought it acceptable to up and walk away and leave good food behind and think nothing of it.
Haven’t they heard about the starvation in Africa?
Supper was an utter delight; we were absolutely stuffed.
Everything was first class, the mash was really nice, the gravy too, the veg was cooked to perfection. There was a nice touch with a medium size Yorkshire pudding but the icing on the cake was the cauliflower cheese, which really was top drawer.
If we had one criticism, it was that they beef looked like it had been shop bought, it was very thinly sliced, but it was nicely cooked though.
The staff were all very friendly too, it really was well worth £13 a meal.
Pudding wasn’t an option for either of us, so we slowly dragged ourselves the last mile back to the caravan, where we sat outside in the hot evening sunshine enjoying a glass of wine.
Its moving day tomorrow, and as usual we had done as much prepacking as we can, the awnings away, the washing airer too and the extra long wing mirrors have been fitted to the car.
Tomorrow is our longest jaunt for a while, at around 130 something miles!
129 Miles
Paws!!!
I went out running at the same time as Wendy today and we went in different directions but we met yet again at the harbour and again I managed to get a hand slap from her. From there I went on a big adventure.
I ran along the River Esk, and when I thought I had run out of road when it terminated in a car park, I saw a sign saying, “Public Footpaths to Ruswarp!” I followed this path and although it was very narrow; it was a good running track.
At one point the river was very close to the track and there was a railway line to the right, although there was a fence which separated us.
I saw a woman coming towards me, and I could see that she had a dog with her. When she was about 10 metres away from me a train came, and because there was a footpath crossing a little further down line the driver sounded his horn, right beside the dog.
The dog bolted and ran right at me. I could not dodge it because the path was so narrow and I was also trapped by fencing on each side.
I quickly saw that the dog was a Doberman and he was built like a brick, you know what!
I had no options, I could not get out of his way so I very quickly thought two things are going to happen, good, or bad. Being a dog man, I thought the best thing I can do is show him I am nice. To do this I held both my arms wide and I gave him very, very friendly noises in the hope he would reciprocate.
It worked, he jumped on me and licked me to death, his tail was wagging his whole body and even though he had both of my arms in his jaws, it was in a very friendly kind of way and I cuddled him until his human mum could catch him up.
She was so apologetic and said that she could not grab him after the rain horn had spooked him. It was ok by me, all’s well that ends well, in my book, but thankfully it was me he charged and not a three year old toddler. I do think the train driver should have been a little more careful with his noisy horn as well!
I carried on along the track until I came to the village of Ruswarp where I found a really nice village, where after a drink from my bottle I turned around and returned to base.
It was another lovely sunny morning and again I was drenched in sweat.
After breakfast we took a quick ride to the service station to get some milk, because who knows what’s around us when we get to our next site, because today, we were going bush!
Thankfully the Satnav made us take a right turn out of the caravan site, and onto the very busy road north. I didn’t know that the North Yorkshire Moors extended beyond Whitby but the Satnav took us towards Guisborough, which was all across the moorland of the North York Moors, and the views were stunning.
For a stretch between Washington and just above Newcastle we were driving along the A1, from there we took the A69 Westwards.
After we left the A69 we meandered through some stunning countryside, and some very narrow lanes. Thankfully the traffic was light and we managed to make, slow progress.
We drove all around the southern shore of Kielder Water, along the west shoreline and past the northern part to the tiny village of Kielder.
We followed the very good instructions to the site, which is well out of the way and very much off the beaten track. We are about a half mile from the village, through massive woodlands and almost off road conditions.
I was a little disappointed to find no one at the reception of the site and so I had to ask a fellow camper where to park and how to pay my site fees.
We chose site 5 because we would have the woods to our left side and only one camper to our right.
The site is nice but the TV reception was very hard to find, we have no mobile service and again I had to ask my neighbour if we had Wi-Fi. Thankfully we have, but it doesn’t reach spot number 5, it would reach spot number 2, had we taken that before someone followed us and took that, but because we had not been prewarned, we didn’t know.
I have a very good saying, which I accredit solely to myself, and it is, “You don’t know, what you don’t know!”
I might have known had my host sent me some basic information about my stay here, instead of being firmly centred on paying a deposit by BACs transfer or my reservation would be re-let after five days. Some people really don’t know how to run the type of business they have decided to pursue.
After making camp we took a ride out to the village, we found the Post Office and shop which was closed, we found a housing estate and a pub where we had a pint in the garden.
I should have known from the outside of the pub, that this was one of those Slaughtered Lamb type pubs which was featured in the film, An American Werewolf in London. Everyone turned and looked at the city fella wearing a mask. Thankfully I can keep a cool look about me when faced with obvious localised hostility. It was a shame really because everyone sat outside was a visitor, but everyone inside, (and there were more of us than there was of them), was a local.
Never mind, I did enjoy my beer in the sun, although after looking at the owners housing quarters we don’t believe we will be dining with then during our stay.
We called in at Kielder Castle for a look around, however the castle is under major refurbishment and is currently closed, however there were a couple of food wagons outside and after talking to the young lady serving there, I do think that there is a possibility of us eating with them, weather dependent of course.
Here’s a few Kielder Castle, and then one Kielder Water facts:
We had BBQ Chinese pork and, very nicely spicey pork belly for supper, along with rice that we had forgotten to cook and which has been left in the microwave for 3 days, in stinking hot sun. We also took it with salad and it was an utter delight.
Tonight, is looking like we might have a really nice night sky, watch this space Avid Reader, it might find its way into tomorrow’s copy!
No Travelling
Adventure
I forgot to say yesterday that at our new site we share a tap with a neighbouring campervan, and as Wendy was getting the water butt to fill, I said, “Hold on Wendy, I’ll put the water contraption out and we can just keep it topped up from the tap when we need it”.
“How will that work” she replied.
I was a bit surprised at that, with her having watched me make the contraption in the garden.
I explained that it works just like the toilet cistern, her reply, “Well I don’t know how that works either”. I gave up at that point!
But the water contraption is out and I connect it to the tap occasionally and it’s working just fine!
Although we did have a stunning sunset last night, we didn’t have a fantastic night sky, it just got dark!
We must have needed the sleep, Wendy was fast asleep by 9:30 pm and I wasn’t long after, and we didn’t get out of bed until 7:30 am.
We both went out running, in different directions, I actually ran to Scotland as the border is exactly four miles away. I actually sat on top of the stone England sign and had my water break.
Back at the site, the campervan next door left us, and the tap all to ourselves so I had an uninterrupted hot shower.
We took a very nice and lazy morning and as Wendy made some sarnies for today’s adventure, I drove to the village shop to get some burger buns if possible. No, it wasn’t possible, there was a note on the door that said the shop was closed but the Post Office was still operating, please ring the doorbell for service.
I rang the bell and I apologised to the lady who answered the door, but could she point me in the direction of somewhere I could get some burger buns.
She told me the nearest shop is 5 miles away but that I might not get burger buns there.
Therefore, we changed supper plans, it was now going to be spicy chicken breast in a tomato sauce!
At midday we jumped onto our bikes, after lathering ourselves with Skin So Soft, to deter the midges, and we set off to cycle around Kielder Water.
Thankfully the weather was warm and the sun did occasionally come out.
The cycle track was great, it was the best track we have encountered so far; however, it was also the hilliest that we have encountered too. We took with us a pack up of ham and coleslaw sarnies, two cans of chilled beer, which had been carefully wrapped in my sweatshirt to keep cool, and a couple of breakfast bars.
The path was well signposted and we were on the waterside in no time at all. We made great progress and it was really interesting. We were passed by riders going the other way around and quite a few were doing it on electric bikes that you can hire locally. We chatted about if we should have hired them too, and we both concluded that it wouldn’t be the same sense of achievement if we had, so we plodded on.
We came to a small lakeside resort where the signposts seemed to have run out, but thanks to my tenacity I managed to find a way through. We did meet another couple on our way out of the resort, and they were having the same difficulty, but from the other direction. Luckily for them, we managed to set them on the right course.
We also came across a signpost that as we passed at speed was a little misleading. We were traveling along a peninsular and had I not looked at my Strava App map, we might have come to a point where we had already been. Having said that we had climbed a big hill completely unnecessary, Wendy was not happy with the sign designer’s and I think she would have happily throttled them had she been able to get a hold of them!
We got to our half way point at 14 miles and we took our lunch sat on boulders on the shoreline, and I have to say that Wendy had made some darn nice sarnies, the Tenants lager made it just perfect.
Here’s some halfway around Kielder facts:
After lunch we set off again and we were pretty soon riding on the dam wall. There is a spill way for when the dam gets too full of water, but as the water level was quite low it wasn’t in use.
However, there is an underground system that still supplies water to the original river that was dammed. This is what is called, “On compensation”. I know this from an old fella who I met on the Beauly River one day. He told me that when a dam is built, as there are quite a few along Glen Afric where the Beauly River comes from, that there is an obligation on the dam’s management to always allow a sufficient supply of water to maintain its original river running, and alive and kicking.
We crossed the dam and we were now on the return leg.
We only saw two lads on this leg, it was quite hilly, up and down and maybe it was beyond the capability of the electric bike.
I have to admit that the last few miles took their toll on both of us, but fair play to Wendy, after her five mile morning run, she did well to get up and over some of those hills, and she never complained once.
We got back to the caravan after doing 30.5 miles on our non-electric bikes and I have to admit we were both buggered.
After a well deserve shower, Wendy made a delightful supper.
Her last quote was that, “I intend to drink my body weight in wine tonight so that I will sleep until 8:00 pm tomorrow”, I might just do that too!
My last word for tonight is that, we are definitely now in, “The North of the North!”
No Travelling
Even More Adventure!
I woke at 6:30 this morning and I could hear the very fine droplets of rain falling calmly on the caravan roof, and then it chucked it down!
The noise was almost deafening so there was no chance of getting back to sleep. I got up and had breakfast and it was still raining so I got back in bed to wait it out before I went running.
I had a time in my head where I knew I would have to go out, rain or shine, and that was 8:30!
I started to get dressed in my running gear at 8:15 and as good luck would have it, by the time I was ready at 8:30, the rain had stopped. Wendy stayed in bed, blaming the rain for her none attendance at running class today, but I think she was tired from yesterday’s bike ride, I certainly was!
Today I had a running mission.
My mission was to check out what is called the Kielder Forest Drive.
We have seen that there is an off road track that connects Kielder to the A68 which is to the east of our location. If the road is suitable for our car, we could do a very nice circular route exploring in the car today. But if it wasn’t suitable, we would have to come up with a Plan B, because there was no way of doing the route without driving there and back on the same roads.
The road is a Forestry Commissions Road and there is a toll of £3.00 to use it.
I set off on my run and I soon realised that the 30 mile bike ride yesterday had left me more tired than I thought, and I was still in need of some more recovery time.
Anyway, off I set, and I found the road just adjacent to Kielder Castle.
I found the road to be well made, of decent size shingle and it didn’t appear to have any issues, such as rivers or fords to cross. I only ran along the road for 3.5 miles, but I was happy with what I saw.
There were some very big hills for me to climb which didn’t help my aching body, but at the end of it I was happy that the car could make it alright. From looking at my Strava App mapping I thought the road would be around 12 miles long.
By now the sun was out and the rain clouds had all blown away.
I got back to the caravan and after breakfast off we set in search of yet more adventure, albeit this was of the motorised kind.
I paid my £3.00 toll and off we set!
The road was fine, I drove at 20 mph and the car handled it well. I am a veteran of driving on unmade roads having driven to the top end of Australia, so this wasn’t any problem.
The road is single track and I had to pull over 3 times to let local traffic pass.
The scenery was stunning and the weather was just grand.
We got to the other side in 11.4 miles, so I wasn’t far out with my estimate.
Here is some info I later found out about the road:
“Kielder Forest Drive is a spectacular 12 mile drive on unsealed forest road, from Kielder Castle in the west to Blakehopeburnhaugh on the A68 in the east.
The Forest Drive is one of England's highest roads, cresting over 1500 feet at Blakehope Nick. Here the 'big sky' views over Northumberland are simply breath taking.
Please drive with caution and keep to the 20mph speed limit. It is not suitable for vehicles with very low ground clearance. The Forest Drive is through remote countryside without mobile phone coverage”
First, we visited the small village of Bryness which we found to be just an estate of what most likely used to be housing for forestry workers. It was all very nice but there was absolutely nothing there apart from housing, no shop, no pub!
We then drove down to the very nice village of Otterburn, which really is just a long road. However, the village shop was a little cracker, it was well stocked, as I guess they need to be around these parts, and it also had a small gift shop and a café. I bought a few supplies from the shop and then we headed off to the very beautiful village of Bellingham.
Bellingham really was a little cracker of a village. It had at least 3 pubs, a coop, a cracking little butchers’ shop, a bakery and a green grocer. There were also several little craft shops and we perused several of them, where from one I bought, what the lady behind the counter described as an, “Exceptionally nice” Orange, chocolate bar.
I also bought a pork pie from the butcher’s, it looked very tasty I might add.
We took a pint of beer outside the Rose and Crown pub, which was rather nice. The sun was out and it was a very pleasant experience. The bar was a little cracker too, a good old, traditional village pub, I loved its outside light, which had a Rose and a Crown in stained glass.
Just adjacent to the pub, there was a monument to the village men who had been killed in the Boer War of 1899 to 1902. There’s not many of those memorials around the UK!
Back in the car we drove back up to Kielder Water and we stopped off at the village where the dam is, Falston. It was a very nice little village, with a pub, which was closed for a private function.
The River North Tyne runs on the outskirts of the village and it is quite a nice little river.
We got back to the caravan and we explored our site a little further. There are some mobile homes just below us, which we think are hired out by the owners of our camp site. I’m sure that I had seen some caravans in the woods nearby so I thought we might be able to walk to the pub.
Sure enough we found a track that took us to a very nice campsite and then directly to the pub.
We sat outside the pub and we each had a very nice glass of white wine.
Most of the tables had sun shades and at one point a very big gust of wind suddenly blew through the garden and it lifted an umbrella clear of the table to about 20 feet in the air. It came down like a parachute out of control and it almost speared a man who was walking towards it. He wasn’t looking and he never saw it coming.
I only saw it land, but the woman at the table from where it came had plenty of time to call out a warning to him that he was in danger, but she didn’t, she just panicked and flapped her arms. The poor fella was nearly skewered!
The sky became a little overcast so we retraced our steps and we got back just in time to miss a rain shower that swept through the camp ground.
It’s now just gone 7:00 pm, supper was, Spicy Pork, Spicy Belly Pork and lots of lovely knock up by Wendy. The Spicy mushrooms were particularly delightful!
It was an empty fridge, use it all up meal, and a cracker it was too.
Tonight is going to be our last night in the caravan, because tomorrow, after a Lateral Flow Test, we hope to go and visit baby Rose for lots of cuddles.
70 Miles
Rose
We had some pretty dark sky’s last night and I thought that we were in for another downpour but it never came. Wendy was tucked up in bed by 8:30 pm, she was so excited about visiting Rose today that she needed to lose herself in sleep or she would die of waiting.
I watched an episode of Baptiste on the BBC I-Player and then turned in too.
It didn’t rain, or if it did, I never heard it!
I woke at 6:30 so did a very excited Wendy and we both were out running at 7:30.
I did my run to the Scottish Border and as Wendy had set off a little before me, I met her just as she was turning round to go back to the caravan.
Jeepers I was physically tired again this morning, I was bushed and consequently I posted a miserable running time.
Never mind though, the bike ride around Kielder Water was well worth it.
After my smoothie and a shower and two negative Lateral Flow Tests, we broke camp and by 11:30 we were on our way.
I had checked the distance to Alex and Robyn’s house a few days ago with the Satnav and it said 96 miles.
However, yesterday I put the Satnav on while I was driving back to the camp site, and we were on the main road, because I was curious as to which way it would take me, back down along the lake, or north through the Scottish Borders? The route showed as going north and it was now 69 miles, which puzzled me somewhat.
When I put the Satnav on this morning again it said 96 miles and the route it plotted was going to take us south and along the lake.
So, when it wanted me to turn left out of the village, I turned right instead of left, and within a mile it was showing a course through the Borders that was now 68 miles, how bizarre was that? I think it was trying to keep me in England as long as it possibly could.
The drive was lovely and we followed the Kielder burn for a good few miles before we branched off and we eventually came to the main Borders route into Edinburgh, the A68.
We made really good progress and we were entering Robyn’s housing estate at just gone 1:30 pm.
It was funny because as we just entered the estate we saw Robyn, walking Rose in her pram, and she looked like she wasn’t heading homewards.
Wendy got herself in a right pickle, “Where’s she taking Rose? I’m here now”
We got to the house and as I was uncoupling the caravan, Wendy ran down the road as Robyn and Rose were coming home. Apparently, Robyn was looking for a dropped kerb to get the pram across the road and that’s why she went past the passage into their road.
Rose has grown, it’s been over five weeks since we last saw her and she can now hold her head up, and she’s rather chatty and giggly and very, very cute.
As Alex was working from home Robyn, Wendy and me took Rose for a walk down the River in Musselburgh and it was rather nice, it was warm and there was a cooling breeze. Rose slept through the entire walk.
We passed the Air Cadets building and behind it was a large concrete arrow in the ground which was pointing out into the Firth of Forth.
The Arrow had been used in pilot training in WWII and the Air Cadets had restored it as it must have fallen into decline.
After I did a quick run around Tesco we were back at the house and I was starving hungry.
Before I filed tonight’s copy, I did some research on a structure that is on a very big hill just outside of Kielder Village. Its so high that you can see the structure from most parts of the Lake, and it is never out of sight whenever you’re in or around the village.
Here’s what I found:
Deadwater air traffic control radar installation is one of Kielder's most visible landmarks that can be seen from many locations within the Park. Sitting on top of the 1900' summit of Deadwater Fell and overlooking Kielder Village, the facility controls the local airspace for NATO jets that are often seen engaging in low-flying exercises over the Park.
Home tomorrow Avid Reader, just 180 miles, 120 of them on the A9, now that’s something not to get excited about!
178 Miles
Home
I as up at 5:30 am, I heard Rose doing a little cry and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I got up and had breakfast, as quietly as I could and then I tried to sort out our accounts. Being without Wi-Fi for 3 days wasn’t good for proper financial management as I couldn’t keep on top of the accounts.
I know I could get access at the Wi-Fi hotspot at the last camp site but I didn’t fancy taking all my receipts up and trying to work it out. Never mind, I managed to get the balance to within £6.70, in debt, and I paid it out, just to settle up.
I gave up, well the unaccounted loss of such a large amount of money doesn’t rest well with a Yorkshireman, so I put my running stuff on and I ran down to Musselburgh, and I followed the route that Rose and Robyn had showed me yesterday.
The route just after 3 miles follows the coast south, instead of my usual route which goes to the north. It was much quieter this way and I saw much more wildlife.
The tide was high when I got to the end of the River Esk and the mouth of the estuary was full of water fowl. There were quite a few swans, ducks and different varieties of geese, all happily paddling in the water.
I turned around and I got back to Alex, Robs and Rose’s house just after 9:00 am.
Wendy had done some packing from the caravan and had put it in the car, she did this because we are leaving the caravan behind so that we can come back next Saturday, clean it out and then take it to Berwick on Tweed on Monday for the Shepherds to use from Monday to Friday, while we stay in their house and roam the city of Edinburgh.
Anyway, Wendy had packed almost everything I wanted to use, and that I had left out for this very purpose, the scallywag.
After saying our goodbyes and kissing Rose to death, we left and headed north, and into traffic.
The Edinburgh bypass wasn’t so bad, but the M90 was a little busy.
The A9 was atrocious, it was chock a block until we passed the Drumochter Pass, from there we made good progress and we were home at around 3:30 pm, 45 minutes longer than it would normally take, but thankfully we were home.
Jeepers after almost being away for 6 weeks the garden is wild, and I’m not sure we will be able to turn it around before we head south again next week.
Anyway, that’s it for a little while, however more trips are planned in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled, Avid Reader.
Here are some statistics from this trip:
There’s been some cracking highlights, but I would say that two stick out for me, the few days we had with my Aunty Glennis and the weekend at Whitby, where we met up with my old school friend, Alison and her husband David.
Hang on, what about the epic bike rides we did:
178 Miles
Last of the Summer!
I have to say that although we have had a run of poor weather this summer, we have also had a very good, and long run of lovely, sunny summer weather, and this recent one just keeps on giving.
I went out running to the Fairy Glen, in the warm sunshine. The temperature was a little nippy at 14 degrees so I wore my jacket and two sweatshirts, but I never felt over heated at any time during the run.
The sciatica which appeared about a week ago, in my left leg, was still giving me gyp, but having taken 3 co-codamol tablets I was not only able to tolerate the pain, but I was also as high as a kite too!
I got back home just after 10:30 am and after my smoothie we packed the car very tightly with just about everything apart from the kitchen sink. Jeepers the car was packed tight, and I had even taken the back seats out too.
It is a tricky trip to pack for because our itinerary is very much varied, here it is:
I have been getting a little stick from close family members about the Greenock stage of the trip, but Avid Reader there is method in my madness, which will, hopefully unfold in the coming days!
After a brief trip into town to collect my new glasses and Wendy’s new swimsuit, we set off for a quick goodbye cuddle with Eleanor.
Eleanor had been to her Mother and Tots group meeting where this week’s theme was France, and she had just had her morning nap, so she was full of life and she was playing with her toys on her zoo themed mat. Obviously, I kissed and cuddled her as often as I could get away with it but we were soon heading down the A9 and into a sunny Friday afternoons traffic madness!
The traffic was busy, and our progress wasn’t helped by the Council Flatbed lorry that did 50 mph for about 20 miles. The scoundrel must never have looked in his rear view mirror because the queue of traffic behind him wound its way for mile upon mile.
The traffic at the Perth roundabout was horrendous and it was backed up to at least 2 miles, where we nudged our way along. Wendy was by now beside herself with anger at people driving down the left lane and then nipping in at the last opportunity. In fact, I had to give her a good, stern talking to about her attitude, and her language!
No sooner were we around the first roundabout when we were again stood at the roundabout for the M90, again we crawled along until we managed to get onto the motorway.
The M90 was fine until we hit the Queensferry Bridge where again, for some inexplicable reason, we crawled along.
Thankfully, when we were over the bridge, the Satnav took over and directed me away from the Edinburgh City Bypass to avoid the most of the tailbacks, although we did have to re-join at a later stage, where we did indeed crawl along again.
Four hours after kissing Eleanor goodbye, we were kissing Rose hello as Alex and her were waiting for us on the doorstep.
After unpacking the car, well what we only needed for our brief stay, I sat down and listened to the last of todays play of the cricket test match at Headingly, I had a nice slow glass of white wine to destress from my journey with my very stressed passenger!
Supper was a joint effort as Rose was bathed, fed and in her cot while everyone got stuck in. the effort from me was minimal, my thinking was that I had done enough just getting there!
For tonight’s meal we had trout, cooked on the barbeque, in newspaper, Jamie Oliver style, along with tuna, mackerel and a very nice prawn salad.
It was a real treat; the fish was all perfectly cooked as were the potato slices which had been oven baked. The samphire, being a new introduction to my palate, was very, very tasty.
After dinner, Alex did the washing up, Robyn settled Rose after a brief period of unsettlement, and we will all watch Master Chef on telly before I roll into my bed, and nestle down for a good night’s sleep!
No Travelling
Wedding Day
I did indeed have a good night’s sleep last night as I didn’t wake up until ten minutes to eight. Now that’s a lay in for me these days.
I went down to the kitchen and the house was very quiet, no one else was up, although Wendy had been down and made tea, which I found her drinking in bed when I woke up.
The sun was shining brightly and I enjoyed my tea and Bovril toast and as I wasn’t doing much today, I took a cup of coffee too, just because I could.
I went out running, but Wendy didn’t, Rose was out of her cot and so Wendy got stuck into helping her mum, by playing with Rose, while she got her stuff together for Rhianne’s wedding.
I ran down to Musselburgh in full sunshine, although it was a little chilly, it did indeed warm up soon enough.
The sea front was busy by now, it was going on 11:00 by the time I had taken my drink at the harbour, and people were out and about enjoying the weekend sun.
I listened to Test Match Special on the radio as I ran back and we took a very quick wicket, so I was hopeful we might get the Indian side bowled out before the day was over.
I got back to the house at around 11:30 and everything was in full swing. Alex had taken Rose for a walk while Robyn was still getting herself and Rose’s stuff ready for the big day.
I chilled out and watched the cricket on TV while having my smoothie and tea. Robyn made me a very tasty hot toasty as I had taken a liking to the one Alex had made for himself.
Wickets fell like rain in a tropical storm, they were all skittled out and before lunch too, that was a fantastic win and we only needed to bat one innings, it’s been a long time since England managed that.
Alex, Robyn and Rose left for the wedding sometime around 1:00 pm and before they went, I took what I thought was a lovely photo of them all in their smart clothes.
I thought it was lovely, Wendy didn’t because I didn’t get their shoes in the shot? I mean who wants to see shoes when I have a cute baby to capture. But on looking at the photo after they had left for the wedding, it was only then that I saw cheeky Rose poking her tongue out at me, the little minx!
With the house nice and quite I did a little work on my next travel plans, my autumn trip to Devon and Cornwall. I have now found campsites strategically placed all around both counties with only one more, the last one, to confirm if we can stay. I’ve also booked us into a few places on the way down so that we aren’t driving much further than 100 miles per day.
After finishing up we took a drive into Musselburgh for a walk along the coast and down to the harbour. Jeepers, it was even busier than it was this morning and we had to do a few zombie dodging to get ourselves safely there.
The sun was now blazing and I could not for the life of me think that we have had such good weather, so late on in the summer. Usually, we get the odd day here and there but at home the sun has been out and the temperature as been in the mid 20’s for a good while now. I’m not complaining mind, there’s nowhere nicer than the UK on a hot summer’s day.
After getting to the harbour, I saw that the fish mongers were open, its just a few yards back from the harbour but it’s always been closed when I have been there. We took a walk in and we were amazed at the variety of fish they had to sell, the even had swordfish! The scallops were huge too, but we settled on some very nice looking smoked salmon, which we would have with some crusty white bread, that I had still to buy in Tesco’s.
We called into a bar for a drink outside and while Wendy sat outside, I went in for the drinks. I didn’t hang about in there as no one was wearing a mask, not even the barman, so I legged it and found another bar, with a great outdoor bar and a seating area with some spare tables going.
I ordered our drinks which were brought out to us and we noticed that we had dropped on a wedding venue, as the bride and groom were having their photos taken.
The sun was nice, the beer was very nice too and we had a very pleasant twenty minutes watching the assembled wedding guests enjoying themselves.
On the way home I did indeed get my crusty bread from Tesco’s, along with some other items. I actually left a pack of three bars of soap at the self-checkout, but thankfully I remembered when I got back to the car and I ran back to get them.
They were still there but the till attendant asked me if I had scanned them before I could leave. I said I would hardly come running back for items that I hadn’t paid for, would I? Would anyone be that cheeky?
Back at the house and I was just settling down to relax when Robyn called and told me that Rhianne and forgotten to take her wedding guest book with her and that she had left it at home. The plan was to get a taxi to go to the venue, collect her house keys and then bring them here to me so that I could go and get the guest book, which I would drop off when we went to collect Rose.
I told Robyn not to bother with the taxi as it would be expensive, so we drove to the venue, 12 miles away, collected the keys, drove 20 miles to Rhianne’s house where Wendy nipped in and got the guest book, and then the Satnav took us through the city of Edinburgh back to the venue so that we could drop the guest book and collect Rose.
But, in the end it was well worth it as we got to see Rhianne and Calum, I even got a few nice big smackers too, one from Rhianne, one from her mum, Florence, and one from her sister Becca. Ian, Rhianne’s dad even insisted he buy us a drink for our troubles.
Apparently, Rose had been a good girl and I could see that everyone loved her, in fact Becca insisted on one last cuddle with her.
We got back home around 7:45 pm and Wendy had Rose in her jimjams double quick and a bottle ready soon after. Rose took a little time to settle, well it has been a big day for her but with my help I had her soon settled down and then we ate our salmon sandwiches.
Rose is now fast asleep in her cot, in my bedroom, on my side of the bed. It’s been 31 years since her mother slept in her cot, in my bedroom, I wonder how the night will go?
Night, Night Avid Reader, I’ll let you know in tomorrow’s copy!
74 Miles
Babysitting!
Baby Rose was as good as gold all through the night. She never made a fuss, she stirred a little and I gave her bottom a little pat and she was back off into the land of nod. She did stir again at 6:00 am and as I looked down at her, Wendy said, hook her in here. In an instant she was in bed with me and she nestled down for another good couple of hours.
I got up at 7:00 and made my breakfast, I took Wendy some tea in bed and Rose was still asleep. I had my breakfast, I watched the news, I washed and got my gear ready to go out and she was still asleep.
This was a no brainer, I got back in bed and looked at her for almost another hour, and she just laid there, fast asleep with the cutest smile on her face.
I forced myself out of bed at five minutes to eight, I got dressed and went down stairs where Robyn was preparing a bottle for Rose. After about ten minutes I was just going out when I got a text message from Wendy, which said:
“1 tea and 1 bottle please”
Rose was obviously awake, although she did it without any fuss.
I made the tea and Robyn finished the bottle and she took them up to the waiting customers, I eventually went out.
I ran down to Musselburgh again, I was going to go to Dalkeith but I fancied a run along the coast. In town I crossed the River Esk by way of the Electric Bridge. The Electric Bridge is, what I thought was a wide pedestrian bridge, and I had no idea why it was called the Electric Bridge.
It’s been closed since Alex and Robyn have lived there, with big gates keeping people out. But for the last few days it’s been open, so when I stopped at the harbour for a drink, I did a bit of Googling!
The Electric Bridge was built by Scottish Power to carry traffic involved in the construction in the 1960s of coal-fired Cockenzie Power Station. It was occasionally opened to relieve pedestrian congestion during large gatherings at Musselburgh Races, but as Scottish Power no longer needed it and after the power station closed, the bridge was closed to all traffic.
After a lot of too-ing and fro-ing the council bought the Electric Bridge from Scottish Power in a bid to stop “tensions” between pedestrians and cyclists on a nearby footbridge. I can see why tensions would arise because the adjacent footbridge is very narrow and a cyclist and a pedestrian cant pass at the same time without the cyclist dismounting, and we all know they don’t like to do that!
The tide was high when I got to the harbour which isn’t often the case, and all the boats in the harbour were able to leave if their owners so wished. The time that the tide is high enough to escape is very narrow and many boat owners were preparing to make their way out to sea.
I got back to the house and got ready to leave and after more cuddles with Rose, we made our farewells and set off for the west coast to the town of Greenock.
The journey was fine, we drove mainly on the M8 which is mostly a two lane motorway connecting Edinburgh and Glasgow.
In 1991, a group was set up with the intention of creating an ‘art corridor’ on the M8 motorway, which was designed to brighten the route up and turn it into a talking point.
Currently there are four artworks:
We saw them all apart from the Heavy Horse and I have to say that, in my humble opinion, they are a complete waste of taxpayers’ money!!!
As we drove, I listened, on the radio, to the Old Firm Football Match between Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic. Rangers won, One – Nil.
We got to our Premier Inn, which is built alongside the Clyde Estuary, at 1:30 pm and because check in these days at Premier Inn’s isn’t until 4:00 pm we took a walk into the town of Greenock.
Firstly, we strolled along the river walk which was very nice in the afternoon sunshine. We then diverted into the town and again strolled around. The town was very quiet and we walked around until we found the Wetherspoons Bar where we had a drink and shared a BBQ chicken wrap and a portion of chips. The bar was almost empty and we found a very nice cubicle to eat our meal.
Across from the bar there were some steps, lots of them mind, that eventually led to a very nice, small park, which had a very respectful war memorial.
We found Greenock to be a nice enough town from a structural point of view but there was an element of “Neddishness”, about from some of the locals we bumped into.
It was funny that the blue football shirts of Glasgow Rangers came out and about when the game was won by them, we didn’t see any green hooped shirts of Celtic Fans by the way.
I’m sure, Avid Reader, that your aware of the hostilities that this football fixture creates and being only slightly west of the city of Glasgow I am sure that the environment it creates there is almost the same in Greenock!
At 4:00 pm we tried to check into the hotel but we were told our room wasn’t ready and that we would have to wait 15 to 20 minutes.
Wendy was not happy; I wasn’t either actually as I had dragged our heavy bags down from the far end of the car park.
Never mind, we restowed the bags into the car and we drove the four miles to the small nearby town of Gourock.
What a smashing little place we found Gourock to be.
Gourock has a small High Street with local shops which just about catered everybody’s requirements, but its main feature was its walkways along the Clyde Estuary.
We walked a mile along the route in a westward direction and the views were truly stunning.
The sun was now out in force and it was very warm, it was warm enough to walk around in shorts and T-Shirts, it was lovely.
As we neared the car I bought some ice from a small supermarket, for the cool box and we headed back to thankfully check into our hotel room.
The room is rather nice, as Premier Rooms go, but alas we don’t have a Clyde side view, but nor do we have the side factory view that some people find themselves have.
Its now gone 7:20 pm and Wendy is already in her Jim-jams, I on the other hand am fancying taking a drink down to the waterside and getting a deck chair out of the car and watching the night sky come in!
No Travelling
The Isle of Bute!
I watched the new BBC TV series, Vigil, last night, I wasn’t really impressed with it and the actors all seemed a bit wooden, and false. I’ll give it one more episode before deciding not to watch it.
I did sleep like a log last night, from 10:00 to 07:00, and I could have turned over and gone back to sleep when I woke up, but as we had a ferry timetable to meet, I thought it best to get moving.
The weather was overcast when I went out running, but it was still quite warm and humid.
I ran in a westerly direction along the Clyde Coastal Walk, and I really enjoyed it, in fact had it not been for painful sciatica I would have said it was the perfect place to run.
As I ran along the pavement, I kept coming across little knitted animals which had been placed on the bench seats. On the way back I read a note that had been tagged onto one set, and apparently, they have been knitted to make people smile, and they certainly made me smile! How nice of someone to do that!
I got back to the hotel and I found that I had not packed my bananas so I couldn’t have my morning smoothie, never mind. I finished the sarnies that Wendy made at Robyn’s the day before, and although they were a bit dog eared, they were pretty tasty.
We drove down to Wemyss Bay which is about 9 miles down the coast, to catch the Cal Mac Ferry over to the Isle of Bute.
The instructions to board said that we should be there at the slipway ten minutes before sailing time, but we got there at 30 minutes before sailing time and it’s a good job we did, because we just got into the last lane to board.
The crossing takes about 25 minutes and you have to get out of your car and go into the lounge or café. We took seats in the café and then a big gang of O.A.P’s from a tour bus all strolled in and not one of them was wearing a facemask, not one of them.
A tannoy announcement was made by the skipper of the vessel, “This is the Captain Speaking, I would like to remind everyone that face coverings have to be worn on all forms of transport in Scotland and that also means vessels at sea”.
Well, what a laugh we had, every one of them tried to sneakily put on a face mask and as they were all gathered together at the far corner of the lounge, suddenly a sea of face coverings appeared and they all tried to look like they hadn’t been caught being naughty!
With the fun all over we made our way out on to the forward deck and watched us sail over to the Isle of Bute.
The crossing was really very easy as the sea was flat calm, and we were tied alongside in no time at all.
As the Island is only about 12 miles long, we decided to drive around the island and then finish off by having a walk around the island’s main town, Rothsay.
To start we headed to the north of the island where there is a much smaller ferry that covers the short crossing over to the mainland. This area of the mainland is a very remote area and not many vehicles use this as an entry point on to the island.
The north of Bute is quite hilly and has lots of forestry planted, but as you get further south it turns in to beautiful farming land, both arable and cattle.
We travelled down the west coast to a small village called Straad which was very nice, with great outlooks over to the Kintyre Peninsular.
As we had passed an interesting looking telephone box on the way into Straad, I drove back and took a look at it, and I’m glad I did.
The phone box had been converted into a library come small craft shop, where a local artist had an honesty box where she was selling her work. I bought Wendy a small box of tablet and it was bloody yummy. Wendy bought some cards too, so all in all it was very profitable for the artist.
We didn’t manage to get to the most southerly point of the island, the closest we could get was about a half a mile away, but has we would have to have crossed close to a farmer’s house we didn’t want to disturb them so we drove back along the coast and up to Rothesay.
I have to say the housing stock on Bute is very, very grand and it looks very expensive too. There were very few dilapidated properties so I guess Bute was, at some point in time, the place to be.
We parked up on the main road and we had a very nice stroll around town, we called into a very nice, quiet bar for a beer and then on the way back to the car we bought fish and chips x 2 at the very famous Zavaroni’s Fish and Chips Shop. My older Avid Readers will remember the very famous child singer and performer Lena Zavaroni, who came from Bute, and her parents did indeed have a chippy in Rothsay.
We did intend to eat the chips in the car while waiting to board the ferry, but no sooner had I opened them than the loading officer was pointing at me for me to board.
I finished my chips on the top deck in the improving sunshine and they were delicious!
We drove back along the coast and after a little shopping in Tesco, where I was shocked at the number of empty shelves, we went back to the hotel for a much deserved cup of tea and an almond croissant.
When we were fully relaxed, we took a long walk into town, along the Clyde and it was a really lovely, sunny evening.
I’m thinking of an extra early night’s rest tonight, as I fancy we have another adventure planned for tomorrow.
But before I file tonight’s copy, I must tell you about two very famous men who were born in Greenock:
James Watt – A very famous engineer who further developed the steam engine to make it far more efficient, which in turn, along with coal, powered the Industrial Revolution.
Abram Lyle – Sugar refiner and developer of the very famous Golden Syrup. The brand, sold in a distinctive green and gold lidded tin with an image of a lion surrounded by bees, is believed to be Britain's oldest. The design of the tin decoration, which includes a biblical quotation, has remained almost unchanged since 1885.
Finally, for my elder Avid Readers, here’s a link to Lena Zavaroni performing her most famous song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J09IeN-ONbk
No Travelling
Great Cumbrae
Well, we had yet another smashing morning again today, but come what may, a man with a large crow bar and pull lifts could not get Wendy Gill out of her bed this morning. She had been asleep since 9:30 last night and it was now 07:00 am. As I left, she was making herself another cup of tea and going back to bed for another sleep.
The views were stunning as I ran along the Clyde and I could see porpoise swimming and leaping at the bow wave of a passing cargo ship, it was a lovely site to see.
As I was running back, I passed a young woman with a little boy of about four years old. As I ran on, I could hear someone behind me. It was the young fella, running to catch me up, I let him and he ran with me for a about 100 yards. I think he would still be with me now had I not stopped and pointed him in the direction of his mum. He didn’t want to go back, he wanted to play with me, but I held out an told him that his mummy needed him back. So, with a slight push on his back, off he went running back, and I got a lovely, friendly wave from his mum.,
I got back and Wendy had risen from her bed and was ready to go out.
I had my smoothie, using ice I had bought from Tesco the night before, which had kept good shape in the cool box. I didn’t have time for a cup of tea as we were pushed to get going if we were going to make the 11:30 ferry to the Island of Cumbrae.
We got to Largs with 5 minutes to spare but I could not find anywhere to park because the Fair was in town and they had fully occupied the large and only car park close to the ferry terminal.
I dropped Wendy off, along with the back pack at the terminal and I went on the scout for a parking space. Luckily, I found one, about 1/3 of a mile away. I ran back to the terminal just has the ferry was casting off!
Never mind it was only a 10 minute crossing and the next ferry over was in 30 minutes time.
We spent the time walking around the small resort town of Largs, which Wendy found had better shops than we do in Inverness, which is a very big bug bear of hers.
We boarded the ferry and settled down for the crossing, we sat outside because there were quite a few foot passengers on board and we didn’t want to mingle inside.
On deciding to go over to Cumbrae and not Dunoon as I had originally planned, was because I like to go to out of the way places, and Wendy wanted to undertake a long walk, so going to Cumbrae we could do both.
Last night I did a bit of Googling and I found a fairly nice, circular walk taking in the highest point of the island and visiting the main, and only town on the island, Millport.
I had downloaded the instructions to my phone therefore once we had landed, we set off with purpose and strode off along the main road, leaving all the other foot passengers boarding the bus which takes them along the coast road directly to Millport.
Within 400 metres we headed up along a farm track and into some pretty magnificent countryside. We found that the island looks extremely lush and fertile and that the farming is all cattle and arable farming. There wasn’t a sheep to be seen!
As we walked, we picked and grazed on some of the sweetest blackberries I have ever tasted!
The path climbed and we began to follow a minor road which wound its way upwards. The sun was out and we were quite warm so our jumpers went into the backpack.
We passed a mineral well that’s been formed into a very distinct stone seating area, again the views were stunning from here, overlooking the Isle of Bute.
We carried on and eventually we came to the peak of the highest point, the Glaid Stone. The naturally occurring Glaid Stone marks the highest point of Great Cumbrae at 417ft. It has a trig point and viewpoint marker and the views from the top are simply outstanding.
We thought we might have the place to ourselves, but it was mobbed. The OAP ramblers club had decided to make the hill there destination today. Jeepers were they noisy, they ganged together too like some super spreading event, the silly buggers.
Thankfully they moved on and left us to savour the views.
As we carried on along the road, heading towards Millport, we had to nip around the ramblers, there must have been about 30 of them, and they were still rabbiting on to each other.
We had to run past the last four because they hogged the entire width of the road. Now I know why they are called ramblers, all they did was ramble on, and it took us half a mile before we lost the noise they were making.
Our first point of call at Millport was the very famous cathedral, the Cathedral of the Isles and it’s reported to be the smallest cathedral in Europe, but unfortunately it was locked up.
From there we entered the town of Millport and we were very pleasantly surprised that it is a stunning place that had a good number of small independent shops. There were several bike rental shops, with the emphasis being on electric bikes. There is a circular road which runs all around the shoreline of the island and it is promoted as a kind of North Coast 500 for cyclists, well, it is only ten miles long.
We strolled around the town and popped into a few shops,
We came across The Wedge!!!
Known as The Wedge, the world's narrowest house (as recognised by the Guinness book of World Records) is situated in Millport on Great Cumbrae, just off the North Ayrshire coast. Downstairs, the property has a small porch and lounge/kitchen. Upstairs, a bedroom and bathroom/shower-room.
Approximately 22 feet long and 11 feet wide at its widest point (6.7 m by 3.35 m), the front measures just 47 inches (1.19 m), providing just enough width to accommodate the front door. Built in 1875, the house was rented as a holiday home in recent years.
In May 2001, the house was advertised for sale at £27,000. The final price was not released, although the new owners were reported to have applied for permission to add a further floor.
In September 2002, a news item noted that The Wedge would sleep four, and was being let from £275 a week.
We bought a hot scotch pie each from the local butcher, which we ate on a bench while sea gulls watched in expectation.
After the pie we had a very nice beer in a local bar, I say local because it was at the far end of town where tourist don’t seem to go, well that is apart from us two!
Fully refreshed we walked the 3 miles north bound, along a minor road to catch the return ferry. Thankfully the 4:30 ferry wasn’t busy, so we sat in the lounge along with about four other couples, all spaced out.
We landed back at Largs just after 5:00 pm and we had our supper in Wetherspoons.
I did a boob with the app, well actually I think the app boobed because Wendy’s meal never arrived, even though her drink did.
Wendy went to enquire where her food was and then the mistake was identified, I had not ordered it nor paid for it. The young manageress was lovely, she brought Wendy her chicken burger out almost immediately and when I asked how to make payment, she told me not to worry, she would fiddle the books!
We finished with a final tour of Largs, but having walked nine miles on Cumbrae we were feeling a little shattered so we were glad to find the car and after a brief stop at Tesco for supplies we got back to our room.
As soon as tonight’s copy is filed, I am running a bath and soaking my weary bones, it’s been another really cracking day and I can some day see me going back over to Millport to enjoy a weekend break, along with riding the circuit, on a rented electrical bike!
More Wedge Fact!!!
22 Miles and 74 Miles
Stunning Sunshine
What an absolutely, stunningly sunny morning we woke up to, it was dazzling!
I went out running and Wendy went just before me.
The run starts along the Clyde Coastal Path, which is just behind the hotel. The path then runs for a mile and then goes in a little so you go around a marina, then it’s back to the river before we have to nip well inland as this is where the Greenock Ocean Terminal is.
Greenock Ocean Terminal is a general purpose port with Stevedore services available but each time I have been passing the place seems to be crammed with shipping containers.
Apparently, it can serve large ships and the biggest it as accommodated to date had the following dimensions:
Beam - 50.00m
Draft - 12.00m
LOA - 372.00m
When I had passed the port and re-joined the Clyde on what is called the Promenade, a huge Cruise Ship was just about to dock. The ship looked stunning against the clear blue sky.
The ship was the MSC Virtuosa, which is a 181,541 tonne vessel which can carry 6,334 passengers with 1,704 crew members. The vessel was put into use in 2021 and it cost €800,000,000, which is £687,548,000 at today’s exchange rate!
Wow, now that is some price tag!!!
I carried on running and turned around after my drink stop and then returned to see the ship docked and passengers disembarking and then trying to get a taxi home. I guess they hadn’t been anywhere warm because each and every passenger I saw looked like they hadn’t seen the sun in the last year, let alone the last two weeks.
I got back to the hotel and Wendy was washed and dressed and had packed almost everything away.
The sun was still out in a cloudless sky and the temperature was nudging 22 degrees when we set off for the short distance for the town of Port Glasgow.
Port Glasgow is just a little over 2 miles up river from Greenock and it was formed some years ago because it is the last point on the Clyde that can accommodate large ocean vessels as the Clyde closer to Glasgow is far too narrow and shallow for them.
We parked on the main street and took a short walk around the town. It only had four streets really, in fact is much smaller than Inverness, but it had some really lovely looking large stone buildings, albeit they did appear to have seen better days.
We crossed the main road and strolled along the Clyde for a few hundred yards and I found out that the town was a place where ships were manufactured, in fact a large Caledonian MacBryane Ferry was in the dock and undergoing some kind of restoration work.
We got back to the car after an hour and we drove a short way out of town so that we could take a Covid lateral flow test. The test, which only take a few moments to do, always make me gag, it gets me every time. Thankfully as we drove to our next destination, we saw that our results were indeed negative.
Two weeks ago, I ordered a new external light for the caravan because the old ones not been working for some time now, not that it’s been a problem in the summer months but as the nights draw in it would be good to have.
By pure luck the place I had ordered it from was just 22 miles away and I had arranged with the lady who I ordered it from that I would call from Port Glasgow to see if it was in so I could collect it. My luck was in, she had it and so off we drove, down to the small village of Beith.
I collected the light fitting without any hassle and we decided to take a look around Beith as it was somewhere we had never been before, in fact I have never been in this area of Scotland at all.
Our luck had to run out, but it wasn’t such a bad thing, it was half day closing in town and all the shops were shut up tight, the only place open was the betting shop, of course it would be!
We found the town to be very small, just a couple of streets but I did happen upon a very large brass plaque that detailed the story of Jamie Montgomery.
In 1750, Robert Shedden, a merchant from Beith who was living in Virginia, purchased a slave boy named Jamie for £56. Two years later he sent the boy to Beith where he was apprenticed to his brother-in-law, a carpenter. Shedden planned to return Jamie to Virginia after a while where he would be worth more as a slave trained in carpentry.
Shedden and several other men woke him one night, tied his hands and led him along back roads to Port Glasgow in order to put him on a ship bound for Virginia.
Jamie escaped and fled to Edinburgh where he obtained work as a carpenter, but he was arrested and imprisoned in the Tollbooth.
Jamie was represented by a Procurator Fiscal who was going to make the defence case as being that no man can own another man, but sadly Jamie died in prison before he could plead his case.
However, this line of defence was taken up some years later with the successful release of the slave who went onto lead a full and active, free life.
Well, it just goes to show, there’s a tale to be found in many a place!
As we were driving back over to Alex and Robyn’s house for the night and I didn’t want to take the M8 motorway back, I set the sat nav to none motorway journey and we had a brilliant drive across the central belt countryside.
We came across a small town, Harthill, and I was surprised to find that the place was adorned with Union Flags. I also saw one other flag, The Red Hand of Ulster, so I new I was deep in Loyalist country, and indeed I was, and it was nice to see!
We stopped off for a drink and a toilet break just south of Bathgate and we enjoyed a beer in the garden of a pub in lovely warm sunshine.
We were at Robyn’s for around 4:30 pm and after lots of cuddles with Rose, and Alex leaving for football training, Robyn made us a most delightful salmon and rice supper.
After a shopping expedition to Tesco for tomorrows supplies, we saw a beautiful sunset on the return drive.
And that’s it for today, tomorrow another adventure starts, this time with two babies tagging along!
54 Miles
Holidays
There was very thick cloud around when I went out running this morning, in fact it could have passed as any morning in November, the only thing it had going was it was still quite warm.
I went down to the harbour in Musselburgh and for the first time ever the tide was just creeping into the harbour when I got there. By the time I had had my drink stop the water seemed to be racing in.
I got back to Robyn’s house and after my smoothie and tea I watched a couple of overs of the cricket with Rose and then I went and got showered.
The next thing I did was I drove down the road, about a quarter of a mile to the builders merchants, Jewson, as I wanted some postcrete for my next building project, Wendy’ summer house. I bought five bags, at almost double the price it was last year and loaded them into the car amongst all of our holiday stuff. I bought the postcrete because you cannot get it in Inverness for love nor money. For some reason any concrete based product is currently very hard to find and the price of it has gone through the roof. It’s the same with timber too!
I got back to the house and we loaded the last of our bags into the car and left Rose and Robyn at the house. They were going to collect Alex from his work at around 2:00 pm and then bring him to our holiday let in the small Fife resort of Lower Largo.
I had made a slight boob in setting the Satnav because when I loaded the address of our destination the route was taking me over the Kincardine Bridge, adding at least 25 miles to our journey. I went in the house and told Wendy and Robyn, and Robyn caught me out straight away, I had left the Satnav settings on avoid motorways from the trip yesterday. When I adjusted it, the distance did indeed drop and we were now going over the much shorter route over the Queensferry Bridge.
The road to the bridge was light with traffic and we were over in good time.
We set off early so that we could call into the nearby town of Kirkcaldy, which although I have been through many times on the train, I have never got off and visited the town.
It was still very overcast when we arrived at about 1:30 pm but it was getting brighter.
We made our way to the Wetherspoon’s bar which we duly bagged, its’ called the Robert Nairn.
The pub is named after a member of the Nairn family, helping to put Kirkcaldy on the map. In 1847, Michael Nairn started a floor-covering factory. He was so successful that others set up similar businesses, and Kirkcaldy became renowned as the ‘linoleum centre of the world’. One of the Nairn’s many gifts to the town included the land (donated by Robert Nairn) to build the Trustees Savings Bank (TSB) – which is now the Wetherspoon pub.
After a drink we headed into town and found that Kirkcaldy is one very, very long High Street.
The High Street is just one street back from, and running parallel to the coast.
It’s a nice enough High Street but there weren’t many small independent shops, in fact a lot of shops had been closed and it was beginning to look like the town is falling into decline.
We walked the entire High Street and then we walked down to the coast and walked all the way down to what I can only describe as being a very tired harbour.
Actually, from a sea worthy point of view the harbour is a very safe haven, with a good solid sea wall protecting the outer harbour, with a narrow canal that then leads to a similar sized inner harbour. Residential housing had been developed around the harbour but they seemed not to integrate with the harbour as I have seen to good effect in other coastal towns. Its like the town is embarrassed by the harbour.
After checking out the town hall we set off for our final destination at around 2:40 pm which would get us to our property at the allotted time of just gone 3:00 pm.
We arrived at Lower Largo at 3:10 pm and we found it to be a very tiny resort, but thankfully the Satnav dropped me right at the required address. I parked up and I went in to collect the keys from the bar which is next door. The landlady was lovely, and she told me where I could park to unload the car, and then where I could find the car park and safely park the car.
As Wendy went inside the house I parked up and unpacked the car. No sooner had I done so when Alex, Rose and Robyn arrived. We unpacked them and I took Alex to the car park.
We all took a little walk to see the beach and I saw a sign in a shop window where someone was advertising boarding for dogs, with hourly and two hourly rates. I, stupidly thought this was like in California where people take their dogs out on surf boards and I was immediately ridiculed by Alex and Robyn, but now I’m thinking about it again, I might just be right. I’ll check the advert again tomorrow, just to be sure!
After we had all settled back in the house, Brad, Caroline, and Eleanor arrived so the same routine with unpacking was undertaken yet again.
After we had all finally settled in, we took all our stuff down to the very close beach and as the sun had cleared away all the clouds, we had an afternoon at the beach.
This is one really lovely place, our house is nice and clean, we have decent sized bedrooms and we are not 30 feet from a stunning beach.
No sooner had we settled on the beach, the paddle boards were inflated and Bradley and Robyn were out paddling on the Firth of Forth in brilliant sunshine.
Me, I was in between the house and the beach, cooking a delightful batch of pork ribs at the house and sorting base camp out.
I did a little of throwing the cricket ball with Alex, but somewhere in between running between camp and the kitchen Alex had joined Robyn with his paddle board and Bradley was out at sea swimming near them, in his wetsuit mind!
When the ribs were nearly ready, Alex cooked the steaks on the bbq and after I brought the ribs over, everything was finally put together, we then had one almighty meat feast.
The ribs were cooked to perfection and the steak was very tasty too.
After supper the sun nipped behind the building behind us and it was time to take the babies home as they were tired and ready for their cots.
Getting two babies ready for bed at the same time was a bit of a situation but it seemed to work out OK.
At around 8:30, Alex and Brad took me to the pub next door for a couple of drinks which was really nice. The pub is a real cracker, I loved it, it has a really good selection of real ales and the atmosphere is really welcoming.
Just as I was finishing my drink Alex got a text from Robyn saying that the power was off on the sockets in the house. I went to take a look and I found a fuse tripped. When I reset the fuse the people in the outside bar, which is just outside our back door and kitchen, cheered. I nipped out and enquired if I had reset their power too and apparently I had, the lights and the heaters had all come back on.
I think somethings not quite right in the electrical department in this house, I’ll have to investigate this matter a little further tomorrow, I think!
No Travelling
Sea Food Supper!
I was up nice and early after a good night’s sleep, and both babies seemed to settle down although Rose managed to blag her way into her mum and dad’s bed for the night.
Wendy went out running just before me, and as she left Robyn came dashing in to our bedroom like an excited Labrador puppy. Her cousin Lily, who is due with her first baby, had changed the name of their WhatsApp chat group to include two babies. This to Robyn was a coded message about the birth of a baby girl.
Soon enough the news was confirmed, we have a new beautiful baby girl, Joy Angela Brooks.
Eventually I went out running and I tried to find the Fife Coastal Path, which according to local notice boards was well signposted, it wasn’t!!!
I did find a rough direction of the track and I passed Wendy who was returning, but all I came to was a golf course which is where I lost the track completely and ended up managing to do a circular loop around the course, and I found my way coming back on myself!
The weather was a little overcast again and there was a slight drizzle in the air, it was more like a traditional harr than a rain shower.
As I came into the village, I came across the statue of Robinson Crusoe.
Appartanely it is believed that Lower Largo is famous as the 1676 birthplace of Alexander Selkirk, who provided inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. The house that now stands at his birthplace on 99-105 Main Street features a life-sized statue of Selkirk wearing self-made goatskin clothes, scanning the horizon. A signpost at the harbour points to Juan Fernandez Islands some 7,500 miles distant, where Selkirk lived for more than four years as a Castaway.
I got back to the house and everyone was up and about and both babies were playing nicely.
The house has a small lounge which is quite cosy when we are all in together but its nice enough and the beds very comfortable. The shower in our bedroom is absolutely cracking and I had a lovely long shower after my smoothie.
We have a restaurant just across the road from the house which, we think specialises in sea food, after a good assessment of the menu I booked a table for six adults and two babies for 5;00 pm. This time would give us the time needed to have an enjoyable meal and not keep the babies up too late.
As we were trying to synchronise two babies from two different households to be ready together over the weekend, Alex, Robyn, Wendy and me took Rose for a short walk around the village while Brad and Caroline got Eleanor ready for the day.
The village is just lovely with very nice properties with very good views across the Firth of Forth. The weather was still overcast but it was reasonably warm enough for us not to be uncomfortable.
The village is also very well catered for with regards to amenities, there is a very nice pub, an excellent restaurant, a good village shop and a nice small café. The village is nowhere near the size of Kirkhill and yet we don’t have any of these facilities.
As we walked around, we came across at least four gates with intricate wooden carvings which have been brightly painted. They were really interesting to look at and I think they could really be considered to be works of art.
Here’s what I found about the largest set we came across:
They are carved and painted Scottish oak, and they are about 2.23 metres wide
This particular gate was commissioned and took about 3 months to carve and paint. There are at least 20 coats of paint and varnish on it. This kind of work has more than a passing affinity with ships figureheads. The scene is a panorama of the Main St with artistic conjecture of what it might have looked like a hundred years ago.
I would really love one of these gates in my garden!
We got back to the house and Eleanor was ready for an outing so we loaded ourselves into two cars, I went with Rose while Wendy went with Eleanor and we set off to reconnoitre the farm shop which is located just a few hundred yards east of the village of Elie.
Robyn and Caroline have an idea to go shopping there over the weekend and with never going before, they wanted to see what the layout of the shop and what was on offer.
As soon as they got there, they did indeed like what they saw and I suspect that they have eyed up exactly what they want to buy!
With the two mums satisfied with what they had seen, we reloaded into the cars and drove to the village of Elie where the Cous Mobile was utilised with me taking first dabs on driving the girls.
Our first port of call was a small, outdoor café where we had a coffee while Robyn gave Rose her bottle. Eleanor stayed in the Cous Mobile and Wendy and me took turns to keep her amused by pushing her around the harbour area, something that I very much liked doing!
With Rose now happily fed we took a walk around the village with both Robyn and Bradley buying Baby Joy a welcome card in a local gift shop. As we strolled along, Robyn and me nipped into a very nice delicatessen so we could buy a selection of cheese for a nibble later on.
As time was ticking on, we drove back to the house, with Wendy and me swapping our car share partners so this time I was with Eleanor, while Wendy drove with Rose.
Eleanor was full of life in her car seat and was laughing and chuckling as her dad drove us back.
After a little lounge play time which included at some point, double nappy changes and wall to wall nuddy babies, we each peeled off in turn to get ready for our walk across the road for our supper.
Supper was an utter delight, but what was more exceptional was that our too little girls were as good as gold. I’ve been out with both babies, separately a few times now but I’ve only been out with them both together once before. They were both very good then and tonight they were just as good again. Ellie became tired but she never muffed once, she just settled on grannie’s lap and nodded off quietly. She was then placed on the bench seat between her dad and gran and she slept peacefully. She woke 30 minutes later and immediately came to life and never once grizzled.
Rose was a little charmer too and as she was wide awake; she was passed between nanny and pops who lovingly snuggled her between mouthfuls.
The food was lovely, everyone had seafood, in fact two of each of us had:
Lobster
Fish & Chips
Seabass
Every meal was cooked to perfection and was hot and tasty.
Back at the house, Rose was first to be bathed and in bed, followed by her older cousin, Eleanor who was quite happy splashing about in my bathtub!
As I type tonight’s copy, Eleanor is being readied for bed and Robyn as the cheese platter under control by slowly bringing it up to room temperature for our late Friday night snack!
No Travelling
Fun at Sea with Robyn
I was awake again at just before 7:00 so I went downstairs and made toast for me, and tea for both Wendy and me which I took back to bed.
I ate my toast and drank my tea while reading the news on my phone and listening to Tony Blackburn on his Radio Two Saturday morning show. He really is quite good, if not a bit cheesy with his jokes.
While I was in the bathroom, I could hear a bit of a kerfuffle in the bedroom and when I opened the door Eleanor was playing with Wendy on our bed, and she was full of beans.
I joined them both and we had a good half hours play and fun with her. She rolls around a lot now and she is just about getting the hang of crawling and we had to keep our wits about us and not let her fall out of the bed.
After about 30 minutes she had a very tiny grizzle, not much of one because she is very good natured. Her mum brought her a bottle through, which Wendy gave her and she guzzled it down in one and she was back to her happy playful self.
We had so much fun that I was late for my run, and Wendy, being all played out didn’t bother going today.
I ran up to Upper Largo, which is via a very steep hill. I then thought I would run along the road to Elie, but the pavement ran out after about a half mile and it was too busy to run on the road, so I doubled back and took the much quieter road to St Andrews.
This turned out to be a mega steep hill and boy was I puffing by the time I got to the top, two miles later.
The weather was much better and it was quite warm, but being at some height I had great views along the Firth of Forth and I could see the odd rain shower out towards the outer Firth area.
Going back was a sinch as it was almost all downhill but I got lost yet again, I just have too much fun on my runs that I get carried away and I never know where I am.
Thankfully I realised my mistake and Strava mapping took me back via a shortcut, but by now I had done two thirds of a mile extra.
I got back and I had my smoothie and a cup of coffee and has everyone was wanting to get moving I had to shower in double quick time.
Alex had a football match to referee near to Dunfermline, so he took my car, leaving his car for us to use.
Brad and Caroline left first and then we followed on for a trip to St Andrews.
St Andrews was actually nice and sunny. We met up with Brad, Caroline and Eleanor and we went for a stroll, ending up at the Old Golf Course. Brad was carrying Ellie in her sling and I had Rose in her sling. This meant that I could snuffle and kiss Rose’s head whenever I wanted.
We strolled along the prom and then through the footpath that leads from the hotels to the golf course. You will never guess who passed us Avid reader?
It was none other than Naga Munchetty!!!
She had her golf clubs and she was with someone and they were off to go play a round of golf. We all said that she looked so different in real life, she is really tiny for one thing, I mean she really is a very short lady. She looked excited about her game and she was engrossed in her discussion with her golf partner. No one bothered her though, which was good, but then I guess they get a lot of famous faces at the Old Golf Course at St Andrews!
We left St Andrews after a about an hour, we went back to the house and Brad, Caroline and Ellie went to do some shopping in town, and then they went to the farm shop to stock up on supplies which we will take home with us as they are heading south for a visit to Eleanor’s two Great Grannie’s.
We got back to the house and after a relaxing coffee, Robyn and me took the inflatable boat out into the Firth for a little spin, and it was quite enjoyable.
Actually, it’s been a few years since the boats been out, I did check the engine over before I packed it in the car but I didn’t check all the functions. The clamps, which secure the engine to the boat, were a little tight and the tilt mechanism which allows the engine to bounce over rocks was seized solid. Never mind we got out there and we had a nice bob around on the waves.
Did I mention that I borrowed Alex’s wet suit? Well, I did and in getting dressed I had it on inside out, back to front and then I put my legs into the arms. Robyn nearly wet herself laughing when she saw me in my back to front position.
First, I intended to go up the river and under the railway bridge, but we couldn’t get very far up river as some small boats had their mooring lines run across the width of the river and I didn’t want to fowl my prop in their lines, so we headed back out to sea.
There was a bit of wind, and on the occasion we were running shore wards we would ride majestically in like a surfer would.
We travelled the full length of the village and by then I thought we ought to call is a day as it had been a long time since the engine had had a good run and I didn’t want to chance anything with an out going tide. I’ll have to give her a long run along the canal where it’s really safe.
Back on land and with everything packed away, Brad returned and I took a pint from the pub while Ellie had some supper, then Wendy and me took both girls for a stroll along the village.
Both girls were as good as gold, but Rose got a bit grumpy at the end of the village, quite possibly because it looks like she has teeth coming through!
After a while Wendy took her out of the Cous Mobile and carried her, she was much happier after that.
Back at the house and Alex came home from his match and then we had a round of feeding followed by bath time fun when both girls were getting ready for bed. Eleanor really does enjoy the big bath and we all crowded into our bathroom to watch her play splish, splash with her dad.
Alex is on Chef duty tonight, and I feel a cracking meal is in the offing!!! We have both a red Thai curry and a green Thai curry, one will be beef and one will be chicken. Knowing Alex, it will be a dining delight and we will all be roundly stuffed!
6 Miles and 17 Miles & 148 Miles
Sunshine
Alex made a stonking curry last night, actually two of them and both of them were really tasty. There were chili peppers in both of them and I chomped on one and it nearly burnt my mouth out, I had to go and rinse my mouth thoroughly before I could continue. Its funny how your taste capability changes over the years, not long ago I would have loved that, but not anymore.
We had a really nice last night together but I was first to bed because I wanted to get up early for my run.
I had been awake a few seconds when I heard someone walk into our bedroom at 5:07 am, it was Robyn with Rose. Rose had unsettled herself in her cot and she wouldn’t settle. We were more than happy to try to soothe her but after 20 minutes Robyn came back in to change her nappy, and then she took her back to feed her as she still wasn’t settling.
She came back ten minutes later, but Rose was still not settling. Wendy took Rose and after a wee while she had settled, then the next thing I knew was that it was 10 minutes to 7:00 and the sun was shining brightly.
Rose was fast asleep, nicely tucked in between Wendy and me, and Wendy was fast asleep too. I got up and went downstairs for my breakfast and when I came back, Rose was still asleep but Wendy had just woken up.
I went into the bathroom and when I came out Rose was wide awake, and Eleanor had joined her. Well, I just had to join them all on the bed, they were having so much fun, especially Ellie who was rolling around and crawling everywhere.
Rose was getting a bit frustrated by not being able to follow Eleanor on her escapades, but she still broke out in a massive grin when we tickled her.
After 20 minutes of fun, I had to go as time was passing.
Today I ran along the main road, which had a great joint pavement and cycle way, to the small town of Leven.
I managed to get down to the docks, although I didn’t see any ships. The sunshine was stunning and I rested on the promenade wall to enjoy the beach and sunshine.
I got chatting to a fellow, he was a smashing chap but he seemed to speak a different language to me. He introduced me to a new word, “Braw”. The way in which he said it, it must be a very good thing so I was pleased with that.
I got back to the house and Brad, Caroline and Ellie had already left, I had said goodbye to them before I went out because I knew they were likely to be off. They are going south, first to visit Great Granny Sadie in The Borders, and then they will carry on to Rotherham where they have booked a family room for the night, at a hotel with a pool so Eleanor can have her first swim.
I had a lovely smoothie and after a shave and a shower I was packing the car ready for the off. Alex brought his car down to the house after I had put mine back in the car park, and he then packed his.
At around 11:30 we set off back to the lovely beach at Elie as we had a mission to undertake.
After our last trip there on Friday, Robyn found that the new hat that she had knitted for Rose, had gone missing and that was the only place it could have been.
Robyn got there first and phoned us to tell us not to bother with the car park where we had parked the other day because it was mobbed with parked up camper vans.
We met them on the High Street and we retraced our steps as best we could but we did not find Rose’s hat.
Everyone went along for a coffee while I went back to the original carpark for one last in depth look, but I didn’t find it. There were indeed many campers parked up for the night, they had taken up most of the spots and people with kids in the car who were looking forwards to a day at the beach had to turn around and go find somewhere else to park. I wouldn’t mind but there are 7 allocated spaces for campers to park for a maximum of two night at no cost at all. I might have said this before Avid Readers but campervanners make me really mad. They will drive an £80,000 camper but they wont shell out £12.00 for a camp site!
After I had joined the gang again and we had all drank our coffee in the lovely warm sunshine, we drove to the nearby Farm Shop where we bought some sausages and a pork joint. We left Alex, Robyn and Rose shopping and headed for home, via the nearby town of Glenrothes so we could bag another Wetherspoon Bar.
I set the Satnav to the address listed on the Wetherspoons App but when we arrived the bar wasn’t in sight.
Glenrothes is another town that doesn’t have a traditional shopping area at its heart, it has a large shopping centre which is surrounded by carparks. The carparks are privately managed and you get 3 free hours. If you overstay that time limit you can get a £100 fine.
We walked around the outside of the shopping centre and then we came to the bar.
It wasn’t very busy so in we went and had a drink. It was nice to see a gang of older fellas playing dominoes together, although their language wasn’t quite so gentlemanly.
As I entered a saw a sign that said, log your registration number with us if you have parked in our carpark. As I wasn’t parked in the bars car park I didn’t bother.
After our drinks we walked all around the outside of the shopping mall, in the sunshine and it was only when I saw that all the car parks were managed by the same company. On getting back to the car I read the very small print on another sign that was in the car park. The rules, in teeny, tiny lettering said that motorists had to enter their registration number when they entered a shop.
That now clearly established I drove back to the bar and I did indeed put my details into the computer.
Why do I think that might come back to haunt me?
We drove north along side street until we hit the M90 for about 6 miles.
We joined the A9 and we were very pleased to see that the duelling works had been completed and the road was now fully usable as a dual carriageway for the first time in 2 years.
Wendy was a little grumpy on the drive because some people were holding us back by crawling along for no good reason. Every now and then she would have a little outburst, which didn’t make her feel any better for it!
We got home at 6:30 pm and it was drizzling.
With Wendy doing the unpacking in the house, I unloaded the car and by 7:00 pm she had venison sausages and duck eggs sizzling in the frying pan.
They were a double delight too!
Well, that’s it for another adventure Avid Reader, again it’s been a really good and interesting trip but the best part of it was spending time with our two little granddaughters, Eleanor and Rose, who are two smashing little darlings!
Footnote – Bugger, I seem to have lost todays pics due to a virus, so far I have managed to get four back, well at least its something!
NewHall Mains
22 Miles
Today is a very good day!
In December of last year, I was asked by an old colleague if I could do a Fire Risk Assessment, for a friend of a friend. Contacts were exchanged and I visited the property, which is located about 5 miles from Cromarty, on the Black Isle, on the North side.
The owner, who is a very nice young man called Euan had the misconception that he required some documentation as his refurbished farm steading was going to undertake wedding ceremonies.
As the building was indeed, in all respects a hotel I explained the law with regards to Fire safety to Euan and I ended up doing a full fire risk assessment of all of the building, and an annexe where more sleeping accommodation was provided.
As I don’t want to get into a fallout with the Tax Office, I do fire risk assessments free of charge, I only ask for a bottle of whiskey in return for my efforts. This helps me keep my competence in the field of fire safety, should I ever have the need to work again!
Euan is a smashing person, and it was great to work for someone who put the safety of his guests and staff first and foremost.
But the thing is, as it turns out, Euan is the stepson of Lord Fraser of Fraser, none other!
Anyway, I did about £1,000 of free work for Euan and he was very grateful for it and after going through all of his documentation when I had completed my assignment, he asked for my address. Two days later, I had a letter from him, with a voucher for a nights Bed, Breakfast and a 3 course meal at Newhall Mains which we could use any time until December 2021.
We started the day with me running along the Beauly River and Wendy going to take our granddaughter, Eleanor, for a walk after Wendy had completed her run.
I did a few outside chores as it was yet another lovely Highland Day and when Wendy got back, we packed the car and after calling at Tesco for some new iPhone earplugs and Holland and Barret for my morning vitamin tablets, we set off for Cromarty.
Wow, Cromarty was stunning in the afternoon sunshine. It was 22 degrees centigrade on my car thermometer and it really was a lovely, warm afternoon.
We parked up on the shore and we walked along the coast and onto the harbour.
Cromarty was buzzing, well as much as Cromarty buzzes, but it was really nice.
We got to the harbour where we remembered a boozey night when we sailed my sail boat, Tara, from Inverness to Cromarty where we spent the night. It was a Friday night and Wendy was so scared about going on the boat that I took two bottles of wine with us. She had opened the first one by the time we were under the Kessock Bridge, and by the time I was trying to tie up in the harbour we were both bladdered and I was bouncing off the pontoon trying to the get the boat alongside!
After our walk we drove the five miles, along the coast road and we checked ourselves in.
Well, I could not have been more impressed with the reception we received. Euan was waiting for us, along with Louisa, who is a very nice young woman who helped me find my way about when I was working there.
Euan has that very special gift of being very genuine with people, no matter who they are, and it was really nice to see him and Louisa again.
Louisa took us to our room and left us to it.
Wendy was very impressed with our suite and she should be, it’s a cracker.
After we unloaded our bags we drove back to Cromarty for a drink on the waterfront, outside the Royal Hotel, and as we went to get the car we noticed a very nice Aston Martin car, in the car park with the registration plate reading, GB – Bon0! Whoever could that be?
I forgot to mention, Newhall Mains has been in the Times Weekend Supplement at least twice now, and the last time was last Saturday where it detailed that Euan has his own small plane. As we drove in, we saw Euan’s plane parked up on the airstrip, yes Newhall Mains does indeed have its own airstrip, only for exclusive guests of course.
We got back from Cromarty at around 6:00 pm and after we had freshened up, we were in the bar and being treated to the delights that were on offer.
For supper I had:
Wendy had:
The food was an utter delight.
We were attended to by a cocktail aficionado, Marco who waited our table with impeccable manners, and he told us stories of how he learnt his skills through worldwide travel.
Euan popped into see that we were being attended to, and it was, for me, a perfect evening.
The wine was lovely and to top it off I had Marco make me a rum punch, which astoundingly was something he had never made for anyone.
Well, he must have researched it extensively because he made me the most delightful rum punch I have ever had, right here on the Black Isle.
I caught some of the ingredients, dark rum, pineapple rum and Angostura Bitters along with a cameralised sugar slice of lime, which Wendy really liked!
After our meal, I settled the drinks bill and we walked the short distance to the apartment. There is a private party in tonight and they are having a BBQ, so after settling Wendy at the apartment, I took a walk around the building. The BBQ gang were all being well behaved, but as they are celebrating someone’s 30th birthday things might get a little rowdy later on tonight.
I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow Avid Reader!
Here’s some back ground reading on Euan’s Step Father, it makes very interesting reading!
Newhall Mains to Home
22 Miles
The Next Day
I had one more walk around outside last night but it had started to drizzle and the BBQ gang must have gone into the annexe. I walked over and it looked like that they had had a nice time. They were all very well behaved too as I never heard a peep through the night.
Wendy was in bed by 9:30 pm, and I followed her at just gone 10:00 pm.
I got comfortable and I never moved in bed until I woke at around 6:20 am, it was just getting light outside.
I tried to sneak out of the bedroom but as soon as I got to the door a little voice cut through the early morning darkness, “What time is it?” a tired little voice asked.
No sooner was I on the landing, when Wendy was out of bed and requesting a cup of tea.
I had my tea in the kitchen and Wendy, as always, had hers in bed.
Wendy surprised me by going running, only because it was on a road without pavement, it was fairly hilly too!
I ran in the direction of Cromarty and I came across a very good birdwatchers hut, which was open, so I nipped inside for a gander. What a cracking place it was, I had a full view of loads of geese who were all waddling about in the incoming tide.
I reached my four miles turnaround at a shoreside parking area, there were 3 campervans all squeezed into it.
I might have said this before, but they do make me mad, tight campervanners.
There was a sign posted which said, “Local swimmers swim in this area, take everything away with you please.” I don’t know if word has spread beyond the Highlands, but the remote areas are being swamped with campervans, and they owners have been emptying their toilet cassettes anywhere they like, the dirty buggers. In fact, the compost toilet at Storr Point has been completely filled with effluent and it has had to be locked until next year as it needs to settle down. The padlock was broken 3 times last week and people had still emptied their cassette toilets there!!!
Anyway, they don’t even have any respect for each other! It was about 8:00 am and two vans were still asleep but one fella in the third van started his engine and then proceeded to mess about inside his van all the time I was sat on the shore, which must have been about ten minutes.
I got back and sat in the court yard for a while just cooling off, the sky was a little cloudy but it was still very warm.
Wendy was all ready for breakfast so I jumped in the shower. But not before I had to remove the makeshift curtain from the bathroom window, the bugger had used my bath towel.
Thankfully, no one passed as I was showering and we were soon at the breakfast table.
We sat and I had a really tasty breakfast of Eggs Royale, the egg was perfect, the salmon was a real treat and the toast was perfect. Wendy ordered scrambled eggs on toast, however her toast was of the dreaded brioche bun type. This put her right off, she ate the eggs but left her toast, she wasn’t happy. I took a taste of her bread and indeed it was far too sweet for its intended purpose, which was strange because mine was normal bread.
The BBQ gang came in for breakfast just before we left, they were a group of 4 couples and they were all very nice and polite, in fact they looked like very decent people and not in the slightest bit rowdy!
I took a cup of tea in the apartment and by 10:30 we were saying our goodbyes and thank you’s to Euan, who was again manning the reception area.
I asked him if he had been demoted and he said that in reality Louisa runs the place and she give’s him little jobs where he can’t cause any problems.
And that was that, a short but very sweet night of luxury!
Back in our real world we called into the Tesco Store at Dingwall for some provisions and we were back home at around midday!
179 Miles
Visiting Rose!
I woke early, around 6:00 am this morning and again I found Wendy bimbling on her I-pad.
I hung on, dozing on and off until it was time to get up at 6:50, I try to do this as it takes me just ten minutes to get my tea and toast ready, oh and Wendy’s tea, in time for the 7:00 am news.
It had been windy overnight and it was still quite breezy, the wind wasn’t predicted until today, but it came around twelve hours earlier than expected, but thankfully it was dry.
By the time I was getting dressed to go out, I was at the tracksuit bottom stage, it started to rain, and boy did it chuck it down. Wendy was going to go out too, but she waited and thankfully within ten minutes the rain had stopped, so off she went.
Just as I was fully dressed, it was banging it down with rain again. I looked at the sky and it was black as far as the eye could see. There was nothing else to do but swap my tracky bottoms for shorts, unzip my hood on my jacket and go and make the best of it.
The rain, which shouldn’t have come until tonight, was again twelve hours early.
I ran to the Fairy Glen and back and it never stopped once, it rained all the way around. When I was heading into the wind, I had driving rain against my face and I was constantly wiping my glasses so I could see where I was going.
I got back soaked to the skin, with both sweat and rain. I stripped down to my shorts and I was going to shower myself in the rain, but you’ll never believe, before I could get my soap out the rain had stopped!
After breakfast where I did some last minute administration duties, we did the final last minute packing of the caravan and by midday we were pulling off the drive and heading south down the A9 to go to Alex and Robyn’s house where we are to stay three nights before we head south for our autumn trip around the West Country.
In fact, this journey is a bit of a mixture, first I have a mystery birthday adventure day with Robyn tomorrow, of which I have no idea of what it is, apart from I shouldn’t get wet and I might get fed. Then we head slowly down to Barnsley calling in at Alnwick and Thirsk for a few nights at each place. In Barnsley I will be doing a fire risk assessment for Ian and Jayne and I also hope to go visit my great nephew Teddy as he wasn’t at home the last time I was in town. After Barnsley we meet up with Brad, Alex, Caroline, Robyn and both Eleanor and Rose for a one week stay at a country house somewhere south of Sheffield.
This is where we will all be for my 60th birthday, and again I have no idea what plans they have for that.
From there all the kids go home and we take the caravan to the West Country. We have some stops along the way to break the journey up, and I have picked, hopefully some interesting places where we haven’t been before.
The journey down the A9 was pretty good, as was the drive down the M90 and over the Queensferry Bridge. The only congestion we found was at the last mile of the Edinburgh City bypass, where we just crawled the last mile up to the roundabout where we exit for Millerhill.
As we entered the village, we saw Alex with Rose in her harness out walking and Rose had the biggest ear to ear grin on her face.
We had the caravan set up on the drive in no time at all and soon Alex and Rose were back.
Robyn made a lovely pork and roasted vegetable, what she called a spicy pork tray bake.
After supper, while everyone got in on the act of Rose having a bath, I went down to Tesco for some provisions and by the time I was back Alex had gone football referee training and Rose was fast asleep.
I’ll not be long either, I have to have my strength ready for tomorrow’s adventure.
No Travelling
Adventures with Robyn!
I slept well last night but I woke at 5:30 am and I thought that I was struggling to nod back off, but I really must have been fast asleep because it was my alarm that woke me up, with a start.
I left the caravan but I knew it wouldn’t be long before Wendy was awake, if there is a sniff of her having morning baby time, she wouldn’t waste it by sleeping.
I met Alex in the kitchen, he was just packing his lunch and he was soon off to catch the train to work.
I made tea for Wendy and I took it to her in bed in the caravan, it was then that I noticed that it was quite windy. As the caravan is sheltered by both the house and the large garden fence, I had not felt the wind in the night.
I had my breakfast in the kitchen and then I went back to the caravan to get dressed for my run. I told Wendy about the wind and as a consequence she stayed in bed.
I ran down to Musselburgh Harbour with the wind behind me until I hit the coast where it was now fully in my face and pushing me backwards.
I had my drink stop sat on a bench behind the harbour wall, so I was sheltered from the wind.
Running back the wind was behind me along the coast, but then for the last 3 miles it was in my face, but thankfully it wasn’t as strong as it had been.
I got back to the house and I was surprised at how much I was sweating, normally I don’t get so hot and sweaty when the wind is high, but today I had a right dab on!
Wendy, Robyn and Rose were all up and about when I got back but there was still no mention of what adventure I would be undertaking today, so I guess I would have to wait and see a little longer.
I had my smoothie and a nice hot shower and I was given notice that I should be ready to go out at midday.
As it was only now 10:30 am I passed the time by playing with Rose and by filing my photograph collection from my phone to my laptop, which is something I have been wanting to do for some time now.
When midday came Robyn and I said our goodbyes to Wendy and Rose and we got into Robyn’s car. This is the point where Robyn told me that our adventure day was going to be a trip on a Rigid Inflatable Boat, (RIB), out into the Firth of Forth to the Isle of May.
As we drove down the coast to the town of North Berwick, where we would board the RIB, Robyn told me that she was worried that the trip would be cancelled because of the high winds. However, she was aware that the wind was supposed to ease up as the day went on and as she had not received a cancellation call from the tour company so far, we might just well indeed make it!
It wasn’t to be though, as we reached the town, Robyn got a call to say the skipper had cancelled the trip because of the wind. The caller said we could try another trip tomorrow, but it wasn’t going to the Isle of May so we decided to get a refund and that we would try the trip next year.
Never mind, we made the best of it. We strolled around North Berwick and we took a very nice lunch on a bench, hiding from the wind by yet another good harbour wall.
Lunch was really lovely; Robyn had taken buttered bread rolls which she went onto make into utterly delightful crab sandwiches. She had tinned crab and mayonnaise, rocket and pepper in small containers from where she went on to construct the sandwiches expertly on the bench. They were very, very tasty, and we washed them down with hot coffee from a flask that Wendy had given us.
Undeterred from the disappointment of the cancelled boat ride, we decided to drive the short distance to The Law and walk to its summit!
The Law is a conical hill which rises conspicuously from the surrounding landscape. It overlooks North Berwick, and it stands at 613 ft above sea level. It was created by volcanic action, as was the nearby Bass Rock which sits elegantly just a few miles offshore, many thousands of years ago.
The walk up was a little strenuous but the views from the top were really spectacular and it was well worth the effort. The wind was somewhat stronger at the summit but it didn’t spoil the day.
There is a marker point at the top and I explained a story to Robyn about the marker lines to specific places being slightly off target, which a local joker had tried to explain some years ago as being due to magnetic variation, and not to the marker point being installed slightly out of line!
After finishing the flask of coffee, we made our way down and back to the house where we found Wendy and Rose having fun!
Alex came in from work at just gone 5:00 pm and as it had already been decided that we would take supper at the local pub, The Old Colliers, Wendy me and Rose and Robyn walked up to the pub while Alex drove the car so we could get Rose back in time for her bath.
The wind had dropped a little as we walked along, and after a little, what I call mizzle and not a full blown grizzle, Rose fell fast asleep in her pram.
Alex joined us at the table and after a little wait for our order to be taken, our waiter came along just as Rose opened her eyes. It must be very confusing for a baby girl; she fell asleep outdoors and here she is waking up with a strange man in a mask hovering over her pram. It didn’t faze Rose though; she was thoroughly well behaved all the time we were sat at the table. I did think it was a bit of a tease for a little mite though, all that food in very close proximity, but there was nothing for her!
Robyn drove us all back to the house and in no time at all Rose was making splashes in the bath and was soon dried off and whisked to bed with her night time bottle.
No Travelling
Leith
Rose took a little bit of time to settle down last night, the poor thing is having teething issues and it was all a bit much. But with Mum, Dad, Nanny and me taking a turn she did settle and we then sat and chatted before we settled in our caravan to watch an episode of Grantchester.
My Aunt Glen got us into Grantchester when we were with her in the summer and now we are hooked on it. In fact, as the episode ended, we got a look forward to the next episode and we were immediately reeled in for that episode!
Sleep was great and I was wide awake at 6:20 am.
I sneaked out of the caravan and as I entered Robyn’s kitchen, I could hear the TV on, there were ground floor lights on and what sounded like a fun time was being had in the lounge. Sure enough Robyn and Rose were hard at play.
I asked if I could take Rose to the caravan which I was allowed to do, leaving Robyn to dash back to bed, but not before giving me a half full bottle of milk.
As I got into the caravan Wendy was immediately wide awake and in no time at all Rose was in the middle and we were all fast asleep. And that’s where we stayed until I woke at 8:30 where I found Rose bang in the middle of the bed with both her arms outstretched and Wendy on the very edge of the bed, and I was pushed right against the wall. Rose was fast asleep but she was stroking my face with her tiny hand.
Seconds later her mum came into the caravan and woke Rose up and then took off to Tesco for fuel leaving us with a very happy and playful baby.
Needless to say I was late for my run this morning, in fact Wendy didn’t bother at all. I couldn’t blame her the wind was even wilder this morning.
I ran down to Musselburgh and I found that the wind was indeed much worse today, it was blowing a right gale on the seafront. But the daft thing was, it was 19 degrees and the sun was shining in a clear blue sky.
I got back to the house and everyone was up and about, well it was near enough 11:30.
After my usual second breakfast routine I hung around a while to see Nicki, Alex’s mum who was passing by with her partner, John, on their way to visit her sister in Cumbria. I’m glad I did too because I got another card to open on my birthday!
I drove to Ocean Terminal with Wendy because I wanted to buy a wetsuit at Trespass. Ocean Terminal is at Leith Dock, where the Royal Yacht Britannia is berthed. The main aspect of Ocean Terminal is the shopping centre that is situated there. Its not a massive one, but it is over 3 levels with the usual number of shops, café’s, restaurants and cinemas.
We found the Trespass shop on the first floor and on entering I was asked by a sales assistant if she could help. “Yes please, can you direct me to the wetsuits please?”, I said.
“Wetsuits, we haven’t had them in since the start of the pandemic when everyone started doing things outside and we sold out, we haven’t had anymore since”, was her reply.
I was a little cross at this point because I had looked at this stores website and nowhere was there any mention of no wetsuits, or anything else for that matter.
Thankfully the 20 mile round drive wasn’t waisted because we parked up away from the terminal and we took a lovely walk around Leith.
We found Leith lovely, it was bright and sunny, but still windy, but that didn’t spoil things.
We took in the sea port stages of the Water of Leith Path. The Water of Leith Path is a lovely route for walking and cycling in Edinburgh. The 12 mile long path follows the river which runs through the heart of the city. It begins in Balerno to the west, leading through many places of interest, all the way to Leith in the north east.
The Water of Leith, is actually the river which flows through Edinburgh and into the Firth of Forth, it was once at the heart of manufacturing in the city. Around 70 mills sat on its banks, producing a range of goods from paper and flour to spices and snuff.
The last mill closed in 2003, leaving behind only a few subtle hints of the river’s industrial and historic past. However, since the mills moved out, residential flats and very nice shops, bars, pubs and restaurants have sprung up and it really is a lovely place to spend an afternoon.
We found a cracking little bar on an offshoot of the river, Teuchters Landing, it was just brilliant. As Wendy found seats I ordered at the bar and I spoke with the owner as he poured our drinks. I told him that he had a very nice bar and he was quite pleased. As he as a massive stock of Malt Whiskey, all on show at the bar, I said that it would be a great place to get a sore head. He then replied, “Yes, but what a way to get it, eh?”
We enjoyed our drink while we took in the atmosphere before walking another mile in the direction of Edinburgh City. As it was now turned 3:00 pm we decided to head back to the car before we got caught in Friday afternoon traffic.
We drove back the long route, through Portobello and then Musselburgh so that we could stop for a few more supplies for our trip south, which we begin in the morning.
As we drove into Tesco, we saw long queues at the fuel filling station which doesn’t bode well for taking a caravan. I’ve worked out that Penzance is 555 miles from Edinburgh, so as long as I have a full tank when we get there, I can get all the way to Alex and Robs with just one extra fill up on the way back, or I can make it without filling up if I have to leave the caravan somewhere, but that is the very, very last resort option. My first priority is to get to the house we are renting for the week in Sheffield, because from there I can definitely get back to Edinburgh on one full tank with the caravan. Jeepers what is becoming of this country?
Alex and Robyn made a really tasty Piri-Piri chicken supper with rice, beans and coleslaw and it was really nice. Rose joined us at the table but she was a little grizzly, those pesky teeth are still putting her out of sorts.
Tomorrow we start our next caravan adventure, I’m really looking forward to it, visiting new places along the way to Cornwall, its just a shame we start against the backdrop of yet more uncertainty in the country!
82 Miles
Warm Weather
Thankfully we managed to control our Grantchester viewing last night and we only watched the one episode.
I was up a little later this morning, 07:00 am and as I entered Robyn’s kitchen, I found Robyn doing a newspaper puzzle while Rose’s bottle was being cooled. Rose herself was being attended to by her dutiful father who was on nappy change duty.
By the time I had finished my morning breakfast routines I found, on re-entering the caravan, Rose in bed with Wendy as Robyn had dropped her in and had gone back to bed to try to get a little more sleep.
I had a few minutes of morning fun with Rose but I had to get going on my run as today is moving day and if I hung around any longer, we would all be in bed and snoozing until gone 9:00 am.
I ran to the town of Dalkeith and in doing so I ran alongside Lothianbridge.
Here’s some Lothianbridge info:
The Newbattle Viaduct, sometimes also called the Lothianbridge carries the borders railway which opened in 2015. It was constructed, in 1831, of stone piers to support the wooden structure of the bridge, and had a total length of around 1,200 feet. To cross the river, it used three cast iron spans in the form of Gothic Arches each 65 feet long, with the main one being 70 feet high.
I got back to Alex and Robyn’s and I was sweating nicely again, the temperature was 21 degrees and the sun was breaking through and it looked like it was going to be a very nice day.
After my smoothie and shower, Wendy made coffee while I connected the car to the caravan and we drank it with Alex, Rose and Robyn in the lounge while Rose romped around her new rug which Nanny Nicki had brought her yesterday!
We left at midday and it was an easy drive straight down the A1. The sun was out and I kept my speed to around 55 to 60 mph in an effort to use the cars diesel to its maximum efficiency. I think the fuel situation should calm down within a day or two as everybody in the United Kingdom by now must have a full tank of fuel.
We found our camp ground easily enough and just as I was looking for the farmer to see where he wanted me to go, he arrived on a mini mower so he could mow our spot before we pitched on it.
The farmer, Mr Coxswain, is a smashing, typical hill farmer who is really good natured. He told me he has two farms, this one and another six miles away.
He said that this month, September, had been the best of his farming career.
We had made camp in no time at all and as soon as we had completed our chores we were in the car and heading five miles south to the County Town of Alnwick.
It was still really warm and all we needed was a T-shirt on and it was quite comfortable.
We haven’t been to Alnwick before and I was really looking forward to going there, and what a cracking little town it is.
We parked the car on the edge of town and we walked directly into the market square. The market was still in full swing at just gone 3:00 pm, it was mainly a craft market, but we did find a nice little fish monger from Eyemouth, selling fish out of the back of a small van.
He was a very nice lad and we chatted about the area, Eyemouth is the first town in Scotland, just over the border from Berwick upon Tweed. I’ve been diving there, so I have some idea of the shoreline around those parts.
We bought a very nice piece of sea trout and six scallops, for supper tonight.
Alnwick is like a mini York, it used to be a walled town, but most of the wall has gone with only two gate towers left, or there was only two that I could find.
Alnwick, as with many border towns, on either side of the border, is a place where many battles between the English and Scots were fought.
We came across a bronze statue of one warrior, Harry Hotspur, who certainly was a very colourful character, and seemingly a formidable soldier!
We took a beer in a very nice micro pub, the first one established in the town. We sat next to the owner’s dog, a very old black Labrador who was too tired to even come and get a stroke. So, I went down to her, and she did seem to appreciate my effort.
From there we strolled around the shops and I found something that I have been looking for, for a very long time, a leather man bag!
I know, how very modern of me?
I need one as I do not have enough pockets for my phone, my wallet, car keys, 3 spectacle cases, a facemask and hand sanitizer! Anyway, I bit the bullet and Wendy went into the shop and selected me one, and I think she has made the right choice.
I wonder how it will go down when I walk around Barnsley Market?
We took a walk, as far as we could around Alnwick Castle walls because at £18.50 per person, we weren’t paying that price just to go inside.
Alnwick town is just about a mile away from the beautiful River Aln, which when we were passing was being fished by a young man with his fly rod, so I am guessing that there is either trout, or salmon in there, or maybe even both.
Back at the site, I nipped to the farmers house to pay him our site fees. He as about 6 sheep dogs who are in cages, in a barn that you have to walk through to get to his back door. What a racket they made as I walked through, however, as soon as the farmer told them to be quiet, their barking stopped immediately.
I gave him his fee in cash and he put it into his wallet, which was absolutely crammed full of notes, I have never seen a wallet so full of money, not even Del Boy carried that much cash in his back pocket.
Supper was a joint production, Wendy made the salad and I cooked the trout and after I had established that my eyes had been bigger than my belly at the fish stall, I cooked only two scallops, one each.
As Wendy had warmed some garlic bread up before I cooked, I ate it as I pan fried the fish.
It was as good a supper as you could rustle up with simple ingredients, it was topping, although I think the garlic bread was extra garlicky and I just might suffer later tonight.
That’s it for tonight, Wendy is glued to Strictly Dancing and as its not my thing these days I’ll be looking for something on Netflix, I’m sure I’ll find something, but then again I could just stare at the view from my front window!
No Travelling
23.5 Degrees!
We are staying on a farm site four miles from Alnwick and there is no street lighting around so last night I took a look outside when it was really dark, and although there are four other caravans on the site, we are all spaced out so the darkness isn’t affected by their lighting.
The sky wasn’t quite clear but it was clear enough to see the night sky and it was tremendous!
I even got Wendy off her seat and she was impressed too, she could even name a few constellations, the smarty pants!
I slept well again and woke up to our 34th wedding anniversary!
It was a smashing morning and Wendy was up and about too, she even went out running before me. She actually sent me a message before I left, here it is:
“Don’t put too many layers on. It’s really warm x”
I had already checked the outside temperature on my Weather App and at 8:00 am it was already 18 degrees, so I knew that I only needed one running shirt, one T-shirt, two sweatshirts and my jacket, oh and my shorts of course.
I ran out into the country and along the main road for about 100 yards and then I followed a small country lane for just under 4 miles.
The countryside was stunning in the morning sunshine.
I came across Wendy who had told me that she was going to go out in the opposite direction, but she had changed her mind at the last minute. She wasn’t liking the heat, but I was loving it.
The weather was that good that I sat outside the caravan in just a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt drinking my smoothie and then a cup of tea. It was a real treat; I mean we are in the Northumberland hills and its roasting hot at the back end of September!
After my shower we drove 10 miles to the coast, to the small village of Alnmouth.
Alnmouth is the point where the River Aln meets the North Sea.
The village was busy with visitors but I happened across a roadside parking spot in an ideal location.
Having parked up, the first place we walked was the beach, and it is a stunner. People were actually laid out sunbathing, would you believe? There was an offshore breeze but when the sun was out it was quite warm.
We walked down to the area where the River Aln meets the North Sea and we followed the river back to the place where people keep their boats. There is no harbour as such but as the tide goes out, the boats settle down on the sand and await the next high tide.
There was a bustling harbour here many years ago where grain and slate was imported, but as the river silted up the bigger vessels could not get through and so the harbour traffic died off.
Now the village appears to be solely a tourist attraction with tea rooms, pubs, sandwich shops and the occasional gift shop. There is only one main street and it was quite busy with visitors, however we could see a beach carpark further along the shore and that was cram packed with cars.
Having toured the village we called into the last pub on the High Street for a very nice cold pint of Theakston’s Best Bitter which was an utter delight!
Back at the car, we then set the Satnav for the small village of Amble.
What a little gem of a place Amble is?
We parked on the main road and walked along the River Coquet, (I have never heard of this river before), and onto the harbour wall where there was a smashing Sunday market, selling everything. You could buy almost anything at this market, from trinkets, to clothes, meat and cake.
I came across a lady selling pies and cakes, she had very few items left but I did manage to buy 3 pies for £5.00 and two big portions of chocolate cake for £3.00.
The pies are:
We will have these for supper tomorrow, and I am already excited!
From the market we walked along a pier that follows the riverside which then joined another harbour wall, with another harbour wall on the adjacent river bank. This, on our side created a lovely triangular walkway for us and a smashing, safe area for kids to play in a beach / lagoon which was still subjected to tidal conditions. It was very impressive!
The sun was now firmly out and it was very hot indeed.
We walked back to the car by way of the High Street where we found some main stream shops like Tesco Extra and the Coop, but there were some nice looking local cafes and shops.
We got back to the car and the temperature gauge said that it was 23.5 degrees, my car reads low so I guess it was at least 24 degrees.
I Googled where the nearest petrol station was and I found one about a half a mile away. We got there but it was only a small affair and it had run out of fuel. I carried along the road looking for somewhere to turn around and came across a Morrison’s filling station which was closed and had no fuel at all. However, a local Esso Station a little further down the road had fuel. There was a small queue, with a young man in a reflective jacket directing the traffic but the queue was good natured and he had us refuelled in no time at all. I put just under £30 of diesel in but most people at the checkout had only put in between £10 to £15. I wouldn’t have bothered but I just didn’t have enough to make it to Sheffield with the caravan, but I have now.
The A1 filling stations had plenty of fuel so if I see one tomorrow, I might top it up, but there is now no worry to do so!
We drove back to the campsite but we went passed it to go and look at the next village. Would you believe it had a smashing pub there where we enjoyed a lovely pint of local Northumberland best bitter!
Anniversary Supper was a joint effort, Wendy did some roast veg, which included roast radish and they were really tasty. I cooked venison steak and the last four scallops.
After the scallops and venison had been cooked, I chucked in the scallop water into the pan and with a little BBQ sauce I made a lovely little jus, all Gordon Ramsay like, it was bloody lovely.
It’s been a smashing day today, the weather has been terrific and the food a real delight, but I do have to admit to looking forward to pie fest tomorrow!
109 Miles
Rain
We had another clear night last night, even better than the one before and the night sky was spectacular. One caravan had moved on so that left four of us, but we are really well spaced apart.
The fella closest to us had his outside light on, he was in the van so why he needed the light on, the Lord only knows. It didn’t spoil the night sky, but why on earth would you waste someone else’s electricity and potentially spoil the night sky? I woke in the night and checked and he had turned it off for bed, what a wally!
I woke fully just after 6:00 am and I lay in bed and there wasn’t a sound outside, not a peep. Then I heard it, the wind came slowly at first and then much stronger, and then the tiny pitter, patter of tiny rain drops on the caravan roof. Then the biblical downpour came and we were in a mini storm in about ten minutes.
I got up and made tea and looked out, and because we are nicely elevated, I could see the coming clouds, and they were very black indeed.
I got dressed for running and Wendy stayed in bed and made a request for more tea!
I ran up hill this time and away from the main road. In a short while the wind eased but the rain was still hard at it. Thankfully my new rain jacket was up to the job and I was reasonably dry.
I got to the village of Eglingham where we had visited the last pub yesterday. Jeepers it was another up and down course again but at least the last 1.6 mile was all downhill.
I got back to the caravan safe and sound but my jacket was ringing wet!
I quickly dried off and had my breakfast, and it was still raining!
I did all the decamping chores as the rain was hard at it and I got soaked, but thankfully I had put on some old clothes that could get wet, and boy did they. I had flip, flops on, to spare my trainers from getting soaked and by the time I had everything hooked up my feet were like blocks of ice!
I got changed in the caravan and soon we were on the road, heading south down the A1.
As we approached Newcastle the Satnav took me onto the A19 and through the Tyne Tunnel, this was I believe due to tailbacks at Gateshead where there are roadworks. The toll cost me £1.90 but at least we were never held up.
We had a really good journey until 20 miles from our exit for Thirsk when we came across a massive dumper truck on the back of a low loader being driven down the A19, and it was blocking both lanes. There was a safety car driving behind it and down the middle of both carriageways just to be sure no one tried to get around it, but you couldn’t anyway.
We jogged along at varying speeds, some as low as 20 mph, and sometimes as high as 40 mph, but that was the maximum, and it wasn’t often.
I was worried about the fuel consumption but actually it made things better. When pulling the caravan the car does around 33 miles to the gallon, but over the 20 miles behind the dumper we rose, slowly to 37 mpg! It was hard going though constantly going through the gears from 2nd to 5th every couple of minutes.
We eventually got off the A19 and I followed the Satnav which took us down a country road, there was a warning that HGVs shouldn’t use it but nothing else.
As I slowly approached a bend a lady waved me to stop and told me I couldn’t get through the narrow bridge. I stopped and walked up to the bridge and I confirmed that, yes, I could not get over that narrow bridge.
There was nowhere to turn around so Wendy had to watch me reverse back, through a double bend and then I managed to reverse the van into a very tight spot, from where I just managed to turn around. I had to reverse up a grass bank with the van and then mount a curb with the car in order to get round. But I managed it, in one as well.
But as I got back to the main road, I noticed that my clutch was slipping, and slipping badly. I was moving forward but I was high revving and I had to race through the gears and nurse them up to speed. Maybe too many gear changes behind the dumper and then the reverse procedure at taken its toll on the car.
Thankfully we found the camp site and to my relief it was a very flat site, we have the place to ourselves so I could just drive, park up and uncouple without hassle.
The rain had passed over but it was still rather nippy, at 15 degrees, but we soon had the caravan set up and after we paid our very nice landlady her site fee, we walked into Thirsk which was just over a mile away.
Outside the site, the lady said we could take either the Back Lane, or the Front Lane into town. She also told us Front Lane was by far the more pretty and it really was, it was lined with huge Lime Trees.
Thirsk, we found, was a delightful little country town, it is set around a small square which presumably is the place where the weekly market sits.
We managed a pint in the local Weatherspoon’s Bar and it was nice to see quite a few people still wearing their facemasks in the bar.
After our drink we walked all over town, with Wendy dipping in and out of the very nice charity shops looking for things for her toybox at home. Well, she found a little gem, a little wooden, pull along dog and it’s just brilliant, I’ve called him Spot!
Here’s two very interesting Thirsk Facts:
We walked back to the caravan and this time we took Back Lane because we knew of a short cut which took us directly to the caravan.
As the cars clutch should now have cooled down, and while Wendy made a salad for tonight’s pie supper, I took the car for a test drive up and down the A19. There weren’t any clutch problems so I am hopeful everything is fine, but I will make sure that she’s not abused anymore, I’m also mindful that I wasn’t pulling the caravan either, so there is still a little bit of the unknown about continuing on our journey. The good thing is, we are only 60 miles from Barnsley, our next destination.
Supper was three half pork pies each, and I have to admit that our eyes were bigger than our bellies, because we both returned a half pork pie back to the fridge for use tomorrow!
To finish tonight’s copy I need to give an update on the fuel situation. We passed several filling stations both down the A1 and then the A19 and they were all open and with no queues. In fact, there is one about a mile from our site and that’s open, but with only having used about 4 gallons today I am mindful not to be seen just putting £15 of fuel in the car, maybe I’ll do it tomorrow, just to be sure!
No Travelling
The Pigs!
I slept like a log again last night, despite the industrial pig farm at the side of the field and the A19 running all night long. We can hear the pigs squealing during the day, but with my ear plugs in when I am asleep, I don’t hear a thing. Wendy thought that she could hear a sound like a baby crying in the night, and that really did confuse her, but she nodded off again.
We both went running, the weather was dry and the wind light too and Wendy was desperate to go out and look at the lovely houses that can be found in Thirsk.
I got back to the caravan and enjoyed a shave and a nice hot shower after my smoothie and then we drove ten miles to the small town of Northallerton.
The drive was easy enough, down one road and luckily there was a Tesco store we could pull in to at the very end of the High Street. Little did I know at the time but this was a little gem of a find, however they didn’t have a fuel filling station at this store. I had called into one fuel station which is close to our caravan park but all they had was unleaded petrol, no diesel.
We left the car and made our way to the High Street where we found traffic chaos!
Jeepers it really was mental with cars. The council are digging out what looks like a small pedestrian section of the town, just in front of the town hall. There are JCB diggers and dumper trucks dodging around the traffic and there is a set of single line traffic lights, right bang in the middle of the High Street. A further complicating factor is the need for a temporary pelican pedestrian crossing at the midpoint of the road which is controlled by the temporary traffic lines. The queues wanting to go through the lights were long and winding and it just seemed like bedlam to me. Thankfully everyone was just getting along with it and it did seem to work, albeit very slowly.
The town is actually just one long High Street, I wasn’t keen on it because of the traffic, but then I was only looking at it from that point of view, Wendy on the other hand liked it because of the range of shops to be found there. She even found a Sea Salt store and went in looking for the elusive dress that she saw in the summer, the one they didn’t have in her size. Well, they didn’t have it either so the quest carries on!
We bagged the Wetherspoon’s bar, The Buck, and I had a really nice pint of real ale, while Wendy got into the spirit of things with a glass of wine.
Whilst Wendy was in Sea Salt I stood outside and Googled nearby fuel station’s and I found one about a half mile away, it was an Esso Station. On return to the car, I set the Satnav onto the address and thankfully I didn’t have to join the High Street traffic.
The fuel station was open, it was busy but because silly people were queuing so that they had their fuel cap at the side of the pump, I drove to an empty row where all I had to do was stretch the hose over the boot and fill my tank. Every pump was available and there was no hassle at all.
We were back at the caravan by 1:00 pm where I did a few chores in preparation for tomorrows move. I then had a nice coffee along with my leftover half pork pie, and then we took a walk into Thirsk.
Thirsk really is a lovely little town, the buildings are a delight and a favourite one of mine is the little cinema at the end of Front Lane.
We strolled the streets and it was reasonably warm although not sunny. In fact, the sky was actually looking like rain was just around the corner.
After our tour of the town, we called in to Tesco to get a few supplies and by the time we were leaving the heavens had indeed opened and a steady stream of rain was coming down. It wasn’t a problem as I had my big brolly and we both had our coats on, and more importantly we were going to stop at our local pub for a pint which is just about halfway back to the caravan.
The pub was nice enough, I had a nice pint of Theakston’s Best Bitter and Wendy had wine, again!
Through the windows we could see the rain bucketing down, it was torrential and by the time we had finished our drinks there was nothing else to do but saunter back to the van under the brolly.
Walking back in the rain I was reminded of a local man of Thirsk, Bill Foggitt. Bill was a really nice man who predicted the weather by unorthodox means when I was a youngster, he was on the local ITV news show most evenings and the regular forecasters, who used modern methods used to get the pip because he was right much more then they were.
Bill used the behaviour of plants and wildlife near his home in Thirsk to produce his forecasts.
He also made use of climate records which had been kept by his family for generations.
In the 1980’s Bills weather predictions were much in demand by radio, TV and newspapers.
This was especially true when he came to different conclusions about the weather outlook than professional meteorologists.
Back at the caravan, as the rain poured down, we settled in for the night with Wendy making an excellent early supper, gammon steaks, fried egg, mushrooms and fried tomatoes. It was good old fashioned food that I’m sure my mother made me when I was a nipper!
Although I am not sure about how our four legged neighbours would feel about us eating their relatives not 30 yards from their home!
As I previously said its moving day tomorrow, its only 63 miles to our site just outside Barnsley so I won’t have to faff about finding fuel as I have a full tank again. However, I have one more thing to achieve in Thirsk on tomorrows run, lets hope the rain has gone well away by then!
67 Miles
Back Home!
I had a bit of a telly fest last night, first I got hooked on the film, A Night to Remember”, the 1958 black and white classic staring Kenneth More about the sinking of the SS Titanic. I like it more than the last one, I appreciate this wasn’t as good from an effects point of view but it was more factual based and it didn’t have that silly love triangle stuff in it!
Straight after that finished it was Bake Off time, and I must admit it was a good episode and we can now clearly see who as the talent and who doesn’t.
We were in bed by 10:00 pm and I was fast asleep not long after. I slept well, apart from catching Wendy bimbling on her iPad at 3:30 am. I then woke at what I thought was 6:50 am and I was just about to get up when I noticed that it was still dark, well it would be because it was 5:50 am. The clock was slightly turned to one side and I thought the 5 looked like a 6. I forced myself back to sleep and straight into stupid dreams.
I woke at 7:10 am and that was it, I got up.
It was a lovely sunny morning and we both went out running together, albeit in different directions.
I had my mission to undertake which was to find Thirsk Cricket Club because here is what I found about it online:
“Thirsk Cricket Club was founded in 1851 and play in the middle of the local racecourse. The club was a founder member of the York & District League in which they still compete”
I ran down into town and to the Racecourse.
The first thing that struck me is that there is a Caravan Club Site at the very edge of the Race Course, and it was fairly busy.
I found the cricket pitch which is in the inside of the running rails and it is directly in front of the Race Course Grandstands. It must be marvellous to walk out into the middle when it’s your turn to bat.
I could easily see the back of the score box and the practice nets, and when I stood on tip toe I could just see the wicket. I didn’t dare risk walking out on to the pitch, as the only way, apart from jumping the rails would have been to blag my way into the Grandstand and out through there. But never mind at least I saw it!
Here is a link to the team’s website where you can see the team playing in front of the Grandstand:
https://thirsk.play-cricket.com/website/web_pages/224782
Back at the caravan I had breakfast and we did a little lazing about before coupling up the van to the car and decamping.
I wasn’t overly worried about the cars clutch because it hadn’t given us any trouble while we were out and about yesterday but I wasn’t taking any chances so I put the car in a slightly downward position and used the mover to get the caravan to the car.
When I pulled away there was no clutch slippage and we made it on to the A168 and then the A1and finally the M1 without any hassle. We left the M1 at junction 37 and headed west from Barnsley towards Hoylandswaine.
We were on site and fully set up by 1:30 pm and we settled down and had a small sandwich and a cup of coffee, and after that we wrapped up and walked to the small town of Penistone.
The first thing we saw as we turned off the main road, heading towards the town was the new shop that Lianne will be opening with her friend on Friday. Leanne is my nephew, Mark’s wife, and she is such a lovely woman. Her full time job is as some kind of quantity surveyor for a building company, so she’s not afraid of hard work. Inside the shop I could see a woman sorting stuff out so I popped my head in and I told her who I was and she asked us in for a look around. Her name is Karen and she is the front of the business where Leanne will have more of a silent partner roll. Wendy loved it, she was looking everywhere, and she liked what she saw.
I told Karen that we hoped to come down and see them on opening day which is Friday and that Wendy, Caroline and Robyn hope to come on Saturday, fuel crisis willing.
We left the shop just as Penistone Grammar School had finished for the day and there were kids everywhere spilling out on to the road. We crossed the road and waited at the wishing well for a break in the chain which the traffic lights at the bottom created.
We beat the rest of the kids into the High Street and we strolled around before I went into a new shop that sells beer. It was a tough climb up a steep stairway, but once we were up there we were welcomed by a nice man who firstly pointed out the Gluten Free range and then I chatted to him about the Yorkshire Pudding range of beer and about Bundaberg Rum.
The fella seemed quite chuffed with my knowledge of the pudding beer, he had heard of it and had thought it might be a gimmick. I told him that is exactly what I thought until I had tried it, and I assured him that it really is a serious beer. He said that he would look to stock some and he would see how it goes.
After we had nipped into Tesco for some bread we walked back, up the hill to Hoylandswaine and we took a drink in the Rose and Crown before heading back to the caravan. We got back just in time before the heavens opened so we settled down inside and Wendy cooked a delightful, prawn and chorizo creamy pasta mix, it was really yummy!
Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, I have hills to run up and down, then I have to undertake a complex fire risk assessment, then go visit Teddy and then meet Ian and Jayne for supper in a local pub. Hopefully I’ll get another good night’s sleep, although we are now surrounded by sheep, but thankfully I don’t think they make as much noise as pigs do!
No Travelling
Busy Day!!!
I did Wendy’s trick in the middle of the night, I woke at 3:30 am for absolutely no reason and I could not get back to sleep, but I just lay there very quietly and didn’t resort to playing with my iPhone, and eventually I did nod off.
I woke to the sound of drizzle on the caravan roof and what sounded like a gale blowing outside.
Wendy wasn’t game for going running but as I started to get ready the rain stopped so she climbed out of bed and got dressed.
I ran in the direction of Barnsley, down a big hill for a mile and then up a big hill for just about 2 miles before levelling off. Wendy went around the village we are staying in.
Within ten minutes of setting off it was raining and the wind was howling again.
I got as far as the Dodworth Road and Broadway traffic lights before I had reached my four mile turn around point.
The last uphill section nearly killed me!
Back at the caravan the rain was driving wildly, thankfully my first appointment with Ian wasn’t until 12:30 where I was meeting him at his building on Carlton Road, just outside Barnsley.
The rain had thankfully stopped by the time I met Ian. Wendy waited in the car while I went around the building with Ian.
What I found was that a pair of semi-detached residential homes had been knocked into one on the ground floor level and the whole floor is now a convenience store. At the back of the building a rear, single story extension had been added which formed one two bedroom apartment with a kitchen / lounge arrangement. The first floor had been converted into two, two bedroom apartments, again with the kitchen / lounge arrangement.
The whole building was almost fully compliant to fire safety requirements and only needs a little remedial work to make it fully compliant!
The whole inspection took just over an hour and after that we headed to the town centre to buy some supplies for the coming week in our rented house somewhere near Sheffield.
Wow what have they done to Barnsley town centre? It is amazing!!!
The new Glassworks complex is almost complete and it looks utterly amazing, it really does. Barnsley Council have to be commended at the new shopping environment they have created, it is truly magnificent, I hope the people of Barnsley look after it.
Our first stop was to buy two small pork pies for our lunch. Then we called at our favourite meat stall in the market for some chicken and beef for a curry for tomorrows supper, and then finally to another stall for Barnsley black pudding, where because I know Robyn and Brad love it, I bought 3 links!
After a trip to Morrisons for even more supplies we headed back to the caravan to eat our pies and for me to start my report of the fire risk assessment.
Jeepers, the weather was wild with driving rain and the caravan even rattled a few times with strong gusts of wind, but thankfully we were nice and warm in our caravan.
Our next appointment was with my niece, Jenna, her husband Ian and their son Teddy, this was scheduled for 5:30 pm but we left a little early because we thought the traffic might be heavy.
Jeepers the rain had now reached biblical proportions and by the time we reached the out skirts of Royston, the village where they live, the rain was so heavy that manhole covers had been lifted and rain water was spewing out of the drains. At one point the pavement had burst open and water was pouring out. I have never, ever seen anything like it, in fact I don’t think I have ever seen rain like it, not in the UK anyway.
We arrived at Jenna’s house as arranged at 5:30 pm on the dot, just as her husband Ian was leaving to collect Teddy from his after school session.
Jenna made us very welcome with nice hot coffee and told us of her frightening journey from work in the heavy rain.
Ian and Teddy arrived, but Teddy was very tired and a little unsettled so it took him a little while to come round, but when he did it was lovely to see how much he is progressing at school. He really is a lovely inquisitive young boy and his reading ability is really coming on.
Sadly, we only had a short time at Jenna’s and we left to meet Ian and Jayne for supper at a Toby Carvery, which is quite close to our caravan park.
Well, what a really lovely evening we had with Ian and Jayne, it’s very likely it was the most relaxing evening we have had in several years, and it was just such a tonic. We had really lovely food, the service was terrific and we laughed and chatted our way through the night. Ian and Jayne are such easy company to get along with and time just flew.
After our farewells we got back to the caravan just as, you’ve guessed it, the rain came down yet again.
It’s been a busy old day but also a very enjoyable one, tomorrows moving day again and I can’t wait for it to come along, I do hope I sleep through the night though!
34 Miles
Birthday Week
I woke at around 5:00 am for a bathroom break and it was chucking down outside. As I was just about nodding off, I thought here we go again, but, surprise, surprise when I woke properly at 07:00 am the sun was out, and it was dry, although a little breezy.
Wendy was up and out before me and she went out running around the village where we are staying. I went up a monster hill to the very edge of the steep drop that eventually leads to Penistone. The road runs along this ridge and it passes through some small villages. Boy was it windy, and sometimes the odd squall would blow through, but they would pass over in minutes.
I turned around at a village called Ingbirchworth, which is where I used to be able to buy milk directly from the cow from.
I got back to the caravan and after breakfast I was doing close down routines when the site owner walked past. Mr Brown is a smashing old Yorkshireman and I asked him if, after I had disconnected the power, I could leave the van to nip into Penistone to see my nephew’s wife’s new shop. He looked a little concerned so I said, unless there’s someone coming onto the site. He said there was, but that I could leave the caravan in the lower field, which is exactly what I did.
We parked in Tesco’s car park as we were going to do a little shopping in there later and we walked down to Leanne’s shop from there.
I walked in first, and there were a few people in the shop, Leanne saw me and she was like an excited little puppy, she called me over, and then when she saw Wendy, she did the same with her. I was just as excited for her, and I do hope the business is successful. Karen, her business partner is lovely too, they both are very much people people, so I’m confident for them.
We nosed around a fair bit and when Wendy spotted the cakes that was it, we bought cakes for everyone. The cakes are made by Karen and they looked lovely, there was even a gluten free cake and Wendy got Alex a slice.
We left the shop laden with cakes and said our farewells.
Getting the caravan from the lower field was a bit hairy, the gravel track made my wheels spin so I had to do a bit of nifty reversing so that I could take a longer run, which I did and with a bit of a heart in the mouth moment I managed to clear the hill and then we were heading down the M1.
The motorway was easy enough, until we got to junction 33 where the electronic signs said that there was a queue up ahead. Nothing changed at first, we drove another 5 minutes and then we hit it, tailbacks on all four lanes.
We had 3 miles to go to our turn off and 2 miles to the next service station.
We crawled along an uphill section where again I am putting pressure on the car clutch.
Eventually I pulled off at the service station where it was utter chaos. There were artic lorries parked in caravan bays, cars too. But it didn’t phase me, I used to drive arctics myself so I’m quite happy to push and pull my way around. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, lorry drivers have to take a break after 4.5 hours driving, and after being stuck in traffic for an hour, it quickly spoils your plans for the day and the drivers have to pull over, so it’s a case of everyman for themselves, thankfully its usually all very good natured!
We boiled some water for coffee, but before we drank it, we washed our hands and did a Covid Lateral Flow test each. The new tests are far better, and you don’t have to stick anything down your throat. Its now just a case of putting a swab up each nostril for a spin of 5 revolutions.
We both returned negative results as we drank our coffee. We also had some Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake which Wendy had bought from Leanne’s shop. What an utter delight it was, it was just so delightful, I could have gorged myself on it.
I sent a message to Leanne to thank Karen, it really was that good.
We set off after a 40 minute wait and thankfully whatever had caused the tailbacks had now been resolved because no sooner were we back on the motorway, we were off at the next junction and heading to our accommodation.
We had very specific directions from the owner of our accommodation but we missed the Fox and Hounds pub on the left, which was crucial, but we eventually worked it out and we were soon parking the caravan at the spot we had been instructed to do so.
As we were a little early to check in, we went to the very nearby pub for a pint of real ale and it was just very nice and very relaxing.
We went back to the refurbished barn which we will now live in for a week at around 4:20 pm and we just unpacked all of our gear from the caravan as Alex, Robyn and Rose arrived.
As they unpacked, I made supper, well I warmed up the beef curry Wendy had made the night before, I made a chicken curry, with a radish infusion, and Alex made the rice. I guess it was a good all joint effort.
Half an hour later, Brad, Caroline and Eleanor joined us.
While Brad was unpacking, I was working on dinner and I saw the TV was on, and on the screen was a presentation of what had been planned for my birthday week.
Jeepers, I am one lucky dad, I am in for the week of my life, I hope that I can keep up!
Supper was an utter delight, we all sat around the long dining table with two very well behaved baby girls sat at each end of the table.
After tidy up I just had to enjoy some quite time in the hot tub before I was joined, first by Alex, then Robyn, and finally Bradley.
In all I must have been in the hot tub for 90 minutes, and it was lovely.
I got out and dried off just after 9:30 pm and then everyone else filtered out.
Everyone is shattered after their long drive and they are all now in bed, it’s just me and Smooth Jazz FM in my ears as I type tonight’s copy, and I don’t doubt I’ll be in bed in a short while too, well I do have to conserve my energy for all of this week’s activities!
No Travelling
Oakwell!
I was late to bed last night, I wanted to finish the paperwork for the Fire Risk Assessment I did in Barnsley, and then I watched a little TV. I was all alone in this lovely lounge and the piece and quite and then the darkness outside was a real treat.
I woke at 6:45 and I thought that I had sneaked downstairs but the stairs, without carpet, creak like a haunted house.
Then I needed to get the juice out of the drink’s fridge, which is outside Robyn’s bedroom, and someone had stacked beer bottles around the juice, and as I pulled the juice out a bottle rolled down, with a bang. Robyn joined me in the kitchen thinking that someone had shot me with a shot gun, Wendy was down seconds later.
So much for breakfast on my own!
It was a nice dry morning but it was a little cooler at around 8 degrees.
I went out running dressed for the cold, even with a pair of tracksuit bottoms on.
I soon found out that we are at the top of a hill as every road lead me in a very steep downwards direction. I tried my best to work out the least steep direction and I thought I had found one, but it didn’t have a pavement and by the time I had got to the bottom of it the morning traffic was moving and it wasn’t as safe as I usually like it to be.
But I made it back safe and sound, if not fully out of breath!
Everyone was up and about when I got back and the little girls were playing nicely with each other in the lounge. I had my smoothie and tea and then I shaved and showered and joined Eleanor and her dad in the hot tub for a splash about.
Brad had dropped the temperature of the hot tub so it was safe for Ellie, it was her normal bath temperature. It was fine for me and it was nice to play with her, Brad and me passed her around the hot tub and she loved just floating along in her floating seat.
After a short while the clouds came over and it started to rain, heavily.
Ellie and Brad left the hot tub as Ellie was getting tired so I ended up having tub to myself and it was very nice and relaxing, even with the rain falling. Thankfully the hot tub is under a canopy so the rain water didn’t make the water any cooler.
Wendy brought me a cup of coffee and it was very nice.
I got out after about 40 minutes and took yet another shower to wash the chlorine off me.
When I came downstairs Eleanor and her dad nipped to the car to give me a present, a Barnsley Football Club T-shirt, which fitted me just perfectly.
Today’s activities included Alex and Brad taking me to Oakwell for the football match between Barnsley and Millwall. We had arranged to leave by 1:00 pm and we were just a couple of minutes late in making the time.
It was still raining hard as we travelled, in two cars, up the motorway to Barnsley.
Today’s arrangement was that Wendy, Robyn, Caroline and the little girls would drop us off in town to walk to the stadium, and then they left town to go and visit Leanne’s shop in Penistone. Strict instructions were given on what cake I wanted from the shop and off they went on their way.
Because Millwall football fans have a very bad reputation for causing trouble the police had blocked quite a few roads so that the railway station was segregated from the rest of the town. This had created a single passageway to the stadium for the Millwall fans. We on the other hand had to walk to the ground in a convoluted way and we almost got soaked in doing so!
We got to the ground at around 2:30 pm and I must admit it felt very good to be there, especially as we climbed the stairway to our seats in the upper East Stand, which is where Brad and me used to go when we lived in Barnsley.
We had brilliant seats and we could see the entire pitch area. Toby Tyke was on crowd warm up duties but instead of his traditional red football kit he was wearing a t-shirt which was the emblem of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. This was in recognition of the air ambulance crew that landed on the pitch two years ago when a Barnsley supporter suffered a heart attack. The man was in a very bad way but the Barnsley medical team performed CPR on him, on the pitch and saved his life. The helicopter landed on the centre spot at what should have been kick off time and the whole crowd applauded.
Sadly, today’s game wasn’t Barnsley at their best and they lost to an almost identically poor Millwall side, by one goal which was scored in the 89th minute!
The highlight of the game was my birthday shout out over the public address system at half time, I didn’t half get the full treatment, and it was very special!
We left the ground after most of the crowd had dispersed and we met the ladies about a mile away from the ground where we found that after visiting the shop, they took the little girls for a walk around Locke Park in the double buggy.
After filling both cars with diesel which we bought at the first fuel station we stopped at, without having to queue, we headed down the motorway and back to our house.
As Robyn and Wendy started to make supper, Brad, Alex and me drove to a nearby pub for a pint of Theakston’s ale. However, when we got to the pub it was absolutely mobbed with people so we didn’t even bother getting out of the car.
Back at the house again, Brad produced a keg of Theakston’s Best Bitter which he had secretly chilled in the fridge.
Supper was lovely, Shepherd’s pie and broccoli after which I thought I could not eat another morsal, but within the hour I was scoffing today’s portion of Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake, it was wonderful, it was like a symphony on my tongue!
Its Saturday night and Strictly Dancing has just finished and talk is circulating that a hot tub session is about to commence……………..more on this in tomorrow’s copy!
No Travelling
Relaxing Sunday
We did indeed indulge in some hot tub relaxation last night. Robyn, Alex and me had a very nice hour in the hot water, sipping wine, it was lovely!
It was such a nice occasion I requested that Brad open the special whiskey, just to top off a very nice day.
The special whiskey was presented to me by the fire crew at Fort William Fire Station in 2008 when we opened the new fire station.
The whiskey was produced at the Ben Nevis Distillery and it was put to cask on 13th May 1992 and it was bottled on 5th April 2008. Finally, the bottle was number 12 of 50.
The bottle, as I said was gifted to me, but I also bought another one for £30. I drank that one some years ago and I had intended to either save this for sale at some other time in the future or to leave it to someone.
A few days before we left Inverness, I did look to put it to auction, where similar bottles were going for anything between £1,800 to £2,500. But then I thought I should drink it as it was intended so I brought it in the caravan for just such a special occasion. Last night we cracked off the first third of it, so we have a little bit left for Tuesday night.
After towelling off and getting dressed and with the babies settled down for the night, we sat around and had a chat and a good old laugh together before settling down, late, for the night.
I woke at just gone 7:00 am and not long after, I went down for breakfast and I found Alex with Rose. Wendy came down too and not long after Rose ended up in bed with Wendy, I had my breakfast and then I ended up back in the bedroom with Wendy, Rose and Eleanor.
What fun we had, it was lovely, both girls were as good as gold.
I dragged myself away at around 9:00 am to go out running.
The sun was out but it was a tadge windy.
In my quest to find a nice, not too hilly running route, I bit the bullet and started off in the direction of Eckington, and I found myself going downhill for over 2 miles.
I went through Eckington village and I went in the direction of Sheffield. At 3 miles I came to a massive hill. I looked at Strava mapping and I found a rough track that I might be able to take. I took it and I ended up running along the River Rother. The track was muddy because of the recent rain and I ended up sliding all over the place, and at one point I ended up on my backside, in the mud!
I ran back, up that blinking hill and I had to rest half way up, but in the end, I did crack it!
I got back again and everyone was up and about, actually Robyn and Alex had gone shopping for Sunday dinner, they had passed me taking a rest up the big hill. Sometimes when I am at rest people have sometimes stopped to ask me if I am OK, and Alex said that if he had not known me, he might have stopped to ask if I was OK, the cheeky monkey!
After breakfast I had a bit of self-indulgent time in the hot tub on my own, it was lovely.
I listened to the Radio 2 programme on catch up where they are chronicling the years from the year 2000 to 2020, it’s a mix of songs and news. Alex joined me halfway through the programme and was surprised at what music and what stories popped up, it just goes to show how time does quickly pass.
After the hot tub and my shower, again, I persuaded Wendy to join me at the pub for a drink. Again, the bar where I wanted to go was chock a block with people, it was absolutely heaving, so we didn’t bother.
It might be pertinent at this point to note that Barnsley is currently the 12th in the league table of virus hotspots. I know we are 26 miles away, but people are behaving in exactly the same manner as they did before the virus.
We did however go to the local bar and I found that that was much better, so I went in for the drinks and we then sat outside at a nicely located bench and it was very nice.
Back at the house and things were in full swing for a Sunday Roast Dinner.
Alex was on meat duty, beef brisket, Robyn was on veg and Yorkshire puddings duty and things were coming along nicely until we encountered issues with the electric oven.
Cooking a meal, let alone a full Sunday Roast on a cooking range and oven that you are not familiar with is a challenge for any chef, so hats off to Robyn and Alex for doing it.
At 4:15 pm my brother Michael turned up; Wendy had arranged for him to come along on the sly which was nice. My nephew, Mark and his wife, Leanne were also going to come however their daughter, Luci, tested positive for Covid 19 that morning, which is a bit of a worry and it confirms my concerns for sitting around, inside packed bars!
It was good to see Michael and we all had a good chat together before dinner.
We all sat around the dining table with a little girl at each end and we ate a most delicious meal. The meat was perfectly cooked, in garlic too. The Yorkshire puddings were as Yorkshire as any could be. If you were being picky, you might say the roast spuds might have been crispier, however this was no fault of our chefs, it was all down to the lack of information in how to operate a fancy electric oven.
The little girls were on their best behaviour and we had a really lovely dining experience, in fact, Michael, Bradley and Alex had second portions. Wendy also knocked up a delightful lemon posset.
Michael left at around 7:00 pm and everyone settled down to watch Strictly Dancing, the dance off. Brad and Alex snuck off for a hot tub dip halfway through and I was left with the ladies and Eleanor who refused to go to sleep, the little minx!
Tomorrow is a day of adventure for at least four of us, hopefully the weather will allow us to make it through the day without being soaked to the skin, well here’s hoping!
No Travelling
Monkey Business!!!
I slept well last night but at 5:30 am I could hear a little baby girl asking for some breakfast, and then it went quiet. It was Rose who is sleeping on the ground floor with her mummy and dad.
I then woke at 6:30 am and I got up at 6:45, I couldn’t believe it when Wendy came down for a cup of tea not long after, which she then took back to bed, and then not ten minutes later she was back downstairs and in her running gear, and off she went.
It was a nice and bright morning with a light breeze as I went out which was nice for a Monday morning. I decided to bite the bullet and attack the big hill that seems to lead westwards out of the village. But it flattened out after a mile and then the pavement stopped and the only option to follow a pavement was on a different road, which, would you believe led downhill, all the way for 3 miles.
I even made it as far as the Chesterfield town boundary and thankfully coming back wasn’t has bad as the hills that go in the opposite direction. I got back a little before 9:30 am and I think now that after 3 days of looking for an easy route, I can firmly confirm that there isn’t one. It looks like the countryside between Sheffield and Chesterfield is just very hilly terrain.
Wendy was still in her running gear when I got in, she had been playing with Eleanor on the rug and just didn’t get around to showering which meant that everyone apart from me wanted to shower at the same time.
The one drawback to this lovely house we are staying in, is that the water pressure cannot support the three showers at the same time, especially with the washing machine on, and that washing machine, with two babies in the house, is on a lot.
Thankfully they all got through shower time with just minor bickering and by the time I had finished my smoothie and it was time for my shower everyone had had theirs. I only had to jump in in between the washing machines cycles. This is easy, the shower dribbles when the machine is filling or rinsing, and then when the shower flows fully, I jump in and lather as quick as I can and then rinse and so far, I have managed to get by!
At just turned 11:00 am, Alex, Robyn and Rose left for our trip to Sherwood Forest. Bradley and Caroline had gone shopping for tonight’s meal and we had Eleanor with us, and as usually she was as good as gold.
When Brad and Caroline got back, we all left to join the others at Sherwood Forest. The drive was around 40 minutes and Wendy and I sat with Ellie which is always good fun.
We went to Sherwood Forest for a very specific reason, we went to Go Ape!!!
What a fantastic time we had too, it was brilliant!
The weather was brilliant too, it was between 16 and 18 degrees, even warmer when the sun came out, but we weren’t in the sunshine for long because soon we were in the tree tops.
Brad, Alex, Robyn and me took the challenge while Caroline and Wendy took the little girls for a nice long walk in the woods in the Baby Bus.
Go Ape was very well organised, first we were kitted out with our safety harnesses, then we had a very good safety brief, where everything was very carefully explained to us.
There were 3 teams, the four of us, a young couple, then another couple who were about my age, with a young woman who I think was their daughter.
We all had one more safety trial where we all walked a high rope and then ziplined a short rope.
Then the order we were to go was the couple first, then the family of 3, then us.
On the very first activity the woman in the group of 3 told the safety officer that she was overcoming a phobia! All of our hearts sank because we knew she was going to be slow going around, and she was. She farted about and had her issues at every twist and turn. Now please don’t think me unkind, but surely, she should have opened up about this earlier. By not doing so she both held us up, and more importantly she put additional pressure on herself because she knew she was holding us up.
Eventually we started and we were all fine with our confidence, especially as we really were quite high up in the trees. We had five challenges and each one got progressively harder.
On the second challenge we managed to go on an alternative route to the family of 3, which made it better for us, especially as by now the man of the group was having confidence issues too.
We were well on our way now and we were loving it, we were having fun and we were laughing at each other because each of us had a difficulty with one challenge or another. Robyn didn’t fair so well on the stirrup ropes and Bradley caught himself in a delicate place on the zip wire.
I think for a fella one day short of being 60 years old that I did very well on that course.
The family of 3 let us pass them on route 4 and we had a whale of a time with the various high level obstacles. The long zip line down into the cargo net was a great laugh, I bounced off it and went half way back to the starting point, I was going that fast.
The last challenge had two options, I took the right one and the other 3 took the left. It didn’t matter because they were the same obstacles, just in a different order.
I got to the last long zip line first and I waited for Robyn to join me at her zip line, and we raced each other down, Robyn won.
The boys came down one at a time with Bradley coming last, neither him nor Alex had mastered the art of ziplining without dragging their bum through the dirt. Thankfully Robyn and me had!
We completed the challenge and it had been a great fun experience, we all loved it. We even got a personalised certificate to prove our ability.
We had to wait a while for Caroline and Wendy to get back from their walk, where both little girls had been as good as gold.
I drove back with Brad and Caroline and I sat in the back of the car with Eleanor who chatted away nicely to me.
Supper was a very Mexican affair; it was a joint effort by Bradley and Caroline and it was a real delight!
After supper I had some time to myself in the hot tub with Smooth Jazz playing in the background, then I was joined by Alex and Bradley who always make me chuckle when they’re together.
It’s almost 11:00 pm and I have received strict instructions that I need to be home and washed by 10:00 am, I best get to bed then, night night Avid Reader!
No Travelling
Birthday Boy!!!
I woke at 05:50 when Wendy tried to sneak out of the bedroom going to the bathroom, so I snook out and got downstairs before she knew I was missing.
Down stairs I found Bradley and Alex on baby bottle duties.
Wendy came down not much later and took a cup of tea back to bed.
I was out running at 7:00 am and it was another decent morning, the wind was a little breezy but at least it was dry. I ran down to the very bottom of the hill for 3 miles and then along the road leading to the M1 before I took my drink stop outside a large country pub. I sat on a beer garden bench enjoying the cool water from my frozen bottle and I saw the sun pop up into the morning sky.
I ran back up the hill, I must be getting used to it because I managed to get to the top in one go. I did sit on the bench at the top feeling rather smug with myself.
I got back to the house just before 9:00 am and I found that the living room had been transformed into a birthday boudoir, for my 60th birthday.
I had explained to Alex last night that yesterday I was technically sixty as I had completed 59 years and 365 days, but I do accept that October 5th is the day I was born.
The living room looked lovely, with 60 signs and balloons all over the walls.
The table was set for breakfast and my first instruction was to go and shower before I could do anything else.
I did as I was told and I came down all ready for my birthday treats and it was lovely.
First, I was given bucks fizz and then we all sat down and watched video messages from around the world. I had messages from Granny and Grandad, Ian and Karen, Mark, Leanne and the little girls, the Latham’s, Alison from Queensland, David from New South Wales, Clement from France, Takako from Japan, Zof and the boys and a cracker from Clan Fraser Lee who I think were taking the micky out of me, albeit in a very nice way. I even had Jeremey play Auld Langs Syne on his bagpipes, all the way from Maryland USA!
We then all sat down at the large kitchen table and had a very delightful Wendy Gill AirBnB Continental breakfast, which was a delight. The best bit was watching Eleanor eating her fruit. Her mummy had put it in with some Greek yogurt and her face was a picture as she got used to the taste and texture of the yogurt.
After breakfast I opened my presents and I did indeed have lots of them, Bradley and Caroline bought me a bottle of my favourite whiskey, which is Oban. Alex and Robyn had bought me a drawing of Shackleton leaving Elephant Island and, get this, a signed cricket ball by Sir Geoffrey Boycott, they also got me some Texan mop sauce and a Texan mop to lap the sauce onto my ribs!
I got lots of whiskey, beer, a cap, artwork, and a very nice cup from Linda with me being described as a British Classic with my birth year 1961 being proudly displayed.
After a cup of tea and to make room from my lovely breakfast we loaded up the girls into the Baby Buggy and Wendy and me took them for a nice walk into the village. No sooner had we got off the farm track then is started to rain. Wendy wrapped the pram in the rain cover and we carried on regardless. We got about a mile and a half away but the rain was now beating down, so Wendy pulled rank and called a halt and we about turned back to the house.
Guess what, by the time we got back to the farm lane, the rain had stopped and the sky was brightening.
I had a good hour in the hot tub while everyone was chasing babies about, I even managed to get Wendy in with me, only for ten minutes mind, it was far too hot for her delicate skin. In fact, she was heard telling the babies that its now called the, “Too Hot Tub!”.
Alex then joined me for ten minutes but that was curtailed when a medical emergency occurred, Brad had cut himself on a glass while washing up and it was thought that a trauma team was urgently required, but in the end a Band Aid did the job.
At 2:20 we all wrapped up and took a walk to the pub in the next village, a walk of just under two miles. Eleanor was a little unsettled in her pram on the walk out but as soon as she was in her high chair in the restaurant, she was as good as gold. Rose was very well behaved too, in fact throughout the entire meal, both little girls were exceptionally well behaved.
They both take after their parents, as we could take our two anywhere and as long as food was involved, they would be very, very well behaved.
Our food was really nice, the service was great and we were stuffed to high heaven by the time the fellas settled the bill.
Wendy, Caroline and me had slow cooked pork belly with mash and veg, it was absolutely delicious and perfectly cooked.
As it was an open kitchen and our table was directly in front of the serving hatch, I told the Head Chef that we all loved our food and he was very grateful to be told that.
The walk back was wild, with the wind blowing a gale. The two miles seemed like an eternity but we all did really need the walk, just to make a little room in our tums and let our food digest.
Back at the house and it was time for baby action, I forgotten just how much time and energy revolves around a baby, and I really should know because we had too within ten months.
The final part of todays formalities was to blow my candles out on a most exceptional cake, baked by Robyn. It was a physical representation of planet Earth. I loved it, apparently my slice was Saudi Arabia, Brad ate the continent of Africa.
And that’s it, I am now officially sixty years old and I don’t feel a day older than twenty, even if I do look it!
As I file tonight’s copy at just gone 7:00 pm, our babies are being readied for bed and then hopefully we will all gather around the TV for tonight’s Bread Night on The Great British Bake Off, boy how we Gill’s no how to celebrate in style!
No Travelling
They are Trying to Kill Me!!!
I was up at 6:40 am and because Robyn slid Rose in with Wendy that was the last I saw of her, apart from taking her tea up to her, where I also had five minutes with Rose.
It was a bright sunny morning and I was running down the farm access track where I caught my left foot on a stone and went falling onto my arms. I was reluctant, in the brief second I was falling, to put out my hands because I knew they would get badly scraped so I took the weight of the fall on my arms by holding my hands up.
Jeepers I thought that I had broken my left arm the pain was so severe.
I managed to carry on and complete my run and I got back safe and sound with the pain in my arm gradually subsiding. I’ll make sure I keep an eye out for that stone tomorrow.
After my smoothie I did a bit of googling for a pharmacy that would give Wendy and me the flu vaccine because we can’t get it at home because we can’t meet the clinic appointment because we are away. I did ask our GP if they could store us a couple of shots but that seemed to be problematical, so I sought out my own supplies.
I tried Boots the Chemist in every town in South Yorkshire, the cost was £13.99 per shot but I could not get an appointment until the back end of October. It was the same with Superdrug!
I thought I would try a local Pharmacy and I found the nearest one and called them on the phone. The lady on the phone said that we could drop down to the shop and that the Pharmacist would give us the flu jab there and then.
We arranged to meet everyone at Rother Valley Country Park after our appointment and off we set.
The Pharmacy was easy to find and in a minute or two we were sat waiting to be seen. There was a sign on the wall saying, “Free Flu Jabs to Over 50’s”. We were both a little concerned that we are Scottish NHS and that that might be a problem, but I was happy to pay if needed.
Wendy went in the treatment room first and she seemed to take an age, but when she came out she told me that she had had the vaccination.
It was now my turn and I was seen by the loveliest young lady you could ever meet, she was just so nice. She explained that she could not find either Wendy’s or my details on the NHS computer system but that she would vaccinate us and let others sort out the paperwork behind the scenes. I said that it had happened to me before, when I went to casualty in England because I live in Scotland. She said that was most likely the case.
After my vaccination I was given all the paperwork for both Wendy and me and she asked me to inform our GP what we had had so it could be entered onto our records and that if there were any issues, we could call her and she would explain what we had had.
It makes me a little mad that we have two, possibly three or even four NHS computer systems in the UK, its not beyond the wit of man to address, but its my assumption someone in authority likes to be anything but associated with the UK. I mean we are the UK with long ties to each individual country, and through family and work connections many thousands of people pass into each other country on a weekly basis, and some of those must end up requiring NHS assistance.
With our new vaccinations in our arms, we arrived at Rother Valley Country Park at around 12:20 pm.
The park is mainly water sports based, but there are some lovely walks around the large water park.
Brad and Caroline were running a little late so Wendy, Alex, Robyn and Rose set off for a walk. When Brad arrived, we met with them all at a café. The café just happened to be at the water skiing centre so instead of going for a leisurely sail on the water, I was roped in to doing Knee Boarding!
Knee Boarding is where you get dragged around a lake by a wire rope from which attached is a water ski rope with a grab handle, when the rope engages with the wire rope you are catapulted into the water and off you go, sounds easy? It’s not!
First up we had to get into wet suits and then get a life jacket and a helmet.
Then we received a very good safety brief, followed by tactical instructions.
Brad went first, but fell off at the first turn.
I went next, wow the pull at the start nearly pulled my arms out but I did manage to get all the way around before dropping off at the last bend, which is quite close to the start.
The pull on your arms was tremendous and it took all my strength to hold the handles of the rope let alone manoeuvre the board through the marker buoys as I was supposed to.
I had another go and this time I did a complete circuit and I dropped off just after the last turn. No one else had made it around yet.
The others kept falling at either the first or second bend, and then they had to walk back all around the lake carrying their boards.
I had another go and this time I did two circuits and I glided majestically to the waters edge when I had finished the second lap.
That was it, my arms were shot and despite trying I never again did a full circuit.
After falling twice in a row on the first bend I decided that, after walking back with Robyn who fell too, that I was out. I was absolutely shattered beyond compare; both my arms were falling off they were that tired.
At the end of the day, Alex did the best, managing three full circuits, Robyn did a few three quarter and a lot of one bend circuits. Bradley, unfortunately never got passed the second bend.
After undressing, drying off and redressing, all outside by the way, Robyn who was going to make sushi for supper had to cry off after protests from Alex, who I think needed something more substantial.
After we got back to the house, I found a chip shop that did Gluten Free Fish and Chips. I drove over, into Chesterfield, and ordered:
GF Cod and Chips
3 x Large Cod
2 x Large Haddock
6 x GF Chips
3 x GF Mushy Peas
2 x Curry Sauce
The chip shop was organised chaos. You went in, placed your order then stood outside, in a haphazard fashion and they shouted your name when your order was ready.
I had to give my name, so being smart I said, “Its Gill”
There must had been 20 people at one point, outside waiting. Occasionally a Peter would get called out, Peter would go in and make his collection, but on a few occasions, John, would get two people responding, and we actually, on one occasion had 3 Pauls respond!
I kept my FFP 3 Facemask on throughout my engagement with the process and I was thankful when I had my order in the car and I was driving home.
It was well worth the hassle because the food was lovely, very hot, very tasty and a very lot!
As I type tonight’s copy there are four bodies in the hot tub, trying to recover, and it won’t be much longer before I join them.
I’m sure they are trying to kill me off!
Addendum - 22:45 – After talking things over in the hot tub, I am now happy to accredit several ¾ laps to Brad, he did do them, I just never saw it, maybe I was upside down in the water just as much as he was!
No Travelling
Last Day!
I had a bit of a difficult sleep last night, mainly due to my war wounds from the knee boarding episode yesterday. I could not get comfortable with my left arm; I am sure that I have stretched the muscles beyond the limit of their elasticity.
I eventually got up at 5:50 am and I was just filling the kettle when Robyn popped into the kitchen. She looked at me and she said, “When I am retired, I am going to stay in bed until 10:00 am, and then take my breakfast to bed”.
She wasn’t impressed that I was up so early.
She was also suffering from very sore muscle ache in her arms as I was, and as I later found, so was everyone else who had done the knee paddle yesterday. I said they were trying to kill me, didn’t I?
To my surprise Wendy came down dressed for running and immediately went out.
I went out not long after Wendy and I ran in the direction of Chesterfield. The weather was again lovely, it was actually quite warm.
Jeepers I did struggle with tiredness and I posted my worst time for a very long time, boy was I glad to get back to the house.
Everybody was up and about, Brad and Caroline were just about to leave for Barnsley as they had booked a swimming session for Eleanor at the new pirate ship adventure pool at the Metrodome. I am not actually sure if it was for Eleanor, or Bradley, because he was extremely excited about the adventure.
They left at around 9:20 am and took Wendy with them because she wanted to see Ellie swimming.
I had my smoothie and then after a shower I did a little tidying up in the house in preparation for leaving tomorrow. Alex went out for a run, he did circuits up and down the farm track and he came back sweating and ready for a shower, it really was warming up outside.
At 11:15 am we set off to meet the others at Morrisons in Barnsley and then we all went for a walk in the new Glass Works centre in Barnsley Town Centre. The Glass Works is really nice, but a few more shops need to be occupied before its full, although there are some large chains in there, TK Max, Sports Direct and JD Sports to name three.
We then all went to the famous Barnsley meat Market as the kids wanted to stock up at Barkers before heading home tomorrow. I bet the butcher could not believe his luck as I bought a couple of racks of ribs and some fillet steak, and then Alex and Robyn bought about £50 worth of meat. They bought:
Robyn could not believe they had bought two large T-Bones for under £14.00
They also attended at the fish market where they bought a whole crab and salmon before moving onto Birksinshaw’s for some pork pies.
Brad bought the same as Robyn but also included some fillet steaks!
Back at Morrisons we split up again and before heading to meet up at Locke Park, Robyn nipped in to the supermarket for some provisions for tonight’s supper of BBQ pork ribs and sushi.
Locke Park was lovely, the sun was out and it was an incredible 22 degrees centigrade, which is unheard of in October in Yorkshire.
Our first port of call was at the Park Café where Brad and Alex played on the swings with the girls while their coffee cooled down. The Park was very busy, there were nippers everywhere and parents and grandparents chasing them all over the swing area.
After coffee we took the girls to see the Park Tower and while we walked, we watched 3 grey squirrels playing with conkers. They had no fear of us, but they soon high tailed it when two Chihuahua Dogs chased them into the woods.
On our way home we called in at the Stainbrough Arms pub to show Alex a good old English pub, although it had been refurbished since we last visited some years ago. However, all the original features were still there like the huge, old fashioned fireplace / oven.
I also showed Alex Stainbrough Cricket Clubs ground to him as its located directly behind the pub. This is one of my favourite local cricket grounds, it’s such a nice place to come, relax and watch local cricket on a warm summer’s day, especially with a few pints of beer and maybe a picnic thrown in.
Robyn, Alex, Wendy and Rose left the pub before us as Rose was in need of her supper, but we weren’t long after them, and we were all back at the house at just gone 5:15 pm.
We started to do more moving out tomorrow jobs and I hitched the car to the caravan in case its raining in the morning, I also went to get the barbeque gear out of the caravan for Brad to use for cooking the ribs, and I realised that I had not brought enough fuel.
By the time I had nipped out and got some more fuel, Brad looked at the pork ribs and saw that our very nice butcher had cut them into individual ribs and had not left them as a rack as I wanted.
As Brad cooked the ribs, Robyn painstakingly made the sushi and then it was time for both girls to go to sleep, Rose had other ideas though!
With Rose settled the table was set, first with Robyn’s sushi and what an utter delight it was, it was bloody lovely. The range of options was tremendous, we had salmon, tuna, crab, avocado and cucumber. The sauces and ginger paste assisted the flavouring and the taste was amazing, well done Robyn!
Brad worked that BBQ for a good long while, he basted the ribs lovingly with his own brand of Bradley Texan sauce, but unfortunately there was very little meat on the ribs and despite his best efforts some people were disappointed, I wasn’t, I loved them.
And that was that, with Wendy undertaking her responsibilities as granny very seriously, she washed the dishes and looked after the babies while everybody else spent one last night in the hot tub!!!
110 Miles
Moving On
We did indeed have a last night dip in the hot tub, but it was only for about 45 minutes because everyone was just shattered from the day befores knee boarding episode!
Everyone was tucked up in bed by 10:30 last night but I was in such agony at 2:30, I woke up and I could not get comfortable. One of the men who was running the water ski tow told Robyn that the second day after knee boarding was the worst for your tired muscles and he wasn’t kidding. I did manage to eventually drop off again but I was wide awake again at 5:30, so I got up.
Wendy woke up as I was leaving and asked for tea. I found Brad in the kitchen making a bottle up for Eleanor so I told him to pop Ellie in with his mother. Sure enough when I popped my head in the bedroom, Ellie was in bed with Wendy and taking her bottle.
I had taken my running gear down stairs with me when I got up, so I dressed down there but I went to say I was off and I found Ellie snuggled down and looking like she was going to go back to sleep.
I went out and the morning sky was full of beautiful colours, the sky was stunning.
I ran down the big hill and back and because it was a lovely warm morning, I was drenched in sweat by the time I got back, and I was knackered, again! Thank goodness I will never, ever have to run the roads around Marsh Lane again!!!
The house we stayed in was very nice, and it really suited our needs, but I will never go back there, it’s just too hilly!
I got back and the house was organised turmoil with 3 sets of packing and tidying up going on.
I helped out by loading stuff into the caravan and cleaning the BBQ area before having my smoothie and shower.
The first to go were Brad, Caroline and Eleanor who are staging their return home with an overnight stay in Newcastle, and then tomorrow they are taking Ellies Great Grandmother Sadie out for lunch.
More packing ensued and then the next to go was Alex, Robyn and Rose. They were going straight home but with a stop off at the Angel of the North, and then they took the road up through The Borders, the A68. This road is really stunning, it also goes up and down like a rollercoaster!
And that was that, we were alone in the big house. This house, that had had some lovely days and nights together, and had been full of little baby noise, cuddles and even baby smells, was now almost empty.
I locked the door and put the key in the outdoor key safe and we set off for the 110 mile journey to our next camp ground on the outskirts of Droitwich.
We drove through Chesterfield and directly passed the Chesterfield Parish Church with its world famous crooked spire. If you don’t know about the folk story of the crooked spire you’ll have to wait until I visit the town properly Avid Reader! Maybe I’ll call in on the homewards journey!
We drove down the M1, took the A42 and then the M42 before finishing on the M5. Traffic, although busy, we were never held up and we pulled onto our new site at just gone 2:00 pm.
After making camp and having a bite to eat, a pork pie and coffee each, we drove 3 miles into Droitwich Spa.
We parked in Morrisons car park and Wendy almost had a fit when the parking meter short changed her to the value of 40p, meaning we had to buy another ticket for a pound, then I had to write a note for the parking attendant so we didn’t get a ticket.
After shopping in the store, we walked around the town, and what a lovely place we found it to be.
The town centre is a small pedestrian precinct with shops around the sides and a glass café taking the centre of the square. Around the town centre there are some lovely old streets with some very interesting old buildings.
I never knew that Droitwich was a spa town!
The spa town has been the site of a settled community for over 2000 years. It owes its existence to the natural brine springs which emanate from subterranean beds of pure rock salt 200ft below the ground. Dissolved by underground springs, artesian pressure forces the salt to the surface as brine. Its density and buoyancy are only rivalled by the Dead Sea.
There are 3 brine outlets that run into the River Salwarpe and we actually saw one, but it was hard to see because it is hidden by trees. It was clearly marked and it was flowing fairly well.
Apparently, the brine water is below body temperature but it is so dense that people lay in it for muscular therapy, and until recent years there was a bath house that you could go to and use. There also used to be a massive salt making industry in the town and it brought the canal, and also great wealth to some people, but that ended in 1922.
Droitwich brine contains 2.5 pounds per imperial gallon of salt; ten times stronger than sea water and as previously stated is rivalled only by the Dead Sea.
We found the river and then the canal and we had a lovely walk through the canal side park.
I also found a cracking pub, The Old Cock Inn, where we had a lovely pint of real Ale, Directors Choice.
Back at the caravan we parked the car and then we walked over the fields to the local pub, The Swan. It’s a Toby kind of a place, but it was quiet and they too had a very nice pint of real ale. We walked back and Wendy made a lovely salad and fried potatoes and I cooked the fillet steaks we bought at Barnsley yesterday, jeepers they were very nice. I even topped mine with some of Robyn’s crab meat that she left with us and it was utterly delicious!
Its now just gone 7:00 pm and I feel that my bed is calling me, I’m hoping to manage one episode of Grantchester before bed as I don’t think I’ll make it as far as Gogglebox at 9:00 pm!
No Travelling
Worchester
We slept with the window open last night, the one right next to me when I am in bed, and it was fully open. I cannot believe that we were able to do that so late on in the year.
I did my usually disturbed sleep routine at around 2:00 am this morning as I am still not recovered from the muscle pain of that knee board. Neither is Robyn as she messaged me this morning asking if it was just her still in pain.
I woke a little later though, at 7:10 am.
It was a lovely morning, bright and warm.
We both went out running and because we are on a main road, without a pavement, we have to run on the grass verge for the first half mile. After that there is pavement all the way into Droitwich.
I got into the town and then I found the river and I ran alongside that for a mile and a half. Actually, I came across another canal, and Droitwich Canal Basin, which was like a little city of narrow boats.
I also came across the canal tunnel that goes under the M5, its very small and there is a warning about height because the water in the canal does vary by as much as a metre, which might be a little disconcerting if you have a high boat.
The tunnel is 60 metres long and it takes 6 minutes to go through. I wondered what would happen if two narrow boats meet in the middle?
The sun was out by the time I got back to the caravan and after breakfast we headed for the small city of Worchester, and what a lovely and interesting place we found it to be!
We parked in the town centre multi storey carpark and we walked out into the sunshine with the Cathedral directly in front of us.
This is where I found my first fact of the day! There is a statue of Edward Elgar who I found out was born just outside of Worchester on 2 June 1857. His father, William Henry Elgar (1821–1906), was raised in Dover and had been apprenticed to a London music publisher.
In 1841 he moved to Worchester where he worked as a piano tuner and set up a shop selling sheet music and musical instruments. You could say then that Edwards roots were firmly set in music and it was almost inevitable that he would be successful, however it wasn’t until he reached his forties that his work was recognised. Thankfully his wife inspired him both musically and socially, because with him coming from a catholic family, he was treated with suspicion in protestant Britain. He died on 23 February 1934.
I always thought that he was German, and I never knew he was responsible for Land of Hope and Glory until we found the blue plaque on his old house!
We walked down the High Street while browsing along the row of market stalls and we eventually came across our first Wetherspoon’s of the day, The Postal Order.
After finishing our drinks, we found a route that would take us across the River Avon and over to Worcestershire County Cricket Ground. We went into the café / shop which gave me access, via an outside balcony, to the cricket pitch, and the views were stunning with the cathedral as a backdrop.
We bought Brad and Alex some fudge from the ground and then we set off for a lovely, sunny riverside walk.
The sun was hot, it was over 20 degrees and we were both walking around with just a T-shirt on!
Along the river we came across the start, or the finish of the Worchester to Birmingham Canal. The canal is thirty miles long and has 58 locks and I think I might just be very keen to look at renting a narrow boat and cruising this canal, I bet it’s a stunner!
Worchester Factoids!
Worcester's gloving industry reached its peak between 1790 and 1820 when 150 manufacturers of gloves employed over 30,000 people in and around Worcester. At this time nearly half of all glovers in Britain were based in and around the city of Worcester.
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 at Worcester, England, and was the final battle of the English Civil War, which began in 1642. Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentary New Model Army, 28,000 strong, defeated King Charles II's 16,000 Royalists, of whom the vast majority were Scottish.
However, King Charles II had the last laugh because he later came back from exile in France, when Cromwell was dead, and he became both the King of England and Scotland.
Reginald Erskine Foster, nicknamed Tip Foster, commonly designated R. E. Foster in sporting literature, was an English first-class cricketer and footballer. He is the only man to have captained England at both sports!
Foster was a right-handed middle-order batsman. In 1903 he scored 287 runs on Test debut a then world record highest test score.
In football He played five matches for England between 1900 and 1902, making his debut against Wales. Foster was awarded the captaincy against Wales in his final appearance on 3 March 1902, which ended in a 0–0 draw. During his short England career, he scored two goals.
We headed to the second Wetherspoon’s Bar, The Crown, which is in the town centre, for a nice glass of white wine each before finally moving on to take a good look at Worchester Cathedral.
Along the way we stopped at a nice shop where we bought two dresses, one for Eleanor and one for Rose, which we could just not resist as they were really cute.
Worchester Cathedral is another stunner!
The infamous 'bad' King John, villain of every Robin Hood tale, is most famous for sealing Magna Carta which some historians regard as the first step towards England’s constitutional monarchy is entombed in the Cathedral.
Worcester Cathedral has been described as possibly the most interesting of all England's cathedrals, especially architecturally. It was founded in 680. Saint Oswald then built another cathedral in 983, and established a monastery attached to it. Saint Wulfstan began the present building in 1084, replacing the earlier cathedrals.
Supper was an utter delight, Wendy made a prawn and crab, creamy pasta which I wolfed down.
Its now 7:45 pm and the England Football Team, are just about managing to sing the national anthem so I think its about time I filed tonights copy!
91 Miles
21 Degrees!
Again, it was another night sleeping with the bedroom window fully open, it was lovely, but as I parked the caravan under an Oak Tree, we seem to have lots of leaves and tiny branches and quite possibly acorns dropping on the van roof. Every time the wind blew it felt like it was pouring down with rain.
After a particular downpour of Oak Tree at 6:30 am I got up and started my day, Wendy did too.
Wendy went out running first, followed by me about ten minutes later, and again it was a really smashing morning.
I ran down to Droitwich town and this time I ran all the way along the canal, and in the morning sunshine it was really nice.
I got back to the caravan and after a leisurely breakfast we de-camped and set off for our next destination, Rooksbridge which is about 5 miles from Burnham on Sea, in Somerset.
Our destination was 91 miles away and 87 of those were down the M5. The motorway was busy to start with but it got a little quieter and then as we passed the M4, which goes over the Severn Bridge and into Wales, it got very busy, but only for a short while.
We pulled off the motorway at 12:50 pm and we were driving down small Somerset roads towards our destination. Our site, as detailed by the owner was supposed to be 360 metres down a single track road. After I had gone over 400 metres I pulled up, off road, in a factory entrance, to phone the owner. I didn’t want to get any damage to my cars clutch like we did when we were in Thirsk, when I had to reverse the van back around a tight bend, but she didn’t answer the phone. Wendy ran down the road in an attempt to find the camp ground and about five minutes later she called me, as she had found the site.
I later found that the entrance is 0.38 miles away, which is over 600 metres, someone got their metrics mixed up, is it anything to do with Brexit?
The site, we found is nice and flat and its on a farm. We met Mrs Philips, the owner, who welcomed us on site, and, we also met her lovely 13 year old Dalmatian dog called Dante, boy is he a topping old fella! She is very much hands on and told me exactly where to put the caravan, only to come running back a few minutes later when one fella who was just leaving had told her she had told me to go on a plot that a campervan, who had gone out for the day, was using.
She apologised profusely and cited old age as her undoing.
After putting the van on the right plot, we settled down and had a cup of coffee, sat outside in the hot sunshine. In fact, I had my shirt off while I was setting the van up as it really was that hot in the sunshine.
We have four big fat pigs in the field directly behind us and they are very friendly, most likely they are on the hunt for food from campers!
After coffee we left the site to both look at the local pub, which we fancied for a late lunch, and to go to Tesco’s in nearby Burnham on Sea for some provisions.
The first stop was the pub, thankfully I don’t let first impressions put me off!
I asked the landlord if he did a Sunday Lunch, he said the he did everything but Sunday Lunch. A smart Alec lady who was eating something piped up, “He does do Sunday lunch, its Sunday and I am having lunch”. I smiled my grateful thanks to her!
To explain, the pub is totally a local person’s bar, there were very fat men, belching and supping beer and talking utter crap. But the pub, on TripAdvisor has a 4.5 rating, which is almost perfect, and it had a beer garden at the rear, so I told him I would be back later.
The visit to Tesco was manic, it was pandemonium, thankfully I went in alone and I managed to get what I needed without catching anything nasty.
I am not a snob, I have always retained my working class upbringing, but nowadays there is a breed even lower than working class, and I think I encountered most of them in that Tesco store today.
From Tesco we drove the short distance to Burnham on Sea where we found Blackpool like conditions, seaside attractions and it was also very busy.
We parked briefly to look at the coastline, and we did indeed like what we saw, and we hope to come back and walk the beach when it’s not too busy with people. But I guess today the sun brought everyone out.
We got back to the caravan and after unloading our supplies, we walked about ¾ of a mile to the pub, The Wellington Arms.
It was a little quieter, but the two fat, belching men were still there propping the bar up and talking in Wurzel like accents.
We took the menus from the landlord and we went into the beer garden.
After looking at the menu, Wendy settled on fish cakes with mozzarella cheese and I opted for a filet steak.
I ordered at the bar and the landlord told me to pay afterwards, he said I couldn’t run away because there is no exit from the beer garden.
I took a bottle of wine back to the table, with a pint of lovely hand pulled best bitter for me.
I took a walk around the beer garden, and I discovered the place beyond our table was littered with doggy do, do’s. So, I politely suggested to Wendy that we sit at another table, which might give more sunshine. Then when the two fat men came into the beer garden to smoke, I suggested we go inside or I might get myself worked up.
The place inside is, how can I say, very local and possibly could do with a deep clean. However, our food came and it was steaming hot, which hopefully would kill any lurking bacteria.
The food, both dishes, were actually very tasty, yummy scrummy actually.
Thankfully we were sat in a kind of restaurant area but we could still hear the Wurzels swearing in their very best Somerset accents, anyone under 50 needs to check this link to see who the Wurzels are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btEpF334Rtc
The food was great, terrific even, but I felt like I needed a bath afterwards.
We walked back in the afternoon sunshine and I chatted to the farms rescue donkey, Eeyore. Eeyore lives in a barn alongside where a caravan is parked, and as I stroked him the caravan window opened and a ginger biscuit was given to me, with a man’s voice saying, “Give him this, he loves ginger biscuits”. Eeyore wolfed, or even donkeyed the biscuit down, straight from my hand!
Back at the caravan we listened to Patrick Kielty who is sitting in for Paul O’Grady, and then after that, Friday Night is Music Night, which was a repeat of the music of Simon and Garfunkel.
Goodnight Avid Reader, tonight I might die from botulism and not the Coronavirus, which would be a novel way to depart these days!
No Travelling
Western-Super-Mare & Burnham on Sea
We chanced our arm last night by sleeping with the window open and I woke frozen through.
Wendy says she likes it, well she would, she has her very own internal combustion process and is at the opposite side of the bed, well away from the window.
I checked the outside temperature when I got out of bed and it was 8 degrees, however it was looking like it was going to be a nice warm and sunny day.
Wendy went out running first and then I went. I followed a country road that was as flat as a pancake, I loved it. The fields seem to have irrigation ditches, similar to those I have seen in the fens. I guessed that we are in an area of wetland, which Wendy later confirmed as she was researching something else.
We are in an area called the Somerset Levels.
The Somerset Levels consist of marine clay "levels" along the coast and inland peat-based "moors"; agriculturally, about 70 per cent is used as grassland and the rest is arable. Willow and Teazel’s are grown commercially and peat is extracted.
Well, I found an abundance of wildlife, swans and herons were plentiful, but my most exciting find was a sow with her eight piglets. The piglets where as high as octane gas, they were buzzing about playing with each other and they were bouncing all over the place. I could have watched them have their fun all day long.
I got back to the caravan and the sun was now fully out in the sky.
We had a busy day lined up so after breakfast it was a quick shower and off we set in the car for the seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, and what a cracking place it is.
We parked out of town, on a side street and made our way to the seafront and then walked along the massive and exceedingly clean beach. First up we came across a concrete pool which has been constructed on the sand. The tide was well out but the pool was full, however despite it being a nice sunny day, no one dare take a dip.
We walked along the beach as the tide was miles out and we came across a man who walked into the middle of the beach with a back pack on and he had a load of pigeons and seagulls following him. He stopped and took his backpack off and took out bags of small pieces of bread and threw them for the birds. The birds went berserk, they were attacking each other in a feeding frenzy. He must do this a fair bit because the birds knew what he was about to do. We later found lots of signs around town which said, “Do not feed the seagulls”, he obviously doesn’t agree with that then.
We walked along the pier, a nice long pier at 366 metres, or 1,201 feet long. It was built in 1908 and suffered two major fires, one in 1930 and the last one in 2008 which completely destroyed the pavilion which had to be fully rebuilt.
Wendy almost went into shock at being charged a £1.00 entry fee onto the pier. I didn’t mind because the pier did look like it was being properly cared for.
We walked along the pier, down one side and then back along the other and by now it was quite warm and I was now down to my T-shirt.
From the Pier we walked straight across the road to the Wetherspoons Bar, The Cabot Hotel and what a topper it was. It was quiet inside but it had a lovely outside terrace area, both on the ground floor and on the first floor. We sat on the first floor terrace in the sun and it was just so peaceful and nice.
From the bar we walked around the coast and onto a small residential area that has been built on a rock which was just offshore. The narrow sea gap between had been filled in to create a short causeway and there was even a small theatre there. It looked a very nice place to live with the autumn sunshine pouring into the apartments.
The last thing we came across was the Birnbeck Pier, which is a derelict pier that has fallen into a very dilapidated state. Birnbeck Pier is the only pier in the country which links the mainland to an island, which is 3 acres in size. The pier was built in 1867 but it was closed to public access in 1994.
There is a charitable group that is hoping to raise funds to restore the pier, I wish them the very best of luck because it will take millions of pounds.
After a walk down the High Street, we took the car down to another seaside town, Burnham on Sea.
The weather was holding up but our first port of call was to bag the Wetherspoon’s Bar, the Reeds Arms and it is our 150th Wetherspoon’s bag!
After the bar we walked along the very wide beach in the afternoon sunshine.
We saw a wooden structure out in the distance, on the beach and we later found that it was called The Low Lighthouse.
The Low Lighthouse is one of three historic lighthouses in Burnham-on-Sea, and the only one of the three which is still active. It is a Grade II listed building and stands on the foreshore. First lit in 1832, the Low Lighthouse operated in conjunction with the High Lighthouse for 137 years.
We never found the High Lighthouse but we did find the Old Lighthouse, which is now a Guest House, here’s the story:
In around 1750 an old fisherman and his wife lived in a cottage close to the church. One stormy night, anxious about her husband not returning home after dark, the wife put a candle in the window of the cottage to help him find his way home. It saved his life and the grateful sailors decided to pay her small sums of money from that time on to keep a candle burning in order to safely guide them on their homeward journeys.
We found the High Street and walked it up and down. I found a cracking little farm shop where I bought some bread, free range eggs, two pork pies and 3 large bottles of scrumpy, one for me and one each for both Alex and Bradley.
Having walked around 9 miles we headed back to the caravan where Wendy cooked one of her famous seafood creamy pastas, well actually she pimped up Saturdays left overs.
It’s been a lovely day, the weather has been fantastic and I think that I can say that of all the seaside resorts I have visited in the UK, Weston-Super-Mare is quite possibly the best one.
No Travelling
Cheddar Gorge
It was another clear and cold night, but we did sleep without the window open so I wasn’t starting cold when I got up this morning.
Wendy never knows which way she will go running when she leaves in the morning but I always seem to meet her on her way back, she did it yesterday and again today. Admittedly we haven’t many options to go as there aren’t many pavements around here.
I ran through two nice villages and for the last mile I ran up into the Mendip Hills.
The views were lovely and again by the time I got back, the sun was shining and it was warming up quickly.
Today’s activities were going to be somewhat strenuous as we were off to Cheddar Gorge.
Cheddar Gorge is only 7 miles inland from us so we were there in no time. It was reasonably quiet and we parked up about a half mile uphill from the village of Cheddar.
I found a roadside carpark and we at first thought it was free, that was until Wendy found the meter box tucked behind a cliff face. The cost was £5.00 for all day parking, we only wanted about 3 hours, so there went my stash of pound coins for our next trip to the laundrette.
I wanted to walk up the gorge so that’s what we did, and we soon left the carpark visiting tourists who only want to park up and take a photo and then drive on. We walked up and in parts it was steep, but it was very enjoyable and although the gorge was in the shade, we soon worked up a lather.
The gorge is quite steep and high in places, in fact in a few places it is vertical, with sheer drops. As we walked, we came across three groups of men rock climbing. The first lot were real professionals and they were all strung out on a line up a very high climb. There were four of them and they looked to be going for the top.
The second lot were round the corner and they were training on the baby slopes, but the thing is, there were lots of signs warning about rock and stones falling from above, yet not one of them had a helmet on.
The last three were thankfully doing it correctly and I think they were under instruction as someone was at the bottom guiding their movements.
We got to the top of the gorge after walking just under a mile and a half and we were now out in open sunshine.
We turned around and walked straight back down. As we passed them, the serious climbers were really strung out, with the leader sitting on a ledge high up on the cliff without a care in the world.
The walk down was far easier on the legs!
We passed the car and headed down towards the village, now we wanted to walk along the ridge of the gorge and look down. We knew the footpath to the top started just on the outskirts of the village, being with a climb up a concrete stairway called, “The Jacobs Ladder”.
Jacobs Ladder is 274 steps high and its quite narrow, but there are some waiting platforms for people to catch their breath, and everyone used them as passing places so people going up slow could step aside to let us faster chaps go by, or for people coming from either direction to stop to let their opposite numbers safely pass in line with Social Distancing, and it all worked really well.
At the top of the ladder, we walked up a very wide pass to what we think was Pulpit Point. Lots of people were stopping there and taking photos, but the view was very restricted so we carried on. As we climbed up, I saw a narrow path lead up through some bushes so I followed it. Would you believe it led to a clearing where we had brilliant views over both Somerset Levels and the Gorge itself. Even Wendy liked it, although she kept telling me to keep away from the edge!
With our mission complete we set off back down to look at the village and we got down Jacobs Ladder in one go, as no one else was coming up.
The village was fine but there were some strange shops there, and they had absolutely nothing to do with Cheddar Gorge. There were teddy bear shops and goth themed shops, however there was a Christmas Shop where Wendy bought a Cheddar Gorge bauble.
We walked back to the car and drove up the Gorge to our next destination, the City of Wells.
But before I leave the Gorge, this is what Cheddar Gorge is really famous for:
Cheddar Gorge is the site of the Cheddar snow caves - this was where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, known as Cheddar Man, was found. Found in 1903, Cheddar Man is estimated to be over 9,000 years old.
The drive to Wells was beautiful, over luscious green countryside.
We parked in Weatherspoon’s carpark and we went into the Quarter Jack for a drink, in our 151st Weatherspoon’s bag! We sat across from an elderly couple having a drink and between them they made an origami bird out of the special’s flyer, it was amazing and it worked perfectly when he pulled its tail. I haven’t seen anyone make anything using Origami since the 1970’s!
We walked around the city, which is referred to as England’s smallest city. Actually, it isn’t, but I can see their point, because the actual smallest city, is The City of London, with its square mile business district.
It’s a beautiful city either way, with really nice buildings and clean streets. They also had small rivers running down the high street gutters which looked quite cute.
We headed towards the Cathedral and what a stunner it was, it is absolutely amazing.
It has a very large frontage and there are lots of intricate, ornate statues that have been carved into the stonework. The Cathedral is in a remarkable condition, (opened in 1239), considering the Roundheads used to use the statues for target practice during the English Civil War, the bounders.
Here’s a little side story, I have never seen a Tesla Car until today, and would you believe today I saw three of them!
We walked around the streets and we came across what has got to be the most beautiful street of terraced housing in the United Kingdom, it was spectacular. The chimneys were a particular delight!
Having walked over nine miles again today we began to flag and after a quick shop in Tesco in Wells we drove home and had a delightful pork pie and salad for supper.
I’m filing copy early again tonight because, hopefully, England will put another four goals past the Hungarian Goalie, to shut their horrible, racist supporters up!
83 Miles
Proper Camping – Well, Nearly!
Unfortunately, England didn’t put four past Hungary’s Goalkeeper last night, in fact we did well to come away with a draw, thanks to the man from Barnsley, John Stones. Never mind, at least we didn’t lose.
It was really misty this morning but when I got back from running the sun was shining brightly in the sky and it was really warm.
Its moving day, we have had 3 really nice days on this site, which is ideally located for days out. There was one main issue though and that was that we were very close to the M5, and the traffic noise was constant. It didn’t help that the land is quite flat and there were not many trees to absorb the noise. No matter where you went locally, you always heard it, even during the night. Thankfully my ear plugs kept the noise at bay.
Our camp site is directly next to the M5 Service station, and although there was a small line of trees blocking us from seeing it, I could easily have walked over and had my dinner. In fact, whenever I did a find my friends check, I would always see Wendy as if she was parked up in the car park there.
We had a bit of an issue leaving, not a bad one but a time waster of an issue. This is the first electric metered campsite we have ever been on, and the lady owner was having a bath, at 11:20 am, when we wanted to leave, so we had to wait. It was a bit of a faff actually because there was a younger man, her son we very much think, but he didn’t have access to her book? She had taken her hearing aid out for her bath, so he couldn’t make her hear him, so we had to wait.
I left Wendy to it and 15 minutes later we were done and dusted. Actually, I was happy with the result, it cost £8.00 per night and then we only had to pay £3.00 per night for the electricity. If you think some people run everything off their electrical supply it’s a fair way to do it, but just don’t take a bath when people are leaving, or have a plan if you intend to do so.
The lady, Mrs Phillips, told Wendy that she had sold the farm, it completes tomorrow and at 77 years old she is moving to Sidmouth and leaving her family behind. For 77 she was a very sprightly woman and she said that its something she always wanted to do and that if she didn’t do it now then she never would. She is off there tomorrow to look at properties, what a game bird she is!
The journey to our new site was lovely, the sun was shining and the roads were very quiet. The first 31 miles we did on the M5, we then took about 20 miles of dual carriageway. The last stretch was done on single carriageway roads and they were a bit up and down. We were fine and I could keep up with the traffic flow, but a delivery truck did have some problems on the steeper hills. I hate to think what it would be like in summer, at peak periods, I bet tempers flare!
We got to our site without any problems, we are about two miles west of Bideford and its rather nice. We have great frontal views and the road traffic is nowhere near as bad as the last place.
The owner and her husband who we met at different times while we were setting up could both talk the hind legs off a donkey. At one point I had to say to him 3 times, that I’m off now, it’s been nice chatting, only for him to open up another conversation stream!
But they are both very, very nice!
Well as we are here on this site for five days, we have put the awning up. In the afternoon sunshine it was a piece of cake, I hope we get these conditions every time we make camp.
We have gone out all hog too, the tables and chairs are out and even camp kitchen has made an appearance.
As soon as we had set up, we left to drive the short distance to Bideford. It was just turned 4:03 pm when we parked up, I know this for definite because, after 4:00 pm its free in town parking!
My first mission was to find a butcher, as I fancied cooking some pork chops, I was dead chuffed to find a smashing one man band butcher just about to close. His door was open but he was packing away, I asked him if it was any trouble to serve me and he said, “As long as the door is open, your free to come and shop”. So, I did, I got two massive pork chops and four, old English sausage. He did tell me what was in them, pork meat, herbs and spices and they sounded lovely. I did fancy one with my chop, but when I saw the size of the chop I thought again.
We had a brief walk around Bideford and it looks very nice, but after a drink in a very delightful Weatherspoon’s bar, our 152nd we went back to the caravan.
We are intending on going back tomorrow for a good look around, but today we just fancied an easy day of relaxation, oh and Wendy wants to watch the GBBO on catchup tonight.
I cooked supper in the awning, it was a little cooler when the sun had moved on but I was determined to make the best of it, and I did!
The pork chops were indeed absolutely the tastiest I have eaten in such a long time, I am going back to my mate the butcher, I must try his fillet steak!
Oh, I forgot to mention that when we had just left the butchers, we came across a baker where they had some really nice looking cake in the shop window. My eyes got the better of me so I called in, and because I quite liked the look of some doughy looking cakes. I learnt from the very nice lady that they are called Duffin’s and that they are a mix of doughnut and muffin, and that they are very sweet and very tasty. But after my chop tonight I don’t think I’ll be partaking in mine until tomorrow, Wendy Gill on the other hand………………..
No Travelling
Stayed Local!
Wendy was in bed for 9:30 last night and I followed her at 10:00, I put Radio Two on because I like to listen to the Trevor Nelson show which comes on after the 10:00 pm news. I heard the first song and then I fell fast asleep. Thankfully I put the radio, alarm clock on for 45 minutes sleep, but I guess I wasted 41 minutes of electricity in doing so!
I woke first, at 7:04 am, I had overslept, even after such a long sleep, Wendy wasn’t long after.
As I drank my tea, I saw we had an amazing morning sky so I nipped out to take a photograph, it was a lovely sight.
Wendy went out running first and I went a little later. I fancied running down to town. I had found a safe route to the main roundabout, which if I went along the main road, it doesn’t have any pavement so it’s not so safe. I thought that if I could get to the roundabout there would be pavement, but there wasn’t, so I had to run along a road which led to town, but it went through a village where kids were being dropped off for school and it was utter bedlam. Honestly it was crazy, people were pulling in and blocking cars that wanted to leave, they’d chuck there kids out and drag them over the road and leave them, there weren’t any goodbye kisses, it was just like going to the dump, in and out as fast as they could. Now there’s an accident waiting to happen, because that road was busy with traffic.
Thankfully I managed to find a country route to town where I found pavement, all up a steep hill mind! I got to within a quarter of a mile to the roundabout and the pavement ran out. I was buggered, I had to inch my way along a very tight road with cars whizzing by me, not to mention the odd artic.
Thankfully I made it safe and sound, back to the caravan. I’ll be looking for a different route tomorrow, or I’ll be taking the car out!
After breakfast we set of to explore locally, with our first port of call being Westward Ho! which is just four miles away.
I didn’t know what I expected about Westward Ho! but I wasn’t impressed.
Here’s what Visit Devon says about it:
Not only is Westward Ho! the only town in the UK to have an exclamation mark as part of its name, but it was also named after a book. The name comes from Charles Kingsley’s book of the same name, which was a best seller and brought a new wave of tourism to his home town of Bideford, which led to the creation of Westward Ho! in the surrounding area.
Aside from the peculiarities about how it got its name, Westward Ho! is famous for being a delightful village by the sea. The seafront is one of North Devon's most popular surfing and swiming spots, as it combines a large expanse of sand with pebbles, grasslands and a diverse beachscape making it perfect...
Ok, I can confirm that the first paragraph is accurate, but the second is all waffle.
There is very little old town, its mainly a collection of Butlins style accommodation with some grand Benidorm residential structures and even the bars and restaurants are designed like they are in Benidorm. The beach is a pebble beach with the largest pebbles on it I have ever seen.
Thankfully the sun was shining and we were walking around in T-shirts.
We had about 40 minutes there and we left, we had got the gist of it and it wasn’t our cup of tea.
Check the first page of this website, you’ll see the number of holiday parks there are in Westward Ho!
https://www.visitdevon.co.uk/northdevon/explore/villages-and-towns/westward-ho
Next, we drove the short distance to the village of Appledore.
Appledore is a village at the mouth of the River Torridge, about 3 miles north of Bideford. It’s located at a point where the River Torridge meets the River Taw, which flows through Barnstable.
If Westward Ho! disappointed Appledore certainly did not. We found it to be a really beautiful and peaceful place with small roads and very nice terraced housing and some nice looking shops.
We walked along the narrow roads right to the very point where the very last building is the RNLI Station.
Appledore was busy with people but they all seemed to be a little older than us and they were taking things easy, and some were enjoying the sunshine in a few beer gardens.
We came across the Appledore Tidal Bell, and we found that there are other tidal bells installed at other coastal locations in the UK. The first one was actually placed at Appledore. So far there are seven bells and at least six further bells are planned. Each bell rings around high tide and it is there as a reminder of rising sea levels, supposedly, however I have also read that they are placed so that boats know that the tide is now high enough to move out of the river and into the estuary.
Other Tidal Bell Locations:
Great Bernera, Isle of Lewis
Trinity Bouy Wharf, London
Aberdyfy, Wales
Cemaes, Anglesey
Morecambe Bay
Mablethorpe
Others are planned to be located at:
Brixham, Devon
Happisburgh, Norfolk
Harwich, Essex
Isle of Wight
Par, Cornwall
Redcar, North Yorks
All of the funding has been obtained from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
After a good long walk around Appledore, we headed to our last location for today, Bideford.
We wanted to complete our tour of the town but by 3:pm we were starving so we made our way, to Wetherspoons, by way of every street we hadn’t been along.
Wendy had started a sausage casserole for supper, but we decided we needed food now, so that was that.
I have to say the food was very hot and very tasty, I had a Tennessee burger, with chips and onion rings, and Wendy had chicken strips and chips and when I had finished, I was stuffed, full to bursting actually!
We needed a walk so we walked as far as the river walk went, downstream along the River Torridge. It was nice and pleasant in the afternoon sunshine and after we had completed that we took a walk over the old bridge and back.
The name Bideford means 'by the ford', suggesting that the town grew up around a ford across the River Torridge. The town was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, so it’s got some real history, and it was once England’s third largest port!
We got back to the caravan just after 5:00 pm where I did some paperwork for the Fire Risk Assessment that I did for Ian a couple of weeks ago, and now we are going to chill out with our latest instalment of Grantchester!
No Travelling
Ilfracombe!
I heard a little light rain in the night, it didn’t last long and there wasn’t much to it, maybe a passing shower. Wendy never heard it but the pavements and grass were quite wet when we went out.
Wendy went out running first and I followed about 10 minutes later. I passed her when she was coming back, and a little further on I came to a road junction which I thought Wendy had turned around to return to the caravan. Anyway, I turned left at this junction and the road was much wider so I took the next small country lane I came to, I wished I hadn’t. It was the steepest climb I have ever done, and it went on for 1.38 miles, up and bloody up.
I have no shame in stating that at 3.93 miles I had to stop to recover my breath before completing my 4 miles.
Coming down was just has hard because it was so steep.
I got back to the van and when I told Wendy about it, she just laughed. She had done a circular route today and had come down that hill and so she knew what it was like.
She said, “I thought what must it be like to run up here because going down it is hard enough”.
I was absolutely knackered by the time I got back. The sun was out as well and it was warmer than when I set off too!
I gulped my smoothie down and two cups of tea before I was anything like ready for a shower.
Before we went out exploring, I nipped to a local farm to get some fresh milk. I came across the farm yesterday, they sell fresh milk direct from the cow. I love it so now I have 2 litres of it in my fridge.
Today’s adventure was to visit the seaside resort of Ilfracombe on the North Devon Coast, about 25 miles away.
The journey out was nice, we went on the main road for about 10 miles and then for the rest we drove through some lovely Devon countryside, it was still very hilly mind.
We parked the car easily in what could have been a very difficult place to find a spot, because as we got into the town all the car parks were full and there was no roadside parking free as it had all been taken. There was nothing for it so I headed down to the harbour and there right at the end of the road was a church that allowed parking on its grass, and at £1.00 per hour it was very good value for money.
Ilfracombe is a very hilly town, well it would be, wouldn’t it? Its also a split town because there are large rock structures that have walk ways around them. You can get around by road, because it’s been very well thought through, but the coastal path goes around these rocks so it makes it a much longer, but much nicer walk.
Our first port of call was the harbour, where we found the only real sandy beach in the town. The harbour was quite nice and just above it, on a rock sits St Nicholas Chapel.
Dating back to 1321 the chapel was built as a place of worship for the people of Ilfracombe living and working around the harbour. From the middle-ages the chapel maintained a light to guide shipping into the harbour. It is still a working lighthouse today and is said to be the oldest in the country.
Unfortunately for some reason access up to the chapel was closed, which was a shame because I wanted to see the lighthouse.
As we were walking out of the harbour area, this time by the road, we came across a small café where they sold Devon Cream Teas.
There is a fair bit of rivalry in the West Country as to which County makes the best cream tea. In Devon the cream goes on the scone first and then the jam, in Cornwall it’s the jam first on the scone and then the cream.
Although our cream tea came unconstructed, we did make ours the traditional Devon way. Its not the way we are used to but when in Rome and all that………
I wasn’t sold on it, there was nothing wrong with the ingredients, in fact the clotted cream was some of the best I’ve ever tasted. No, it was the strong flavour of the jam that you first tasted when you bit into your scone, it overpowered the cream. When we are in Cornwall, we’ll do a comparison making it using their methods and make our judgement after that.
We walked up hill and along the High Street which although the architecture was stunning, the shops weren’t as good and traditional as we would have liked.
We walked to the end of town and we then came to the Beach Tunnels.
In 1823, a team of hundreds of Welsh miners had dug tunnels through the stone cliffs to reach two inaccessible beaches. The beaches and tunnels are still in use today, the beach to the left is the Gentleman’s Beach and the beach to the right is called the Ladies Beach. They were dug at a time when mixed bathing was frowned upon and the names have remained ever since.
Entry costs £3.00 each but it was well worth it, just to see the tunnels and the beach. We could only go to Ladies Beach because the Gentleman’s has a very nice restaurant come bar and today there was a wedding reception.
It didn’t matter it was a good experience anyway.
The beaches are in secret coves which before the tunnels were dug were used by smugglers to hide their contraband. I liked The Ladies Beach, it had charm and character, despite it having black sand.
Our final mission was to climb to the highest point of a large rock where residential housing had taken over it, so that we could look back and get good views of the town. Luck was shining on us because we had doubled back on ourselves and we could look down on to Gentleman’s Beach and see it in all its glory.
Tunnel Stats:
Our final, final mission was to have a drink in the very interesting Weatherspoon’s Bar, The Admiral Collinwood. It is a cracker too with a roof top terrace and sea views.
The sun was out as we sat there with our drinks on the roof terrace and it was really rather nice.
The drive back was easy and after a short trip into Asda we were back at the caravan just before it started to get dark.
After our large cream tea, supper was rehashed and instead of having sausage casserole, we took the sausage and had them with a slice of bread and we will use the casserole with some pork filet for tomorrow’s supper.
No Travelling
Barnstaple
I didn’t get caught out by the hills today, I drove to an area about five minutes away, I parked on a quiet roadway and ran down hill from there in the direction of town, Wendy stayed in bed!
I found a route to the river and I ran in the opposite direction to town. There were hills along the way, but not killer ones.
I stumbled along a cracking track that took me off the main road, it was just what the doctor ordered. I think it might have been an old railway line but now the floor was tarmac and it went through some lovely woodlands, all the time following the River Torridge.
I went through what can only have been a railway tunnel. The floor was now solid concrete and the tunnel was well lit by electric lighting.
The run downhill to the river was a mile and it was an easy mile going back up, it was steep in places but it was nowhere near as bad as the buggers around the camp site.
It was misty again to start with but it soon cleared and the sun came out.
I got back to the van and after breakfast we set off to visit the nearby town of Barnstaple, which is 13 miles away.
The drive over was easy, in fact we have come to Devon at the right time of year, and we have, so far, been blessed with the sunny weather. You hear of so many tales of traffic congestion during the summer that it is a little off putting, in fact a fella at a previous site told Wendy that he had had a two week holiday in Cornwall in summer and that at every road junction, traffic light and roundabout all you ever did was queue an endless amount of time and that it took an absolute age to get anywhere.
Barnstaple is across the estuary from us and it sits on the banks of the River Taw, which is another river that is very much subject to tidal conditions, in fact it was almost drained of water by the time we crossed the big, high bridge.
We parked up, almost in town and walked straight down the High Street, it was busy but nothing a little zombie dodging couldn’t handle.
First up Wendy was in Marks and Spencer’s for some new jeans, leaving me outside to dawdle and do additional zombie dodging. That done we went into the indoor market which was quite nice, it was a craft market and there were some nice things on offer. Wendy bought a nice engagement present for our niece there.
After leaving at the rear exit to the market we came across a Wetherspoon’s bar, completely by accident. We donned our face masks and took a look inside but it was far too busy for us so we left without having a drink.
We walked back up the High Street and wandered around the side streets until we had done as much as we could and then we popped out by the river, and we found another Weatherspoon’s pub, The Watergate. This pub was much quieter so we enjoyed a beer, safely tucked away in an empty corner.
After our drink we walked along a really lovely river walk. The sun was out and it was really nice.
If I was to sum up the town of Barnstaple, I would say its uninspiring, I would also say that the residents appear to be a little rough. Not everyone, obviously but as usual it’s the vocal minority that give the town a bad name. That said, the suburbs were delightful, the river walk was a stunner and we saw some lovely properties.
We came across a church, Trinity Church, and although it was a little hard to get to, when we did find it, we loved it, and it had a really impressively well cared for old graveyard.
We also saw a really nice clock tower just out of town, and for once the time was accurate, and it had a really nice chime when we heard it strike 2:00 pm.
The sun was nice and warm and we walked back to the car to drop off the shopping, and my coat and we found a few more streets to wander along.
We even found our way back to the first Wetherspoon’s bar, The Panier, and as it was a lot quieter we went in for a glass of wine and we finally bagged it!
Notable People from Barnstaple:
The last two are decent fellas, the first two leave a little to be desired!
Having had a good walk around town, about 5 miles, we decided it was home time, but just before we got back in the car, we went to look at the Castle Mound. There was a wooden castle built just out of the town centre in the 11th century, but it was a ruin by 1326 and nothing remains of it today, apart from the earth mound it was built on.
We drove back in the sunshine and after I filled the car with fuel, and Wendy shopped at Asda, we went back to the caravan where we ate a most delicious slow cooked meal in the open awning of the caravan.
Supper was the sausage casserole, where we used the sausage for a sarnie last night, so we substituted it for pork loin which we started when we left and it was utterly perfectly cooked four hours later.
We had a nice leisurely lounge in the awning, just sat in the warm sunshine until around 5:00 pm when it turned a little cooler.
Having retreated inside the caravan we hope to enjoy a relaxing night before tomorrow’s adventure.
It’s been a lovely day today with the only downside being Barnsley lost, again!!!
No Travelling
Oakhampton
I was up at 6:30 am and soon dressed, and I had the car parked up on the housing estate and I was running at 7:30 am, to the most glorious morning sky of shades of red. It was just a shame I had to take my photograph from the housing estate and not get the river in.
I ran down the steep High Street and over the old bridge and I found the Tarka Track which is an old railway line that has been tarred over, it makes a cracking running and cycle track.
The track is named after Tarka the Otter, which was a book published in 1928, which tells the tale of Tarka an otter and his life on the, “Two Rivers”. The rivers being the River Torridge and the River Taw. The book as never been out of print after all these years and it is still read by young people.
I ran to the very nice village of Instow and I sat on the harbour wall looking at the beautiful scenery.
I got back to the van just after 9:30 and I was hoping to be off smartish to go visit my old pal, Dave Lewin who I used to work with when I was in the Fire Service in South Yorkshire. Actually, I have known Dave longer because he was at my secondary school, but in the year below me.
However, we had our own visitors at the caravan.
I was just stripped in the bathroom and about to jump in the shower, but I put my jarmy bottoms on as I remembered I had to put something under the bed. I was just moving to the front of the caravan when I saw Adrian, our site owner, looking through the front, left side window.
Now I have to say that Adrian as more than a passing resemblance to Fred West, and with his West Country accent, he sounds just like him. So, when I saw him peering in it gave me a little jump. He knocked on the door and I opened it for him and he said, “Oi mades you jump ther didn’t oi” (Say it in a West Country accent and you’ll get my drift).
I almost said, “Well its not every day you get Fred West peering through the caravan window”, Thankfully I bit my tongue!
Adrian and his wife, Denise are really nice people but boy do they talk, so that was the next 30 minutes taken care off. They came to say their farewells as they won’t be in when we leave tomorrow.
We set off for Dave’s house at 11:30 and the Satnav took us down the tightest country roads in the UK for the first 9 miles. Jeepers it was hard work, keeping going but being careful around blind bends. Thankfully when we hit the main road it was plain sailing from there and we were having coffee with Dave and his partner, Michelle at a little after 12:30.
Dave also has a new dog, a black Labrador Called Ghillie and he is a little cracker. He is six months old but he is so well behaved and just an all-round smashing dog.
It was really good to see Dave who moved to Devon after retiring from South Yorkshire to be with Michelle whom he met at the Fire Service College. Michelle works in a strategic non uniformed role with Devon Fire and Rescue Service. Dave actually got a job there too as a Fire Safety Instructor and he works 3 days a week.
We followed Dave and Michelle in their car to a very small village at the edge of Dartmoor, Belston. It was a cracking little village and probably it costs an arm and a leg in property prices there.
We parked in a small car park and we walked with Ghillie through the village and then out onto Dartmoor. The weather was glorious, the sunshine was hot and I ended up taking my jumper off, it really was that warm.
Ghillie was exceptionally well behaved and ran all over the place, sniffing and weeing everywhere. It was really nice to be walking out with a Labrador again!
We walked up to some high point and the views were truly amazing.
We then walked back down the hill albeit in a different direction and then back to Belston.
We found a really good outdoor table outside the local pub where we were hoping to get a nice Sunday roast, however when Dave went to get the menu, he was told that they only did meals for booked in customers. That was a bummer, but we did have a very nice drink sat out in the sunshine, and yet again Ghillie just sat down and chewed his stick like a good dog.
We had a good hour chatting away and we all got on really well, which is interesting because we had never met Michelle before, but she was just so easy to get along with. Of course, Michelle and Wendy had private chat moments as women do and Wendy had to tell me and Dave off for lapsing into Fire Service chitter chat.
We said our goodbyes at the car park and we headed to Okehampton for a browse around the town.
Obviously at turned 4:00 pm on a Sunday afternoon in England all the shops were closed. But we did find a very nice, small but very clean little town. And to top off a cracking day, they had a Wetherspoon’s, The White Hart Hotel.
Okehampton was founded by the Saxons and the earliest written record of the settlement is from 980 AD, so you could say they are truly a fully-fledged English town!
After walking around the small town, actually its probably a large village, we nipped into Weatherspoon’s to:
The bar was quiet and I ended up ordering food from the bar because the App was giving me the right hump with it declining Wendy’s wine choice.
That said the food was nice, hot and tasty, I had a beef curry and Wendy had a BBQ chicken pizza.
We drove back directly to Bideford, ignoring the Satnav and we were back at the caravan just before darkness fell.
It’s been a really lovely day, we have driven through some absolutely lovely countryside and we had a really nice afternoon with Dave, Michelle and Ghillie and, do you know what Avid Reader?
On the drive back home, I thought to myself how blessed I am, that I have some really good friends!
57 Miles
Rain!
We woke to a change in the weather this morning, it was overcast, a bit breezy and it was threatening rain. Thankfully we took the awning down yesterday morning so we didn’t have to worry about it today, we knew rain was in the forecast so acted before it was too late.
I took the car out for my run again and after parking up I ran down to the river and I ran along towards the track I had run on Friday. During our chat with Adrian yesterday he told me that if I go to the track where I found it, and instead of going right, I should go left.
I did as I was told and I ran over the River Torridge on the old railway bridge which is impeccably maintained. The track was either concrete or tarmac, and it was nice and wide. At my four mile turn around point I was at the point where the Old Bridge in Bideford meets the opposite side of the river, at a place called East,the Water.
This is where the old railway station is found, this is the old line where the Tarka Trail starts and ends for both east and west routes.
I sat and drank my water bottle and I saw a plaque for the opening ceremony of the trail which was in 1992, that’s 29 years ago!
This is the opening text of the Tarka Trail website
“Inspired by the route travelled by Tarka the Otter, this 180 mile, figure eight route traverses unspoiled countryside, dramatic sea cliffs and beautiful beaches. The southern loop incorporates the longest, continuous off-road cycle path in the UK. Walking or cycling, you can experience the best this beautiful area has to offer”
My question is, why can such a tremendous off road trail be available in Devon but we can’t get 6 miles from Inchmore to Inverness? I guess it’s because we get a crappy viewing platform along the River Ness, that’s been open only a week but has yet been vandalised with graffiti at least twice.
I called into Asda for some supplies before I got back to the caravan, and it started to rain, hard.
I took a longer than normal late breakfast and by the time I was ready to move the rain had dropped to fine misty, mizzle.
We set off for our new site along the A39, which is in places rather narrow, especially when a caravan meets an artic lorry.
But we got there in the end, well we did despite the vagaries of the instructions as issued by the site owner. We had to go through small country roads to get to the site and we failed before we even left the A39 because the instructions were very poor. A few people who had stayed on the site before had left reviews on the Caravan Club site saying don’t trust the Satnav as you would end up down a dead-end lane.
I had to call the owner at one point and she managed to keep us straight.
We were just about to start to put the awning up when Barbara, the site owner turned up looking for her site fees.
I thanked her for her help in us getting here, when I phoned her. She said that someone else had phoned this week at the exact same point that I had asking for directions, and she laughed because they still got lost. Maybe she ought to ask why people are finding her direction so difficult.
Barbara is about 70 years old and I got the impression that she doesn’t really care, as long as she gets her site fees paid!
After settling in we set off for the nearby town of Wadebridge on our main mission, to get the laundry washed.
We knew there was a laundrette in town and the Satnav took us straight to the door. After a little hassle getting the coins, we needed to operate the washers, Wendy had two machines loaded and as we had 33 minutes to kill, we took a walk around town.
The mizzle had stopped and despite it being very overcast, and mist over the hills, the temperature on the car thermometer was 20 degrees centigrade on the drive in.
Wadebridge is a really nice little town with some lovely looking shops and some real old traditional pubs. After the washing was done, we returned to the laundrette to put all of the washing into a tumble dryer. That gave us another 24 minutes to kill so now we walked over the bridge.
The bridge is very interesting, it was built in 1468 and it has been widened several times over the years, and it was done quite ingeniously. The north facing side retained the original bridge and if you get to a point where you can see under the bridge, you can see where the bridge has been extended, on each occasion. This was done by adding additional stone work on the south side.
The town was originally known as Wade, and it was a dangerous fording point across the River Camel until a bridge was built here in the 15th century, after which the name changed to Wadebridge. The bridge was strategically important during the English Civil War and Oliver Cromwell went there to capture it.
After we had loaded the car with washing, we nipped back to the caravan to put tonight’s supper on, roast chicken. Wendy loaded the bird into the vertical rotisserie that my dad bought us a good few years ago, which we keep it in the caravan for occasional use.
From there we drove to the small town of Rock which is just under four miles away.
This is where a passenger ferry operates between Rock and Padstow. We were keen to take the ferry across but we concluded that by the time we had paid, through the nose, for car parking, then the ferry fee and then have the possibility that the ferry could be stopped due to weather and tidal conditions, we now think we will drive around the coast and see Padstow that way!
Supper was an utter delight, roast chicken, savoury rice and salad.
It’s been a busy old day, getting here was a challenge, getting two loads of washing done and dried was another, so I guess tonight we deserve a glass of white wine, maybe while watching another episode of Grantchester.
No Travelling
Padstow / Newquay
We had some rain during the night, two lots actually, the first wasn’t so bad, but the second sounded like a thunderstorm. I couldn’t find my ear plugs last night so I couldn’t block the noise out. Wendy thought she had heard something?
Actually, I had a bad night, I saw the alarm clock and I thought it was 6:45. I got myself ready to get out of bed and then I looked at the clock again ad it was actually 5:45. I really need to take my distance glasses to bed with me. The trouble is, if I have to put my specs on to see the clock, then that will wake me up anyway? I know, I need a bigger clock face!
The wind had got up by the time I went running, it was really quite breezy. Wendy decided it wasn’t for her so she stayed in the van and made tonight’s supper, chicken curry, from yesterday’s leftovers.
I ran down to the village of Rock, it was an uphill and downhill route but the hills were easily manageable. I ran down to the beach and because the tide was going out, and because last night was a full moon, the tide was really quite far out so I could run all along the beach.
I got to the end of the beach just at the four mile point so I sat on a rock and I drank from my water bottle.
In the distance I watched a man, in swimming shorts enter the sea and go out into the water and swim. He swam a good distance too and he was still in by the time I left to return.
I got back to the caravan and the wind was really quite wild so I put a few more tent pegs in the awning. It also started to rain very heavily!
After breakfast we drove around Padstow Bay with the intention of parking in Padstow’s main car park. That was hoping, we got there and the car park was full, with nowhere else to go I had to drive through the side streets that were packed with visitors, it was heaving.
Thankfully I found a carpark further out of the town where I could find a space and we walked back down to the town.
We concluded that it must be half term school holidays somewhere in the UK because there were lots of families there. There were also lots of people who must have never heard of the Coronavirus!
People were going about not looking where they were going, or maybe not even caring where they were going. The shops were packed and so were the cafes and restaurants. We undertook Zombie dodging tactics which should keep us out of trouble. Wendy went in two shops but she was careful about it and only went in when it was reasonably empty.
Padstow is a nice little place and the harbour was really interesting, well it was for me. The tide was well out and the outer harbour was high and dry. However, the inner harbour remained full of water as a large sluice gate was closed.
Here’s what I found about the gate:
Padstow has always had one major problem - on the equinoctial spring tides, it floods. In 1988 this problem was addressed and over the period of two years, the present day flood-defence scheme was built - sheet piling and extending the pier in the Inner Basin, building a tidal gate and raising the walls on Langford’s Quay. The result is that since the gate was put in the town has not flooded. The by-product of this scheme is that the Inner Harbour is now kept wet, providing Marina conditions for visiting craft, whereas prior to this the inner harbour would dry on every ebb tide.
We walked out along a coastal path and we saw Padstow Bay at low water when the moon makes it very low water. It was a stunning view and we were really lucky to see it.
After a good walk around Padstow, we left to go and visit Newquay, which is a little further down the coast.
We took the coastal road down and we passed through some really nice beaches and resorts. One in particular was a stunner, Watergate Bay. The beach there was a real beauty to see.
We got to Newquay and we parked in a car park and went straight to Weatherspoon’s, to:
After a successful mission we went to find the beaches and they were again, stunning.
The weather was still quite mild but we did get on and off mizzle.
Newquay, would you believe, is quite hilly so the footpaths all look down onto the beaches. Access to the beach is via ramps or stone staircases.
Despite the weather the surf was full of people surfing, and because of the wind, the conditions looked brilliant. I stood and watched for a while and some of those guys out in the water were very capable surfers!
In all there were three beaches in the town where surfing was taking place and we walked above them all.
At one point I saw a rock island which was just off the mainland. There was a suspension bridge connecting it to the mainland and there was a building on it. I fancied bagging it for my island collection but I was thwarted because it is a private island with a self-catering property, which has accommodation for six people.
I tried to see how much the accommodation costs for a week, but its fully booked until 2023!
Take a look at the website, it’s very interesting:
https://boutique-retreats.co.uk/luxury-cottages-cornwall/newquay/the%20island-86.html#book-tab
You do really need to take a look at this property, it is absolutely stunning!!!
Our last port of call was to the harbour, where we found yet another delightful beach.
We walked back to the car by going through the High Street and although it was quite nice, we did encounter two types of people:
Having said that I would like to see it on a summer’s day, when it’s packed with people.
We drove on the main road back to the caravan, where on arrival we were both starving, so as soon as the rice was cooked, we ate the chicken curry with a hearty appetite.
It’s a Great British Bake off night tonight, after which I will be loading my ears with ear plugs because having just seen the weather forecast for overnight and early tomorrow, it looks like we are in for some very heavy rain!
Just before I file tonight’s copy, I have received feedback from an Avid Reader who wishes to know more information about the Wetherspoon’s bar we visited in Ilfracombe, here it is Avid Reader:
The new Wetherspoon’s pub will take its name from the English naval hero and the old Collingwood Hotel.
Until its closure and demolition the Collingwood Hotel had accommodated visitors to the seaside town of Ilfracombe for over 130 years.
Therefore, the new Ilfracombe Wetherspoon pub which is to be built on the hotels previous site is to be called The Admiral Collingwood, it has been announced.
It maintains a link with the site’s former occupant, the former Victorian Collingwood Hotel.
Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood was Lord Nelson’s second in command at the Battle of Trafalgar, taking over command when Nelson was struck down.
“Wetherspoon is always keen to give its pub’s names with a local connection and The Admiral Collingwood fits these criteria perfectly,” said Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin.
PS - Its almost 8:00 pm and it is absolutely banging it down with rain, thank goodness we are on a hill!
No Travelling
Dining with Rick!!!
It was still raining when we went to bed but I had my ear plugs firmly in and I was soon sound asleep. At some point in the night the inside of the caravan lit up with white light, I took my earplugs out and then I heard an almighty crash of thunder. Then I heard the rain and the wind, it was blowing a gale outside.
Wendy was awake and we listened to the storm for a while before I refitted my ear plugs and nodded off again. I do recall seeing more lightning but because I knew what it was it didn’t really disturb me.
I woke at 6:30 am and it was still pitch black outside but the rain had stopped, however the wind was still howling.
I had my tea and toast and got ready to go out. Wendy wasn’t moving from her bed!
I left just as the morning light brightened the sky, it was still very windy, but it was also very mild.
I ran towards the village of Rock, but instead of going into the village I took a minor road and trusted my luck and boy did it hold out, because I found a stunning route to run.
First up I came to a lovely wide beach and I saw a track heading south, so I took it. This was a cliff side track which gave me great views of the coast and it eventually led to the stunning little seaside resort of Polzeath.
Here’s what I found about the resort from a tourist site:
“Polzeath is a small village on the headland opposite Padstow. It was a favourite haunt place of the late poet laureate, Sir John Betjeman and is celebrated in some of his verse. There are many local shops, providing everything required for the holidaymaker. Within the village are a number of pubs, cafés and restaurants”.
I particularly like this paragraph:
“The beach more or less disappears at high tide and the car park may disappear too in very stormy conditions! During the season, Polzeath car park is packed with Range Rovers and Audis from the yuppie resort of Rock around the corner”.
The beach at Polzeath is beautiful, it is quite narrow but at low tide I can guess there is loads of sand uncovered.
It was just gone 9:00 am and the resort was busy, the cafes were all open and there were loads of surfers in the sea, there was even a family going in the sea only in their swim wear for a morning dip. Thankfully the sun was shining and hopefully the sea was still warm enough for them, they did seem to be enjoying it.
I got back to the caravan where we then hung around doing chores and relaxing as today we are driving back to Padstow to take a fish early dinner at the Rick Stein Bistro, St Petroc’s
At around 12:30 we got ourselves dressed nicely for just such an occasion and we left at 1:00 pm so we could ensure we weren’t late for our reservation time. The drive around the bay is only about 30 minutes but it can take longer as there are a few bottlenecks where the road is narrow. We had to wait at one such point, for a milk lorry to squeeze through yesterday, but today there was hardly anyone on the road so we were parked up by 1:30 pm.
We took a walk around Padstow and it was just as busy as it was yesterday and as a consequence, we had to do a little more Zombie dodging! The sky was a clear blue and it was 17 degrees, but it was still a little blustery.
We stood for a short while looking at the inner harbour and I wondered about how boats get in and out of the marina with the sluice gate closed. I have tried to find information on it, but with no success. I can only guess that when the tide permits, a sluice is open somewhere when the outer harbour area has enough depth of water to allow a specific draught of boat to leave. When both the inner and outer harbour sea levels equalise then the gates are opened, (A little like a canal lock). Then at the same specific state of tide when the water is falling, the gate is closed and the level within the inner harbour remains as it is, whilst the level in the outer harbour drops with the general tide of the area. Well, that’s my educated assumption anyway.
We presented ourselves at the restaurant at 2:00 pm and we were shown to our table by a very nice young woman.
We were in a restaurant of about 8 tables and it was all very safe, people mainly used face coverings when moving about, as did the staff, and the main window was open for ventilation.
We ordered drinks first, table water and a 50 cl carafe of Sauvignon Blanc wine and also some olives and bread to nibble on.
The young woman who brought us our nibbles was very taken with Wendy’s green dress, that’s happened a few times now, either Wendy has an eye for fashion or it some kind of trick of the trade!
After a good perusal of the menu I opted, as a starter, for the Sea Food Soup and Wendy went for the Pigeon Breast Warm salad. My soup was very nice, it was very hot and it didn’t have any sea food bits in it, like mussels and prawns, it was just a simple but very tasty soup. The taste was a fine balance of fish and shellfish and it was perfect.
Wendy’s pigeon was very nice too, and it didn’t have a very strong game taste which was really nice.
For mains I had Turbot and a bone marrow gravy and Wendy had Hake. Both meals came with boiled potatoes and I also ordered a side of cabbage.
My fish was utterly delightful, it was both meaty and tasteful and the gravy was exceptional. Wendy’s hake came with a tomato, pepper, garlic and olive sauce. That looked very nice too, but I never got to taste it because Wendy never offered me a bite, even after I gave her some of my turbot, the piglet.
All in all, it was a very nice, enjoyable and really tasty meal. The staff were all great, polite and helpful and the restaurant environment was relaxed and not one bit stuffy.
I later found that the restaurant was much bigger than just one room, during a toilet visit I happened upon a private dining room, I didn’t go in but I saw the staff take food into it, and then there was also a slightly smaller, intimate room. There is even a secret garden, which I asked if I could go and look at, but unfortunately it is now closed for the season. I guess I will have to go back one day in the summer!
We left the restaurant at a little under two hours of attendance. We had arrived under clear blue skies but we left under a grey sky from which it was drizzling rain.
We didn’t hang about, we walked directly to the car and after a quick Tesco stop, we headed back in the direction of the caravan.
Before going home, I drove Wendy the short distance from the van to the resort of Polzeath to show her around. Unfortunately, the rain was now bucketing down so I parked the car in the main carpark as it directly overlooks the beach. There were loads of people out in the water surfing. Wendy said, “I don’t know how they can surf in this weather?” I didn’t really have an answer for that!
Back at the caravan and we were into our comfy jarmies and I guess that’s how we will stay for the rest of the evening!
I’m sure we will because it is absolutely bucketing down with rain on the caravan roof!
Here’s a link to Rick’s restaurant:
https://www.rickstein.com/restaurants/st-petrocs-bistro/
No Travelling
Storm
What a wild night we had last night, jeepers it was crazy wild!
The rain was banging it down too, the noise in the caravan was so loud we could not hear the sound from my laptop while we were watching Grantchester. I had the volume on full and still we could not hear it so I had to pipe it through my blue tooth speaker and put it on the bench back cushion so we could get it as close to our ears as possible.
The wind was wild too, the caravan was rocking and this was intensified because we have the awning on it, and that was getting a right old battering too.
It went on all night and it only abated just before we went to bed.
I did hear Gary Davidson, on Radio 2 this morning, read out a message from a listener who is in Cornwall and last night the wind was so bad it blew their awning away, thankfully ours survived the night.
I went for my run and even Wendy went out for a couple of miles, it was much cooler today and a bit breezy. On the way back I noticed a stone on a wall with the following inscription:
“The burial ground of the Society of Friends and the site of their meeting house erected by them in AD 1690. The enclosing walls rebuilt by the Society AD 1883”
I took a look in and the four high stone walls are all there and still complete, but it is very overgrown inside, I bet it’s really spooky at night.
Imagine finding something from 1690, that’s almost a hundred years before we discovered Australia!
Back at the van we were soon on the road for our first exploration of the day, St Austell.
We parked in the shopping centre car park, and it was just so simple. We parked up and then when we left, I put the car registration number in the payment machine and it calculated how much I needed to pay, and it was reasonably cheap too.
I found St Austell to be very nice. The shopping area was entirely pedestrianised and spotlessly clean too. There were a good number of shops and it had a really nice feel to it.
We bagged the Weatherspoon Bar, The Rann Wartha!
The Rann Wartha is so named because the china clay industry has long dominated the landscape around St Austell and the livelihood of its residents. Most of the mines were in the Higher Quarter, or Rann Wartha, to give it its Cornish name.
We did a little walkabout but there really wasn’t much to the town, apart from a rather nice looking church, so we nipped down to the coast to St Austell Bay to see what the south Cornish coast looks like around these parts.
I didn’t really know where to go on the bay so I checked the map and the first place I saw was Charlestown, so that’s what I set the satnav for, and I am so glad I did!
We parked up and walked the short distance to an absolutely cracking little harbour.
Located about a mile outside the town of St Austell is Charlestown, an amazingly pristine, unspoiled example of a late Georgian working port. It was constructed between 1791 and 1801 by Charles Rashleigh, entrepreneur and member of a local landowning family, in response to the growth of the local mining industry. Originally built to export copper and import coal, it was soon being used for the export of china clay. It is from its creator that the port gets its name.
To this day the port remains unspoiled and retains much of its Georgian character. This unique combination has led to Charlestown being a popular location for film and television locations and to some extent this has probably helped subsidise its existence and prevent development. Credits include Poldark, Hornblower, Mansfield Park and many more.
The harbour as another of those pesky sluice gates to make sure the harbour remains wet at low tide.
Actually, last night Wendy found me some info about the gate at Padstow Harbour and it does work how I surmised in yesterday’s copy. Apparently, the gate at Padstow Harbour is open two hours before high tide and closes two hours after high tide, so there is an eight hour window every day to get your boat out and if you miss your chance, you’ve another four hour wait!
After a nice stroll around the harbour area, we set off for our last visit of the day, to the inland town of Bodmin.
It’s a shame, but I didn’t find Bodmin appealing!
It’s a one street town, and the riff raff element seemed to be out in force. It really is a shame because it is the first impression that gives you the lasting impression.
We did grab a rather nice hot and tasty Cornish pasty for our supper which we ate on a bench on the High Street. It was the flat variety of pasty, I was after the more traditional dinosaur type but so far I haven’t seen any, I will keep looking, but for now this was good enough.
We bagged the Weatherspoon Bar, which was a converted Chapel and we found exactly the clientele in there that after meeting their mates on the High Street, we expected to be in there. Thankfully it wasn’t busy so we kept out of everyones way.
On walking back to the car, I found a very nice clock tower at the bottom of the High Street and a really delightful building which is the towns cinema.
We drove to the laundrette at Widebridge and while the washing was in the machine we walked northwards along the Camel Way, which is a walkaway along the river, I think I may already have detailed this.
The sun was out and it was quite nice and we saw some really nice looking apartments along the riverside.
We got back to the laundrette in time to put the washing into the tumble dryer and then we had 24 minutes to kill so we walked along the south side of Camel Way.
Back at the caravan we took the awning down, normally we would do it in the morning but as we have an adventure planned, weather dependent, we took it down now as it was nice and dry.
As we were watching the local TV news tonight, a car had been blown into a river during last night’s storm and 3 people had to be rescued from the top of the car by the Fire Service, jeepers it really was that bad!
No Travelling
A Nice Walk
Thankfully we didn’t have any bad weather overnight, in fact it was a very calm evening, and then night, with a beautiful full moon.
I slept like a log and I first woke at around 5:00 am but I put myself to sleep again for another 90 minutes. I woke again at 6:30 and that was it, I laid still for a while and then got up at 6:50.
I went running down to Rock but I turned off on a minor road before I got to the coast. This road went down-hill for about a quarter of a mile and then it climbed, boy did it climb!
But the thing is that along this road I found the most beautifully built houses. The majority were new and they had all got some interesting aspect, be it a large window or a fantastic balcony, they were kind of small scale grand designs.
The weather was dry but we still had the annoying breeze which sometimes gives a fair gust, it was also quite cloudy.
After breakfast we hung around a little just relaxing but we were waiting for low tide, which today was at 1:29 pm.
At just after 12:00 we set off for our coastal walk.
Our first point of call was the Quaker cemetery where we went right into the centre of the cemetery, even in daytime it’s an eerie place. There are over 30 bodies buried within the walls but it is wildly overgrown with trees and shrubs.
Here’s a little info that we have found about the cemetery:
The grounds contain no headstones, only trees.
The burial ground wall dating from about 1690 which was partially rebuilt in 1833 is Grade II listed by English Heritage.
It’s the fact that the stone dates the place as 1690 that really interests me, what must life have been like back then in those days?
We carried on walking and then we stopped at a place called Pityme, where we had a very nice beer in the Pityme Inn.
The name of the village has its origins in a tragic tale of loss at sea. The skipper of a fishing vessel set to sea despite the deteriorating weather. All hands were lost. The women of the village went, as a group, to the widow of the captain to berate her for her husband's culpability in their widowhood. She explained: "I have lost my husband too, so you should also pity me"
Pityme Inn was nice and quiet with some early luncheon groups enjoying their food.
We had a very nice beer, sat in the lounge area, the beer was really nice, but a little costly at over £5.00 a pint!
From there we carried on up and down the roads to the outskirts of the village of Rock where I took Wendy to look at some of the houses that I saw when I ran down the lane earlier.
In fact, all the way down to the village of Rock we saw some really interesting properties, some were downright ostentatious, some were very tastefully built too and some were just so over the top and should not have been allowed planning permission.
After the detour we had just about clocked up 3 miles on the walk and I fancied a drink in a shoreside pub I have seen on my runs, it’s called The Mariner. They have a good amount of sheltered outside seating there but the place was mobbed so we didn’t bother going in.
We arrived on the beach at Rock at 1:29, at the exact moment that it was low tide!
The beach was busy, mainly with families with dogs but we were soon around the corner and heading north bound. We managed to walk all the way around to Daymer Bay before we had to leave the beach as it was now becoming very rocky.
We then followed the coastal path for a few more miles.
The weather was dry, albeit a little breezy, but at no point was it uncomfortable.
On the path Wendy unloaded her walking poles from the backpack for the first time on this trip and strode along merrily.
We rounded the corner and we were at Hayle Bay within 30 minutes and by this time we had done about 6.5 miles.
At Hayle Bay we found the very delightful beach that is Polzeath Beach, which was yet again full of surfing dudes who were enjoying the waves and the surf as the conditions were just perfect.
As we were approaching the village we passed a restaurant, The Cracking Crab, where after looking at the menu on the fence, I fancied it but I thought we would take a look at what else was available in the village before deciding. It was OK, it was 2:15 pm and the place, as stated on the menu, was open from 11:30 until 3:30 pm.
We walked into the village but two places we tried had stopped serving food, and the one that was open for food was jam packed so we walked back the half a mile distance to The Cracking Crab.
I walked in and the place was about half full which was just perfect. A young woman approached me and said would you like just drinks or food too. I said, “Food please?”
“Sorry,” she said, “We are no longer serving food as we close at 3:00”. I said, “The sign on the fence says you’re open from 11:30 to 3:30”. She said, “It doesn’t, it says 3:00”
I could feel my blood boil, and I didn’t want to cause a stink with this young woman, not with #metoo looking over my shoulder, so I turned around and started to walk away. But then I thought, hang on, I know what that sign says, so I said, “We’ve just walked back from the village to eat here”
I appreciate that they might run out of food, I appreciate that summer is over and I also appreciate that we are living in difficult times. That said though it wouldn’t have taken much effort to put a note up on their very fancy notice board saying that they were closing early today.
Also, the young woman I spoke with did seem a little demob happy, like she couldn’t wait to close the door to customers, well it was Friday!
Never mind we did have a Plan B, which involved shopping in the towns Spar where we got sirloin steak and prawns and some salad and when we got back to the caravan, we cooked ourselves a lovely evening meal!
Tomorrow is moving day, we have had such a nice and interesting time in and around north- eastern Cornwall and now we are looking forward to the south-west of the county, lets just hope we’ve seen the last of the storms!
41 Miles
Eccentric, Hippy-Dippy and Quirky!!!
I was looking at my blog statistics last night and I am getting 12,000 hits since the last reading which was in July, and it’s rocketed from 2,000 hits a couple of weeks ago. My highest ever number of hits was 19,000 when I was in Australia. When I showed Wendy this the first thing she said was, “How can you make money out of this?”
We had another good night’s sleep last night; we have had this field to ourselves for the last 3 nights and it’s been lovely.
We both went out running together and we split at the first junction where Wendy went left to St Minver and I went right, down to Rock.
I got to the marina just after high tide and it was just past 8:30 and the place was alive with kids starting their sea borne activities at the various establishments offering their services.
The things they can do are:
Do you know Padstow has quite a high tidal range? Today its 5.86 metres which is 19.22 feet!
That is some height of water difference!
I ran back and I diverted to the small village of St Minver for a very specific reason, to look at the village church’s steeple.
We can see St Menefreda's church’s steeple from our field and it appears to have a lean on it. Having got close up to it, it does indeed have a definite lean at the top of the spire. I have looked online and there is agreement that it does indeed lean, but unlike the church in Chesterfield there is no conjecture about why it leans, it seems it is just one more of life’s mysteries!
At 11:30 we left our site and we had a very easy journey down to the south coast, although the road coming from the opposite direction was chock a block with traffic, our direction was reasonably clear and we didn’t have any hold ups. I guess the half term visitors are returning and the next lot of half termers had still not got this far south.
Our site is really nice and yet again we have our very own private tap, so the water contraption has been deployed yet again, much to Wendy’s delight!
We are, however, in an area dominated by hills so we are back to being hill runners in the morning.
We were soon set up with the awning up too, and after a cup of coffee we went for an explore.
We went down to the shore, which is about a half a mile away down a massive hill, however it was a dead end so we had to turn around. Next, we went for the nearest pub, now that is lovely, on the shore, but it was crammed full! We were considering it for a Sunday lunch but it will most likely be the same tomorrow, we do seem to be in a popular, wealthy area.
That was the extent of our local exploration, next we drove 4 miles into Falmouth for a look at the town and for some provisions.
I had car park issues, the machine which took coins was broken, both of them actually. I tried the App but that didn’t work, as it was 3:30 pm and I wanted to book 2 hours, that took me over to a lower rate, but it calculated me at the full night rate which was approaching a fiver. In desperation I called the number which people who didn’t have a smart phone are supposed to use. I got a recorded message saying they were having technical issues, could I please use the App. Jeepers, technology is great until it stops working.
I didn’t pay, I made a note of what I had done and stuck it in the window, I’m sure they’ve logged my number plate and it will turn into yet another saga!
We walked out of the car park and by accident into the Wetherspoon’s Bar, The Packet Station. So called because:
“In 1688, the post office chose Falmouth as a packet station (or port) for handling overseas mail. This led to the building of a special fleet of fast, lightly armed ships known as Falmouth Packets and the heroics of packet captains, such as John Bull. Falmouth remained the leading packet station until the mid-19th century”.
After a drink we took a walk around Falmouth, and I loved it!
What’s not to like? There are loads of independent shops, some of them are really interesting.
I bought a bottle of Mango Rum from a market stall, I was offered a taster and I was immediately sold on it!
The town goes up and down hill, all over the show, with nooks and crannies everywhere. There are loads of interesting pubs, there’s a feel of interesting history and the people seem somewhat eccentric, or has Wendy say’s, “Hippy, Dippy. It’s just so quirky!
There were a few good natured stag and hen parties doing the rounds too.
There was a fella on a mobility scooter driving around town with a music amplifier blasting out pop music. He actually followed us onto a pier where I had stopped to look at the boats. In the five minutes I was on the pier he had decided to commit suicide and had gone down a stairway which gives access to boats berthed alongside. He had climbed onto the steel structure and was making a spectacle of himself, so much for the disability scooter! The police were there and trying to talk him round. I suspect they were already coming to see him after a complaint had been made about his behaviour, and that this was his way of getting let off!
We had a really good look around town, and I really did like it, and so did Wendy.
The last thing we did was buy our provisions from Tesco. We have decided to make our own Sunday roast tomorrow, so we have a root vegetable assortment packet, a nice small piece of beef and some Aunt Bessie’s frozen Yorkshire Puddings.
We got back to the caravan just before it got dark and Wendy made a topping tapas meal for supper which included:
It was an utter delight but somehow, I do think its going to be a very thirsty night as I have a very garlicky taste in my mouth!
No Travelling
Perranporth / St Agnes
I first heard the rain at about 6:30 am, it was pitter pattering as usual and then the downpour came.
I got up at 7:00 am, just in time for the news bulletin, nothing new was on so I put the radio on and made my breakfast.
Wendy wasn’t going running today, the rain and the hills put her off.
I took the car down to the outskirts of Falmouth and ran from there.
I did this for 3 reasons:
The rain was a lot better by the time I set off running and it soon cleared up.
I ran along the direct road into town and soon I recognised where I was. I ran through town, and it was indeed quiet, although I did see two young women in their last night clothes, which wasn’t much, walking, hopefully back home!
I ran past the docks and I saw that one of the blue, Royal Navy looking ships was in dry dock and being refitted.
I got back to the caravan a little after 10:00 am and the sky really was brightening up. I had seen the weather forecast on the news and it said that we were to get 4 to 5 hours of rain, we didn’t get any more than 2 hours!
After my smoothie and shower we drove to the small town of Perranporth.
Perranporth really is a very small town, and it’s found on the North Cornwall coast!
The drive was easy enough, we took mainly back roads and we just seemed to pop out right at the towns Wetherspoon’s Bar, The Green Parrot.
Built as a private residence, this building was converted into The Green Parrot in c1977. The old house stood in wooded grounds and was originally named Pentrig House, from the Cornish meaning ‘end of the sea’ or ‘low tide’. In the late 1890s and early 1900s, it was the home of Joseph Teague, ‘Capt. & Hon. Major’ in the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, Perranporth.
It was a very nice bar, actually, it was a bit busy but we were never closer than 2 metres from anyone. It was full of young families having an early lunch, it had a nice atmosphere and its one of the best Wetherspoon’s we’ve been in.
After finishing our drinks, we walked directly down to the beach, and what a stunning beach it was! I had never heard of Perranporth before, and we only went to bag the pub as I found it on the Wetherspoon App, it’s our 161st bag!
The sun was now blazing in the sky and you would do well not to think it was a June day, it was actually 18 degrees centigrade!
The place was buzzing, the beach was full and again it had a very pleasant feel to it. We walked all over the place, but there wasn’t much to it, just a few local shops and a Coop supermarket where Wendy nipped in for some bananas.
We had completed our tour of the town and we had had a drink and in total we were there for 1 hour and 2 minutes, I just about went into my second hour of the parking ticket.
We then drove 4 miles south to the village of St Agnus.
Apparently, a visit to St Agnus Bay is a must do thing when visiting the far west of Cornwall.
We found a small, free car park about a mile from the beach and we walked down a very steep hill to an absolutely cracking beach. We followed a much walked path which took us down past some really lovey cottages. The hill was that steep that everyone coming back up had to stop so that they could catch their breath.
The beach was another real beauty, it was a real gem, even Wendy walked down to the water’s edge with me!
The tide was far out but that didn’t stop the fun the surfers were having. Actually, it was like Piccadilly Circus in the surf, there were that many people enjoying the surf.
The sun was still shining brightly and because I had my shorts on, I could feel the heat from the sun on the back of my legs. Families were camped out along the north side of the beach on their make shift blankets with the kids digging at the sand with their brand new bucket and spade sets. I guess the newly arrived tourists didn’t expect such good weather on the first day of their holiday.
St Agnus Beach is a topping place and there are two pubs, one directly on the beach and another one about 30 yards up the road.
After a walk in the sun, we headed back up the hill and we stopped at the village of St Agnus to have a look at the shops and as the sun was still shining, we had a glass of wine sat outside the village pub.
As we sat with our drinks, the bus came through the village, it was a double decker, would you believe? It had to inch its way around corners because the road really is very tight!
We managed to walk all the way back to the car and we never once breathed heavily.
Wendy made a donation to the Church for the use of their car park and we drove directly back to the caravan.
While I was out running Wendy had prepped and cooked most of the veg and had put the beef joint in the slow cooker for our Sunday dinner. She put it in with some gravy that we had put in the freezer that had come from Robyn’s Sunday lunch, which she cooked as part of my birthday week.
Wendy put the parsnips and potatoes in the over to roast, turned the joint and then we walked exactly one mile to have a drink in our local pub, The Pandora.
This is a lovely little bar which has a long floating pontoon with seating and tables on it, in the afternoon sunshine, sitting there with a nice pint of real ale was an utter delight.
Our Sunday dinner topped off a really lovely day, I do wonder what adventure awaits us tomorrow Avid Reader?
No Travelling
The Lizard
I forgot to mention that last night we came across the Golden Post Box that was dedicated to Ben Ainslie after his gold medal in the 2012 Olympics. The box is built into the wall of the Pandora Inn, and to top it, it’s a post box from the reign of Queen Victoria, that must have been a huge honour for him.
We had a little rain last night but it was a lovely morning when we went out running. I ran past the pub and managed two miles on the shore line. The tide was high and at the first beach I came to there were 3 ladies enjoying a morning swim. I didn’t dare look too closely but I do hope that they had wet suits on.
I was starving by the time I got back!
We were out and about smartish as we had some interesting visits planned.
The first one was to go and take a look and a walk around Lizard Point, the most southerly point on the British Mainland.
The drive was 22 miles long but it soon passed and we were parked up in the small village of Lizard which left us a mile walk to the Point. By accident we didn’t go directly to the Point, instead we took another track which took us about ¾ of a mile from the Point. This turned out well for us because we walked the coastal path and it gave us some cracking views.
Lizard Point has two cafes would you believe and both were absolutely heaving. The views were stunningly dramatic but all they wanted to do was get there and fill their faces. There were a few hardy souls who did take an interest in the views, thankfully.
The sun was blazing and even the sea breeze felt warm.
I also learned something that we really should be taught in school, here’s a little taster, but the online link will take you to the full story!
The Suevic rescue in 1907 set the record for the largest number of people saved in a single operation in RNLI history – a record that still stands today.
On 17 March, the Suevic ran aground against the rocks of the Maenheere Reef, a quarter of a mile off Lizard Point in Cornwall. Sixty volunteer crewmen from Cadgwith, Coverack, The Lizard and Porthleven rowed back and forth for 16 hours to rescue the passengers and crew.
Their incredible courage and perseverance saved 456 lives that day, and not a single life was lost. Six of the rescuers, including two Suevic crew members, were awarded Silver Medals by the RNLI to honour their heroic actions.
https://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/timeline/1907-the-suevic-rescue
After a good hours walking and looking, we headed back to the village of Lizard and we came across the most wonderful little farm shop and café I have ever seen.
This is where we had a most amazing cream tea and where I concluded which is the better method of producing a creamed scone, it is the Cornwall way, jam, then cream!
We were served by a lovely young woman and everything was just perfect, even the tea was a delight to drink. I checked them out on TripAdvisor and they have top marks with a 5 out of 5 rating.
Back in the village we tried to buy a couple of Cornish Pasty’s but every outlet had a note in the window saying they had no pasty’s left! I thought it was busy in Lizard, it must have been the weather!
Having completed our tour, we left for the inland town of Helston.
After parking the very first thing we did was to go in the Wetherspoon’s Bar as we both needed to use their facilities. Once we were comfortable, we enjoyed a very nice glass of wine on the very delightful roof terrace where we found the last table that was not shaded from the sun.
The pub was called the Coinage Hall and it’s named after the coinage hall which stood in the middle of the street from the late 1500s until c1810, where locally mined tin was taken there to be assayed.
From the number of old tall chimneys I have seen on top of hills in the countryside today, we are very firmly in old tin mining country! Maybe I’ll do some research for a later post!
The small town of Helston is described as being an unspoilt market town and it really is. It is only one long high street that goes up a steep hill, which then turns a corner which then carries on, but thankfully its also where the hill stopped.
As we passed a baker’s shop a lady sales assistant stood outside, said to us, “Half price Cornish Pasty’s now on sale”, well it was nearly 4:00 pm so I supposed it was time to offload them.
I got two for supper!
As I was being served, I asked the woman serving me where I could get a pasty with the top edge crimped, like as in a stegosaurus dinosaur. She laughed at me and said, “They make them in Devon, that’s not a Cornish pasty, we always crimp ours on the side and they are always flat. I didn’t want to spoil her illusion but the shop had some very old photographs on the wall of Cornish Miners who were indeed all eating a stegosaurus dinosaur pasty!
We had parked the car very close to a town centre park and when we got back to the car, we put our coats in the car and walked around the lovely lake there
Our last port of call was indeed to the fishing port of Porthleven, and what a stunning place it was. It had everything, an interesting harbour, great looking pubs, a nice mix of cafes and restaurants, nice looking shops and a terrific looking long and sandy beach.
We spent a good hour there too!
On the drive back to the van we saw a very interesting building which Wendy found online, take a look at it here:
I do wish I had a spare £699,000 as I would bite their hands off.
Our last stop of the night was at a roadside honesty market stall where I bought some spicy pickled onions and Wendy a big fat chocolate fudge Halloween pumpkin, she ate it after her Cornish Pasty and she loved it.
I wonder if Robyn and Caroline would like one, maybe they’ll let me know!
No Travelling
St Ives Madness!
I had another solid sleep last night as it is just so quiet here. The latest site we are on is miles down country lanes and almost on one of the inner creeks of the Falmouth Harbour. We are four miles from the nearest main road and the nearest village is 2 miles away. Mylor Bridge’s a cracking little village, it has the following facilities:
There are only 1,443 people live here too!
I asked our site owner for some advice on where to run locally and she told me about a route that took me down to what they call the creek, its actually much bigger than a creek, and then to take the right hand path. This was great advice because I thought the path was someone’s private drive. I ended up running all the way to Mylor Bridge by way of the waters edge and then, I went over the small bridge, which the village is named after and then all the way along the other side.
I saw some lovely views and some fantastic homes.
I got back drenched in sweat because it was still rather warm at 16 degrees.
I got back to the caravan and after my breakfast and shower I tried to mend the toilet.
The flush mechanism is broken!
The flush uses a small electrical pump and there is no power when you press it, and I don’t have any information about how it operates. I have a very comprehensive book for almost everything else in the caravan, and I have used it many times before to repair things. However, the toilet is a mystery and it does appear to be some kind of sealed unit.
I did find a YouTube video of one but it wasn’t our version so we are using a manual flush, which is just has good, it’s the watering can!
As a consequence, we were late setting off for our first destination, St Ives. The plan was to go to St Ives and then Redruth, we would be going to places we haven’t been to before and they both had a Weatherspoon’s Bar to bag.
However, as we approached the town of Camborne, Wendy said that she thought that there was a Wetherspoon’s Bar there, and there was.
I pulled off the main road and we were parked on a side road close to the bar within 10 minutes.
As we only had an hour’s parking we went straight to the bar, The John Francis Basset.
The pub is a former Market House which was paid for by Mr Basset who was a leading local landowner.
After a swift half pint of real ale, we took a quick stroll around the High Street.
Camborne is best known as a centre for the former Cornish tin- and copper-mining industry, having its working heyday during the later 18th and early 19th century. Camborne was just a village until transformed by the mining boom which began in the late 18th century and saw the Camborne and Redruth district become the richest mining area in the world.
However, Cambourne has fallen on hard times, it looks a little neglected and in need of some major investment, but at least it has a Wetherspoon’s Bar.
We were soon in the car and not long after we were in St Ives, looking for somewhere to park.
Every car park was full, we did find one, at the rugby club but it was £6.00 for a full day and it was 1.5 miles out of town.
Being smart, and in need of some supplies I set my Satnav for the Tesco Superstore which we saw as we entered the town.
Because of the towns carparking difficulties Tesco had a strict two hour stay policy which was firmly enforced.
As we left the car to walk down a big hill to the town, I set my phone to take me to the bar first, and thankfully it was only 1.1 miles away.
As we approached the town, I could see that St Ives was a town where for some miraculous reason the Coronavirus had not yet arrived. Life was going on as if the last 20 months had never happened in St Ives.
The bar was heaving but would you believe there was an empty table just tucked out of the way from everyone else and it was quite close to the door. During a lull at the bar, I nipped to it and bought two glasses of wine, and I was back at my table before you could say, “Lateral Flow Test.”
Sustained we took a walk along the prom, but it was mobbed beyond general safety so we decided to leg it. We did some extreme zombie dodging and made our way back to the car and went in to the store to get some supplies.
In recent years I have never known a Tesco Superstore not have a Scan and Go facility and after seeing the Shameless type large family enter the store immediately before us, I think I can guess why.
I have been to St Ives before, I went with my best man, the Canadian, Ian Green for my Stag week where we arrived late at night, slept in the car. Then in the morning we hired surf boards and we actually surfed all day, before leaving that afternoon and never setting a foot in town!
Finally, we took in the last of today’s towns, Redruth.
If Camborne was in need of major investment, Redruth is in need of a period of time in an intensive care unit as its dying. The town is one long uphill high street and to say the buildings are neglected is an understatement, many are actually closed and have been for some time. Its strange that the coastal towns of Cornwall are full to the brim with tourists yet the inshore towns are deserted and dying.
The thing is though you can’t say that its due to the decline of the tin and copper mining industry, that went almost 200 years ago.
There wasn’t a Wetherspoons in Redruth after all, I had mistakenly thought the one at Camborne was at Redruth as I had not zoomed in enough on the App, and with them being only a few miles apart I just assumed that they had one.
I have to admit to having an impression that Redruth was a bonny old swashbuckling town where pirates used to roam and drink rum, and I was a little disappointed to see that it nowhere near met my expectations of it.
After 30 minutes we were back in the car and home within 20 minutes, and we were starving!
In no time at all Wendy had Sunday’s leftovers on a plate and we enjoyed a leftover Sunday Dinner knock up, and it was just a delight!
Its Bake Off night so I had best get a move on because I can hear Paul Hollywood’s voice!
Addendum – 21:15 – The toilets now working, but I missed Bake Off, but never mind. I’m a master when it comes to electrical apparatus, and I fathomed it out, the watering can is now unemployed!
No Travelling
Truro / St Mawes
I was looking at Cornish Mining last night, after I had mended the toilet.
Cornwall was at the centre of the world’s copper and tin mining for some years from the 1700’s to around the 1850’s. The largest tin mine was more than 1000 metres deep, that’s over 1,200 yards, over 3,000 feet, that is some depth.
The coal mine I worked in was only 410 yards deep at its deepest shaft and no more than 135 yards deep at its shortest shaft.
We had some problems with flooding but by the time I was working underground we had massive turbine pumps which were electrically driven and they were also automatic so they always kept the water down. Imagine the amount of water that would have collected down a 1,200 yard deep mine, with only old fashioned and inefficient steam pumps to try to keep them dry.
Yesterday we saw loads of old chimneys around and we often saw them in pairs. One would be for the boiler that drove the shaft winding gear and the other would have been the one to drive the pumps.
I don’t know what conditions were like underground for the Cornish miners, like did they need the amount of support that we needed. When we took coal out of the ground, the shale above it would fracture and collapse so we had to make tunnels which were protected by steel girders. There seems to be a lot of granite and sandstone around Cornwall so they might not have needed as much support as the stone may have been able to support the tunnels that they drove underground.
Whatever they did I bet they worked in very difficult conditions!
I met Wendy out on her run when our paths crossed, she was coming back from a circular route and I was at my 3 mile point. We were both very hot as yet again it was over 16 degrees!
After breakfast we loaded ourselves into the car and headed to the City of Truro. Do you know that Truro is the only city in Cornwall, and do you know what else Avid Reader?
There are currently 64 cities in Great Britain and I have bagged 46 of them! I say currently because Her Majesty the Queen has just awarded City Status to Southend on Sea, but it’s not on the official list as of yet, however, I already have that city in the bag too.
We parked in a multi storey car park which was very close to the Cathedral, so as soon as we got onto street level, we made our way directly there.
The Cathedral, like most that I have visited is a cracker, it is visible from all parts of the city and its very impressive.
It was also free to enter, so we did. It again was very beautiful inside and it wasn’t very busy either.
From there we walked around the city, I was looking for the rivers, there are three, which all run into Falmouth Harbour.
It was close to one of these rivers, Truro River that Wendy spotted a Sea Salt shop and finally bought a dress that she likes from there!
We walked to the area where the Wetherspoons Bar is, which is an area of the city called Town Quay, the bar is called the Try Dowr.
Truro gets is name from the Cornish word, “Tri-veru”, meaning three rivers. The three rivers of Truro are called:
The Kenwyn
The Allen
The Tregolls
The same word was also often called Try Dowr, hence the name of the bar. We found two of the rivers very close to the bar but apparently the third one as now been built over and it isn’t now visible.
We had a glass of wine each in the bar and then we did a little more shopping in a brilliant little craft market just outside the bar, before meandering back to the car.
From Truro we drove 18 miles down the north coastline of Falmouth Harbour to the delightful village of St Mawas, which is almost directly opposite Falmouth.
The wind had picked up by the time we had parked up in the small car park at the harbour and, because of the wind the foot passenger ferry over to Falmouth was not operating.
We walked around the village and it was just so peaceful despite the wind.
We ended up in a delightful little pub that I found on the back streets, The Victory.
The bar had a good selection of real ales, and one which I had never heard of, from the makers of Doom Bar. This was called Sea Fury and the barmaid let me have a sample before I bought a pint for me and a half for Wendy.
Fortified we drove a little north and caught the King Harry chain ferry which cuts out the long drive back around the harbour.
Established in 1888, it connects St Mawes and the Roseland Peninsula with Feock, Truro and Falmouth by avoiding the alternative 27 mile route through Truro & Tresillian.
One of only five chain ferries in England, it departs every 20 minutes from each side, 7 days a week and the ferry is a key transport link for visitors and locals alike.
They have a very interesting website, here’s the link
https://www.falriver.co.uk/ferries/king-harry-ferry
As soon as we were back at the caravan we took the awning down, ready for tomorrows move. We then pulled on our coats and walked down to the shoreline and then along to the Pandora Inn for a stonking fish supper!
The bar is lovely and it had a nice atmosphere.
I had fish, chips and mushy peas, Wendy had the fish pie, they were both delicious.
As we sat eating our supper a young man and woman came in to the bar with a large St Bernard dog, her name was Ruby. She was a very well behaved dog, but she was big and she kept nudging out from the table and under people’s feet while she was chewing a big thick doggy stick. The dog would not move back under the table so every now and then the young man would kneel down and push her under the table, with difficulty, much to the merriment of everyone seated close to them.
When we left the pub, we were stuffed, so stuffed that we had to take half a bottle of wine home with us.
Interesting fact – The Pandora Inn is named after the ship HMS Pandora which was tasked with tracking down HMS Bounty after the mutiny. She did indeed catch her and took the mutineers prisoner, but sadly she sank in 1791 after running aground on the Great Barrier Reef. There is a scale model of HMS Pandora at the Inn, it’s quite impressive.
HMS Pandora is considered to be one of the most significant shipwrecks in the Southern Hemisphere and some of my muckers from Operation Raleigh went to dive on her after we had completed our Expedition on Lizard Island.
Did I mention that it’s moving day tomorrow, I always get excited on moving day!
95 Miles (10 of which were totally unnecessary)
One of Those Days!
It’s been a quiet news day so I’ll do a bit of catching up of an item I didn’t get a chance to publish in yesterdays copy. I try to keep my copy to around 1,000 words but sometimes events make this a little difficult.
First, I would like to apologise to one Avid Reader who made a personal request for local information. Apparently when you look at an online map of where we were in Cornwall the letters, A.O.N.B. would come up.
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, (AONB) is a designated exceptional landscape whose distinctive character and natural beauty are precious enough to be safeguarded in the national interest. AONBs are protected and enhanced for nature, people, business and culture.
Actually, I have just looked at our current location in Devon and we are yet again in An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland has 46 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, covering 18% of the countryside.
Sorry about that Avid Reader!!!
Now on to the catch up item.
About a quarter of a mile from yesterday’s campsite, on the roadside, there is a memorial which was presented by some Ukrainian Citizens in the 1940’s.
The plaque which is fitted to the memorial states the following:
“This symbol of faith in God was erected by Ukrainian’s who, escaping from Russian Communists found refuge in England. 7th June 1948.
The refugees who came to Mylor were just some of the hundreds of Ukrainian men, women and children who found themselves in Cornwall after fleeing violent persecution by the communist regime, which had been installed in their home country by the Soviet Army. The Second World War had brought about a strong independence movement in the Ukraine and as a consequence many of these nationalists had been rounded up, imprisoned and even executed.
Now back to today!
We both went out running, it was dry but it was very, very overcast.
I got back just as it started to drizzle, thank goodness we took the awning down yesterday.
After morning routine’s, we broke camp and attempted to leave the field that we have been staying in for the last five days. Starting off was fine, but I could not get any traction with the front wheels as I started to climb the slight incline. I was surprised at this because the campsite website stated that the field had very good drainage and that moving off is not a problem.
After a few attempts, one where I tried to reverse up the field, I gave up.
I’m not in any respects a quitter but I had to face reality, no amount of back and forth would get us out of that field, and I didn’t want to cause any damage to the grass.
We only needed to drive about 100 metres but it just wasn’t possible under our own steam.
I phoned the owners number, who thankfully is a farmer, and I spoke to his daughter who sounded about ten years old. She said that she would phone her dad and get him to help.
Within five minutes he turned up with a huge tractor and after attaching a strop to my towing eye, he pulled both the car and the caravan, which were still hitched together, with ease.
After giving the farmer our grateful thanks, we were off and on our way.
The weather soon deteriorated and the conditions became atrocious, the rain was absolutely chucking it down and the wind was blowing the caravan every now and then in an attempt to catch me out, but my hands gripped the steering wheel very tightly indeed and I was having none of it!
We crossed into Devon over the Tamar Bridge and that was an interesting experience.
The road directions from the campsite owners, we found, weren’t the best and as a result we ended up missing our turn off. The Satnav was no good as the post code covers a very wide rural area.
I managed to turn around on a garage forecourt but it cost me £40 in diesel, but that was OK as I like to have a full tank of fuel, and while I filled the tank Wendy phoned the campsite owner.
We followed his instructions, which took us down some very, very narrow lanes. Most people we came across were fine and they would back up for me, but we came across one elderly lady who made such a pig’s ear of reversing that I did worry that we might be there forever!
We eventually got on site but the rain was still chucking it down so while Wendy hunkered down in the caravan, I did all the setting up duties.
I was going to connect to a tap so that we could use the water contraption but would you believe it the tap had a nonstandard size thread on it and I couldn’t get either adaptor to fit it, so it was back to the water barrels.
Finally, I was in the dry of the caravan and after a quick coffee we nipped to the nearby village of Thurlestone which we hoped had a nicely stocked village store.
On the way I called into the beach car park and in the driving rain I had a look at the beach, it looks a cracking beach, just not today.
The store was indeed very well stocked and I got everything we needed in there, I also got directions to the Village pub, which is actually called The Village Inn.
The Village Inn was not as it appeared outside, as an Oldie Worldie pub, it was nice enough but the music inside was a little too disco for our tastes, and I really do like The Poynter Sisters, but just as back ground music mind and not on full blast!
However, the beer, which is a local tipple, Thurlestone Best Bitter, was an utter delight.
Back at the van, with the heating on we did indeed hunker down where we will ride the storm out. I’m early with copy tonight Avid Reader, I’m thinking that the current situation calls for a good old British Storm party.
Wendy has tonight’s supper, a Pad Thai Prawn Curry, simmering on the stove and I’m sipping on my first glass of wine. The rain is lashing the caravan, but I’m not caring, I mean who doesn’t like a good storm, well, as long as its not too damaging mind!
Addendum! - 19:11 – Supper was an utter delight, and the mix was from Aldi of all places.
It’s still chucking it down though!
No Travelling
Salcombe
We had a night of torrential rain last night, and the wind rocked the caravan all night long!
I was awake at 5:30 am and I got up and I did the monthly accounts and at 6:00 am I made my breakfast of tea and vegemite toast and I gave Wendy a cup of tea as she had woken up by then.
The wind was still howling outside and I knew the answer to this question before I even asked it, “Are you going running today Wend?”
“Absolutely not” was the reply.
And looking at her all snuggled up with her tea in bed, I knew that four coal face workers with a Tirfor and a set of pull-lifts couldn’t get her out of bed to go running today!
I was a bit worried about my run this morning as the village is just too hilly to run around, and the lanes are very narrow and the locals drive like numpties as well. My intention was to run south from the village along the south coastal walk, but my worry was that some of those cliffs looked pretty high.
Strangely I never had a problem and I really enjoyed the run. Thankfully the rain had stopped but the wind was still wild, but somehow it made it all the more interesting because the tide was almost at high water and so I could see the waves crashing dramatically against the shore and cliffs.
After about two miles I came down to a very pretty coastal village called Hope Cove. This was beautiful and it had something which really interested me, so much so that I told Wendy to Google it when I got back and she was hooked too, more about this tomorrow!
After my smoothie and shower we jumped into the car and we drove to the nearby, small town of Kingsbridge.
Kingsbridge sits at the top of the estuary, and where the sea meets the town it is extremely tidal and most likely completely empties at low tide. We were there just after high tide so we saw the creak in all its glory.
We parked in Tesco carpark as we needed some supplies for tonight’s supper and the two hour time window gave us just enough time to explore the town centre.
Tesco’s was just down a hill from the High Street but Tesco had built steps and a rampway right up to it, which was great for us getting access to it.
After climbing the stairs, we found ourselves right at the top of the High Street which was just perfect, apart from one thing, the High Street went down as a gentle slope but then at the halfway point it turned into a very steep hill, something like the old Hovis Bread advert, (Anyone not born after the 1960’s will need to find this advert on line, it was a classic).
The high street had some lovely little shops and there was a good range of choice too. There were toy and modelling shops, clothes shops, two butchers, a fish mongers, a grocer and several hardware stores. I would likely bet you could get anything you needed from that one High Street.
Having completed our town centre tour, we returned to Tesco and did our supermarket shopping.
As we saw the creak from the bottom of the High Street, we drove down to it and parked in a carpark so that we could walk along the creek, which was nice in the sunshine, thankfully the wind had died down a little by now.
Some of the boats had something that resembled a weather vane attached to them. They had wire, similar to a wire coat hanger, radiating from a central point on which it could spin. At the end of the wire there were red tabs and the spinning action which they created in a light breeze was enough to scare the seagulls from sitting on the boats.
I have never seen anything like it, and from the looks of the boats that didn’t have them compared to those that had, they work a treat. They must be made locally because they all looked the same.
After our stroll we got back in the car and drove down to what we believe to be the picturesque town of Salcombe.
Parking was the main issue for the town, normally a park and ride service runs in the summer but with that finishing every car park was full.
I had to drive almost a mile out of town and luckily I bagged the only space on the only road that didn’t have parking restrictions. The big downside was that we had to walk down a very long set of steep steps to get us something like down to the shore line.
Salcombe is a cracking place but I was so taken with it I didn’t take any photos of the town’s streets, what a wally I am!
The only street that had shops and bars meandered along the shoreline and it was reasonably busy, but not dangerously so. We were hungry now so we shared a delicious Devon Pasty which strangely looked exactly like a Cornish Pasty.
I was now feeling thirsty and I found a very nice, at the end of the road bar which was very quiet, from where we enjoyed a very nice pint of Salcombe beer.
Having toured the town completely we worked our way back to the steps, which I managed to stride up in one go, without stopping. At the top I, thankfully, arrived not gasping for breath as the man who was around my age was when he walked up them just as we were going to go down them. Jeepers he was knackered and had to sit on a wall and catch his breath.
Yes, Salcombe does indeed rise up from the shore rather steeply, and the homes from the town upwards are built into the hill.
Our final visit of the day was to the small holiday resorts of North and then South Beach, which were just under two miles along the coast but over some very high hills.
I liked South Beach the best, it was a little cracker and I bet it is mobbed in the summer months.
Back at the van we listened to All Request Friday on the Sara Cox Radio Show and relaxed as the wind picked up again. I usually listen to this show on my morning run, but I have discovered a new radio station which is pretty good, it’s called Pirate Radio!
I’m on supper duties and tonight its pan fried Hake, Cod Loin and fresh Jumbo Prawns in a spicy rub which we are going to have with a tasty salad and pucker French Bread which was bought on Kingsbridge High Street.
Here’s the famous Hovis advert!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mq59ykPnAE
No Travelling
Best Sea Food Platter, Ever!!!
What a tremendous downpour we had this morning!
At just turned 3:00 am the rain started and immediately the noise was deafening on the caravan roof. I woke instantly and looked out; it wasn’t as dark as I thought it would be but I couldn’t see the rain. However, it went on and on for at least half and hour. Wendy didn’t stir, but in the morning, she said that she had heard it.
I got up and poured myself a nice rum and coke and sat drinking it in bed. Just to savour the moment.
I have never, ever heard rain like that, even in Australia, during some monumental downpours, it never rained that hard.
We are staying in a farmer’s field; we are the only unit on site and we have a huge field to ourselves. The one drawback is that the grass is very long and its very wet which means we get our shoes wet as soon as we step out of the caravan.
I went to pay the farmer last night, he was a nice old fella, and he only charged us £10.00 per night, including electricity. I went back and told Wendy we had to stop complaining about the grass!
For todays run I went north on the coastal path, it was amazing, the views were even better than yesterdays. I ran to the River Avon Estuary, (Not the one in Bristol), and I saw an island just offshore, it’s called Burgh Island and it has a luxury hotel built on it. Wendy Googled it and apparently it costs £488.00, per night room only, and that’s the cheapest option.
Here’s the link to the hotel’s website, go on and have a browse:
The River Avon estuary was absolutely beautiful in the morning sunshine, and I saw a house on the opposite side of the river, built into the hill with stunning views. I couldn’t see any road or track leading to it, and I thought that it must be in the running for the most ideally located house in the British Isles.
The River Avon starts its life high on Dartmoor and is 27 miles long.
I was running back on the road to the camp site when I came across Wendy who had been to the shop to get her paper, she saw me from behind and gave me a wave, she was as happy as Larry walking in the sunshine. As I came behind her a car was approaching and I put my hands around her neck and attempted to strangle her in a playful manner, I wonder what the car people thought? Wendy gave me a slap and I carried on running, and I went passed the site by accident and did an unnecessary extra half mile!
I had a half smoothie and after a very nice shave and shower we were off, out for a brisk walk along the coastal path to Hope Cove.
The weather was brilliant, it was about 16 degrees, bright but a little breezy.
The walk was lovely, it was so warm that I took my jacket off and put it in to the back pack, and then I took my jumper off and I walked in my T-shirt, on the 30th October, in England, and it was wonderful!
Our walk to Hope Cove did have a purpose, a very specific purpose actually.
We were booked into a garden Pod at the Lobster Pod Bistro.
WoW, what can I say, we had the most amazing dining experience I think I have ever had, it was a dining double delight!
This is what I saw during yesterdays run, and when I got back, Wendy Googled the restaurant and she got what we think was the last Pod.
The young lad who took us to our Pod was a smashing lad, his name was Conner and he comes from Reading. Conner is really into surfing and came here about four months ago and he will stay until the restaurant closes in January, where he then hopes to go surfing in Europe, I would guess Portugal.
The Pod was absolutely brilliant, we had stunning views out to sea and the sun was shining brightly. We were nice and cosy and when Conner brought us our drinks we were nicely settled.
For our meal we ordered a seafood platter to share, the two main fish to come with the meal were Skate Wings and Gurnard.
Well, what a plateful we got, it was just so bloody lovely! Actually, I think I would have to have the thesaurus of Boris Johnson to be able to give this meal the due it truly deserves.
I’m not bragging, but I have eaten, in style, with Gordon Ramsay at the Savoy, and as you know, Avid Reader, I have recently eaten with Rick Stein at his restaurant in Padstow. Well, this meal beats Rick, and I would say, it was on parr with Gordon, it really was that good.
As well as the fish mentioned above, we had four huge prawns, crab meat, crab pate, olives, artichokes, calamari, coleslaw, a stonking salad and even a very tasty prawn cocktail, oh and some really nice bread and butter.
We sat in our Pod, in the sunshine and we loved the experience, it was just perfect, (I have to admit to listening to the England v Australia 20 x 20 world cup match, but Wendy didn’t mind).
Conner popped in from time to time and we enjoyed a chat with him.
We didn’t have any dessert, we were both stuffed so we sat there with an extra glass of wine and relaxed while we ran the clock down on our time, (You get 1 hour & 45 minutes per Pod booking).
As we left to walk back along the coastal walk, I said my goodbyes to Conner and off we strolled into the afternoon sunshine.
The walk back was very much needed as we were both stuffed to high heaven.
As we walked, I listened to the cricket and England were destroying Australia, it was going all our way.
The weather back was lovely, albeit a bit breezy.
Back at the van we immediately got into our PJ’s and relaxed, we facetimed Rose, who was dead chuffed that we had beaten Australia!
It was then time to relax and have a nice easy Saturday night.
Today has been a truly amazing day, it started off well with my morning run and then we had the most amazing dining experience, and now I might just get myself a nice glass of wine and say goodbye to British Summertime for another year.
If you want to see more about Pod dining in Devon, check out the link below:
https://www.lobster-pod.co.uk/public/index
48 Miles
Storm!!!
Jeepers, we didn’t get to enjoy an hour in bed this morning. It was windy all night and the caravan rocked a fair bit, but that was fine with me as I had my ear plugs in. It was the rain that arrived at 5:30 am that did the damage. The noise in the caravan was again unbelievably loud, and even with my ear pugs tucked deep into my ears it didn’t stop the noise from waking me up, it even woke Wendy up!
I had my breakfast and I did a few chores like sorting our route out and access instructions for our next campsite in Topsham, Devon.
The rain was really heavy but I could see in the distance that it was clearing from the sea. The wind however was picking up quite badly.
I went running, Wendy stayed in bed. I was going to run over to Hope Cove this morning but as I turned right out of the campsite, I ran straight into flooding, the road was impassable on foot. I tried to make my way around the flooding but it wasn’t possible. A man stopped in his car and offered me a lift, but I declined as I would still need to get back over when I came back from running, and there might not be another good Samaritan.
So instead, I managed to find a route that did take me to the beach and then I went around the pretty village at South Linton.
My concerns about the wind and towing the caravan became clear when I got to the beach, it was absolutely wild. It was the kind of wind that you find hard to stand up in, yes it really was that bad.
I got back to the caravan and I looked at the Met Office website for Devon, the situation wasn’t going to get any better. The forecast was for gales along the coast, increasing to severe gales in the afternoon.
So, what to do when things get a bit hairy? Take things one at a time, first see how far the journey is? I used the Satnav and it said 50 miles and it would take 90 minutes. That’s not too bad, but most importantly the route took us through good sized country, winding lanes, which if you know Devon and Cornwall, they are often lined with trees and hedges which would protect us from the worst of the wind.
Next, fill both water barrels with water and put them over the axel of the caravan, their combined weight, which was over 110 kg’s was a fair weight, and it would drop the centre of gravity of the caravan considerably, and it worked a treat!!!
The only issue we had was with an old lady in a mini, who again could not reverse for toffee, she got in a right pickle before managing to make room so we could pass her. Even Wendy chuckled and said, “Even I’m not that bad”.
We picked the A38 up with about 18 miles left to go and it was the only time that we were quite exposed to the wind and it was the only time I felt the effects of the wind, and it was only with minor tremors.
We got onto our site without any problems and our lovely host showed me to our plot. The ground was sodden so we decided that we should put the caravan on an access road. She hasn’t anyone else coming while we are there so we will be fine there, the views are very nice too.
After a coffee we set off to find a pub in Topsham, The Bridge Inn!
The main reason that we are in Topsham is to meet my old friend Clare, and Clare recommended the Bridge Inn because of its nice real ales.
It was so nice to see Clare after all these years, the last time we saw her was on our wedding day, over 34 years ago.
We sat with Clare and chatted over a drink outside in the sun.
Clare then took us for a lovely walk around Topsham, and its as beautiful as I imagined it would be. The village is a series of meandering narrow streets, with some very nice looking local shops. The village is alongside the River Exe, just as it becomes the wider estuary which enters into the English Channel just after Exmouth.
Clare gave us a quick tour of the village but had to leave not long after to go and meet her sister, but we did arrange to meet tomorrow evening.
As we walked with Clare, she pointed out a local smoke house where she explained that local people had opened it several years ago and that the food was really exceptional. After Clare left, we walked back and passed the smokehouse and I went in for a look, and I really liked what I saw.
I liked it so much we went in and had an impromptu supper and it was an utter delight, it really was exceptional.
We had a Smokehouse BBQ Meat Tray to share, which consisted of:
We did think we might need a doggy bag, but we didn’t, the food was stonking, very tasty and nicely hot.
The staff were all great too, in scary fancy dress for Halloween.
We are in Topsham for 4 nights; I might just have to go back!
We walked back to the car and then we drove back to the caravan which wasn’t too far away.
As we sit in the caravan listening to the Paul O’Grady show the wind is howling outside and the caravan gets the occasional rock and then rolls, but I’m not caring, we are on site and nicely settled so let the weather do whatever it wants to!
No Travelling
Booster!!!
We were awake early today; we were in bed early last night mind. I woke at 5:30 am and Wendy wasn’t long behind me. We had had some rain during the night but it was a lovely bright morning when it got light.
We both went out running at just gone 7:00 am and it was a bit of a pain to start with because we have to run about 300 meters on a grass verge because there isn’t any pavement. After that though we found the Exe Coastal Cycle Path. This is a cracking cycleway and within a few hundred yards we came to a bridge, Wendy took the bridge and I went south along the Exe Estuary.
There were quite a few cyclists speeding towards Topsham, or maybe even Exeter as the path goes all the way to the city. It must have been that Monday morning feeling because every cyclist I came across never made any eye contact let alone give a smile.
As I ran, I came across the Royal Marine Training Centre which is just out of Lympstone. The cycle track runs along the railway line at this point and there is a small dedicated train station just for the Royal Marines.
I turned back after I got to the village of Lympstone, it looks a nice little village, hopefully we will be able to take a look at it tomorrow.
Before I left this morning, I looked at the BBC News App and I saw that over 50’s who are due a Covid Booster Vaccination can now visit a drop in centre without an appointment. I also got a message from Clare telling me that she had seen it too, and as she had worked as a volunteer vaccinator at her local centre, I should go and get one there.
After breakfast then we drove to the vaccination centre which was four miles away. The NHS were using a large, but very clean industrial unit on an Industrial Estate, and it was quite busy, but very well organised.
I joined a line of cars who were edging towards a control point where we had to have a chat with a man in a Hi-Viz jacket.
When it was my turn, he asked me if I had been invited and I said no. I explained my circumstances, that I live in Scotland but that I won’t be home for some weeks and that I was due a booster. He asked to see my proof of vaccination, but of course we only have a Qr card on the Scottish Passport App, and of course he didn’t have a Qr reader. He asked when I had had my last vaccination and when I told him 29th April, he said, “April’s fine, its over six months, drive over there and park up and then join that queue going into the building”.
This queue went down quickly and I went inside to join another small queue.
I went to a desk and I was asked by a lovely lady for my vaccination card. Sorry I said and I showed her my Qr passport but she didn’t have a reader either. But thankfully I have the Zoe App and it as all my vaccination data on that, and on her seeing it, I was given a slip of paper with my Name, Date of Birth and it said Booster on it.
I then joined a long and winding queue which took 30 minutes for my turn.
Next, I was interviewed by a nurse with an iPad. She was very pleased with me, because I was a challenge for her to navigate through all the document, she had open. But I’ll give her her due, she found me and she drew up all my vaccine info, and then passed me for the jab.
The last queue was just two people long as I was now at one of the four vaccination pods.
Before you could say, “That didn’t hurt”, I was done, my immunity had been boosted by a Moderna Vaccination. I now owe a big thank you to Dolly Parton!!!
While all this was going on poor Wendy was sat in the car waiting, thankfully she had her phone and my charger to keep her company.
We drove to Exeter and we were parked up and having a small beer in our first of 3 Wetherspoon bags today.
From there we found the High Street and our second Wetherspoon’s and from there we walked up and down the High Street, taking in the Cathedral as we went along.
Wendy liked the shops in Exeter and it was quite nice, but there did seem to be a large number of undesirable types.
Exeter is an ancient city and was a major stronghold for the Romans who built a wall around the city over 1,800 years ago, and about 70% of it remains to this day, although most of it is dangerous and access is restricted.
We walked down to the River Exe which we found to be raging with flood water. Thankfully, The Exe having flooded the city many times over the years, The Countess of Devon in the 13th Century had a weir built downstream of the city. The weir doesn’t fully protect the city from upstream flooding but it does take away the threat of flooding caused by the tidal action of the Exe Estuary.
We bagged our 3rd Wetherspoon’s Bar, on the opposite side of the river, and about a half mile away from the river bank. Along with a small glass of wine, we shared a chicken wrap.
As we had bought a few supplies from a supermarket we walked them back to the car and then we did a tour of Historic Exeter Quay.
Exeter's Historic Quayside is one of the most attractive areas of the city, popular with locals and visitors alike for its fascinating history, interesting architecture small craft shops and restaurants.
The Historic Exeter Quay is also where we found the Exeter Ship Canal.
The Exeter Ship Canal is a canal leading from the Exe Estuary, below Topsham, to Exeter Quay and it is just over five miles long. It was first constructed in the 1560s predating the "canal mania" period and is one of the oldest artificial waterways in the UK.
The canal was needed because larger ships could not navigate the River Exe at The Countess Wier. The Historic Exeter Quay was a major English port for many, many years.
We did have a good walk around the Quay and we really liked it, Wendy even bought a Christmas Tree decoration from one of the craft shops.
Having now walked over 6.5 miles around Exeter we were back at the Caravan by the time it got dark, just before 5:30 pm.
Wendy snook off for a nap while I listened to the England Cricket match and after victory, I made myself a sarnie and Wendy woke and made one too.
At 7:20 pm we drove to the Bridge Inn to have an evening drink with Clare and what a laugh we had. We met Clare’s sister, Sue and her husband and it was just nice to sit and chat.
We left at 9:00 pm though, it’s been a tiring day and tomorrow we have a day of adventure with Clare, who is taking us out, so we need to rest up for that!
No Travelling
Exmouth
I was wide awake again at 5:30 am, but I waited until 5:50 am before getting up, again Wendy followed me and took her tea in bed, as she normally does.
It was a nice clear cold morning, at 6 degrees, but there wasn’t a breath of wind.
Wendy went out running first and I went a little later as I take longer to get ready.
I tried to go along the coast path in the direction of Exeter but I missed a turn off and I ended up running along the pavement on a main road, which was chock a block with heavy traffic. I stopped at four miles, about a half a mile beyond a major roundabout, but the traffic was still backed up, and beyond me too.
This, I thought, told me two things:
I managed to find my way back by the same route and after showering we hung around for an hour or so because Clare was collecting us to take us to Exmouth at 11:00 am. I used my time wisely, doing start of month banking matters, it took a while too because one of my bank cards has expired while we have been away.
Clare had a little misfortune in collecting us, she drove past the lane, I did warn her that it comes quickly, but there is absolutely no warning that the lane is coming up. We are just 200 metres from a main roundabout on a dual carriageway and the drivers around here are like maniacs.
After she found us, she took us on a very nice trip down to Exmouth.
First, Clare drove us to the very pretty village of Lympstone where I had been yesterday on my morning run. It really is a very nice coastal village with some really pretty homes.
Then we went down to Exmouth and out of town along a coast road, and along a very beautiful sandy beach to the Jurassic Coast.
It was Clare’s intention to walk around some cliffs and along a very long beach. However, the tide was coming in and the point around the cliffs was no longer an option.
We had Clare’s dog, a tiny whippet puppy, with us and I walked her up some rocks to the steps which then took us to the top of the cliff.
Lunar, the whippet, is an inbreed dog, by which Clare got her for a much reduced fee of around £400 as opposed to the £3,000 + which she would have had to pay for a pedigree whippet.
How much for a whippet? They were all the rage in Barnsley when I was a nipper and you would often see old fellas walking them at double speed as they were used as racing dogs at local race tracks. In fact, there was such a track not more than a mile away from my home.
Inbred or not, Lunar was a very well behaved little dog, she’s very pretty and she attracted a lot of attention from other dog lovers.
When we were at the top of the cliff’s we were at the start of the Jurassic Coast.
The Jurassic Coast is England’s only World Heritage Site and it is on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about 96 miles, and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in mid-December 2001.
The Jurassic Coast is a hugely diverse and beautiful landscape underpinned by incredible geology of global importance.
We had a lovely walk before returning to the car, where Clare kindly drove us to the Powder Monkey, which is a Wetherspoon’s Bar. Apparently, this turned out to be Clare’s one and only Wetherspoon bag, that she knows of anyway, I wonder if she’ll continue to collect them.
A ‘powder monkey’ was naval slang for the young boys who filled shells and cartridges with gunpowder.
After a drink we did a circular tour of the town before doing a little shopping at a Tesco Metro.
Our next stop was at a high view point which over looks both the Exe Estuary and Dartmoor.
As we parked in the car park there was a very small squad of Royal Marine Instructors, who we later found out were waiting for the recruits to be marched over to start some kind of map reading exercise.
The views were stunning in the afternoon sky and we could see for miles and miles!
We were gobsmacked when the recruits arrived, they looked like school kids, but on closer inspection they were indeed proper, budding Marines.
What shocked me was that about a third of the squad were young women.
Later I Googled women in the Royal Marines, here’s what I found:
“Becoming a Royal Marines Commando makes you part of one of the most elite amphibious forces in the world. And for the first time in over 350 years, women can now earn the coveted Green Beret as a fully-fledged Royal Marine Commando.”
I also found out that they have to undertake the exact same tests and meet the same physical standards as the men, apparently it is a gender-free training programme!
We got back to the caravan at around 3:00 pm and after a coffee outside with Clare and Lunar, Wendy and me took a drive into Topsham as Clare had something to do.
We had one main mission, to find my coveted traditional Devon Pasty, (The Stegosaurus one), and we had inside information that we could get one at Arthurs Butchers.
There were no pasties left at Arthurs but I was also aware that they sold unbaked, frozen pasties that could be baked at home, so I asked for two of them.
I asked the lady who served me how to heat them up and she told me to egg wash them, cook them at 180 degrees for 40 minutes and she then asked me if I needed the instructions written down. I chuckled a bit and then I told her that I thought that I could remember those instructions clearly enough.
Was this my first recorded Womansplaining event, did she think a man could not remember baking instructions? (Actually, as I typed Womansplaining, MS Word came up with a spelling error message which wanted to change it to Mansplaining, is this reverse sexism?).
When we did bake the pasties, they took over an hour to bake to the desired level of browning, but they were very tasty.
I managed to persuade Wend to jump into the car, after supper, to go and bag the last Wetherspoons in Exeter, but I did agree to do the washing up when we got back, and that we had to be back in time for The Great British Bake Off, which is on at 8:00 pm.
We got to the bar in good time, and we found it to be massive, it was an old prestigious Exeter Hotel, The Imperial.
It really was big, and with it being located near the University, it was full of students.
It also had two very capable and diligent bouncers on the door, who welcomed me and Wendy very respectfully, but searched all the youngsters and checked their ID.
Although it was full, the building was that big, with several bars, it wasn’t a worry as there was enough room to accommodate everyone safely.
I watched the bouncers as we chatted and sipped our wine, and they really were on the ball. As we left, I heard a group of young men just outside the door, talking about the availability of drugs at the bar. By the time we were driving past them, the bouncers were amongst them and moving them along!
Thankfully we did indeed get back in good time for TGBBO, and we found out that it was to be Caramel Week!
No Travelling
Hard Frost!!!
Jeepers it was cold this morning, very cold actually, the car windscreen was covered in ice as were all the other windows.
We both got up at 5:50 am and Wendy went out first before me by a few minutes. I went running along the track to Lympstone and it was a beautiful, cold morning. The sky above the Exe Estuary was stunning.
I ran past the Royal Marine Training Centre at 7:30 am and everyone seemed to be tucked up in bed, as it was all very quiet. But as I passed on my way back, just after 8:00 am, I could hear a lot of shouting.
As I got closer, I could see that the recruits were on a training exercise, they were on the rope climbing apparatus. There were about 6 to 8 recruits on the ropes and the rest were stood in formation and they were shouting encouragement to their mates.
Only 3 or 4 of the recruits made it all the way to the top, but the others were desperately trying to make it, but you could see they were exhausted. They only had light webbing on, but they also had their weapon with them, and I believe that they can be quite heavy.
As the recruits were struggling the Officer in Charge shouted for them to give up and come back down, but they didn’t, they kept trying.
Eventually they came back down and the Officer gave them a right dressing down.
I think it was fair enough, the height to the top of the rope must have been 10 metres and had they fallen they would have received a severe injury, and I couldn’t see any matting below them.
He shouted, “When I tell you to come down, you bloody well must come down, there is a serious danger of you falling through exhaustion, do I make myself clear?”.
The text doesn’t do his orders justice, needless to say there was some real aggression behind it.
I certainly heard, in unison, “Yes Sir!”
Back at the caravan, for one morning only I changed my breakfast routine, I had a mango smoothie, without any peanut butter.
We were going out for the day but we first had our very own mission to complete. To buy some pasties from Arthur, the Butcher, for tomorrows long drive to Kent.
We were happy with our pies last night, but we wanted to buy their own cooked versions as they would be a nice treat on a long drive.
We also bought Granny and Grandad one each, so hopefully we will get them over to them before supper time!
As we drove to our first destination, the small market town of Newton Abbot, I was driven to distraction by the very tasty smell of the hot pasties.
We parked the car in the multi storey car park and soon we were in the town centre.
The town is built around the small, but fast flowing river called the River Lemon, which flows into the River Teign.
It was market day in the town and it was reasonably busy.
We walked around the streets and in to the very nice pedestrian zone where there were some nice market stalls. During our tour we came across a small market square where I saw a small café selling pasties, and they had some outside seating.
I went in and bought a small pasty for myself and Wendy wanted a small sausage roll.
Jeepers my pasty was tasty, I put ketchup on half of it, and then brown sauce on the other half and I still can’t decide which was the nicest.
After eating we walked into the indoor market, fully masked up, and Wendy bought herself a Nutella Cake for herself, which she carried around town in its cake box with great determination.
The town was nice enough, clean and tidy, and certainly no riff raff elements, and before we left, we bagged the Weatherspoon’s Bar.
We drove onto our next destination, the seaside town of Teignmouth but before we parked up in town, we dropped into the towns Morrisons store to get some supplies.
We parked up on the sea front in Teignmouth and as we got out, I got a very good feeling that I would like this town.
The town is at the outlet of the River Teign, where it flows into the English Channel, hence the name Teignmouth!
We walked to the river mouth and as the tide was coming in the river was beginning to back up and the open harbour was flooding with seawater.
We then wanted to walk along the pier, actually it’s called the Grand Pier, but we couldn’t as access to the main pier was closed. The Amusement Arcade was open but that was all.
Actually, it looked like it was in need of some repairs, but on looking at the piers website it doesn’t mention it as being closed, but I did find this article:
“The 155-year-old pier was ravaged by storms in February, 2014, when powerful waves ripped through the wooden floors and tossed the heavyweight arcade machines around. Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused and the pier was shut for seven months”.
We walked along every street in Teignmouth and we both liked what we found, a nice little unspoilt seaside town.
We passed another bakery and they had their pasties in the window, I was starving again so I persuaded Wendy to share one with me, which she willingly did.
I opened the Weatherspoon App to get directions to the local bar and Goggle Mapping took over. However, when we were close to the bar the map through a wobbly and it took me away from where we needed to be. Would you believe a bad squall blew in with driving hailstones. Thankfully I had nipped back to the car when I saw the black clouds appear and I grabbed both brollies.
My trousers were soaked around my legs, but Wendy faired a little better.
Would you believe that when we found the bar, we found it around the corner from where the map went wrong. Had it not we would have missed the downpour.
We dried off with a glass of wine and within ten minutes the rain was over and we were out and about again.
We gave Teignmouth a dam good look over and I have to say I really liked the place and I could see myself having a nice weekend break there.
Back in the car we drove a couple of miles up the road to our final destination, the very small town of Dawlish.
As soon as we entered the town, I knew that I knew the place because I had seen it on TV News a few years ago.
Dawlish was subjected to a very severe storm in 2014, most likely the same one that hit Teignmouth’s Grand Pier.
It caused considerable damage, especially to the train station and the rail track that runs along the promenade.
Take a look at the photographs of the damage on this website and I’m sure my UK Avid Readers will immediately remember the event.
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/gallery/five-years-incredible-images-dawlish-2502272
There is no town centre, as such in Dawlish, but shops run along the roads that run down each side of Dawlish Water, which is considered to be a minor coastal stream.
Having walked around the town we returned to the caravan for a coffee before we went to Clare’s for our supper.
Clare had kindly invited us over, and had asked her sister, Sue to cook for us, thankfully she is very good and loves to cook.
Supper was an utter delight, a full Sunday roast dinner with a very nice bread and butter pudding and I was stuffed. Thankfully we had a walk around the village with Bill the Collie dog in order to help our digestion process!
We were home by 10:00 pm and now its almost time for bed, we have had such a lovely time at Topsham, I hope we come back some day soon!
219 Miles
Cross Country!!!
It was another cold night, but not as cold as the night before, the car wasn’t covered with frost, thankfully.
Wendy went out running again, that’s four times this week and its only Thursday, she’s on a roll.
I went down into Topsham and after Wendy telling me which way to go, I managed to find a brilliant run almost all along the River Exe. As soon as I got to the place where Wendy told me to go left, instead of right, I knew where I had gone wrong when I was down there on Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday, I followed the cycle route, thinking that it was the same as when I headed towards Exmouth, that the cycle route would follow the river, but it didn’t, it went along very busy roads.
This new way, within 200 yards, went along a very well built riverside path that was far too narrow for cycles.
The views were stunning and I almost managed to get my 4 miles in but it stopped at a set of steps that went down into the river. This was at 3.5 miles, so what I did was that I ran back a half mile, turned around and ran the same half a mile back and sat on the step and drank my water bottle. It was lovely sat there watching the morning sunshine shimmer on the river.
I got back to the caravan and after breakfast we got ready to move on.
I used the caravan mover to get the caravan into position so I could hitch it up to the car. As it was in a difficult position, I had to study how best to do it without draining the battery shunting the caravan back and forth.
What I did was to engage the right wheel in a forward direction and I engaged the left wheel in a reverse direction. Using the remote control it worked a treat, I never knew that I could do both directions at the same time as I never got an instruction manual with the mover.
The caravan spun around in the exact same spot and it was perfect.
We set off for Iwade at exactly 10:30 am and soon we were on the A30 heading east.
We made good progress but it was mainly on single carriage way roads, and the speed limit was mostly 50 mph. That didn’t bother me as that’s the speed limit for a caravan, but progress must have been difficult when you’re in a car and want to make better progress.
At one point along a single carriage section which was going downhill, a Nimrod plane took off from a military airfield and swooped low just over our long line of cars. We were at the back of the line and I knew exactly what would happen next. Everyone stepped on the brakes to look at the Nimrod and several of them almost skidded to a stop to prevent them from hitting the car in front who had indeed slowed down to look.
At one point as the plane was directly overhead, we were all actually stopped, silly really, it was just an aeroplane.
We carried on and soon we were passing Stone Henge, and it looked rather nice.
As we drove eastwards the blue sky turned to grey cloud.
The M3 was nice and quiet but the M25, especially around the M23 turn off, which leads to Gatwick Airport, was really busy, but as soon as we got onto the M26 and then the M20 the traffic started to thin out again.
It was only when we were approaching the M2 roundabout where we found our first real tailback, but it was only for about 10 minutes.
We were soon on our site and set up, there is only one more caravan booked in for the next few nights, it’s a man who is currently working nightshift at Riddem docks. Thankfully he was awake and about when we were setting up. I do hope he is quiet when he comes back from work in the morning.
As soon as we were ready, we set off to visit Granny via a fuel stop at Morrisons.
We got to the first roundabout on the Island, (The Isle of Sheppey), and we hit traffic, thankfully it was going in another direction, but I had to pick my way through the roundabout.
The real trouble started after Queenborough Service Station. The traffic was solid for the full distance to Halfway Traffic lights and it took us at least 10 minutes to get to the traffic lights, we crawled along.
As I dawdled along in the traffic it came to me. In the last 20 years too many new homes have been built on the Island and there as been very little in the way of roadway infrastructure improvement, with nothing else to do traffic can only crawl along, and it was only 4 pm.
I think I must now conclude, that after 40 years of visiting this Island that if you don’t have to, do not drive on the Island roads 2 hours before rush hour and for at least an hour after it, at both ends of the day. But then it doesn’t give you much time to do anything, other than escape the Island.
After all that, we had a really nice supper with Granny and Grandad, Wendy warmed and then we ate the Devon Pasties, with chips and baked beans. I was by now starving and it was a real delight.
After a good long chitter chat with Granny and Grandad, where I also attempted to get Granny access to the microphone on her iPad when she is using Facetime, but I wasn’t successful, we left them for the night with a promise of an adventure tomorrow.
We got back to the caravan far quicker than we got to Grannies and we settled down for the night, jeepers I was shattered. I was really hoping that the night worker next door gets an offer of overtime in the morning that is just too good to turn down!
No Travelling
Funny Pub Carryon!
It was another bright morning when I woke at 7:00 am, I was quite surprised that I had slept so late because we were in bed very early last night. It was however cold outside, when I first checked online it was just 1 degree outside.
I opened a window blind to see if our neighbour was home from work because I never heard him, and sure enough he was in his caravan.
I had my breakfast and gave Wendy her cup of tea when she woke up and then I got dressed to go out running. Wendy doesn’t like the roads around our camp ground because there are no pavements, and the locals drive like they own the roads so she stayed put in bed. I don’t mind because it’s only a short run to the village, where there is pavement. When you get out of Iwade the pavement stops but the road is wide enough to allow pedestrians to walk without any problems.
The sun was bright while I was out and I was really glad I went back for my sunglasses before I set off.
I got back and Wendy was ready and dressed.
We watched the Jeremy Vine TV show on Channel Five while I had breakfast and a hot topic on the show was the issues emanating from Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the accusations of racism, even Michael Vaughn as been implicated. Having followed Michael over a period of many years I really don’t see him as a racist, I know this isn’t the point, but he’s considered by Geoffrey Boycott to have been the greatest tactical England Cricket Captain of all time.
After breakfast we drove over the old Kingsferry Bridge, which connects the Isle of Sheppey to the mainland to go and spend the day with Granny and Grandad.
We had a lovely morning sat around chatting and drinking coffee and not long after Wendy’s brother, Ian, dropped by.
More chatting and laughing ensued and it was all rather pleasant.
After Ian had left, I did a little online work for Granny and Grandad in the form of ordering them some Lateral Flow Test kits.
Granny was easy as she didn’t have an online account so I made her one, however, Grandad already had one but couldn’t remember his password so I reset it and then we wrote it in his magic password book.
Alex, Robyn and Rose are visiting Granny and Grandad at the end of November and they have booked a static caravan which is sited on a caravan park in Warden, which is on the Isle of Sheppey too.
Granny is ever so concerned that they are a long way away and that they might be cold in the caravan, so in order to calm and ease her concerns we took a drive out to take a look at the site.
The site is just 6 miles from Granny and it was easy enough to find. It’s in a great location for views and walking trails and as soon as Granny saw the standard of caravan she was as happy as Larry.
On the road to the site, quite close to it actually is a pub where Granny and Grandad recently had a Sunday lunch. Actually, there are now two pubs on the site, apparently two brothers bought the pub to run together, but that they fell out, badly it would seem, and they split the pub into two separate pubs and they now operate independently of each other.
One pub is called the Walnut Tree and the other is called the Wheatsheaf Inn.
On the return drive I pulled onto the Walnut Tree’s drive and discharged my passengers near to the entrance door before parking in the pub’s carpark.
I parked the car alongside another car in which a young woman had just got into.
I walked up the drive to take a photo of the pub and as I did, the young woman drove along side me and stopped and asked me if I was going into the Walnut Tree. I said that I was and that my family were just going in, as I carried on walking, she shouted to me that my car was in the Walnut Tree’s car park and that I cannot leave it in there and go into the Wheatsheaf Inn.
I assured her that I was indeed going to go into the Walnut Tree and have a drink with my family. It seems that hostilities are still continuing!
I did indeed go into the pub, which had a really nice bar and met up with the gang who had just taken care of our drinks.
We sat in the small seating area, where on another table sat two other couples who were obviously friends, they were about my age, or thereabouts!
As we sat and chatted, I could hear the people at the other table chatting and the women were engaged just as much as the men in disgusting, vile language. Thankfully neither Granny nor Grandad could hear it, but Wendy could.
In all my years on this earth I have never heard women of their age use such vile language!!!
When we got in the car and told Granny she said it’s not the locals it the Londoners.
Well, it was not ladylike behaviour I can tell you that!
On the way home I drove to The Leas and parked the car so that we could look across the Thames Estuary over to Southend on Sea. The sun was shining very brightly on Southend, and then as if on demand, a large car boat came out of the dock and headed out into the English Channel. Grandad, having spent a lot of his working life as a docker, enjoyed the site before us.
I learnt an interesting fact from Grandad, Southend by way of a passenger ferry crossing is only 7 miles away from Sheppey, but it’s a 130 mile round trip because you have to go right up to the Dartford Crossing and enter Essex from there before driving along the north shore of the Thames Estuary to Southend. The silly thing is that when the Coronavirus testing scheme first started, people on Sheppey were booked into a test centre in Southend because it came up on the NHS Booking system as the closest test centre because it was only 7 miles away.
Back at Grannies I did try to find some info about how the brothers fell out at the pub but I couldn’t find a thing. I did find an old photograph of the old place though, before the split and at least it solved the mystery about the roof. On looking at both pubs today I thought that they had gone down the road of even dividing the roof up, but it looks like it was originally two homes knocked together, many, many years ago.
Supper, as cooked by Granny, was absolutely delightful, it was lamb stew and dumplings. I had a massive dumpling which I had to have three portions of stew with it before I could see it off! It was the perfect meal for a cold autumn day!
I checked my Blog site stats today and I found that I have lost a few thousand readers in the latest period, I’ve gone down from 12,000 hits to around 8,500 hits, I’ll have to up my game then!!!
No Travelling
November BBQ!
I was a little late up this morning, I woke at exactly 7:00 am and I hopped out of bed and started breakfast. Wendy was awake soon after and I gave her her cup of tea. As soon as she had wolfed her tea down, she was out of bed and dressed for running and she was giving me a ticking off!
“Come on, move it” she said, “I’m excited I am going to see baby Joy today, come on, move it.” I had yet to finish my tea let alone get dressed.
She was out of the door in two minutes flat and she left me to it.
Eventually, I went out and it was a much milder morning, there was a little breeze but it wasn’t anything to worry about.
Today I ran over the Kingsferry Bridge and onto the Isle of Sheppey.
I sat on someone’s wall at my 4 mile point and took a nice cold drink of water.
I then ran back and would you believe the blinking bridge started to lift just as I got there. I wasn’t cross, I had another drink and I saw the most beautiful sail boat sail under the bridge.
I was ever so slightly jealous that I wasn’t at the helm of that sail boat, it was a magnificent ship.
I got back to the caravan and I had my smoothie ASAP and showered so that we could drive to Rainham and see baby Joy.
But before we left we did our solum duty by taking a Covid 19 Lateral Flow Test, thankfully we both returned a negative test
Rainham is to the south of the River Medway, so Joy has been born as a “Man of Kent”, she is most certainly not a “Kentish Man”
For any Avid Reader who doesn’t know this fact, someone born north of the River Medway is called a Kentish Man, because there is only a small part of Kent over that section of the river. Anyone born to the south of the River Medway is known as A Man of Kent, because they have been born in the bulk of Kent.
I fully understand this concept, but as a Yorkshireman I can not understand why anyone would want to belittle their fellow county men by making out that they are just a little bit from their county. I guess it a southern joke, maybe me and my ADHD just don’t get it!
Joy is an utterly beautiful baby girl; she is so tiny compared to my girls but she is just so beautiful. I saw her Mum, Lily, in hospital when she was first born, and she was tiny and just so cute too and Joy obviously is following the tradition.
Wendy, as expected, hogged the cuddles but I did get a fair shot at mine too, so I can’t complain.
She is such a contented baby and only grizzled a little bit when she needed a nappy change, which was done by her dad Michael, and a feed. She was also needing a sleep as it was by now early afternoon.
After an hour and a bit, we bid our farewells and left to go back to the caravan to get some of our belongings.
We decided, before we left to visit Joy, that we would drive over to Granny and Grandads and stay the night at their house. Well, I think it was a good move, actually it was all my idea.
England were to play a T20 Cricket match against South Africa, and the England Rugby Team were to play Tonga in an Autumn international fixture so it called for me to have a few beers while I watched these important games.
I also took the caravan BBQ and its relevant accessories over so that we could cook a meal for Granny and Grandad.
After a stop off at Morrisons for some essential items we arrived at Grannies just in time to see South Africa start their innings.
The South African innings was top notch, they played us really well.
At some point in the afternoon Wendy went up into the attic and found her baby doll that she had when she was a tiny baby. Jeepers I have never seen such a scary doll in my life, apparently, she’s going home with us and after a good wash, she’s going in the toy box for our granddaughters to play with. Poor Eleanor and Rose they don’t know what’s coming their way!!!
At 3:00 pm the England rugby team kicked off, so there I was sitting at Grannies dining table, watching the cricket on Sky Go on my laptop and also watching the rugby through Amazon Prime on my iPhone, side by side.
At the cricket interval I went to the car and got out all the BBQ gear that I would need and I set it up on Grannies outside covered area.
England started to bat and I sat back down and watched the proceedings. Jason Roy and Josh Butler started to hit out big style, but sadly Jason suffered a serious calf injury while taking a run. The injury was so bad that the poor lad had to leave the field.
Ian and his dog, Fred, joined us for the rest of the game but sadly England narrowly lost the game. It wasn’t all doom and gloom as because of our superior run rate we still go on towards the semi-final. South Africa had to restrict our score to less than 131 for them to continue in the tournament, but as they didn’t, they now leave the contest and Australia take their place in the semis. I think that we now face Pakistan in the semi final in a few days’ time. Pakistan are joint favourites with England to win the tournament so it should be a very good game, jeepers I do hope we make the final!
After the game Ian and Fred left for a night of debortuary as they are two boy’s home alone tonight, and I cooked a delicious BBQ supper of pork belly slice and beef burgers.
Supper was an absolute delight, though I say it myself, even Grannie’s burger was perfectly done to her liking.
After supper I was left alone in the kitchen to do the washing up, while the rest of them watched strictly dancing. I did get called in from my washing duties mind to see the most amazing Charleston Dance by AJ.
Granddad came into the kitchen after the program had finished and stole the glory by wiping the dishes that I had left to drain an hour and a half earlier, the cheeky bugger.
Tomorrow is moving day and we are heading in a northerly direction, its now time to make our way home!
172 Miles
What a Beautiful Village
I woke at around 6:30 am in Grannies second bedroom and as I was sneaking out of the door a little voice said, “Can I have a cup of tea when you make one please?”. It was Wendy who had woken up just as I was leaving the room and made sure she got her morning tiple.
It was a rather nice morning and we both went out running.
I went on my favourite route, up Minster Hill and onto the cliffs before running along the Leas and then onto the sea wall and then back to Grannies through Sheerness.
I sat on the sea wall over looking the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery.
I might have detailed this before, but for new Avid Readers here is the quick version:
The SS Richard Montgomery lies just 1.5 miles from the shore at Sheerness in the mouth of the bustling Thames estuary. Clearly visible from the land at low tide, its rusting masts rising ominously from the water. The sunken vessel contains disturbing cargo: 1,400 tonnes of high explosives which many fear could go off at any time, potentially causing one of the most devastating non-nuclear peace-time explosions ever seen.
Apparently, the ship was unloading in Sheerness docks when there was a concern about a German Air raid hitting it in the dock so it was sent out to sea. However, it got stuck on a sandbank and broke in two soon after.
Ever since I have been visiting the island the worry has always been that when the vessel blows it will take Sheerness and Southend with it.
When I worked on the North Sea Ferry which ran between Holland and Sheerness, the ferry would sail very close to the vessel, so I got to see her at close quarters.
I believe that Wendy’s Grandad was one of the last Stevedores on the ship before she left the port and if my memory is right, he said that all the holds had been emptied and that there is nothing to worry about.
Back at Grannies we loaded the car, said our goodbyes and we went back to the caravan for me to have breakfast and then shower.
We left for our new site at exactly 11:30 am and we had a pretty decent run north.
We had only two issues and both of them were down to the same thing, lack of respect and consideration.
The road to the M2 from the Isle of Sheppey ends at a busy roundabout, the left lane goes on the westbound M2 and the right lane either goes to Maidstone or eastwards on the M2 to Dover.
The trouble is that the majority of drivers want to take the left hand road and the traffic tails back. We joined the queue with us being a mile from the roundabout. However, the situation is not helped when selfish drivers drive down the right hand lane and then at the last second, barge into the left hand lane. This happened to us yesterday when we went to see Lily and it was happening again today. In fact, with me towing the caravan I was giving them more room to do it because I am so slow to start off.
The second issue was much more serious.
As we approached the Bluewater Shopping Centre the tail back to leave the A2 was as much as a mile along the A2 carriageway, leaving only two other carriageways in which traffic passing could use. We were driving in the middle lane, passing the line of exiting cars, when the car in front of me slammed on her brakes and indicated to pull into the line of traffic just as the lane exits the road. However, no one would let her in and so she just stopped dead.
Now I’m towing a 1.5 tonne caravan which would not have been able to stop in time and I was struggling to move one lane over as two cars were approaching me in that lane from behind.
Thankfully as I put on my indicator the first car must have sensed my plight and he braked and allowed me to pass the woman. It was a woman too as Wendy and me gave her such a dirty look as we just managed to get around her.
The rest of the journey was without incident, thankfully, and we were settled on our new site at 3:00 pm.
I parked the caravan on a hard standing site as I didn’t fancy getting stuck in the field.
As we are just a stone’s throw from the village of Claypole I Googled, “Local Pubs” while I was filling the water barrel and I found one ¾ of a mile away.
We did have some stew for supper that Granny gave us, but as this is our last Sunday in England, we fancied a nice Sunday lunch in a village pub.
As we got to the outskirts of the village, I could see a load of old Red Telephone Boxes stored in, what looked like, a farm yard.
The village of Claypole is a really pretty village, with a nice river, The River Whitham, running just by it.
There are some cracking red brick houses, a shop, a small village hall and of course the pub, The Five Bells.
We got to the pub and it was rammed full with people, I looked through the window and I was not going in there for love nor money!
I looked around the back to see if it was any quieter and I saw a notice that said that they stopped serving food at 3:00 pm on a Sunday. That did it, it was back to the caravan for Grannies lamb stew.
We got back to the caravan and I fried up some mushrooms, I then warmed the stew and then put the mushrooms in. We spiced the stew up with a little Reggie, Reggie Sauce and Wendy heated up the last of the Yorkshire puddings from the freezer.
I can tell you that I was so glad that The Five Bells was mobbed and that they had stopped serving food because the lamb stew and Yorkshire puddings was an utter delight. I had it with a pint of cider that I bought in the West Country and it was a real luxury!
After supper I tried to find out about the telephone box mystery in Claypole, but I couldn’t get any info on them.
However, I did find one for sale in Lincoln for over £6,000!!!
I also found this info about the iconic red phone box:
The K6 red phone box became known as the Jubilee Kiosk because it was designed in honour of the Silver Jubilee of King George V.
The boxes were originally designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, Battersea Power Station and Bankside Power Station now known as Tate Modern.
The Lincoln listing states potential buyers would be able to run their own business from it or use it for advertising.
I never knew all of this about the red telephone box that was such a big part of my life as a young man, because that’s all I had to make my telephone calls from.
As I type tonight’s copy, we are snug in the caravan and nicely out of the way. We have the site to ourselves which is always nice.
I think it might be an early night tonight, Wendy is shattered and in need of her bed!!!
No Travelling
Newark upon Trent
I slept with the window blind up last night and before I nodded off, I was amazed at how clear the sky was, I could see loads of stars out.
We were both up at 5:50 am this morning and after I had put the kettle on, I nipped outside to see what the temperature was like, and it was freezing cold. It was so cold that the car was completely frozen over.
Just before we set off running, we could see an amazing morning sky, the sky was lit up with a fantastic mix of red colours.
Then as I was out running the sun slowly came up out from behind the low land that is Lincolnshire and it all made for a brilliant start to the day.
I ran through Claypole village and up to the next village, Dry Doddington. The welcome sign said, “Birthplace of the Olympic Gold Medallist – Shona McCallin”.
Shona got her medal at Rio in 2016 as part of the Gold Medal winning hocky team. It’s strange as by all accounts she still lives in the village but when I found the local post box, it’s still bog standard red and not gold.
On return to the caravan, I researched the matter and the Post Office only awarded Gold Post Boxes to gold medal winners from the London Olympics in 2012. Some local communities have taken it upon themselves to paint post boxes gold since then but it is unofficial and on occasion the Royal Mail have repainted them back to red again, the spoil sports!!!
From Dry Doddington I ran to the next village, Westborough and I sat on some, what I would call, ancient stone steps. The steps were formed around a top stone and there were steps on all four sides.
As I sat and drank my water, I did a Google and found that there was supposed to be an ancient cross upon the stones, from medieval times. It is that important that it’s mentioned in some detail by Historic England, but the thing is, someone has removed the cross and the plinth it sat upon is empty!
Back at the caravan, I was washed and ready to go and explore Newark upon Trent.
Yesterday the Satnav tried to make me drive over the south bound lane of the A1, by crossing over from the North bound lane. I knew I couldn’t make it across with the caravan with the amount of traffic coming down, so we used the route as advised by the site owner.
However today, the Satnav did indeed now have me dash across the south bound carriageway to get to the northbound carriageway, Wendy was not happy about it, but thankfully I did it safely.
We found a spot to park on a side street just outside the town centre and we walked into town.
What a lovely little market town Newark is too, I was very pleasantly surprised!
It was market day, but unfortunately it was flea market day, we did do a little browse but nothing grabbed us.
We found that Newark is a really nice town, with a good blend of new and old buildings and really clean streets. There was also a good range of interesting shops and bars.
We bought some very nice looking pork pies for tomorrow nights supper with Robyn.
We came across the Wetherspoons Bar, The Sir John Arderne.
Sir John Arderne lived in Newark during 1349–70. His work during that period has since earned him the accolade – the ‘first true English surgeon’. It seems that he was particularly adept at treating medieval knights with saddle sores, often the result of long hours spent weighed down by heavy armour, on a horse. By the end of his life, Arderne had achieved the status of Master Surgeon.
Sir John specialised in treating haemorrhoids, just how he did that in medieval times leaves a lot to the imagination.
After a very welcome beer we headed out of town and had a really nice riverside walk along the River Trent.
It really was a very pleasant walk, it wasn’t very warm but the sun was shining brightly in the sky and the river looked lovely.
The River Trent is also the starting point, or ending point for that matter, for The Trent and Mersey Canal.
The Trent and Mersey Canal is a 93 mile canal and runs through Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire in north-central England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities to the east of Burton upon Trent and north of Middlewich, it is a wide canal.
The canal was engineered by James Brindley, and it was the country’s first long-distance canal and it has 76 locks to pass through.
After a good walk of almost 5 miles, we thought that we had done enough to feel justified that we had seen the best of Newark and we went back to the car.
We did some shopping in Morrisons, tonight’s evening meal will be a last night tapas, with a heavy fish influence. We also bought some Gluten Free frozen steak pies for Alex’s supper tomorrow; we did ask in the butchers where we got our pork pies from if they had any GF pork pies but the girl behind the counter looked at me as if I had asked her to round π to 300 places!
As we drove back to the caravan, I could not find a fuel station to fill the car up for tomorrows drive north. I dropped Wendy and the frozen pies off at the caravan and I went in search of diesel. The first place I found had 8 pumps, but no diesel. In the end I was back in Newark driving around the tiny town centre streets before I came across a station which was selling diesel at the extortionate price of £1.52 per litre, no wonder they had some left at that price!
When I eventually got back to the caravan, I found that Wendy wasn’t feeling very well, and so instead of going for a two mile walk to the next village pub, we hung around the caravan listening to the very funny Steve Wright Radio Show, Steve is always a good listen and he never lets you down.
At 5:30 pm with Wendy feeling a little better, and hungry, I prepared supper, which consisted of:
Though I say it myself, it was an utter delight, and I was thoroughly stuffed.
Wendy managed to pull a sickie for washing up duties, where after she seemed to rally really well watching a very Bronze David Dickinson on some antique roadshow, bargain hunt, under the hammer thingy.
Me, I might just settle down with a Zombie show on either Netflix or Amazon, well it is our last night of travels!!!
275 Miles
Satnav!
I was a little late getting up this morning, it was 6:10 am by the time I was out of bed. Wendy woke up not long after and was feeling a little better, but she decided she wasn’t better enough to go running.
It was another dry and windless morning, it was also very mild, it was 12 degrees.
I ran through Claypole and followed the road straight out of the village and I came to the East Coast Mainline Railtrack. I was within 10 metres of the barrier when the red warning lights came on and the barriers came down. Thankfully it wasn’t long before the train came, and went!
The train went through like a bullet train, I was almost knocked off my feet with the draught it created.
When the barriers went up, I carried on through the village of Stubton and then to the village of Brandon. I only got to the outskirts of Brandon before I turned around to come back.
I got back to the Railway Crossing and thankfully I got over before the barriers came down, I just made it!
I got back to the caravan and Wendy was all excited, it was time to head north to go and visit Rose.
I had my smoothie and after a quick shower we were decamped and we were on the road by 11:00 am on the dot.
The Satnav said that we had 255 miles to do, and we should do it in just over 5 hours. I was happy with that as I knew that if I averaged 51 miles an hour, we would do it within 5 hours. Actually, the maximum speed setting on the Satnav for the car with the caravan is 50 mph, so if I did even slightly a higher speed than that then the time would creep down.
We set off and would you believe the Satnav tried to take me across the south bound carriageway of the A1 to the northbound. I am beginning to feel that I can no longer blindly trust this Satnav so I now have to have my wits about me. Thankfully I knew the route to take which would take me directly to the northbound carriageway and we were soon heading north.
We had no issues at all on the road, apart from the unusually excessive number of lorries on the A1 around York. It was OK but they did frustrate Wendy with their slow overtaking routines. The problem is they are all restricted to 60 mph, some will be faster than another, but only by a mile per hour, certainly not 5, which means when they want to overtake it takes an utter lifetime to get around another truck. At one point 3 trucks were trying to overtake one lorry and Wendy was beside herself with anger. Actually, I had to tell her to try to chill out and enjoy the journey, as I do.
By the end of the Jeremy Vine radio show at 2:00 pm I was on track with my timings. We were 3 hours into our trip and we had done over 160 miles.
Things came unstuck just after Newcastle upon Tyne.
The Satnav wanted me to get off and join a road to Jedburgh, I ignored her. For the next 10 miles she tried to get me to turn around, when she finally gave in, we had another 20 miles added to my distance, and I had travelled back in time because 20 more minutes had been added.
We got to the English, Scottish Border where I pulled into the Border layby so we could have a comfort break. While Wendy was making herself comfortable, I got out of the car and I noticed something I have never seen before. On the Scottish side of the border, they fly three Scottish Flags, but on the English Side they fly 3 flags, one English, one Union Flag and one Northumberland Flag. The thing is, both sets of flagpoles have been there for many years but the difference on the Scottish side is that the SNP Executive will not allow a Union Flag to fly from any Scottish asset unless they are forced to do it. It could make my blood boil if it wasn’t so pathetic!
A mystery that I have often thought to research, but I usually forget is that there is a River somewhere after the border which is marked up as The River Tyne. I wondered if this was the River Tyne that flows through Newcastle. But on researching it I don’t think it is, because here is what I found about the Tyne’s journey.
The River Tyne in North East England is formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne.
The northern part has its source close to the Scottish border near the village of Kielder.
The South Tyne rises in the hills of Alston Moor in Cumbria.
The North and South Tyne converge at Warden Rock near Hexham.
Actually, I have seen the North Tyne in Kielder myself so I know its nowhere near where I saw the sign today. But it does still remain a mystery, which one day I hope to solve.
The only real issue on the trip was when we were within 20 miles of Millerhill. We rounded a corner on the A1 and I found myself in absolutely blinding sunshine. I could not see because the sun was so low in the sky. I had to brake because I was fearful I would run into the back of someone, the sun was so bright, even bringing the windscreen visor didn’t help.
Thankfully that was the only issue we had with the sun.
We got to Alex and Robyn’s house just after 4:00 pm and Rose and Robyn were at the door waiting for us, Rose was wrapped up tightly in her outside romper suit.
We had the van parked in double time and we were soon indoors, cooing over Rose.
Alex went to referee a football match at 6:00 pm and I went to get fuel for the car and a few supplies from Tesco.
By the time I got back Rose was tucked up in bed and supper was soon ready, it was an utter delight, it was a brussel spout based tray bake with rice and pork, I loved it!
Wendy and Robyn are now settled down with the Great British Bake off, I should really join them, but the buggers are already chatting their way through it.
No Travelling
Cricket!!!
I slept well last night, and I was late up at 6:30 am this morning, it was getting quite light outside as I slid out of bed.
The weather was fine, bright but cold and I went out running down to Musselburgh Harbour. Wendy stayed in bed and promised to get back into her running routine when she gets home. I think she was hanging around in the hope that Rose might sneak in bed for a cuddle with her.
I felt good running and I made it to the harbour without having to stop for anything. Sometimes my radio app stops working so I have to stop for that, or at least most days I have to stop to cross a road, but everything fitted into place and I was sat on a bench in the harbour 40 minutes later.
The sun was up in the sky and it was warming up a little.
Most of the sail boats have been lifted out of the water and placed around the harbour walls until next spring.
Unlike some small harbours I have seen throughout the UK, Musselburgh Harbour is not boarded up at its mouth over winter. This is possibly because it doesn’t have an outer harbour where the fishing boats can come and go.
As there are two of three fishing boats in the harbour then I guess they need all year round access to the sea.
For the first time in a long time, I was at the harbour when the tide was in, but the boats were beginning to settle on the bottom as the tide was going out. They must not get much time to get in and out of the harbour before the tide recedes again.
As I ran back along the River Esk I saw a very strange thing, an awful lot of geese were following a man who was walking along the riverside. It was just Geese, all the other birds, pigeons and seagulls were all sat together a little further up river.
I got back to Robyn’s house with just the one drink stop and soon I was having my smoothie.
After my shower Robyn, Wendy, Rose and me went out in Robs car for a drive back down to the harbour so we could go for a nice seafront walk from Musselburgh to Portobello.
Rose had fallen asleep on the ten minute drive down to the harbour and woke when she was taken from her car seat and put into her pram.
As we walked along the pavement, we thought that Rose would settle back down and go straight to sleep, but she didn’t, the little Minx. Every time I looked at her, she would beam me back a very tired smile, and she was also looking all around her through tiny eyes that she could barely keep open.
I stopped looking at her and occasionally I would sneak a peep and I saw that she was losing the battle to stay awake and very soon she was fast asleep.
Rose slept all the way to the end of Portobello Beach Prom and only stirred when we settled down in a cafés outside seating area.
I went in to the café and I ordered 1 cup of tea, 1 cup of black coffee and 2 slices of chocolate cake. As I had now made my mind up what drink I wanted, I asked for another black coffee. I was in two minds about what to order, I wanted a cold drink but there wasn’t any to be seen, so I opted for a black coffee.
The bill came to £15.40, I paid by card and the man asked me if I wanted a receipt but I declined.
I was told to go back outside and that our order would be brought out.
When I got back to the seats, Rose was wide awake and sat with her mum.
When I used to run from Robyn’s old flat in Leith to Portobello, there used to be a small, mucky looking, impromptu, communal caravan camp at the end of the beach where we were now set.
Robyn told me that they had now been cleared away and that a new bar had now opened. As we waited for the drinks and cake to come out, I took a walk to look at the new bar, and I quite liked it. I think one day when I am down next, I will come down for a bar meal and a drink.
I got back to the seats just as our order came, minus Wendy’s tea. To cut a long story short, the girl who brought the order out didn’t have very good English, but she managed to say I didn’t order tea. I told her that I had paid enough for it, but it fell on deaf ears. She didn’t even bring any sugar out with her so I had to go back over the road to get some. I was cross, but at least the coffee was good.
We walked back and Rose got a little uncomfortable in her pram so I carried her for a mile or so. Suddenly though I got quite hot, she is now a fair size and she was some effort to carry.
I off loaded Rose to her Mum who put her back into her pram. It was at this point I noticed the interesting looking sculptures that had been placed on the beach groins.
Try as I have, I cannot find anything online about them, they are a complete mystery?
They appear to have something to do with Easter Island as they look like the beach sculptures found there, these are called Moai Statues.
Then my mind worked it out, well I think I did. Easter Island is critically vulnerable to rising ocean levels. Waves are beginning to reach statues and platforms built by an ancient civilization, and during the period of Cop 26, is it possibly that this is some kind of protest about global warming?
We doubled back to the car and got there with a bit of a sweat on as we realised that we had only 20 minutes before the T20 cricket semi-final between England and New Zeeland was on TV.
In all we had walked over five miles, so we were in need of a sit down and a good game of cricket.
Sadly, it wasn’t to be, we were beaten by a better team, and the over where we went of 22 runs was the one that did the real damage. Never mind, the team did their best, as I’ve said we were beaten by a better team. At least I got to watch the match with Rose!
Supper was a delight, hot pork pie, chips, mushy peas, gravy and mint sauce, I was stuffed. I don’t know where Alex put it all because he had two steak pies!
I saw Rose in her bath but as Alex and me had to nip to B&Q for a light bulb for the new light shade I didn’t get to say goodnight to Rose, never mind, I will make sure I give her an extra big kiss tomorrow, because tomorrow is the day we head home, after 7 weeks away!
178 Miles
Home!
I had another terrific sleep last night and I didn’t wake until 6:30 am.
We have been so lucky on this adventure, after seven weeks from home I think I only ever had to run in wet and windy conditions once which is amazing given the time of year.
Today’s morning was another cracker with yet one more blazing morning sky.
I was sat on the couch, in the caravan, eating my toast and minding my own business when the door opened and a baby was thrust into my open arms. It was Rose, and she was smiling happily.
Wendy who so far had yet to open her eyes was out of bed faster then I ever slid down the fireman’s pole and had Rose in bed with her quicker than you can say make me a cup of tea please. I can honestly confirm this because Wendy had Rose in bed before she actually finished that exact same sentence.
After I finished my breakfast, I went to use the bathroom in the house and soon Wendy was in the kitchen with Rose, feeding her, her breakfast of avocado on toast. Rose was trying her very best to eat it, but its not so easy when you only have two tiny teeth.
I went out running and I went down to the harbour again. Again, I managed to get to the harbour without having to stop, although I did have a little altercation with a boy.
I was just at the traffic lights which are in Musselburgh, a little downtown from the Tesco’s superstore when I saw a boy of about 12, who was stood waiting for the pelican crossing, took the top of a pop up soft drink bottle and he threw the plastic top on the floor.
I swiftly picked it up, I threw it back at him and said, “Oi, put that in the bin!” That’s all I said but he looked like he was about to be attacked by a zombie, he picked the plastic up and scuttled away.
I get so mad when I see young people litter when there’s Gretta on telly telling me blah, blah, blah, I have ruined her future. I have always respected our world, I know I could do better, and I will, when the boffins give me better options than I already have. But I won’t take it from younger people when they can’t show any respect themselves!
I got back from my run and I had just missed Alex who had gone to referee a football match.
After my smoothie and a shower and kissing and cuddling Rose extensively, we left Robyn and Rose happily playing at home, and set off for the drive north.
What a cracking drive we had too, we managed the 178 miles journey, with the caravan mind, in 3 hours and twenty minutes. The traffic on every road we drove on was light and we made great progress. The only fly on Wendy’s ointment was that she had to sit through a full Jeremy Vine Radio 2 programme.
We got back home at 3:20 pm but we had a little difficulty getting the caravan on the drive due to me opening up the drive and not properly putting a curb in, I guess that will be a winter job then.
You should have seen the post we had received, most of it junk mail mind. It was piled halfway up the door.
We also had two lovely parcels.
I opened one and it was a lovely gift from Rachel in Australia, who had sent me two pairs of Aussie themed socks, which I really adore! She sent me a pair last year and they are so comfy and warm. She also sent me a card that has a very catchy song that sings when you open it, it’s really very funny!
Wendy then opened the second parcel, which was a lovely gift box of treats from our friends in Maryland, USA, Jacqueline and Jeremy, there were:
It was just so nice to get them, I also got birthday cards from My Aunty Glenis, who was very cheeky about my age, her being in her 80’s too, and a very nice card from Roz and Ron.
After unpacking the car and the caravan I nipped into town to go to Lidl for some provisions and I snook a sneaky pint on my own in the Clachnaharry Inn.
It’s now just turned 7:00 pm and I have two duck legs roasting in the oven.
We have been away from home for seven weeks and we have had an amazing time.
We had such a lovely week with our family in Derbyshire and the icing on the cake was having our two beautiful granddaughters, Eleanor and Rose living with us. I still think that the kids are trying to kill me, especially Robyn who booked the dangerous, dad nearly killing events.
Our journey around Devon and Cornwall was brilliant, as was the side show of Worchester and Western-Super-Mare. I met up with my long time friends Dave Lewin and then Clare and we even managed a pint in a very strange pub with Granny and Grandad in Kent.
As a last throw of the dice, we had a very pleasant visit to the lovely town of Newark on Trent.
The final treat was staying a couple of nights at Mr and Mrs Shepherds establishment and lots of cuddles with Rose.
That’s it for this adventure, here are our trip stats:
More Travels
178 Miles, 84 Miles & 10 Miles Respectively
Let me set the story out!
We wanted to visit Rose as soon as we could after Christmas and I said to Wendy it would be a good idea to ask Granny and Granddad if they wanted to come and visit for a while, and if they did, we could travel down from Alex and Robyn’s house to collect them in Kent.
Granny was indeed happy to come visit but unfortunately her and Grandad had an appointment in the very near future of which no date had yet been set.
As the starting point of our travel window was 9th January and the very last day, we could be away from home was 26th January, I set about drawing up a travel plan so that we could achieve item one, to visit Rose. Then I looked for something in the north where we would like to go and when Grannies’ appointment was confirmed we could re-evaluate and head south if time allowed.
To that end after a 3 day visit with Rose I booked a hotel in Ardrossan and then 4 nights on the Isle of Arran.
A few days after, Grannie’s appointment was confirmed as 21st January, I worked around that and my planning will now take us to:
Before we arrive at Grannies on the 22nd January.
Our time with Rose was lovely, she is such a lovable and cheery baby and she’s growing bigger and stronger by the day and she is much more aware of her surroundings.
Notable milestones while we were with Rose were:
Babysitting for Rose – On Monday night, Mum and Dad had a nice night out, their first since Rhianne’s wedding way back last summer. I drove them in to Edinburgh City where I dropped them off on the King George IV Bridge, their dining destination was unknown but they were in the right part of town to find something nice.
I got back to the house just as Rose had been put into her cot and I managed to rock her to sleep by patting her bottom exactly like I had done with her mum over 31 years ago.
Another milestone was my first attempt at Rick Steins Fish Pie which I had seen him make on Saturday morning TV. For Tuesday’s supper I had assembled the many items for the recipe and it was in the end a quite fairly complex meal to assemble with several stages to be undertaken.
That said the meal was an utter delight, Rose loved it. I served it with a simple bowl of garden peas and everyone adored it. Alex had 3 portions even, I had two.
It went down that well that I intend to make it for when Granny and Granddad are at home with us and I can invite Brad, Caroline and Eleanor over too.
This morning I was awake nice and early, just gone 6:00 am and I snook down for my breakfast. I was just half way through dressing for my run, and on my second cup of tea when Rose came down with her Nanny.
That was it, it was fun time! We had a lovely smiley breakfast of banana and porridge which Rose lapped up.
I ran down to the harbour in Musselburgh and it was a pretty decent morning, and although it was a little breezy it wasn’t a bad morning for mid-January.
I got back to the house at 9:30 am and the house was in full swing, Alex was at work, on the dining table, Wendy and Rose was in full on play mode and Robyn was due in any minute from her morning run.
After a beautiful morning Smoothie where I used a lot of leftover cream from the fish pie, I had a shower and then after packing the car we were heading west on the M8 towards the City of Glasgow.
The last time we headed along the M8 we discovered that there are four pieces of road art that runs the length of the motorway, here’s a short recap:
“Construction on the 60-mile long road was completed in 1965, designed to replace the A8 as an alternative for intercity travel.
In 1991, a group was set up with the intention of creating an ‘art corridor’ on the motorway, designed to brighten the route up and turn it into a talking point.
On the last trip we could only find 3 pieces of the road art, so we were keen to find the missing link, The Heavy Horse.
My eyes were peeled and I spotted it just before we entered Glasgow, it is sat just outside the Glasgow Business Park, and it’s a very nice piece of art and I cannot believe we missed it last time.
Designed and crafted from galvanised steel by Andy Scott (who also created the famous Kelpies sculpture), the Heavy Horse is a wirework sculpture of a Clydesdale Horse, and has become the symbol of the Baillieston business park.
Standing 14¾ft tall, the horse inspired the name for the business park’s newest office building - Clydesdale House.
The Clydesdale breed of horse is native to Scotland and was founded in Lanarkshire - formerly called Clydesdale.
So that’s that mission completed!!!
As we were a little early to check into our hotel, I diverted a few miles down the road to the small riverside town of Irvine so that we could bag the Weatherspoon’s Bar, The Auld Brig.
The pub is located in an area of town that is formed by a huge shopping complex. Thankfully though the bar could be accessed from external doors and that’s how we entered and that’s how we very quickly exited. The bar was full, everyone was seated but I wasn’t comfortable so we sat in a sheltered outside area where I very quickly ordered drinks off the app, and no sooner than they arrived than they were drunk, and we were on our way.
We were going to take a walk around the town centre, but we both thought, from driving through it, that it wasn’t up to much so we decided to go and check in to our hotel.
Our hotel is rather nice and it is located directly in the centre of South Bay, (North Bay is on the other side of Ardrossan Town).
After check in we took a very nice walk along South Bay to the small town of Saltcoats where we found a statue of the footballer Bobby Lennox.
Bobby Lennox is considered to be one of Celtic Football Clubs greatest players, and he was part of Jock Stein's Lisbon Lions side that won the European Cup in 1967.
Saltcoats as two sea pools that were both full of sea water, and both looked freezing cold. They were built in the 1930’s and apparently they were very well attended and people often swam late into the night, jeepers they must have been hardy in those days!
In Saltcoats we took a very delightful early evening meal in another Wetherspoons Bar, The Salt Cot.
After our meals we walked back along South Bay to the very, very small town of Ardrossan, which wasn’t much to write home about, but it is where we catch the ferry tomorrow for our journey to Arran.
We got back to our hotel just after dark and lounged around watching the news, and seeing the Prime Minister take all of the residents of the United Kingdom as fools like he did when he backed his mate, Dominic Cummings!
Tonight, will be an early to bed night as I have to be up early and go for my run before breakfast at 10:00.
Our ferry leaves at 12:30 pm, weather permitting!!!
14 Miles (By Sea)
The Isle of Arran
I had a stonking sleep last night, I turned in at 10:00 pm and I woke briefly at 4:00 am but nodded back off and then I woke properly at 5:58 am, two minutes to my alarm sounding.
I got out of bed and cancelled the alarm and put the kettle on.
Boy that bed was comfy, and there wasn’t a sound in the hotel.
Wendy went out running with me at 7:00 am, it was pitch black, and being much further west, it wasn’t going to get light anytime soon. Thankfully the promenade lights were on and we could see where we were going.
I went north to check out the ferry terminal and Wendy went south. As the ferry terminal is only a mile away, once I had established where it was, I ran back southwards and passed Wendy, in the dark heading back to the hotel.
I ran all the way up to Saltcoats and beyond. I came to a large concrete sea wall that ran alongside a railway line, so I followed that. The sea wall then terminated at a long beach and I went down and ran along that, it was just light enough to see where I was going but not to see very far into the distance. I had a concern that the tide was coming in and that I could possibly be cut off, but thankfully I wasn’t and I made it back to the hotel safe and sound.
Wendy had some problem getting into the hotel so she sent me a message to call her when I got back so she could let me in.
After a quick shower we went down for breakfast.
We had the breakfast room to ourselves and we were attended to by the very nice cleaning lady. I kid you not, this lady was the only person on the premises and she fussed around us like mother hen, I even have suspicions she may have even cooked our breakfast.
The breakfast was actually delightful, we didn’t go for the full Scottish Cooked Breakfast meal but we did select a good few items off it.
I went with a poached egg, bacon, black pudding, fried tomato and mushrooms, I loved it, the bacon especially was really tasty.
We left the hotel just after 11:00 and after a short drive down to Saltcoats to show Wendy the beach we parked the car in Ardrossan and walked up to the ruins of Castle Ardrossan.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about the castle:
“Ardrossan Castle is situated on the west coast of Scotland in the town of Ardrossan. The castle, defended by a moat, stands on a ridge above the town. There is a keep dating from the fifteenth century, and a vaulted range containing a kitchen and cellars. In a deep passageway there is a well”.
Apparently during the Wars of Independence Ardrossan Castle was held by English forces for Edward I until it was captured by Wiliam Wallace. Wallace is said to have largely destroyed the castle and slaughtered the English garrison, dumping their bodies in a cellar, which later became known as "Wallace's Larder".
I do hope we have seen the last of those days, but you never know the way things are going with Wee Nippy!
We caught the ferry at around 12:15 and we set sail at 12:30 on the dot.
The boat was an open car deck, drive through type, but we still had to get out of our cars and either go inside or stay out on deck. As it was heaving inside both lounges, we stayed outside but I am glad we did because it was an amazing experience.
We tried to stand at the bow but the wind was too cold so we settled down at the aft end and watched the mainland slowly seep into the distance.
But as we approached Arran we moved to the forward end, and the views of the island were amazing, it was almost magical!
We docked and disembarked without any issues and we were soon out of Brodrick, the main town on Arran, and looking for our accommodation, and that, as usual with AirBnB directions we came unstuck. I just can’t understand why hosts don’t look at their directions from the point of view of someone who as never been before and not leave anything to interpretation.
Thankfully we found our accommodation to be near by and we are delighted with it. We are just outside of Brodrick and after unpacking and washing my running gear we walked into town.
I was aware that there was a coastal path into town and we found it by walking through the golf course, and what a cracking walk it is. The walk is a new board walk along the sands and it leads directly in to the town.
The views of the island were spectacular!
We found Brodrick to be a nice small town but the small shops were mainly closed, the main hotel bar was closed and only the two Coops, one at one end of the town and the other at the other end of the town, were open.
I bought tonight’s supper from the bigger Coop, Fillet Steak, Sirloin Steak, King Prawns and a simple salad, and I was looking forwards to it!
We did find a bar, that we had missed by taking the coast path, on the way home so we called in for a beer. It was a nice bar, but modern and with a very nice looking restaurant attached, which the bar man told me is open six days a week.
As I drank my beer I got engrossed in the snooker, Ronnie O’Sullivan was playing an Australian and they were neck and neck. I used to play a lot of snooker when I was at school and dare I say I was not too bad at it, so I picked it up quite easily.
We got back to the house just before it got dark and after a few messages to my friends we made supper.
Wendy fried some tinned spuds that we had brought with us and I cooked the steaks and I have to say they were very nicely cooked; the spuds were too!
And that’s it for today, tomorrow, weather permitting, we are off for an explore of this lovely island!
No Travelling
Fun Run!
I woke at 4:00 am and did a bit of tossing and turning before getting up at 7:00 am.
Our bedroom is accessed from the lounge by a spiral staircase and it’s a bit dodgy coming down for a bathroom visit during the night. The kitchen is also in the lounge so I left the cookers hood light on when I went to bed, and it nicely illuminated the stairs for me.
The roof in the bed room is pretty low in places too and we are really in the roof space and we keep banging our heads when we get out of bed. It really is a small cottage, but it is very warm and very comfortable, and well equipped too.
We both went out running at 8:30 am when it was light enough to go and we both went in separate directions. On my running app I could see a circler route that would take me into the hills around the town so I took this, and what a belter it was.
Jeepers it was steep but it took me right up into the foothills of the higher mountains. I thought I had lost the track but I bumped into an elderly couple on their bikes who showed me the way.
When I got to the top, I must have been over 500 feet high, which is quite high when you’re coming from sea level.
At one point I was running uphill and I saw a stone cairn at the top, as these signify a high point, I thought that I was at the top and so ran quite quickly to get to the cairn. Once there I saw that I had been had as the cairn was on a bend and the road from there just kept going higher and higher.
Coming down I had to run through some really boggy areas and my feet were saturated and muddy.
Thankfully when I got back to the shore, I found a cold water tap where the small boats launch from so I washed myself off, I also took an extra-long drink of the very nice tasting local water.
To finish my run, I ran through the town and then back along the new shore path, I got back just as the mist closed in on the hills and obscuring all sight of them!
After my breakfast smoothie and a nice warm shower, we loaded ourselves into the car for a road trip around the northern sites of Arran.
Before we start though, here are some Isle of Arran facts:
Our route took us northbound along the north eastern coastline and our first port of call was a small harbour which we found in the small village of Corrie. The harbour master must have had a very funny sense of humour in years gone by as he has painted the large steel bollards that the larger boats tie up to resemble sheep, they look amazing.
As I looked around the harbour, I saw a stream running along the harbour wall and on following it under the road I saw that it emanated from a beautiful, small waterfall which was in someone’s back garden, it was amazing.
From there we carried on to the most northerly village, Lochranza and in doing so we passed what can only be called a Teeny, Tiny Harbour, it’s the smallest I have ever seen.
I had hoped to buy a bottle of whisky from the distillery but when we passed by, we saw that it was closed to the public, darn!!!
We found an old castle ruin, Lochranza Castle but unfortunately the photos I took did not appear on my camera, so I have pinched some from an online source.
Lochranza Castle dates from the 13th century when it was owned by the MacSween Clan, but during the 18th century, the castle fell into disuse and was abandoned. The castle is now in the care of Historic Scotland and it was once a key feature in an Adventure of Tin Tin!
As we drove on, going around the headland of Arran, we saw the small car ferry coming in from the Kintyre Peninsular, which was nice because we saw the same boat dock on the peninsular when we were over there in the autumn of 2020, so now we have seen it from both sides!
We were now driving down the west coast of Arran and the mountains were over to our left hand side.
We could not see Goatfell as we came across as it was far too misty across the tops. Goatfell Mountain is what is called a Corbett.
Corbett’s are Scottish mountains over 2,500 feet and under 3,000 feet, with a drop of a least 500 feet between each listed hill and any adjacent higher one. There are 221 summits classified as Corbett’s, and they are named after John Rooke Corbett, who originally listed them.
Whereas a Munro is a Scottish mountain over 3,000ft. There are 284 Munros. The name Munro comes from Munros tables compiled by Sir Hugh Munro the Tory MP.
Coming down the west coast was nice and easy, the traffic was very light and soon we came to the first settlement, Pirnmill. I stopped at the village store to buy my Friday newspapers and came out with a newspaper, a bottle of Arran Whisky and a miniature for me to try tonight, now that was a result.
Driving further south we stopped at the larger village of Blackwater where we came across the only butcher’s shop on Arran, the Arran Butcher!
Well, I just had to go in and buy something, and I did indeed do just that.
I bought some very nice looking unsmoked back bacon and a very nice Arran venison steak, well like I already said, I just had to.
That was our last stopping point as we are going to save the southern end of the island for another day.
We therefore drove along the geological fault line that is called The Highland Boundary Fault, which runs across the middle of the island.
The Highland Boundary Fault is a geological fault that crosses Scotland diagonally from Arran and Helensburgh on the west coast to Stonehaven in the east. It separates two distinctly different regions: the Highlands from the Lowlands. This is very apparent on the Isle of Arran because you can clearly see the Highlands and the Lowlands of Arran from this road, supposably, as by now the drizzle had engulfed us and we couldn’t see anything beyond 200 metres!
Back in Brodick we called into a few local shops to buy our baby girls a pressie and get some supper supplies.
Wendy then cooked an ideal knock-up chili from a tin of chili con carnie with the addition of tinned garden peas, onions, tinned carrots, garlic and Rufus sauce. Served with pasta it was extremely delicious!
Mizzle!
No Travelling
I managed to persuade Wendy to get out of her Pink Panther Onesie last night and go for a walk into the town. It was a pleasant evening and it was nice to be able to take an evening walk.
I had posted some scenic pics of Arran on my Facebook page and my friend from Kyleakin, on the Isle of Skye, Jackie MacLennan posted this message:
“Remember and sample the cheese! And the Arran gold! Goes down a treat! ”
Wendy did look at a bottle of Arran Gold while I was buying the whisky yesterday and I think she said it was like Baileys, so I asked Jackie if it was a liqueur?
Here’s her answer:
“It sure is! Like Baileys but 100x better! ”
Anyway, as we came back, I called into the big Coop and as they had some for sale, I bought a bottle and we tried it when we got home, and do you know what, Jackie was right, it actually is very nice!
This morning it was mizzley and overcast as we both went out running. Today I went north and Wendy went south. I ran four miles along the coastal road and although there isn’t any pavement to run on, the traffic was light and it wasn’t at all dangerous.
The run was actually quite nice and as I went along the mizzle stopped and the skies started to clear.
Last night we had talked over the options of what to do today.
As today is the last day we can eat out tonight we thought we would take it steady and go for a walk. Ideally, I would take Wendy along and over the track that I ran along yesterday, although it would need to be dry and obviously clear so we can see the views.
We would also have a bacon sarnie for breakfast as we would need something a little more substantial for getting over those hills.
If we didn’t go walking, we could take the car and tour the south of the Island.
As we set off running it didn’t look like we would be going walking but towards the end of my run, I phoned Wendy and asked her to put the bacon on as it was clearing up nicely. I said that we ought to go and visit Arran Brewery then Brodrick Castle and then we should see what the weather was looking like when we were done with that, and then finally decide, do we walk or do we tour?
The bacon and avocado mash sandwiches were a real delight, I had mine with plenty of ketchup and lashings of brown pepper!
We did indeed go to Arran Brewery and after consultation with the young, male sales assistant I bought myself 4 bottles of Arran Blonde.
I told the lad that I had a bottle off Arran Beer with my meal at the Sea Food Shack in Skipness, just over the sound, on the Kintyre Peninsular, but that was all I knew of it, other than I liked it. He said it was very likely the Arran Blonde. As he had an open bottle for tasting he gave me a taste, and guess what? I knew it was that in an instant, hence the purchase.
From there we drove up to Brodick Castle which was just up the road. After parking we walked the short distance through the gardens up to the Castle. The castle grounds were empty of people because the castle was closed. There was just a young couple who were sat on a bench enjoying a beer each which they had bought from Arran Brewery.
The Castle was stunning, one of the best I have seen, it really was a lovely looking castle.
Brodick Castle is another one that’s been fought over between the Scots and the English, with Robert the Bruce kicking out Edwards Army in 1307.
It went back and forth over the centuries often between Scottish Clans but then the English stepped in again, and a garrison of Cromwell's soldiers occupied Brodick in the 1650s, building a new artillery battery to protect the castle approach. The battery is now used to house the art collection amassed by William Beckford. The final transformation came in 1844, when Brodick took on its current look as an opulent country house, albeit with a very military demeanour.
The Castle was formally handed over by the then owners, the Hamilton Family in the 1970’s to become an asset of The National Trust for Scotland.
As we left the castle we were yet again engulfed by mist and mizzle so we opted for the South Island tour.
Its fair to say the south side of Arran is less populated than the north, but there was a very nice town, Lamlash, just 4 miles south from Brodick.
The town over looks an island called Holy Island which is situated in the Bay of Lamlash.
The town is a place which is better prepared for tourists than what Brodick is. There are a couple of nice hotel bars, some cafes, restaurants and there is even a small ferry that takes day trips over to Holly Island.
If I ever came back to Arran, that is a place I would consider staying.
Holy Isle has an ancient spiritual heritage stretching back to the 6th century and there are two retreats, one an inter and non-faith centre and one which is a closed Buddhist Retreat, I don’t think either of them are for me!
From there we drove around the rest of the south and at the very south east side we saw the small island of Pladda, which was just about visible through the mist. We then carried on until we met the point where we had got to yesterday, we then double backed several miles so that we could travel the last road that we had not yet travelled, this is called the Ross Road.
The Ross Road is the southern road that goes across the centre of the island and is supposed to have some spectacular views, however today the view was badly restricted by the mist and mizzle that had by now really closed in.
As we had to pass back through Lamlash we called into a bar and we had a very nice pint of full bodied real ale from the Loch Lomond Brewery.
On returning to the house, we hummed and arrhed about going out for supper. We have two local venues where we could have got a delicious meal but as we had not really had an arduous day, we didn’t feel we would do justice to a fine supper, so we opted to stay in with a haggis and cheese toastie, and, we didn’t bother with them, until turned 7:00 pm.
Actually, it was a perfect way to end the day, we have a very nice and cosy house and we ought to make the most of it while we are here. We can go out wherever we end up next, as it most likely will end up being a Travelodge!
Sunshine!!!
No Travelling
We watched a satirical, comical review of 2021 last night on Netflix, which although mainly American centred, it was still quite funny. It had two Brit heavyweights too, Tracey Ulman and Hugh Grant in the cast.
I then couldn’t find anything else to watch so I started to watch Squid Games, and I found it quite interesting. I’ll see the next episode and then decide whether to see it all through to the end.
It rained through the night, quite hard actually and it woke us both up. Wendy managed to get out of bed and down the spiral staircase without incident, for a bathroom visit and when she got back in bed she promptly went back to sleep. The rain was still making its noise so I went down the stairs and got myself a small rum and coke, took it back to bed and listened to the rain falling, well it was only 4:00 am!
I got up just after 7:00 am and as it was pitch black outside, I didn’t know what the weather was doing. I had my tea and toast and then lounged about a while. Wendy had taken her tea in bed and at 8:30 am I went out and I was surprised to see that we had clear blue skies overhead!
We both went running and although there was a slight breeze, the sun was up though and it was just dazzling in the morning sky and it looked stunning.
I listened to the cricket as I ran along, and the least I say about that the better!
After breakfast with the weather still extremely good we set off for a good old hill walk.
The sun was bright as we set off and even with my sunglasses on, I struggled with the brightness of the sun.
We followed the track that I ran up the other day and then got to the forestry commission road and we followed that further up hill.
The views were terrific, we could see Goat Fell crystal clear rising out from the land just to the north of Brodick.
In a short while the forestry track came to an end and in order to get a nice view where we could eat our sarnie we climbed further up the rough hillside.
Wendy did a few hundred metres, actually she did more than I thought she would because it was rough going, but thankfully we found a spot on which to sit and look out over to the mainland.
It was a little chilly but easily bearable, there was a breeze blowing but we were well wrapped up and snug.
After our snack, we set off back down, and then we went to the track where we went up and past the cairn that I got to the other day, and we carried on from there. We had come across a lady and a young woman whom I asked for directions. She assured me that if we caried on this track we would eventually come to a path that would take us directly to Brodick.
The track kept going up and up and up and we had a right sweat on by now!
We rounded one bend and then I saw a massive island in the distance and I could not believe my eyes, it was Holy Island! I checked on my app and it indeed was Holy Island, you would not believe how big the hill is on it, the photograph doesn’t do it justice. The amazing thing is that yesterday we had all on to see the shoreline through the mist.
Eventually we could see the main road which runs south from Brodick and then we saw the sign for the footpath which would take us to the town. That was another little gem which took us away from the road and down to town through a very nice path and through the woodlands.
As we walked, we came across a very shifty young man, he looked very shifty indeed. I made a point of speaking to him and making him talk to me and I’m not convinced he hadn’t got mischief in mind. Wendy said when we had passed him that she would have felt very scared had she come across him on her own.
We were soon in the back streets of Brodick and still the sun shone.
We called into the Coop for a few supplies on the way back and we were soon in the comfort of our lovely little house and I could not wait to get my boots off when I got through the door.
We both had a celebratory drink. I had my Arran Whisky miniature with one ice cube and Wendy had a small splash of her liqueur, Arran Gold, which she now loves as her favourite drink!
It was pure heaven!
After a little relaxation time, while listening to the Paul O’Grady Radio Two Show I cooked the venison that I had bought from the butchers on Friday.
I had tasted a little raw off cut this morning just to check what kind of meat it was, because in my excited state when I bought it, I had failed to ask. The meat melted in my mouth so I was thinking it is something akin to a fillet so I intended to cook it rare.
Whilst I was in my relaxing period, I saw that we had a most glorious full moon out tonight so I quickly nipped out to get a shot, I’m glad I did because it’s a lovely sight but boy I was glad to get back inside because the temperature has suddenly dropped, it was freezing!
Supper was a super, double delight!
Wendy did the haggis and veg, I made a very nice white wine, tinned veg water, Rufus and ketchup Jus and it accompanied the venison perfectly.
The venison was of course cooked rare, blue in fact and it was all just lovely.
As I file tonight’s copy I am nicely stuffed and I’m looking forwards to watching Wendy’s favourite program, Call the Midwife!
Its moving day tomorrow, Dumfries here we come, that’s if the ferry is running, there’s been a Covid Outbreak in a local Bistro on Friday night, oh dear, will it ever end?
80 Miles
More Sunshine!
We had one more lovely morning; I cannot believe how lucky we have been with the weather while we have been on Arran. I was expecting to get lashed by storms and gales and it never happened.
There is something that I have noticed about Arran, a distinct lack of a fishing fleet, there are very few fishing boats about and the odd one or two that I have seen tied up in harbours are small inshore, coastal boats. There is actually a, “No Take Zone” just off the coast of Lamlash. I find that quite strange, with Arran being a small island which is in relatively safe waters with the Kintyre Peninsular protecting them from the worst of the weather.
The main employer is tourism, and not only in the accommodation, dining and bar sectors. Apparently, a lot of outdoor activity takes place on Arran, and I can see why. The scenery is stunning and you are never very far from being in the mountains and hills. The coastline is very safe for kayaking and swimming, in fact I saw four people swimming in the sea at Brodick during my run. There are quite a few agencies that provide outdoor adventure too!
Arran as the second highest number of rental properties in the UK as well, Cornwall has the highest and I think the evidence I have seen points to the town with the most being St Ives. Apparently, a referendum was held in St Ives in 2016 and it was decided that newly built homes could not be sold as second homes. I don’t know how that will be enforced when the homes are resold for the first time!
Forestry is also a major employer!
Another strange one is that I have never seen a marina with either yachts or motor boats on the island either. There are plenty of small craft in people’s gardens but not many yachts!
I ran around Brodick Castle this morning and on my way back to town I sat by the river on the golf course having my four mile drink when Wendy Gill ran past and found me. We chatted a while and then we went our separate ways.
We checked out of the cottage at 11:30 am and I have to say we have had a lovely few days there, and apart from the occasional bang on the head due to the sloping ceiling in the bedroom we have had a really comfortable stay there, and we have cooked and eaten some very tasty meals.
As we didn’t have to check in for the ferry until 1:30 pm we took a ride down to Lamlash to see Holy Island in all her glory.
Lamlash is only four miles south of Brodick and it is a really nice place. There is a very large bay, where Holy Island sits, there are very large hills to the east and the bay itself is all south facing and the sea is also very calm. It must be a very nice place to live because the town has the highest population, over 1,000, compared to Brodick, around 600.
I’m guessing that the ferry runs into Brodick as it is a very direct route, I should imagine that the vessel would have to navigate around Holy Island to land in Lamlash which would most likely put an hour on the journey.
We had a very nice stroll around Lamlash, the sun was out and although it was a little cold, we were fine all wrapped up.
We found Lamlash to be a very peaceful place on a cold day in January, I wonder what it’s like during the height of summer.
After a coffee and a very nice, tasty slice of orange truffle cake in a café we headed back to the ferry terminal in Brodick and joined the line of cars waiting to board.
The crossing was a piece of cake, we sat outside on the stern deck and it was rather nice. We were both really wrapped up and never felt the cold once.
The crossing was flat calm and only two car alarms were set off, and that was only after a sudden change of course to port.
It makes me chuckle, there are signs everywhere on every car deck on all CalMac Ferries, please disengage your car alarm before you leave your car, but still some people fail to do so. On the way out on Thursday there were six alarms going off at anyone time, it must drive the crew nuts!
We entered port 5 minutes early and we drove 15 miles to Kilmarnock to visit the town and to bag the Weatherspoon’s Bar, The Wheatsheaf.
The bar was nice enough and largely empty and it was very peaceful apart from the numpty woman taking a phone call on speaker phone so that we all knew her business!
After a glass of white wine each we took a nice stroll around the town centre which we found to be pleasantly nice. I don’t really know anything about Kilmarnock other than Ali MacCoist played for the football team after he left Rangers!
There were some really nice buildings in town and the shopping looked pretty good. There was a statue of Robbie Burns in the centre of town but some scumbags had left about a dozen paper coffee cups around its base!
After we had walked the town, we were back in the car for the 60 miles ride down to Dumfries. We drove down the A76 which is a road I have never been on, but we couldn’t see anything because it was pitch black as night had fallen.
I have made a boob, and avoided a boob, which may seem to be a cancellation of boobs, I’ll explain.
In my haste to find somewhere to stay in Dumfries I picked the Travelodge without checking it has a car park, thankfully it has. I also didn’t check its location; we are 3 miles out of town on a non-pedestrian highway, so that’s Wendy having a lay in in the morning!
After the fastest of check in’s, we headed down town and had a really tasty supper, in, yes, you’ve guessed, the local Weatherspoon’s Bar, Robert the Bruce.
I had a small fish and chips with mushy peas, Wendy had an 11 inch chicken BBQ pizza and scoffed the lot.
We are now back in our room and we are both shattered, Wendy is on the bed trying her best to appear intelligent answering the questions on University Challenge but she isn’t quite upto mustard!
Tomorrow we will take a closer look at Dumfries before heading into England on our way south!
Oh, I forgot to mention that Kilmarnock is famous for a few things, one of them being that Johnnie Walker whisky started its life here. I don’t think it is distilled here anymore, there was some kerfuffle with the Scottish Government in 2012 and so Diageo, the owners of the brand moved out of town!
140 Miles
Yorkshire!!!
I didn’t mention last night that as we were driving down the A76 between Kilmarnock and Dumfries, at the town of Comnock I noticed some Mining Headgear with decorative plates, which I couldn’t read because of the darkness. When I got into my hotel in Dumfries I Googled the connection, and what I found, was an extraordinary story, here it is in this link!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knockshinnoch_disaster
It surprised me, my entire family is steeped in Yorkshire Coalmining, I might have said before! But even after 8 years of studying mining engineering I have never heard this remarkable rescue story.
Last night I was surprised that we had a very quiet nights sleep, we were on the ground floor in our Travelodge Room and I thought that we had a herd of elephants on the floor above us while we were relaxing in our room. But no, they were the perfect room mates and I never heard a peep all night, not even when I got up at 6:30.
I had to take the car to the outskirts of town today so that I could go for a run safely.
Wendy stayed in bed with her second cup of tea when I left.
I parked the car about a mile and a half out of town and ran through in one side of the town and then out of the other, and I was in stunning countryside within another mile. The shame was though that it was very misty and I could only see the views when I got the occasional brake in the mist.
I ran through the town on my first go at 8:30 and the traffic was a nightmare, it was nose to tail snaking through the town, but when I came back through it had all settled down and Dumfries had become a very quiet town.
I made my smoothie in the bed room using the last of the ice from the cool box and it was a very welcome tonic.
After a quick shower we drove back to Dumfries and parked up, luckily on the street where we walked about 200 yards and where we then found ourselves looking at the man himself, Robbie Burns, OK then, it was his statue.
Robert Burns was born in Ayrshire in 1759 but spent the end of his life living in Dumfries.
He was only 37 when he died but produced a huge range of poems and songs, many written in the Scots dialect, which is a bit of a challenge to get your head, and tongue, around.
Robbie Burns left his mark on both Scottish culture and on Dumfries. The first Burns Supper was held by a group of his friends to mark the fifth anniversary of his death.
Since then, it’s expanded into a global celebration of his life and work, as well as everything Scottish. All of the Gill family have embraced the culture of Burns Supper and I am absolutely certain that there will be three separate celebrations in each of our homes on January 25th!
We had a good walk around town and it has some very nice, large stone buildings but there was a fair bit of evidence of personal neglect. The streets were strewn with litter and the statue of Robbie had just been cleaned as it had been left in a bad way, with takeaways and other dining detritus all over the place.
The town had nice wide streets and a large area which would make a great meeting place in summer. The River Nith is a very wide, but very clean river with a pretty impressive weir as it enters the town.
Wendy found a charity shop and bought some very cute tiny reading books for her toy box at home, she said to me, “I just had to buy them, they are teeny tiny books, for teeny tiny fingers”.
And on that note we walked back to the car and set off for our journey to Shipley.
I programmed the SatNav with the hotels co-ordinates and let her guide me along. I was surprised that she took me down the M6 and then onto the A65 instead of the A66 and then the A1.
Perhaps had she known we would be following a truck with a huge caravan on its back and then, on passing that, we would find an artic lorry full of concrete blocks crawling along, she might have gone the other way first up.
Never mind it was nice to be driving through the stunning countryside that is Yorkshire.
Jeepers Shipley is a busy, bustling place.
First up after settling in to our room was a visit to the local Weatherspoon’s Bar, our 177th bag, the Sir Norman Rae.
Sir Norman Rae is something of an unsung hero in Shipley. He made his fortune from the woollen trade and was elected the town’s MP (1918–1923). His wealth enabled him to purchase a large area of land which he presented to Shipley Council as playing fields (Northcliffe Park).
He also encouraged university study by providing scholarships and established Shipley Nursing Home. On his death, in 1928, it was reported, in the Shipley Council minutes, that he was the greatest benefactor to the district since Sir Titus Salt.
More of Titus Salt tomorrow Avid Reader!
Wendy did like her visit to this bar as there was some extremely interesting looking men, it was a bit like the bar in the original Star Wars film, there were odd bods everywhere, well I do like to show my wife the high life!
As we have food in the ice bag, we decided to settle for a snack indoors tonight, so when we got back Wendy made a delightful corned beef, salad sandwich.
Its now well gone past 7:00 pm and I don’t fancy any more hustle and bustle of Shipley tonight. I’ve already fallen out with a fella who wanted to get into the very cosy lift with me. I had to leave him to it as I could feel my temper getting the better of me, the big lazy bugger.
Then there was the fella who threw his fag end directly across my path while walking back whilst saying, “Alright mate”, to me. I asked him if he was leaving that for the “Fag End Fairies”, he then muttered his merry way along.
Tomorrow we intend to go and explore Saltaire and then wider Shipley.
No Travelling
Titus Salt
I forgot to mention in yesterdays copy that just before we left Dumfries, I nipped into Gregs to get 2 steak bakes and a coffee for myself. When I was paying for the items, I asked the young man if I could have some ketchup. He said, “Sorry we haven’t any”. I told him that I was happy to buy it, and I saw that he did have a bottle open on the side of the opposite counter.
He said, “Sorry mate we are waiting for some sachets to be delivered”. I said, “What about that”, and pointed to the bottle.
“Oh”, he says, “I can’t give you that because you don’t know what ingredients might be in it for any allergies, its company policy”. I said, “Well what’s it for?” And I pointed to the ketchup bottle again.
“Ah, we can use that to put it on a sausage sarnie”, was the reply.
I thought about this for a second and then I said, “So I can’t put that ketchup on my steak bake, but you can put it on a sausage sarnie, if I buy one?”
“Yes, but its company policy we can’t put it on your pasty because of the possibility of allergies”.
I was of the opinion that I just ought to eat my steak pasty without ketchup, and left it at that!
It was raining when I went out this morning, Wendy stayed in bed again, the scallywag!
As it was raining, I put my running shorts on and not my tracky bottoms because they weigh a ton when they get wet, but boy my legs were cold.
I ran all the way along the Leeds / Liverpool Canal, 4 miles in the direction of Leeds. Just before the first mile the rain stopped and the sky brightened and then eventually the sky cleared and the sun came out.
I’ve now run along this canal in Leeds, in Skipton and now in Shipley, I now need to find somewhere further west of Skipton where I can run.
Actually, I wouldn’t mind traveling its length in a canal barge!
After my morning routines we left the hotel smartish and headed up to the town centre, and there isn’t much to it!
The weather was kind, in fact it was far too sunny for my eyes. I have misplaced my prescription sunglasses and so I had to hold my hand above my eyes or I would have been blinded.
We actually saw most of Shipley last night in the dark, we just didn’t know it. There is a main square with shops around it and market stalls in the centre, along with a car park. The market only opens Monday, Friday and Saturday, so we won’t see it open as we leave tomorrow.
Having exhausted Shipley town centre, we went for a walk to go and see what is really the main attraction for our visit to this part of the world, Saltaire!
Being a Yorkshireman myself I am embarrassed to admit that I had never heard anything about Titus Salt and Saltaire until a programme about Yorkshire on Channel Five a couple of weeks ago.
Titus Salt was another Yorkshireman, born 20th September 1803 in Morley, (South of Leeds). Titus’s father was a Drysalter, who was a person who sold chemicals. They might also supply salt or chemicals for preserving food and sometimes also sold pickles and dried meat.
Titus started his working life as a wool-stapler in Wakefield, but he joined his father two years later as a partner in the business of Daniel Salt and Son.
He developed an interest in woollen goods, most likely from his wool-stapler days, and he tried to get spinning mills in the Bradford area to use Russian Donskoi wool to be used in Worsted Cloth, but they weren’t interested. As a result, Titus set up his own spinning and cloth making business.
In 1836 Titus came across Alpaca wool, and although he wasn’t the first to use it to make cloth, he did make a very fashionable cloth from it called Alpaca!
In 1833 he took over his father's business and within twenty years had expanded it to be the largest employer in Bradford. In 1848, Titus became mayor of Bradford and later that year he became a Liberal MP, although he lost the seat two years later.
He had by now amassed considerable wealth!
Around 1850 he decided to build a mill large enough to consolidate his textile manufacture in one place. Titus wanted to move out of Bradford and so bought land in Shipley, next to the River Aire and the Leeds / Liverpool Canal.
On this land Titus built, at that time the largest cloth mill in the world.
He opened Saltaire Mills with a grand banquet on his 50th birthday, 20 September 1853 and set about building houses, bathhouses, an institute, hospital, almshouses, (Charity Accommodation), and churches that make up the model village of Saltaire.
His vision was to create a model community where his workers would be healthy and contented, and make fine fabrics that would be produced in his modern and efficient mill.
And this was today’s mission, to go and visit the mill, which has now been converted for other uses, and to walk around the streets of the model village he had created.
What a treat it was, first we walked across the front of the Mill, which is in itself massive, and then we joined the Village at the Main Road, Victoria Road.
The Village is all to the south of Victoria Road and consists of:
The bath house contained over 25 separate bathing rooms for residents to cleanse themselves regularly.
Saltaire became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001!
I won’t detail what we saw on our visit to the village, I’ll let the photographs tell their own story, however to say we were impressed by his generosity and the legacy he left would be an understatement.
However, one thing was missing from the model village that Titus had built – as a nonconformist with sympathies for the temperance movement Titus made sure that there was no public house or saloon built in the village.
But Times have changed, and we found a pub that had been converted from housing stock on Victoria Road, who were pleased to offer a comfortable haven in the village centre where people can enjoy a drink, some food and good company. And its name is, “Don’t tell Titus…”
We just had to have a beer in this pub and we did, we had a pint of Saltaire Blonde, and do you know what? It was bloody lovely, but remember, “Don’t tell Titus!”
After our beer we did a full tour of the Mill, or as much of it that has been restored and it was a really pleasant experience.
Three floors now house:
Entrance to the Mill was completely free of charge and we could have wondered around all day long, the environment was friendly and welcoming.
Salt Mill Facts:
We strolled back to Shipley, after a glass of wine in the Boathouse Inn, along the canal and after a little shopping we rested up in our room until turned 5:00 pm.
Tonight, we fancy a curry and we have identified an establishment which appears suitable, so I will sign off for the night as I feel I have already taken a lot of your time with today’s copy Avid Reader, and I will tell you how we get on tonight in tomorrow’s copy!
One last thought though - Titus Salt died 29th December 1876 just one year after his vision of his model village had been completed, in 1875.
What a Top Yorkshireman!
167 Miles
Supper was an utter delight last night!
At around 6:15 pm we walked about 100 yards from the hotel to a largish Indian Restaurant on the main road and it was empty, we were the first, and all the while we stayed, the only customers in the place.
We only saw one waiter, a very nice young man who was really helpful with our meal selection.
We fancied the look of the set menu for two people but we didn’t really understand what came with the curry dishes. Now I fancied a fish curry and Wendy wanted a meat curry, ideally lamb, or if not beef.
I asked the waiter if we could have one curry with the fish off the menu and one with the lamb. Sadly, lamb wasn’t on offer tonight but they could do the curry with beef.
We liked the look of the place as we had passed it a few times, and they had a bring your own bottle policy, which is just up our street, so we turned up with a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, and the waiter without much of a to do brought us two very nice wine glasses.
Our first course came after about ten minutes and it was stoking hot, it was a plate of things that I didn’t know what they are, but they are what you usually get in an Indian Restaurant. However, they were very, very tasty. The round flat thing was a little spicy too, but not overly though!
After the starter I was thinking I might be full, but then the mains came and that consisted of a large naan bread, chapattis, a large bowl of very colourful rice, a fish curry and a beef curry.
We shared both the curries and they were both really, really, tasty. We ate the lot apart from all of the naan and one chapatti, we just didn’t want to bust our tummies.
After the meal the waiter brought our bill and it was exactly £25, there was no charge for corkage which was something we had expected. So, I got £30 out of my wallet to pay, which would leave a £5.00 tip for our new friend. I think my maths are right but a £5.00 tip equates to 20% of the meal which is well over the UK average of 10%. However, that wasn’t enough for what we had eaten, according to Wendy, so I had to put another two pounds into the pot, much to the delight of the waiter!
We walked back to the hotel where Wendy did some work on her French Course and I watched an episode of Squid Games where at the end of the episode there are now only 3 contestants left in the game, I can’t wait for the next episode!
I slept well and was out of bed at 6:45 am and had the kettle on and tea brewed just as Wendy woke up.
It was a very cold and frosty morning according to my weather app, and on looking out of the bedroom window it did look a little frosty.
We both went out running, I went westwards towards Saltaire and Wendy went east, towards Leeds as I had done yesterday.
Jeepers it was cold and in places the canal was frozen.
Running through the mill at Salt Mills was stunning with the early morning sky, with the moon directly above the canal.
I ran and as I was running westwards and towards the hills, I was running up the canal locks on the way out and down them on the way back.
At just over 3.5 miles I went around a corner and my heart almost sank as I was faced with the highest canal lock path that I have ever seen; it was so steep it was unbelievable.
I had come to the Bingley Five Rise Locks!!!
I managed to get to the top and I had to rest up for a second to catch my breath.
I got to my 4 miles turn around and I really enjoyed running back down the Bingley Five Rise Locks, it was like I was flying.
Back at the hotel and Wendy was showered and almost packed. I made my smoothie but due to the ice melting in the cool bag, when I poured the milk onto my banana and peanut butter to start to mix my smoothie, the milk came out curdled.
Never mind I washed the milk away and rinsed the banana under cold water and ate it like that.
Before we set off on the road to Cambridge, I called in at a nearby Morrisons store in the hope of buying some Yorkshire pudding beer, however it was not to be, they stocked every other beer on the planet but not the Yorkshire pudding brew.
I had read in a news paper that Morrisons now stock it, but not in their Bradford store did they!
I was however pleased to see that the good people of Bradford were sticking with their facemask wearing precautions as everyone I saw had one on.
The road to Cambridge was good and we only saw hold ups on the north bound carriageway.
At 1:30 pm I was starving hungry and I spotted a “Chuck Wagon” in a layby.
I pulled in and I bought two very tasty bread rolls with sausage. I had ketchup on mine, without any nonsense about allergies, and I took my New York Firefighter cup to be filled with coffee.
The rolls were first rate, light and fluffy and with butter, the coffee was great too and all for £6.50! The man in the wagon was a top bloke too and I’m glad I could give him some custom.
We found our apartment easy enough and it is very nice, if not a little cold. However, it has a wood burning stove so this evening I intend to light it after we get back from Aunt Glens.
We got to Aunt Glens a little after 4:30 pm and we had a good couple of hours chatting with her and her daughter Joanne.
Jo who lives in the New Forest, had been visiting Aunt Glen before Christmas and as she set off to go home, she had had a road traffic accident and had broken her leg, so she is staying with Aunt Glen until she is on her feet.
Jo’s a lovely, free spirited woman, and we haven’t seen her since her wedding day, when Robyn was a baby, as her and her husband moved to New Zealand for a good few years.
After we left, we were home smartish and we dropped the car off outside the house and walked the 50 metres to a very nice country pub, where after a pint of real ale we booked ourselves in for supper tomorrow night!
Supper was a joint effort, while I worked out the tumble dryer, Wendy prepped the salad and then I cooked a couple of steaks, which again were perfectly cooked.
W are now settled in the lounge, the fire is lit and its all rather cosy, especially for Wendy who is yet again in her Pink Panther Suit doing her French studies!
No Travelling
Well, what a morning it was!
It started well enough, I was up at 6:30 and it was a cold and crispy morning.
But on getting ready for my run, I could not find my bottle carrier and for the life of me I couldn’t fathom what I had done with it. I did have however a strong belief that I hadn’t lost it.
But on searching the car and the house and going through my sports bag 3 times, it never turned up. I had to run with my bottle in my jackets back pocket.
Then in the Hosts information section of the AirBnB website it states:
“Lovely walks along the River Cam at the back of The Holts”
On looking at my running app there is a path that goes down the side of the house and leads all the way to the River Cam, so Wendy and I set off to run along it.
We got to the bottom and we found that there was a little marina on the riverside where there were some narrow boats moored but a chap stopped to tell us that there was no river access here on this side, or to a path of any kind. Wendy sat off back as the chap had told us how to get access to the river, but I wanted to look around and double check.
Not that I didn’t believe him, but I now feel its time to report our host to AirBnB for the inaccuracy of the information he has supplied, or not supplied, sure enough there wasn’t any riverside access.
I did follow the guidance of the helpful chap and I did indeed have a very good run and I got right to the limits of Cambridge. Jeepers, the river was packed with long rowing boats in fact I was sure that there would be an accident, there were that many. Their coaches were a nuisance as well, riding their bikes haphazardly while they shouted instructions to their teams.
It was a bitterly cold morning but the sun came out in spectacular fashion!
I got back to the house just has Wendy was going to get showered.
A couple of minutes later, Wendy’s shouting me to come and help her as she couldn’t work the shower. However, neither could I, the shower doesn’t work!
That’s the final straw, this is the worst AirBnB I have ever stayed in!
Thankfully the bath has one of those fancy hose and shower outlets so at least we can stand in the shower and wash ourselves off.
The bathroom is also as cold as ice, because contrary to the information the floor does not have underfloor heating, if it does it has been switched off!
One good thing did happen though, I remembered where I had put my bottle carrier, it was on top of my running gear that needed to go in the washer and on a more detailed look in the boot of the car I found it, it must have dropped out in our haste to unpack.
Now we were all settled for a drive into Cambridge, all nicely relaxed and ready to have a good look around!
We had a really lovely walk around Cambridge, but first we had to do that all important Weatherspoon’s bag, and we got it nice and early. The Regent, was an old cinema and as we sat with our drinks, there were 3 old boys who were having a get together and one of them says, “My son has a book about Weatherspoon’s Carpets”, he pointed at the carpet and he said, “See each one is unique to each pub and if you see this one it has pics of cinema equipment on it”. Do you know he was exactly right?
As we were leaving, I called over and said to him, “My son has that exact same book and your right about the individual carpets”. He laughed and said, “It’s a bit anoraky, like trainspotting?” We both laughed and I said, “I won’t tell my lad that!”
After leaving the bar we had a good old walk all over the city and although it was bitter cold we enjoyed looking all around.
Eventually we popped out at the river, but not at the Mathematical Bridge, this was another area further down river.
Do you know that Cambridge has a peculiar claim to fame: it is perhaps the only city that has retrospectively named its own river! I always thought it a funny name as well!
We walked back into the town, this time heading towards the Mathematical Bridge. As we strolled along Wendy spotted a Cornwall Sea Salt Clothes Shop and went in to browse leaving me outside to freeze.
I strolled around for what seemed like an age so I went to see what was keeping her. I saw her gossiping with the sales lady at the till for a further five minutes, in fact another till had to open to deal with the queue that had built up.
When she came out, she came up with an excuse about discount difficulties, I didn’t believe her!
Before we got to the Mathematical Bridge, we spotted an interesting market, and because we were feeling peckish, we bought some beautiful street food from a young and very nice Nigerian Woman.
We had one portion of Nigerian Goat with rice and plantain, with a hot spicy sauce. I really do like plantain and it went together really well with the rice and goat. We sat and shared it on a bench at the market and it was bloody lovely.
We did indeed make it to the Mathematical Bridge and got propositioned by a Punter looking for someone to take out in his punt, but neither of us were up for it.
We walked back to the car and set off before it got dark to go and visit the iconic church at Grantchester!
The Church of St Andrews looked just beautiful and it really is a quintessential English church.
We spent some time inside too and it is just so quaint, it almost converted me, but just not quite!
Back at the house we chilled out a little and Wendy even managed a nap while I ran myself a very nice bath!
We had supper at the pub and what an utter, utter double delight it was!!!
We shared a wasabi mackerel salad and then Wendy had a coley fish with potato gratin, and I had a superb beef and ale pie, and I just had to finish with the crème brulee, it was yummy!
We then walked the 64 metres back to the house and settled down to watch Death in Paradise!
111 Miles
Cold!!!
Last night I set the SatNav for Grannies house and the distance to travel was exactly 100 miles, remember this, it will be relevant to today’s copy!
Jeepers it was cold this morning!
I got up at 6:30 am and Wendy joined me soon after and we were both ready to go out running at exactly 7:30 am. The thing is, normally I check my weather app to see what the temperature is outside, but today with rushing around I didn’t get around to doing it.
Well, it was absolutely freezing when we went out, the car was like a large block of ice and the grass was white with frost. You had to keep moving or you would freeze to death.
Today I went in an easterly direction along the River Cam and it was by far quieter than going the other way, I didn’t see one rowing boat at all and I had the canal path all to myself.
I got back at around 9:15 am and I was barely sweating, it had been that cold.
I had a lovely smoothie and then a shower and I started to pack the car at around 10:15 am.
I was a naughty boy because I reversed the car into the court yard, I wasn’t trudging all our bags and gear over the main road, not in this cold weather.
I had the car packed and we left at around 10:30 am and soon we were driving along the M11 motorway.
Before we had left, I thought we should break the drive up and so I looked for a suitable stopping location, and I chose Dartford. I picked Dartford because it was just a little over half way to Grannies and because it was only 1 mile from the M25 and so we wouldn’t be going out of our way.
As we drove along, we were listening to Claudia on BBC Radio 2 and Sally Traffic told us that the A2, heading to the east was very congested because a lane was closed and that currently there was a 30 minute delay.
This is the road we would be taking as its within 3 miles of leaving Dartford, so I thought I would keep an eye on the situation.
Wendy had Googled and found that Dartford has a Weatherspoon’s Bar in town, which was an added bonus.
I found a car park on the next street to the start of the High Street and it only cost £1.00 for two hours, now that is very acceptable!
I found Dartford to be a pleasant little town that only had a few shopping streets and one main street. There was a small market on the High Street and although it was reasonably busy, it wasn’t too bad.
The Weatherspoon Bar was busy but we wore our masks and social distanced our way through to two out of the way seats.
The Bar is called the Flying Boat!
The grade II listed building was erected in 1910 as a car showroom and offices for John Clayton Beadle. He started his business in nearby Lowfield Street, in 1894, with two employees, making horse-drawn vehicles. In 1900, he erected workshops on the south side of Spital Street and, in 1910, added a large single-storey showroom and offices. During the two World Wars, production at Beadles was geared to the war effort, which included making floats for Sunderland Flying Boats.
There’s always a good story behind a Weatherspoon’s Bar
We got back to the car just around an hour after we had parked and I checked online about the delay on the A2, and I found that the queue of traffic had increased and that the delay was now over 45 minutes.
Being a smarty pants fella, I took the SatNav off using motorways and then set a course to the village of Eynsford. Eynsford is very close to the junction of the M20 and the M25, and I could use the M20 to drive east into Kent where I wanted to be.
The drive over was easy peasy, we took a small country road the 7 miles there and on arriving we found a rather pleasant little village that had five pubs along its main road.
I parked the car on a side street and then I put the SatNav back on to motorway driving and then on to another town, West Malling, and off we set again.
Again, we drove down a nice country road and we found ourselves passing Brands Hatch Driving Circuit. As we neared West Malling I saw a road sign for the M20 in the direction we needed to go and so I set the SatNav to Grannies address, and, within about 3 minutes we were trundling down the motorway and eating away at the miles.
We took the A249 at Maidstone, which took us up Detling Hill and pretty soon we were pulling onto Grannies Drive.
Originally, we were going to do 100 miles, we actually did 111 miles but by diverting as I had done, we had put ten minutes onto our journey but we had saved 35 minutes of crawling along a dreary long line of traffic. SatNavs are great for doing this, as I have done it a few times before!
After a quick chat with granny, Wendy and me took the car into Sheerness to get fuel and supplies for a roast dinner for tomorrow.
That done we got back to the house and unloaded our supplies and then loaded Granny and Grandad into the car for a trip to a pub.
Avid Readers should recall us taking Granny and Grandad for a drink in a bar near Eastchurch in the summer, that was the bar where it was co-owned by two brothers who had had a big fall out and had then divided the building into two separate pubs. One brother ran one bar and the other brother ran the other bar.
In the summer we had a drink in the left bar, and today I wanted to see what it was like in the right hand bar!
Well, it was very nice, very nice indeed, and much bigger inside as there had been room on the land to extend the building on this side and they had created a lovely lounge with a roaring wood fire.
We sat in the bar and had a nice chat with the owner who, like his brother in the summer, seemed like an all-round nice guy.
We only had the one drink, each, and then headed home for supper, and tonight supper was my favourite of Grannies recipes, Beef Cobbler!
Beef Cobbler is a hearty thick beef stew with a topping of homemade dumplings and as opposed to traditional dumpling stew which is cooked on a stove; Beef Cobbler is baked in the oven.
Tonight, I had a right belly full too and it was lovely, served with peas it was fit for a king, and there are loads of leftovers.
I’m so full that I think I won’t need to eat for another week!
No Travelling
Running Day!!!
I had a super sleep last night on Grannies new fancy, self-inflating double bed. It was just the ticket.
I woke at 6:30 am fully refreshed.
I made some tea and within minutes Wendy was up and about and requesting tea to be delivered in bed where she was just heading back to.
As Lily and baby Joy were visiting today Wendy and I did a Lateral flow test and thankfully we were both negative. Granny and Grandad did one later and modesty forbids me tell which one of them put the wrong end up their nose!
I went running along Minster cliffs and then along the Leas, and then the sea wall and back through town. Visibility out to sea was very limited and I could barely make out the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery.
I have explained the storey of the Montgomery in previous reports but for new Avid Readers here is a brief outline.
At some point in the second world war the ship the SS Richard Montgomery which was loaded with bombs and ammunition was being unloaded at Sheerness docks when a German air raid was imminent. To prevent the docks from being destroyed by a blast from the ship it hastily left port but accidently became stuck on a sandbank, almost full of explosives.
Fast forward 75 years and its still there, stuck on the seabed and still full of explosives.
Now the Royal Navy is so concerned that the 3 masts, which are visible at low tide, will collapse onto the wreck and cause an explosion that they are going to dismantle them.
Would you believe that special boat trips have been put on by a local company to go out and see the wreck before the masts go. I mean it’s supposed to be the biggest time bomb on the planet and will take anything out in a 200 miles radius if it goes off, and people are coming from the Midlands to see it!
I had a lovely smoothie at Grannies and I was very nicely showered and dressed by the time we had a very special visitor, Baby Joy Brooks.
Joy certainly lives up to her name, she is such a contended and beautiful little girl, she is just so adorable. As usual Wendy had first dabs on baby cuddles, in fact she hogged her so long Great Granny had to make a written request to hold her.
It was also lovely to see her Mummy and Dad too.
Joy has the most beautiful blue eyes any baby could have!
As Grannies guests departed Wendy and I set about prepping Sunday dinner. I was on pork joint and gravy duties and Wendy was on Yorkshire pudding and vegetable preparation duties.
That done I set about writing a review for the AirBnB cottage we had stayed at in Cambridge.
It wasn’t a pleasant thing to do, but there were far too many things wrong with it I had to be truthful.
The Host didn’t see it that way and has declined my request for a partial refund, so now we are now in AirBnB mediation, and as he has refused to consider my Fire Safety Guidance, I have referred him to Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service so that they can sort him out.
At 1:45 pm I put my very well prepared joint in the oven and then at 2:00 pm I went out for another run.
Since the 27th November 2015 I have tried to run over 8 miles every day.
I never intended to do this, but I always ran most days before hand even when I was working, I only took the very occasional rest day if I had to.
But as I was in Australia for 8 months, I wanted to see has much of this fantastic country as I could so I never took a day off. I ran through the cities, the outback, through torrential downpours and the horrendous tropical heat and I loved every minute.
As I got home it turned into a year long project, then it turned into a 1,000 day project then 2,000 days.
Now I am on day 2,251 and I have covered 19,338 miles at an average daily distance of 8.59 miles.
My latest project is to run around the equator and as the equator is 24,901 miles, I still have 5,563 miles to do, or about another 2 years.
So far, I have run through a number of injuries such as my old favourite Sciatica, but I have also had a stress fracture in my foot, groin strains, a bad back and far too many hangovers.
However, there are very occasional days that I cannot run due to travel requirements and to overcome this I came up with this strategy.
Everyone who does a Guinness Book of Records Challenge is given some leeway on time, Sara Cox on her danceathon was allowed time every hour to refresh, for example.
So, my leeway is that in circumstances that it is not possible to run on a day due to travel, and only travel, then I have to run two runs of over 8 miles each on the day before, and only the day before, not the day after. Then that is some kind of penance as it also interferes with my travel arrangements, it’s like a chastisement for doing so.
And, I can only do this twice in one calendar year.
I have only done it twice in one calendar year and the last time I did it for one day is an absolute age ago, well that’s the Coronavirus for you.
I got back from my run in time to have a shower before I took the joint out of the oven, and it looked just perfect.
I made the gravy as Wendy finished off the veg and then we sat down to a really lovely Sunday roast dinner where Granddad, and I quote, “Had the best pork crackling he has had for a long time”
As everyone else sat in the lounge digesting their dinner with the TV, I did some more admin duties and prepared todays copy while listening to Northern Soul and then Tamla Motown on Grannies Alexa.
Tomorrow we hit the road, big style, enroute from Sheerness to Millerhill, and it’s 440 miles.
I hope to be on the road at 9:00 am and then see how it goes, hopefully we will be there before Rose goes to bed!
Stop press, since I reopened my Blog on 12th January after I last posted on 11th November 2021, I have gone from zero to 1,200 hits, how amazing is that, hopefully I am keeping someone, somewhere in the world company. It would be nice to get a message from someone out there!
435 Miles
The Long Drive
Jeepers I was sound asleep at 6:10 am but I could feel it coming on, but I just couldn’t wake fast enough to do anything about it. My left calf muscle was slipping in to a solid cramp and it became absolute agony.
It’s happened before, to both of us actually, and thankfully Wendy was wide awake in a nano second and managed to rub it out very quickly. But as I sit here typing todays copy, I can still feel the remains of that pain in my calf muscle.
I got up from bed and made toast and tea for me and just a cup of tea for Wendy. As I wasn’t going running, I had a morning of leisure while everyone else ran around doing last minute packing and trying to get breakfast.
I even had time to do some TripAdvisor reviews, and thankfully they were all five star and a pleasure to write.
I just managed to get everything packed into the boot, I couldn’t see through the rear window but at least everyone in the car had enough room to be comfortable.
We set off on our journey at 8:55 am and the SatNav said that we would arrive at 4:27 pm.
As we left the Isle of Sheppey, I pondered the pinch points ahead of us on the journey and this is where I concluded we had potential to get delays:
A, Leaving the A249 to join the M2 Motorway – There is always queuing traffic at the roundabout.
B, The Dartford Tunnel – That’s a given at any time of day.
C, The M25 – As point B!
D, The A1 at Gateshead – Its always busy and now there are roadworks to contend with.
We managed point A without any issue, in fact I was first at the red light and we joined the M2 seconds later.
The weather was very overcast as it has been all the time we have been on the Island.
We got to the M25 within the hour and yet again the traffic was flowing easily.
Robyn was going to BBQ some pork all day so we could have pulled pork for supper. Things weren’t going well to start so she sent an emergency message to her brother at around 10:25:
“Brad, what bbq temp do I need for pulled pork, I have seven hours to do 1kg. I’m going to start at around 150c (300f) and can you let me know if you think that’s way off”
Brad’s reply:
“I’d go about 120°C, maybe 110°C if it’s only 1 kg”
Robyn’s reply to Brad:
“Phew, because I’m struggling to get it much higher just now”
Thankfully a bbq dilemma was averted!
We chatted in the car along the route, we listened to the radio and I was on fire with the Ken Bruce’s Popmaster quiz and I got some really difficult questions right, Fiction Factory just came straight into my mind at the right time.
Soon we were heading up the M11 and then without any hassle we were onto the A1, and we were passing Doncaster eating our pork sandwiches.
Someone on the radio said that someone was a Man of Kent, which is a saying in Kent to describe whereabouts in relation to the River Medway a person was born.
Well Granny couldn’t remember which she was, A Maid of Kent, or a Kentish Maid, so Yorkshire Dave explained.
It all depends on which side of the River Medway you are born!
If you originate from the east of the Medway, tradition has it you are a Man or Maid of Kent. From the west? Then you are a Kentish Man or Kentish Maid.
As the bulk of the County of Kent lies to the east of the Medway then if you are born there, you are firmly a Man or Maid of Kent. If you are from the west of the Medway, where there is relatively lesser land in the County, then you are only just Kentish, in other words Kentish Maid or Man.
It's simple!
We stopped at Ferrybridge Service Station for a toilet break which gave us a 20 minute time addition. We had made ten minutes up before we stopped and our arrival time was now 4:20 pm, so the 20 minute stop gave us a new arrival time of 4:40 pm.
Time was flying by and by the time we got to Gateshead we really were riding our luck because we breezed past the Metro Centre without any hold up.
The sky was now blue and the sun was out and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The sun was so bright I needed my sunglasses.
Strangely just before Morpeth the SatNav told me to leave the A1 and follow the A697 all the way to Coldstream, which is located just inside the Scottish Border and I am so glad she did because the scenery was stunning, the road was very quiet too.
We got regular updates from Robyn about the state of the bbq pork and it was now all looking good.
We made up the ten minutes of our time from the Service Station stop and the SatNav was now saying 4:30 pm on the dot, and then we came upon three lorries doing just about 45 miles an hour.
We got to Robyn’s with me slyly passing the lorries, safely one at a time and then on joining the A68 for the last part of the journey, I was able to pass slower cars as there are some areas of dual carriageway on that section of the road.
We arrived at our destination at 4:32 pm having driven a total distance of 435 miles.
That was one very lucky drive north!
No sooner had we arrived, we found ourselves sitting around the table, with Rose in her high chair and we all enjoyed a lovely meal.
The pulled pork was an utter delight, so were the sausage, the roast potatoes, the cabbage and the carrots, Rose tucked in too, although she was a little tired as she was very near to her bed time.
After I had nipped to the superstore for a few provisions I came back to Rose settling down to bed, and then we ate a very nice apple crumble, custard and cream which was also delicious.
Its now almost 8:30 pm, Granny and Granddad have just gone to bed and I don’t think I’ll be long in going myself, a long drive across country takes it out of me these days, but I guess that’s what its like when your now in your 60’s!
179 Miles
Home Time
As Granny and Grandad had the spare bedroom last night, Wendy and me slept in Rose’s bedroom on the pull-out bed. Rose was in her cot and she never made a sound all night long.
Her mum put her to bed at 6:30 pm last night and she slept right through.
I heard her murmur at 6:50 am and then I could hear her chatting to herself. The bedroom was pitch black and I could not see anything, and I never felt Wendy slide out of bed and lift her from her cot and snuggle her in with us.
She was as good as gold and she laid and snuggled and chatted.
Wendy changed her nappy and we snuggled down again, it was good fun, I could feel her tiny hand exploring my face. Her little finger nails were scratching me occasionally as well.
After about 20 minutes of fun play, we took Rose down for her breakfast. Wendy prepared her food while I played a little further. Breakfast for Rose was porridge and then grape slices.
I got myself ready to go out and then I ran down to Musselburgh harbour.
It was an overcast morning but it was dry with very little wind.
I got back just before Rose and her mum went off for their Tuesday coffee morning at the local church hall. Rose looked lovely dressed in her tartan rompers for Burns Day.
Rose had to come back early from her coffee morning, we had been waiting for a painter to come to the house as Alex had gone off on a site inspection, but when he hadn’t arrived by Midday, we needed to leave, so Robyn and Rose had to come home early. But the added bonus was that I got to give Rose one last cuddle.
We set off just after 12:00 and got no further than the roundabout at the City By-Pass, when Robyn phoned to say that I had forgotten my wallet and glasses.
As the lights were red, I managed to do a 3 point turn and we were back at the house within 5 minutes to make a collection, but the extra added bonus was, I got yet another kiss from Rose.
The drive north went without any problem, in fact the roads were mainly very quiet.
The only time we had to stop was at a set of traffic lights on the A9, and although the south bound lane was full of trucks and cars, we were waiting at the traffic lights, in the northbound lane, and we were the third car down.
As we headed down the A9 towards Inverness, I turned off the A9 as I was going to drop Granny, Granddad and Wendy off with Caroline and Eleanor so I could go and do a shop for some supplies for the next day or two.
As soon as I parked the car at Caroline’s house I was out of the car and chatting with Eleanor before anyone else was out of their seat.
Eleanor was looking gorgeous and she has grown so much since I saw her two weeks ago.
She climbs on and off the sofa with ease and she walks quite confidently now too.
I managed to get our supplies in record time and then after collecting my passengers we were back at home just after 4:00 pm.
The house was a little cold but I cranked the heating up and lit the fire before undertaking the laborious duty of unloading the car, while Wendy set about looking to sort out the washing.
Supper was a joint effort, Wendy made the haggis, neeps and tatties while I made a Cranachan dessert.
The table was set, wine was poured and whisky was ready to be poured onto our haggis and indeed it was a double, dining delight!
And that’s it for this short journey Avid Reader, thank you for following this adventure.
However, there is a very interesting trip coming quite soon, how’s that for a look forwards!
178 Miles
Horrendous Weather
I was up at just before 7:00 am this morning and it was pleasing to see that at around 7:20 it was bright enough outside to be able to go running.
However, I couldn’t go running as I had a major chore to undertake, which was to take the car into Inverness for a service. It was an important service because the cars MOT is due in March, and between starting this new adventure, getting home and then going south again for Wendy’s birthday, I don’t really have much time to sort it out, especially if, heaven forbid it fails the MOT.
I drove the car in to town, dressed in my running gear at 8:40 am, and I was outside the garage at exactly 9:00 am, and my mechanic was out within five minutes.
I had checked what I could for the MOT yesterday before washing the car, and everything was fine, I had established that I may require new rear tyres and I had a very strange situation with a front light.
I asked Martin to check the rear tyres and I explained about the front light, and he laughed.
Martin jumped into the car and put the lights on, the same situation occurred. The main lights were on, but one lower light was on and the other sides lower light was off. Martin turned the steering wheel and that light went off and the other sides light came on. Apparently, the light on the side where the wheels are turned comes on as this gives you increased visibility when you are turning in the dark, well I never.
Yesterday I was almost ripping the lighting unit apart to get a new bulb in, I really should make some time and read the hand book!
While the car was being attended to, I ran a new route around Inverness. The canal side I run along on my normal route is closed for footpath maintenance so I had to make another one up, on the hoof, and one that would get me back to the garage after 8 miles.
I actually slightly over estimated and ended up doing 8.40 miles, doh!
I got back to the garage and I found the car ready and waiting. Martin concurred with me that I have only 0.4 mm of legal tread on my rear wheels, so I need to make a pit stop somewhere along the route to get new tyres fitted.
I got home just after 11:00 am and after my routines of banana smoothie, tea, teeth and a nice hot shower, I was ready to pack the car in preparation of hitting the road, and would you believe, it started bloody raining, hard! Normally that wouldn’t be a big problem because I would back the car in the garage and pack it from there. However, today I was taking Robyn, her sister in laws bicycle down, on the bike rack as she is borrowing it for a while and with the bike on the back, I wouldn’t have been able to get the car out again, so I got wet through.
Never mind, we were off, heading south down the A9 at a little after 12:20 pm.
The rain never stopped; in fact, it was horrendous most of the way down.
The road was covered in surface water and I had to slow down somewhat as there was a very real possibility of the car aquaplaning on the road.
The A9 was bad all the way down, all 120 miles of it, and then the M90 wasn’t any better and neither was the Edinburgh City Bypass. In fact, by the time I pulled onto the drive I was thoroughly knackered.
I was first out of the car so that I could grab Rose before anyone else, but sadly she was on her afternoon nap!
I got the bike off the bike rack, and then unpacked the car, in the rain, again, and then I did manage to get a cuddle with Rose, who had by this time woken up.
I nipped to Tesco to get fuel and a few shopping items and then I helped Robyn barbeque two chickens on the barby, which is situated outside the back door in a nice, but open bbq shed, and we got even wetter.
Never mind!
Alex got back from refereeing a football match in the Borders just as the chickens were ready, and soon we were all sat around the dining table and having a delightful meal of one Nando style chicken, one lemon and garlic style chicken, chips and coleslaw and it was just lovely.
Rose sat at the table in her high chair and ate her meal like a good girl too!
It’s now turned 8:30 pm and I’m in the kitchen writing tonight’s copy, with Alex who is writing up his match report from todays game, and I can hear Granddad baying in the lounge, “Take It Off; Take It Off! It sounds like he must be watching the final of the Masked Singer.
I’m thinking its early bed for me tonight, I’m feeling tired, but the thing is, the tiredness will pass and then I’ll be wide awake when bedtime comes along!
191 Miles
Yet More Rain!
We slept in Rose’s bedroom last night and I was about one metre from her cot. She made a noise at around 2:00 am, and I was out of bed and patting her nappy in about 0.125 seconds, then she did it again at around 4:00 am and I think I broke my previous record. I wasn’t worried she was going to wake up, I just wanted to let her know I was there, ready and waiting.
I got out of bed at 6:50 am and I had breakfast and then took tea up to Wendy who was by now playing with Rose who was wide awake and crawling along the floor.
I went running down to Musselburgh Harbour this morning, thankfully yesterday’s rain had stopped and there was only a tiny bit of breeze, but it was still very overcast.
I got to the Harbour and I sat on a bench to have a drink of water and as I set off, it started to drizzle. It was ok for the next two miles, just drizzle but then the heavens opened and it chucked it down. I ended up soaked and with my tracky bottoms falling down due to the weight of the rain water that they had soaked up.
After breakfast and a shower, I packed the car, again whilst it was raining, heavily.
Rose had already said her goodbyes before I started to pack the car as it was her morning nap time and she was in her cot fast asleep.
We left the house at around 11:30 after I had to do a bit of faffing about with the SatNav as it sometimes needs a reset, and today it did.
Our route to the Lancashire Coast today took us along the Edinburgh City By-Pass for 4 miles and then up into the hills of the Scottish Borders, and, it was still raining.
The journey over the Borders was stunning, despite the low cloud and rain. However, I couldn’t find a safe place to stop to take a photograph so I have pinched one from the Visit Scotland Website, for Artistic purposes, obviously!
After 40 miles we joined the A74(M) somewhere between Glasgow and Lockerbie. The rain was by now lashing down and the driving conditions on the motorway were appalling.
I kept my speed to under 60 mph because you could hardly see a foot in front of you. But as always, the idiots were flying past me at above 80 mph, and some didn’t even have their headlights on.
Soon enough, and sure enough we came across our first Road Traffic Accident on the northbound carriageway. It was just a single car accident involving a large SUV which was on its roof in the middle carriageway. All traffic had been stopped and there was a massive tailback building up. I’m guess the car aquaplaned and flipped, most likely several times. I’ll never know how anyone else didn’t hit it!
We carried on south and eventually we arrived in England.
The rain was still chucking it down and we came across our second Road Traffic Accident, which was, again, thankfully on the north bound carriageway.
Again, it was a single vehicle accident with no further involvement, but this time it was stuck in the middle barrier. There were several police cars and an ambulance in attendance but I didn’t look to see if anyone was trapped inside the car as we passed it, but we did see 3 fire appliances coming up as we drove on south.
That was two road accidents which were totally unnecessary if the drivers had driven to the road conditions!
I pulled in at Penrith to visit the Morrisons Store because, as granny had reminded us, supermarkets close at 4:00 pm on a Sunday in England and we hadn’t got anything for supper.
I did a quick nip around the store and collected enough provisions for a nice beef burger supper, well Robyn had made some lovely sarnies for the journey down so surely, we wouldn’t need much more.
We got to our Airbnb property without any further a due and after a bit of faffing with the heating we got some heat going, and after using our portable Enigma Decoding Machine, we were eventually able to access the Wi-Fi system.
The house is actually first rate, it is clean, tidy and very well provided for. Granddad was particularly taken with the welcome pack of sweet foods!
No sooner had Granny unpacked when we were in the car for a quick whistle stop tour of the Blackpool Tower.
Thankfully by now the rain had stopped and we were able to take Granny and Granddad for a short stroll along the promenade in front of the World Famous Blackpool Tower. We did have a read of the funny, joke pavements which is set in the prom directly opposite the Tower, and we did wonder in this world of Woke, how no one has complained to the council to have them removed as some of them are a bit near the knuckle. But then I guess it is Blackpool after all!
The town we are staying at is just 3 miles from Blackpool Prom, but it is big enough to have its own Weatherspoon’s Bar, the Poulton Elk.
Well, we couldn’t resist the alure of the place so after I found a nice little snug inside the bar, we settled down with a drink each and one portion of Loaded Chips to share. Out of decency we let Granny have the only fork offered to us. Jeepers the chips were hot and we nearly burnt our fingers eating them.
Back at the house and Wendy made us a lovely meal of beefburgers which were very nicely adorned with salad and onions.
I hope that’s it for the rain for the next few days, as I need to be up and out early tomorrow morning as I have a very exciting and interesting day ahead of me Avid Reader, so you had better book your place asap for tomorrow nights copy as its going to be a good one!
No Travelling
Family!
I woke at 6:00 am this morning and as we have a Velux window in our bedroom and as I had pulled the blind up to see the night sky as I went to bed last night, this morning I could see rain running down the glass and I knew that I would be in for a wet morning.
Wendy was asleep when I got up, but she soon joined me downstairs and over her tea she told me there and then that there was no way on this earth that she was going out running this morning.
I had my tea and toast and I donned my running gear, along with my shorts and I set off to find the promenade at Blackpool. I was saturated within five minutes, if it wasn’t the driving rain, it was the cars driving through puddles which sprayed up and over my head.
I got to the north pier at the 3 mile mark and I ran down the prom to just a little further beyond the central pier. The tide was up and the sea was wild, but not as wild as I had seen it when I had visited Blackpool many years before as a young boy.
I stood as close to the sea as I could while I drank my water at just over 4 miles and I watched the sea froth, and I could imagine the happy memories of playing on the beach with my brother, while my Mum, Granny and Granddad sat further up the beach in their deckchairs. We would spend all day long jumping in and out of the surf and we loved it.
I wasn’t cold, that’s the good thing about running, it’s that when your body gets warm the heart pumps warm blood all around your body, so no matter how wet or cold my legs were, as long as my core remains warm than I can tolerate the cold, for only so long mind.
Running back was a doddle as the wind and rain were both behind me.
I got back soaked to the skin, my trainers were like reservoirs!
After a hearty bowl of muesli and a hot shower I was ready to start what was going to be a very nice day, because today I was meeting two very special women.
I may or may not have detailed in previous copy that from the age of 4, I, along with my brothers, were brought up with my Granny and Grandad as my Mum had to leave my dad over his treatment of her and my brothers. My Granddad, Walter Harrison, was an exceedingly decent man, he was a strong man and a very tall man, a man of presence and he obviously made a huge impression on my life, much more so than my real dad could ever have.
I was with him very soon after he died in January 1981 and he left a huge hole in our lives, but that was tempered by the fact that we had had him in our lives for so many years.
In 2017 I was gifted a DNA Test kit from my family so that I could research my ethnicity. I wanted to do this because, as my Mum, my Granddad and all my brothers and me were very dark skinned I thought we must have some close association with a southern European country.
As part of the DNA process, you are warned that your DNA will be held on a data base and that someone with a similar match might contact you, and that the circumstances might not be what you expect.
And as you have already concluded Avid Reader, several weeks ago I did indeed get that contact.
I received an email from a lady who was showing that I was a match of hers as either a first or second cousin and that she had information about my Granddad, Walter Harrison.
Here is an extract from the message:
Hello David, I hope you don’t mind me contacting you. I’ve just received my DNA results from Ancestry and you are showing up as a 1st cousin. My mum was born in 1920 to my Grandmother and Walter Harrison. They weren’t allowed to marry as my Great Grandma thought they were too young and back then you had to have permission if you weren’t 21. My mum was brought up by her Grandparents and it wasn’t until she got married and needed her parent’s signature that she was told the truth. I just wondered if your mum had mentioned anything about having a half-sister?
I replied to the lady and she came across to me as a really lovely woman who was seeking answers to questions that should have been answered many years before.
I contacted my brother and we both concluded that we didn’t think that anyone in our family, other than Grandad knew about this story.
Today, in the same Wetherspoon’s Bar we were in last night, in almost the exact same seats we met the lady, her husband and her sister.
For the next 3 hours we sat and chatted like we had known each other for many years and I did really feel that we had a solid family connection, and it was, and it is, really very nice.
There are so many unanswered questions, but I guess with no one around to tell us their story then all we can do is suppose and muse over it. But knowing my Granddad as I do, he would have been devastated by how things had turned out at that time.
From the bar we took a quick walk around the small market town of Poulton le Fylde and it really is a very nice little place. The market was open so I bought some duck eggs, which I really love, and some Cheese for Wendy’s dad that I knew he would like as it was made with his favourite blend of whiskey, Laphrough from the Island of Islay.
Back at the house we loaded Granny and Granddad into the car and we drove the short distance to the Morrisons Store in the small town of Cleveleys for some supplies, after which we just had to bag the local Wetherspoons Bar, The Jolly Tars!
The bar was quiet an we enjoyed a drink, and thankfully the weather had vastly improved from this morning, however there was still a cold stiff breeze blowing which put us off the idea of taking Granny in her wheelchair along the prom!
With nothing left to do we drove up to the coast, to the town of Fleetwood to bag our last Wetherspoons Bar in this area, The Thomas Drummond.
As Granny has been itching to treat us to a meal out, we allowed her to buy us a very nice meal from the bars Valentines selection. I had a steak; Wendy had a smothered chicken and both Granny and Grandad had a Mixed Grill.
As there was a dessert each with the meal deal, I just checked with Granny if she felt up to eating all that food. She thought she could, but in reality, she couldn’t and I ended up finishing some of her meat. Granddad too left some chips and garden peas, stating that it was the peas that did it for him.
Actually, we were all so stuffed that I asked for additional serviettes and I took all the dessert cakes back to the car which was parked outside, for later consumption. Thankfully the kitchen had run out of ice cream so all I had was brownies and biscuits to contend with.
We got back to the house a little after 6:00 pm and that was it, the weather was cold outdoors and all we wanted to do was rest up and let our tums digest our evenings treat.
And that’s it for today’s copy, but before I hang up tonight, I think I need to say that it’s been a lovely day for me as I have met my Granddads only Granddaughters, although I did find out that he actually has three, and also one more Grandson. More importantly is that they are really nice people and that their Mother, his daughter, did a terrific job of raising her family under such circumstances and that I know that he would have been immensely proud of her in doing so.
By the way, the cakes are still in the fridge, untouched!
No Travelling
The Sea!
I was writing my copy last night at the kitchen table with Granny, Granddad and Wendy watching telly in the room. Then at 8:00 pm they all got up, Granny and Granddad went upstairs to bed and Wendy joined me in the kitchen.
Granddad got to the bedroom door and he must have seen the bedroom clock and said, its 8 o’clock, I wouldn’t have come to bed so early if I had known, I thought it was 9 o’clock.
Wendy didn’t hear Granddad say that so I told her, and she said, “But it is 9 o’clock, I saw it on the telly”.
So, we checked and it did show the time as being 9 o’clock when you changed channels, I thought it was because they had watched something on +1, but I did think I would check tomorrow.
I did indeed check and I found that the time on the TV has not been changed to GMT, the TV is set on British summertime! I said to them not one of you realised that you had lost an hour of your day, no, none of them obviously had!
This morning at around 4:00 am the rain bucketed it down, so much so that it made a right racket on the Velux window above my bed.
It was so loud I had to go to my toilet bag which was in the bathroom and get some earplugs. I screwed them right down, almost into my brain and then fell fast asleep until gone 7:30 am!
I was surprised that when I did get up that the rain had stopped and apart from a stiff breeze it was reasonably bright outside. Therefore, after my tea and toast I took the car a couple of miles down the road and parked up so that I could run down more of the famous Blackpool Promenade.
I’m really glad I did because I really enjoyed the run, I went from the North Pier, past the Central Pier and then down passing the South Pier and I wasn’t ready to head back until I had made it to the large glitterball.
I sat for a while at the glitterball and the sea was raging wild.
The tide must have been up as it was pushing over the lower promenade and then hitting the sea wall and braking in a fit of sea spray, it reminded me of how it used to do it against the old seawall when I was a nipper.
In fact, it made me recall the deaths of 3 police officers on 6th January 1983 when they jumped into the notoriously raging sea in an attempt to rescue a 25 year old man who had gone in to rescue his small terrier who had gone into the sea to chase after a ball.
They had no chance, they must have known that they had no chance, but they chose to try. The thing is, they didn’t all go in at the same time, one went in and got into difficulty and then another and they too got into difficulty and final a third then went in and got into difficulty too.
Two other Police Officer’s also went in to try to recover their colleagues, but somehow one managed to get out of the sea, but the other, who had a life belt around him, was pulled out but the rope was pulled tight around his neck due to the conditions in the water. When he was recovered his heart had stopped and he required CPR and the kiss of life to be resuscitated.
The officers killed were:
PC Colin Morrison
WPC Angela Bradley
PC Gordon Connolly
All died in pursuit of their duty which for any member of the emergency services is to save life first and foremost!
Back at the house I had my muesli and soon after we were driving along down the seafront all the way down to Lytham, and then we called in to see my cousins one more time.
This time we introduced Granny and Granddad to our new family and we had a lovely cup of coffee and a good old natter!
From there we nipped back to Lytham to take Granny for a push around the lovely little town centre.
Lytham really is such a nice little town with quite a few small independent shops and it has a very nice feel to it.
Unbeknown to me, Granddad had found a £5.00 note on the pavement as he walked along.
As we walked, we spotted a small rocking horse that would be ideal for our playroom at home. After a small debate about how we could manage to cram him into the car, we bought him, with Granddad’s new fiver.
Well at least it went to charity!
We got back to the car and dropped Granny and Granddad back at the house while Wendy and me drove back to Lytham to go and meet my good friend Leonie Govan, and her partner Andy.
I worked with Leonie when I was the Area Commander for south Command, in the Highland and Islands Fire Brigade.
Leonie is an utmost professional person; she was the Service’s HR Adviser and she helped us settle a very severe case of institutionalised bullying on a large fire station in the Western Isles. She was brilliant, her attention to detail was critical and she prevented some difficulties that might have arisen with the case due to her eye for detail.
Following that case, which really was a challenging legal nightmare, we worked together a number of times on some very difficult cases and we were a formidable partnership and we cracked almost every case, apart from one! Well, you can’t win them all, especially when it involves double dealing, lack of scruples, local politicians who’ll stab you in the back as soon look you in the eye.
Leonie is now a senior HR Manager for BAE Systems and lives in Lytham with Andy, who owns a factory about 40 minutes away down the M6.
It was lovely to see them both, even if only for such a short time.
Supper was a real joint effort, Granny had started the thick pork chops by the time we were back, Granddad had set the table, Wendy cooked the mushrooms and fried some Brussel sprouts along with onion, and I fried 4 perfect duck eggs, and it was an utter delight.
Tomorrow is moving day, we have around 294 miles back to Grannie’s house and when I get up in the morning, I’ll let the weather dictate how the day proceeds.
And that’s it for this leg of the trip!
I am so glad that I received the email from my lovely cousin. Do you know Avid Reader that in my travels I have met some really fantastic people, some of whom have become lifelong friends, some, where that friendship was struck the moment we met, and I feel the very same as happened again with these two women, perhaps it was meant to be, but only when the time was right!
Would you believe, it’s raining again, well this is Blackpool!
326 Miles
Motorway Madness!
I was awake at 5:30 am this morning and I did get out of bed, despite my alarm being set for 6:00 am. I just wanted one last run in Blackpool, and I’m glad I did get out because I loved it.
Jeepers the wind was wild, as soon as I left the house the wind was in my face, and it was almost gale-force. I thought Storm Dudley wasn’t supposed to arrive until tonight, so this must have been his little sister, if it was, she didn’t half pack a punch.
It was so bad that I was out of breath at three miles and I had to sit down on someone’s wall just to get my breath back.
I carried on and when I got to the prom I turned right and went along the north shore. The wind was behind me and it pushed me along, and I knew that I would have to suffer this on the way back.
At the 4 mile point I sat on the sea wall and watched the day break and it was rather nice.
I set off back into a hurricane but thankfully when I turned inland at Blackpool Town Hall the wind was then behind me again.
And that’s how it stayed all the way back to the house. I’m sure that if I had opened my jacket and caught the breeze I would have been back before I had set off.
Everyone was packed and ready to leave the house by the time I got back, but as we had another good hour and a half before we had to leave, I packed the car, carefully, at least, so I could see out of the rear window. I then had a very nice bowl of muesli and a nice strong cup of black tea to warm me up, and then I took a lazy shower, well I had a long drive ahead of me so I had to be relaxed.
As 9:59 am, 1 minute before our scheduled departure time we were all in the car and reversing off the drive.
This has been one excellent Airbnb property, it’s been warm and comfortable, it has a very well equipped kitchen and the beds were just so easy to sleep in, well apart from the rain on the Velux window. I would definitely come back if I ever have a mind to in the future.
I had set the SatNav for Grannies house and we were showing an arrival time of 3:15 pm and a distance to travel of 294 miles, so we all settled down.
The SatNav took me out of town and after about 6 miles it wanted me to turn around and go back the way I had come.
Wendy started to get a little grumpy, she’s not the best passenger at the best of time, but having the SatNav play up just as we are setting off for a long journey really didn’t set her off on the right track.
I ignored the SatNav and I did manage to find the M6 using the traditional and old fashioned way of using my nose and road signs.
Pretty soon we were heading south without a care in the world.
We listened to the piano session of J.P. Cooper on the Ken Bruce show and it was terrific, what a voice that lad has. He sang some of his own songs which were good in their own right, but his rendition of Amy Winehouse’s, “Love is a Losing Game”, was absolutely stunning.
We drove on, listening to the Jeremey Vine show where Tina Daheley was discussing potty training for 8 month old babies, well that had granny going.
While I was out running, I had heard that the Dartford Crossing had had problems with delays so I was thinking that I might take the M40 from the M42, off of the M6 but by the time we got to that point the Dartford Crossing was fine. It was only when we were on the M1 and approaching the M25 to head east for the Crossing that Bobbie Prior popped up on the Steve Wright show, to tell us that there had been an accident on the Bridge at the Dartford Crossing and that long delays were expected.
Sure enough as we approached the turnoff, the electronic signs were saying that there was an hours delay going over the bridge. So, with nothing to lose I took the M25 anti clockwise, which would add another 20 miles to our journey. It was a risk because the area around Heathrow Airport is notorious for delays, but it was the better of two evils.
We did just fine but it did get a bit busy around the southern section in Surry, which is the turn off for the M23 for Gatwick Airport, and I did have to have a talk with Wendy who had now become a stroppy teenager, in fact her mum, from the back seat, said you just sound like that TV character, was it Kevin and Perry?
Yes, it definitely was!
With out much further a do we were on the M26, then the M20 and finally we were on the A249 heading over Detling Hill and onto the Isle of Sheppey, where we arrived about 20 miles and 30 minutes later than we should have, but at least we had made it.
I unpacked the car while everyone settled in.
Ian arrived not much later and we sat in the kitchen chewing the fat with him for almost two hours. In between I cooked fish finger sarnies, which went down a treat.
It’s been a very tiring drive, but I always get a sense of achievement when I make the right choice when I have to navigate through England’s very busy road network and I get it right, even if the SatNav doesn’t always help me out!
Tomorrow I’m taking a day off, I’m going to have two new rear tyres fitted and then I’m going down to the Micro Pub and having a few, well deserved beers, that’s if Storm Dudley lets me!
It’s already quite wild outside and I am very much below the 52nd Parallel!
No Travelling
Even More Bloody Wind!!!
I was awake at 6:30 am this morning and I slid very quietly out of bed and had my tea and toast undisturbed, and then Wendy joined me and took her tea back to bed.
Granny was up first as poor Granddad had had a poor night’s sleep so she left him sleeping in bed.
Wendy, for the first time in an age got into her running gear and was a little deflated when I told her that I thought that it was a bit windy outside.
A bit windy was an understatement as it was wild, to start it was OK because it blew me for two miles up Minster Hill and to the cliffs. However, when I was down on the sea wall it was in my face and pushing me backwards. I was knackered, running against a very hard wind does take its toll, but I have to look at it like it’s a little extra workout. For the next four miles it was me against the wind, and the win almost won!
As I turned back towards Halfway the wind was across me so it was bearable.
The sun was bright in the sky and had it not been for the wind it would have been a very decent morning.
Back at Grannies and Jack turned up as his car was in for his MOT. Jack is Wendy’s nephew and he really is such a smashing lad. I haven’t seen him since Brads wedding two years ago and it was great to see him.
I had my shower and we lounged around a bit as I was waiting to take my car in for new tires fitting.
At 12:40 Wendy and I drove to the Kwik-Fit Garage where I was hoping to drop the car off as I thought I was booked in for 1:00 pm. I found I was indeed booked in for 1:00 pm, but for tomorrow and not today.
I don’t know why but somehow when I booked the appointment last night, I thought today was Friday, so that’s why I booked for Friday, and not Thursday, today!
Thankfully the manager was a cracking fella and he managed to squeeze me in, so we left him with it and took a walk into town and then we walked along the sea wall, doubling back to the Port.
As we were wasting a little time, we walked all the way along the seawall to the fence where the Docks lay behind.
As we walked along, I could see the old ferry dock where the Olau Line Ferries used to dock.
There were two ferries, the Olau Britannia and the Olau Hollandia. Both ships sailed between Sheerness on Sheppey to Vlissingen in Holland. They both set off from each port at the same time and crossed midway in the English Channel, and they took about 10 hours to make the crossing. There were two crossings daily, one through the day and one through the night. I lived aboard and sometimes I had my own cabin and sometimes I shared a cabin with one other male crew member.
From March to June of 1987, I worked on both vessels in any role they wanted me to do. Sometimes I worked with the chamber maids, (now they were a very special kind of woman), I worked as a handyman and I worked in the restaurants.
I worked the Hollandia for one two week period and although I liked the job, I didn’t like the shore time we got, 3 hours in Vlissingen at 7:00 am. I mean what is there to do in Holland at that time of day?
No, I much preferred the Britannia where I got shore time from 6:00 pm until 8:30 pm where me and my ship mates went into Sheerness and down to the Sun Inn for a few beers.
I had an absolutely fantastic summer that year, what fun we had. We would go to the pub and then most likely party all night. Jeepers, it wouldn’t be allowed today, but drink and partying were all we ever did in those days.
We really should have known better because we used to sail passed the Herald of Free Enterprise which was laying on its side just outside the Port of Zeebrugge. She sank because the man who was supposed to be closing the bow watertight doors was asleep in his bunk.
After one storm party, during a force 12 gale I was supposed to be setting up the restaurant for the 6:00 am serving, but a pretty Welsh girl said she would help me if I stayed to party a little longer, so I did.
What giggles we had trying to set the breakfast service whilst being a bit squiffy as the ship rock and rolled throughout the storm, Lord knows how we pulled it off, but we did. It must have been our youthful age; I was 25 at the time!
It just shows that all you need is a gentle memory jogger to set your mind in motion.
We collected the car just under an hour later and then we hot footed it to Tesco for some shopping.
We were in and out pretty smartish but because of roadworks on the way into town, traffic was backed right up to the docks. As we got to the roundabout we could not move off because some dope had blocked all the right turners exit from the roundabout due to them inconsiderately blocking the exit route with their van, what a knob! We had to wait an age for the lights to change.
Back at the house, I did a few chores for Granny and Granddad and then as Granny had a load of fish in the freezer she wanted to use up, I made a very tasty, if not a little hot, mixed seafood curry.
Well, the curry was an utter delight, Granny loved it, Granddad loved it too, it was something, knocked up from the freezer and it worked a treat.
Later on, Ian called around, (Wendy’s brother), and I can’t remember why, but they ended up, the pair of them in Grannie’s loft. What a treasure trove they found, jeepers what stuff they have up there.
They even found a newspaper from the 1970’s which detailed the safe arrival of the crew of Apollo 13, that’s over 50 years ago. It was a bit brown and faded but it was still in pretty good condition.
Jeepers the chuckles that emanated from that loft was priceless!
How ever we are going to take all the stuff Wendy has retrieved from the loft home in the car with us is beyond me!
149 Miles
Storm Eunice!!!
I slept very well last night on Grannie’s airbed, I woke at 5:30 am and I laid in bed trying to hear if the storm had arrived. I listened for about 20 minutes and all I could hear was the occasional gust of wind.
I got up just in time to make my tea and toast and catch the 6:00 am news. I was wanting to hear about the impending storm but there wasn’t much other than the usual media bluster.
I got myself ready to go running with my plan being that I would break the run down into mile sections and then review the conditions after each mile. I also chose my running route very carefully so that I would be running into the wind for the first two miles and then the wind would be across me.
Therefore, I went down to Queenborough village intending to go along the shore and into Sheerness. The wind was bad but not as bad as it was yesterday and so I made it to Queenborough and along the seawall and down to the docks in Sheerness. I got to the seawall after the docks and now I was well protected until I got to Scrapsgate.
From that point the wind was in my face but it wasn’t unbearable.
I was back at Grannie’s house before you could say, ‘It’s a bit blowy today!’
I had a lovely smoothie and cup of tea and then Ian, Karen and Jess popped in for a coffee and to see us before we left, which was very nice of them.
After a nice warm shower, and then packing the car we first bid Ian, Karen and Jess goodbye, and then Granny and Granddad.
I knew that the Queen Elizabeth Bridge at the Dartford Crossing was closed due to the wind, and despite the Dartford tunnels being running in reverse I decided to take the route north via the western side of the M25. I’m glad that I did because the motorway matrix signs were saying that there was an hours delay to cross the Thames at Dartford.
The first leg of the journey went well, we got down to the M20 without any issues and then we cruised along until we got to the M25.
The M25 was busy but not a Friday morning kind of busy.
There was a fair few high sided lorries on the road and where I could I gave them a very wide berth when I was overtaking them.
We did see a few lorries wobble and one got blown right over from the 1st lane right over to the 3rd lane and almost into the barriers which separate the carriageways.
It wasn’t so much the wind that was the problem it was the gusts, there were some very severe gusts. One caught me out and I did do a little wobble, but from there on in I held the steering wheel with a cast iron grip!
I got a warning light flash up indicating that I had low pressure in the tyres so I pulled into the services at Cobham, and put a little air into the front tyres.
Jeepers, it was by this time blowing a right old gale, I had all on to stay on my feet!
We carried on and were making good progress, we did go through a massive gust of wind which sent a large stone into the windscreen of the car! I thought that we would have at least a cracked windscreen, Wendy went into overdrive panic and almost went through the roof. I actually had to calm her down as I managed to keep control of the car.
Check in wasn’t until 3:00 pm and the Satnav was telling me that we would arrive at 2:00 pm so I made a previously considered detour to the town of Dunstable to bag a Wetherspoon’s Bar, well when a fella as time to waste, why not go bagging!!
The Garry Cooper is our 182nd Weatherspoon’s Bag, actually it was quite a modern one and it was almost empty for a Friday afternoon, maybe that was down to Eunice.
We were back on the road after our short break, we had even bought a few supplies in Asda which was directly across from the bar.
Back on the road, we travelled the last 26 miles to our accommodation which is just outside the village of Kislingbury which itself is just outside the town of Northampton, which is somewhere I have never been before!
After unpacking our bags and settling into our small but very comfy country retreat, we took the car to the village to have a brief look around.
Kislingbury is a really nice village with quite a few lovely looking stone houses, it has a shop and a pub, and with the wind still blowing a gale, that’s where we ended up.
The bar was busy, strangely with lots of men wearing works clothes with the name of an electrical company on their jackets, they were either on standby for storm repairs or had just finished a shift of mending storm repairs. They did seem to be necking the beer mind, so I do hope they aren’t needed until tomorrow morning.
As we left the pub, I could see about 10 of their vans parked around the back so they appear to mean business, but just not today!
With the wind still wild outside we got back to our room and settled down for the afternoon and then the evening.
Wendy made our microwave supper of Chinese noodles and black bean sauce while we listened to the Sara Cox All Request Friday Show.
The supper was tremendous, it was very, very tasty indeed.
I don’t think we will be late to bed tonight; I just poked my head outside and the wind is still blowing like a hurricane, so I think all we can do is settle down with this box of wine and let the weather do as it pleases, as long as it’s gone by tomorrow and we are back to the normality of rain and an overcast sky!
No Travelling
Northampton
We started watching a back episode of Death in Paradise last night, Wendy climbed into bed and I had to wake her twice, but on the second occasion she had lost the plot so I let her sleep on. In fact, I had trouble keeping up with the plot myself, it was just too complicated, I didn’t even get it when they rounded all the suspects up and explained it all. I think after 11 series, they have run out of murder story lines, I mean there can only be so many ways someone wants to commit murder on a small Caribbean Island!
I slept really well last night only waking at 6:30 am. Thankfully the wind has now passed over to become someone else’s[DG1] problem.
We both went out running this morning, Wendy went first and I went out a little later on. I went along the road and through a small village where I asked a man for directions to the canal and he pointed me in the right direction. Sure enough I came across it a little further out of the village. It’s a very small canal and I had no idea what it was or where it was going.
I ran in the direction of Northampton and just as I started on the canal I ran past lock after lock, there must have been about 14 sets of locks, and all of them one after the other.
I got to my 4 mile point and I turned around and soon I came across a tourist information board about the canal and this is what I found out about it:
I got back to the room and made my smoothie, without any ice, and it was actually all right.
After a shave, a shower and then a coffee we drove the short distance to the nearby town of Northampton, and what a nice place it is, despite the downpour on our arrival.
It rained so hard that we took shelter in the towns Wetherspoon’s Bar, The Cordwainer.
The name is associated with shoemaking which Northampton is famous for as they have been making shoes here since the 16th century. By the 19th century, one-third of the workforce was engaged in the trade.
Thankfully after we had finished our drinks the rain had stopped and we could walk around the town without the need to use an umbrella!
We walked around a very pleasant town of shops, bars and restaurants and we really liked the look of the place.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the celebrated artist and architect, who worked in the style of Art Novo did some work in the town in the early 1900’s.
On request of the owner, he made adjustments to the exterior of a mid-terraced house at 78 Derngate, the client W J Bassett-Lowke then commissioned Mackintosh to redecorate a number of the building’s interiors including the Guests’ Bedroom. These designs show him working in a bold new style of decoration and construction, using primary colours and geometric motifs. It was an output of extraordinary vitality and originality but it went virtually unheeded.
Well, we just had to go and look for ourselves. It’s a museum and café now but sadly it didn’t look open.
From there we walked down to the river in the hope that we might see the confluence of the river and the canal, but we found this was located further out of town. Never mind we did get to walk over the River Nene along a cracking bridge that gives access to the towns University.
Did you know that Northampton is one of England’s largest towns!
It has a football team, Northampton Town which is in League Division 2, and a Premier League Rugby Union team, the Northampton Saints. The football team won 3 – 0 and the rugby team lost 21 – 22 today!
The comedian, Alan Carr, his dad, Graham Carr, managed Northampton Town football club, that’s a bit of trivia for you!
As we walked back to the car, we came across the war memorial which is very much a focal point of the town, and would you believe was designed by the man who designed the London Cenotaph, Edwin Lutyens.
We got back to the car after a good 2.5 hours visit and we called into an Asda store on the way out of town for tonight’s supper of Chicken Chow Mein and Aromatic Shredded Duck.
We then drove 18 miles to the smaller town of Daventry.
Our first stop in the town was to bag the Wetherspoons Bar, The Saracens Head.
This isn’t such an interesting named pub, the building is dated by English Heritage as mid-18th century, since when it has been called The Saracens Head. An earlier Saracens Head had been on this site from at least the early 17th century.
After our drinks we walked around the town, and again we found it to be a very pleasant little town with some lovely looking buildings. Most of the towns buildings date from the 17th to 19th centuries including many Listed Buildings, actually there are 74 of them, which I should imagine is a sizable number for such a small market town.
In 1925, the BBC constructed a radio transmitting station on Borough Hill just outside the town. Daventry was chosen because it was the point of maximum contact with the land mass of England and Wales, well I guess we are pretty much now in the centre of England!
Having walked ourselves out for the day we drove back to the room and chilled out by listening to Radio 2 and then eating our lovely microwave knock up dinner, as best we could with limited utensils!
Tomorrow is moving day and I am rather excited about this visit, tune in tomorrow for more details Avid Reader!
62 Miles
Bagging!!!
Well, I slept very well again last night and I woke up at 5:30 am this morning and I was out of bed just before 6:00.
We were both out of the house just after 7:00 am, Wendy went down to run around the village and I went back down to the canal to find the point where the Northampton Arm meets the Grand Union Canal, and I found it!
The canal becomes much wider there but the tow path alongside it wasn’t up to much, it was a muddy quagmire and I nearly ended up in the water a few times.
I posted a very poor time of over 11 minutes per mile, which is shocking really.
I was that slow that I was only back after 9:00 am, thankfully check out time wasn’t until 11:00 am so I had a couple of hours to get myself together.
We had the car packed and we were ready to go at around 10:30 am and as we had a good two hours to kill before we could check into our new accommodation, I thought that we should go and visit the city of Coventry. My thinking was that we could bag that city as I have never been there before and that there were four Wetherspoons to bag too. Although that was going to be a fluid situation depending how matters progressed.
I set the SatNav to avoid motorways and we drove through some very nice countryside.
We arrived in Coventry just after midday and the weather was very overcast with a little light rain.
We managed to park the car bang in the city centre and our first port of call was the Cathedral, both Cathedrals actually.
I say both because the original Cathedral was badly damaged by Nazi bombers, November 1940, in the second world war, so much so that another had to be built next to it.
After Coventry Cathedral was gutted by incendiary bombs during World War II, a conscious and collective decision was taken to build a new Cathedral and to preserve the ruins as a constant reminder of conflict, the need for reconciliation, and the enduring search for peace.
The ruins are still consecrated and used as a gathering place and site of reflection, and the weathered medieval sandstone of the tower, apse, and outer walls frame the open air space.
The foundation stone of the new cathedral was laid by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 23rd March 1956 and the new Cathedral was consecrated on 25 May 1962.
It’s really a stunning set of buildings with the Old Cathedral and the new one being connected together in a very thoughtful manner.
It was really poignant to stand inside the old Cathedral with the drizzle falling around!
From the Cathedral we bagged our first Wetherspoons of the day, The Earl of Mercia which wasn’t any further than 200 metres away from the Cathedral.
After a half pint of very nice ale, we took to the streets again and we walked into what might normally be a market square, but today it was a small funfair.
It was in this square that we found the statue of Lady Godiva.
Lady Godiva was an 11th century noblewoman married to Leofric, the powerful Earl of Mercia and Lord of Coventry. As the story goes, Godiva was troubled by the crippling taxes Leofric had levied on the citizens of Coventry.
After she repeatedly asked him to lessen the burden, Leofric quipped that he would lower taxes only if she rode naked on horseback through the center of town. Determined to help the public, Godiva stripped off her clothes, climbed on her horse and galloped through the market square with only her long flowing hair to cover herself.
Before leaving, she ordered the people of Coventry to remain inside their homes and not peek, but one man, named Tom, couldn’t resist opening his window to get an eyeful. Upon doing so, this “Peeping Tom” was struck blind. After finishing her naked ride, Godiva confronted her husband and demanded that he hold up his end of the bargain. True to his word, Leofric reduced the people’s debts.
Our next bag was just a few yards from Lady Godiva, and it was called The Flying Standard!
I had to wait a good deal of time at the bar to get served as a group of Gypsy men wanted to get served, but due to prior difficulties the bar manager wasn’t game to serve them. I watched as the ring leader, a nasty looking fella tried to persuade and then attempt to intimidate the manager. The lad stood his ground and only allowed one more drink when an older fella came over to diffuse the situation. They still didn’t behave and by the time we were leaving things were about to kick off again.
We walked around the city and we found it to be a very nice and clean place, with lots of shops and things to see. We found the old city walls, although there isn’t much left of them.
We also saw a statue of Frank Whittle outside the Transport Museum; Frank was born in Coventry and he designed the turbojet engine.
After a good old walkabout, we went back to the car and drove to our next Wetherspoon Bar, The Spon Gate, which is part of the Skydome
The Coventry Skydome is a 3,000-seat multi-purpose arena which mainly houses a large ice centre where ice hockey and pleasure skating takes place.
The bar is actually quite good for a relatively new building!
Back in the car and we drove to our very last Wetherspoon bag of the day, The City Arms which is about a mile out of the city.
This bar was reasonably busy but not dangerously so, so we sat on our own, out of the way and enjoyed our last drink of the day.
The rain was coming down quite heavily by the time we left the bar, and it got worse as we drove around Birmingham City Centre. It was almost like Storm Eunice by the time we got to our apartment.
The Apartment is quite nice, its compact and it’s been built onto the side of someone’s house, but it does work quite well.
We had wanted to go for a Sunday Pub Roast Dinner but everywhere local was full, but that was OK as we had some pork chops, duck eggs and garden peas.
And that’s it for today, I did say that I was going to detail the reason we are in Oldbury in yesterday’s copy but I’ll save that for tomorrow as it’s been a rather busy day, and I have the delights of a tragedy occurring on Call the Midwife in about 30 minutes time, and I need to prepare myself for that!
No Travelling
Jeepers it was wild again last night, thankfully I was smart enough to stuff my ears with earplugs which remained in place all night, giving me a very good night’s sleep.
It was still very windy this morning so Wendy didn’t go out running, but I did of course.
I knew we are located very close to another canal, and I knew roughly where I could find it so that’s where I went.
The canal is called the Titford Canal and it was initially constructed in 1836-7 to serve the local coal mines, the canal now runs from Titford Pools. The pool itself was a reservoir made in 1773-4, collecting water running off the Rowley Hills, and is now partly underneath an elevated section of the M5 motorway.
The canal is just under two miles in length. At 511 feet above sea level it was the highest navigable canal in the Midlands, and is only beaten to the title of the highest in England by the Rochdale Canal, which is 600 feet at its summit.
I chose to run towards Birmingham which turned out to be an interesting choice as very quickly I joined the Birmingham Canal, and I went into some not very nice places and I saw some not very nice looking reprobates. One of which appeared to be warming his drugs up on an impromptu burner. I’m glad Wendy didn’t go out after all!
I got back with wind behind me which was a boost as there is a steep hill to climb.
After breakfast we walked about 2 miles into Oldbury Town.
Here is why I wanted to come to Oldbury.
I have just started to look into my family tree, which is something that I thought wouldn’t interest me, but I now seem to be hooked.
Here’s a brief outline of what I have found from following my Mums, Mums line.
My Granny, Annie Harrison, who’s maiden name was Wood, and her mother was called Ann Wood, (Maiden name Watson). She was the eldest daughter of William Watson who was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1841.
At some point in his life William moved from Newcastle to Oldbury where he met his future wife, Laura.
Now I am only just finding my way around the Search engine of the Ancestry website and it takes time to verify your information, but what I know about William is factual.
The first evidence I have of him is the 1881 census where he is living in Oldbury, with Laura and their children, Annie, John and baby Laura. William was working as a coal miner.
However, in the 1891 census I have him living at Barugh, Barnsley as a widower with Annie at 17 and not working, John at 16 and working as a coal miner. There are two new children, Mary A, aged 6 and Lizzie who is four. Baby Laura is no longer detailed and his wife Laura is now dead. William is now 50 years old.
Going further forward I find that Annie marries a man called Alfred Wood in 1898, like her father and her brother John, Alfred is a coal miner. I know from my Granny, who told me herself, that Alfred, her dad, died in a roof collapse at Barnsley Main Colliery and that he was entombed there as it was too dangerous to recovered him
I also know from my Gran that for the next three years the family of her mother and her sister’s had to live at the poor house.
I know from the 1911 census that William now 70, lived with his daughter and her husband Alfred and their children, my Granny being one of them.
Alfred died in 1916 at 40 years of age.
In the 1921 census I have William at 80 years old still living with Annie, but I now find she has remarried, to a man called John Edward Davidson who, again, works as a coal miner as does his son George. I also find that two of my Grans sisters have died and that the 3 sisters left are the ones I knew as a young man.
What made William move from Newcastle to Oldbury and then to Barnsley is something I’ll never know. However, all were, at that time very large coal mining areas.
So, the reason for me stopping over in Oldbury is to see something of the town where my Great, Great Grandmother Laura lived, with her husband, William Watson. I know almost nothing about Laura, so that’s my new mission.
I always knew that I was the last generation of coal miners, I just didn’t know how far that line goes, now I am slowly finding out!
Oldbury now is a manufacturing town with lots of small to large factory’s dotted about.
There isn’t much to the town but I did find some old buildings that my ancestors would have seen in their day.
We bagged the local Wetherspoons Bar, The Court of Requests.
As I was standing at the bar, I saw an old fella sat on his own, with a small table which was free next to him, so we sat there.
For the next 30 minutes I chatted to him about Oldbury of old.
He was in his 80’s and he said that he remembered the last coal mine in the town and he told me to go around a wall in the bar and that I would find a print on the pubs wall which illustrated Oldbury’s mining heritage, and I did indeed find it!
We chatted further about the towns industrial decline as he said that all the big factories had closed.
Then, he asked me, ‘Where do all the men work nowadays’, I said that I often wondered that myself. He then said, ‘Men work in shops nowadays, they never did when I was younger, that was women’s work!’ Well, he did have me with that one!
He also told me that Oldbury is actually an island, he went on to explain that with all the canals surrounding Oldbury, that the only way into town was to go over water, and I have checked and he is indeed right!
I called into the council buildings to see if I could possibly get to see my Great, Great Grandmothers wedding certificate, it was a long shot which didn’t pay off, but at least I had tried. However, we did find that the council building in Oldtown is absolutely massive!
After covering as much of the town as we could, we bought some supplies from a supermarket and so tonight’s supper will be lamb shank with dauphinoise potatoes and veg, and then we walked back.
I noticed two very interesting masts on a hill at the other end of the town, I later found out that one is a TV mast and the other is a radio mast and they are called Turners Hill Transmitters.
The masts are visible from the nearby M5 and as far afield as Barr Beacon, wherever that is?
We called into a bar, the Coal Shed, around halfway from the apartment, but it had no history with coal mining as it used to be called something else.
We got back to the apartment at around 4:30 pm and lounged around relaxing.
Wendy almost had a heart attack when the wall clock fell from the wall and smashed on the floor. The sticky tab just wasn’t up to the job.
Supper was an absolute delight, and now It’s time to relax as its moving day tomorrow!
76 Miles
It was a much better morning today, but Wendy still didn’t go out running.
I went along the Titford Canal, but this time I went to find the start of it, and I did, after just a mile.
As it was designed for transporting coal in the 1800’s there must have been a pit somewhere around it, maybe my Great, Great Grandfather William worked there?
Wendy had most of the gear ready for departure by the time I got back to the apartment. After my smoothie I had a lovely hot shower before doing a few admin jobs, and then we were ready to hit the road.
We weren’t going far though, only 2.5 miles to West Bromwich as there was an interesting Wetherspoons to bag, The Billiard Hall. It was a cracker too, it obviously had been a Snooker Hall at some point in time. At 11:30 am it was just nice with a few older local fellas in catching up with their mates over an early pint. To be fair I think the beer was just a secondary distraction as I think the men there just wanted some company.
The barmaid was a really nice, pleasant young woman who called me, ‘My love’ about 4 times.
From the bar we took a walk around West Bromwich and it was very nice. It is a melting pot of nationalities with quite a few different accents around us. We didn’t buy anything; I was hoping to get some street food from a West Indian Street vendor but there wasn’t anything remotely like it available.
The place reminded me of one of those out of the city towns that surround London, like Mitchem, where you feel like you’re in the shadow of your big brother.
With our hour up on the car we set off for the cross country drive to Burton on Trent in Staffordshire. The SatNav was still set to avoid motorways so we had a very nice drive through the countryside of Staffordshire.
We parked the car easily enough and then we set off to find The Lord Burton for a nice relaxing pint of real ale, Wendy had a nice large glass of white wine.
The pub was a little busy, mainly with older people who were out to eat and catch up with friends. Two young women were in a booth and they had obviously had a few drinks as they were getting louder by the second.
From the bar we walked around town and we came across a very tempting bakers shop so in we went. We bought a meat puff pastry and a cheese and red pepper puff pastry. We also took a very nice piece of chocolate cake to share.
I wanted to find the River Trent so we headed in the direction where I thought it would be, and it was much further from the town than I would have thought.
It appears that there is a large flood plane between the town and the river and there’s a raised walkway to get there. It must have been ¾ of a mile long.
We had been hearing reports of flooding in the Rotherham area, but it seems to have affected Staffordshire as well because the flood plane was very badly affected.
Here’s what I found out about the bridge and walkway:
Ferry Bridge is a Victorian pedestrian bridge over the River Trent in Staffordshire, England. The bridge and its extension, the Stapenhill Viaduct, link Burton upon Trent town centre to the suburb of Stapenhill half a mile away on the other side of the river.
The bridge is a "semi-suspension" bridge, of which this is the first and only one of its kind in Europe to be built to this design.
The bridge was built to replace a small ferry service that had operated at the same site since the 13th century. The Ferry Bridge was gifted to the town by brewing magnate Michael Arthur Bass, later Lord Burton. It was officially opened on Wednesday 3 April 1889, and the ceremony was attended by between 8,000 and 10,000 people.
We found the River Trent in flood conditions and the whole area around it very badly affected by flood water. No wonder the town is located where it is, and the foot bridge is a fantastic asset to the town.
We carried on walking around town and we saw quite a few signs of the town’s importance on brewing beer
Burton upon Trent came to dominate the brewing trade, and at its height one quarter of all beer sold in Britain was produced here. In the second half of the 19th century there was a growth in native breweries, supplemented by outside brewing companies moving into the town, so that over 30 breweries were recorded in 1880. However just three main breweries remained by 1980:
All 3 breweries are visible when you are out and about in town!
Having spent a good 2 hours in Burton we left and headed a little further north to Chesterfield.
On our way to our accommodation, we nipped into Tesco to get a few more supplies to have with our pasty’s tonight. Therefore, for supper tonight we shared the pasty’s, half each and smoked salmon breaded bites, and with a glass of white wine it was just the ticket, the chocolate cake was the icing on the cake, so’s to speak!
Tomorrow we hope to go and solve the mystery of Chesterfields Church Spire!
No Travelling
St Mary’s Church
I had a bit of an issue in the bedroom last night, we have twin beds and I got up to visit the bathroom, but as it was pitch black in the room I was disorientated. I thought the bathroom was on my side and I tried to find the door by searching the wall, in doing so I knocked the clothes rail over. Wendy woke up and chided me awake!
The sun was out this morning and we both went out running along the Chesterfield Canal. The Chesterfield Canal is a really pleasant place, and nothing like the Birmingham Canal.
The Chesterfield Canal, known locally as the ’Cuckoo Dyke’ is beautifully green and peaceful, with barely a house in sight at the eastern end.
Here are some canal details:
I ran almost the full four miles along the canal and I got right in to the heart of the town.
After my morning Smoothie and yet more admin duties, we set off for a visit to Chesterfield for a very interesting reason, to go and see the very famous Church Spire.
As soon as we had parked the car in the multi storey car park our first stop was to St Mary’s and All Saints Church.
St Mary’s Church has the world famous crooked spire and it is extremely stunning.
Construction of the church began in the late 13th Century, and it was completed around 1360. It is the largest church in Derbyshire and the spire stands 228 feet from the ground and leans 9 feet 6 inches from its true centre.
One theory about the spire is that unseasoned wood was used during construction, with 32 tons of lead tiles placed on top, and as the timber dried out the weight twisted the spire. As the spire was built during the Black Death in 1349, a theory is that the original craftsmen had died and that their work was completed by less experienced men and they made the mistake of using green timber.
Also, there is a lack of cross bracing in the structure.
I’m not so sure about this theory as the roof tiles look perfectly aligned when you look closely, and surely if the structure was so unstable that it twisted, along with a lack of bracing, how come it’s stood solidly for almost 700 years? Just imagine how many storm Eunice’s have occurred during that time.
There are a few other, highly unlikely theories:
One questions the virtues of the local ladies in that whilst resting on the spire the devil twisted around in surprise because the bride was a virgin.
An even more slanderous theory is that the spire twisted when a virgin married and that it will straighten when another virgin marries there again!
Whatever happened, like lots of things that happened in the past, its very likely that we will never know.
The church inside is also quite stunning too and is well worth a detour to visit.
After the church we took a lovely stroll around the town centre and we found it to be a very pleasant place.
The streets are nice and tidy and there are some beautiful buildings to see.
We found the large outdoor market area, which sadly wasn’t open today, but there is also a small indoor market which was very nice inside.
After the market we happened upon the first of Chesterfields two Wetherspoons bars, The Spar Vaults.
More walking around followed and we came across the town hall, and again it’s a really tastefully built building. My favourite town hall is Barnsley’s, not because it’s my home town, but because it really is a fantastic spectacle. However, I have to say that the town hall in Chesterfield does give it a run for its money.
Even more walking occurred until we came to our second Wetherspoons Bar, The Portland Hotel.
Yet more walking and pretty soon we had walked every road and street in Chesterfields town centre.
We did stop to buy some food for tonight’s supper from a local bakery. We bought, 2 roast pork sandwiches, a large pork pie and one very large chocolate truffle which we hope to share.
I tried to pay, several times by credit card but after several attempts where I was told by the sales assistant that the card had been declined, I paid cash.
We ate the pork pie as soon as we left the shop, I ate my half first, with brown sauce that I had snaffled from Wetherspoons. Wendy ate her half after, but left a quarter of it for me as she didn’t like it. I must admit it wasn’t as good as one we had shared yesterday.
After all that walking I still had one more visit to make, to walk half a mile to The Holy Trinity Church to go and visit the grave of George Stephenson, the father of the railway.
George Stephenson was an English engineer and the inventor of the first steam locomotive. He is known as the “Father of Railways” for his contributions in the field. He was born on June 9, 1781 in Northumberland, he died at his home in Chesterfield, where he then lived, in 1848.
George was a prolific inventor but his most famous one was Stephenson’s Rocket.
Rocket was built to run on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world's first inter-city passenger railway line. In 1829, Rocket won the Rainhill Trails, which was a competition to decide on the best mode of transport for the railway.
Rocket was the only locomotive to successfully complete the trials, averaging 12 mph and achieving a top speed of 30 mph.
Sadly, we found the church, where Georges remains now lay inside, locked with no one around. Never mind at least we had tried to visit him!
That last venture concluded our very pleasant visit to Chesterfield and we were soon in the car heading back to our digs.
After a very nice cup of coffee and the truffle, I did as I always do after a day out using my credit card, I wanted to reconcile my payments so I checked my account.
Here is an email I had to write after checking my credit card account:
Hi,
I bought 2 pork rolls, 1 pork pie and 1 chocolate truffle at the shop in Chesterfield earlier today and there was an issue with the credit card reader when I tried to pay.
On checking my account for another matter this afternoon, I saw that I have been charged 3 times for the amount of £10.85.
I had actually paid cash in the shop before I left because I was told that it had not gone through.
I have attached a screen shot of my credit card app to show the payments.
How can I obtain a refund please?
I do not live locally, I live in Inverness and I was just visiting today and I leave tomorrow.
I contacted the accounts department and I spoke with Leah and she told me to take this action
Regards, David
Jeepers it looks like this Yorkshireman won’t sleep a wink tonight after this affair!!!
42 Miles
There was me bragging what great sleep I have been having when last night I had one of the worst for a very long time.
I just tossed and turned and I could hear rain falling onto the Velux windows, (That’s a massive disadvantage to these windows, the noise when it rains). I heard a car start up at 5:30 am and that was that, I never dropped off again.
I laid in bed until 6:15 am then, as by now Wendy was awake, I got up and made tea.
The rain had by now stopped and we both went out running, Wendy went first and I followed 5 minutes later.
Today I went the opposite direction along the canal path but the canal came to an abrupt end just after 2 miles. I was aware that there are breaks in the canal and that a society has been working for a good few years to restore it fully. I just didn’t expect it to have a break so close to Chesterfield.
Jeepers I could feel the change in temperature outside, my legs were like blocks of ice as I was wearing my shorts.
I got back to our digs and after my smoothie I showered while Wendy got her gear together and just as I was dressed, I got a phone call from my nephew, Mark, who had made all the arrangements for his dad’s 70th birthday dinner, which was tonight.
Mark had some really bad news, his dad had tested positive for Covid 19 this very morning.
There was some uming and aring about what to do as we were all supposed to have a family dinner at the Strafford Arms Pub, which is rather a nice, cosy pub just outside of town, in the country.
But it was settled when I said that we wouldn’t be going and although it is quite legal to now leave the home with Covid in England, it really wouldn’t be fair to the other customers in the pub. So unfortunately, the party’s off.
I’m gutted myself as that’s the only reason we are staying two nights in Barnsley.
However, on the matter of the massive overpayment at the butchers yesterday I was pleased to be contacted by Maryjane, by email, from the companies accounts department. Maryjane apologised and asked for my bank details for her to give me a full refund. She also asked that whenever I come back to Chesterfield, I shouldn’t be put off and that I must call in at their shop again. I’m not really sure if I ever would though!
Our first port of call after check out was to the small town of Bolsover, which was 5 miles away. Bolsover was a very big mining area but that all went with the pit closures of the 1980’s and 1990’s.
As we drove up the big hill into the town we saw a massive castle on the approaching hilltop, it was huge!
Bolsover Castle was built in the early 17th century, the present castle lies on the earthworks and ruins of the 12th-century medieval castle; the first structure of the present castle was built between 1612 and 1617.
Sadly, it was far too cold to go and explore the castle!
We did like the town though, it is small and cosy and very, very clean. We did have a debate as to whether Bolsover is a small town, or a large village, but as it has two butchers and a Morrisons store I guess it’s a small town.
After a half pint of real ale in the Wetherspoons Bar and then buying a small tricycle for our garden, we made our way to the Meadowhall Centre on the outskirts of Sheffield.
There’s a Wetherspoons Bar in the centre, The Foundry, but Wendy also wanted to buy some perfume.
Being half term in the area, the centre was busy, but not overcrowded and you could easily do a bit of zombie dodging. In fact, we were really lucky in Wetherspoons as we saw a booth being cleaned and we jumped straight into it.
We shared a plate of loaded chips and we had a drink each, the chips were lovely and were just what the doctor ordered as we were both starving.
From there Wendy bought her perfume and soon we were back on the M1 and heading for our next destination, Chapeltown, which is just inside the Sheffield City border, at the boundary with Barnsley.
I have never been to Chapeltown, well actually I have, many times as a young lad, but only on a double decker bus when we used to go to the Sheff Valley Baths in Sheffield. You see it is in the middle of the old bus route which we took when we had missed the Motorway coach, which was much quicker.
The weather was terrible, there was hail and high winds blowing it in our faces so we sought sanctuary in the last Wetherspoons of the day, The Wagon and Horses.
It was a really nice bar and it was a welcome escape from the weather.
After a brief walk around the area, we jumped into the car and after filling the car with fuel, well we just don’t know what this Ukraine War will do to fuel supplies so I am now going to keep a full tank, we checked in to our hotel room.
We are staying at the Premier Inn in the town centre and we are on the side of the hotel with the great view.
As soon as we were settled in our room, I called my brother who didn’t sound so good. In fact, on top of his bad Covid symptoms he was feeling pretty bad about missing his birthday party.
We arrived at Mark and Leanne’s house just before 6:30 pm but before we went inside, we went to look at their new house which is being constructed just across the road from where they now live. In the failing light I could just make out the new steel structure which the house will be formed around.
Supper was an utter delight, we had two courses. The first was a really nice cheese and meat starter and for main course we had a really tasty salmon, noodle and salad meal, it was yummy.
We left Mark and Leanne just after 8:00 pm as they were going to see Marks dad and take him his birthday cake, we came away with two huge pieces of the cake for ourselves.
I dropped Wendy off at the hotel and I went up to the Fire Station to see one of my students who was on a recruit’s course when I was an instructor at the training centre exactly 30 years ago.
Well, it had to happen, as soon as I arrived, just as I got out of the car, he left the station on the Fire Engine on an emergency call and that was that.
It’s just been one of those days!
But at least I’m now nicely settled in my hotel room with a lovely looking piece of birthday cake waiting for me, with a nice glass of wine waiting too!
No Travelling
More Disappointment!
Thankfully I had a good old, proper sleep last night and despite not going to bed until almost midnight, (because I was watching Reacher, for the second time), I felt really good when I woke at 6:15 am. I got dressed and went down to the shop for the Barnsley Chronicle and some orange juice, but all I got was the orange juice because the papers weren’t in yet.
It was a lovely sunny morning but the wind was bitterly cold, so I just had to put on my tracky bottoms when I went out running. Wendy stayed tucked up in bed and swearing that she’ll get back on the fitness trail when she is home next week.
I enjoyed my run, it’s funny how when I run around my old town memories just come flooding back.
Although I don’t appreciate the steep hills like I used to!
I got back just before 10:00 am and after a little relaxation time we drove out to Penistone to go and buy some Baileys Chocolate Cheese Cake from Leanne’s shop.
We parked the car in the Tesco car park and walked down the hill to the shop and the wind was absolutely freezing cold. It was supposed to be 7 degrees, or so the car thermometer read, but it felt much colder than that!
I was very disappointed to find that there was no Baileys Cheesecake at the shops, despite Leanne saying my request would be made. Leanne wasn’t working in the shop today but she was certain her friend Karen had made it for me. However, Karen told me when I asked where the cheesecake was that she had been too busy to make it.
So, we came away with some Kinder Chocolate cake which in my eyes was a poor second best. We did however get Alex a smashing looking Gluten Free Meat and Potato Pie.
I got back into the car while Wendy nipped into Tesco. As I had managed to get a copy of the Chronicle now, I read that until Wendy got back.
We drove back from Penistone and I thought to go for a drink at a pub I know an old school friend manages in Oxspring, which is still in the high hills close to Penistone. But I could not find it so I had to revert to the SatNav who still could not find a way to it. Then the penny dropped, we had seen a road closed due to a landslide, which made it harder to find. But we did eventually find it.
As we walked in the first door, there was a sign on the second door that said, ‘Ring the bell and then wait until a staff member lets you in’. So, I rang the bell and waited, and waited, and waited. Then when a lady customer came out of the door, we went in and I saw a female staff member and I said, ‘Are we supposed to still abide by that notice?’
‘What notice?’ She replied.
‘This one’, I said and she had to join me in the tiny corridor to read the notice.
‘Oh yes’ she said, ‘Well I waited an age and no one came’, I replied.
‘OK, come in, have you booked a table?’
‘No, we just want a drink’, was my reply. I knew this wasn’t going to end well.
There were three tables at the bottom where the door was, two were made up with cutlery, but one wasn’t, and then she led us through a busy dining area where there were two more tables set with cutlery at the top near the bar, but with no one sat there.
I saw my mate Paul who was at the bar, but he was obviously busy with other staff members.
Then the lady who had brought us in said, ‘I don’t know where I can sit you just for a drink’.
That was it, it was now beyond embarrassing, we told her not to bother and we left it at that, and I never got to chat with my mate.
Back in the car we were soon back at the hotel, where after phoning my brother to check that he was getting better, we hit the town!
And things got a little better!
First, we took a drink in a new bar that is close to the Micro Pub that is part of the hotel complex where we are staying, it’s called the ‘Tin Oyle’, and it’s the bar where we were supposed to take my brother to meet some of his friends last night.
We had a nice chat with the barmaid who was a lovely young woman, before we took a seat.
The Tin Oyle, is on the site of the Old Barnsley Canister Company, (Known locally as the Tin Oyle).
The Cannister company used to employ hundreds of people before it was demolished
The Barnsley Canister Company was, for the best part of a century, one of the most renowned international producers of metal tins for use by companies to transport and display their tea, biscuits and all manner of other items.
Sitting in the bar got me thinking about the industrial past of Barnsley, where even I could recall:
Over 20 coal mines in the 1980’s each employing about 2,500 men
Qualter Halls, an international fabricating company (Still working today)
Various Sewing Factories – Employing thousands of women – Double 2 Shirts, Sugden’s and several SR Gent factories that made clothes for Marks and Spencer’s.
Redfearn’s Glass – A glass bottle plant employing hundreds of people – Still open
Woods Glass – Another glass smelter who was a major employer in Barnsley, now long gone!
Naylors Glass – Yet another large glass manufacturing company now gone
I had a major incident when I was Officer in Charge at Royston Fire Station in 1996. It was at Redfearn’s National Glass, where a leak of molten glass had burst out of the furnace. Jeepers that was a nip and tuck job, but I got to grips with it and we cooled the leak with our hoses to form a solid plug of glass right back to the furnace to stop the flow.
It was a work of art, but thankfully at Royston I had a great crew to work with.
After the drink we had a walk around town before we had a lovely early dinner in the hotel bar. It was slightly spoiled by a lad who sat nearby, who was swearing quite profusely into his phone. I gave him a, ‘I’m not happy stare’ and a short while later he took his jacket and left. He came back ten minutes later with two mates, but by now he had learnt not to swear and everything was fine from there on in.
After dinner we snatched one more drink in the small Micro Pub before we relaxed for the rest of the night in our room.
Wendy was feeling quite tired after a busy day drinking wine and she did nod occasionally while watching TV!
Tomorrow we head back to Edinburgh to see Rose, how exciting!!!
221 Miles
Fillet Steak!
I was late up this morning by half an hour, but that was OK, it’s a Saturday after all.
We both went out running too, I went on one of my favourite routes, along Gawber, along Broadway and into Locke Park.
I was mentioning memories the other day and the old cricket field in Locke Park has so many for me. Every summer when I was a nipper my brother Alan and our mates would play cricket there all day and every day of the school holidays. We even had our own pitch marked out, and other teams from other areas would occasionally come and play against us.
We only had one batsman at a time and when they were only running a single, they got to the opposite, often single stump, and they had to say, ‘R.S.T. walking back’. To this day I have no idea what it meant, but if you didn’t say it, you could be run out walking back.
We also used to go and play with the bunny wood as it was stocked up before Bonfire night, before the firemen would build the huge fire. It was mainly old beer crates they used, so we would make dens of then. It would be more highly controlled these days without kids getting anywhere near the wood. I have an old photograph of me at home, with my mates playing on the crates with, get this, The Chief Fire Officer of the old Barnsley Fire Service.
Today I ran up to Locke Park Tower and I sat on a bench and took a drink. There was a man at the tower and he was stood just below the park tower, he looked like some kind of steward. I ran past him and stopped to take a photo of the tower before sitting on the bench. He never looked at me, he never even acknowledged me.
As soon as I had sat on the bench the leading park runner came running up the hill and the steward clapped the man along like it was his own son, he then went on to clap, profusely, every other park runner who went past him.
I thought to myself why didn’t he clap me; how did he know that I wasn’t the leading park runner?
As soon as I had finished my drink stop, I slid off the bench and fell in step with the park runners until we got to the main gate where I peeled off and left them to it.
After my shower, and both of us producing negative lateral flow tests, we loaded the car with our luggage and left the car in the car park, as we had outstanding time on parking, and we walked into town with one aim, to visit Barnsley Market to buy:
We were successful with our mission and we were soon back at the car and heading north.
I had bought enough provisions for Robyn and Alex, Caroline and Bradley, and a fillet steak for Eleanor and Rose to share.
The roads were good and we made very good progress, however as we passed Newcastle the SatNav took us off the A1 and we ended up going along the A68, which is a truly stunning road, on both sides of the border.
We were at Alex and Robyn’s house just gone 5:10 pm and Rose was sat on the porch fence with her mummy waiting for us to arrive. When we did, we got big smiles from her.
Alex was refereeing a football match in the Borders
As soon as Wendy had washed her hands, she had Rose scooped up in her arms and I never got a look in.
As soon as I had unpacked the car, I went down to Tesco to get fuel for the car and some provisions for supper, and for the England v Wales Rugby Match which we would watch on catch up after dinner, thankfully we didn’t know the score.
When I got back to the house, Rose was in her high chair and eating her fillet steak with some salad and olives like a lady of substance.
As soon as Rose was asleep in bed, I cooked the steak and some prawns in garlic, and while I did, we enjoyed a lovely starter that Robyn had bought, massive oysters.
The steaks were absolutely perfect, just nicely tender and mouth melting!
After dinner we watched the rugby, me sipping a nice pint of Theakston’s Old Peculiar.
The game started off well for England with the team 9 points good in the first 30 minutes, but then things got close when Wales got quick try’s in the second half and it ended up being a nail biting finish, with England just holding on.
I then left the living room to file tonight’s copy and both Wendy and Robyn went up to bed, leaving Alex in the lounge watching a world title boxing match.
I caught the last round and the challenger was the clear winner for me, and having heard Alex’s commentary, but the judges thought otherwise, and from the commentators’ thoughts after the fight it seems that they agree!
177 Miles
Home!!!
I woke at around 6:30 am only to find Wendy bimbling on her iPad so I turned over and nodded back off to sleep. The next I knew was a beautiful little baby girl being brought into our bedroom by her nanny for early morning fun.
Wendy must have woken up especially early to make sure that she had first dabs on Rose when she woke up, before her parents in the room across the landing, with their bedroom door open, could grab her first.
We had 20 minutes of cuddly fun before we took Rose downstairs where I had an early breakfast of Alex’s flapjacks with a nice hot cup of tea, and Rose had, a fig to start with, followed by a nice hot bowl of porridge.
We had a little more playtime after breakfast because I didn’t get ready to go running just then as I wanted to listen to Steve Wrights Sunday Love Songs show on BBC Radio 2, which doesn’t come on until 9:00 am.
I ran down to Musselburgh Harbour in stunning bright sunshine, it was a little nippy but the sky was almost cloudless.
I sat on a bench in the harbour and I took a good swig of water from my bottle and I relaxed nicely in the sunshine.
As I was running back along the sea front, which is often frequented by dog walkers, I saw two terrier type dogs, with their owner, but who were off the lead, chase a poor dog, I saw it all happen. The poor dog was with his owner and it was also off the lead. He was like a Benji dog from a film I saw many years ago, and it was about the same size as a small Labrador. Then these two dogs just leapt on it and it ran off with them in hot pursuit.
As they passed me, one of the terriers had grabbed poor Benji’s tail in its mouth and poor Benji was mortified and squealing.
Benji’s owner was an old fella and he looked right out of sorts. The terrier’s owner, a man a little younger than me, attempted to chase the dogs albeit at fast walking pace and I gave him such a scowl of a look. Those dogs should not have been off the lead, and had they chased my dog like that I would have had something to say about it!
I got back from my run just a little before 11:00 and I had walked straight into the house of fun. Wendy had bought some large toys for our playroom at home for our two granddaughters to play with when they visit, on our travels. In the kitchen Rose was being pushed around the kitchen on the trike by her nanny and she was loving it.
A little later she was taken out by her mummy and dad to play on the trike in the street, with nanny tagging along.
I had my smoothie and then a shower and then I packed the car and not long after we drove home.
Rose was going for a bike ride on her mum’s bike with dad tagging along, and I bet she had a great time, she’s certainly a baby who loves life!
We made really good progress, first over the Queensferry Bridge and then up the M90.
Beyond Perth and the A9 looked absolutely stunning in the bright sunshine.
Just before 4:00 pm we were on the drive and we unpacked the car, put a load of washing on and then we drove across town to go and see Eleanor and to give her mum and dad their share of the fillet steak, pork pies and black pudding.
After a snatched cuddle with Ellie, we did a quick shop in Tesco where I bought some supplies for a stir fry supper of Monkfish and Jumbo Prawns.
Wendy and me shared cooking duties and what an utter delight it was, it was a culinary experiment that worked a treat.
And that’s that for this latest adventure, it’s been a fantastic trip and I have learnt a lot more, both about my country and my family history.
I am really looking forward to the next adventure, it starts in less than 2 weeks’ time and its going to be another Gill and Shepherd, and even a Wilson family affair, Lord Help us!!!
Trip Stats
Miles Travelled – 1,421
Nights Away – 13
New Places Visited – 10
Cousins Met – 2
Cost of Fuel - £317.59
183 Miles
Country to Country
I woke early this morning for a bathroom break which I think was around 4:30 am, and I could hear the very loud pitter patter of rain on the garage roof, so I was surprised when I got up at 6:30 am to find a reasonably dry morning.
I ran to Beauly and as I got to the Lovatt Bridge at the 3 miles mark the heavens opened and I got soaking wet. My tracky bottoms were so wet that they started to slip down my legs.
Thankfully the rain only lasted about 30 minutes and I managed to get back home with my respectability intact.
I had my smoothie and tea and then I showered and then I slowly packed the car. We had a fair few bits to pack but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be because I could see through the back window.
We didn’t set off from home until well turned 12:30 pm which was just as well because the back-up hard drive that I ordered from Amazon, and which should have arrived yesterday, came with the morning post.
The trip down the A9 wasn’t too bad, and we made pretty good time.
The drive over to Glasgow was good too and we were parked in the hotel carpark at just gone 3:45 pm.
It’s been a couple of difficult and sad days, but we are now on our way.
The reason for this adventure is that Wendy will be 60 years old this week and along with Brad, Caroline, Alex and Robyn, Eleanor and Rose we have hired a nice house in Whitstable, for the week, which we can go into on Monday. However, we are in Glasgow as Brad and Caroline was supposed to be here for the Country-to-Country show at the Scottish Hydro which has been postponed for two years. However, like many things it had been postponed several times due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.
That’s why we set off for this trip two days early, we were booked into a Travelodge where we were going to have Eleanor for the night while Brad and Caroline partied with Dolly Parton. But the pandemic was having none of this as Brad tested positive on Tuesday morning, and Isolated in the spare bedroom as Caroline was testing negative. Caroline was negative for 3 days but fully succumbed on Friday morning, which was very gutting because it not only thwarts their plans for Country to Country, but it also puts their attendance at his mother’s birthday celebration in jeopardy too.
As a result, we are now staying at Brads hotel, the Crown Plaza and not the Travelodge as we intended to. Crown Plaza Hotel is in the grounds of the Scottish Event Centre.
Actually, the SEC, used to stand for the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and originally only the Armadillo building was the only arena on site, and we saw Will Young here in the early 2000’s. The SEC Armadillo was opened in 1985 with the newest building, the Scottish Hydro coming along in 2013.
The Hydro was a little jinxed in the early days, in fact before building work was completed, in June 2013, a severe fire affected the roof structure. Five fire appliances, along with several high reach appliances and 40 firefighters, were called to the scene and smoke and flames were seen coming from the edge of the domed roof of the building.
The 12,000-seat arena had been scheduled to open in September, with a performance by Rod Stewart, but that was cancelled because of the fire and held later on that year.
The site is pretty impressive, set along the banks of the River Clyde and just outside of the city of Glasgow.
We are directly across from Glasgow Science Centre where the impressive Glasgow Tower is.
Glasgow Tower has been part of the city's skyline since 2001. Designed by Richard Horden in 1992, the tower was originally proposed as a landmark for Glasgow to be built in the city’s St Enoch Square. However due to its unique design it was moved to accompany Glasgow Science Centre on the banks of the Clyde.
Standing at 127 metres tall, it is the only tower structure in the world that rotates fully from the ground up and the only one that can dynamically track the wind and change position to face into the direction of the wind. The actual turning structure is around 139 metres, as the tower delves 12 metres below the ground level, where the full 500 tonne weight of the tower rests upon a 65 cm wide thrust bearing – imagine a ping pong ball cut in half and put in an egg cup.
After checking into the hotel, I watched the England v Ireland rugby match and I have to say that England were extremely unlucky with the red card incident occurring within 80 seconds of the game starting. Now I don’t want to appear to have sour grapes but the referee watched the tackle several times in slow motion, on TV replay, where the tackle did look bad, however when I saw it in real time it didn’t look half as bad. Maybe minute analysis doesn’t really give a true reflection of what actually happened. Having said that, England played like Lions for the rest of the game and only lost it in the dying minutes.
After the rugby we took a short walk around the centre, it was getting dark but we walked through the site going behind the Armadillo and then by the Hydro where we didn’t think the Country event was as busy as it should have been. Well with Covid 19 now affecting one in every 18 person in Scotland, I guess like Brad and Caroline a lot of people have had to call off.
We walked over the Clyde Arc Bridge, also known as the Finnieston Bridge, or its given local name, the "Squinty Bridge" which we see every morning on Scottish Breakfast News.
We saw on both banks of the Clyde two buildings which were built exactly the same, and they were called the Rotundas. One appeared to be a restaurant and the other was closed and in darkness.
I later found that the Rotundas were access buildings to the River Clyde tunnel.
The tunnel was built in the late 18th century by the Glasgow Harbour Tunnel Co. and opened for business on 15 July 1895, giving access to horse-drawn vehicles and pedestrians.
New York company Otis supplied six hydraulically powered lift cages in both rotundas, which took wheeled traffic down to the tunnels.
The tunnel flopped financially and closed in 1907 until 1913, when the Corporation reopened them as a free service to pedestrians. However, four years later the pedestrian tunnel was closed due to lack of use. Understandably, it was also a frightening place to be, with poor lighting and water spilling through the iron sides of the pipes.
Fast forward to 1986 when Bell's Bridge was built across the river, the fate of the Harbour Tunnel was sealed, with the vehicle shafts closed and the shafts were filled in. The pedestrian tunnel was kept open as access to water mains and remains as that today.
And that’s that for tonight’s copy, as I knock up tonight’s post Ant and Dec have just finished their show and now, I’m going to settle down with my lovely view of the night time Clyde, albeit with a little sadness for what should have been.
But having said that I know a lot more people have suffered a far lot worse as a result of this bloody pandemic!
376 Miles
Fire Alarm!
Well, that was an interesting night!
Wendy was fast asleep in bed while I was watching Netflix at around 11:00 pm when the fire alarm went off.
Wendy nearly had a heart attack.
Thankfully our bedroom door is right next to the fire escape staircase so I told Wendy to dress in warm clothes as we were likely going to be out of the hotel for some time, and we were!
It was pandemonium outside with mainly drunken revellers enjoying the moment.
Thankfully the fire service were in attendance quite quickly and we were allowed back in. Just as we got out of the lift, I realised I had lost the door key outside while I must have been getting my phone out of my pocket, and I was just about to go and get a new one when, the fire alarm sounded again.
This time we evacuated to the ground floor and stood inside the fire escape, shielding from the drizzle.
As we stood there, I noticed the fire alarm manual call point was flashing red, which is what it does when it has been activated. I checked the box and the glass was intact, but the box front was not fitted properly and is most likely the reason it went off.
I nipped outside to tell the driver of the fire appliance which box had gone off, but he couldn’t be bothered to radio and tell his boss, he just said, “I’m sure they’ll find it”.
Yes, I thought. Like twenty minutes ago when you were back on your way to the fire station and it went off again!
In my fire service career, I have known a lot of idiots break glass call points maliciously. But I’ve never known them to do it twice within 20 minutes, so I am guessing there was a fault on the system, and that the most likely cause was that manual call box.
In cases of 3 false activations, we used to tell the hotel that we wouldn’t respond to any more fire alarm call outs unless it’s backed up by a phone call stating that there was indeed a fire. Then it would be left to the hotel to either reset the alarm and take a chance on it not going off again, or, of leaving it unset so that it wouldn’t go off and then have staff walk the corridors all night.
We both went out at 7:45 am and I ran along the Clyde towards the city and Wendy went in the opposite direction. I had the wind in my face all the way, and some drizzle too.
Jeepers the Clyde is a brown and murky river, and there are loads of bridges criss-crossing it. There were also quite a few rowing clubs out too and even some lone rowers, all struggling against the flow of the Clyde and then all flying down on the current.
I was out of the city just after two miles and the countryside was rather nice, but not outstanding.
I got back just before 10:00 and as we had the cool bag with a large bag of ice, which had remained intact overnight, I had a lovely fresh banana smoothie.
At just after 11:00 am we set off for the long journey south, but before getting out of the city the SatNav took us through some residential areas, some not very nice residential areas actually. The City Council Refuse Collectors had a strike last November and apparently the bins were overflowing with rats scurrying around in the overflowing rubbish.
I thought the strike had been settled but we saw large amounts of rubbish overflowing large communal bins and it was really piling up, it didn’t look good for a city that brags it has very green credentials since the Environmental Conference at Cop 26 which Glasgow hosted last year.
Within a couple of miles, we were heading south on the M74 which we eventually, when entering England, joined the M6.
We stopped off at the Morrisons Store in Penrith for both fuel and something for dinner.
Jeepers, what a queue there was at the filling station, we had a 10-minute wait just to get onto a pump.
In the store I bought a fresh cooked chicken, 2 very nice-looking Japanese Teriyaki pot noodles, a box of wine and some ice for the ice box.
We were back on the road after about 30 minutes and we made good progress on the long journey.
The only area where we encountered some slow traffic was going around Birmingham, but the traffic was just slow and not stood, thankfully!
We left the M40 with a 20-mile cross country road trip through some really lovely countryside. We passed through an amazing, looking village called Waddesdon, the buildings were stunning with some really lovely, articulate architecture. Jeepers I would guess you would need a mega lottery win to be able to afford to live there.
We got to our Travelodge at around 5:45 pm and after being checked in by a lovely young man we dropped our bags, put the kettle on and then ate an amazing supper of tasty pot noodles and roast chicken.
Now fully fed we took a short walk around Aylesbury Town Centre.
By now it was dark but the town looked really nice, with clean streets and some amazing fairy lights which had been strung around the trees that are in the towns square.
As we walked, we came across the David Bowie Memorial Statue, David played in the town a few times in the early 1970’s and he never forgot their kindness and support, so after his death a statue was commissioned in his memory, which is rather good of them!
There are two Wetherspoons Bars in Aylesbury but we only bagged one, The White Hart, as we were tired from the long journey.
We got back to our room and we settled down for the night.
I must admit to being absolutely pooped tonight after that long drive and I am sure to be fast asleep before the credits of the Peaky Blinders have finished running.
Our hotel is right at the start of a leg of the Grand Union Canal, so guess where I am going running tomorrow?
Well, you do know, Avid Reader, I do love a canal run!
111 Miles
The Grand Union Canal
I had a lovely sleep last night and I woke at 5:30 am but I managed to roll over and nod off until I got up at 6:15 am. I was going to lie longer as I didn’t want to disturb Wendy, but against all the odds her eyes opened and she was wide awake.
After a morning cup of tea, I was dressed and out of the hotel and running along the canal towpath by 7:30, and it was a bright and sunny day, and it wasn’t very cold either.
The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal was completed in 1815 and it is 6.25 miles long.
The towpath for the first mile was great for running on as its all asphalt, however as soon as I got out of the built-up area it turned to mud, and in some parts, it was a quagmire. Honest, it was more like a ploughed field and I was slipping and sliding my way along and I had to be careful not to end up in the canal.
At one point I came across a fellow who had gotten bogged down with his mountain bike.
My trainers were in a right state by the time I got back.
I had my smoothie in the hotel room and soon after we were out in the sunshine exploring the lovely, or so we thought town of Aylesbury.
Aylesbury is nice enough from a shopper’s point of view. There are plenty of shops, both chain shops and small independent ones. There is a really nice, and very well-designed indoor shopping mall, that’s nice and compact but it is also very roomy.
There are two large open areas which I’m guessing must form a market area on some days of the week.
If I had to put my finger on it, I would have to say that there appeared to be a higher percentage of what I would call no hopers, in Aylesbury town centre when we visited today.
The reason I noticed this is that before we left the hotel I was Googling for info about Aylesbury and I was shocked to find that the town has recently been voted the worst place to live in England.
Here’s the sensational newspaper article:
Aylesbury crowned the 'worst place to live in England'
Aylesbury is officially the worst place to live in the country - well, maybe not officially. The Buckingham town been handed the dubious honour for 2022, dethroning Peterborough which has held the title for three years.
More than 110,000 visitors took part in an online poll that saw Aylesbury earn 25 per cent more votes than its closest rival, Huddersfield, which finished second in the voting.
One commenter advised new arrivals in the town to invest in their own protection, saying: "If you’re a middle to upper-class family or individual looking to move to Aylesbury, then ensure you employ four full-time security guards and a dog and some barbed wire around your house."
Well, that doesn’t look good does it, I mean if a poll, even if organised online, came back with your town being the worst in England, there must be something behind it.
As I previously said, there were some unsavoury types hanging around town, and as I have visited 198 outlets now, I feel reasonably qualified to say, that having two Wetherspoon Bars in such a small town centre maybe is an indication of the calibre of people who are attracted to the town centre.
But I am sure that not everyone who lives in Aylesbury can be bad, I bet there are some really nice people here too, its just that they didn’t come to town today when I was there.
As a last gesture to the town, we took a drink in the second Wetherspoon’s Bar having first negotiated the man smoking directly under the sign which said this is a no smoking area.
The drive over to Whitstable was easy, the M25 was busy enough for us to be restricted to 60 mph, but that was fine because my overall miles per gallon for the trip was over 70 mpg which in the days of over £1.70 per litre can only be a good thing!
We got to our rental house just before 3:00 pm and it did take us a fair amount of time as we have so much stuff to bring in.
The house is lovely, and the added bonus is that there is a lovely ground floor bedroom for Granny, who is coming tomorrow, and a downstairs walk-in shower too.
No sooner had we unpacked all our gear when Alex, Robyn and Rose arrived, and the unpacking process was undertaken all over again.
While the unpacking was taking place, I put a very nice joint of pork in the oven for tonight’s supper of hot roast pork and stuffing, rolls.
When everyone was unpacked and the pork was cooking nicely, we all went for a walk down through the town and onto the sea front.
Whitstable is a really nice place and there are heaps of fish outlets everywhere, with a strong emphasis being on shell fish.
In fact, I think I need to look into some detail the shell fish industry of Whitstable while I am here.
The weather was nice as we strolled along, Rose was as chatty has ever and she enjoyed her walk.
The sun was so bright that I even had to put on my sunglasses on. The sky was clear too, and we could even see all the way over to the Isle of Sheppey.
We had to get back to the house smartish as Rose was getting hungry, and by the time we had double backed she was ready for her supper.
With Rose fed, bathed and in bed we sat down to a nice hot pork sarnie. Rose kept her mum and dad on their toes for a short while, which is only fair for her as she has been brought all the way down the length of the UK and put to bed in a very strange bedroom.
After supper we sat around and chilled for a while, but everyone was so tired after all the miles we have travelled these last few days that I’m guessing there might be some early to bed, and then late risers tomorrow, unless Rose has other ideas of course!
No Travelling
Sunshine!!!
I heard Rose stirring at 3:00 am this morning, Wendy was fast asleep and she never muffed. I woke her because she does like to try to give Alex and Robyn a good night’s sleep whenever she is with them. But, before Wendy could react, we heard Robyn soothing Rose and soon it was all quiet in the night.
We went back to sleep and I woke at around 6:15 am and I sneaked out of bed and went down for a slice of toast with lashings of vegemite and a hot cup of tea. Wendy and Rose joined me not long after and we had fun while her mum and dad were asleep upstairs.
Soon after Robyn came down and told us about the story of the night.
Robyn woke at 3:00 am and thought it was time to get up, they don’t have a clock in their bedroom so she assumed it was morning and time to get up, so she took Rose, who was asleep in her cot, in her arms and then realised it might not be morning time.
On checking the time with Alex, she found the true time and now had to slide Rose back into her cot and hoped that she continued with her sleep. Apparently Rose stirred for a little while, which is what I heard, but then settled back down.
Silly Robyn, silly Mummy!
I went for a run along the coast today, in bright sunshine and it was a delight. The sun was bright in the sky and it looked for the first time this year that Spring as finally sprung.
It wasn’t all plain sailing mind, I had bought some new ear phones for my iPhone, from a small trader in Aylesbury yesterday and it was my first day of using them.
Within the first 100 metres of setting off the ear plugs started to play up, they kept lowering the volume, all by themselves.
I tried and tried to rectify the problem as I ran, but I could not sort it out. I was cursing myself for trusting a small trader, when there was no way I could take them back for my money to be refunded, because I am over 100 miles away for the shop.
There was nothing I could do, I did try to run with my hand on the volume control but it just wasn’t comfortable, so I just stopped the music and carried on running.
At the 4 mile point I was almost at the next town, which is Herne Bay.
The beach path was perfect and it was busy. The concrete path only broke for about 500 metres at the 3-mile point, as it turned onto a well-worn grassy track. But soon enough I was back on solid concrete and I rested at the 4-mile point looking at Herne Bay which wasn’t very far away.
I did some emergency repairs on my earplugs. I was guessing that the volume control device was stuck so I bit through it and removed it completely, along with the right ear piece, but thankfully I could get constant sound through my left ear.
I got back to the house just as Alex, Rose and Robyn were leaving to go and get a wheelchair for Grandad from Canterbury, which is about 8 miles away.
After my breakfast smoothie and tea and shower we took the car for the 29-mile trip to the Isle of Sheppey to go and collect Great Granny and Great Grandad, (also known as the GG’s), who are spending five days with us in our nice big house.
The traffic was light and we had them both packed and in the car within 10 minutes of arriving and soon we were back at the house. The GG’s took in their new surroundings, and approved of what they saw. They have their own plush bedroom and very private facilities very close by. They are out of the way in a very efficient corner of the house, on the ground floor where they will be very comfortable.
Wendy made them a bite of lunch and soon enough Rose was back with mum and dad.
Alex unpacked the wheelchair for Great Grandad and we showed it to him and told him that we were going for a long walk.
So, with two wheelchairs and one pushchair in tow, we set off for a walk along the sea front.
It was a lovely afternoon and we enjoyed the walk.
We got all the way down to the harbour where we stopped for a breather before turning around and walking back through town.
On the route back we spotted a pub where we sat outside and enjoyed a nice drink. Rose wasn’t quite asleep so I took her for a walk around the block where after a little grizzle she nodded off. I was back at the pub smartish and we all sat outside and enjoyed our drinks.
We got very friendly with the pub dog who introduced herself and then she stretched out in the afternoon sun at the pubs entrance. She could have not got more comfortable if she had tried, I guess she was making a statement that this was her gaff, as they say in London!
After our drinks we headed back to the house and Robyn, Alex and Rose called into the supermarket to get some salad provisions for tonight’s supper.
Before we had left for the walk, Robyn had set the oven to come on to cook tonight’s hot meal of roast chicken thighs in a plumb sauce.
We got back just before the oven had turned on and it was with great relief that it did indeed turn itself on. We have no instruction manual for the oven and the hob so Robyn had somehow managed to work out, successfully, how to set the oven for timed operation.
As I needed an extra 10 minutes cooking time for the chicken, Alex and Robyn took Rose into the playroom at the bottom of the garden for a game of table football.
While waiting for the chicken to finish off, I went down and found Rose in absolute hysterics, she was in her sling, on her dad and thoroughly loving playing football against her mum.
Supper was an utter delight, Great Granny even said so herself.
With the kitchen being cleaned down by Alex and Wendy I helped Robyn with Rose in the bath.
Rose does love her bath time and she chuckled her way through it.
Its now 7:30 pm and Rose is fast asleep in her cot, and while I am filing tonight’s copy, I have her baby monitor in front of me as her mum and dad have gone shopping for provisions for tomorrow’s dinner as its Alex’s turn to cook.
As I write I have a lovely screen of Rose sleeping with her bottom in the air just like her mum used to do just over 30 years ago!
No Travelling
Whitstable to Herne Bay to Ramsgate to Herne Bay to Margate to Whitstable to Margate to Whitstable – Phew!!!
I was up early again, and I don’t really know why, my eyes popped open at 5:00 am but I did manage to roll over and I eventually nodded back off, but I was back up at 6:10 am.
Robyn was up with me and she gave Rose a bowl of porridge followed by freshly made banana and strawberry muffins. I had one later and it was lovely.
I had confided with Robyn yesterday that I have yet to find a present for her Mum’s birthday which is tomorrow. She chided me but, in my defence, I did tell her that I was going to buy her an expensive perfume pack, like I tried to do at Christmas, but I couldn’t because of supply issues. But Wendy had thwarted me on that because two weeks ago she had bought herself a perfume pack.
I told Robyn not to worry as I had come up with an idea to buy her some jewellery and that I had Googled some jewellers in Whitstable and that I was going to call in when I was coming back from my run to find something. Alex sniggered at me and said that I might not be welcome in a jewellers shop with me being all hot and smelly.
To accommodate the jewellers, I had to replicate yesterdays run as that route takes me down the High Street. But that was ok as the scenery is quite nice and I did get a little closer to Herne Bay and I could see in the distance, what looked like the end of a pier sat lonely out in the sea without anything connecting it to the shore.
I got back and I did indeed call into a jewellery shop, and I apologised for my condition but the lad behind the counter was very nice and helpful.
Sadly, there wasn’t anything that I thought would be suitable, and so when I got back to the house I asked for Robyn’s assistance, and I said that if I bought her some time, could she buy something suitable in Ramsgate, which was our intended destination today. She wasn’t happy with me, but I did tell her that I was now in a pickle and she then reluctantly agreed, so I gave her my credit card and I hoped for the best!
After breakfast, Robyn, Alex and Rose set off for Ramsgate and a little later I took Wendy and the GG’s first, as a rouse to buy Robyn some time, and also for my general interest, to Herne Bay to solve the mystery of the lonesome pier.
As we drove, I was asking Great Grandad about the pier at Herne Bay and he recalled that the old pier had been destroyed during a storm, and all that was left of it was the bit that I could see, and that a new smaller pier had since been constructed.
When we got to Ramsgate, Robyn was waiting for me and she quickly whisked me away to a jewellery shop where she had picked out some very nice, thin bracelets for her mum for me. The lady at the shop was really nice and she gift wrapped the present for me and then we went and found everyone else who had fully decamped into the largest Wetherspoons Bar in the United Kingdom, The Royal Victorian Pavilion.
We soon found everyone and we joined the table for a drink, courtesy of Great Granny. Rose was having her lunch and she just loved her time in the bar, she was, as always, our centre of attention.
After our drink we took a long walk around Ramsgate Marina but as it was starting to drizzle, we headed back to the car and then we decided to go back to Herne Bay and take a walk along the pier and then bag the local Wetherspoon Bar.
And that Avid Reader was where today went really wrong.
We parked close to the pier in Herne Bay and looked out for Robyn as they were a little behind us. Sadly, the pier was closing as we arrived and as Robyn had parked a little further along the road, we made our way over.
Great Granddad has difficulty walking these days, so to ensure we could all enjoy our time outdoors together, we have hired him a wheelchair for the week. But Grandad thought he could walk the distance over to where Robyn was, so off we set, with him walking with Wendy and with me pushing Granny in her wheelchair.
Not long into our walk, granddad tripped over and he gave himself a right old bash on the head. It was obvious to me that he needed medical treatment, so after settling him down I called an ambulance, well what a faff that was.
They ambulance operator told me that the ambulance might take up to two hours to arrive. I went to get the car, so that Granny and Granddad had some shelter, and then after 15 minutes had passed, I called the ambulance service again and asked for a time of arrival. As it was still in the two-hour time period, I told the operator I would take Grandad myself to the nearest hospital.
We got Granddad to the hospital and I had to leave him and Wendy there at the Accident and Emergency Department while I took Granny back to the house, as it was pointless her waiting in the cold as the nurse told us it would be at least 2 hours before Granddad was seen.
When we got back to the house, I waited about 40 minutes before setting off back, I called in at the local Tesco store for provisions for tomorrows Tapas birthday meal and then I set off back to Margate.
I parked up on the promenade at Margate and after asking Wendy for an update I walked along until I found the local Wetherspoons Bar, The Mechanical Elephant, where I whiled away the time with a pint of Doombar Real Ale.
In the nick of time, just as I was finishing my drink, Wendy sent me a message saying that Grandad had been given a clear bill of health and that I could now collect them.
Within 30 minutes we were sat at the dining table at the house, where Alex and Robyn had made us a fantastic Mexican fish supper, which was an utter delight.
Grandad, now back to full health tucked in and filled his boots.
I am really hoping that tomorrow will work out much better than today, but at least we have Grandad back in one piece, but from now on he is banished to the wheelchair for the rest of the week!
No Travelling
Birthday Girl
When Wendy went to bed last night, Robyn and Alex got to work.
First the birthday cake that Robyn had baked yesterday was decorated with as many different chocolate pieces as she could possibly fit on to the cake. It looked delicious!
Then the bunting came out and they both decorated the dining area for Wendy to be surprised with when she comes down in the morning, the morning of her 60th birthday.
I was up early, at around 6:30 am as Rose had joined us in bed for some morning play a little earlier. Wendy Robyn and Rose joined me and then a little later on GG also joined us.
Wendy sat and unwrapped her cards and presents and she was delighted with what she had been gifted. She loved the bracelets that I bought her, as I knew she would.
The sky was a very bright blue, with very few clouds around, so instead of my usual running kit of several sweat shirts and hoodies, I ran with just a couple of T-shirts and shorts and a cap and that was that.
However, I was beginning to regret it when I got down to the shore as the breeze was coming straight from the north and it was very, very chilly.
Because I was running in lighter gear I didn’t need to take as many water stops for rehydration and to cool off, so I was back at the house within 90 minutes.
After a shower and a shave, I cooked breakfast with a little help from Robyn.
Breakfast was bacon, egg and smashed avocado bagels and they went down a treat. And as it was a very special occasion, we had a celebratory glass of bucks fizz to wash it all down.
Just after breakfast, Wendy’s youngest brother, Ian and his wife Karen arrived to wish Wendy a happy birthday.
We did have a little issue with the birthday cake, no one had a match to light the two sparklers which were on the cake. The sparklers were in the shape of the number 60 and I had to get a light off of the electric grill, which I had to put on its highest setting in order to set fire to a paper napkin. The sparklers would not light, then Robyn, thankfully, had a bright idea of lighting a small candle which she had found in a drawer. I lit the candle with the napkin and then Robyn managed to light the sparklers with the candle, and thankfully it worked.
The cake was really tasty and very chocolatey!
As the sun was out and we have a very sheltered garden we all sat out and opened the doors to the play room at the bottom of the garden, and the babies were everywhere, and getting into everything.
There is a table tennis table and a table football game in the playroom and I played Brad at table tennis and Alex, Rose and Robyn played football.
We had a laugh, and as I used to play table tennis when we were on standdown in the fire station, I was giving Brad a bit of a run around.
We had a good couple of hours in the sunshine just chatting and lazing about.
It was actually a good time for me to do a bit of supper prep too. As we are all mucking in and making a few tapas dishes I got myself off to a good start and made a large prawn cocktail. That’s all I could do as I am making two hot dishes later and there was nothing else I could do.
After Ian and Karen had left and the babies had been fed and had had their morning naps, we left the GG’s in the garden, in the sunshine and we all went for a lovely afternoon walk along the promenade.
We walked through the dock area and then we walked a fair way on the promenade that leads to Herne Bay. Just as we passed the beach hut’s we walked up to the hill and we came across, completely by accident, the small village of Tankerton.
Again, by chance, we came across a very nice-looking micro pub which had outside seating, which was bathed in sunshine so we sat outside and the men had a beer each, and the 3 ladies shared a very nice bottle of wine. I paid the barman in one- and two-pound coins and one fiver for the amount of £34.20. I explained to him that as society as more or less moved on to a cash less society my pound coin collection that I have been collecting for several years now requires to be spent, so I am spending it, slowly.
We walked back through the High Street and every now and then someone peeled off and went into a small shop and bought something, Brad mainly craft ales and Robyn a south wester for Rose, for when she’s out playing in the rain when she is a little bit bigger.
We got back to the house and the GG’s had settled inside as it was now getting a little nippy outside.
The babies were quite feisty after an afternoons walk and they were playing, and into everything for the second time today.
Food prep started and the babies were fed their suppers and bathed and the house settled down. Jeepers I had forgotten how tiring babies can be!
Supper was a very big joint effort and it was superb, we had:
It was an utter delight, a double delight actually, and Great Grandad, who is feeling a little better after his tumble yesterday, finished off his favourite dish, the prawns cocktail.
After the big clean up we sat around chatting about this and that and finally we all drifted off to bed.
It’s been a really lovely day for Wendy’s birthday, and thankfully we could all spend it together as we had originally planned, phew!!!
No Travelling
Tooth Ache!!!
I was up at 6:15 am and it was yet again another bright and sunny morning.
Rose, Alex and Wendy were soon down but the GG’s were not seen for a long while after.
I went off running, this time I went north along the coast and I found some decent tracks but I did also have to run along a pebble beach for a little while.
I ended up directly across from the Harty Ferry on the Isle of Sheppey where I could see it in the early morning sunshine.
I got back to the house and I really enjoyed my morning smoothie, I didn’t have one yesterday because we had a bacon breakfast, but I had one today and it was lovely.
After my shower we hung around for a while as Robyn’s cousin Lily was coming over from her home in Rainham, which is about 25 miles away. She has a baby daughter too, Joy, and as she is GG’s third great granddaughter it would be nice to see all 3 of them together at the same time.
While we were waiting, I cleaned the bbq out after Brad had used it last night, it should have been left clean by the person who used it on the last occasion of it’s use, but they didn’t and it had been filthy, so that’s twice I have cleaned it now.
I then nipped to Tesco where on leaving I was stopped by a nice old chap who said, “Are you a real Yorkshireman?” I quickly realised I had my Yorkshire County Cricket sweatshirt on and I said, “Yes I am born and bred from Barnsley”. He said, “I’m from Scarborough”. We then had a lovely five-minute chat about Malton, Beverly and all things Yorkshire!
Brad who has had tooth ache for a few days now went with Caroline and Eleanor to go for a walk into town to see if he could get some painkillers to help control the severe pain he was feeling.
He came back with some codamol, which the Pharmacist said should help with the pain.
Lily, Joy and her husband Michael arrived just before 10:30 am and it was lovely to see them all. Joy has grown since I first saw her, when she was almost a new-born baby.
They all sat in the garden with the GG’s. Robyn and Alex, who had gone for a walk with Rose as she was in need of a nap and wouldn’t settle down, came back about 30 minutes later.
Now we had all 3 great granddaughters together.
We tried for a photograph with them all sat together but Eleanor wasn’t having any of it. Eleanor, who has just discovered she can walk, will no longer sit still, which is a good thing really, but it also means that as soon as she is put on her bottom, she gets up immediately and is off on her adventures.
I managed a couple of quick photographs, but if we ever thought we would get a shot with them all lined up and smiling, we were sadly disappointed.
After a good while sitting and chatting and drinking coffee, we set off for a walk. Brad and Caroline didn’t come along as Eleanor needed some rest, and Brad was still suffering with his tooth.
The GG’s came along, and I pushed Granny in her wheelchair and Wendy pushed Granddad in his. The babies were in their prams with their respective Mums and Dads pushing them along.
Because it was Friday and it was sunny, the Harbour area, which is the main focal point at the beach, was very busy. But it was also very cool too, with a cold northly wind blowing along the shore.
We got to the small trinket sheds that are at the harbour and we checked them out, but no one bought anything, apart from one thing, Alex bought Granny some cockles, as she really fancied some. She ate them and shared them around and they were very tasty.
We walked back along the High Street and I checked up with Brad by phone and he sounded in a lot of pain now. He said that he had called the NHS 111 hotline and that they had given him the contact numbers of 3 emergency dentists, he had tried them all but no one had a suitable slot for him.
I was a little worried as they are heading north to Glasgow tomorrow, a journey of around 400 miles and he really didn’t ought to drive with that level of pain.
I rang NHS 111 myself and after an age of hanging on, I was put through to a most unhelpful young man called Charles. We went through a long list of questions and he wouldn’t allow me to ask a question, which was, “My son has tried NHS 111 and was given 3 phone numbers to call, and they couldn’t help, will you now be able to help him further”.
He insisted on asking more questions but he could not give me any answers to my questions because I was not with the patient”.
I managed to keep him on the phone until I got him back to Bradley and he took over on the call.
The result was one more number of an emergency dentist was given, but that was just another waste of time as they didn’t have any slots either.
Brad was now in severe pain, so I went upstairs and started to call every dentist in Whitstable, on the third one I asked if they knew anyone I could try and the nice lady on the call told me to just ring around and she hoped I would be lucky.
I went and contacted every dentist in Whitstable but I drew a blank, I then started on the dentists in Herne Bay, which is 7 miles away.
On my third attempt I got lucky. The receptionist was very nice but she first said that she couldn’t help, but then she asked me what was wrong.
I told her about Brads pain level and that I was worried about his long drive tomorrow.
She asked to speak with Brad and then 10 minutes later we were heading down the Thanet Way, again, to get Brad seen as a private patient for a total cost of £55.
I dropped Brad off and then headed to the sea front for a walk around in the afternoon sunshine.
I walked along the breakwater and soon I was joined by Alex, Robyn and Wendy and after looking out from the small lookout tower at the end of the breakwater, we bagged the local Wetherspoons, The Saxon Shore which was Wendy and my 200th bag!
I was having a bit of trouble loading the Wetherspoons App to place my order, so as we were near the door I nipped outside as the reception for the phone would be better. No sooner was I on the pavement when a flash car came to a sudden halt and a smart Alec looking man said, “I’m making deliveries around here and I have some stuff to sell, do you want some?” I said, “No, why would I?” He laughed and said, “Come on mate?” My final reply was, “Why would I buy something that I don’t want from you?” With that off he sped, what a chancer, I mean who would be stupid enough to have bought something from him?
We split up from the pub and Wendy and me collected Brad who was already feeling much better. Apparently, he had the root canal flushed and was given a prescription for anti-biotics, which we collected on the way back home.
For supper GG is treating us all to a fish supper and Alex is away to collect it, its five minutes to 7:00 pm and as both babies are now being put to bed, I am going to open a nice bottle of wine and relax.
I’ll detail tonight’s activities in tomorrow’s copy Avid Reader, as I feel I now need a little R & R!
No Travelling
Dining Disaster!!!
Well, the chip supper turned into a right old fiasco last night.
Alex phoned the order in and him and Brad went to collect it, we ordered seven lots of fish and chips and one sausage and chips, two tubs of curry sauce and two tubs of mushy peas.
When the fellas got back and we unpacked we were three fish short.
That upset Granny as she had bought us the meal and wanted for us all to eat together on the last night that we would all be together.
Alex called the chip shop while some of us tucked in as it was pointless letting them all go cold, as microwaved fish and chips are just not the thing. The chip shop said that they would bring the food over to the house.
Having finished my meal, I stood out in the road and waited for the food to arrive. The one good thing was that I saw a glorious full moon in the clear night sky.
After about 10 minutes a young woman came with the rest of the fish. She apologised for the mistake but I felt I had to tell her that the night had been spoiled and that Granny was upset about it because she wanted us all to enjoy our meal together. The woman said that she had given us an extra fish, but I replied that we didn’t need extra fish, we just wanted the food we ordered. At that point the woman drove off.
I went back inside and handed the parcel of fish over to Wendy, who on opening it found that there were only two fish in the paper. Jeepers could it get any worse?
Alex, again called the chip shop and told them again about yet another mistake.
Another delivery was promised, but by now it was too late. Wendy gave Granny one fish and both Robyn and Wendy shared the last fish.
The order arrived, again after ten minutes and I left it to Brad to go and get it. Brad came back inside with a carrier bag full of more fish and chips.
So, its fish and chips for supper again tonight, but not for Alex because they didn’t give us a gluten free portion.
Personally, I don’t think extra portions, or discounted meals that are given when big mistakes are made with an order are any consolation. They are in the business of supplying hot food, how on earth could you be 3 fish short on an order of 7, and then again, for the same order, send only 2 out when 3 was required?
I went out running along the prom to Herne Bay this morning, and jeepers the wind was cold again, even though the sun was nice and bright. I got a high five from Wendy who was on her way back to the house from her run.
Back at the house and the baby girls were playing nicely on the floor, and making noise. What is it with babies and their desire to make noise, lots of it if possible?
After a leisurely breakfast and a wait for Rose to wake from a nap, the GG’s, Wendy and I set off for a visit to the town of Deal, which is about 28 miles away, just up the coast from Dover.
In fact, Deal is the place where the North Sea meets the English Channel.
Robyn, Rose and Alex were going to come, but as Alex was going to watch the local football side, Whitstable Town Football Club whose ground is just a few hundred yards from the house, they decided to stay locally as they might not make it back in time for kick off.
Brad, Caroline and Eleanor were leaving today as Brad is back at work on Monday. We said our goodbyes as we left for Deal.
Deal was windy and cold, jeepers it was so cold we didn’t go onto the lovely concrete pier and we headed for the High Street instead, which is a few streets inland, where thankfully we could shield from the worst of the wind.
Granny had mentioned that she would like to come to Deal to buy a handbag from a shop where she had bought one previously so that was our mission, to find that shop!
The High Street was busy and we turned right first and up to a small market where we mingled with the shoppers. We didn’t find the shop so we carried on back down the High Street and then we crossed the road to finish the lower end of the High Street.
As soon as we crossed the road, we found the shop and Granny and Wendy were soon inside and securing a black handbag in the exact same style as her blue one.
With our mission complete we then strolled up to the Wetherspoons Bar, The Sir Norman Wisdom, for a drink before heading back to the car.
On the way back to the car I called into a fishmonger where I had asked for two Scallop Bakes to be held for me as they were frozen and I wanted to keep them chilled for as long as possible. I also bought four oysters for a pre-dinner treat!
Driving out of Deal I stopped at the towns Timeball to take a photograph of it. I have seen quite a few timeballs on my travels around the UK, here’s some info on the Deal Timeball:
Deal timeball is an iconic Grade II listed building on the seafront, a reminder of the importance of the town to the navy in Georgian times, now a museum.
It stands on the site of an earlier shutter telegraph, one of a chain of 10 stations between the Admiralty telegraph in Southwark and the naval yard at Deal. The telegraph line which opened in 1796, allowed rapid communication between London and the naval anchorage in the Downs. From 1821 to 1831, the Tower carried a semaphore mast, which was used by the navy’s coast blockade against smugglers.
The timeball signal was established in 1855. The timeball, which fell at 1 pm precisely, was triggered by an electric signal so that ships could check their chronometers. It was administered by the Royal Observatory from 1864 until 1927 when it became obsolete and its operation was ceased.
After nipping into Tesco on the way home we got back to the house just after 3:00 pm, where after a glass of wine I did something I haven’t done in many years, I took an afternoon nap!
I had had a disturbed nights sleep and I wanted to be fresh faced for the France v England Rugby match which doesn’t start until 8:00 pm tonight
Feeling refreshed after a 50-minute power nap I got up and walked with Rose and Robyn to find Alex who was walking home after the football match.
Just before Rose’s bath time I opened the oysters and Robyn made a really tasty onion topping for them, and we ate them as a pre-dinner treat, and they were bloody lovely!
With Rose bathed and in bed, Wendy heated the leftover fish and chips in the oven, and although you couldn’t say the meal was a double delight it filled a hole, and as Granny said, “No one will be hungry tonight!”
After clearing the table and loading the dish washer we all settled down for the rugby, France v England, lets hope we can finish the tournament off with a win, against the Grand Slam Contenders, well here’s hoping!!!
No Travelling
Feral Poodle!!!
Well, the rugby wasn’t up to much last night, England never really got going and they did far too much kicking. It’s something that riles me, but last night they did it far too much, all they ended up doing was giving their advantage back to the opposition. But if anyone deserved to win a Grand Slam it’s France, so good for them.
I did send a message to my young Friend Clement who is a student in Paris, and he sent me a message back saying that he was in the Stadium last night and that the atmosphere was electric.
I had a much better sleep last night and I woke really refreshed at 5:50 am and I was downstairs just in time for the 6:00 am news.
I ran along the north shore this morning and there was hardly anyone about.
I did get attacked by a poodle; it really went for me with its teeth snapping at my legs. It was seconds from getting kicked up in the air but its owner, an old oriental lady, was trying her best to get to it, so I gave the dog a few seconds more. The lady was very apologetic but that wouldn’t have been much consolation had it gotten hold of me.
As much as I like dog’s, I swore the last time I was bitten badly in Australia that I would now kick first and say sorry second, because people really should control their nasty dogs. I like nothing more than a big old Labrador run up to me for a stroke and a chat, but I’m fed up with getting snapped at by bad dogs.
I got back and after my smoothie I did something else that I haven’t done in a long time, I ran a bath, a nice big full bath. The bath in our bathroom is huge, in fact the babies have been loving it all week. It took an age to fill but it was well worth it and I had a very nice 30 minutes soak.
After Rose had her morning nap Alex loaded her into her large harness and Robyn, her mum, me, Alex and Rose took a walk into town for them to bag the Wetherspoons Bar, the Peter Cushing.
We have already this pub in the bag but it was nice to go back and enjoy a beer while Robyn and Alex had some early lunch.
We got back to the house for 12:30 pm where immediately Rose was loaded into her car seat and off she went up to Barnsley with her mum and dad. They are staying at Barnsley for two reasons, it’s a convenient half way home point, and the main reason, is for them to fill up the car with lovely reasonably priced meat from Barkers the Butchers in Barnsley Market.
As soon as we had waved Rose off, we took Granny and Grandad home to the Isle of Sheppey which consisted of a 58 miles round trip. The roads were good and the traffic was light, and I could not believe my luck when I got to the traffic lights at Stockberry Roundabout, on the return trip, and we sailed straight through all green lights, and directly onto the M2 heading south.
We got back, to the now very quiet house, and sat down with a glass of wine before heading out to see if we could find somewhere for a nice Sunday Roast Dinner!!!
We set off walking into town and I called into the first pub, The East Kent, which says on the sign outside that it does food all day Saturday and Sunday. I asked the barmaid if they were still serving Sunday Roasts? “No, we have finished serving food”, “But it’s only 3:30 pm, oh never mind”, I said, and I walked out.
And, that’s the same response I got in every pub or establishment I went into in Whitstable this afternoon. I got an offer of sandwiches or fish and chips at one place and I got knocked back completely at every other. What an utter shambles, it’s like I am not destined to get a Sunday Roast in England ever again. The last time I was here I missed out, and I really do like good pub food!!!
Ah never mind, I am booked into the Strafford Arms in Barnsley tomorrow night to celebrate my brothers 70th Birthday. We are almost a month out of date for this but on the day of his birthday when the meal and surprise party after was all arranged he tested positive for Covid 19 and we were all left sucking our thumbs!
It wasn’t really a bother about the Sunday Roast because our fall-back option was to eat the two Scallop Bakes that I bought yesterday in Deal.
It wasn’t a waste of time though, we did have a very nice walk around town, which was still very busy with people by the way, which means the pubs who had stopped serving food were all missing out!!
Every small market stall down at the Harbour was open too and I was very taken by a large print of the abandoned end of pier at Herne Bay, but it was just too big for our house. However, the lady at the stall gave me her calling card and it does have a picture of that print on it, so maybe I now just need to look for a very small frame! It’s very atmospheric and the light was so peculiar when the photograph was taken that you cannot see the point where the sea meets the sky, they just seem to blend. That’s probably why the print looks so good at the larger size.
We walked back slowly and we called into the Coop and bought some frozen garden peas to go with our Scallop Bake.
We got back to the house and slammed the bakes into the oven. There were no cooking instructions on the packaging when I bought them, but I asked the counter lady and she said cook from frozen for 30 minutes at 180 degrees, which we did. However, the middle was still completely frozen when I took them out after 30 minutes, so I put them back in the oven. I then thought, what else can go wrong on this trip, here’s where we stand to date on a week of troubles:
I checked the bakes every 15 minutes to make sure that they weren’t burning on the outside, and then after one hour they had finally defrosted, but they were still lukewarm inside. At 1 hour 15 minutes the middle was still lukewarm and Wendy was starving, but I told her she could not eat undercooked scallops, although you can eat them raw, you just cannot eat them undercooked!!!
At one hour and thirty minutes the bakes were ready, they were piping hot and they were utterly delightful, they were stuffed with scallops too, along with some really tasty veg and with a breadcrumb topping! Thankfully, and hopefully no more dining disasters!
That’s it for tonight Avid Reader, its just turned 7:00 pm and I’m now suitably stuffed and I’m ready to settle on the settee and watch some catch up TV, Grantchester at this point in time seems nicely relaxing, well you just can’t beat a gruesome murder, can you?
245 Miles
Home Again
Jeepers it was a very, very cold morning today, with a hard frost, and there’s me thinking that frosts had gone away in the south east of England.
We both went out running too, braving the cold with my shorts on. I ran south towards Herne Bay and as the sun got higher in the sky, it got a good bit warmer, thankfully.
I got back nice and early, just after 8:30 am and I soon had my gear going round in the washing machine. I had my breakfast smoothie in between washing dishes and packing my stuff together.
When the washing finished its 30-minute cycle I put it on tumble dry to get my sweatshirts dry and then I nipped up for my shower. Wendy was busy herself getting things packed.
As I got out from the shower, I got this message from my nephew Mark, who had arranged for us all to take his dad out to supper tonight:
“Hi David - hope you are well? They say timing is everything in life - Luci has tested positive for Covid this morning (there’s a load in her class the same apparently. I’ve yet to contact my dad about it however he was going to be taking his new lady friend - would you and Wendy want to simply have the meal together with them?”
I don’t know if you recall the last attempt at taking my brother, Michael, out for his 70th birthday treat, that he tested positive for Covid 19 on the very same day we were supposed to go out. That was much worse then, as not only were we having a meal out, Mark had arranged a surprise party for him at a bar close to our hotel. Someone was coming from as far afield as Chester!!!
Well, the decision is that Wendy and me will go tonight and Mark and his family will stay at home.
Jeepers, you couldn’t make it up!
It took us an age to pack the car, but by the time we were ready my washing was dry!
We left just after around 10:45 am and our first point of call was 8 miles away in the city of Canterbury to drop off the wheelchair we got for Grandad to use. I parked up outside and Wendy went in with the paperwork while I got the chair out of the car. I pushed the chair through the door as I didn’t have my mask on and I went back to the car.
Wendy took and age, and didn’t come back so I went to see what the problem was.
Apparently, they were trying to get her to pay £17.50 because we were a day late.
I told the young man that there was indeed an issue when I booked the chair, as soon as I paid, I got an email saying that we were picking it up the week before. I immediately phoned the shop again and I was told not to worry, as they would sort it out, obviously it didn’t get sorted out! But thankfully someone had handwritten on the document we got with the chair that we had collected it on the 21st. I told the lad that the funny thing is, we took the chair back a day early, so I should have asked for a days refund.
That sorted we were soon on the road and heading north to the Dartford Crossing.
The journey north was good and we made good progress and we were at our halfway stop by 1:30 pm.
I choose Huntingdon for two reasons, to bag the Wetherspoons Bar and to take a look at a town that I have never been to.
We parked the car and headed just across the road to the Bar, Sandford House, which appeared to be an old church. It was also a Wetherspoons Hotel as well.
As we walked over, Wendy got herself in a right pickle, she had her bag over her left shoulder, her right arm in her coat, but she could not get her left arm in her coat as her bag strap was over her jumper. She wouldn’t let me take a pic of her predicament, so I just about managed to snatch one!
After a quick drink we explored the town centre and we found it to be small and compact and very clean and tidy.
I learnt something very interesting, Oliver Cromwell was born there and even went to the towns Grammar School. I got suspicious because there were so many buildings and businesses named after him.
Huntingdon Town Hall is a really lovely building too, it has a very Georgian look about it, in fact lots of the other town centre buildings do too.
Having walked the towns streets, which didn’t really take long, we set off again.
We were in Barnsley at 4:40 pm and as we were passing Tesco, I called in for some diesel. Sadly, though every pump at the filling station had no diesel, which did cause me a little concern.
I did however manage to fill up at the filling station on Park Road.
Each pump had a sign on it stating that the stations credit card reader was not working and it was cash only payments. That was fine as the station had a free mini bank so I walked over and got £60 out. The fuel tank was just over 50% full so I thought it might cost about £45 to top it up.
How wrong I was, it cost £58.00!!!
Last year I could have filled the whole tank up for that!!!
We checked into our hotel room at just turned 5:00 pm and Wendy jumped straight into the shower to wash her hair, as northern water is, apparently, better for giving her hair bounce?
We got to the Strafford Arms about 15 minutes early and we were sat at our table with a drink, and not long after Michael and his friend Karen joined us.
Karen is really nice, and quite easy to get along with.
For supper Wendy and me shared a Venison Carpaccio starter, which was really lovely. We then shared a seafood platter, which consisted of:
It was really very tasty too, and I even managed to get all of the meat out of the lobster claw, which I didn’t expect to do, not without a lot of mess anyway!
After a good couple of hours we left Michael and Karen at the carpark and we headed back to the hotel where as I file tonight’s copy, Wendy is talking French into her iPad and I am about to catch up on the latest episode of the walking dead.
Sadly, the Wi-Fi isn’t great, but thankfully I can tag onto my phone and use my 4G service.
230 Miles
Rabbit Pie
Again, I slept like a log last night and I didn’t wake until well gone 6:00 am.
It was a lovely looking morning, what I could see of it from my courtyard, restricted view hotel bedroom window.
I had a meagre breakfast of half a cereal bar and a mug of tea.
I got dressed and went out running, and Wendy stayed in bed and did a French lesson, which she seems to be well into these days.
Thankfully it wasn’t cold outside and the sun came out too, making it a rather pleasant morning.
I ran towards Athersley South and then out to Carlton before then running to Monk Bretton.
There is a very large glass plant at Monk Bretton called Redfearns National Glass, and it is a big employer for the area.
When I was Sub Officer at Royston Fire Station in 1995, I was the Officer in Charge of White Watch and we were on duty one Sunday evening when we received an emergency call from Fire Control.
The printer paper message read something like this:
Large Molten Glass Leak from Furnace, Redfearns National Glass
Royston One
Royston Two
I was in charge of the first appliance, Royston One, and Royston Two was staffed by the retained crew who were called out from home and would be at least 10 minutes behind us in attending.
A leak of glass from a furnace is something that is not in the Firefighting Manual, believe me I know them inside out. However, I do know that we cannot use water on molten steel as the liquid metal flows over pools of water and then erupts as steam is created, throwing molten metal everywhere. This is how two South Yorkshire Firefighters were killed in the mid 1970’s in Sheffield.
When we got there, I left the crew on the appliance and took a portable radio to let them know what I needed, and then I went inside.
I quickly found the scene; it was pretty obvious where it was as the works fire team were trying to cool the glass as it flowed out of the furnace.
I found the supervisor and I asked him what his plan was and he told me, and it was very simple.
Cool the glass all the way up to the leak by forming a plug of solid glass all the way up the side of the furnace and then keep that cool until the furnace could be shut down for more permanent repairs. He reassured me that there wouldn’t be any eruptions of molten glass, as that’s not how it behaves when it comes into contact with water, apparently it cools and solidifies very quickly!
However, the problem was that the furnace was about four stories high and was surrounded by a metal stairway. I had to put two crew members up at the point of the leak and they were to be ready for when the plug reached them so that they could do the final cooling.
I got my crew inside and I took two of my best men, John Lunn and Glyn Haywood up to the leak.
We could hardly see anything as the steam from the water was intense, also the heat from the flow of metal didn’t help.
I had already made pumps four, and by this time Royston Two was in attendance. I put their officer in charge and his crew on the second level and eventually Barnsley One’s crew on the first level so that they could all take turns in forming the plug as it rose from the ground.
I left the works fire team working at the ground floor level as they were doing sterling work and they deserved to finish the job.
I kept another crew on standby so we could rotate everyone around if necessary.
It took us a few hours, and lots of water, but we cracked it and it was great to see the plan work.
We were all sodden with sweat and steam by the time we had done, but it was well worth the effort for a positive outcome.
I got back to the hotel just after 9:30 am and after a quick cup of tea and a shower we were out of the car and off shopping, for food!
The first point of call was the butcher’s shop on Agnes Road as I remembered that he did lovely black pudding. He used to do Rabbit Pies, but I told Wendy that he’s most likely not allowed to sell them anymore.
Dam, he didn’t have any black pudding, but he made my day when I saw that he was still making rabbit pies, I bought 4!!!
Our next point of call was over in the village of Penistone, 8 miles away. Penistone is where my nephew’s wife, Leanne, as a share in a small store where they sell some gluten free pies.
Leanne wasn’t working but her partner served us and we bought one bottle of carry out wine, (you take your own bottle and they refill it), one gluten free steak and onion pie, for Alex, a nice piece of cheesecake for me and a very large cookie for Wendy.
As we walked back to the car, I saw a local butcher so I went in to buy black pudding.
He only had two links left and they were prepacked, so I bought them for £3.00.
Walking back to the car I saw that they were made in Lancashire, I was gutted, I thought I was getting traditional home-made Yorkshire Black pudding. I was wracking my brains in how I could take it back when I saw my ace, the sell by date was 10th March 2022, it was now 22nd of March 2022.
I strode off with purpose and went back in and I said, “Sorry mate, I can’t take this, its well out of date”. Mumbles of sorry were given and I got my £3.00 back!
We stopped in a layby to get some food from a chuck wagon, I had a bacon and egg roll, Wendy had a roll with sausage. I have to say that they were both perfect, my bacon was proper, good old-fashioned bacon, the egg was perfectly cooked and Wendy said the sausage was great too.
Our last mission was to buy meat from Barkers Butchers in Barnsley meat market where I also, finally got some black pudding, good old Yorkshire pudding too!
The drive North was good and we stopped off at Chester-Le-Street to bag a Wetherspoon Bar and take a look at the town. However as soon as we got off the A1(M), we saw that there was far more to Chester-Le-Street than just a High Street and a few shops, so we bagged the bar, The Wicket Gate and enjoyed a lovely drink in the very nice bar, which had a nice-looking roof garden.
We will have to come down to Chester-Le-Street when we have the caravan with us for a more detailed explore of the town.
The SatNav took us up the A697 which led us through Coldstream and the views were stunning.
We got to Robyn and Alex’s house at just gone 5:30 pm.
Supper of rabbit pie, mash and mushy peas was an utter delight, oh and a few kisses with Rose was very nice too!
I shared my cheesecake with Robyn and it was lovely, I never saw Wendy’s giant cookie, that was snaffled before I got a look in!
182 Miles
More Sunshine
I watched a crappy film last night, jeepers it was rubbish, but I watched it to the end, as I often do with crappy films.
I did however have another great night’s sleep and I was up before 6:00 am. I do like it now that winter is fully behind us. I know March can be a month of weather surprises but at least we have lighter mornings and evenings.
No sooner was I downstairs when Rose and Wendy joined me. As I had had my breakfast I played on the floor with Rose while Wendy drank her first cup of tea of the day.
Rose was lots of fun, she has such a lovely personality already and she’s not even had her first birthday. I sat with Rose while Wendy gave her her breakfast, which was a bowl of porridge oats, followed by smatterings of fruit. Rose ate the lot, and she seemed to love it.
Her dad was not much longer in coming downstairs, quickly followed by her mum.
Outside looked like a nice clear and sunny day, but it also looked a little chilly so I waited a while before I went out running, in fact I had a cup of coffee while I waited.
I went out just after 8:00 am and it was nicely warm, the sun was beginning to really break through the low cloud and by the time I was at the harbour it was blue skies again and a very pleasant temperature.
I got back to the house a little before 10:00 am and things were getting exciting because today is the first day where Rose will be left at the nearby kindergarten, without her mum being nearby.
First though Rose and her mum had to say goodbye to the friends that they had made at morning coffee club at the local church hall.
Just after 10:00 am we waved Rose and her mum off on their shared bicycle, they were off first for coffee and then Rose would be left at her new school, for two hours, 11:00 am until 1:00 pm.
As they cycled away, Rose looked like she was really looking forward to her new adventures.
I then had a lovely smoothie and then I showered and got all my gear together as we were going to leave for home after we had seen how Rose had enjoyed her first day.
Robyn came back a little after 11:00 am and she said that Rose had settled in nicely and was enjoying outdoor play in the sandpit.
I went down to Tesco to get a few provisions for when we get home, to save me having to go out again, and I was a little disappointed how few people were wearing their face coverings. In fact, a lot of Tesco staff were not wearing them either.
I was looking at a shelf at one point and I could feel someone behind me and as I turned around, there was a little old woman breathing down my neck and she was as maskless as the day she was born and she didn’t have a care in the world. It had me thinking that I would likely survive a dose of the Coronavirus madam, but maybe not you, you should be a little more careful!
I bagged my goods and left for the car, I was going to fill the car with fuel but as I had enough diesel to get home and then some, I decided against it as I knew the Chancellor was making some sort of mini budget speech so I held off until I had heard what he had to say about fuel duty.
I got back to the house and Robyn and her mum had gone walking up to the kindergarten to go and collect Rose, I packed the car so I was ready to go after I had seen Rose.
It didn’t take long and Rose came in with her mum and she was all smiles and as happy as Larry. So, there were no ill effects of being away from mum and dad for over two hours. I bet she’s the same tomorrow when she goes for an extra hour, in preparation for her going for four full days next week when her Mum returns to work.
We said our goodbyes to Rose and her parents and off we set for a very easy and reasonably quick drive over the Queensferry Bridge, up the M90 and finally along the drag that is the A9.
Actually, the roads were very quiet and we made excellent time. I put a two-hour Rob Beckett podcast on when we left Perth heading north and I still had 15 minutes to go on it when I left the A9 in Inverness.
Our first mission was to deliver a Rabbit pie and some Barnsley Black pudding to Bradley and Caroline. I don’t think Caroline is fully onboard with Rabbit pie, going by the look on her face when we gave her it. We also both snatched a quick kiss from Eleanor.
Then our next mission was to drop a nice piece of Barnsley Market Gammon Steak off with Uisdean, sadly he wasn’t in but we left it out of the sun hanging from his back door handle.
And then we were home, and after unpacking the car we had a lovely ham sandwich in the conservatory as it was still rather nice.
In fact, as we drove home along the Beauly Firth the temperature outside the car was 19.5 degrees.
And that’s if for this latest adventure, it’s been a bit of a series of mixed events, but at least we had a really lovely day for Wendy’s birthday, and that’s all that mattered!
Our next adventure starts in just over 2 weeks’ time and this really will be a good one as its one of my great delights, Island Bagging!!!
I hope to see you then, Avid Reader!
117 Miles
Island Hopping
It was another cold and snowy morning when we woke today. I was up and, in the kitchen, making tea and toast when I heard Wendy moan, she had looked out behind the curtains and she saw the snow lying in the front garden.
After breakfast I decided to go and run on the treadmill.
I took my laptop with me and I found a highly recommended children’s film that looked interesting.
The film was good, it was an original story about time travel, which is up my street, but after four miles I could not do another mile. The sun was out now and I thought, bugger it, I’ll do four miles around the Kirkhill circuit.
I did just do that and I found my mojo again, but jeepers there was a biting cold north wind blowing.
I got back looking forward to my smoothie and a nice warm shower.
As we had packed most of our gear into the car yesterday it was an easy task to chuck our coats and the cool box in and soon enough off we went.
As we were heading west we drove over the high road from Kiltarlity to Drumnadrochit which put us directly on the A82 and along through the stunning views of the Great Glen.
Jeepers there was a lot of deep snow on the tops. Its incredible, its only six miles from home and yet here we were in the depths of winter. Our snow at home had thawed by the time we had left but here at around 1,000 feet, it was still alive and kicking and the road had only just been cleared.
We had a stroke of luck as we turned right onto the A82 at the bridge in Drumnadrochit. Just as I got to the junction, I saw a police car coming from Inverness, with its blue lights flashing, so I was going to stay put and let them pass. Then I saw that they were at the head of a convoy of very large and very slow-moving HGV’s. I was out and moving, in front of him before you could say, “Slow Road to Ft William please”.
There are very few overtaking places along the A82, and none long enough to get around that lot.
The drive along was easy, with very little traffic on the road.
I pulled in at the Spean Bridge Commando Memorial to see the wonderful statue in all its snow surrounding splendour. This statue is in one haunting place, and I think it has been placed in the most appropriate spot within the UK.
The Commando Memorial is a Category A listed monument in Lochaber, Scotland, dedicated to the men of the original British Commando Forces raised during World War II. Situated around a mile from Spean Bridge, it overlooks the training areas of the Commando Training Depot established in 1942 at Achnacarry Castle.
There is a newer memorial on the site, created by the families of other Royal Marines killed in more modern wars. This appears to have been formally adopted by the Commando Memorial Society who have raised funds to make it a proper and fitting tribute to our fallen Commandos, and works are underway. There is a notice that says that while works are underway, all tributes laid by families have been removed for safe keeping and that they will be returned after the works have been completed.
We stopped at Ft William to buy some last minutes supplies and fill the car with fuel before we carried on to our destination, Benderloch.
As we approached our destination, we took a slight detour to the small port village of Port Appin so that we could see how we board the passenger ferry to the Isle of Lismore, which we hope to visit tomorrow.
As we stood on the ferry pier, we could see a large storm approaching from the heart of Loch Linnhe, it looked wild, it actually looked like a middle east sand storm approaching. We headed, quickly, back to the car and then we took the back roads to the area where we are staying for two nights.
As we were a little early for our check in, we carried on passed our accommodation and drove over, by accident because we missed the car park, to the Island of Eriska.
The Island of Eriska is a very small island with a circumference of around five miles, it does however host an amazingly expensive spar hotel where a simple double room for one-night costs the best part of £700!!!
Realising our mistake, we drove back down the road and thankfully we found the car park where we left the car and walked back towards the island.
Just before the small bridge to the island is the staff accommodation. Now I am not by any means a snob, but having been a fire safety, inspecting officer, for over four years on the Isle of Skye, I know how hotel staff accommodation looks, and it doesn’t look good.
I saw enough of them to know what it looks like behind drawn curtains in the middle of the day, and I perish the thought that these are the same people, who live, in squalid conditions of their own making, (not all of them admittedly, but lots of them), whom provide you with your luxury accommodation by cleaning your bedroom and cooking your food. For me, knowing how the staff lived on the inside, it would not be a good feeling for me that I might have forked out the best part of 2 grand for a top of the range room, with meals, for one night, for it to have been done so by people who choose to live like this!
We walked over the bridge and right over to the hotel, and I must admit it did look appealing to me to spend a few nights in total luxury there!
Take a look at the hotel via this link:
Isle of Eriska Luxury Hotel, Restaurant, Spa and Island near Oban, Scotland (eriska-hotel.co.uk)
We got back into the car and drove the short distance to our accommodation, and what a little cracker it is.
We are staying in a smashing little module in a stunning location. Our host, Joan, is a lovely lady and we have settled in rather nicely.
As we moved in, we were visited by the family dog, a nice, old chocolate Labrador called Roxy came to check on us. What a smashing dog she is, we gave her a dam good stroke and then she sat, looking through our French doors while I made supper, I think she was looking for a titbit!
Supper was really tasty, I cooked it, and it was pan fried venison steak with mushrooms in a lovely plum sauce. I did fry the mushrooms first, with some garlic and one chopped Scotch Bonnet chili. Because of the small confines of our brilliant accommodation, Wendy took a coughing fit with the heat of the chili’s.
After supper we took a short walk to a lovely beach before settling down for the night.
I’ll post photographs of our very interesting accommodation in tomorrows copy Avid Reader, but that’s all for tonight, other than to say that its good to be back on the road again!
No Travelling
Lismore
What a comfortable bed I slept in last night, it was fantastic and I had a terrific sleep.
We woke up to stunning blues sky’s as well, what a bonus, although it was a little frosty outside.
I was roused by Rose on my phone, it was 6:45 am and it was my granddaughter’s birthday, and her mummy was very excited, and so was I. Rose was going to have the best day of her life so far, because I knew what presents awaited her
Roxy came calling as I was having my tea and toast, I’m sure that dog is psychic as she always seems to know when food is on the go.
Wendy went out running first and then I followed about ten minutes later. I ran along the beach, back and forth and then I went into the village at Benderloch. The village is nice enough, but its High Street is the main west coast road, the A82, so its quite busy with traffic.
I ran back again by way of the beach, which was full of people enjoying the morning sunshine and walking their dogs.
I got back at 9:45 am and Roxy was waiting for a stroke which she duly received. Then I had to crack on with breakfast and grab a shower as we had to leave the accommodation at 11:15 am to catch the 12:00 pm ferry from Port Appin over to the Isle of Lismore.
After a drive of 13 miles, we were there in good time to unload the bikes from the car and get ourselves ready for the short, ten-minute ferry crossing.
Jeepers the ferry was small!
Bikes were loaded in the wheelhouse with the skipper and then the passengers all huddled in a small cabin. Thankfully everyone wore a face mask and it wasn’t too busy.
The crossing was a piece of cake and we were unloaded without fuss.
Lismore is an Inner Hebridean island near Oban. The island is approximately 10 miles long by 1 mile wide. The island was called the 'Great Garden' because it is relatively low lying, and very green and fertile compared with the mountains of Mull, and on the mainland. It is surrounded by the waters of Loch Linnhe.
The population of the island is at present about 170.
I have passed Lismore a few times driving down towards Oban, and about 15 years ago I sailed a large yacht past the island, on its narrowest side, when I was doing a week’s sailing course.
I was on the helm and I successfully steered the vessel, under full sail, down the narrows and I managed to dodge the boats moored there, and the oyster beds too.
I was quite pleased with myself because I had both sails out, the main sail to the port side and the foresail to the starboard side. This is called Goosewinging and its where you offer the largest sail area to the wind which is blowing at the stern of the ship. Its actually quite an easy sail once you have the sails set as you need them, and it makes for a very pleasant sail.
From that day I have always wanted to visit Lismore.
The main road on Lismore runs north to south with small offshoot roads to very small communities of only a few homes.
The road is up and down, not badly, but enough to give your lungs a workout and bring a sweat on!
We rode in one go all the way from the start of the road where the ferry drops you at the pier. All the way down to where the road runs out in a farmers field at the south of the island. The distance was 7.5 miles. There was a little of the island left but the ground was very, very boggy so we decided that we had done enough and turned around.
We had really been blessed with the weather, the sun was out, there were small fluffy white clouds and just a little breeze blowing from the north.
On the way back we stopped in at the only shop on the island, Lismore Stores, where I bought a small bottle of whisky with lemon & chili sauce, well it’s a drizzle actually, and it’s supposed to be ideal for burgers and chicken. It contains 25% whisky, so I guess I just had to buy it.
I asked about a pub on the island at the store, to be told there isn’t one, but that the café at the Heritage Centre does have a liquor license.
We rode on and not much further on we came across the Heritage centre.
We took a rest at the heritage centre and fortified ourselves with a very tasty, shared, coronation chicken sandwich and a bottle of Yarl beer each. The sarnie was very tasty and the beer was nice too!
It was now 2:45 pm and by now the return ferry was every hour on the quarter-past the hour.
As we weren’t too far away from the ferry, we took a short detour to the north coast to take in the small village of Port Ramsay, which turned out to be a row of about 8 terraced houses. They did have stunning views over the Morvern Peninsular mind!
We got back to the pier just as the ferry berthed and it was a bit disconcerting to find a lot of people queuing. With our bikes there would have been 9 on board, and there just wasn’t room on the bridge for them. The Skipper asked me if I didn’t mind waiting for the next ferry, then he could get a large family on.
I told him yes, we could wait, but when he had them all aboard, he stashed our bikes at the back of the boat and then he asked if we didn’t mind riding in the wheelhouse with him.
Absolutely not, the large family were all toffy types and I didn’t fancy squeezing in with them in the passenger compartment, especially as mask wearing was far beneath their breading.
Back on dry land, we stopped at the Jubilee Bridge, which is a wooden bridge that was built in 1898 for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, it spanned a large estuary and unified two communities, in days long gone.
As we drove back to the accommodation, I stopped at an Oyster honesty box and bought myself four stonking home-grown oysters which I would have pre-dinner.
As Wendy cooked supper, of sausage, duck eggs, mushrooms and fried tomatoes, I had my oysters with a splash of my new whisky drizzle, jeepers they were very tasty.
Its now well gone 8:00 pm and my chops are lobster red due to the chilly wind on my face.
Because it’s a Friday night I am going to knock off for the night and have a small toast to my beautiful Rose, before heading to my very comfy bed, for a very early night.
Tomorrow is moving day!!!
62 Miles
Goose Eggs
I was woken at 6:00 am this morning by severe winds and driving rain. I thought, “Oh dear, I’m going to get wet today!”
But I laid quietly for another 30 minutes and the wind seemed to have dropped and the rain had stopped, and by the time that I had my breakfast and opened the curtains, it was a nice beautiful morning.
Wendy went out before me again and I followed shortly after her.
I ran to Eriska Island and this time I ran past the hotel and then I followed a gravel path which led me passed a large gym, with long rows of windows and treadmills all looking out at the beautiful landscapes, with no one on them. There were also about a dozen exactly matching, golf bags all ready to go.
I kept running and then I eventually got to the north of the island where there is a small private jetty, probably for people arriving by boat.
As I ran back, I saw that the hen hut had 4 goose eggs.
I phoned Wendy who was by now home and showered and I asked her to come and collect 2 eggs.
I carried on running but when Wendy arrived, I jumped into the car and went back with her. I jumped out and got the eggs while she turned the car around.
I got out where she had picked me up and I carried on with my run.
The views are stunning in this corner of Scotland and I sat and had my drink at a fish farm where there was outdoor seating for staff members, again the views were terrific.
I got back in good time and after my second breakfast I had a much-needed shave, (3-day stubble), and another wonderful shower.
Wendy had done most of the packing for departure but I needed to get my gear together and as soon as the car was packed, we said our goodbyes to our host, Joan, and off we set for the short drive to Oban.
We have been to Oban a few times but we have never really got very far, so as our check in at the hotel in Tarbert wasn’t until 3:00 pm we had a couple of hours to kill.
Oban as two harbours, a north harbour and a south harbour. As we had parked at the north harbour which is mainly for fishing vessels, we walked along the coast to the south pier where the large Cal Mac Ferries leave from. Its also where a lovely, new Wetherspoons Bar is located, so we bagged it. Our very first and most likely only bag of this trip.
The weather was really nice, a little breezy with the wind continuing to come from the north, but it was dry and the sun was out.
After a drink we walked along the shop fronts and then passed the north pier and along the shore, where the hotels and guest houses are.
Oban would be a nice place to spend a weekend, but not in summer, as I imagine it would be packed with visitors.
We walked so that we could get a better view of Kerrera Island, which is a long island that actually covers the approach to Oban Harbour and which must save it from the worst of the westerly winds and tidal conditions.
I spent a night berthed at Kerrera on my sailing course, it was our last night actually and it wasn’t at all inspiring for a last night away. My crewmates and I had got along really well for the week and it would have been nice to have shared a beer or two together, but our skipper and instructor was a bit of a miserable sod, so while he laid in his bunk, we climbed the hills and laid in the late summer evening sun, staring over at Oban Town Centre and talking about what might have been.
Oban is surrounded by hills, and at the top of one is what looks like a Roman Amphitheatre, it’s called McCaig’s Tower. I have never been to see it, but after reading about it, I think I might just have to!!!
The structure was commissioned by John Stuart McCaig, at a cost of £5,000 sterling (£500,000 at 2006 prices) and it has a circumference of about 200 metres (660 ft) with two-tiers of 94 lancet arches, 44 on the bottom and 50 on top. By strange coincidence John McCaig was born on the Island of Lismore!
McCaig's intention was to provide a lasting monument to his family, and provide work for the local stonemasons during the winter months. McCaig was an admirer of Roman and Greek architecture and had planned for an elaborate structure, based on the Colosseum in Rome.
His plans allowed for a museum and art gallery with a central tower to be incorporated. Inside the central tower he planned to commission statues of himself, his siblings and their parents. His death brought an end to construction with only the outer walls completed.
Although his will included £1,000 per year for maintenance, the will was disputed by his heirs; their appeal to the court was successful.
What mean buggers!!!
After leaving Oban we had a very pleasant drive south, through the countryside of Argyle and soon we were settling in at our very pleasant Guest House, The Knap Guest House, at Tarbert.
The check in process was completely remote, we rang the online doorbell, the door was opened by electronic means and our key was waiting for us on the nearby table.
The room is smashing and we even have a small fridge, which I think should be a must for any hotel room nowadays.
We took a walk, looking for supper and we found a very nice establishment at the far end of the town.
Lulabelle’s was very nice, the food, one seafood and one meat platter was very tasty. The ambiance was nice, but we did feel a little cheated with the price of the wine. Wendy almost choked at £30 a bottle. But let’s not spoil a very pleasant meal, we both agreed as we left the establishment.
Both stuffed, we took a slow walk back to our hotel where we sat for a while having a glass of much cheaper and equally just as nice wine, as life continued in the small harbour town that is Tarbert.
Its Sunday tomorrow and I think we are just going to have a really lazy day!
No Travelling
Sunshine
We were both in bed before 10:00 pm last night and although I woke at 4:00 am for a drink, I was back, fast asleep almost straight away.
We both woke at 6:00 am and got up and had a cup of tea. We had to wait until 7:30 am before we could go out as our breakfast rolls, which we ordered last night, were being delivered to our room then. We both opted for a sausage breakfast roll as that can be eaten cold when we got back from running, I ordered apple juice and Wendy, Orange juice.
Sure enough bang on 7:30 am we had a knock on the door and I was handed a tray with the food on, and after closing the door I saw that we had both been given bacon rolls, without butter.
I couldn’t catch the fella who brought the food as he was away down the stairs so I had to use the contact number in the room to get them changed. My worry was that my rolls had gone somewhere else, they hadn’t! I learnt from the phone call that the wrong order had been cooked and that I would have to wait more time for the sausage to be cooked.
Wendy went out and I waited for the food to come back!
Tarbert is a little limited for running, but if you go right through the town and past the harbour, the road winds around the bay for about a mile. Then coming back, I passed through the town again and I went through onto the opposite side of the harbour where at the end of the road there is a gravel track that gives you a distance of 3.4 miles, so two and a bit of this circuit gave me my 8-mile total.
At the end of the bay going past the harbour there is a bench and a memorial to two fishermen who were lost at sea.
Przemek Krawczyk and Duncan MacDougall tragically died aboard the Nancy Glen after it sunk in Loch Fyne on January 18, 2018.
The vessel was returning home from a successful day of fishing near Tarbert when its nets became stuck on the seafloor which caused the boat to "stick and judder." This caused it to capsize, with both Mr Krawczyk, 38, and Mr MacDougall, 46, trapped inside it.
Sheriff Patrick Hughes presided over the Fatal Accident Inquiry into their deaths and concluded that the vessel had "various modifications" that reduced its stability.
Those poor fellows, it must have been a terrible death, trapped inside with freezing cold water pouring in as it sank.
I remember it well as it was on our news a fair bit. But give the authorities their dues, they found the vessel in deep water and recovered the vessel from where the men’s bodies were removed and given back to their families for burial.
I got back to the hotel a little after 9:30 am and I had my cold sausage roll, after I had buttered it myself, with my own butter. A good thing about this hotel is that we have a reasonably sized fridge in the bedroom which is a real bonus. It is something of a rarity in the UK, but for me it really should be a standard fitting of any hotel room.
After breakfast we took a walk around the harbour.
Tarbert Harbour is a very well sheltered harbour, it has a very narrow entrance with a small island offering even more protection. And, being situated within the waters of Loch Fyne it is ideally located for fishing and so has a very reasonably sized fishing fleet.
There is a square quay (Beilding) in the harbour, which is an artificial island, and it was used to help haul sailing boats into the harbour during times of difficult winds, how interesting.
I took Wendy along the track I had run earlier and as we walked past the marina facilities, I saw two Landrovers with topside tents all rigged and ready for occupation. I had seen them setting up when I was running earlier.
On the side they had signage that said, “VetRun 180”
When we got to the end of the path at the hidden cove we sat down and enjoyed the solitude for a short while. I Googled VetRun180 and I found this:
“VetRun180 is a Charity that takes physically and mentally injured veterans on challenging expeditions around the world, to re-invoke the sense of adventure and teamwork. We provide ‘adventure therapy’ and a simple concept has proven itself by the testimonies from the veterans we have helped. During and after an expedition guys have a more positive mind set and future outlook”.
On the way back one of the men spoke to me and we got chatting, what a really nice man he was.
He is an ex Royal Marine and he and another ex-Marine are driving the Landrovers while two injured Marines’ kayak down through the UK using the sea, rivers and canals and they hope to be in Portsmouth for 14th June, the 40th anniversary of the end of the Falklands War. They started on 2nd April when the Task Force Commenced Operations to recapture the islands.
He really was a smashing fella and we had a very long chat with him. One of the men in the kayak lost most of his sight in the war, but he hasn’t let that stop him, he has already rowed the Pacific Ocean.
From there we walked up to the ruins of Tarbert Castle which is on a hill high above the town.
There’s not much left of it but it must have been pretty impressive in the 1300’s when it was first built.
Our next mission was to find the Gather, which is a kind of a community building just out of town that is a shop, a meeting place and it has a licensed café where reasonably priced meals are cooked.
We got there just after 2:00 pm and there was only a very annoying family of four, two adults and two young kids, a girl of about 4 and a boy of about 6. Jeepers, they were the progressive type of people who talk through things with their kids, but their kids behaved like kids, and it was all rather loud with lots of pleasing themselves. Thankfully they left before our food came.
I had a steak and pulled pork burger and Wendy had the Hake.
As the place was now empty, which suited me down to the ground, we had the very best of service and both our meals were utter delights. My burger was perfect, very hot and tasty and Wendy’s Hake was very nice too.
We took a little rest back at the hotel, there’s nothing like chilling out on a Sunday, I even managed to watch an old episode of Star Trek, which I loved.
At 5:00 pm we took a lovely and leisurely walk around the whole harbour area. The harbour was full of working boats, some large trawlers and some smaller creelers.
I came across a large pile of, what looked like, freshly cut coal and I felt like I had been transported back in time.
We have now finally settled back in our room and that’s it for tonight.
Its moving day tomorrow, we have had a really nice time in Tarbert so let’s hope the wind doesn’t get too high to spoil tomorrows big sail westwards!
Tarbert to Kennacraig - 5 Miles
Kennacraig to Port Ellen – 30.63 Nautical Miles
Port Ellen to Port Charlotte – 19 Miles
I was in bed by 9:30 pm last night but for some strange nostalgic reason Wendy wanted to keep watching a programme about Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev.
So, it wasn’t until it turned 10:00 pm that the bedroom light went out.
I put Claudia Winkelman’s radio show on sleep but I was fast asleep before the end of the first record!
Wendy Gill, the scallywag woke me at exactly 5:00 am with her tossing and turning, saying she couldn’t get comfortable.
I managed to nod a little but was up good and proper at 6:00 am as we had to pack ready to be away for our ferry to Islay at 8:30 am.
Our breakfast order of a bacon roll each came at 7:30 am and although the rolls were correct, this time the two sachets of ketchup were missing. Thankfully I had anticipated this and I had my own with me.
We left at 8:30 am and after a quick shop in the Coop and a short stroll along the pier we were off for the short drive over to the western Port at Kennacraig where we joined the queue for the 10:00 sailing to Port Ellen, Islay’s most southerly port.
I had expected high winds but as we waited in line, I took a walk and there was hardly a breath of wind.
We boarded easily enough and took seats at the back of a very quiet lounge.
As we were leaving the western sea Loch and joining the Sound of Jura I went on the top forward deck where it was sheltered and reasonably warm.
I watched as we passed the north end of Gigha, and the Paps of Jura were looking rather splendid, off the starboard side. I wondered why they are called The Paps? Is it because they resemble a lady’s chest?
I could also see the Northern Irish coast in the far distance.
After about 40 minutes on deck, I joined Wendy back in the lounge and I enjoyed a nice coffee as we started to rock a little.
We were well and truly out in the sound now, free of the shelter of the mainland and other islands, and in a nice, rolling swell!
After the coffee I went back on deck as we approached Port Ellen. As we sailed along the coast, I could see several distilleries dotted along the shoreline.
There are currently nine working distilleries on Islay, with two more planned to open in the next couple of years. The first recorded distillery was Bowmore, founded in 1779; the most recent was Ardnahoe, which was established in 2018.
Islay has the most Whiskey distilleries of any Scottish Island, wow, now that is some record any Islander would be proud of!
We off loaded just after 12:15 pm and first we took the remote route along the north eastern side of the island.
As we drove, we passed three very famous distilleries, Laphroig, Lagavuiln and Ardbeg.
The road was very quiet, with very few houses. At the end we came to a gate leading to a farm house so we turned around, however there was a stunning sandy beach there with two freeloading campervans set up for a few nights!
We drove back to Port Ellen for a walkabout but we didn’t find it at all inspiring. It was nice enough but there really wasn’t anything there but housing and the ferry terminal.
We set off north and we went passed the islands tiny airport and then we arrived at the largest town on the island, Bowmore. Now this was more like it with several nice shops and a small harbour, a few bars and one very famous distillery.
I found a small whiskey shop and I went in as I wanted to buy an authentic Islay Whiskey for a man who had repaired my two chainsaws, but he wouldn’t take any money in return. I found the perfect bottle, a bottle of Islay Storm, a very nice-looking special edition single malt. I should have bought 4!!!
As we drove around Islay there are special signs everywhere warning about Covid infections, and in two shops I heard people talking about people they knew who had it, and then as we were going back to the car, I received a message from the Host of our next AirBnB, here’s the message:
Good afternoon, David, the wee hoosie is ready for you, so just make yourself at home. My husband and I have covid, so will not be able to welcome you, please be assured that we have not been in the wee hoosie, our daughter has done everything on our behalf. Stay well. There seems to be a lot of covid here right now - Best regards, Catherine.
So now I am on high Coronavirus Alert, again, never mind, its better than being in Ukraine.
We got to the Wee Hoosie just before 3:00 pm and we were really happy with what we found. It’s a small self-contained bedroom, lounge and diner with a very nice shower room. It looks brand new and it is really very well kitted out.
No sooner had we arrived than we both took a Covid test, both negative, thankfully.
I went out running, there is a very nice, safe cycle track across the road which leads through the nearby village of Port Charlotte, which I found to be a very pleasant looking place with two hotels and a seafood restaurant. Just outside of the village is a shoreside campsite where people were just about managing to get their tents erected. The wind had now picked up considerable, like Carol on BBC Breakfast had said it would at some point today.
We have noticed a very cute thing that the locals do, they wave to each car as they pass each other on the road, not just at passing places. As I ran along, I came onto a single-track road that leads to the southern end of the peninsular that we are on, and every car that passed me gave me a very cheery wave.
Back at the Wee Hoosie I quickly got out of my wet gear, showered and cooked the Goose eggs that we bought a few days ago.
We had them with some very nice ham and the eggs were absolutely lovely, the yoke was a triple delight and I would encourage anyone who has not had one yet, go find some, cook them slowly in butter and you’ll be in for a real treat.
After our early start I think that we will be settling down in bed shortly, I’m hoping for a good night’s sleep before lots more exploring tomorrow.
Night, Night Avid Reader!
No Travelling
Jura
I had a better nights sleep last night and I was awake at 5:00 am and I could have got up and started my day, but as Wendy had gone to bed a bit off colour last night I tried a bit of nodding and didn’t get up until 6:30 am.
We both went out running, Wendy went down through the village of Port Charlotte and I went through the village of Bruichladdich, where they have their own distillery which I’ve never heard of before.
The morning was much better and the wind was quite low too.
My last mile out had me running very close to a beautiful sandy beach, so I sat on a rock to have a cooler and a drink.
I was dismayed to find so many plastic items just washed up on the shore, it was shocking!
I got back to The Wee Hoosie just after 9:15 am and I had to grab my smoothie and shower pretty quickly as we were heading for the car ferry to take us to The Isle of Jura.
We got to Port Askaig which is the northern ferry terminal of Islay and it’s where the much bigger Cal Mac ferry sometimes calls in, thankfully we were in good time for the 11:15 am ferry.
There were five cars in front of us, but two were Scottish Power 4x4’s and then each had a long trailer attached. It was just our luck that it was only a small ferry operating as the usual one was away for a refit.
We didn’t catch the first sailing, we didn’t even get the second sailing, but we did get the third sailing. Luckily the crew were running flat out and as the crossing was only a five-minute affair, we were over and on Jura in just a little over half an hour.
Jura, is considered to be an extremely wild and remote Scottish Island. It is just under 142 square miles in area, but it is long and has a very small population whom are centred around the village of Craighouse.
Despite its size, around thirty miles long and at most nine miles wide, Jura is sparsely populated, as stated above, and most of the island can only be visited on foot. The west coast of Jura is uninhabited and difficult of access but offers some of the finest raised beaches in the world.
The population is around 196 persons but the wild deer herd, which roams freely on the island, has a population of around 7,000.
Our intention was to drive to the very far end of the island and then work our way down, taking in the various points of interest.
The road north, all 25 miles of it, was of mixed conditions, it was all single track, with very few passing places. I had read about it last night and I found that it is reputed to be the most uncared for A Class road in the UK, and having drove to the very north end of it I can confirm that that statement is accurate!
The island is very sparse, with mainly high moorland vegetation and peat grounds. There is the occasional managed pine forest but not much else.
At the top we bought a splendid bottle of Gin from the only gin distillery on Jura, and we chatted with the owner who told us that her four daughters have to undertake the journey to Islay twice daily, once to go to school at Bowmore, and one to return home.
The school bus collects them at 6:15 am, and drops them at home at 5:15 pm, now that’s an 11-hour school day. Lord only knows what the journey would be like in winter, and with the state of the road, there’s no possibility of them doing their homework on the journey.
The lady at the distillery directed us to the Café on the beach, where some enterprising school children have rigged a horse box up as a help yourself café. They have provided a hot flask of water, several selections of cakes, tea bags, coffee, milk and sugar.
For a suggested donation of £5.00 you can have a nice cuppa and a very nice slice of cake.
Unfortunately, the flask ran out of water while I was making our first cuppa, so we only took cake, but it was delicious.
The drive south was a little better, as I knew what to expect and we stopped off at several locations to take in the views.
We took a good look at the village, this is where the Jura Distillery is, there is also a hotel, a shop and a few gift shops. Its obvious that this is where the most of the population live as it’s where we saw most of the residential homes. The village is 10 miles north of the ferry drop off and its where the very best of the road is.
We were back at the ferry just before 4:00 pm and we had to wait a little while before the boat came the short distance across to collect us, but thankfully we were on that sailing.
We were back home just before 5:00 pm and after calling into the nearby camp ground to check on the laundry there, we were back home where I cooked a very nice sirloin Steak supper.
Its now gone 6:30 pm and I can’t see us going out further tonight as, after a lovely sunny day today, it is now absolutely chucking down with rain.
Thankfully the Wee Hoosie is a very nice cosy space so that’s no hardship for us tonight!
Oh, before I file tonight’s copy, I have checked where the Paps of Jura get their name, here it is:
Their highest point is 2,575 feet (785 m). They are steep-sided quartzite hills with distinctive conical shapes resembling breasts. The word pap is an ancient word of Old Norse origin for a woman’s breast. The Paps are conspicuous hills that dominate the island landscape as well as the landscape of the surrounding area.
Jeepers I was right in yesterday’s copy, Avid Reader!!!
No Travelling
Whiskey!!!
Jeepers it did rain last night on the roof of the Little Hoosie, it chucked it down! It wasn’t windy, it was just an almighty downpour which lasted from early evening, starting just as we had supper, until long after we had gone to bed at 10:00 pm.
I never heard it but Wendy says it started again in the night, but when I got up at 6:30 am, the rain had passed over and it was just a slightly overcast morning.
We both went out running and when I got back, I was lathered with sweat, the sun had by now broken through and it was a nice warm morning with very little breeze.
The place we are staying at, The Wee Hoosie, is something like a converted garage in someone’s garden, and it’s just perfect.
Its warm and cosy, it looks like it’s been completely refitted for the new season and there are lots of cooking utensils in the kitchen, which is good because we like to cook a range of meals while we are away.
Yesterday on the Jeremey Vine Radio 2 show, the issue of people owning second homes for short term lettings on AirBnB was discussed. The problem being that young people cannot get on the property ladder because people in the letting business are able to offer more on the Scotland stupid offers over system, which has now become the norm in England.
This made me think, and from now on I am going to try to find accommodation such as this whenever I book with AirBnB, a place that’s not in a residential second property and therefore not putting anyone out of a home. It probably won’t be easy, but at least I’ll try.
After breakfast we did some chores, we wanted to do a load of washing at the campground, where there is a community facility there.
Would you believe the community area, at the community centre is closed from 12:15 pm until 2:30 pm? Well, it is!
As we needed some bread, I drove back down into Port Charlotte village and Wendy went in the shop while I checked the map to see if there was somewhere else we could visit until the centre reopened.
After finding my route I walked over to the store to see if they had an interesting selection of whiskey for sale.
Jeepers for a small village shop it was busy, there was a queue going all the way around the aisle, I couldn’t see Wendy. Thankfully everyone was nicely distanced. I tried to look at the whiskey behind the counter but I could not get close as a little old lady was buying the shop out.
It was like a scene from “Take the High Road”. The shop keeper was as slow as they could possibly be, so I left. Ten minutes later Wendy came back with her solitary loaf of bread and told me about the slackness of the other shoppers in processing their own shopping at the till. It was like it was a treat for them to go down to the shop, but I guess it really is!
We drove down the coast, 7 miles to the villages of Portnahaven and Port Wemyss where we parked up and took a good walk around. Mist had closed in on the villages so we didn’t see them at their best, however they were really nice, with a nice central beach.
We walked along the cliffs from Portnahaven to Port Wemyss and it struck me that while it is school holidays, we hardly saw a soul around the many streets there. The villages are quite large with lots of interesting terraced and detached housing but no one was about.
There was no children’s laughter anywhere, no bikes parked up, nor anyone apart from the very odd person moving about. It was like a zombie apocalypse had occurred and everyone had taken to the hills.
We found that both the shop and the pub had a sign in the window saying that they were closed until further notice.
I saw no lights, nor any TV’s on, in anyone’s home!
The thing is it does look a really lovely place to live.
We drove back to the Wee Hoosie via a different route that took us through the countryside and over higher ground. The only buildings we passed along the way were the odd farm buildings.
We had a half hour to kill so we took a nice coffee in the Hoosie and then we drove back to the community building to do the washing.
We had an issue with the machine, it wouldn’t start so I had to go find the main man, who from the kitchen staff I knew to be called James.
I found James outside strimming the grass and within a jiffy the washing was on and we took a little walk while it finished.
We loaded the tumble dryer after the wash cycle had completed and then with 30 minutes to spare, we walked down to the pub for a nice friendly pint.
The bar was a cracker, with lots of whiskies on display. I had a good chinwag with the barman and another local fella, both who were Englishmen. The local fella had his large, old Labrador dog with him, I had been warned that he would steal any food, but I never expected him to pinch my face mask. So, there’s this dog running around the pool table with my mask firmly in his jaws and it took his owner’s wisdom to prize if from him. That mask won’t be going on my face anytime soon!
After retrieving the dry washing we had 30 minutes to get down to the distillery at Bruichladdich as after doing my research I had found that this is the only Islay Distillery that produces none peaty whiskey, and both the barman and the local fella swore that it is the best whiskey which is made on the island.
So, with no further ado I now have three bottles of fine Islay 10-Year-old malt in my possession, one for me and one each for my two favourite young men!
The young man at the distillery gave me a good shot of it to try, jeepers, after a pint in the pub and one of his drams I had to hand the car keys over to Wendy or we would have ended up in the bay!
Back at the Hoosie we met our hosts husband and we had a nice chat. His wife is still quite poorly with Covid 19, but although he has it, he has no symptoms. I was telling him about the trip to Portnahaven and there being no one there. He told us that they are mainly all second homes, but not homes for rental. These are family homes where the children have left for the mainland in search of work, and after their parents have died, they have kept the family home for the occasional time they come back to the island. I’m not really sure what is worse, having a second home as a rental property or having an empty house on an island where we learnt from the hosts husband, that run of the mill terraced properties go for around £300,000.
Wendy was cook for tonight’s supper of chicken fillets in a plumb and garlic sauce along with some rather tasty pasta sauce.
It’s not been a very exciting day, but it has been an interesting one, with lots of local knowledge obtained, so I guess all in all, it has been a rather good day!
No Travelling
Ardnave Point
We woke to a little drizzle but when we went out running it had stopped.
For the first time on this trip, I wore my running shorts, it was nice to get the wind around my legs but they don’t half look very white.
The drizzle started again just as I was approaching my 7-mile point.
I saw two women swimming in the sea and both only had bathing costumes on, jeepers they are hardy ladies. I would have died had I gone into the water in just my trunks.
I have my wet suit, gloves, boots and head covering with me and I’m still not keen on going out into the sea just yet.
I just completed my run and was back at the Wee Hoosie when the heavens opened, it banged it down.
As the rain pelted the roof of the Hossie I was nicely warm inside with my smoothie and a nice hot cup of tea. I could even hear the rain over the noise of the shower, the rain was that hard.
I have made a bit of a boob with supplies, I didn’t bring enough wine, I thought I had, but I haven’t, so we needed to get some supplies.
The rain was easing so we decided to go to the small town of Bowmore, where the largest Coop on the island is and buy the wine there. Then if the weather kept improving, we would go and do a walk that Wendy had found in the literature that our Host has left out for us.
Bowmore was mobbed, there were cars parked everywhere and I just don’t know why?
The Coop was ok, it was busy but it was safe enough and I got my supplies, although they didn’t have any boxes of wine, I had to make do with buying bottles.
The rain had stopped by the time I got back to the car so we decided to make our way to the start point of the walk, which was about 12 miles away.
Our walk was at Ardnave Point, which is a coastal promontory on the northwest of Islay. This landform has a rocky northern shore and extensive dunes on the upland areas of the point.
The drive there was over about 8 miles of scabby, single-track roads with very few buildings around the area.
The land was all things, dependent on where you looked you saw peat moorlands, ploughed fields, fine grassland of luscious looking grass. There were fields of sheep and cattle as well.
I parked the car in the designated car park and we donned our water proof trousers and over jackets as the rain was back again.
Our walk started at a small loch which was quite close to the beach. Wendy’s instruction leaflet was complete rubbish and we were off track almost straight away. Thankfully with it being a peninsular we made our own way around to the coast.
It wasn’t the coastal walk the leaflet had said it was, but by now we were in our stride and the rain had stopped and we had the occasional burst of sunshine.
The beaches we came across were stunning and in the heat of a nice summers day they would be the ideal place to sunbath. How many days that is possible per year would be the question mind, I don’t think you would dare book a holiday on the strength of the sun shining.
At one point we had to walk through a herd of very unwelcoming cows, jeepers they eyed us up and down as we walked through them. I guessed they were safe as they were on an established walking route and we knew other people had gone passed them as there were two other cars in the car park.
We walked for 4.2 miles and I have to admit, with going up and down hills, and sand dunes, that I was glad to get back to the car.
I had a fair sweat on and as I had been carrying the back pack, my back, T-shirt and jumper was soaked with sweat.
The walk had taken just under an hour and a half, but it had been some yomp!
Back at the Wee Hoosie we saw our Host for the first time. Catherine has just completed ten days quarantine and she told us that she had been very, very poorly with Covid 19.
She said that although she had had all the vaccines offered to her it had still hit her hard.
Catherine is a lovely lady and was worried that the Hoosie might not be as she likes to leave it has her daughter had turned it around for us. She also told us that we could stay on should our next ferry fail to sail.
Now that is a worry because the Southern Hebrides have been hit by ferry cancellations due to staffing matters and ferry breakdowns. It’s been a situation for most of the winter and Arran has been hit the hardest.
We had a few lazy hours at the Hoosie, where Wendy made a curry that we will, hopefully, weather permitting, warm up on a beach somewhere on Saturday afternoon!
I started work on a request, which was posted on the Barnsley Community Facebook group page, from who I think is a young woman, see below:
To: ex miners of Barnsley
For my final project at Leeds art uni I’m exploring the history and heritage of my home town Barnsley. I’d like to know more specifically about pit closures and the effects on the working-class community. Personal stories about mines, the strikes and the aftermath, or just general information just to give an insight would be really useful thanks!! : )
I had already done 1,500 words by the time we walked down to the village to have supper.
We had decided that as it’s a day before the Easter weekend we would go and look for a meal out. We didn’t book anything because we didn’t want to get there and the place be too busy for us. I know what the Government guidelines are, but this island is rife with Coronavirus and as we are moving onto another, much smaller island on Saturday, where we are staying in a small guest house, it wouldn’t be fair to take it over, so we are being extremely careful.
We tried the hotel, no room, the pub, no room, and finally the Seafood Restaurant, and yet again, they had no room. It was just gone 6:00 pm and everywhere was fully booked.
The hotel public bar was open for bar meals, but as I looked in through the door it was filling up nicely and it wasn’t for me, so we went back to the Hoosie.
I cooked a very nice supper of lamb chops, fried cabbage, mushroom and onion and I made a lovely knock up thick sauce using HP Sauce, Ketchup, garlic and white wine.
All in all, it was very nice indeed!
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day weather wise, but that doesn’t matter as we have one last day left on Islay and what we want to do is just visit the last corner of the island we have yet to see!
No Travelling
Beaches
I had a rocky sleep last night, I tossed and turned, but I still woke at 6:30 am but I nodded until just before 7:00 am so that I was up for the morning news.
I had my toast and vegemite and a very nice hot cup of tea and that did the trick, I was soon wide awake.
Wendy who always takes her tea in bed was sipping on her cup too.
We both went out running, the weather was dry but there was a bit of a breeze.
I went north and Wendy went south.
Going north means that I get to run in the grass drive that has been cut by local people for the last mile and a half, which is very close to the beach.
When I did this run two days ago, as usual there were a few campervans parked there for the night. One camper was parked in front of a structure that was within a fenced area, and it looked like the area was regularly tended to.
The van was bang in front of it!
I didn’t go near it; I just ran along the track.
There has been a lot of upset locally on the North Coast 500 with campervans and campers staying for the night in cemetery car parks, old castle grounds and other ancient monuments.
As I ran along the same beach this morning, I went down to see what the structure is and I found an amazing stone bench, surrounded by a fence. The grass within the fence was nicely mowed, as was the grass in front, where the campervan had been parked.
Within the bench structure there were three names inscribed on large stones.
The names were:
Dugald
Jamie
Neil
I was hot from running and the wind was a little harsh so I carried on running.
When I got back to our accommodation, I Googled the three names and I put in the name of the nearest village into the search, Bruichladdich.
Here is what I found:
“An island community was in shock last night after two men and a young boy were killed in a road crash.
Jamie MacTaggart, aged 10, and his father, 38-year-old Dugald MacTaggart, died when their pick-up truck and another vehicle collided on the island of Islay.
Neil MacFadyen, 47, of Port Charlotte, Islay, was also killed in the crash on Tuesday evening.
Police confirmed that the three died when their Skoda was in collision with a tipper lorry. Two other vehicles were also involved in the incident”.
Here is the link to the article, if you read it, you will see that very close relatives live very near to the spot where the accident occurred.
Islay shaken by triple road fatality | HeraldScotland
There is a fantastic 4G mobile phone signal in this area, had the campervan people thought to look, they could easily have seen that they were parking in an area tendered to by people who are, and are always likely to, be grieving for their lost loved ones.
Even if they did not have a mobile phone, surely seeing that a community has gone to such lengths to mark something with this fine structure would make someone think twice before parking there for the night.
Another thing, there is a camp site with full facilities not 3 miles from this point, and with views just as good as the ones they had in that location.
I have toured the entire continent of Australia and covered a good few states of the USA in a campervan, and I have always used local campgrounds, apart from where camping was permitted in national parks where the purchase of a permit allows it.
I often wonder how and why someone driving the best part of a £70,000 campervan can’t stump up £20 for a campsite and keep relations good with the people who live in the area that they are privileged to visit!
I got back to the Wee Hoosie and completed my usual routines.
Wendy gave her mum a Facetime call to check on her health as she has been somewhat poorly, and I was amused to hear her dad tell us that the weather in the south of England is very hot, kind of like he was taking the mickey out of us, I’m sure he wasn’t, but it did kind of feel like it!
Our mission today was to explore the last areas of Islay that we haven’t yet been to.
Our first port of call was to Machair Bay where we came across, very likely the most stunning and unspoilt beach in the United Kingdom.
Machair Beach is exactly 1.08 miles long and at low tide, it is about a quarter of a mile wide.
It is absolutely unspoiled and of all the people visiting they were just taking in the views while they walked along. On the occasional sunny day that they get on Islay, this has to be the place to visit.
We walked the entire beach, back and forth and it was stunning.
Our next stop was to the beach at Sangigmore.
Here we found a memorial to Irish people lost at sea, the photograph gives some detail of the incident but the full, tragic story of that night can be found by using this link:
Exmouth Castle Irish Emigrant Ship Tragedy Islay (islayinfo.com)
Do you know Avid Reader, even in the smallest recesses of the United Kingdom you will always find something of interest!
We did try to go to one last area, but alas with 4 miles to go, I found the road to be just too bumpy for the car and I had to turn around, but never mind, whatever I found there could never match Machair Beach.
I called into the very small shop and café which we have used before at the village of Bruichladdich. I bought 2 venison burgers, four bread rolls and a copy of the Scottish Mail.
When I went to pay, the owner, a woman of my age tutted at me for buying the Scottish Mail.
I told her I only buy it on Tuesday and Fridays as I like to read Richard Littlejohn. She told me that from my accent that she didn’t think that I was a Mail Reader.
I had to assure her of my working-class roots, before she was satisfied that I wasn’t a regular reader. I could equally have tutted back at her for selling the paper in the first place!
We got back to the Wee Hoosie and we had a small chicken sandwich before braving, the now driving rain for a nice Friday afternoon pint in the Port Charlotte Hotel bar.
The bar is a little topper, but at £8.25 for a pint and a half of Jarl, I think it will be my one and only trip to this hotel.
Back at the Hoosie, we hunkered down from the rain and I cooked a delightful venison burger that was an utter delight.
Would you believe that the rain cleared and we sat on the sofa looking at the beautiful view across the bay, what a lovely way to end a lovely day.
It’s moving day tomorrow, that is providing the CalMac Ferry turns up, as they have been a little fickle of late, but that’s all Nicola’s fault!
Port Charlotte to Pork Askaig - 15 Miles
Port Askaig to Scalasaig – 13.67 Nautical Miles
Scalasaig to Balnahard – 4 Miles
After the rain had cleared last night, it rained again, very, very hard. The rain was pounding on the roof of the Wee Hoosie, but at least we were all tucked up and cosy.
Eventually it cleared and I nipped out to look at the sky, it was very black, but thankfully it was on its way.
I was up at 6:00 am this morning and it was dry, but somewhat overcast. It was also very windy and I was a little worried about the ferry. But it was too early to check its sailing status, so I went out running, Wendy stayed in bed.
I didn’t hang about on the run; the wind was cold and harsh and I was back inside the Wee Hoosie as quickly as I could.
Wendy was up and had everything packed, so after my smoothie and shower we were ready to pack the car.
We left the Wee Hoosie at just after 10:30 am for the short drive to the ferry terminal at Port Askaig. The road was quiet, so by the time we got to the ferry terminal it was 11:00 am and we had an hour to wait for the ferry.
I called in to the small shop to try to get Wendy’s regular Saturday morning paper, The Times, but the shop only orders two copies. One copy is held behind the counter for a local person and someone else had bought the other, so that was that, no crossword challenge for Wendy this week.
We boarded the ferry just before 12:00 pm and as the ferry goes to Oban after Colonsay, the cars boarding are separated, and we had to drive onto the deck and then turn around so that we were facing the stern, while all the Oban bound cars were facing the bow, there were only about 4 cars who were Colonsay bound.
With the ferry crossing only being an hour’s duration, we had wrapped up warmly and we stood on the bow deck for the entire crossing.
As the ship passed through the Sound of Islay, which is the short area of water that separates Islay from Jura, we saw another 3 distilleries set either into the cliffs or along the shoreline of Islay.
The wind had by now died down and the crossing was as smooth as it could possibly be.
The weather cleared too has we left the high hills of Islay and the Paps of Jura behind. In fact, you could not see the Paps, they were bathed in mist.
We got over to Colonsay just after 1:00 pm and as soon as we left the ferry, we called into the small shop in the tiny village of Scalasaig to buy some local meat for tomorrows evening meal. I bought local beef sausages, and boy am I looking forward to eating them, they look so tasty!
Our first mission was to drive the 3 miles to the very south of the island as it is our intention to walk over to the island of Oronsay tomorrow which you can do at low water.
As we only have a 3-hour window before we get cut off by the tide, I wanted to have as much knowledge about the area as I could. After visiting, I now know the best place to make the crossing, how long it will take and the conditions to expect underfoot.
We were now quite hungry and we decided to warm up the curry that Wendy made a few days ago, however the breeze had picked up again, but being a good Scout I found a nice sheltered area from where we could warm the curry on the camp stove.
There is something about food that is cooked and eaten outside, it just seems to taste so good, well this curry was an utter, triple delight.
Just before I set up the stove, a young man was having his meal and he was hunkering out of the wind just a few feet up from where I was going to go. I had a chat to him about the wind and soon after he set off walking with his backpack, he was going northbound.
After the curry we packed the car again and we set off for the six miles drive to the north end of the island where our B&B is located.
We checked into our digs just after 3:00 pm and after settling in, we took a walk to the stunning beach at Kiloran.
Our digs are at the top of an extremely steep hill, the views are stunning, we can see over to the Isle of Mull from our bedroom window, but it’s hard going on the legs going down.
The beach was absolutely beautiful and it was a match for any beach I saw in Australia.
We walked along the beach and at the other end I could see a path leading up and into a hillside. As I wanted an elevated photograph from this side of the beach, we walked up the hill.
As I had my Strava running app running, after taking the photograph at the top I checked Strava to see how far we had walked. While I was checking the map, I saw that if we walked another mile along this track, we would come across something called the Colonsay Whale.
I Googled the Colonsay Whale and here is what I found:
“The Colonsay Whale Sculpture is the fascinating huge sculpture of a whale formed from stones found on the raised beach, on a flat piece of ground by Port an Obain, just north of Kiloran Bay, Colonsay. The sculpture is the work of artist Julian Meredith. Julian made the outline of the whale and visitors are encouraged to add a stone to the sculpture and fill in any empty areas of the whale outline.
The whale stretches 525 feet from nose to tail. Though it is easily visible at ground level, by far the best way to appreciate the enormous sculpture is to ascend one of the hills that surround this sheltered bay.
The sheer scale of the sculpture is stunning; when you stand at one end the other end seems to stretch out forever away from you”.
The whale was started sometime before 2015!
When we came across it, we immediately loved it.
I put four stones in the western tail of the whale, one for me, one for Granny Mavis who I think would appreciate the art of this whale, and one each for my two little girls, Eleanor and Rose. Wendy put in a couple for herself too.
Our four stones now sit there and hopefully they will be joined by many others in the coming years, where they will most likely stay until the end of time.
On the return walk we came across the man we had seen at the south of the island, the fella who was hiding from the wind. He was setting a tent up bang in the middle of the track we had walked over, he told us that he was too tired to go any further, well he had walked the full length of the island with a huge backpack.
Back at our digs I made and then ate a crisp sarnie which is something I haven’t done for over 50 years, but I did have a little hole to fill!
No Travelling
Oronsay!
It chucked it down with rain all through the night, it didn’t disturb me in the bedroom but the bathroom has a Velux window, which is set into the roof, and when I had an early bathroom visit the noise of the rain was deafening.
I had a nice cup of tea and a vegemite slice of bread for my early breakfast. Wendy could not drink the tea, she did not like the water, she said it had a horrible taste. I didn’t notice myself, but there you go.
It was still raining when I went out running, it rained all the way there and back.
Colonsay as a circular road around the centre of the island which is separated in the middle by very high ground. There are two off shoot roads, one takes you to the southern end of the island, and one takes you to the north end of the island, where we are staying.
My running route was along the far western side of the circular road, a road that we haven’t yet been on.
Close to our B&B there is a small sign on an outside tap on a house which offers free refills of water.
As I got towards the end of my four-mile turnaround, I came across another one of these refill taps on the outside of someone’s house. As they must be on a different water supply to our accommodation, on the way back I filled my water bottle from it, so Wendy could try that supply for her morning tea.
I later Googled the App and I found that it’s a way of trying to reduce plastic and it boasts that there are:
“More than 274,000 Refill Stations offering water Refills globally!”
Wendy had a very nice breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast and when I got back, I made a banana smoothie with milk that was still chilled in the cool box.
On my run I ran past the small primary school, this got me thinking, where do the older children go to the high school, and how many children goes to this primary school?
I also wondered where the island gets its electrical supply from, being so far from the mainland as I hadn’t seen anything that looked like a generating station, and so far I had only come across one small wind turbine.
At 11:00 we drove down to the south of the island to walk across to the island of Oronsay. Low tide was at just gone 1:00 pm and my thinking was by the time we were dressed in our wet weather gear, the tide would be about right.
Thankfully as we got to the car park, the rain stopped.
We were off and walking along the mudflats at around 11:50 am and the tide was almost out.
We had to dodge the odd stream by finding a way across but as we almost got to the island we came across an impassable river. A man was already there and it looked like we would have a lengthy wait for the water to drop enough for us to walk across.
But Avid Reader, what did I say the other day about being a good Scout?
I had anticipated this occurrence so I had prepared myself and I had brought along a roll of heavy-duty black bin liners to make improvised waders.
Well, the other fella could not believe his look when I offered him a pair.
So, with our new waterproof waders on, we all successfully crossed the river, which was well above boot high, and we were nicely dry when we got to the other side.
The walk across the Strand, (is it called The Strand, because you could become stranded?), took just over a mile and from there it was a little over a mile and a half to the only farm on the island, which is exactly where the ruined Priory is.
Oronsay Priory was a monastery of canons regular on the island of Oronsay. It was in existence by 1353 under the patronage of John of Islay, Lord of the Isles. It was dedicated to St. Columba. The Priory wasn’t attacked or damaged, it just fell into disrepair when the Order moved out about 200 years later.
The Priory is actually in good shape and we spent a good 20 minutes wandering around the ruins. We sheltered inside one building where we had a very nice cup of coffee from the flask that Wendy had filled with the water that I had taken from the refill tap.
We crossed back to the mainland, with one more use of the impromptu wellies needed and we were back at the car just as the rain started again. We had been really lucky; we had a smashing trip over lasting around 2.5 hours and the rain kept off just for us.
Driving back up the island we called into the Airstrip where flights arrive a couple of times a week and I was pleased to see a tarred runway and a small terminal building.
On passing by the refill tap, Wendy filled a large gallon water carrier we have with us for tomorrow mornings tea and flask.
As it was still raining, we took a drink in the hotel bar, where the drinks bill for a pint and a half of Colonsay IPA came to an eye watering £9.80!!!
We were going to cook our sausages on the grill for supper, but the rain put the idea on hold until tomorrow, so we decided to book a table at the hotel for our evening meal.
While we were in the bar, I did a little research and I found that the older children either fly or take the ferry to Oban, where they attend Oban High School. They do try to come home at weekends but that is not always possible due to the weather.
I also found that the Head Teacher at Colonsay Primary School earns around £55,000 a year and has a free four-bedroom house to use, I had come across the last vacancy advert from 2019. The Head Teacher as 6 primary pupils and one nursery child, that’s some salary for such a small workload!
I also discovered that the islands electrical supply comes from a subsea cable, well I never!
We had an hour and half to rest up at the B&B before driving back to the hotel for supper.
Supper was lovely; however, it was cold inside the restaurant. I did ask what was wrong with the heating and I was told that its always the same, cold in winter and too hot in summer.
As the restaurant had a massive wood burner, Wendy asked why it wasn’t lit. It makes too much smoke was the reply!
We did get moved to another table, closer to an electric heater which did make it a little better.
We shared a starter of Oysters with a lemon sauce, they were really lovely, and when I say shared, I had two and Wendy had one.
Then I had a rump steak with chips, this was really nice and the chips had just come out of a volcano, they were really hot and tasty.
Wendy had a lovely burger but forgot to ask about it being a brioche bun, and guess what, it was a brioche bun! Thankfully it was the least brioche, brioche bun I have ever tasted!
Back at the B&B we chilled out with a glass of wine, but we won’t be long for bed, after two nice long walks in two days, and with the lovely fresh sea air, we are both ready for bed tonight!
Balnahard to Scalasaig - 4 Miles
Scalasaig to Oban – 32 Nautical Miles
Oban to Kirkhill – 109 Miles
Jeepers the rain lasted into the small hours, I went to the bathroom at around 4:00 am and it was still at it!
However, when I got up at 6:00 am, it was to clear skies and the ground seemed to be drying out. Its time to travel home so I ran in the direction I did yesterday as I knew it and I knew that I could do it comfortably in under 1 hour 20 minutes. I also knew that if I went around the other side of the circular road that it goes over very high ground, and I just didn’t fancy that today, as we are in for a late night.
I got back to the B&B to find Wendy just finishing her breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast and she told me that the eggs were excellent. She should know because Wendy Gill is a connoisseur of scrambled eggs.
There is a medical student staying at our B&B, he is doing a four-week stint on the island as part of his studies and he is seeing patients at the local medical centre.
He wasn’t working yesterday so I had a chat with him and he is a really nice young man from Birmingham. Wendy had her breakfast with him and had a chat to him too, she told him about the Colonsay Whale, and he had never heard of it, so it became a part of his to do list!
I got a couple of bananas and some milk from the breakfast fridge and I made my smoothie in the bedroom. As I was having tea the owner knocked on the door and bid us farewell. He was off for his morning walk and he left us all alone in the house, well that’s island life for you.
We packed and left just after 10:30 am and we drove the short distance down to Kiloran Beach where we parked up.
Thankfully the sun was out but it was a little breezy.
We unpacked the windbreak, the table, chairs and cooker and took the food bag and made camp on the beach, against the short southern rocks.
The windbreak is a dam nuisance to put up, in fact had I not been able to lash a line around a large stone we would never have got it up.
Thankfully we did and we had a very pleasant four-hour rest, with either beach walking, or just sitting out of the wind and listening to Radio 2.
On the beach walk we went right to the southern end of the beach; it was very quiet and out of the way. I managed to get a little further around by climbing some rocks and I came to a secluded spot where someone had placed a large cast iron bath and had made a small wood burning area underneath it. I bet someone fills it with sea water, lights a fire and waits until its nicely warm before settling down for a relaxing soak on this spectacular beach, what an experience it must be!
At around 1:30 pm I cooked an extremely early dinner of Colonsay Beef Sausage, onions and eggs.
Jeepers it was a juggling act to get all the ingredients cooked and hot all at the same time using one small gas ring. I also had to manage all this without any sand contamination, which I did manage.
Wendy skilfully buttered bread rolls, with an extra slice each to dip our yokes.
Do you know Avid Reader, it was an utter delight to eat!
At 2:30 pm we packed our gear up and reloaded the car and took a slow drive down to the ferry port township, which is called Scalasaig, and that’s where we received some potentially bad news.
I have the Caledonian MacBrayne sailing status app on my phone and I just thought I would check that everything was alright with our sailing, when sure enough, I found out it wasn’t.
There was a possibility of disruption due to high winds in excess of 40 mph and the sailing might be cancelled!
Yes, it was breezy at the ferry terminal, but the sea state looked good to me.
As there wasn’t anything we could do about it we climbed the large hill which overlooks the township to go and see the Monument to Lord Colonsay.
The climb was very steep, the hill, “Cnoc na Faire Mor” is 230 feet above sea level, and it rises very steeply indeed.
Here’s the story of Lord Colonsay:
The Monument was erected in 1879, five years after McNeill's death. It is made of granite from Mull and stands upon a square stone plinth.
Given the striking monument, one has to ask what made the islanders so grateful to their laird as to erect a monument in his honour. In this case, it isn't so much what McNeill did as what he didn't do; he didn't clear the islanders off their traditional lands during the Highland Clearances, as so many other lairds did across the Highlands and Islands.
The views from the top on such a clear day were stunning.
We came down via an alternative route so that we could walk past the local church that’s been there since the 1800’s. It’s a shame, but it was locked by a large padlock. I thought that there hasn’t been a crime on the island since the 1990’s, and the last one before that was for treason, hundreds of years ago!
We then took a lovely coffee in a small but very nice café which is quite close to the ferry terminal. I asked the chap manning the kitchen about the ferry running and he said that that the weather was nowhere near as what CalMac had thought it to be, and that it had sailed in much worse conditions.
I checked the app again, the vessel should be well on its way from Oban, but the warning was still on the app.
Unperturbed we took a last short drive to see the tide come in at the Strand. High tide wasn’t until gone 7:00 pm but at least I could see the water coming in. Wendy stayed in the car but I walked as close to the water as time would allow and I stood for five minutes and watched the water reclaim the land, I would loved to have stayed and seen it come fully in.
We drove back to the ferry and I was the first in the queue to join the vessel. The ferry man took our tickets and all appeared to be operating as normal.
As Wendy relaxed, I watched a program called Pilgrimage, on the BBC I-Player. Wendy watched it a few nights ago while I filed my copy and it sounded interesting, so I caught up and we can now watch episode two when we get the chance.
The ferry landed on time, a lot of cars disembarked and I was waved aboard at 6:45 pm and all was well!
We sat in the lounge in the bar area and we both relaxed, I had a can of Tennant’s and Wendy had a glass of wine. The boat rocked a little, but not enough to cause concern about a cancellation!
We arrived in Oban and departed the ferry exactly on time. It was a tiring drive back home but at least the roads were empty.
We arrived safe and sound at 15 minutes to midnight and by the time we got a few things from the car it was 12:30 am.
It’s been a really interesting trip and we have had a fantastic time, see you next time Avid Reader!
49 Miles
Birthday Weekend
This is a quick impromptu blog as we are away with Jenn, David, their girls and Donald and Cathy for Jenn’s postponed 50th birthday. It’s been delayed two years due to the Coronavirus but eventually this weekend it’s going to happen.
To start we had a late morning in bed, I could not believe when I opened my eyes and I saw the bedroom clock, it was 8:05 am.
I ran down to the Fairy Glen and I was a little dismayed to see litter at the top of the glen. Someone had walked all that way with a paper coffee cup, they must have finished it and then they threw it into the river, but it fell short and landed on the river bank.
The Fairy Glen is the most beautiful, unspoiled place on this planet and for someone to disrespect it like this is just so maddening! I think, if I had caught them I might lose the plot!
I got back home and after a small smoothie, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, we packed the car and headed south to Nethybridge, to a very elegant house that David had rented for Jenn’s birthday.
We arrived just after 4:00 pm to find everyone else unpacking their cars.
This house is amazing, it is spacious, and very well equipped.
The weather was great so we all sat outside in the sun, with a drink and just enjoying the company.
At 6:00 pm I nipped inside and started supper.
In the week I had made and frozen a very nice beef Red Thai curry and also a very nice Thai Green seafood curry.
David had also brought a very tasty looking beef chili.
I warmed everything up, including some rice that Wendy made, I set the table and I requested that Donald Anderson undertake the duties of wine waiter, which he did with great enthusiasm.
Supper turned out to be another utter delight, no it really was, everyone said so, or were they being polite.
We saw an amazing sunset which we all watched from the back garden, it was a topper, but it might be cold in the morning, I’m expecting a frost!
Its now 9:30 pm and everyone bar a few of us are in the hot tub.
I might just nip down when Donald has stopped telling Ross, Niamh’s boyfriend, that Celtic are better than Rangers!
No Travelling
Donald’s Bridge
Apparently, there were some fun and games last night after we went to bed. Ever the sensible I know when enough, is enough and went to bed in good time to wake up nicely at 6:30 am.
However, David and Donald stayed up drinking in the hot tub quite late. David fell out of the hot tub when he was getting out and now he aches in a lot of places. Donald dropped a full bottle of vodka onto the solid slate floor of the dining room. In the process of trying to sort it out he woke up with five pieces of glass embedded in his foot which he had to get out before he could get out of bed. He is now hobbling about!
Wendy got up with me and we both went out running.
What a beautiful village Nethybridge is, there is an amazing assortment of housing, all of it looking rather expensive.
I had stayed in Nethybridge many, many years ago. I was on a skiing trip with my mates and we stayed at the very nice Nethybridge Hotel. I remember it like it was yesterday, it started to snow on Saturday afternoon and it snowed all night long. The snow was really deep and we had a great day’s skiing before we drove home on the Sunday night.
Nethybridge is called the Forest Village because it is built within the Abernethy Forest.
I ran through the village and I asked a man for directions, he must have thought I had asked him to explain particle acceleration because he was absolutely stumped for words. It must have taken two full minutes for him to come up with, “You might have to cross a stream if you go that way”. I was losing the will to live so I just said, “Thanks, I’ll go that way then”, and I ran in the opposite direction.
By the time I had got back, Donald was up and dressed, but David was still very much in his scratcher!
I had a lovely banana smoothie and then after my shower I took the hot tub lid off and I had a lovely good hours soak and it was just what the doctor ordered.
The weather has changed a little today, the sky is full of clouds and it’s a wee bit cooler, well we are 860 feet above sea level.
Did you know Avid Reader, that Nethybridge used to be called Abernethy. In 1860 when the railway line reached the village it had to be renamed because there was already a village, with a rail stop, on the line called Abernethy. So as the village has four river bridges and they wanted to keep something of the old village name, Nethybridge came into existence!
We all chilled about the house until around 1:30 pm when we drove down to the next village, Boat of Garton, which was about 6 miles away. Cathy missed the turning and had to do a U turn in someone’s drive, and as David Latham was following, he did too, and he U turned in the same drive as well.
We managed to get to the restaurant just after 2:00 pm and we were soon seated.
Lunch was an utter, utter, delight, it was really nice.
Most of the crew had starters so I had to wait until they had finished and by the time it came, I was famished.
For my meal I had a rare ribeye steak, with chunky chips, side salad and coleslaw. I had a chimichurri sauce with it too and it was really, really tasty.
Everyone loved their food, and we were all too stuffed to high heaven to have a dessert.
Our waiter was very good, very attentative, in the right order.
As we left, I went to the kitchen staff and thanked them for the food, it really was that good. The wine was a bit pricy, but at least we knew up front!
On the way back to the house, we took a little detour as Donald wanted me to see a bridge that he had refurbished over the beautiful River Spey, 30 years ago.
It was a really interesting constructed bridge, and it was made from South African Timber because of its hard-wearing qualities.
Back at the house and the sun had now broken through the clouds and it was a really nice afternoon.
Donald still had some glass in his foot so Wendy had him soak it in hot water and after a while I tried to get it out. Well, what a performance, you would think I was amputating his foot. He screamed like a baby, but eventually I got it out. It was deeply embedded but the hot water had really softened it so that I could squeeze it out and pick it up with some tweezers
Jenn, Cathy and Ciara jumped into the hot tub and as the wind was picking up a little, I joined them and after an hour David also joined us.
We had a lovely afternoon and soon enough it was 7:00 pm and I was wrinkly from the hot tub water.
By the time I had showered, the ladies had made a really tasty looking buffet supper on the first-floor table, it looked delightful.
From here on in I’m not sure what the night holds but with Donald Anderson and David Latham around it is sure to be an interesting night!
Good night Avid Reader!
152 Miles
Misty Mizzle
We watched the boxing last night using Donald’s legal memory stick.
It was awful for two reasons:
Take a look at the images on Google of a young Mike Tyson when he was world champion, now he really did look the part.
I was in bed not long after the fight and I had a good night’ sleep and I was awake at 6:45 am and sat having my breakfast by 7:00 am.
I went out running and Wendy stayed in to pack our stuff.
We had hoped to stay the extra night at the house but we were needed elsewhere, so it was time to move on.
Jeepers the weather was all change today, it was pretty cold, I would guess between 2 and 3 degrees. It was also very overcast with thick, low cloud and there was mizzle around.
I ran down to the village and then I turned last past the very prestigious looking Nethybridge Hotel and out along the road to Grantown on Spey.
About a mile out from the village I came across a very old looking ruined castle which I found out was called Castle Roy!
Castle Roy is a12th century fortress built by the Clan Comyn on a small glacial mound to the north of the village of Nethybridge. In 1420 the whole area came under the stewardship of the Clan Grant, who are still the clan of this area today.
With its walls still standing 25 feet high, the castle is a simple, irregular 4-sided stronghold which has been largely unaltered over the centuries and is one of the oldest unchanged castles of its type in Scotland.
The main architectural feature is a tower on the north-western corner which still has a window with a lintel. There is an entrance archway in the centre of the north-eastern side, with a small doorway on the western side for day-to-day use. In the garde-robe area is evidence of the chieftain’s latrine at ground level and two latrines on an upper level.
The Castle is now managed by a trust whose aim is to preserve the Castle, as it stands, for future generations. To maintain it as a free, all abilities, visitor and education centre and to create a community venue for the outdoor performing arts and other events, such as weddings and family parties.
I had never heard of it until today.
I got back to the house and the mizzle was by now very heavy indeed and it looked set for the day.
When I left there wasn’t anyone out of bed other than me. But when I got back, I found Jenn, Wendy and Cathy sat in the upstairs lounge, chatting. I gave Jenn a kiss as today is officially her birthday and then I went down for my smoothie.
While I was in the kitchen David came back from taking Jamie, the spaniel, for a walk and he looked remarkably well after yet another night of drinking with Donald Anderson.
Donald was still in bed and he didn’t appear until I was well into my cup of tea. He sat with me at the ground floor dining table and he said, “I think I’m still a little drunk!”
Donald and Cathy were staying in the bedroom next to ours and he must have nipped back to his room for something because Cathy was just in front of me as I went for a shower. Cathy stopped outside her bedroom door and picked up a half-filled glass of rum and coke from the window cill opposite her bedroom door.
She opened the door and on seeing Donald, I heard her say to him, “And what do you know about this then Donald Anderson?”
I couldn’t hear what his reply was but as usual Donald managed to wangle his way out of it.
After my shower we said our goodbyes and set off in the direction of Alex, Robyn and Rose’s house in Millerhill, Edinburgh.
The journey down was fine, albeit a little busy along the route, and there were quite a high number of campervans heading North.
We got to the house a little after 2:00 pm and Robyn and Rose were outside waiting for us.
Poor Alex was in bed with a very sore throat.
Rose wasn’t very well at all and its heart breaking to see and hear her bad cough and runny nose. But she’s made of some very stern stuff, she never complained at any point all afternoon.
After a coffee, I nipped to fill the car with fuel and to get some supplies for supper, but I did a boob.
I forgot to check on the Gluten Free status of the ready meals I thought would be easy to warm up. They turned out to be the most Gluten products I think I could have bought.
So, ten minutes later Robyn and me were heading North along the A1 and going to Asda to get supper for Alex.
In the end supper was lovely, it was just a selection of Chinese and Thai food that had been heated in the main oven. Rose sat in her highchair and had her very own portion of rice and meat. Rose, despite her not feeling very well did a good job of eating it all up!
After Rose had had her bath and milk she was put down to bed, in my bedroom where I’ll be looking over her all night long, hopefully giving her Mum and Dad some much-needed rest.
I’m actually already on the job, because as I file tonight’s copy, I have also got one eye on the baby monitor as Rose sleeps.
Well, that’s the latest, short adventure over and done with, I do have something on my mind about somewhere I have been wanting to visit for our journey home, but of course that will depend on how long my medical services are required!
99 Miles
The Tarmachan Ridge
If you’ll recall Avid Reader, we had left Jenn’s somewhat late 50th birthday venue in Nethybridge to be somewhere else in my last copy. Well, that was to go and help out with our granddaughter, Rose, who had been quite poorly recently.
For the last four nights we have helped her parent’s out, who after trying to work full time and look after a poorly baby, were very tired and in need of some respite.
Its not nice to see Rose poorly, she is always so full of energy.
We slept in her bedroom for the fourth time last night and although we had, me mostly, been up with her a few times in the night, she looked quite spritely this morning as she said her goodbyes and headed for nursery.
I went for my run down towards Musselburgh Harbour and with it being a very sunny, albeit cold morning at only 2 degrees, I should have known that at this time of year it doesn’t take long for a shining sun to raise the temperature.
By the time I was at the harbour the sweat was pouring out of me. I could hardly see my phone screen as pools of sweat were forming on the inside of my spectacle lenses.
I got back to the house somewhat bedraggled but feeling good about a run in the sun.
After my smoothie I concluded my morning routines by cleaning the guest bathroom from top to bottom as Rose was due two very important guests this afternoon, Great Granddad Michael and Lynn.
We left Millerhill at the stroke of 1:00 pm, but instead of following the Satnav which would have taken a route for us via Stirling, I headed north to Perth, for two very important reasons.
I also filled the car with diesel at Perth, the fuel gauge is playing up so I wanted to absolutely fill the car to the very brim, you never know what’s around the corner these days, if it’s not extreme environmentalists, it’s the latest version of a megalomanic the world has again to suffer, Vladimir Putin, what a ****!
The A85 was truly stunning, it really was. The Perthshire countryside has as much to offer, if not more, as anywhere else in the UK, it is beautiful.
Our first stop was at the very pretty, small town of Crieff.
Crieff is a little, stunning small town, or large village.
We parked the car and took a walk around; it didn’t take long but what we saw was lovely. It was quiet and peaceful with a few bars, cafes and really nice-looking local shops. The sun was shining and it was 17 degrees, which is always a bonus in Scotland!
After a little bit more of a scare with baby Rose, which involved a very satisfactory hospital visit, we got back in the car and we continued along the A85 passing through some, now smaller, but equally nice-looking villages before we came across the stunningly beautiful Loch Earn.
What an amazing loch this is, I just had to stop the car and take in the beauty of the place, it really was that good to look at.
The loch is 7 miles long and at its widest part it is ¾ of a mile wide, it is also, at its deepest, 285 feet deep.
However you look at it, looking from the start of the loch when heading westwards, it really is a stunning site.
Having driven the length of the loch we then headed just a few miles north and into the village of Killin where our Airbnb accommodation is.
We checked in and unloaded the car pretty smartish.
We are in a ground floor flat of a large stone house and we have chickens in the back yard, where we are free to, if they are laying, collect their eggs for our breakfast.
The apartment is lovely and has every thing we need, a well-stocked kitchen, a very nice bathroom, a comfy looking bedroom and a very nice orogeny which we can use as a lounge.
As soon as we were settled in, and after a chat with our host we took a short walk around the village.
It’s a really nice-looking place and I would say from the size of the hills around us that we are, at what I would call the start of the Highlands of Scotland. Although the village is only at a height of 430 feet, we are surrounded by at least 4 Munros, 3 of which are on a ridge called the Tarmachan Ridge.
There are a good few bars in the village, and a mobile chippy, but at £9.50 for a portion of fish and chips I think I might just cook for myself instead.
We stopped at the end of the village at a hotel overlooking the River Lochay and we had a very nice pint on an outside bench which looked directly at the Tarmachan Ridge, and what a cracking view it was.
From there we walked back up to our accommodation but before returning to the flat we took a look at the very famous Dochart Falls, which although they seemed to be short on water, looked very majestic nonetheless!
Back at the flat I cooked a simple meal of pork chops, salad, and coleslaw, and as we don’t have an oven, I melted butter in a frying pan and fried it along with some freshly squeezed garlic, and then I fried some French stick ends in the mix, well needs must when you’re out in the field.
Its now knocking on 9:00 pm and I might just about manage to squeeze in an episode of last weeks Gogglebox on my laptop, before I have a very nice night’s sleep in a very comfortable bed.
No Travelling
Loch Tay
We did indeed watch last week’s Gogglebox and I have to say that I have never seen such a disgusting item on TV as the one that featured a duck, which was the last item on the show. We need to bring back Mary Whitehouse if this is the future of TV.
The flat we are staying is small but very nice, its comfortable and very clean. We have a nice kitchen, a nice cosy bedroom and a lounge in the orangery.
The house is located along a road just outside the village of Killin, and it is surrounded by hills at the back and the River Dochart to the front, needless to say it is very quiet at night, and we both slept like logs. In fact, we didn’t wake up until 7:00 am.
We both went running, Wendy turned right out of the drive along the road that the house is on, and it stretches out into the country, and I turned left with the intention of running along the south shore of Loch Tay.
I say intention because as usual it never pans out as intended.
If you look at the road map the road runs all along the south shore, where in fact I found that it goes up and up, into a forest where the trees almost block out any view of the Loch.
The sun was out too and it was rather warm. By the time I had got back my Strava running app was showing that I had burnt 1,169 calories and I had climbed over 793 feet, that’s actually going up and down, but the highest point that I reached was 559 feet.
Needless to say, I’ll be looking for a different route tomorrow!
After breakfast, in glorious sunshine, we left the flat to go and tour the area around Loch Tay, and what a smashing time we had, the views were fantastic.
First up we took the road, which is an A Class Road, along the north shore of the loch. Like the southern road I ran along this morning, it went up and down!
I did not know this, I have never heard of it either, but this road, the A827, forms part of the Heart 200?
After a little research here’s what I found out about the Heart 200:
“Heart 200 is a new touring route of approximately 200 miles around Perth, Stirling, The Trossachs and Highland Perthshire – the very Heart of Scotland.
What’s more, this stunning journey uniquely links Scotland’s two national parks, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs and the Cairngorms.
So, whether you’re looking for a weekend break, a week-long holiday or something in-between, Heart 200 offers you a route that has something for every kind of visitor.
I guess that the promotors of this route are hoping for it to be a popular success like the North Coast 500. They really ought to be careful what they wish for because the small communities that we found that it runs through would be devastated if they get the same amount of over tourism that the NC 500 suffers.
We really enjoyed the journey and the roads were really quiet, it really was an unspoilt wilderness.
Before turning around the east shore of the loch and heading back along the south shore, we took a detour so that we could go and visit the very pleasant small town of Aberfeldy.
The sun was really shining on us as we parked the car.
Aberfeldy is a really nice small town, there’s not much to it but the buildings are all occupied with local stores. There appears to be some really nice-looking bars and restaurants and we know that the area is steeped in history because just outside town we found the very impressive Castle Menzies.
After a nice walk around town, we got back into the car and we retraced our journey back to the small village that sits at the far eastern end of Loch Tay, Kenmore.
Now Kenmore really is a very small place with just a row of old estate cottages, a small village shop, but it also has a very large hotel, the very appropriately named, Kenmore Hotel.
After taking a walk around the village and the eastern shore we called in at the pub, which is reported to be the oldest Inn in Scotland, having been built in 1572.
However, we found that after suffering losses of over £40,000 per week due to the pandemic, (Hard to imagine, but it is a big hotel), it has been sold to an unknown buyer and it will be closed for a year until major refurbishments have been undertaken.
The southern road was the same single-track road that I had run along this morning and it was an utter delight of gorgeous high-level views of Loch Tay.
Loch Tay Facts:
Thankfully we met very little traffic and we could just drive along and enjoy the views without a care in the world.
We had completed the Loch Tay tour by 3:00 pm, so I took the short drive of 13 miles to the tiny village of Crianlarich.
Crianlarich is the road we use when we drive down south to Glasgow instead of taking the A9, its slightly shorter in length, but much slower in time due to the road winding its way around Loch Lomond.
Having driven the road many times, I have never once stopped in the village, so I was curious to see what it really looked like. Well within ten minutes of parking we found one hotel, one pub and a few homes and that was that.
However, on the road back to the flat we did stop for a very nice pint of beer at the Luib Hotel.
The Luib Hotel proports to be an Old Drovers Inn, which I guess must be true because it is on the old north south route which leads up to the West Highlands.
The barman was a smashing fella and we chatted about the hotel while he poured our drinks, apparently the hotel has been busy for over a month and it extends until the next two weeks, where I guess people have yet to book for their summer staycation.
Back at the flat we found four freshly laid eggs which our host had left us from his flocks’ efforts today.
As soon as we had settled down, I cooked two as a pre-starter before I cooked tonight’s supper, pan fried chicken thighs and mushrooms in a plumb sauce which I will serve on a bed of egg rice.
Its Friday night Avid Reader, it’s almost gone 7.00 pm and while I cook supper, I might just enjoy a nice cool glass of white wine, well as I said, it is Friday, a bank holiday one at that too!
No Travelling
Another lovely quiet night’s rest, although Wendy woke up feeling a little poorly with a cold, which really doesn’t surprise me.
I was firing on all cylinders thankfully and I was out of bed at just gone 7:00 am to a very nice morning, despite the doom and gloom of the weather forecasters on the news last night.
I did a very silly thing at breakfast time. I am at the end of a jar of vegemite and I ensure its empty by scraping it out with a teaspoon. However, there was just a little too much and instead of leaving it for tomorrow I spread it thickly on my toast.
Now I usually have a lot of vegemite on my toast but today I even excelled myself and I was dying of thirst before I even left the flat.
Wendy stayed at the flat and I ran along the route that she had run yesterday morning. Its a cracking route, it’s a single-track road that runs all along Glen Dochart. It goes on for miles and miles. I did four miles and I was nowhere near the end of it.
The road follows the River Dochart for a good while before separating and winding up into the hills, but only gently, thankfully.
I turned around at a small farm and headed back. At six miles I had emptied my water bottle but I was still thirsty, thankfully I found a stream that ran directly down from the hills and so I filled my bottle again.
My water bottle was empty again by the time I got back to the flat and I was then straight into a bottle of ice-cold Lucozade Orange.
Before my smoothie I gave Wendy a lateral flow test which thankfully returned a negative result.
After a shower I was just getting dressed in my biking gear as we were going to take a cycle along the road that I had just run along, in the hope of finding the end. However, I nipped into the Orangery to put my trainers on and I heard the first tiny pitter patter of rain on the roof. Just then my phone pinged and it was a weather warning for the Killin area, rain was expected at 12:00, it was now 11:59, well for once they were spot on!
I got changed into my everyday clothes and we drove up the Glen instead of cycling and I was astounded to find that, after going over the River Dochart, via a stunning road bridge, we were back at the main road. I then looked at my Strava app and I could see where I had gone wrong, the app as mistakenly marked some mountain tracks as roads!
We parked the car at the flat and walked back into the village, our first stop being the village hall. There was an outdoor clothing sale at the village hall today which prompted Wendy to buy yet another waterproof jacket, this time it was easily justified by it being a short jacket, as opposed to the long one which she recently bought!
We then walked a little further to the River Lochay, which is the second river which flows through the village and enters Loch Tay.
There is a little pontoon there and some villages have their small boats tied up there and there was a chap and his teenage daughter. He was just tying his boat up and alongside he had two large bags of small plastic ducks. I asked him if there had been a duck race and he confirmed that there had been. It hadn’t been a very successful duck race because the river flow wasn’t great due to a lack of rain recently, and he told me there is only so much current you can create with a wooden oar. He told me that the ducks had all just congregated in the one area like a large duck gathering and that it had been very hard to declare a winner.
As we were walking away from the river a woman crossed the road and thrust a plastic bag into my hand saying, “Would you like some cakes, they’re free, its left overs from the scout hall sale, I wouldn’t want them to go to waste”.
I took the bag and then I came to my senses after being taken aback. As she walked away, I shouted her back and said, “Hang on, hang on, have you been fundraising, if so let me give you a donation”.
I only had £3.00 change but she gladly took it for the donations box, she was dead chuffed with herself.
From there we walked back to the flat to a, ditch the cakes, and b, for Wendy to change into her new jacket as it was raining harder now.
My next mission was to collect the key to the gate that leads to a small island which is accessed from the bridge at the Falls of Dochart.
The island in the middle of the river on the downstream side of the bridge is known as Innis Bhuidhe. This is home to the Clan MacNab Burial Ground. Its use dates back to the 1700s (presumably the late 1700s, after the island was made accessible by the Bridge of Dochart).
An oblong enclosure within the burial ground is home to fifteen graves, nine of which are the final resting places of clan chiefs, plus a medieval grave slab which suggests that at least one earlier burial did take place here.
I got the key for the padlock which opens the gate for a £25 deposit from the gift shop, and on its safe return I would get £20 back, meaning it was a £5 admission fee.
The island is very eerie, but not in a spooky way, but in a historical way and I am so glad that I made the effort to go and visit the place.
My last visitation was to the villages beautiful war memorial.
The memorial is really nice and very respectful but I found upon its step a Scottish Nationalist painted stone. I have heard of these before, it’s like the nationalists like to nationalise a monument with their own colours and words of nationalist wisdom. I immediately picked it up, and as nicely painted and inscripted as it was, I tossed it down the river bank.
I’m not sorry as I don’t believe that the men whose names adore this British war memorial from two World Wars would appreciate their names being used in a political message by any party, neither nationalist or unionist.
We were going to have an afternoon treat in the Falls of Dochart Hotel but we saw that there was a Salmon Smokehouse in the carpark so we meandered up there and we were surprised to find that it was a shop, come very nice restaurant.
We liked it that much that we booked ourselves in for a full sharing platter and a very tasty bottle of sparking elderflower wine.
The food was an utter delight, we had lashings of hot and cold smoked salmon and other titbits.
We were joined by a five-month-old baby and her parents, Baby Ona Maggie MacGregor, who was a very beautiful baby girl.
The added bonus was that the man who owns the place was once based in Portree on the Isle of Skye, and after telling him I had worked there as the Islands Fire Officer for four years, I knew everyone who he knew and vice-versa!
We got back to the flat at a little before 5:00 pm and although its still raining on the roof of the Orangey It's been a lovely day of interest and very good food.
I’m just about to pour myself a nice glass of Old Peculiar and help myself to someone’s left over Cadbury Flake Ice Cream that I have found in the freezer. Well, its not worth looking for any cake as someone’s helped herself to the lot!
119 Miles
The Two Rivers Run!
I forgot to say in yesterdays copy that while I was running along the single-track road, which runs quite close and parallel to the main road, which forms part of the Heart 200, I saw yet more examples of stupid driving.
I could hear them coming due to the noise of their engines, they were some kind of Lamborghini type of car, there were four of them. I watched as they raced along at just gone 8:00 am overtaking cars at break neck speed, all of them, one after the other without a care in the world or any concern for local sensitivities.
This reminded me of a photograph I saw in a Scottish National Newspaper this week, about similar cars on the North Coast 500.
There is a stunning bridge up north in Caithness, The Kylesku Bridge, and a gang of ignorant high performance car owners wanted a photograph of themselves all lined up along the bridge. It caused a lot of local upset, no one could safely pass them while they messed about getting their photograph moment, in fact one story line mentions something about having to wait for a drone to be recovered before they would move on.
That’s what I meant about being careful what you wish for. The North Coast 500 has been great for some, and a very sorry burden for an awful lot more.
This morning, by the time I was up and out of bed which was around 6:30 am, the rain had stopped but the clouds were hanging about the hill tops and visibility was very restricted.
Wendy went running first and stole my idea of where I was going to run, but only four miles of it.
I wanted to run locally and see has many of the sights the village has to offer, but more importantly I wanted to run along both rivers that surround the village of Killin. The River Dochart and The River Lochay.
To start I ran over the main bridge, across the Dochart falls for a mile of the River Dochart, and then I turned back and went to the other side of the village and found a road that took me over the River Lochay, and down to the shores of Loch Tay.
I was now running on grass paths but I managed to find the end of the River Lochay and then follow it back into the village.
From there I had one last mission, to find the Killin Stone Circle, which I found in a sheep field just over the River Dochart.
The stone circle consists of six upright slabs, ranging in height from around 1.4 metres to 1.9 metres. The stones form a flattened circle with a diameter of around 10 metres.
The stones are of dark grey schist, which is a medium-grained metamorphic rock, and I should know because I have minor qualifications in geology. The two tallest stones lie next to each other on the southwest quadrant. On the top of the northernmost stone there are three cupmarks, (Prehistoric artwork found all over Europe).
The stone circle is one of the more westerly examples of a large number of stone circles to be found in central Scotland, many of which consist of six stones. The good condition of this particular stone circle may be due to its position in the grounds of Kinnell House, and it may have been 'restored' in the 18th or 19th century.
It looked quite amusing with all the lambs playing and gambling around it!
I got back to the flat at around 9:15 am and for my smoothie I chucked in the last of the chocolate ice cream which made it utterly lovely to drink.
By now the sky had started to clear and large areas of blue sky opened up above us.
We were all packed and ready to leave the flat at 10:30 am and so I set the SatNav for home thinking that it would take me along Loch Tay and over to Aberfeldy before picking up the A9 at Ballinluig.
How wrong I was, we didn’t even get to the end of Loch Tay before she had us heading north over some stunning landscapes, high roads and fascinating little communities.
It was a cracking little interlude that lasted over 40 miles.
We stopped at the massive hydro plant at Tummel Bridge. The River Tummel was pounding down the Glen at a high rate of Knotts too, but I don’t think the hydro plant was working as there wasn’t a sound coming from inside it, and believe me when a plant that size operates, it makes a racket.
We caught up with the A9 at the midway point of the dual carriageway just down from the Drumochter Pass, and we were home a little after 1:30 pm, after stopping off at Tesco for some supplies.
Having unpacked the car, we took a lovely afternoons walk in the nice weather and ended up, all by accident, in the Old North Inn for a pizza and a pint.
That’s it for this latest adventure Avid Reader, watch this space I have my eye on a short break before the summer starts, but alas it won’t be any further than northern Scotland!
Maybe even the North Coast 500?
Sandend
72 Miles
Donald at 60!
This is an extremely impromptu blog as it’s a one night only affair.
My friend Donald Anderson had his 60th birthday at the weekend so his family arranged for a week’s holiday in a lovely refurbished farm steading on the Moray Coast.
His children had to leave on Monday so we were invited for a night’s stopover.
Actually, Donald is inviting everyone who will drive over. His brother George and his wife, Heather, who is also Cathy’s sister, would you believe, stayed last night.
We set off from home after breakfast at 10:00 am and we were at the house by 12:00, midday.
WoW, the house is stunning and it’s quite remote which is nice, the nearest village of Sandend is around 2 miles away.
After a coffee and a bite to eat Donald took us along the coastal road and we parked up in a coastal car park and we then walked the two miles into Banff.
The weather was nice, the sun was out but it was a little breezy, but it was nice enough.
As we entered the outskirts of Banff we happened upon a lovely local bar, The Railway Inn, so we went in for a pint.
What a cracking little bar it was, the barman was a really nice fella and we had a good chat as he served me. There was a good stash of whiskey on the top shelf and the barman told me that he had over 80 malt whiskeys up there.
After a drink and a chin wag we walked into the small town, and as we had just decided that I would cook supper, we went looking for supplies.
We came across a butcher’s shop and we bought:
2 Cannon Fillet Beef Steaks
1 Sirloin Steak
1 Ribeye steak.
Jeepers the meat looked lovely. The lady who served us was smashing, she really did make us feel welcome.
Sadly, there wasn’t a fish monger in the town, and as I was now planning a surf and turf type of supper, I needed to find some fish.
The nearest fish monger was about two miles away in the very nearby town of Macduff.
We then came up with a cunning plan, Donald would walk back to collect the car and the rest of us would walk over to Macduff.
Sure enough we found a cracking fish mongers and we managed to find a fish that fussy Donald would like, we settled on Turbot and 8 scallops.
Donald’s timing was perfect, he was outside the shop waiting for us when we had made our purchase.
We drove back along the coastal road and soon we were back at the house.
Cooking supper was an absolute delight, the kitchen is really well equipped and I had everything I needed. The hob was a bit of a challenge as it was an induction faff and I could only manage to get one ring working!
Supper was also an utter delight to eat too, I even managed to get Cathy’s steak cooked to her well done liking, and Donald’s cooked to medium, well done.
Cathy even enjoyed the scallops.
I have to admit to an over provision of garlic tonight, so I guess lots of wine will end up being consumed.
It’s now 7:40 pm and the sun is streaming through the windows, and now the washing up is done and away, it’s therefore time for a relaxing night!
72 Miles
Sunset!
The sky was still nice and clear last night so as the sun was setting, I nipped outside for a walk in the grounds and I was astounded to find that there was an old mansion.
Glassaugh Mansion House, the mansion in its present form was probably built by General James Abercrombie between 1759 (when he retired from the army) and his death in 1781 and extended and re-cast for Arthur Abercrombie, his son, in 1840.
The mansion is an absolutely stunning building, but sadly it is in very bad order, and it won’t be many years before it collapses altogether.
The roof as fallen in and it smashed through two floors as it collapsed, thereby further reducing its structural integrity.
The mansion is currently on the historical buildings at risk register, but all they do is monitor its structural degradation and badger the owner to have it restored, but that would cost many millions of pounds.
The sunset was indeed stunning and when I got back into the house Donald had lit the fire and it was roasting hot in a short space of time.
At around 10:00 pm Cathy and Wendy retired to bed while Donald and I enjoyed a nice rum and coke. I was in bed just before 10:30 pm and I cannot recall my head hitting the pillar, and I slept soundly all night long.
I woke just before 7:00 am and I got up and made myself some tea and toast, being careful not to wake anyone up.
I was out running by 8:00 am and although the sky was bright blue and the sun shining, the wind was biting cold.
First, I ran inland and up to a really beautiful village called Fordyce, which really is a lovely little gem of a village.
From there I took a circular route back down to the north coastal road and ran along that to the west where I eventually came upon the very small coastal village of Sandend. The beach at Sandend was stunning, if not a little breezy and I ran its entire length.
I got back to the house at 9:45 am and everyone was now up and dressed.
I shared some of my smoothie with Cathy as she was keen to try it, and after a shower we loaded the car and we bid our hosts goodbye at a little before midday.
We were home by 2:00 pm and it was back in to daily life with two trips to the quarry for gravel and concrete ballast and one trip back to Inverness for some more building supplies.
We had a lovely time, it was short and sweet but very worthwhile as I can see myself taking the caravan over to Sandend to set up at the camp site that is adjacent to that lovely beach!
243 Miles
Back Travelling!!!
Before I detail our new travel plan, I need to recap on the last few, extremely busy days.
First up, following decent summer weather I have eventually, after 24 years, finished the drive, painted the outside of the house and built and fitted some really nice wooden gates. The gates were a particular challenge as the drive entrance is really wide, but with my engineering mind I did manage an acceptable solution.
I also in the preceding weeks had arranged a fantastic Platinum Jubilee Street party which was a huge success.
I had planned on winding down on Wednesday and Thursday this week but I had seen that there was a slight leak on a radiator valve in the hall. What a performance that turned out to be!!!
I had used two bottles of freezing agent to make a repair without success on Wednesday, which cost me over £50. In mockery of myself I posted the following on Facebook:
“If you have a simple plumbing job that just needs the flow stopped for a short time this is the thing to use.
However, if your job is a tadge more complicated and involves working in 18 inch height under the floor boards with numerous shuffles to the surface to check measurements, then maybe this isn’t upto mustard.
I learned this valuable lesson today!!!”
My mate John Hyde came back with this very valuable advice:
“Get plenty of in-line valves bought and use them!”
What a brilliant idea, it took all of Thursday but I did manage to sort the issue out, phew!
Friday was an all-day job of getting the caravan ready for this trip, and on Saturday, Wendy, Tracey and James Fraser-Lee, and my mate Rob and me did volunteer duties on the annual Highland Cross event. This entailed me getting up at 3:30 am and then getting everyone and the equipment together to drive 40 miles into the wilderness, to then walk four miles uphill and onto the bleak Highland moor to conduct safety duties for the entrants of the 35th Highland Cross event.
That all done I was home by 7:30 pm where I then ran my 8-mile daily run on the treadmill.
I was in bed by 11:00 pm and then up at 5:30 am this morning, but hey I’m happy as I am now on my annual caravan tour of the UK, well Wales to be more specific.
With the car and the caravan packed to the brim we set off down the A9 at just before 8:00 am and we made good progress, in fact we made it onto our over night camp site before our allocated Satnav time of 1:00 pm with ten minutes to spare.
We had arranged to meet Robyn, Alex and Rose in nearby Lockerbie, but as the site owner was mowing the camp ground, and that it was a really lovely day I asked the owner if he wouldn’t mind if we met our family on the site and had a BBQ together.
What a smashing man he was, I explained that we live some distance from our family and that we won’t see each other for a few months and I asked if he would mind if we met up here on the site. He was delighted that I had asked and he readily pointed out a good spot for our little get together.
No sooner had we arrived than the Shepherds also arrived.
Rose is now walking and we loved having time with her.
I put some pork joints on the BBQ and we sat around and lazed an hour or so in the lovely afternoon sunshine.
This is a really lovely camp site and we enjoyed a nice afternoon meal and I even managed to sneak a lovely nice Welsh Spiced Rum and coke that Alex, Rose and Robyn had brought me back from their holiday in Tenby, for my Father’s Day present. I don’t usually like spiced rum but this, with a seaweed concoction, was rather nice to take.
After the Shepherd family had left fortified with good food, Wendy and I walked into the village which really is very nice.
There are a few Lochs in and around the village and there is one in particular I want to run around in the morning, Castle Loch!
The sun was actually burning as we walked around so we sought sanctuary in a local pub, The Crown.
Now I have beer, wine and prosecco in the caravan fridge and lashings of rum and coke tucked away too, but I do like to spend a little money locally when I am travelling so The Crown looked like the place for me to do just that.
The bar inside, and outside actually was reasonably busy, but not that busy where the barman was rushed off his feet, here is my conversation with the barman.
Me: Hi There
Barman: What can I get you?
Me: Two glasses of white wine please:
Barman: Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc?
Me: Pinot Grigio please?
The barman then gave me two glasses, and two small bottles of wine and then took my cash. He never smiled, he never said anything in a remotely friendly manner. I wasn’t made to feel welcome at all! I wished I had just walked on by and enjoyed the sunshine outside the caravan with my own wine, at least I can hold a decent conversation with myself.
Walking back to the caravan we came across the Town Hall which has a very prominent statue of a man built into the front of the building. There is a plaque on the building and this is what it refers to:
“The Darien scheme was an unsuccessful attempt, backed largely by investors of the Kingdom of Scotland, to gain wealth and influence by establishing New Caledonia, a colony on the Isthmus of Panama in the late 1690’s.
The plan was for the colony, located on the Gulf of Darien, to establish and manage an overland route to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
The attempt at settling the area did not go well; more than 80% of participants died within a year, and the settlement was abandoned twice. It was finally abandoned in March 1700 after a siege by Spanish Forces, who also blockaded the harbour.
As the company of Scotland was backed by approximately 20% of all the money circulating in Scotland, its failure left the entire Scottish Lowlands in financial ruin. This was an important factor in weakening their resistance to the Act of Union of 1707”.
I found this information to be very interesting, as yet again the First Minister of Scotland seeks to divide us from the rest of the UK.
This new adventure hopes to take in the entire west coast of Wales, and parts of southern England before heading back home at the end of July, I do hope you enjoy the journey Avid Reader!!!
244 Miles
Sunshine
I had a really good nights sleep last night and I only woke when Wendy woke me up at 6:00 am, it’s the first time in a very long time that Wendy has been awake before me.
The sun was shining as I had my tea and toast and before I had finished my cuppa Wendy was dressed and out running.
I went out not long after Wendy and it was a beautiful sunny morning and I really enjoyed my run.
Lochmaben is a small border town that boasts three lochs. The lochs in and around Lochmaben are Kirk Loch, Castle Loch and Mill Loch and they provide excellent opportunities for sailing and fishing and they are a delight to run around.
First, I managed to get all the way around Castle Loch, then I headed over to the golf club where I found Loch Kirk and then finally, I ran across the small-town centre to find Mill Loch.
Here’s a little info I found out about Lochmaben:
Lochmaben has a long and intriguing history that dates back to the 13th century. Lochmaben Castle was the home of Robert the Bruce when he was Lord of Annandale and a statue of Bruce stands before the town hall. Lochmaben was also the birthplace of William Paterson, the co-founder of the Bank of England, that’s the fella that almost bankrupted Scotland from yesterday’s copy!
We packed up smartish and we were on our way south at exactly 11:00 am, we drove about 30 miles and then we pulled off the M6 motorway to visit the nearby Tesco at Carlisle to fill the car with diesel, and while I pumped the fuel Wendy nipped into the store and bought a few essential items.
The store was only ¾ of a mile from the motorway but the diesel was £1.91 per litre. Now I know that’s pricy but it’s a darn sight cheaper than motorway service station prices.
After about 20 minutes we were on the road again and we drove down the M6 and then the M56 and into Wales without incident or delay. There was a huge delay on the northbound M6 carriageway as the police had completely stopped the traffic and they were busy looking over a fence and into what looked like a drop, but thankfully it didn’t affect us.
The route we took after leaving the M56 was a dual carriageway which took us into Wales. We then followed the north coast of the Welsh coastline and the views from the car were stunning. The sun was out, it was 23 degrees outside and the sky was blue, it looked like we were driving along the French Riviera.
We carried on along the road without any hiccups and we found our camp site without any hassle, although we cannot begin to pronounce the name of the small village we are staying in.
The campsite owner wasn’t around when we got there and I called her number to tell her we had arrived, it turned out her husband had taken her son swimming and she was sunning herself in Switzerland! Yes, I had just made an international phone call.
Thankfully I was soon sorted and I picked my own spot where to site the caravan, and its lovely.
We are a little away from the coast but we are on high enough ground to be able to see the sea and the southern tip of Anglesey.
We were soon set up, actually I did have to have a sarnie as I was starving before putting the awning up, and the sun was blazing.
The awning is now set up, the camp kitchen is set up and we are all ready for five nights of outdoor life, weather dependent of course.
Before tea, at 6:00 pm we took a short ride to the beach at Dinas Dinlle, which I have absolutely no way of pronouncing, but it was a really nice beach. The beach wasn’t full but there were quite a few after school families there and the fish and chip shop was doing a roaring trade. The beach is a mix of pebble and sand; however, the sand is only visible at very low tide.
We didn’t stay long as I needed to light the barbie but we did discuss going back with our bikes one day this week for a good long shore side cycle.
Back at the camp site and the sun was beaming down as I lit the barbie.
Supper was pork belly slices, pork sausages and salad and it was lovely, bloody lovey actually.
We sat in the awning and we ate our dinner table like adventurers on safari in Botswana, it was a real treat, almost Caribbean like!
After supper we sat for a while in the sunshine, then Wendy put her Jim Jams on, the sunflowery ones that Robyn bought her, and it was just a real delight to sit in the evening sun.
Phew, after the manic days of the last few weeks its really nice to relax in some summer sun. How long it will last is anybody’s guess, but we’ll make the most of it while we can, and then do the same but in bad weather.
Tomorrow we are off exploring, maybe we might even take in an island or two, but most certainly we will bag at least one Weatherspoon’s Bar.
Oh, it is nice to be on the road again!!!!
No Travelling
Exploring!
We had a smashing sunset last night, the sun went down over the Island of Anglesey and it was quite colourful.
I slept well again and Wendy was awake before me again this morning and went out running early too. It was another lovely morning and the sun was out and it was nicely warm when I went out running. I saw Wendy who was by now running back to the caravan and she looked to be suffering from the heat.
I ran to the beach and it was lovely. I sat with my back resting on a rock while I sat on the edge of the beach and the morning views were stunning.
I was all alone until a lady came along with her dog and told me that there must be worst places in the world to take my drink, she wasn’t wrong there!
I wolfed my smoothie down when I got back and soon after a shave and a shower we headed off for a day’s adventure.
First, we drove over the Menai Straights via the sturdier Britannia Bridge, and we then drove 21 miles straight to Holyhead, the main town on Anglesey. Actually, it isn’t on Anglesey, its its own separate, small island which is called Holy Island. Holy Island is on the western side of the larger Isle of Anglesey, from which it is separated by the Cymyran Strait. It is called "Holy" because of the high concentration of standing stones, burial chambers, and other religious sites on the small island.
I didn’t know that Anglesey was so big, its at least 22 miles wide, east to west, and quite possibly its longer south to north.
The road across the island was good, it was a nice quite dual carriageway that passed through mainly very green, fertile agricultural land.
We weren’t really impressed with the town of Holyhead, it was run down and it seemed to be on its last legs, with quite a few small shops closed and bordered up.
Thankfully the weather was nice and we strolled around in the warm sunshine.
From town we drove the short distance to the marina which is really quite large. There were quite a few yachts moored there and the docks are there too. We saw two very large car ferries that ply the route from Holyhead to Dublin.
We walked around the marina and on heading back to the car I bought myself a very nice strawberry and vanilla ice cream from a roadside vendor. He was a really nice fella and we had a small chat as he made the cornet up. Wendy didn’t want one, ice creams are a waste of calories, apparently!
Back at the car we drove over to the lighthouse at South Stack but the car park was full to the brim and it was £7.50 each just to walk around the outside of the lighthouse, so we didn’t bother.
Instead, we drove the short distance to Threaddur Bay and that was a much better use of our time.
Threaddur Bay had a lovely sandy beach that fully covered the bay area. The sun was out and the beach was fairly busy with sun worshipers although I thought it a little breezy to be down to my swimmers as many people were. Jeepers there were some right sights on show!!!
On leaving Anglesey we parked the car just off the island and we walked back over The Menai Straights Bridge which is an absolutely stunning suspension bridge.
The Menai Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it was the world's first major suspension bridge. The bridge still carries road traffic and is a Grade I listed structure. It took eight years to build and although it is fairly short by modern standards it really is a work of art. Jeepers that Thomas Telford was some engineer, I wonder what he would have done had he been born in modern times!
We then drove the short distance to the City of Bangor.
Bangor is a cathedral and university city in Gwynedd, North Wales and it is the oldest city in Wales.
I have to admit to being a little underwhelmed again, it did have a stunning university building and a really tasteful pier. It also had a cracking Wetherspoons Bar which we bagged. Actually, I was served by a young barman who told me that it was quite lately as all the students had gone home for the summer. He said had it been term time the place would have been mobbed on a sunny day like today.
We did have a good long walk around Bangor and we did take in the pier as well, which was well worth the long walk from town.
Back in the car we drove to Caernarfon which was just a few miles down the coast.
Now this was more like it, Caernarfon is a Royal walled town with the most stunning castle which is built just up from the Afon Seiont, which is a river that leads directly to the sea just at the castles main entrance.
Caernarfon Castle is recognised around the world as one of the greatest buildings of the Middle Ages, it really is very nice looking although there seems to be building works underway.
It was well past 5:30 pm and so we knew we couldn’t do the town justice, but we saw a fair bit, so after a glass of wine in another Weatherspoon’s bag we drove back to the caravan for a sandwich in the sunshine.
Tomorrow we are hoping to have a bike ride along the coast, weather permitting of course.
One last word!
In my Highlands and Islands Fire Service career of almost 15 years, I spent a lot of time out on the west coast, on Sky and on the Western Isles and I can honestly say that I only ever heard Gaelic being spoken openly about 3 times. Today we have heard conversational Welsh spoken all around us, from people chatting in the street, workmen on construction sites and young boys out fishing along the river. It really is very nice to hear, but it really is an almost impossible language to read!
No Travelling
Grumpy Bum!!!
I need to set the scene before I go onto today’s activities!
A few weeks ago, I was at my mate Donald Anderson’s house and as he has a new “E” bike he no longer needs his mountain bike, so he said I could have it.
I told him thanks for the offer, but that I have a perfectly good mountain bike, and a road bike too. I look after them, and although the mountain bike is over 20 years old, having fitted new tyres last year I was quite happy with it. I know how it works inside and out.
Unbeknown to me, my darling wife arranged for Donald to drop the bike off early one morning as an early birthday present for me. It caused a few words to be said because I didn’t need a new bike, but now being put in this situation I had to take the bike.
This morning it was bright and sunny when I woke at 05:45 am, before Wendy today I might add, and I was out of bed, and I had the tea made for 6:00 am.
Wendy woke and she said that she was tired from yesterday so she wasn’t going out running today. I went out, at 7:00 am and I did something for the first time this year, I ran in my vests!
I ran along the main road, which isn’t that busy, for four miles, I had a drink of ice-cold water and then ran the four miles back, and I had a real good sweat on by the time I got back.
I had a single banana smoothie as we were going to cycle into Caernarfon and have lunch at the smallest pub in Wales!
After showering I had to do some travel arranging as we are going over to collect Granny and Grandad in Kent and take them home for a few weeks. So now our travel plans extend, from South Wales to three nights in Bath, one night in Newbury and three nights in Iwade.
That done I put some air in Wendy’s bike tyres and then mine, (Donald’s old bike). I did the back tyre without any problems, but when I did the front, I could hear the tyre stretching and tearing and it was just about to explode when I stopped the compressor and let the air out of the tyre.
The tyre was that old it had almost shredded under pressure. I looked closely at the front tyre, which although not as bad as the front tyre, it did look a little dodgy!
The day wasn’t looking good for a bike ride in the hot sunshine, but having done a quick Google search I found a bike repair shop only 3 miles away.
I called the shop and the fella only had one tyre for me, I took the bike down so he could look at the back tyre too and give me his opinion.
He looked at the front tyre and I cannot detail here on this blog, which is always before the watershed somewhere in the world, what his response was, needless to say it was punctuated with profanities.
He thought that the back tyre would last the day.
I took the one tyre he had and he was going to order another for the rear which I could collect on Friday.
Back at the camp site I set about getting the front wheel off. It was a struggle as the front wheel quick release was not releasing!
After copious amounts of WD40 I got the bugger off, I changed the tyre and then put it on the bike, however when I tried to tighten the quick release nut it sheared.
So, I had to go back to my new mate at the bike repair shop to ask if he had one. I took the old nut and bolt for him to see and he said, “Is this off that bike”, “Yes”, I said. “Throw the bike away”, he said, the bolt was that badly damaged!
Nevertheless, he did give me one, which will be added to the cost of the two tyres, but at least after some more faffing at the site I did manage to get the bike going and we did have, after all that, a stonking day out on the bikes.
We rode out to Caernarfon via the back roads and the sun was burning us as we cycled.
We got to Caernarfon via a most beautiful route and we cycled over the river and found ourselves at the foot of the delightful Caernarfon Castle.
After a cycle over to the marina we locked the bikes up and then we had a most delightful bowl of soup, along with a smashing prawn sandwich at the smallest pub in Wales.
We sat outside under the city walls and it was just perfect, especially as we washed our food down with a very nice pint of local ale!
We then walked along the town streets fully before climbing back on our bikes and then cycling around the coast to a point at the beach where we climbed a famous hill to see the sights of the coast from a nicely elevated position.
After cycling back, in the now very hot afternoon sun we got back to the site and after a bit of a rest I nipped to a local shop to buy some very cold Red Stripe lager, which we sipped from the comfort of our sun loungers, which we had set up in our private section of the camp site, overlooking the view of Anglesey. Jeepers it was still hot at 6:00 pm, it was even 25.5 degrees in the car when I drove over to the shop, Lord knows what it was as we cycled around the coast.
Apart from that dose of bike mismanagement it’s been a lovely day, and I know Wendy wanted to buy me a present but I wished that I had had the time to look at the new bike before we set off on this trip, I would definitely have brought my own bike along if I had.
Its now 8:30 pm and every window in the caravan is wide open and the sun is still streaming through, it’s been like a day in Portugal today, long may it last!
No Travelling
Hot Again!!!
We had another peaceful night and I woke first at 7:15 am, which was a bit of a lie in for me. Wendy opened her eyes the moment I got out of bed so the kettle was on ASAP.
I enjoyed my vegemite toast and tea in the heat of the morning sat watching the sea across to Anglesey. It was 16 degrees and the sky was blue.
Wendy went out running first and she headed for a cycle trail that a local lady told us about yesterday. Myself, I went to try to solve a mystery from yesterday.
As we cycled back from Caernarfon yesterday, I saw on my app that there was a route to the beach that took us past the local airport. However, I could not find it as we cycled along so I looked on my laptop this morning, in closer detail, and I saw that the track is opposite the bike repair shop, where there is a small industrial estate.
I ran down and through the estate and I did indeed find the road, but there was a river with a small concrete bridge over it and a whacking great gate across the bridge. Whoever had put the gate there had been determined to stop anyone passing, despite it being labelled as a right of way, by putting extended steel work to stop people climbing around it.
It didn’t stop DG mind; I was round it like a cat burglar!!
The road went all the way to the airport and almost to the end of a short peninsular.
I was at the beach soon enough but I could not fathom why anyone would want to prevent access as its all just wild grass there!
I sat on the beach for a drink, and it was just perfect, the sun was out and it was warm, and I was wearing my vests again!
Back at base I had my smoothie and did a little home admin and then after a shave and shower, we were into the car and heading for a drive around Snowdonia’s National Park.
The roads were pretty quiet which was good as I was worried as they might have been mobbed as they were during the various lockdowns we had. During lockdown people had just parked their cars willy-nilly and had headed into the hills.
As we drove along the temperature on the car thermometer was 26 degrees.
We stopped at the main car park for anyone wishing to walk up to the summit of Snowdon, and that was packed too, which is surprising as it’s a minimum charge of £18.00 for an 8 hour stay.
I have been up Snowdon, in 1993 I did the National 3 Peaks with some mates. Snowdon is an easy but long walk and we didn’t fancy doing it in this heat today though. So, we parked up and I took a photograph of the start point.
As I did a group leader was just giving his pre climb brief to his group about the importance of taking two litres of water and managing it carefully up and down as there is nowhere to replenish it along the route.
Driving back, we stopped at various spots to take in the views which were stunning
Snowdon at 3,560 feet high is 853 feet shorter than Ben Nevis, and it is 351 feet higher than England’s highest peak, Scafell Pike, which is in the Lake District.
As I said I have climbed them all and by far Snowdon is the easiest, well it should be as there is a train that runs to the top if you’re too lazy to make the climb. Scarfell is by far the hardest as there’s a lot of dangerous scrambling to be done to get to the summit. Ben Nevis really is just another long walk, unless you climb the 2,300 north face cliffs’, which is something I have seen done when looking down from the top.
Snowdon is the busiest mountain in the United Kingdom and the third most visited attraction in Wales, in 2019 it was visited by 590,984 walkers with an additional 140,000 people taking the train.
We stopped off at Tesco on the way back to the caravan for some BBQ supplies for our Friday night treat supper and we were back at the caravan for around 2:30 pm, where after a half hours relaxation in the sun with a glass of wine and a visit from George the camp ground dog, we walked to the nearest pub for a late pub lunch in the beer garden.
I had checked the website and although the pub was closed on Monday and Tuesday it was open for meals from 12:00pm to 8:00pm on Wednesday and Friday and from 2:00 pm on Thursday.
But you’ve guessed it Avid Reader, the pub was closed when we got there.
I walked in and a young woman said, “Sorry we are closed”
“Not according to your website”, I said.
“It was changed yesterday”, she replied.
By the time we had walked the two miles back to the caravan the website had been changed, however they forgot to change the bit that said, “Open from 14:00 to 17:00 for bar snacks”, which is what we wanted anyway.
Never mind we walked the two miles back and we had an amazing BBQ using tomorrow night’s food, but never mind Wendy says she will knock something amazing up with the out-of-date Millennium food we have had in the attic for almost 23 years, well it does need eating!
Its now 7:45 pm and cloud cover as covered the camp site and there’s a freshness in the air that feels like a storm is approaching. My weather app says that thunder and lightning is imminent and I think if that does happen than it would be a wholly appropriate way for this current heatwave to end, however I do hope the heat runs on until late July, wouldn’t that be a real treat?
No Travelling
Weather Change!
Wendy, again was awake before me today, she really is bucking the trend, she does go to bed much earlier than me mind.
We both went running on the cycle track today, Wendy went in the northern direction, I went south and into the hills, big bloody hills. The hills towards the end were something else and as the cycle track is set on an old railway line, I do wonder how the trains made it up such steep slopes. My minutes per mile going up hill were around 10.50 minutes. Coming down and with the wind behind me it was 8.30 minutes, which is a real big turnaround.
After my smoothie and shower we took the awning down, the weather had changed, the clouds had gathered and my weather app said that rain was coming. It didn’t take long and we then readied ourselves for the day’s trips.
First up I wanted to take Wendy to Pwllheli which is 18 miles away.
We set off and thankfully just before the turnoff, I remembered that I had ordered a second tyre for the bike from my new mate, so we called in and collected it. He’s a really smashing and helpful fella and I wished I had another day for him to sort the gears out.
Back on the road we drove down the north coast of the Llyn peninsular which juts out from Caernarfon and returns at Porthmadog.
I wanted to go to Pwllheli as it is the scene of my worst sailing experience to date, I’ll explain:
Mike White, who is a Welshman, was one of my two deputies when I was the Area Commander for the South Command, when I was in The Highland and Islands Fire Brigade, the other one was Martin Haigh.
It was a very busy command and both my deputies were great blokes and we made a really good team, we disagreed on some things of course but we always stuck together.
Mike is a qualified sea going skipper and I am also an experienced sailor, and in 2014, Mike asked me to help him sail his large steel sail boat, Sea Spray, from Pwllheli to Glasgow, from where, as part of some charity he would take disadvantaged children out sailing.
I took a week off work from the Highland Council and caught a train, with an expensive, one-way ticket, down to Wales.
We set off on the trip, but we had some electrical issues with the boats self-steering system so we had to turn back to the harbour. Mike had his Turkish electrician, who had for some reason had to flea Turkey and didn’t have time to bring his qualifications with him, make a repair.
We set off the next day with a good wind and we made progress out into the Bristol Channel, however Mike could not get the repaired self-steer system to work, again!
We then tried the back up system but the wind had dropped suddenly and even that wouldn’t work.
I went down to put the engine on but it would not start.
Mike tried and it still would not start.
We faffed for a short while and I saw that we were drifting towards an island, and I also thought that we were a danger to shipping, being such a large vessel, without power or steerage.
I suggested to Mike that we notify the Coastguard but he wasn’t having it, he was worried the fellas at the Yacht Club would mock him for it. This was a bit concerning, but as danger wasn’t imminent, I let him stew for a while.
He tried and tried to get the engine going but there clearly wasn’t any power coming from the batteries.
After about half an hour he came back on deck and he said, “I’ll let the Coastguard know that we are having a few problems”.
I heard Mike make the call over the radio and the Coastguard asked him three questions:
When Mike replied the Coastguard said one sentence, “I am tasking the Lifeboat from Pwllheli to come to your aid”.
It was about 7:00 pm in May.
It took the Lifeboat about 4 hours to get to us, so by then it was pitch black.
We could see the Lifeboat looking for us, with their search light, they were sailing past us, back and forth. I asked Mike to put up a flare, but he didn’t want to.
After about 20 minutes the Lifeboat called us on the radio, and asked for us to show a light, as the only vessel in the area where we said we were was showing on the maritime live computer feed as a ship called, “The Blue Fin”.
“That’s us”, said Mike, “I changed the name to Sea Spray but I forgot to notify the Marine Website people!!!!”
The lifeboat eventually threw us a line and then towed us back to Pwllheli Harbour from where they had come, it took us around 6 hours.
We took hourly turns through the night to steer the vessel, we went all night and it was very hard to steer a vessel as large as Sea Spray, under tow.
We got back to harbour knackered, in the middle of the night.
However, we had to drop anchor offshore for two hours because the tide was too low for us to get back into the marina.
Two hours later the Lifeboat came back to us and towed us back.
As we could no longer make the trip to Glasgow in time, I had to buy another expensive one-way ticket back to Inverness.
Mike phoned me while I was at work the week later and he told me that the power loss was due to one of us accidently knocking over the power isolation lever which is installed at foot height in the crew room below decks.
How he never thought of this when we were at sea, I will never know!
During the same phone call, Mike asked me if I wanted to help crew the yacht across the Atlantic to the Caribbean later in the year.
I declined the offer!!!
For me a skipper as to be a leader in the field, someone who:
To Mike’s credit he took a crate of beer to the Lifeboat Station as a way of thanks.
Wendy wasn’t so keen on the town, it was raining as we got there but thankfully as we strolled around it did die out.
We were soon in the car, after I had walked to the Marina to see the place of our misfortune, and we drove directly along the south coast to Porthmadog.
Thankfully the rain had blown away by the time we got to the small town. We parked in Tesco’s carpark and we walked the full length of the one and only shopping road in town, which led us to the Welsh Highland and the Ffestiniog light railways.
The Festiniog Railway Company, which owns both railways, is the oldest surviving railway company in the world.
We did fancy a pleasure ride on the train but we felt that we were a little unprepared for it today, but as we are relocating tomorrow, we could maybe try from there as we are only a little further south from Porthmadog.
We then walked around the long harbour entrance to the small coastal village of Borth-y-Gest, which is just a cracking little place.
We strolled back to the town and with us both feeling a little hungry we bought two mini pork pies from a local food shop. We ate them as we walked along and as they were so nice, I nipped back and bought two more, and a home-made Scotch Egg, and a very large slice of quiche, which I knew Wendy would like, the owner was delighted has she had sold most of her wares today!
Back at Tesco, we bought some king prawns for a prawn cocktail, a leek and some part baked bread. We now have enough ingredients for supper tomorrow, Welsh inspired tapas!
Our route back to the caravan skirted us around some high ground and soon we were back and having tinned meatballs and pasta. Wendy had spiced the meatballs up with chilli and onion, and it indeed was a delight to eat.
Tomorrow, as I have already detailed is moving day, but not before I have one more beach run in the morning where I will have again to sly my way around that big bloody gate!
52 Miles
Moving Day!
I am so glad we took the awning down yesterday as it rained late last night and this morning too. The wind is also up, and messing around with an air supported awning in a breeze is hard enough, but with this wind we’d have been blown away.
I woke at 5:45 am and my first job was to empty the toilet cassette. I had got up in the night and the warning light that shows it is full was lit, so that had to be the number one priority, even before the kettle went on.
That done, and with Wendy awake I made the tea and my toast.
As I was getting into my running gear, the heavens opened and it chucked it down, Wendy slid further under the duvet and said, “That’s it then, I’m staying here”.
I gave it ten minutes and it stopped raining and the sun was now out.
Wendy did get up and dressed for running but I left before she was ready.
I went down to the industrial estate and again, I nipped over the gate and up to the airport.
The sun was out but when I got to the beach, the wind was howling into my face and pushing me back. I managed to find some shelter behind some steps so that I could have a rest and a drink out of the wind.
Thankfully after a mile and a half of being battered, the wind dropped when I turned in land.
Back at the caravan and we had an easy morning with me cooking us both eggs on toast, its an occasional treat of mine instead of my smoothie.
I said my goodbyes to George the dog as we left the camp site at 10:45 am.
The road was quiet and we headed up into the hills for a short while, then we hugged the coast for a while. The drive was beautiful and not really eventful apart from the odd heavy and quickly over rain shower.
We found our new camp ground very easily as our host had placed a decent amount of signage along the valley, we are now in.
We are about 7 miles in land and we have the place to ourselves, for now.
Wendy checked us in as the farm house is about 200 metres away from the site, when she came back, she had a tool box containing, what Wendy said, “Is our TV”.
I didn’t have time to look in the tool box as I wanted to get the awning up before the next rain shower. Thankfully I only had one peg to put in the ground when we had a very short but heavy downpour.
I had been listening the cricket while we drove down and I had it on my phone as I set up, it was a thrilling morning for England with the bat!
While Wendy made a sandwich I opened the tool box, and inside there was a free sat receiver, a remote control and a long satellite cable which I had to screw into a satellite dish. In no time at all I had all the channels I would ever need, including Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and the cricket.
At around 2:00 pm we took a drive to explore locally with our first stop being the beautiful small town of Dolgellau.
This town is a little gem, most of the buildings are made from large stone blocks and they look amazing. It has a very nice feel to it with some very nice shops. We bought some bread, some Welsh Cakes and a large slice of chocolate cake from a local baker.
After a good walk all around the town we left and then drove along the north side of a large estuary to the most beautiful sea side resort of Barmouth.
Barmouth has a very long rail bridge that crosses the estuary, almost at its mouth.
Barmouth Bridge, or Barmouth Viaduct is a Grade II listed single-track wooden railway viaduct across the estuary of the Afon Mawddach. It is 900 yards long and carries the Cambrian Line, it also had a footbridge to the eastern side of the rail bridge. It is the longest timber viaduct in Wales and one of the oldest in regular use in Britain.
We just had to walk across this bridge, and we did, and it was a stunning experience!
Having completed our bridge walk we had 30 minutes left on the car park so we took a good walk around the small town.
Barmouth really is a very nice seaside resort, it has quite a few good-looking restaurants and some traditional looking pubs. It also has a massive sandy beach!
The coastal area between Cardigan at the south and Harlech in the north forms Cardigan Bay and it is known as the Cambrian Coast.
After our visit to Barmouth we drove to the very north of the Cambrian Coast to the very small town of Harlech.
The drive followed some pretty amazing coastal views, as we approached Harlech we saw the fantastic beach that is Harlech beach in glorious sunshine!
Harlech is the home to the very famous Harlech Castle, built over 7 years it was finished in 1289 and was yet another of Edward I, The King of England’s Welsh Castles.
During the Wars of the Roses the Lancastrian-held castle was surrounded by an immense Yorkist army commanded by William Herbert of Raglan. The castle was laid siege to for an amazing 7 years and they were resupplied by sea thanks to the ‘Way from the Sea’. This path of 108 steps rising steeply up the rock face allowed the besieged defenders to be fed and watered by ship during all those years, they surrendered in 1468.
The rousing tune of ‘Men of Harlech’ is Wales’s alternative national anthem, much loved by rugby fans and regimental bands alike. According to the movie ‘Zulu’ it was even belted out by the garrison at Rorke’s Drift. But was this source of Welsh national pride down to the bravery and tenacity of English soldiers?
At the time the castle was built, it was built close to the sea but since many centuries have passed, sand distribution of the coast has put it 100’s of metres inland.
Harlech is also the home of the steepest street in the world, which we walked, and boy is it steep. However, this claim has recently been challenged by a community in New Zealand who believe that their street is a little steeper.
We were back at our caravan by just gone 6:00 pm where Wendy made a lovely prawn cocktail and some delightful leeks in a cheese and mustard sauce which was complemented with yesterday’s pork pie, Scotch egg and quiche.
Jeepers it was a delight and as we were stuffed, we have leftovers for tomorrow too!
No Travelling
Low Pressure!!!
We rocked a little during the night with the odd gust of wind and we also had the occasional downpour, but its nice to be able to snuggle deeper into the duvet and let what’s happening outside, happen.
Otherwise, I slept pretty well.
We have a bit of a quandary this morning as we are 7 miles up a valley with a single busy single carriageway road without any pavement. Its far too dangerous to run so the only viable option is to try the forestry track that goes up in to the hills.
Wendy wasn’t going to bother this morning; the weather had put her off so she was going to make herself some more tea and stay in bed. I went up the track and it was steep, and it went up for 3 miles where it seemed to level off and then go down. I was thinking about following it, thinking that it might return back to somewhere near the farm. However, I talked myself out of that as it might have gone somewhere else and I would have had to back track over the hill again, so I turned around and finished my extra two miles going along a shabby track behind the farm.
At the top I had taken a screen shot of my altitude app and it showed a reading or 403.75 metres and I did the same at the caravan which gave a reading of 169.03 metres. The height difference was therefore 234.72 metres which means that I had run up an incline of over 770 feet!
I was back to form with my smoothie for breakfast and I was soon ready to enjoy a relaxing Sunday. We did have various options for today, and each one would have suited different types of weather, so today we decided to visit some Welsh towns. Welshpool, Newtown and then finally to Machynlleth.
We drove over a stunning mountain range for just over 40 miles to the border town of Welshpool, which is only 4 miles from the border with England.
The weather was terrible to start, it was chucking it down, but it did get better and the temperature improved from the 12 degrees at the caravan to 19.5 in Welshpool, and the sun was out!
I had seen a Facebook post during my first breakfast, from Robert at Barnsley Community who had posted the current weather map of the UK. It wasn’t a good picture for us, with heavy rain and high winds looming.
Welshpool was a small town, it was tidy and clean, but nothing special.
We did notice the lack of Welsh signs in shops and we didn’t hear anyone speak in the Welsh language, unlike here and further north where its all we ever heard.
Wikipedia says about Welshpool, that it was originally called Pool, as its English name and as it was getting mixed up with Poole in Dorset, they changed the name to Welshpool in 1835. This is the only reference that I have found about the name change but as I haven’t been able to verify it, I can’t be sure. The reason I put it down in tonight’s copy is that it does sound kind of interesting but I do find it hard to believe that in the reign of King William IV, people would mistake a Welsh town 236 miles further north, and in a different country.
Welshpool is in the Severn Valley and the River Severn is a mile or two out of town so we took a look at it as we drove to our next destination.
The drive was about 14 miles and we followed the river all of the way.
The countryside was beautiful with hills to both the east and the west.
We struck lucky in Newtown as it had a Weatherspoon’s bar, it had a very none P.C. name, The Black Boy. It’s a wonder it hasn’t been targeted by the Woke Brigade, perhaps it’s a bit too remote for them.
Newtown was originally a small mill town as woollen mills sprung up to make good use of the hill farmers wool. However, they couldn’t compete with the mass production of the Yorkshire and Lancashire mills in the late 1800’s.
There was a disastrous fire in 1910 and another in 1912, after which the Cambrian Mills were not rebuilt. Thereafter Newtown was no longer an important centre of the woollen industry and many workers moved elsewhere.
Newtown really is a new town, as it was designated a new town in 1967 and saw population growth as firms settled there, changing its market town character.
After a pint of beer in the pub we strolled around town, and we did not hear any Welsh spoken again, in fact the accents in the pub were all very much English based.
We found Newtown pretty much like Welshpool, clean and tidy and not much to shout about.
We drove back westwards over another set of hills, however unlike the drive eastwards where we only passed the odd house or farm, this road was littered with very small communities of around 10 to 20 houses.
As we drove west the weather deteriorated and the temperature had dropped to only 14 degrees, and we passed through some torrential rain.
The very small town of Machynlleth was like the other two towns, the vast majority of the shops were closed, they were like ghost towns really. Again, it was nice enough, but for me, it wasn’t anything special, although Wendy liked the look of it.
We got back to the caravan where I continued to listen to England V New Zeeland at cricket as it’s turning out to be a thrilling test match.
Wendy made supper, fried chicken thighs with an invigorated pot noodle accompaniment!
As I sit in the caravan it is absolutely chucking down with rain, the wind is driving it against the caravan sides and it’s like a November evening, the only exception is that its still day light outside.
We have new neighbours tonight, we cannot go and chit chat with them, all we could do as they came back from the farmhouse with their TV toolbox is give them a hearty wave as they scampered through the rain.
No Travelling
What a Downpour!
It rained most of the evening but it just about stopped by the time we went to bed at around 10:00 pm. However, an almighty downpour started at 3:42 am and it lasted to at least 4:15 am.
The noise on top of the caravan was extremely loud, I have never heard any sound like it before. I even started to think about the stream that runs along the side of the caravan, I thought it might burst its banks, I didn’t think it would affect us as we are in a sloping valley, but I thought it might be high.
As I woke, I could hear the noise of the river, so it must have been running high.
I went out running expecting to get wet through but the rain stopped just as I went out.
The river indeed was running fast and it was much higher than it had been yesterday but it wasn’t in danger of running over its banks.
I ran into the hills again and this time I took another track after 2 miles and this took me up further into the hills, but thankfully the slope was much less steep. In all today, according to my Strava running app I ran upwards 1,023 feet!
I came across a ewe and its lamb on the track just after a mile, they kept running away in front of me, then they would stop and then run off again. I stopped at 2.8 miles for a rest and they stopped too and just watched me. Then again, they ran when I did, they only sought the courage to let me pass when they were knackered at 3.5 miles. Why they didn’t just run into the woods either side of the track I’ll never know, the daft buggers!
Back at the camp and the weather had improved considerably so we decided on a day of outside activities. But first we went to find the camp sites washing machine, which turned out to be our hosts own washing machine. Our hosts are lovely people, older farming family who have now passed the farm onto their son. The farm as been in the family for over 300 years!
While Wendy found out that Mrs Evans was happy to do our washing for us, I had a good old chat with Mr Evans.
Wendy isn’t keen on putting my 8-day old running kit in Mrs Evans washing machine so we will go to the laundry at the nearby filling station on Wednesday.
Today’s activities were split in to two disciplines, walking and then cycling.
For the walk we drove into the hills to go and undertake the Precipice Walk.
The Precipice walk is a 3.90-mile circular walk around a hillside footpath that is on the side of an extremely steep hill. It is open, but it’s certainly not a Precipice.
The sun was in and out of the clouds, mainly out which was nice, and it was warm when the breeze died down.
The views were absolutely tremendous, they were outstanding.
For ¾ of the route we walked along this track with the beautiful Snowdonia National Park as a back drop. There was one huge drawback mind, I had no phone signal so I missed the start of play in the cricket when the match started at 1:30 pm following the mornings rain.
We really enjoyed the walk which took us around an hour and forty minutes, at no point were we in any danger, it really was a walk in the park.
Here’s two other people’s perspective of the walk which we found on TripAdvisor:
There’s a big difference between our experience, which was similar to the first review but not the second review, it just goes to show that you have to be very careful in how much trust you put in someone else’s review!
After the walk we drove down to Dolgellau and after a cup of coffee while listening to the end of the match, where Johnny Bairstow knocked off the last six runs with a massive six into the stand, we unloaded the bikes and set off.
The cycle path follows a disused railway track which runs along the River Mawddach and then it runs along the south shore of the Mawddach Estuary.
The wind was in our face as we cycled westwards but the sun was out and it was very pleasant.
As we cycled on, an older fella who was coming the other way asked me if he had far to go before he had to turn back. As I had my Strava on I could tell him he had four miles to go. He told me he was worried about cycling back against the wind. As I was talking to him, I saw that he had a battery bike and I told him that he would be alright with that. He said that he was saving his battery for the return leg of the ride and that he was peddling himself just now!
We carried on and soon we were cycling over the railway bridge that goes over the estuary to the seaside town of Barmouth. Cycling over the bridge was a bit bumpy as the sleepers weren’t perfectly level.
We cycled into town and we stopped exactly where we wanted to, at the town’s only Micro-Pub.
What a cracking pub it was too!
We each had a flyte of 3 taster beers and I asked the Landlady to choose for us and she did a brilliant job as all 3 were an utter delight.
Fully fortified we rode back at a much faster pace as the wind was now behind our backs.
As we rode along we were passed by the old fella with the electric bike, he was whizzing along and shot by me without putting any effort onto his pedals with is feet, he was on warp speed!
After our 20 miles there and back ride we drove the 7 miles back to the campsite and for supper we finished off Saturday nights tapas. I ate my meal like I had just been rescued from Treasure Island, I was starving and the food was delicious. We even ate our meal in the awning as it was such a lovely evening.
I’m filing copy early tonight as I fully expect to be in bed around 9:00 pm!
Rain isn’t forecast for tonight so I should sleep soundly, however we have seen the rain coming in from the west so we have planned an undercover experience for tomorrow!
No Travelling
Train Ride!
I didn’t have enough space to tell you that yesterday, as we drove in the car, I accidently tuned into a Welsh Language radio station. I quite like to hear the sound of it as its rather soothing, but we did chuckle at some things that came out. There were two women having a conversation and every now and again the words, Athletes Foot, Vaseline, Personal Best would pop up, they must have been talking about sport of some type. Talcum Powder and Trainers were two others.
However, at some point one of the women must have said something very funny because they both started to giggle and then came the laughing. This I thought was quite profound and it made me come to learn that no matter what language you use, we all laugh exactly the same.
We had a very nice night’s sleep and I didn’t move until 5 minutes to 6:00 am this morning.
It was cloudy overhead but it was dry and it didn’t look like rain anytime soon, and the wind was just a light breeze.
This was going to be a challenge for Wendy as the reasons for not going running for the last two days were not present today. I asked her, are you going today, “No, I’m not” was her answer.
However, while I was eating my toast she got out of bed and dressed in her running gear and she said, “Oh I guess I can give it a go”, and off she went.
I set off about 10 minutes later and I caught up with her after my first mile. She had a bit of a grimace on her face and as she passed, I said, “How’s it going Gilly”, and she said 3 words back, “It’s too hilly!”
The weather stayed dry and we lazed around the caravan for a while before heading out for the hillside town of Bala which is 11 miles further up the valley. However, when we were 6 miles up the road, I remembered that I hadn’t brought my “Man Bag” with me, I had packed it with my manly essentials but I had just left it on the caravan seat. I don’t think I’ll ever get into the habit of carrying it, I’m just dreading the day I leave it in a café or bar!
After retracing our steps to collect my bag we were back on the road again, but 20 minutes later.
We drove along the north shore of Lake Bala.
Lake Bala is the largest freshwater glacial lake in Wales. The River Dee, which has its source on the slopes of Dduallt in the mountains of Snowdonia, feeds the 3.7 miles long by 0.5 miles wide lake. Sadly, it looked a little grey and miserable in the now overcast sky.
Apparently, Lake Bala is a fantastic spot for fishing, with the main catches being perch, roach, pike, trout, and salmon, though it is also home to the critically endangered gwyniad, a small whitefish that is found only in this lake and has lived there since the last Ice Age, 10,000 or so years ago.
On entering Bala town, we drove down the High Street and all the way through the town in search of todays main event, the Bala Light Railway, which is about a mile out of town.
On finding the platform we parked up the car and walked back into the town.
Bala is supposed to be an important tourist area, but I have to say that it looked like a dirty town with litter strewn streets. We even came across a dog waste bin that was overflowing to the point that a pyramid of bags had been collected on the top of the bin, and has people had added to the bin, some fell to the ground, leaving the ground further strewn with dogy do-do bags. It was that bad that I thought that a photograph for pictorial purposes would not serve this copy well.
In 1800 a 15-year-old Welsh girl named Mary Jones trekked 26 long miles from Llanfihangel-y-Pennant to Bala through the rugged terrain of north Wales to buy a Welsh Bible. Mary was so determined to have a Bible of her own, in her own language, that she saved up for six long years before her walk to Bala.
With the help of Revd Thomas Charles of Bala, who arranged lodgings for Mary and sold her three Bibles for the price of one, Mary Jones’ determination was rewarded.
There is now a Mary Jones heritage Centre on the outskirts of town!
We walked up and down the High Street and I bought two lovely looking Sirloin Steaks for supper tonight from a butcher who supplies only locally reared meat, they really did look lovely. I also bought a pork pie which the butcher kindly cut in two for us to nibble. Jeepers the pie was lovely as well.
The High Street didn’t offer much really, no nice-looking local shops, the only one I fancied going into was a local brewery shop which is closed on Tuesdays.
We did nip into a pub for a pint while Wendy wrote a birthday card out so that we could get it in the post for Friday. It was a bit of a rough pub but I wasn’t complaining at £4.60 for a pint and a half of local bitter!
We walked back to the train in time to catch the 2:10 pm to the village of Llanuwchllyn which is 4.5 miles to the east and it runs along the shores of Lake Bala.
The train is small gauge, at 1 foot, 11 inches, in fact riding on it took me back to my coalmining days where I used to ride a similar train underground to the coal face.
On board it was nice and safe as we had our very own private carriage with an open window which gave us plenty of fresh air.
It was a shame about the weather, but that’s the west coast for you, but at least we got to see the lake in all her glory.
We got to the village of Llanuwchllyn 30 minutes later and having only 35 minutes before the return trip we walked to the local pub, The Eagle, which also doubles as a shop, for a bottle of beer for me and a small pack of Snickers Bars for Wendy.
The return journey was again, very nice but by now the mizzle had settled in.
No sooner had we disembarked when we were back at the caravan where after a relaxing glass of wine, Wendy cooked some roasted veg and then I cooked the steaks. Boy were those steaks a delight to eat, they were so very tasty.
It looks like the rain is set for the night, and most likely all day tomorrow too, but that’s fine as we are planning a maintenance day where we will clean the car, the caravan and do the washing that we have now accumulated, at the laundrette. I might even manage an afternoon’s luncheon at the nearest local establishment Avid Reader!
No Travelling
Wash Day!
Well, we had another dry night and I slept like a log, again.
I ran up that bloody hill again, and with Wendy going out before me I thought I would have seen her coming down but I didn’t.
When I got back to the caravan Wendy was showered and dressed and I asked her where she had been running. “Ah, there’s a thing”, she replied, “I went left at the cross roads instead of right and it nearly killed me, it is so much steeper!” “Well Wendy, I told you that yesterday, so why did you go that way?” I replied. “I didn’t think it could be any steeper, but it was”.
What a numpty!!!
Our first job this morning was to take a rather large bag of washing to the local petrol station where they have an outdoor washing facility.
We filled the largest washer and I used my credit card to pay.
As the washing powder was included with the price, I should have cottoned on that when I was given the option to use conditioner that I would be charged, well I was and it cost another £2.00.
As I paid it gave me an option to put my mobile number in and it would send me a text message when the washing was done. As the machine, when I started it, showed a wash time of 60 minutes we took a walk into the town of Dolgellau.
We had a lovely walk around; the sun was poking out and we took our coats off.
We found a really lovely little church, St Marys and as there was an invite to visit, we went inside.
The stain glass windows were absolutely beautiful with the sun shining through them.
There was an honesty box craft stall so I bought a really nice cotton shopping bag and a Michael Connolly novel. All in all, it was quite a nice visit.
As we left the church, just 24 minutes after I had set the washing machine in motion, I received a text message telling me that the washing was nearly ready.
We then quickly doubled back to the petrol station which was about a half mile out of the village and on arriving we found we still had 25 minutes of the wash left!!!!
Thankfully we needed some supplies from the large EuroSpar so in there we went.
This is the largest Spar I have ever been in and it had some really good local produce on sale.
For supper we bought a pack of pork and black pudding sausages, a pack of pork, cheese and jalapeno sausages and a few other items. By the time we had shopped and got back to the washer we had 7 minutes left.
When the wash was over, we loaded the dryer and gave it a 30-minute cycle at a cost of £6.00, jeepers this was one expensive wash, but then I guess we did do a double wash!
With 30 minutes to kill, there was just only one thing to do, drive back to the village, park the car and have a pint!
I picked a pub that I had had my eye on and it was just perfect, it was an old local bar.
In one corner of the pub there were a group of OAPs who seemed to meet regularly and enjoy a pint and a chat.
We were made to feel very welcome with their cheery hellos.
The barmaid let me try a local real ale and I settled on it, and yet again a pint and a half of bitter cost £5.60.
The drink was most enjoyable and in very nice company.
We got back to the petrol station and the washing was dry.
As Wendy unloaded the dryer, I checked the map for a nearby beach and set the SatNav to get us there, and what a beach it was, it was stunning!!!
The coastal town of Fairbourne is small but its beach is large. We parked at the very southern most carpark and then walked along the wide golden sands for almost 3 miles. As I carried on to the river which separates Fairbourne from Barmouth Wendy took a rest, well she had run the wrong way up the hill, the silly sausage.
I got around the point just as a mainline train was crossing the wooden bridge we have previously walked and cycled across.
I also came across yet another light railway that runs to what is a small sandy peninsular.
This got me thinking, just how many light railway lines are there in North Wales. Honestly, we have seen loads!
A later search on Google found this:
The Great Little Trains of Wales is the name of a joint marketing scheme formed in 1970 to promote some of the narrow-gauge railways of Wales and encourage visitors to the country. As well as marketing the railways, the scheme allows visitors to purchase a discount card, allowing reduced rates on all the lines. There are twelve railways in the scheme.
I got back to Wendy and we walked along the road back to the car and this was a much shorter route.
As we walked back to the car we could see the white clouds in the blue sky gather as they hit the mainland hills and grow very quickly into gruesome looking rain clouds, it was amazing to see, and this was only over a matter of a few hundred yards.
By now, at 4:20 pm, we were starving, however supper would have to wait, for a short while anyway.
We got back to the caravan and as it had been dry weather all day, the awning was dry, so we took it down and packed the car for tomorrows moving day.
Then 30 minutes later I cooked the most amazing sausage, I cooked the pork and black pudding pack and we had them on two very tasty bread rolls, it really was an utter delight.
We move around 60 miles to the south tomorrow, we are close to the coast, about 20 miles south of Aberystwyth.
We have had such a fantastic time here in the Snowdonia National Park, the sights we have seen have been marvellous, the places we have visited have been terrific and the meals we have cooked have been exceedingly tasty, I do hope it continues as we head further south.
Bugger, I just thought on, I have to run that bloody hill one more time!
Addendum – 20:38 – Jeepers I forgot to mention, proud dad moment today, Robyn and Alex’s mum, Nicky, went to the Queens Garden Party at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh. Didn’t they both look stunning!!!
77 Miles
Sunshine
We had some overnight rain, but it was nothing my earplugs couldn’t block out and I went back to sleep almost immediately.
As it was moving day, I was a tadge excited and so I was awake at 5:30 am, and it was a beautiful sunny morning.
Wendy went out running just a little before me and I followed on not long after.
Now here’s the thing, isn’t the human mind a complex place?
All week I have struggled up that bloody hill, stopping at around the 3 mile point for a breather and a drink before I could get to the top.
However, with lovely bright weather and an excited feel in my feet I was up that hill in a oner and sat at the top having a drink before you could say, “I’m out of breath!”
How bizarre is that?
I was back well before 9:00 am and we had a very steady morning closing the van down after breakfast. We were on the road by 11:00 am, there was no rush as we could not go onto our new site until 2:00 pm.
The Satnav took us down an inland road, it wasn’t the shortest distance but as she calculates the congestion and roadworks, or any other type of disruption, by using my 3G signal on my phone, she chooses the fastest route.
I just wished that she would tell me when she does it.
She also has the very annoying habit of taking me off a main road and around some much smaller roads, which then lead me back to the main road, and by doing so she might have shaved 30 seconds off the journey time.
She did this today and I was up and down a very narrow road, Wendy was cross with her because the caravan was bouncing around and most likely spilling stuff from the cupboards.
We were out of the mountains of Snowdonia but we were still pretty high in the hills with some lovely grazing fields for cattle and sheep.
Our first port of call was the small coastal town of Aberystwyth.
I had intended to park in Tesco’s as they usually have a large carpark, but I was thwarted because this Superstore was part of a large complex and it had a multi-storey carpark.
I did find a much larger car park a little further out of town, but when I had manoeuvred into position, and then when I went to pay, the sign at the pay station said, “No campervans or caravans”, drat!
There were three campervans parked in there but I didn’t fancy trusting their judgement.
Thankfully there was a make shift parking area for what looked like coaches nearby, who had dropped off their passengers and where their drivers just hung out until it was time to collect the passengers.
There was heaps of room and no signs saying that clamping would be undertaken, and there was a campervan parked there too.
I nipped in and parked up and took a chance.
We walked the short distance into town and we immediately bagged the towns Weatherspoon’s Bar, which was reasonably busy, but not packed out.
After our drink we walked onto the promenade and I was quite pleased with what we found.
Aberystwyth has a very nice, grainy type of dark sand beach. It was rather nice with a few sun bathers and some daredevil’s swimming in the sea.
Towards the south end of the beach, we saw a pier so we walked down to it.
Its only a short pier but it wasn’t up to much.
Most of the pier is a hell hole of slot machines where you have to dodge people in order to get to the outside area. There was even a billiard room and a sports bar we had to go through to get to the outside area.
The superstructure of the pier looked completely at odds too with its Victorian lower structure.
We walked a little further along the very nice prom and we saw a collection of old buildings which were apparently an old disused college. They would have been stunning in their day, but thankfully it looked like they were being restored.
After a quick shop in Tesco, we were back on the road, along yet more coastal roads which went up and down, up and down. Every now and then I would pull into a layby and let any traffic behind go passed me.
We were at our new site by around 3:00 pm and we were greeted by a very nice woman, Nikki. She also had two very nice dogs, a big black one called Hector and a smaller brown one called Eddie. We had a good ten-minute chat with Nikki who gave us an information sheet with instructions to the nearest beach.
Nikki did tell us that if we park in the carpark closest to the beach, we had better pay straight away as they issue parking tickets to anyone after a few minutes.
We had the van set up and the awning established pretty quickly and then we drove down to the beach at Llangrannog.
Nikki had told us to park in a free carpark at the top of the village and walk down.
Nikki also told us that we are on high ground at the campsite, but having been up and down all afternoon I had lost any sense of my position in relation to height.
Jeepers she was right, we went down a massive hill and around two very serious hairpin bends, and the road was very narrow too. After parking up we then walked down for another 10 minutes going downhill all the way.
Wow, what a lovely little beach and village it is, it has two pubs and a good few cafés.
We came across the car park where they fine you and it was obvious from the warning signs that people had put up themselves that the locals aren’t happy with the situation. After a stroll along the beach, we took a pint of beer in a very nice beach side pub and I was pleasantly pleased that the price wasn’t extortionate, it was £6.10 for a pint and a half.
Back at base and we were visited by 4 ducks who had to be fed some bread before they would waddle away, Hector and Eddie turned up too to join in the fun!
Wendy knocked up a lovely supper of tinned chicken supreme which she supplemented with pan fried chicken thighs, mushrooms, onions and spices. We had it with rice and it was just the ticket.
I’ve ordered two cream teas from Nikki for tomorrow, who looked at me like I was silly when I said could we have them for 10:30 am. I then explained that they would be our second breakfast after our mornings run!
As we settled down for the evening, I checked the height we are at on an app I have, and I was astounded to find that we are 768 feet above sea level!!!
No Travelling
Decadence!
We had a small rain shower at some point in the night, but it passed over pretty quickly.
I was up at 6:00 am and I was out running just after 7:00 am, Wendy stayed in as she felt she needed a rest day. Well, she did tackle that hill at Rhydmain for three days running, so I guess it’s well deserved.
I managed to dodge the big hills, I did find the odd hill but nothing too challenging and I was back well before 9:00 am.
It was a lovely morning and the sun was very much out for a good while, but then as I got closer to the camp it started to get really dark.
I got out of my running gear and I put it outside on the clothes rotary line but by the time I got back in the caravan it was drizzling, so I grabbed the line and quickly put it into the awning.
I rushed a one banana smoothie down and just has I had finished drinking it my next breakfast course turned up.
There was a little knock on the door and when I opened it, I was met with Hector and Nikki, who had brought over our cream tea.
Nikki told us that this was the earliest that anyone had ever requested a cream tea, and that as the scones had not long come out of the oven, they were still nice and hot.
I had a quick shave and shower and then we settled down and had a most delightful cream tea.
Nikki had brought us two scones each and plenty of jam and clotted cream, however we only ate one each and put the other two away for another day.
By the time we ate them they were still nicely warm and they were absolutely delightful, it really was complete decadence.
As we ate the sky’s opened up even harder and we had a very heavy rain shower, thankfully it quickly passed.
We jumped into the car at just gone 11:00 am and we headed south to the riverside town of Cardigan.
I had to pay £3.20 for a 24-hour car park space in the council car park at Cardigan for what would most likely be a one-hour visit.
Cardigan was very nice actually, lots of little shops and just one main high street. It was however blighted with traffic. There is a much larger carpark but its at the opposite end of town, on the riverside and it was full, cars were coming and going all the time and the only way out for them was the one-way gyratory system, the High Street was a constant buzz of cars.
We walked all the way up the High Street to the Afon Teifi, which is the river that runs from the hills into Cardigan Bay.
The weather was nice, and when the sun popped out from the clouds it was very warm indeed.
We got back to the car after only using 1 hour of my car park fee and then we drove just 4 miles to the very beautiful beach at Poppit Sands, which is at the southern edge of the estuary.
I parked the car in a lucky layby find at the very start of the beach and we walked all around the coast to its very end. The beach is absolutely stunning and it’s very much a hidden gem as not very many people were about, although it must get busy as there were life guards posted on the beach.
It was while I was walking along the beach that I realised that the town of Cardigan is not actually on the coast, but about 3 miles inland along the banks of the river. My thought then was why was almost the entire west coast of Wales called Cardigan Bay?
I could have understood Aberystwyth Bay!
At the very end of the beach, we found 4 very small but very nice rental cottages and a small caravan site. It’s a very much out of the way place but with the views across the beach they would make for a very relaxing weekend away from it all.
Our next visitation was to the coastal town of Fishguard which was 20 miles further south.
Like yesterday the road was up and down, with some very steep climbs.
Actually, the town of Fishguard we found is split in two, with an Upper and a Lower Town.
We parked in the Upper Town which is pretty high up, and we found a very small but very pleasant and clean town, with a good few pubs too, one of which had a very big claim to fame posted above its door.
In 1797 the French general Lazare Hoche had devised a three-pronged attack on Britain in support of the Society of United Irishmen. His brief campaign, on 22–24 February 1797, is the most recent landing on British soil by a hostile foreign force, and thus is often referred to as the "last invasion of mainland Britain".
Two forces would land in Britain as a diversionary effort while the main body would land in Ireland. Adverse weather and ill-discipline halted two of the forces but the third, aimed at landing in Wales and marching on Bristol went ahead.
After brief clashes with hastily assembled British forces and the local civilian population, the invading force's Irish-American commander, Colonel William Tate was forced into unconditional surrender on 24 February.
Jeepers I never knew about this!!!
In Fishguard we found the Marine Walk which is a high-level walk around the seaward facing sections of the town. The views were stunning but by now the clouds were rolling in and by the time we got back to the car the drizzle had started.
We drove back to the caravan with a brief stop in Newport, and I filled the car with fuel in our local filling station in the village when we got back. The filling station is also a Spar supermarket and it boasts on its signage that it was the award-winning village supermarket in 2012 and 2013.
I have to say that they did indeed live up to their claims, the supermarket is a cracker, it has almost everything you would ever need in life.
Back at the caravan and I was going to BBQ some chicken and venison burgers for our lavish Friday night supper, but even though the rain had stopped I just didn’t fancy doing it outside in the cooler temperatures, so we got the Teriyaki hot plate from under the bed where I will later cook supper.
That’s it for today’s copy, Avid Reader, its Friday night and its now time for Come Dine with me, my favourite funny TV show, and a glass of wine is also calling my name!
Addendum – 7:06 pm– Supper was an utter delight, I’m watching the cricket highlights now and that bloody wind is picking up, in fact its quite harsh now!!!
No Travelling
Carmarthem
We had yet another mid sleep rain shower, but that didn’t put me out having another good night’s sleep. I woke up wide awake at 5:30 am, but I forced myself to go back to sleep which I did until 6:15 am.
After breakfast Wendy went out running with me, at the gate to the camp site she went right and I went left, I went down yet more hills, which meant I had to come back up them.
I got back to the caravan and Wendy said to me, “Did you see the cakes in the shed?” Nikki has a shed where she keeps some tourist stuff and jams and preserves she sells there. Friday is her baking day so I guess she was selling some of her products off. I hadn’t seen them but when Wendy described them I just had to have one.
Wendy told me they were £3.50 a portion, so I thought we were getting a large slice to share. How wrong I was, Wendy came back with a nice round cake, which looks lovely. However, we had to finish off our cream teas from yesterday, so after my single banana smoothie we did just that.
Is there anything better than home made scones, home made jam and thick clotted cream, I’m sure there is but not by far!!!
Do you know the population of Wales is 3.136 million?
Do you also know that the population of England is 53.87 million?
Now that is a massive difference, in fact it’s a difference of 50.734 million people.
The person-to-person ratio between Wales and England is for every person in Wales there are over seventeen people in England, that’s astounding!!!
Wales’s industry is very much dominated by agriculture and it is animal farming that is by far the greatest farming method with 90% of farms managing sheep or cattle, or both, with only 10% of arable farming. This is something I have noticed, so far, we haven’t seen any arable farming at all.
Something I haven’t seen is any sizable fishing fleet. Apart from the odd inshore, small fishing boats on Anglesey, I don’t think I have seen any fishing boats tied up in harbour. This surprises me because we are almost on the south coast, and Devon and Cornwall are just over the water and they have quite a sizable fishing fleet.
Apparently, the Welsh fishing industry is the smallest in the UK, with about 1,000 full-time and 400 part-time fishermen.
Tourism also plays an important part in the Welsh economy, with its mountainous landscape and numerous sandy beaches, Wales attracts significant visitor numbers.
Today we drove inland to the oldest town in Wales, Carmarthen.
The drive over was up and down hills, and lots of them, is Wales the hilliest section of the UK? I’m beginning to think so! And it was all hill farmland as well.
Carmarthen is the biggest population base we have visited so far and the largest town centre.
Would you believe there was a Weatherspoon’s Bar there too, The Yr Hen Dderwen!
So, we bagged it asap because it being a Saturday it was only ever going to get busier and busier. Actually, it was rather nice inside, once we got passed the outside smokers who were hogging the main entrance. I got a pint and a half of “The Singing Sword”, a new local bitter that they had only put on yesterday. The barman told me that he hadn’t tried it yet but that it was quite popular, I just had to try it!
It was rather tasty, nice and fruity but a little flat without a head, but it was a lovely drink.
Carmarthen was actually quite a nice place with some interesting shops and at least two in town shopping centres.
There isn’t much left of the castle, only a few ruins, in fact what looks like a large council building as been built in what must have been its inner walls. There is an impressive look out towards the River Towy, Carmarthen’s main river.
There was both a small outdoor market and a really nice-looking indoor market. At the indoor market I bought a very nice-looking large pork pie from a butcher and after I had paid I saw his pork rissoles and I just had to have one of those too. He was delighted with my purchase’s as it got people looking at his stall
We came across a type of town centre square where there were some street entertainers who were keeping the kids busy. However, there were two trees walking around and they were actually scaring the kids half to death, they even gave me the jitters.
After a good walk around, we got back to the car and after a quick nip to Halfords to buy something for the bike, we set the Satnav to the small coastal village of Llansteffen which is about 8 miles south from Carmarthen and is on the estuary where the River Towy flows into.
All day long the sun as been in and out of the clouds, when the sun is out its roasting hot and when it’s gone in the wind seems to bite at you. So, my coat has been on and off all day and it was exactly the same at Llansteffen.
We parked in the castle carpark and then we walked around the impressive ruins of the Castle, it was a stunning setting, here’s what the owners say about it:
“Llansteffan Castle stands in a wonderfully picturesque location, crowning the top of a well-defined headland looking out over the broad sand-flats of the Tywi estuary. A privately owned castle commanding some of the most spectacular views in Wales”.
The strong hilltop position of the castle was first fortified in the prehistoric Iron Age and by the sixth century BC a double bank and ditch had been thrown across the neck of the headland to create a defensive promontory fort. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the Norman invaders, when they arrived, also recognised the defensive potential of the site and built the castle.
The walk around the castle was at sea level, but we followed the path up some steps to a fantastically located hut, which we found out that it was the hut where Dylan Thomas wrote some of his poems.
The path, now at a higher level seemed to meander along and I asked a man and his wife who were coming from the opposite direction where it led to. I was told that it came to a tarmac road that was marked as a private road, so they turned around and came back.
I fancied a circular walk so we carried on and found the private road, I checked my Strava mapping and the only way to get back into town was to follow this road, unless of course we turned around and went back, which we didn’t.
We found ourselves walking through the grounds and then directly in front of the inside infinity pool of Landal Dylan Coastal Resort. This resort is supposed to be hugely stylish and contemporary, the modern exterior is contrast to the cosy furnishings inspired by the shoreline of South Wales. Landal Dylan Coastal Resort offers guests an experience which continuously evolves to meet the desires of modern families and travellers.
We managed to get through without being nabbed by security and we found ourselves in a really lovely little village which had 3 pubs and several nice-looking restaurants.
We drove back home and we were welcomed by Hector who came running over, and by the time we were back the slow cooker had done its duty with Wendy’s Thai Green Beef Curry, as the meat was succulent. We had it with boiled rice, however, jeepers it was spicy, but I guess having been simmering away for 8 hours the chillies might have given off all of their flavour to the curry sauce.
We followed supper with some of Nikki’s cake with double cream poured over it, it was bloody lovely.
It’s been a very interesting and informative day today.
As Wendy doesn’t want to go out biking due to the hills, we intend to walk down to the beach tomorrow with a picnic and have a relaxing day, weather permitting of course!
No Travelling
Beach Day!
I often use Google Street View to find the access to our campsites. I do this because some of the directions the hosts give aren’t the best, oh they are usually accurate but they detail their location from the perspective they have, of living there and not of someone who is visiting for the first time, and that’s a big difference.
The current site we are on, the hosts explanation was very good, but I checked anyway, just to be sure.
The left turn was where she said it was, and I was thrilled as there was a pub there, but sadly it was derelict and up for sale.
With 200 metres we were to turn left into a lane, just passed the school. I found the lane on Street View but not the school.
When we arrived here a few days ago, we found the pub was under complete renovation and had been massively extended, and where the field was where we were to turn left into the lane, there was a fully functioning primary school.
I guess Street View is now so out of date that it can no longer be relied upon!
We had a longer downpour of rain overnight, so I sought out my earplugs from the shelf above the bed and slipped them in and promptly went back to sleep.
I woke at 5:30 am but I sent myself back to sleep, I woke again at 6:30 am and again turned over, the next I knew it was 8:00 am, that was a nice Sunday morning lie in for us.
Today I bit the bullet and I ran down the biggest of the hills to the beach at Penbryn. I saw some stunning scenery as I went down. I got to the bottom and I found that this is a very exclusive area. There is no village as such, there is just a collection of houses sparsely dotted about, and they weren’t farm houses either, I’m guessing holiday homes or holiday lets.
The beach at Penbryn was beautiful, even with a few clouds in the sky.
The distance from our caravan to the end of the beach was exactly 4 miles and I sat at the entrance to a cave and I drank from my water bottle as the tide came in.
I turned around and I got another 2.5 miles up the hill before stopping for another drink.
I got back to the caravan and I thought to myself that this was one of those runs that needs to be remembered, it was a great achievement, to run 1,017 feet up such a steep hill.
I got back to the caravan and with it being a Sunday we had a nicely, lazy morning, I had my smoothie and a long refreshing shower, I even watched a bit of Netflix as I am now well into Series Four of Stranger Things.
Actually, last night I watched the episode where the gang save their mate Max, by using the song, “Running up that Hill” by Kate Bush.
It was a very powerful scene and I can see why the younger generation have sent it to number one in the music charts, I’m not even so keen on the song but it really fitted the atmosphere of the situation.
By 1:00 pm we had the back packs filled with:
And just to be cosy I also carried the golf umbrella which I would use as a wind break if needed.
We walked downhill, again, to the beach at Llangrannog, which is 3 miles away and yet another 997 feet we had to walk back up.
By now, as we knew it would, the sun had burnt off most of the cloud and we were in for a very sunny and warm day.
We got to the bottom and onto the beach and as the tide was going out we had some nice spots to choose from. We settled on a place close to the cliffs and after setting out the mat I had the umbrella nicely positioned to keep the breeze at bay, and then we started the picnic.
First, we had the pork pie, with a glass of wine. Then a little while later we had a corned beef roll, with a glass of wine.
We settled at that and I then took a walk around the beach and I was astounded to find that the tide had retreated that far that I could now walk to another stunning beach that can only be accessed from a steeply descending stairway.
I got back to Wendy and we then set about eating the pork rissole. Now this is something that I have never had before and it was an utter delight, especially with lashings of Branston’s Pickle. Oh, and we washed it down with a glass of wine, well it is Sunday!
We spent a good 4 hours on the beach enjoying the sunshine, finishing the second bottle of wine and then having the odd forty winks, it was a real tonic.
At 5:30 pm with the sun still high in the sky we set off for the long walk back.
It was steep but it wasn’t so bad, but we both had a good sweat on by the time we made it to the top.
As the sun was still out, we called in for a drink at the refurbished pub.
There is still some work to do but they have an outside bar open and they are serving pizzas from a fantastic pizza oven.
As I ordered our drinks I asked the manager who was at the bar how long the bar had been under restoration, he said about 3 years. I then told him that on Google Street View it was still for sale as the old place, he chuckled and said that he would have to get them to change that now, it might be bad for business.
As an afterthought I also ordered a pulled pork BBQ pizza to take out, as we were sure to be hungry once we were back in the caravan. No soon as we got it at our table, we were both into the box and sliding a piece out each.
Back at the caravan, after a shower and another slice of pizza each we settled down for the night and we are hoping for a nice sunset, although that might take place while we are fast asleep in bed, well it has been a very hilly day Avid Reader!
No Travelling
Beaches!
For the first time in a while, we had a nice quiet and dry night, no wind, no rain.
I woke just after 6:00 am and I was straight out of bed, I did worry my early morning routine might have been disrupted by my late start yesterday, but thankfully the effect wore off.
I went running and Wendy stayed behind as she was feeling a little tired, I’m sure its all these hills taking it out on her. I found another village tucked away down in towards the shore, it wasn’t anything special, in fact it had a nasty looking derelict primary school which looked an utter eyesore.
I got back and it was quite overcast and it had started to drizzle, but that cleared quickly.
After breakfast we jumped in the car to go to the Tesco store at Cardigan, but instead of taking the direct route, we wanted to beach hop along the coast to it.
Our first point of call was the lovely little beach at Tresaith. The beach was a little hard to find but we eventually found it. It was a rather nice-looking beach but without any nearby car parking. There were just 4 disabled spots, so I parked in one of them just so I could take a photo of the beach.
There is a sizable community at Tresaith and there must be quite a few homes used as holiday lets because its only people who can walk down to the beach that can really use it, unless you have a blue badge, I knew we should have brought granny along!
Our next beach was at Aberporth, this time there was a car park and at a charge of £3.00 per full day, it didn’t seem too bad. But as I only wanted to grab a picture I just parked up and quickly took one. This beach had a little bit of a downwards walk to it, but it wasn’t difficult.
On either beach there weren’t many people around, however both had a life guard present from the RNLI, they didn’t have anything to do, but its good to know that they’re there if needed.
The next beach was at Mwnt, which I have no idea how to pronounce. This was a very much isolated beach and it did have a National Trust Carpark which was £4.00 per day.
But me being me I just nipped across the road and over the grass verge to take a photo. The only access to this beach was via a steep path as the beach was far below.
There were a few people on Mwnt Beach and two in particular had trundled there picnic stuff down and their deck chairs and they were sat facing a stiff and very cool wind coming straight off the sea.
Our last destination before the store was at a place called Gwbert. Again, I have no idea how to pronounce it. There is no beach at Gwbert, but you can look over the Cardigan Estuary and see Poppit Sands, this is the place we walked around a few days ago.
We parked the car in a free carpark and walked along a nice foot path as we had driven through the village. We walked back in the hope of getting a close-up photograph of Cardigan Island. It seemed promising as the Holiday Resort did allow access, however there was a golf course between me and the island so I didn’t get a full island shot!
We got back to the car park and our site neighbours who had parked up in the same car park told us about a secret little location which was close to New Quay, which was our next location after we drop our supplies off at the van.
We did a whistle stop shop in Tesco’s and I saw lots of people wearing face masks. From the news I saw that Wales has had a massive increase in Coronavirus cases since last week and its interesting to see people taking their own decisions.
We got back to the caravan at around 1:30 pm and after unloading the supplies we grabbed a coffee and a slice of Nikki’s cake with some double cream which was just lovely.
We drove out to New Quay which was 9 miles to the north and we bought some duck eggs from an honesty station while we were on the road.
New Quay we found to be a really nice and tasteful holiday resort. Its not big, it is a bit hilly but it really is quite nice.
It has two beaches which are separated by the harbour and as it was now rather warm, despite it being overcast, were quite busy.
There were some nice looking and interesting shops and some cracking looking seafood restaurants. There were also the odd ice cream and chip shops, but they fitted in quite well.
After a good hours stroll around we followed the instructions our neighbours had given us and we drove to the very secluded and exclusive bay at Cwmtydu.
Jeepers we did have to negotiate some hair pin bends and steep roads but we did find it.
Our neighbour was right, there is a small pebble beach and the cliffs rise up from it at each side. The valley then goes inland where there is a row of houses, a small café and an interesting holiday accommodation of shipping containers that provide living facilities and sleeping accommodation in several shipping container pods.
The sun was now out and after we had explored the area we headed back to the caravan where we took the awning down and prepared for our move to the south tomorrow.
Listening to the cricket I had the barbie on quick sticks!
I used a pallet from the farm to raise the bbq off the grass to prevent it from getting scorched.
I cooked the food while listening to the cricket and would you believe I had a visit from the ducks. Mr Duck and his four wives trundled along for a slice and a crust of bread before I could eat my dinner.
Dinner was an utter delight, no it really was. The meat, the prawns and the corn were cooked perfectly, and we ate out in the sunshine too which was a final day bonus.
As I am filing tonight’s copy, I am now watching the cricket highlights, I can’t wait until it gets to England’s innings.
This as been a fantastic camp site, Nikki has been lovely, visits from Hector and Eddie, who I learnt is a girl, have been nice too, and of course the ducks just made it perfect, its a shame this coastline is so hilly, but there you go!
65 Miles
Following Rose!
Our last night’s sleep was another very peaceful night and I woke at 6:00 am, Wendy followed suit soon after.
Wendy went out running just before me and not long after I went out and I ran down to Penbryn Beach, this time I ran to the north end of the beach and I climbed up onto some rocks for a brilliant view of the whole beach that was set out before me. Its just a shame it wasn’t under beautiful blue skies!
Running back, up those steep hills, I cannot believe I missed my turn, and I ended up running up the steepest bit that I shouldn’t have done. I only knew I had gone wrong when I came to a stunning church that I had not seen before. All in all, when I got back, I had done an extra 0.47 of a mile, I had done nearly an extra half mile, no wonder I was sweating.
After breakfast we coupled up the caravan and said our goodbyes to Nikki and Hector and we set off south.
I wasn’t trusting the Satnav to not take me over the hills and hair pin bends so I set it for the town of Fishguard which would take us along the coastal road that I knew would be fairly gentle.
It was a fantastic morning as I could listen to the thrilling test match on the radio, the two Yorkshire men were still batting and after a short period of settling in they started to open up with some audacious shots.
We had a minor issue when we entered Fishguard as there is a very tight bend where the road passes between two buildings, and only one vehicle can pass at a time. I was safe to go, but as I got out from between the houses a lorry carrying telegraph poles which were overhanging the front an awful lot had to slam its breaks on. We both stopped and he didn’t have enough room to swing round and into the bend without striking me.
I knew there was a blue car behind me and they were, when I last saw it, far too close for me to reverse. Thankfully there was a gap in the houses in front of me so I nudged the nose of my car into that. That gave the truck the space he needed to get around and behind me.
However, I now had to reverse back a few feet so I dispatched Wendy to watch me.
She did a good job but when I could see the blue car again in my mirrors, it didn’t half look close to the rear of the caravan.
When I knew I could drive off I did so and Wendy jumped in. Apparently, there was a woman driving the blue car and she was very reluctant to reverse back. It’s a good job I have nerves of steel or she and us might still have been there.
After safely exiting Fishguard I set the Satnav for the Halfords store in the town of Haverfordwest. I had used the stores post code in the Satnav and would you believe it took me right to the back door of the store. Thankfully I could spin the caravan around in their goods-in bay and I parked the caravan behind a lorry on the road while Wendy nipped in and got what I needed from the shop.
From there we were only 19 miles from our new camp site and soon we were chatting with our new host who hung around to make sure we were nicely settled, his very young grandson, Matthew, even helped Wendy fill the water carriers.
After a coffee and the last slice of Nikki’s cake, we took a drive down to our local beach at Amroth which is about 4 miles down the road from our site.
It’s a beautiful long sandy beach, there is free parking and even a lifeguard stationed there. The tide was out and it looked really nice, especially as the sun was poking in and out of the clouds.
Our next stop was the walled seaside town of Tenby. Tenby was the destination for my granddaughter Rose, and her mum and dad recently, they had a lovely time so it was nice to be able to go and explore the place for ourselves.
Wendy nearly choked on the minimum time we could have at the carpark, I didn’t think it was that bad at £3.00 for four hours, but Wendy did have a point, we just didn’t need four hours.
As soon as I looked over to the South Beach of Tenby I was hooked on the place, the beach is stunning, it really was. Its no wonder Alex and Robyn loved it too.
We walked along the sea wall and then down to St Catherine’s Island which is easily accessible from the beach at low tide, which was the case today.
I wanted to walk up onto the island and bag it for my UK island collection, but at a cost of £5.00 per person even I couldn’t justify that. As there is a walk-through cave beneath the island I did just that, and then when I came out, I climbed up onto the rock structure and I consider that a bag, so its now gone on my island spreadsheet and that now takes me up to 55 UK islands that I have visited.
We left the beach and headed over to the harbour where we accidently came across the equally stunning north beach.
We then had a wonder around town but as it was now gone 5:00 pm some shops where closing, however when we came across Sea Salt Wendy just had to go in and spend 20 minutes of time buying nothing.
Thankfully I could wonder around in the sunshine while she did.
Our next port of call was to a very nice bar, The Coach and Horses, which apparently is Tenby’s oldest pub.
While my beer was poured, I had a nice chat with the barman who told me that they like to get the bar cosy in winter with a nice roaring coal fire, he painted a very appealing picture.
We took a walk along south beach and when we were into our third hour of parking, I thought that we had gotten our money’s worth from the car park fee and we headed off back to our camp to a fried corned beef, mushroom and duck egg supper, which was an utter delight to eat.
After supper I watched the highlights of today’s cricket test match and I think I chose my words accurately when I said some audacious shots had been played, the reverse ramp by Joe Root was a masterclass in his cricket ability.
Well done England on your highest winning run chase in History, and it was the two Yorkshiremen that took them over the line!
No Travelling
Caldey Island
I was up at 6:00 am this morning and I put the BBC News on and there was only one story in town, Boris Bloody Johnson, the worst Prime Minister to ever hold office in my lifetime.
I wonder how the day will go for him?
Swiftly moving on, I went running, I bit the bullet and ran down to the shore. I have now come to accept that while I am on the Welsh Coastline, I have a hill to run every day.
Wendy stayed in bed!
I got to the beach at Amroth and the scene before me was absolutely stunning, I took some photos but no camera could do the morning beach scene justice, never mind my i-Phone.
I got back to the caravan with a good sweat on and very much in need of my morning banana smoothie.
I watched a little TV while having breakfast, The Jeremy Vine Show was all about Boris, and things were going south for him.
We drove out to Tenby and parked the car in the multi-story carpark where for £5.00 I parked the car for 24 hours.
Our mission today was to take the ferry boat across the sea to the nearby Caldey Island.
After buying a Cornish pasty for our lunch we bought our tickets from the harbour ticket office, and then we walked down to the south beach where there is a movable jetty from where we were to board the ferry.
As the boat on the jetty was full, we waited for the next one and as we waited the ferryman moved the tractor back, thus pushing the jetty out into deeper water so that the next boat could dock, as the tide was falling.
The boat was full but being the first in the queue meant we could bag the safest seats, so we took the bow seats where we would receive the full force of the wind and hopefully keep any nasty virus particles away.
The weather was warm, in fact it was very muggy and the sun kept popping out from time to time to keep us nicely warm.
We arrived at the small quay on Caldey which is located on a absolutely stunning sandy beach.
After disembarking we took the walkway in the direction of the very small village centre. However, as we got closer, we came across a path leading to something called the Carvary. This turned out to be a large cross with Jesus firmly attached. It was an impressive piece of work but I couldn’t help feeling that the anti-seagull spikes weren’t giving a good impression of Jesus.
We also found a small stone tower in that area and we took a look inside, and the view from its window across the sound to Tenby were quite nice.
We re-joined the main path and we walked up the roadway to the islands highest point where the lighthouse is located. We found a quiet spot away from the clifftop picnic tables and we ate our very tasty Cornish pasties.
With our tums full we took the path that leads around most parts of the island and it was very nice. I didn’t see any of the very famous ‘Soay Sheep’, who are bred on the island, perhaps they are kept away from the tourists, especially as so many bring along their very annoying barking dogs.
After a very good exploration of the island, we caught the ferry back, again it was full but we did manage to snaffle the bow seats again.
Back on Blighty, we walked around town where Wendy went back into Sea Salt and after 20 minutes came out with some items of clothing that she had bought.
We walked back to the car and I set the Satnav for the nearby resort of Saundersfoot which is, luckily for us, on the way back to the caravan.
By the time we had parked up in Saundersfoot the sun was beaming and the beach was fairly full of sun bathers.
Saundersfoot Beach is yet another Welsh stunner of a beach, it is fantastic, and as a resort it as a lot going for it, however it was very busy. All the outdoor bars and cafes were heaving, mainly with us older folk, but there were a few school children around too. I have heard locally, that the number of children around is due to private schools closing at the end of June.
Having completed a quick tour of Saundersfoot we got back in the car and drove up and down the hills of the coastal road to our local beach at Amroth where after parking the car we walked to the lovely pub, the Amroth Arms.
The sun was well and truly out and so we sat outside on a bench both enjoying the beer and the sunshine.
Its amazing how stunning the beach is at Amroth, it is fantastic, but it is also nicely quiet. There are several other establishments there, and they were all doing a decent trade, but it wasn’t mobbed like Tenby or Saundersfoot, maybe its due to the lack of accommodation along the hillside, but there are quite a few large residential caravan sites close by.
After our drinks we drove back to the site, where after filling up with milk, at a nearby farm where they have a credit card operated milk vending machine, we got back to the caravan and I promptly lit the bbq, while Wendy tried on the new outfit that she had bought.
And this is what I’ll never understand about women!
Wendy spent 20 minutes in Sea Salt yesterday, then another 20 minutes today and she didn’t try on the clothes she wanted to buy, but she immediately realised she didn’t like them the moment she tried them on in the caravan, what is that all about?
When I opened the pack of steak as the bbq was warming up I could see that we didn’t need both of them cooking tonight, the cuts were really thick.
We settled on one steak and one pulled pork sausage each, (which came from the same butcher), and after a nice long slow cook on the bbq we ate them in the awning and they were absolutely delightful.
Its now almost 8:00 pm and it’s time to turn off Sky News and watch the Women’s Euros.
I’m of the opinion that Boris, having seen him stab so many people in the back to get what he wants, won’t go anywhere unless he is dragged kicking and screaming from Downing Street. Its not a good look for an honourable man, but then Boris was obviously not that kind of man to start with!
No Travelling
Henry VII
This morning was very overcast, but warm, when we went out running.
I went straight down the hill and ran for four miles on the beach as it was mid tide.
First, I ran north and then to the south, the beach is over 2 miles long so I got a good workout doing two full lengths.
At the southern end of the beach, when the road goes inland, there are some very steep cliffs and I ran close by them.
I had Radio 2 on my ear phones and I could hear what sounded like a crashing sound in my ears, which I thought was just something with the music. Then it happened again during another song, and then I saw that it was rocks falling from the cliffs, and they were huge, thankfully I was far enough away from them not to be in any danger.
I got back to the caravan and I found Wendy had been only 3 miles, its just too hilly for her. But at least she had done her recommended 30 minutes of heart rate raising exercise.
By now Boris had gone, but actually had stayed, and later went on to say it wasn’t me, it was them, and it was all covered on the Jeremy Vine TV show.
After breakfast we jumped in the car and headed to the town of Haverfordwest, which was 20 miles away.
Wendy had been told by Dave, our camp host that Prince Charles was visiting the area today for some event, and we drove along a street with people setting out their positions and union flags were being put out along the roadside, so I guess we were in the right area.
We got to Haverfordwest just after 12:00 pm and my first job was to nip into Direct Sports as I needed some new running socks. That done we drove to our next location, The William Owen, The most westerly Wetherspoons Bar in Wales.
Luckily, I parked the car, for free in a car park about 100 yards from the pub.
The pub was nice enough and after a drink we took a walk up the High Street. The High Street was very steep and very unimpressive, in fact it was a bit of a let-down. Thankfully we found a more impressive area of town along the riverside.
The centre of Haverfordwest is dominated by the Western Cleddau, the river that runs through the middle of the town and the castle that towers above it.
By now the sun had burnt through the clouds and it was a very bright and sunny day.
We walked along the riverside shops and it was a much better side of the town than we had first seen.
Having covered the town, we walked up some very steep steps to the castle:
The shell of the castle dominates the small riverside town, which huddles around its base. Although it’s impressive from the riverside, very little remains other than the outside wall.
It’s probably more interesting as an example of how castles can withstand repeated attempts to destroy them!
The castle was probably a strong stone castle by 1220, when it withstood an attack by Llewelyn the Great, who had already burned the town.
Back at the car we took the short drive to our next destination, Milford Haven.
On approaching the town, I saw a petrol filling station selling diesel at £1.94 per litre, so I nipped in and filled the tank. Half a tank still cost me almost £60.00 mind!
Its cheaper because the refinery is in the town and the garage gets it direct from there, now that’s a drop on!
I went in to pay and I was met by the brightest smile from a young woman at the counter anyone could wish to receive. I told her that too, and she said, “It’s nice to be happy”.
She had a little trouble taking my credit card payment as her system went down. She apologised and said its never done that before. She said she hadn’t a clue what to do, so I told her to turn it off and then turn it back on. It worked a treat and soon I was almost £60.00 lighter in my pocket!
Milford Haven, with its deep-water harbour, was chosen as a secure base for the huge deep-water oil tanker ships. In 1960 the Esso oil company opened their refinery just outside the town of Milford, closely followed by other refineries and pumping stations. It is also one of the largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Terminals in Europe.
It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790 by Sir William Hamilton, who designed a grid pattern.
We walked along the High Street which really wasn’t impressive but things changed when we got down to the marina, now that was very impressive.
The sun was bathing us in heat and it was very nice as we walked along the marina and the shops and cafes.
I came across a hydrogen filling station, here’s some info:
The Rasa, a car developed on site and for lease rather than purchase, is an electric car powered by hydrogen rather than batteries and emits water. The hydrogen passes through a fuel cell, where it combines with oxygen from the air to produce electricity. This electricity flows to small, lightweight electric motors, one in each wheel, which gives the car 4-wheel drive.
The Rasa is designed to do the equivalent of 250 mpg and with a range of 300 miles, which would last most people a week of local travelling before needing to refuel.
After a nice walk around the marina, we drove the short distance to Pembroke, and after a quick shop in Tesco we took a walk around the very pleasant town.
Pembroke is the birthplace of Henry VII whose statue stands prominently on the bridge over the lake called the Mill Pond, which flows, via Pembroke River, into the Milford Haven estuary.
Pembroke Castle is an enormous oval castle, mostly surrounded by Mill Pond. Extensively restored in Victorian times, it’s dominated by the complex gatehouse on the outside and the huge circular keep once you’re inside. The walled town of Pembroke which grew up around the castle also contains many ancient and interesting Norman buildings.
It did look stunning against the blue-sky backdrop.
While walking back to the car we found a local craft shop where children’s clothes were made and we bought two little girl, reversable hoodies for our granddaughters, I do hope they fit as they’re growing fast.
Back at the caravan, the intention of having a barby was not realised as the wind had gotten up, it was still sunny and it was still very warm, but it was too blowy for a bbq, so I cooked the burgers and the spicy pork slices on the teriyaki, on the glass cover of the gas range, and the meal was an utter delight.
We are now hoping for two days of sunshine at the beach, but if not I’m sure we’ll find somewhere interesting to explore.
No Travelling
I got out of bed at 6:30 am this morning and made myself tea, it’s a bit hard to see with the blinds down in the caravan but ten minutes later, when Wendy was awake, I opened the top front blind and I was almost blinded by the sun streaming directly into the caravan. I could feel the temperature immediately rise as well.
It was that bright that I could not actually look outside, I had to open the blind on a side window to take a look at this morning’s sky.
It was a brilliant blue sky.
We both went out running, Wendy first and then me a few minutes later.
Today was very much a running vest day.
I ran down to the beach and it was beautiful, the sun was out and the sea was a brilliant blue and the beach was almost empty.
I sat on a rock after running four miles and the sweat was pouring out of me. I do love this hot weather, although I do appreciate it’s not the same at home when you have work to do.
I got back to the caravan and Wendy had the enviable job of helping me out of my vests as they were stuck to my skin. Its funny how she had a kind of grimace on her face as she helped me.
As Wendy was sat doing her French lesson in the open awning, it was very warm in the caravan, but in no time at all I had all the windows wide open, but with the fly screens down of course and a little breeze began to flutter through.
I only had one banana smoothie as I was saving myself for a treat at the beach!
I have been meaning to say, we seem to have lost the Welsh Language since we left mid Wales, I did hear a little a few days ago and it stood out, but now I am hearing the traditional Welsh accents that I am used too.
I took my bike down to the very conveniently located caravan centre which is about a half a mile down the road to buy some toilet flush and a fly screen for the bathroom roof light. The screen, having travelled thousands of miles with us seems to have given up and it had developed several hairline, and one very big crack.
Thankfully I got what I needed at the shop and soon I was back and with Wendy having got the gear together ready, we took a walk down the road for a day at the beach.
To start we called in at the market garden next door to the camp site to buy some home-grown strawberries and cherries.
The walk down was quite nice as a few clouds had developed and so we weren’t too hot by the time we got down, we also nibbled away on our fruit which was rather nice as it had been stored in the fridge and was nicely chilled. I took Wendy down the less steep route as it dropped us down at the point on the beach where the bars are.
So we could check the menu we had a drink in the Templar Bar before we set up on the beach, and as we found the menu to be the same as every other bar on the beach we decided that we would go back there for our late lunch.
So far, we have checked 3 bars in Amroth for food, the Amroth Arms, the New Inn, and I checked the Smugglers Inn’s menu online, and they all had the same items on the menu, scampi and chips, burger or pizza. I was hoping for a nice seafood lunch but alas that didn’t seem likely.
At 13:15 the tide was at its highest so we made camp on the last little bit of visible sand, and although the waves occasionally lapped our toes, it did start to retreat.
I listened to the radio on my phone as we shared a glass of wine in the sun, and by now it really was pretty hot, thankfully I had factor 50 sunscreen on my nose and cheeks.
At 3:00 pm we walked the short distance back to the Templar Bar and I had a cheese burger, Wendy had scampi and chips, we also had a bottle of wine. It wasn’t fancy but it all came to under £40 which I thought wasn’t half bad.
The only spoiler was the three young women who sat on a table two tables away and used conversational profanatories that would make Nessa blush.
As our young lady friends had now taken to smoking a cigarette each, we moved out from our seats out of the sun, having finalised our meal, and we sat in the sun and drank the last of our wine.
We got back to the beach and enjoyed another couple of hours sunbathing and the tide retreated quite far out.
By 5:30 pm we had had enough sunshine and we walked back up hill to our caravan.
I took Wendy along the beach and up the most direct hill, the steepest, and she lagged behind a bit but I would stop occasionally to let her catch up. The road was actually quite busy with cars as there is a residential caravan park halfway up the hill. We also came across a possie of 3 horse riders with about 15 cars behind them, the horse riders hadn’t a care in the world and we had a quick chat with them as they passed.
We got back to the caravan just before 7:00 pm and after a shower to wash the sand off our legs we settled down for the night.
Being a sensible fella, I lathered myself in factor 50 sunscreen on my face, my head, and my chest before we set off, Wendy didn’t bother as she didn’t think the sun would be so hot in Wales. However, we have both caught the sun quite markedly, me I’m quite comfortable, Wendy, however is looking a little red though.
I brought my wet suit and body board to Wales, but so far, the sea has been flat calm, I wouldn’t even have been able to float on my board as the sea was so calm today, maybe tomorrow I can take it out and catch a tube or two, but I’m not hopeful.
Perhaps I’ll have to make do with another day in the Tropics!
No Travelling
Heat!!!
I woke a little later this morning, well Wendy did disturb me at 5:00 am by bimbling on her i-Pad. I said, “What are you doing?”, “Its too hot to sleep” was her reply.
Honestly, it wasn’t, so I turned over and nodded off.
Again, when I opened the top blind, I was immediately hit by the heat of the morning and the brightness of the sun.
After my breakfast I did a little home admin while Wendy went out running first.
By the time I was ready to go there was hardly a cloud in the sky, so I set off in my vests again.
I have to wear two vests as I need the top one to keep my water bottle from jumping around as I run.
I got to the beach and it was quite full with people enjoying the weekend sun.
Thankfully I had put extra water in my bottle before I put it into the freezer section of the fridge overnight. It was very hot by the time I got to the 4 miles point and my cold water cooled me nicely.
I must have been feeling good as I ran all the way back up to the caravan without stopping, that’s uphill for 2.2 miles!
Strangely, despite the weatherman’s warning of a heatwave, the sky had clouded over by the time I got back, it was windy at camp too!
I really enjoyed my smoothie; it was an utter delight.
After my shower I took my bike and I rode the short distance to the veg and milk station. I needed 2 litres of fresh creamy milk and I also bought a punnet of blueberries for tomorrows smoothie.
As soon as I got back to the caravan we jumped into the car and drove to Tenby. I did expect it to be busy with traffic and that we might have trouble finding a parking spot, but we didn’t have any trouble at all. I found a very nice ground floor parking spot in the multi-story carpark and off we set for our main mission, to take the clothes back that Wendy bought from Sea Salt the other day.
The town was busy, it was heaving actually, and by now the clouds had gone and the sun was very hot.
After the goods had been returned, we walked down to the harbour with the intention of walking along the north beach.
As we were almost at the harbour I heard a familiar noise, it was the sound of a pager going off. Sure enough as the noise got closer I saw who it was. It was a lifeboat man running down to the station, quickly followed by another crew member.
As we walked along the north beach we just caught the lifeboat being launched from its dynamic position at the lifeboat station. It sent up a huge wave as it hit the water. I watched as the skipper opened the engine and quickly set the vessel on its course at over 40 knots, it looked an impressive sight!
We walked along the promenade just above the beach and when we came to the end we had to climb and almighty number of steps to reach the roadway. The views down to the beach were terrific!
We strolled along the upper road and we came to the butcher where we bought our sirloin steaks a few days ago, he had another tray of them in the window and boy did they look tasty.
Never mind, I had the one we had frozen defrosting in the microwave at the caravan, it was going to be a surf and turf Saturday!!!
At the harbour we crossed over to the south beach and it was now buzzing, people were packing the beach. We walked the full length of the road and then as Wendy went back to the car, I nipped into Sainsburys for some raw prawns, some double cream and a bottle of prosecco, well it is Saturday!
We got back to the caravan and after dropping our provisions, we drove down to the beach at Amroth where after a little deft parking we took a walk along the road to the bar where we were yesterday.
The sun was now blazing and parking spots were a rarity, but we sat outside the bar in the sunshine and enjoyed a glass of Welsh Real Ale.
Fully refreshed but feeling a little hungry after watching people eating, we walked back to the car so we could get back to the caravan and light the barbie.
As we walked along, the sea was dotted with people enjoying the water. There was absolutely no surf at all, there even wasn’t any wind down at the beach.
I have with me my wet suit, my gloves and my boots, along with my body board but so far the conditions have not been good for surfing.
I had the barbie lit pretty smartish once we were back on the site, it was windy mind back on our hill but I did manage to cook the steak and the prawns. Wendy had made some really lovely creamy potatoes and we ate our meal, at the side of the caravan, in the hot sun and out of the wind, it was bloody lovely!!!
As we ate, I listened to the 20 x 20 cricket match, England v India and they wiped the floor with us.
After supper and with England cruising to a terrible defeat we ate a bowl of strawberries, cherry’s, blueberries and fresh cream and it was lovely, all washed down by a nice chilled plastic glass of prosecco!
If I’m off with my copy tonight I do apologise Avid Reader as I am trying to type and watch Crocodile Dundee on Film 4 + 1. I first saw this film at a drive-in movie in Cairns, Queensland in 1986, and it is just as funny now as it was then, it’s even up there with my all-time favourite film, the Full Monty!
Tomorrow is moving day, we have had a really interesting time here at our site in Llanteg but tomorrow we go a little further east for some more Welsh exploration!
34 Miles
More Sunshine
Jeepers it was a nice warm night, I slept like a log and woke at exactly 6:00 am. I was out first thing as I saw the toilet light had come on in the night, so it was a trundle across the field to the empty point before I could even put the kettle on.
Wendy woke up when I got back and immediately moaned that it was too hot, not thinking to just open the window!
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, it really was a beautiful morning and the heat of the sun was already out there.
I did my last run to the beach which looked absolutely stunning in the morning sunshine.
It wasn’t as busy as yesterday but there were a few dog walkers about.
I got back to the caravan just after 9:30 am and the first job was to take the awning down, which took us less than 10 minutes.
I then had my treat of the day, my banana and locally grown blueberry smoothie, I even added a little double cream for good measure and it was just so lovely to drink.
I sat outside in the sunshine and I loved it.
This has been a fantastic campsite to stay at, the field is huge and although we were joined by a motorhome and a caravan, the field is so big we don’t hear from our neighbours at all. The site has been perfectly located for the beach at Amroth and of course to Tenby.
Tenby is a cracking holiday resort; I would encourage anyone who hasn’t been to give it a go. It has miles of stunning beaches and some really nice-looking bars and restaurants. I can see why Alex wanted to go back and visit.
We had the car and caravan ready by 11:30 am and we set off for the short drive to our next camp site.
The drive was easy enough although when I was approaching a roundabout I was in the lane with the straight-ahead arrow, which was perfect as I wanted the second exit, but at the junction the arrow turned into a left turn only option when I pulled up at the traffic lights. No problem I thought, there was a red car to my right and one behind her, I put my indicators on thinking someone would understand my situation.
As the lights turned to green the two cars left which gave me the room to move over, but there was a big fat woman coming along and she would not let me over. You could see the sheer determination in her big face that come what may she was getting past me. I wouldn’t have minded but we were going onto a dual carriageway and she could have easily gotten around me.
I just chuckled at her, the silly cow!
We got to our campsite just after 12:15 pm and we found that we have over a third of a mile track to follow before we get to the site.
We were met by our host, Anna, what a lovely lady she is, she made us so welcome.
We are now on a site that has a coin activated electrical supply that takes only one- or two-pound coins. Anna said that we had credit from the last person on this plot so I hooked up.
By the time I was ready to tune the TV in there was no power. I slipped a one-pound coin in and by the time I looked again it was down to 95p. This is going to be interesting!
Would you believe we are, again, halfway up a massive hill, we are at 703 feet high, and we are only halfway up it.
We soon had the caravan settled and as it was too hot to put the awning up we drove three miles over the hill to check the pub where Anna said we would get a good Sunday lunch.
We stopped at the top of the hill and the views were indeed stunning. We can see out to the Gower Peninsular.
The pub looked nice so I booked us in for a 3:30 pm luncheon appointment.
We then drove back and past the camp site to the village of Pontyberem just to get our bearings.
Jeepers the town is bang in the bottom of a valley, about 500 feet down a very steep hill, a hill too steep to run and with no pavement either, Wendy is beginning to not like Wales, only because of the hills though.
I nipped into a small supermarket in the village, and it sells everything so we have no worries about supplies, I think I could get anything I need there!
We got back to the caravan and we sat out in the sun for 90 minutes before we had to wash and then drive back to the pub. Jeepers the sun was hot, by now it was 26 degrees.
Lunch / Dinner was a real treat, we sat outside in the sunshine and we were served by really nice young people. The young lad was smashing, a young Welsh fella who was as natural at his job as you would want anyone to be. We did have a wee bit of fluff though, only a tadge mind.
We gave our order of 2 roast beef dinners to a very nice eastern European woman and about 10 minutes later she came back to check if we had asked for the cheese board or the cheese cake? Now that was a worry, but before we got ourselves in to a tizzy our roast beef dinners came out, and what a delight they were.
Being a Yorkshireman I am always sceptical when someone, apart from my family or someone from Yorkshire, (obviously), makes massive Yorkshire puddings as big as dustbin lids, but I could not fault the ones today, though I suspect they may have been inflated by an air pump!
It was gone 5:00 pm by the time we got back to the caravan and as we pulled in we had a chat with our hosts husband, Trevor, and he told me that this land was once a coal mine that shut in the 1950’s. Apparently, the old shaft is very close to his back garden.
Back at the caravan and we jumped into our swimwear and sat outside the caravan and just had 3 hours of lovely, hot sunshine.
We have the site to ourselves; our hosts house is around a long corner away so we had complete privacy while we listened to Paul O’Grady on Radio 2, and then the last two overs of the cricket on 5 Live Sports Extra.
It’s now almost 9:50 pm and we still have every window open in the caravan, it’s just lovely.
The electric meter is now down to £1.31, so I have reluctantly slipped another quid in the slot, I won’t sleep tonight with worry!
No Travelling
30.5 Degrees
I was out of bed smartish and outside checking the electric meter this morning.
I had put 2 quid in and it was now down to 1.65p, I had to put the water heater on for our shower later so that gave me the willies too!
Here is something I read about when we were a little further north:
The Rebecca Riots:
The Rebecca Riots were in fact a series of protests that took place between 1839 and 1843, throughout the rural areas of west Wales, including Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. The protesters were mainly simple farming folk who had been angered, in general by unjust taxes, and more specifically by the high tolls (fees) being charged to transport goods and livestock along the roads and bye ways of the region.
In the early 19th century many of the main roads in Wales were owned and operated by Turnpike Trusts. These trusts were supposed to maintain and even improve the condition of the roads and bridges through charging tolls to use them. In reality however, many of these trusts were operated by English businessmen whose main interest was in extracting as much money as they could from the locals.
The people finally decided enough was enough and took the law into their own hands; gangs were formed to destroy the tollgates. These gangs became known as ‘Rebecca and her daughters’. It is believed that they took their name from a passage in the Bible, Genesis XXIV, verse 60 – ‘And they blessed Rebekah and said unto her, Let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them’.
Usually at night, men dressed as women with blackened faces attacked the hated tollgates and destroyed them.
Yesterday we came across a Historic Marker at the top of the hill, about a mile from our new site and it mentioned the Great Rebecca Meeting, so I Googled it and I now have the full story, here it is:
By the end of the summer of 1843, 'The Rebecca Riots', which had ravaged West Wales, was drawing to an end. The violent and clandestine attacks on the tollgates were being replaced by peaceful and open-air meetings calling for political action.
Perhaps 'the greatest of all these meetings' was held on the slopes of Mynydd Sylen where it is claimed that no less than three thousand people were in attendance. On the 25th of August 1843 some of the most important and influential people addressed the meeting including the 'Rebecca' leader, Hugh Williams and the Llanelli landowner William Chambers Junior JP. The Times reporter, Thomas Campbell Foster and the lithographer, William James Linton of the London Illustrated news reported on the event. As a result of the meeting a lengthy petition to Queen Victoria was drawn up calling for an end to the injustices.
Jeepers it was hot on our runs today, and as usual in Wales, it was also hilly.
After breakfast we took the car to the town of Llanelli.
I’m sorry to say that it wasn’t up to much, there were 3 streets in the town and there were quite a lot of undesirable types. First, we found a laundrette and loaded up our washing and then walked into town.
I did manage a successful transaction in the Halifax Bank where a very nice lady gave me ten pound coins, after I had explained that I needed them for the power supply to my caravan.
It was hot, I accept that, but that is no excuse for extremely fat men to walk around bare chested, especially when they have such nasty tattoos!
As we walked along, I was at the side of an old lady when a big fat boy of about 12 riding his bike just stopped and dropped the bike in front of the lady, and then had a strop before he walked into a barbers shop. The bike was bang in the middle of the pavement and the lady had to walk around it.
I said, “Pick the bike up you stroppy bugger, another man said something a little stronger but the lad took absolutely no notice, he just left his bike in the middle of the pavement in the town centre. I did think about taking it away and riding off with it, but it was most likely not his.
I really wanted to slap his chops but I guess I would end up eating porridge if I had!
After a drink in Wetherspoons we went to get the laundry and then we drove the short distance to the beach.
Llanelli is directly across the sea from the Gower Peninsular and as it was high tide the whole of Carmarthen Bay had dried out, well almost.
After parking the car, we saw a sign that said that the walk to the village of Burry Port was 20 minutes away, along a nice shoreside path so we took it.
48 minutes and 2.5 miles later we were still no nearer the village, by now Wendy was melting and in need of food so we stopped at a shoreside café, which turned out to be a life saver.
We should have known that there had been a boob with the signage because no matter how far we walked the sign always said that Burry Port was 20 minutes away.
After some sustenance in the café, we carried on, but it became apparent to me that we wouldn’t make the return walk before our parking would run out so we turned around and walked back. It wasn’t all doom and gloom, the views were stunning and it was a lovely hot day to boot.
After a quick shop at Tesco’s, we drove to the nearby town of Gorseinon to bag the Weatherspoon’s Bar there. This was a cracking bar, it had all the side, sliding doors open and it had a massive outdoor seating area where we sat in the sun and drank our drinks.
We drove back to the caravan and at 4:30 pm we recorded our highest temperature so far on this trip, the car thermometer read 30.5 degrees.
Back at the caravan I made a make do washing line between two trees and then we sat and listened to some radio with a glass of wine before I cooked some nicely rubbed chicken on the barbie.
I also checked the electric meter which was now down to 37p so that needed another 2-pound top up. I think I need to take this a little more seriously and get a spreadsheet made for it.
This is a really nice site which we have to ourselves, for at least until Wednesday and it’s just perfect.
The weatherman tonight says we might have an occasional shower before the heat builds back up at the weekend, it’s been lovely so far, so let’s hope they get it right for once!
No Travelling
Swansea & The Mumbles
I developed a dead left leg last night and it was quite sore when I got up this morning. I was a bit worried about my run, so I ran two miles in the camp site before being sure I wouldn’t break down out on the road.
I ran up hill for a short while before then going down another big hill where I soon found the Swiss Valley Cycle Route. I found it yesterday but today I found it where it is closest to our camp site.
The length of the trail is 10.8 miles and it starts at Sandy Water Park in Llanelli, apparently it is a pretty walking and cycling trail that follows a disused railway line. It climbs gently from the Millennium Coastal Park into the rolling hills of Carmarthenshire, past the peaceful Lliedi Reservoirs and on to Cross Hands.
It actually meets the Millennium Cycle Path that we were walking along yesterday.
Running back and my leg was a little better running uphill than down.
I have started a spreadsheet for the electrical supply. I will record it when I get up just before I put the water heater on, I will then record it when I turn the water heater off after using the shower, and I’ll record it last thing at night.
I started with £1.77 at 6:00 am this morning.
After my smoothie I brushed my teeth and I was mortified that my rechargeable toothbrush had run down and needs to be recharged for 24 hours, how bad is that for timing??? Drat!!!
I had a good chat with our host Trevor, he told me that he was a kick boxing champion, he competed for over 25 years. Actually, he does look in good nick and he tells me he’s 66.
He also invited me down for a drink at his bar, I’m up for it but Wendy’s not so keen, we’ll see what happens when and if he gives me a shout.
Today we went to explore Swansea and The Mumbles, we have been before in the mid 1990’s but we needed to refresh our minds.
I parked in the multi storey carpark in Swansea and we walked out into our first Wetherspoons Bar, The Potters Wheel. Although it was a little overcast we sat outside because the temperature was 25 degrees.
It was quite nice sat there without a care in the world.
We had a half pint each and then we walked down to the shore as I wanted to see the Waterfront Museum. We had to walk around a very busy marina to get there and I was a little underwhelmed when we got to the museum. Apparently, it was a building to be seen, but I didn’t think much to it.
From there we walked back into town and we came across a really nice long street that had bars and restaurants there. We even happened on the towns second Wetherspoons, The Bank Statement.
We bagged that bar too and as an unexpected treat they had Theakston’s Old Peculiar on tap, and would you believe I got the last pint and a half.
As I needed a new lightweight shirt we went shopping, first I tried H&M but I didn’t fancy anything in there. However, Marks and Spencer had just what I wanted but at £29.50 it did take my breath away.
We walked around the city centre and I found it to be quite nice, in fact it was very nice. We came across a fantastic market which was marked up as the best market in Great Britain.
Although I wasn’t hungry, I did buy a pork pie to share because it looked tasty. I asked the woman to cut in half and give me a slightly bigger slice but she didn’t. I have asked for this before and they don’t do it, it must be some kind of sisterhood act. The thing is I am two stone heavier than Wendy so rightly so I should have a bigger portion.
I also bought some rather nice-looking beef fillet steak for my Friday night treat!
Swansea Facts:
Swansea is the second largest city in Wales and is known for being the birthplace of poet Dylan Thomas, and home of the Swans, who were until very recently in the Premier League.
Swansea is a waterfront city, right beside famous beaches and the seaside resort feel of The Mumbles, meaning you get city living, wild seaside and a traditional beach holiday feel rolled into one.
Well I liked it and it would be nice to have a weekend city break there.
My dead leg was giving me some gyp so I took a couple of painkillers, I’m intending to put on a heat pad later tonight.
After a good walk around the city, we jumped into the car and drove to within a mile of The Mumbles and parked the car as we wanted to walk along the sea front and into the resort.
The Mumbles has been noted for its unusual place name. The headland is thought by some to have been named by French sailors, after the shape of the two anthropomorphic islands which the headland comprises: the word "Mumbles" may be a corruption of the French les mamelles, meaning "the breasts".
I don’t know about that but it is a very nice area.
The walk to the end of the resort takes you to the pier where the lifeboat station is located. As we got there a heavy rain shower started so while I walked to the end of the pier, Wendy took shelter. I wasn’t that bothered; I only had a T-shirt on and it didn’t last long anyway.
There are two Lifeboat stations on the pier, the old one and the new one. The new one is at the end of the main pier and the old one is on concrete stilts and is accessed by a narrow bridge.
It looks as if it’s becoming rundown but it is for sale, someone with vast amounts of money will be required to make it safe, but I do hope that it gets saved.
Here’s a sad tale of the lifeboat stations history:
On 23rd April 1947 the Mumbles lifeboat lost its entire crew of eight members while attempting to rescue the crew of the SS Samtampa. All that can be known for sure is that the lifeboat reached the scene before being capsized by the sea conditions with the loss of all the crew. It was the first time that a lifeboat of this design had been capsized.
The crew of the Samtampa also perished that storm-lashed night bringing the death toll to a tragic 47 lives lost. All the bodies were washed ashore the following day.
After a full walk around The Mumbles, we drove back to the caravan, in heavy traffic and I cooked a new dish that I have put together:
It’s a fried egg, sausage, mushroom and tomato in a bbq sauce covered wrap, it’s very basic I accept that, but it’s also very, very tasty. Its also an art not getting the egg in your lap!
Its now 8:00 pm and I’ve had to shave my thigh to get the hot pack to stick, but it’s heating up nicely, lets hope it does the trick!
No Travelling
Burry Port
I had a better night sleep last night and when I woke, I didn’t have as much pain as yesterday but my leg still wasn’t right.
Wendy didn’t go running this morning, I think the hills are finally getting to her, and for me today I ran four miles on the camp site.
The length I have to run can only be about 150 yards long and about 15 wide, so it means I have to do about 200 circuits, but strangely I can just close my mind to it and just listen to the radio. Currently I am listening to Owain Wyn Evans, the BBC Weatherman who is currently sitting in for Vanessa Feltz on her 4:00 am show. I’m not up that early I just get the show on BBC Sounds.
After the four miles I went up and over the hill and down to the Swiss Valley Cycle track.
I got back just before 9:00 am, and I devoured my smoothie, the sun was out and although it wasn’t as hot as it was on Monday it was still in the mid-twenties.
I had already done my morning electric monitoring and after my shower I took my midday reading and logged the results. I was quite pleased as I only had to put a one-pound coin in.
Our intention today was to cycle down to the cycle track and then, hopefully find the coastal path and this time make it to the small town of Burry Port.
The sun was out when we set off so I wore my new vest, actually I should have worn my older vest as I had already worn it and the possibility of getting sweaty was very high, now I was going to soil this new one as well.
The cycle path is a topper, as usual its on the remains of an old railway track and it’s been tarmacked over all the way, and its wide enough for everyone to get along and use the path in peace.
We did find the coastal path and then we set off for the seaside town of Burry Port.
We passed the point where we had turned around on Monday and we still had at least a mile and a half to go.
We got to the harbour at Burry Port and we found the most amazing beaches, it had a very wide beach to the east of the harbour and an even bigger one to the west. I know the good weather helps any photograph but these beaches would give any beach in Australia a run for its money, and I should know as I have seen the majority of them.
From there we cycled to the outskirts of town and padlocked our bikes to some railings and walked over the bridge and straight onto the town’s main street.
Do you know what Burry Port is famous for Avid Reader?
Burry Port is famous for being the landing site of Amelia Earheart in her successful attempt at being the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
The seaplane was called “The Friendship”
Just after noon on 18 June 1928, she circled the Loughor estuary and just after 12.40pm touched down on the choppy waters at Burry Port with her sea plane. Inside the aeroplane was Miss Amelia Earhart and by landing at this small south Wales port she had become the first woman ever to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
However, that is not the full story:
Amelia Earhart was not the only person on board. With her in the plane were pilot Wilmer Stultz and mechanic Lou Gordon. In fact, Amelia was rated only as assistant pilot for the trip - yet such was the novelty of a woman taking on the challenge of the Atlantic that Stultz and Gordon have now been all but forgotten.
The town was very nice with some lovely little shops.
As we were feeling a little hungry, we bought a small beef, hot patty each and mine was delicious. From there, with the sun beaming down on us we had a beer in the front beer garden of the Hope and Anchor Pub.
In fact, we could have chosen anyone of four pubs in the town, with the exception of The Pemberton Arms which was blaring out very loud music, well it is also the local motorcycle club.
After our drink we made our way back and stopped off in Llanelli for some shopping.
I had put on my Strava running app this morning something about my bad leg and I got a message from an old friend, Henri Shepherd, here’s what she said:
“I am wondering if your leg problem is your IT band. (You haven’t had any rest for ages and you do A LOT of miles) look up Rock tape and you will find on YouTube how to tape it. The tape makes a HUGE difference. Hope that helps. Oh, and maybe have a rest day now and again?”
She’s always been a bossy boots as Henri.
But I did buy some tape and I have watched the YouTube video and now I know just what to do, it also means shaving some more of my thigh. I also bought some more heat pads from Pound stretchers so I should be well on the way to repair pretty soon.
We went into the shopping centre in Llanelli and we found it to be quite a nice place.
Wendy walked back to the bikes while I got some money from the cash point. As I walked back myself, I saw a man being placed on a bench by a younger man with a woman watching on.
As I got to them, I saw that the man, who had likely just come out from Weatherspoon’s Bar, was absolutely ratted. He must have fallen as he had a bump on his head, not that he could feel it.
The woman who was just passing by walked with me to the County Buildings and we chatted about the fella as we walked, she even told a school teacher who had a group of primary kids to avoid him as his language was a little choice.
We cycled back to the caravan, having done over 30 miles on the bikes, and soon Wendy had supper on, BBQ chicken wraps, which were an utter delight.
I was going to watch Andrew Flintoff’s Cricket programme on BBC I-player as recommended by Robyn, tonight, but just as I was about to settle down, Trevor called by and invited us over to the bar at 7:00 pm.
We are just back from the bar, jeepers we could have been set for the night, as it was I had to pry Wendy out of the bar at 9:30 pm, there was only one way that was going and it would have ended in a headache tomorrow.
I’m a bit gutted to be honest, I was going to have a cold strip wash tonight, maybe a lukewarm one, but with the invite to the bar I had to put the water heater on for a shower, now I’m not sure if the power will make it through the night, maybe I won’t sleep as well tonight as I thought I would!!!
No Travelling
Living Dangerously!
I was up late this morning, 6:50 am, that’s because we had a terrific night sky and then we decided to wait for the full moon. However, it took so long to clear the hill behind us it was gone 11:00 pm by the time we got to bed. In fact, Wendy was almost asleep when I called her when the moon had just cleared enough to see the fullness of it?
The photo I took isn’t great but I couldn’t wait much longer.
Wendy was in bed and fast asleep before you could say, Lunar Landscape”, but I poured myself a small snorter of JD and coke and sipped it in bed while I looked through the window as the light got a little brighter from the full effect of the full moon.
Now I have to give a warning out, never let anyone else shave your legs. I had managed to shave mine myself so that I could get a heat pad on, heat pads do not stick to woolly legs!
As Henri had told me how to tape my leg so that it would ease the pain I have been getting in my left leg, I had to shave a little more hair off. However, as I had to tape both vertically and horizontally, I could not reach around the back of my thigh, so I asked Wendy.
What a bugger she made of the job, so now not only do I have a pain in my deep tissue, I also now have half the skin of my leg off, in the same area as my injury.
I did manage to get the tape on though and it really did work.
When I was running, I flew up and over the hill and I made it to the end of the cycle track all in one go. I popped out of the track on the outskirts of a town called Tumble. Now that’s quite a cute name but from seeing some of the locals I didn’t think it a place to hang about.
Back at the caravan I had my smoothie and then showered, I had taken my early morning electricity reading which was a bit of a shocker, it was 0.84 pence, so I had to put a pound coin in. After my shower when I had turned the water heater off the reading was now exactly £1.00, which was down by 84 pence!
Today we took a drive inland to the Market Town of Llandovery.
The drive took us through some absolutely stunning countryside. It really was a beautiful drive, as it has been for much of this trip, it was through diary and sheep farming country.
I have come to conclude that arable farming is not something that lends itself to the hills of Wales. That then led me to conclude that if I was a leader of a country, I would ask myself if my country could sustain itself by its own means. Could Wales produce enough grain for its needs? I don’t know the answer to that, but seeing so many countries reliance on Russian oil and gas, it’s a legitimate question I would have to satisfy myself with before calling for independence from the rest of the UK, which some of the country’s leaders want to achieve.
Now I don’t know if the rest of the UK produces enough grain to sustain itself, but surely as a whole entity it is better to procure supplies as a large unit from the international community, well that’s my view anyway.
Llandovery was a lovely little town, it was smashing. It had a very nice feel to it, and although it was quite small there were some nice shops there and quite a few pubs.
We bought some items from a craft shop and the man asked me where we had come from, so in conversation I told him that I came to the town after researching it, its an old droving town and that it used to have over 70 pubs. He was quite impressed with my knowledge, but I only got it from a simple Google search.
We did buy a drink at a pub, The Bear Inn, and it wasn’t a great experience and it led me to giving the beer back and walking out. I didn’t cause any trouble I just told the barman what I thought and left it at that. It must have been an interesting situation for a Yorkshireman to leave almost a pint and a half of beer untouched!
But that didn’t spoil our Llandovery experience as we took a walk up to the ruin of its ancient castle.
At the castle, in a prominent place is a solid silver statue of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd Fychan.
On October 9, 1401, local landowner Llywelyn ap Gruffydd Fychan, was dragged to the gallows at the front of the castle, the 12th century fortification, and disembowelled for everyone to see before being dismembered.
His salted, or pickled, body parts were then sent to be exhibited in other Welsh towns and his head, apparently, spiked at the Tower of London.
The purpose of his very public execution, on the orders of the English King Henry IV, and the displaying his remains across Wales was to deter the unfortunate captive’s countrymen from following him in supporting Owain Glyndwr’s guerrilla warfare campaign against Henry.
From Llandovery we drove over the beautiful Black Mountains to the small old mining town of Ammanford where we took a proper pint of beer in a very nice local pub.
We sat outside in the sunshine and I could see the comparisons of this old mining town with the small mining towns in and around Barnsley. I’ll say no more about that but it does need saying that the people who used to be employed in coal mining still need that kind of manual employment in vast numbers so that they can be full contributing members of society.
We did a short tour of the town and I found, what I thought were perfect gifts for my older girls at home, so I snaffled them at once.
When we got back to the caravan, I had to nip to the village shop as we had forgotten wine, I know, how on earth did that happen? I was delayed in getting back as the farmer was taking his herd of cows across the road for milking. There must have been 200 of them and I was waiting, patiently, for about 15 minutes.
I nipped out of the car and asked his wife who was helping him, how long it took to milk them all and I was told 2 hours, and it takes place twice a day. I thanked the farmer for his efforts and I told him that I love to drink milk, he laughed and gave me a hearty wave!
Supper at the caravan was spicy sausage that we have had in the freezer for a while, and after barbecuing them we ate them with some very nice, fresh sourdough bread that we bought in Ammanford.
I’m living dangerously with the power tonight, if we have more than 50 pence still left before we turn in for the night, I won’t put anymore coins in and I’ll blag our way through the morning on the gas supply. It’s a risky tactic but I’m living in hope.
I’m filing an early copy tonight as I have been invited to a Zoom get together with Takako, Clare and Dave Lane who are all meeting up at Dave’s house in Edinburgh as Takako flies back to her home in Japan in the next few days.
Its just a shame I couldn’t be there!
Bugger!!!!
I just checked the metre and it was down to 57 pence so I had to put in another pound coin!!!
99 Miles
Back in England
I had my Zoom get together with my old friends last night and it was smashing. Takako had come all the way from Japan, Clare had driven up to Edinburgh from Devon, but I just couldn’t make it, but Zoom worked out just fine and I felt I was there even if I didn’t get the gourmet supper as cooked by Dave.
Tak seems desperate for me to visit her in Japan and I would love to, but maybe not for a year or two.
After the Zoom party Wendy and me watched the second part of the TV program, Andrew Flintoff’s Field of Dreams. The ex-England cricketer is trying to make a team out of disillusioned young men, jeepers he really does have is work cut out. But fair play to him he is doing his level best, I think I might have throttled one or two of them by now!
I had my window blind up all night and occasionally I would pear out and look at the beautiful moon as it moved across the sky.
That’s possibly why I was late up for bed today, its moving day and I would normally be up at 5:00 am but today it was 6:00 am on the dot.
I was busy as I got up though, I had the electric meter to read and I found it to be at 99 pence, so I held my nerve and I didn’t top it up.
Wendy didn’t seem keen to go out running and there was talk of a second cup of tea in bed as I left for my run.
I was up and down the cycle track and back before 8:30 am. The sky was overcast, but it was warm and it seemed that the sun would break through at any moment, although it didn’t.
I got back to the caravan and Wendy was showered and dressed but she had her hair still to dry. The power was still on so I made my smoothie before the hair dryer made an appearance.
I showered and Wendy had dried her hair and still we had power.
We both set about getting the caravan ready for moving on and the last thing I did when I uncoupled the power cable was to check the electric meter reading.
Would you believe we were down to the last 15 pence; I was tempted to boil the kettle and make a cup of tea but that would have been very childish of me!
We set off for our new camp site where it is located at around the halfway point between Bristol and Bath. The journey time was around 2 hours and 30 minutes and within 8 miles of setting off we were on the M4 heading eastwards.
The drive over was fine apart from a tailback at the Severn Crossing where we were held up for a while as we were diverted around an accident which had shut one lane.
The are two Severn Crossings and I was curious as to which one we would take, in the end the Satnav took the newer, Prince of Wales Bridge.
The bridge was officially opened on 5th June 1996 by Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, here are a few bridge facts:
We were off the M4 with about 8 miles left of our journey and soon the SatNav had us placed directly on our new site with Mrs Nesbitt.
We seem to be off a country lane, which is really not far from a nice built-up area.
As the site already had 2 caravans and 1 motorhome on site, I went to check with Mrs Nesbitt where I should set up.
Mrs Nesbitt is a lovely, elder lady and I could tell her accent the moment she spoke. I asked her where her accent was from and she said, “I have been here for 37 years, where do you think I am from?”
“Northern Ireland”, I replied. I was spot on and she told me most people thought she was Scottish.
She asked me how I was so confident I was right and I told her that I had been on many Fire Service Courses with Ulstermen at the Fire Service College. She told me that her nephew had also attended the college too.
After we had selected our site, Mrs Nesbitt gave us a run down on the area and within a half a mile there is a traffic free cycle track that connects Bristol and Bath, which suits us perfectly.
After setting the caravan up, we left the awning because with it being Friday, we thought that the traffic might build up, so we went to Tesco, just 2 miles away.
On the way back I checked on the cycle track and I found that it is 7 miles to Bath and 9 miles to Bristol.
Back at the caravan we set the awning up and then relaxed in the sunshine for an hour or two before I lit the BBQ for tonight’s treat, big fat fillet steak, jumbo prawns, sweet corn and salad.
The BBQ was going nicely when I sat out in the sunshine and cooked the food, there’s a little breeze which is just nice and the temperature at 6:30 pm was in the mid 20’s and it’s still nicely warm at 7:30 pm.
Its Friday night, I have had a lovely meal and now I am really looking forward to exploring Bath tomorrow.
But for now, it’s time to knock off, have another glass of white wine and maybe have a small rum and coke before its bed time for DG.
See you tomorrow Avid Reader!!!
No Travelling
Bath in the Sunshine
What a lovely evening we had, we sat in the open awning and we watched a hot air balloon rise up into the sky right in front of the building we are behind, and slowly go up into the air before moving across the sky in the direction of Bath.
Then we watched the sky turn red before it got a little chilly and so we moved inside.
At 9:00 pm we watched celebrity Gogglebox, well the item about Love Island really opened my eyes. I cannot believe those women talk like they do when their mums and dads must be watching, jeepers I would disown any of my kids if they spoke like that on national TV, and it wasn’t just swear words, it was what the they were talking about that I found hard to believe.
I had another lovely sleep last night and I never got up for a bathroom stop in the night, and I only woke at 6:15 because I very much needed one then.
The sun was up by the time Wendy woke up and it was nice to sit in the quiet, sunny start of the day. It was chilly outside mind at only 10 degrees.
We had also had a very heavy dew and the grass was wet through.
I had seen canal locks from the road when we went to Tesco yesterday so I went to find then thinking that there must be a canal there.
I found the locks but no canal, it was the River Avon.
The locks seem to be some way for small craft to navigate around a weir,
I did manage to run two miles along the river though, although sometimes the track was very overgrown, and it tickled my legs.
Wendy went running too, she went 2 miles along the cycle track in the direction of Bath.
I had my smoothie sat in a deckchair outside in the sunshine and if I closed my eyes I could have been in the Algarve as it was so nice and sunny!
Just gone 10:30 am we jumped on our bikes and rode along the Bristol to Bath cycle track for a day trip in the direction of Bath.
The cycle track is absolutely topping, it has a good tarmac surface and it was very mainly flat all the way. It was reasonably busy but it was safe enough. However, we had some Bradley Wiggin types come riding two abreast and didn’t give us much room. I gave him a row as he passed by but with that level of arrogance, I could tell he didn’t care.
Apart from that it was a lovely bike ride which brought us out bang in the middle of the city.
Would you believe that as we were padlocking our bike to a bike stand right behind us was the only Wetherspoons Bar in Bath, it was fate!
We just had to go in and have a quick drink before we set off on our walking tour.
Bath is absolutely stunning, it really is with its Georgian Style stone buildings and its Roman Baths. The River Avon also flows through the city and its just perfect.
We saw, as we walked loads of young people in their Graduation Gowns, jeepers they didn’t half look hot in the building heat of the day.
Built for pleasure and relaxation, beautiful Bath has been a wellbeing destination since Roman times. The waters are still a big draw, both at the ancient Roman Baths and the thoroughly modern Thermae Bath Spa, which houses the only natural thermal hot springs in Britain you can bathe in.
Bath's stunning honey-coloured Georgian architecture is straight from a Jane Austen novel – highlights include the iconic Royal Crescent and the majestic Circus.
We walked and walked, mostly in the hot sunshine and we marvelled at the beauty of the place, it really was stunning.
After around 4 miles of walking and 2 hours of time we decided to get back onto our bikes and stop at a pub that is about 2/3’s of the way back along the cycle track.
We did stop off at a small market with our bikes just before we re-joined the track and I wanted to buy an oil painting which I really liked, but someone else wasn’t so keen so I left it at that. I did even almost arrange with the fella to make some kind of sling so that I could ride my bike with it, but alas it wasn’t to be.
I did buy a bell for my bike mind, so I can now stop saying excuse me as I ride along.
We cycled along the track which was by far quieter now and we got to the pub and just as we arrived a plum table was just being vacated, so I grabbed it.
It was a nice drink, local, chilled real ale, under a brolley on a hot summer’s day, it was perfect.
After our drinks we pushed on and we were back at the caravan a little before 4:00 pm. Despite me leaving most of the windows open it was over 30 degrees inside the van.
I then opened every window to its fullest extent and it was like being in the caravan on the hottest day in France. Actually, the hottest day we have had in France in this caravan was 43 degrees, when we were in Lappailse. We had the electric fan with us then, we didn’t pack it for this trip, what Wally’s we are!!!
After settling in I had a chicken in the electric rotisserie that my dad bought us years ago. It was too hot to have it inside so I set it up in the awning, soon the cooking fumes coming off it had me starving.
At 5:00 pm it seemed to be the hottest part of the day so I sat in my garden chair, in the sunshine, larupped in sun cream and I drank an ice-cold Theakston’s Old Peculiar, and it was just the ticket!
After I had finished that I had a sneaky rum while I sat in the garden chair too, only a small one mind, I know I have to keep hydrated in this heat.
Supper was lovely, we managed to get some shade under the awning while we ate it.
Its now 7:43 pm and its 28 degrees in the van, although a little light breeze is just coming along.
I wonder will it be warmer tomorrow; might I have to buy a desk fan; will I find one?
No Travelling
Bristol in the Sunshine
I had another good sleep last night, almost every window, including the top one was open through the night and it was just lovely as a light breeze blew through the caravan.
I woke at 5 minutes to 6:00 am and I checked the temperature outside and it was 16 degrees, yesterday it had been 10 degrees at the same time. However, the sun was beaming in the sky and it was going to get warmer very soon.
Wendy went out running before me and as it was an hour later than when I last checked the outside temperature, I checked it again and I found that it was now 20 degrees.
I put my running vests on and out I went.
I went running along the roads and about half a mile from our camp ground I found an old garden centre that had obviously fallen into disrepair. Trees had grown out of control inside a large greenhouse and had broken through the windows and the scene resembled something from a sci-fi movie, maybe Planet of the Apes?
I had a right old sweat on when I got back but it was fine, I just cooled down sat on the caravan step which I had taken out from the awning into the sunshine.
I needed some milk for my smoothie so at 9:15 am I nipped to Tesco to get that and some other essentials.
I was there by 9:30 am and I was at the checkout at 9:45 am with one woman in front of me.
There was only one checkout open, or so I thought, but the checkout lady wasn’t doing anything except sending text messages to someone and drinking juice from a bottle.
I was getting a little frustrated and then it came to me, a large queue had grown behind me and so I asked the elderly couple behind me if there is a time from which the tills could open.
They only wanted to buy two items, a bunch of flowers and a large cake.
It suddenly dawned on the lady, and she said, “Its Sunday isn’t it? we can browse from 9:00 am but we cannot buy until 10:00 am”. Her husband then said, “We’re going to be late then”.
They must have been going to an event somewhere because the cake was a big one and the flowers were a big bunch too.
That was it then, I had 15 minutes to kill at the checkout.
Jeepers by 10:00 am the queue had grown; it was winding down and around the isle.
As soon at it struck 10:00 am the till belt started and I was out and back at the caravan by 10:15 am.
I had my smoothie out in the garden chair in the heat of the morning sunshine and after a shave and a shower we were off on our bikes again, this time heading along the cycle track in the direction of Bristol.
It was warm along the track and there wasn’t much shade either but it was manageable.
The track was busy and it does make me cross when the Bradley Wiggin types zoom along at high speed as there are families with nippers on their small bikes just enjoying the day. It’s a cycle track not the Velodrome, and they were in head-to-toe spandex too!!!
We stopped on the outskirts of the city and I checked my Wetherspoons App for the nearest city bar. Wendy isn’t keen on cycling on city roads and that’s fair enough so we left the bikes on a bike rack and as the bar was just under a mile away, we walked to it.
It was the right thing to do too as the route brought us straight to the city outskirts along the River Avon.
Jeepers the beer was nice, it was an utter delight actually.
We walked down to the harbour and it was buzzing, it was Bristol Harbour Festival and it was mobbed, and it was now also very hot.
Don’t you see some sights when the sun is out?
We walked along the north shore of the river and we came across the statue of Samuel Plimsoll who was born in Bristol on 10th February 1824.
Samuel Plimsoll was a colossal man, a man of the people, a politician and an inventor who had an inquisitive mind, not many of them around these days!
Samuel did many good things in his life, as a young teenager he wrote a pamphlet entitled, 'A Plan to have Fatherless and Motherless Children Cared for Instead of Being Consigned to the Workhouse'.
However, for Seafarers perhaps his greatest achievement was The Plimsoll Line, a line painted on the side of a ship to show how low in the water she should sit when safely loaded. It’s an innovation that’s still used today. It has saved thousands of lives and spared seafarers the anxiety of being sent to sea in overloaded and unsafe vessels.
Before finding fame as the Sailor’s Friend though, he was known as the Miner’s Friend. In the 1850s he orchestrated relief efforts following mining accidents. After the Lund Hill pit fire claimed 189 lives he helped raise over £10,000, thereby saving many families from the workhouse, and also suggested safety measures that could prevent such a tragedy being repeated, see I said he was a great man!
Next, we came across the SS Great Britain which was tied up at her berth on the other side of the river.
SS Great Britain is a former passenger steamship that was advanced for her time. She was the largest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1854. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, for the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service between Bristol and New York City.
Looking at the ship from across the river I was amazed at the length of it with its 6 masts and its coal fired engine funnel. It must have been an amazing sight to have seen her at sea, even better to have sailed aboard her.
We had a nice glass of wine in the V-Shed Weatherspoon’s bar in the harbour, it was busy but we nabbed two sly out of the way seats.
I said yesterday the importance of being hydrated during a heatwave and thankfully the bar had an electric chiller cabinet that dispensed cold water continuously so we also had 2 half pints of water with our wine.
As we strolled along in the afternoon sunshine, I thought that it would be nice to have supper out, so we looked for a suitable establishment. I tried a few without luck, but we dropped on at the Honest Burger where we had a delightful burger each, a half-litre of wine and lots more water. The burgers were in Gluten Free buns as we didn’t fancy a brioche bun, and do you know they really were tasty, served with rosemary chips.
Actually, it was the best burger I have had in ages!!!
After 4 hours of sunshine in Bristol we jumped back on our bikes and rode gently back to the caravan.
There is a railway tunnel we have to go through, which is about a quarter of a mile long, its dark and it’s wet with water dripping from the roof. Wendy doesn’t like it and as I was behind her when we entered, I had difficulty in keeping up with her as she raced herself through it.
We were back at the caravan by 6:30 pm and Wendy had a cold shower, we then sat out in the sunshine and I nodded off for about 40 seconds.
Its moving day tomorrow, we have had a very interesting and lovely time in Bath and then Bristol. I wonder though if we will make it through the heatwave tomorrow?
40 degrees, here we come!!!
67 Miles
Heatwave?
I was awake at 5:30 am but I laid quietly for 25 mins so Wendy could have a little more sleep as she was shattered last night. I think she might have had a little too much sun on her head, she’s a bugger as she won’t wear a hat.
She didn’t go running this morning but of course I did.
As I was going along a saw a person running toward me and they looked to be really struggling, they were dressed in lycra leggings and a vest top. I thought if you’re not really up to the heat maybe give it a miss today. But has they got closer I saw that she was a very, very old lady and she was most likely moving as fast as she could.
The thing is though is that this very, very old lady had a massive and what looked like a very recent tattoo on her upper arm. I thought jeepers lady, at your age.
Do you know the number of young woman who spoil their bodies with tattoos, it’s lots of them, and they are getting increasingly larger. The girl who served our drinks yesterday was a very pretty young woman but she was covered in tattoos and she had lots of piercings in her face, she even had two metal studs in the gaps of her front teeth. She scared the hell out of me when she smiled!
I’m a bit sick and tired of all the news and gossip channels telling me its going to be hot in the coming days, jeepers is the world going to end?
We set off for our new site which is 5 miles to the north of Newbury, which I selected as I thought it was around half way between our last site and the next site in Iwade, but I misjudged the distance around the M25, so we have around 120 miles tomorrow.
We set of at 10:50 am and the temperature outside the car was 30 degrees, however when we got to our new site at 12:30 pm the temperature was 34 degrees and boy could we feel it as we got out of our air-conditioned car.
Thankfully the site is level and we even had a hard track onto which I could easily back the caravan onto. In no time at all we were set up under the shade of some big trees. Wendy was particularly happy as we have our own water supply so we are set up with the water contraption so we can have as many cooling showers as we like.
After a chat with our host, Mr Deakin, following his advice we drove into Newbury and we found an utterly lovely little southern town.
We parked in a town centre car park and as we left it, we walked directly into the back beer garden of the local Wetherspoons Bar, The Hatchet Inn. It was a really nice pub and it gave me pause for thought, because every nice Wetherspoons Bar I have ever been in as been in a nice town frequented by nice people.
After our drinks we walked around town in now searing heat and we found the town to be really nice, it was clean, they had some lovely local shops but it was very quiet.
We came across shops that had signs saying that they were closed because of the heat, even the benches had warning notices on them, it is getting a bit silly.
While Wendy browsed the shops I made a bee-line for the Robert Dyas Shop, where I bought a 9” oscillating fan for £14.99. I did think I would hold out as we have one at home, but that is a much bigger fan, and it’s damaged as the fan blade occasionally hits the safety screen so I did the right thing and snaffled the last one in the shop.
The Kennet and Avon Canal goes right through the High Street and it looks like somewhere I would really like to explore, however as we are only here for a short time, and in a heatwave, I might just have to come back one day soon.
Further browsing of the town ensued and after a good 90 minutes, we went back to the caravan where the car thermometer had a reading of 37 degrees, which is pretty hot.
Back at the caravan the fan was unpacked and fully tested.
Thankfully it works a treat!
After a brief interlude at the caravan where we sat in the shade, we walked the short distance to the village pub. Again, as advised by Mr Deakin we walked along a country lane, past some stunning properties and on to the village pub, The Bunk House Inn.
The Bunk House is a smashing country pub and we sat outside in the beer garden trying to keep out of the sun. I was a little concerned that six horses were in the field behind the pub and the grass was that dry they didn’t have anything nutritious to eat. I even looked for water but I couldn’t see any.
The state of the grass was so dry that it was as bad as anything I saw in the interior of Australia.
That said, the horses did look well fed and watered and they were taking shade under trees so I guess their owner is looking after them.
We did consider eating at the pub but the menu didn’t really strike us, the best I could have done was have several starters as a tapa, but maybe Chef wouldn’t have been happy with that.
So, it was back to plan A, a fish bbq.
I had two boneless seabass and two salmon steaks, the seabass was put into a foil pouch of garlic and white wine and the salmon was marinated in hoisin sauce, and I had my choux chef slice some tinned potatoes and fry them in garlic and sweetcorn.
The salmon was cooked with indirect heat and the seabass, in its garlic and white wine pouch under direct heat.
Jeepers what a stupendous delight it was, it was an utter treat. I had to be careful with the barby as the grass was very dry. In fact, Mr Deakin said that its not rained for seven weeks, jeepers he should have been in Wales.
After supper we roasted a few marshmallows on the barby, with a small piece of chocolate and they were lovely.
By 8:00 pm we were sat out on the grass watching the sun set and it was still roasting hot. After a shower Wendy went to bed, with the fan firmly pointing in her direction so at 9:00 pm its just you and me Avid Reader.
I think I have an hour or two left in me, right now I’m listening to Alicia Keys on i-tunes, which seems quite appropriate because it’s a New York, Empire State of Mind heat tonight!
122 Miles
What a Day!!!
Jeepers what a lovely sleep I had last night, apparently I was wrapped up in my duvet, nice and snug. I had every window open to its full extent and I even had the fan blowing cold air until it was time to go to sleep.
I was up at 6:00 am and it was 20 degrees, I went running, Wendy stayed in bed and that was understandable.
I went out towards Newbury and it was fine going out, coming back was a bit of a slog, but I made it safe and sound. As I ran along, at my drink stops I was chatting with my mate Dave, the farmer in Australia. I told him about my concerns for the horses from yesterdays copy and he was happy that dry grass gives enough nutrients to live stock, so I needn’t worry any longer about horses in the sun.
I got back to the caravan and I must admit I was hot but not bothered, well maybe a bit but not badly, so I rested on the step and cooled off.
I had an amazing smoothie, with cream, and it was just the tonic and after my shower we were decamping in really hot sunshine.
We set off at 11:40 am and the car thermometer was 37 degrees. Now my car thermometer reads low, so that means it was very likely accurate.
The SatNav had us on the M4 very quickly and soon we were doodling along at 60 mph.
The car thermometer rose slowly, 37.5, 38, 38.5, 39, 39.5 and then we hit 40 degrees just as we were joining the M25 at Heathrow, which we soon found out had just broken the record for the highest UK temperature.
We carried on and just before we joined the M26 I stopped at the service station to get a drink of water from the caravan fridge as I had run out. Outside the heat was stifling, but I could cope, well as you know Avid Reader, I am a veteran of Broken Hill and 42 degrees, so it was just a walk in the park for DG!
We got to Iwade, our new camp site, and Mr Jenkins our new host was out and opening the gate for us with is shirt fully open. As we have stayed with Mr Jenkins many times before he left us to it.
I soon had the van sorted and, as an added bonus I utilised the water contraption much to Wendy’s delight. We are parked close to a tap so we can connect and disconnect whenever we need as the contraption has a capacity of at least 25 litres, so we can shower, even if someone else need’s the tap.
After set up we drove over to grannies and settled down for an afternoon with her, Grandad, Ian, Karen and Cheryl.
Jeepers it was hot as we set off and would you believe the car thermometer rose to 40.5, then 41, 41.5 and then it settled at 42 degrees, that’s almost a record for me, actually it is in the UK, which does worry me somewhat as I have two little girls’ future to worry about!
We took Wendy’s bike on the car, the reason being is that I would drive back to the camp site and then ride my bike back to grannies, we would have a lovely afternoon and then after a few drinks we would both cycle back. To this end I rode my bike back to grannies, the total distance of 5 miles, which in 40 degrees heat I was happy to do. I know I’m mad, but anything for Granny!
Ian, Karen and me set up a tarpaulin outside so we could all sit, enjoy the outdoors and have a cooling breeze.
Granny and Grandad came down and then we had a bit of an incident that required an ambulance, the heat was just too much from granny. I cannot praise the crew who attended highly enough, they were great. They checked on Granny for at least an hour and then they took her for a full check up at the hospital, Wendy tagged along for fun!
I had lighted the barby but by now the heat was going out of the starter so I had to restock it, which took me a bit longer than I expected.
However true to form I cooked a smashing meal, it was a cracker, chicken thighs, burgers, mushrooms, sausage and vegan burgers for Ian, and Cheryl loved the chicken!
After supper I suddenly realised that it was getting dark and that I ought to be getting back to the caravan. I had forgotten how quick the night falls in the south and I had no lights on my bike.
I set off on my bike and all was well until I came to the Queensferry Bridge where I applied the brakes due to the road conditions and I went arse over tit over the handle bars and ended up with multiple lacerations to my head, shoulder, and legs, all down my left-hand side actually.
I knew immediately that I had taken a bad tumble but I also knew I needed to get home, so I quickly checked myself over and despite the feeling of flowing blood I knew I could make it back.
I did indeed make it back safe and sound but I did not figure on the lengthy discussions with my new neighbour as I went out to reconnect the water supply. I knew I had enough water to shower but I wanted to make sure Wendy had enough when she got back.
Thankfully I did manage to shower and clean myself up just as Wendy got back from the hospital. Granny has been given a clean bill of health, thankfully, and Wendy attended to my wounds.
I have now spent over two hours compiling tonight’s copy, I think I can conclude that I might have broken my ulnas or my radius, its hurting just now but maybe after a rum and coke it won’t feel half as bad tomorrow!
As I conclude I have to say that I take my hat off to the two paramedics who were in attendance tonight, they were cracking chaps and I told them so myself as they took Granny off tonight.
I did ask that they take Granddad too but they declined my request!
No Travelling
Granny at 80!!!
I had a good night’s sleep last night despite my injuries, I think that was the rum more than being resistant to pain.
However, I did hurt like hell this morning when I did get up, jeepers my left arm is really very sore, and my wounds are something else too.
I took some paracetamol and I went out running up through Iwade, then through Bobbing and eventually popped out from a corn field somewhere that I didn’t recognise.
My time was pretty poor, something like a mile every 13 minutes, I could hardly keep my arm straight.
Never mind, enough about me, Granny Mavis is 80 today and after her run Wendy went directly to her house while I was out, with the intention of coming back for me.
I had my smoothie and shower and then Wendy collected me and we drove onto the island to spend a little time with granny before she was whisked away by her sons for an unknown adventure.
It was still a very hot morning, it was nudging 30 degrees and there was a fair amount of humidity hanging in the air too.
I got a little ribbing about my accident last night which I accept full responsibility!
Karen came back from the hairdresser looking glamourous with her nice new hair colour and soon enough granny was on her way.
Wendy and I went to Sheerness to get some food for the barby as we are staying at grannies tonight along with Cheryl, Karen’s sister. I was keen to meet up with Wendy’s young cousin Nathan, and maybe even his mum and dad at the Micro-Pub, The Heritage, which is just around the corner from grannies.
We did a shop at Aldi, because I remembered that they do sell some very good quality steak. I bought two large sirloin steaks and some cod, and some skewered prawns in a chilli sauce.
Do you know there were grown men shopping in Aldi topless, I mean come on, its a food shop, its really not a good look even with rippling muscles, and none of them had rippling muscles I can assure you!
From there we nipped onto Sheerness High Street to get some cash to pay for our camp fees and to buy some top up items for the first aid kit, which I realised last night had been dipped into once too often.
I did a really stupid thing at the cash point and I could kick myself for it, I got money out on my credit card, what a wally!!!
I did get to see the newly refurbished town clock that sits proudly in the centre of Sheerness though.
Sheerness Clock Info follows:
The Coronation Clock Tower in Sheerness will be coming home next month.
The grade II listed structure is due to be returned to the High Street on 17 May after extensive repair work.
The iconic clock was removed from its High Street home in September last year so essential repairs could be carried out.
The council appointed specialist clock repairers Smith of Derby to remove the clock tower and they have spent the last few months carrying out repairs to the iron structure and clock mechanism.
Cllr Monique Bonney, cabinet member for economy and property at the council, said:
“The clock tower is an iconic part of the town’s history, and it’s exciting that we’re in the final stages of its restoration”.
Do you know Sheerness frightens me somewhat, you don’t half see some very scary people around town and that’s saying something from a man who comes from Barnsley.
After a quick shop at Boots for first aid kit supplies, I dropped Wendy off at grannies and I drove over to Iwade to pay Mr Jenkins our site fees and to tell him we won’t be there on site tonight, but he wasn’t at home!
But I did tell him on the phone as I would hate for something to happen and him be under the impression that we are in the caravan.
I also had a lengthy chat with our neighbour, boy can that fella talk!
Back at grannies I did some dinner prep, I had the steaks seasoned like a pro. I have heard Gordon Ramsay say that when you think you have seasoned steak, season them again, which is exactly what I did. I also prepped some garlic and white wine for the cod.
At 10 minutes to 5, Wendy and I walked around to the bar and grabbed a table and then Nathen came along 5 minutes later.
The real ale was lovely and we sat and chatted outside in the afternoon sun. Nathen had us laughing at his tales of occurrences at the weddings he has DJ’d at.
Nathan and his mate have a small disco company for hire and they are very busy just now, in fact in August they have 8 weddings booked over 10 days. In his fulltime employment he is able to work flexibly so that allows him to have days off midweek to do his DJ duties. He was also telling us that weddings now take place all through the week as opposed to the traditional Saturday event.
We got from the pub to find Cheryl ironing her clothes in the kitchen with the outside door closed, it was roasting hot and she was almost melting.
Apparently, she had seen two mice playing on granddads work bench in his shed and she was terrified. Grandads shed is just down from the back door and I have heard talk of him having mice in the shed, so now Cheryl as confirmed the matter.
Supper was an utter delight; the meat was cooked to perfection and the cod was just very garlicky and we ate it outside in the still very muggy atmosphere.
It’s tried to rain several times, just the odd spitter but as I am now filing tonight’s copy the heavens are beginning to open, I do hope that it clears the air tonight!
No Travelling
Mystery Solved!!!
Well, the first lot of rain fizzled out to nothing very quickly, but then, later on the heavens really did open and we had a good heavy 20-minute downpour that most likely did some good for the gardeners.
I watched the England’s women’s football team play Spain last night, they were brilliant, I’m sure they could give the men a run for their money.
The thing I noticed though while watching was how good and supportive the crowd were. It was nice to see men and women, families and boys and girls, there really was a good feel about the crowd. Even the manager in her post match interview said she could feel the goodwill from the crowd.
I didn’t wake until 6:30 am and I found that it was very warm in grannies’ bedroom where we had slept last night.
I had tea and toast, and I used some lovely blueberry jam on the toast that granny has in the fridge, it was lovely.
I went out running around the coast at Queenborough and then along the sea wall at Sheerness. At five miles I stopped and I sat on a bench to take a drink of water and as I got up I saw a QR code for The Sheppey Heritage Trail.
HMS Princess Irene was originally a cruise liner that was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and was converted to an auxiliary minelayer.
On 27 May 1915, she exploded and sank off Sheerness while being loaded with mines prior to a deployment mission, with the loss of 352 lives.
In all the years I have been coming to this area I had never heard of this disaster, and with the loss of 352 lives that really was a significant disaster. Thanks to the people behind the Heritage trail for informing me of this tragedy. I will now look out for more of their plates when I am running along the sea wall.
I got back to grannies and I jumped into the shower before dropping Cheryl off in town for her hair appointment, we then carried on to Tesco to buy some wine for granny, as we had drunk her dry last night.
Back at the caravan I had my smoothie and tea and then we drove over to the lovely town of Royal Tunbridge Wells.
Now there is a storey behind this visit.
A few years ago, we wanted to visit both Tonbridge and Royal Tunbridge Wells as they are only 6 miles apart. We had a lovely visit to one of them and I can quite clearly, in my mind remember the layout of the town because it was a simple long high street with a pretty river and an ancient ruin at the far end of town.
However, try as we might we could not find anywhere to park in the other town, and now, in the mist of time, we cannot recall which town we did visit and which one we didn’t.
I took a guess and I selected the furthest town from us, Royal Tunbridge Wells.
It was about a 50-minute drive, it wasn’t far, maybe 25 miles but it wasn’t a straight forward drive.
When we got to the town we could not find anywhere to park. The parking signs we followed seemed to run out to nowhere and there was no on street paid parking.
Frustrated I drove down an estate and I found one place to park on the road, and it didn’t have any time period. Wendy was worried as we left the car because the side streets had signs detailing that they were private roads and fines would be issued.
I was confident we would be fine so we set off to walk about a mile into town.
It was 26 degrees, overcast but still warm and humid.
We found Royal Tunbridge Wells to be an absolutely beautiful town, its clean, it had loads of flower displays, it had some really nice-looking buildings and it had some really lovely shops.
Our first job was to bag one of the nicest Wetherspoons Bar we have to date.
It was called the Opera House as it was originally an opera house in the 1900’s, then a cinema and then finally a pub.
We carried on with our tour of the town and then Wendy saw a directional sign pointing to the Pantiles. She was most excited but she couldn’t tell me anything about the Pantiles.
So, we followed the sign and then at a cross road we had no further direction, so I stopped a young woman and asked if she could help me. She was really helpful, she explained that the Pantiles is an area of 70+ independent stores offering a shopping experience uniquely suited to finding that special something and rarely found in other shopping centres.
Almost entirely all owner-run there are a variety of specialist shops, art galleries, cafés, restaurants and bars each offering their own particular style of trading. Festivals involving Jazz, Food and Fashion are frequent along with fortnightly Farmers’ and Craft Markets showcasing the best of the region’s talent.
We found it about a half mile from the town centre!
Yes, the young woman was right, it really is an interesting little place, I would say it’s a tiny New Orleans, and its mainly restaurants and bars which have shops intermingled with them.
After finishing our tour of the town, we drove directly to Tonbridge and I am glad to say it is exactly as I remembered it to be, although Wendy didn’t remember it until she saw the castle ruins.
Parking was easy and soon we were enjoying a small glass of wine in yet another Weatherspoon’s Bag!
Driving back was a bummer as the traffic was quite heavy, even at 4:00 pm.
We drove back to grannies to drop off the wine and to collect Wendy’s bike that she never managed to ride back with me, and then we were back in the caravan for a nice restful evening, I hope!
Wendy made a terrific chicken curry and we ate it with very tough nan bread that she had snaffled from grannie’s kitchen.
Its moving day tomorrow, and it’s a big one, what is it? 420 miles to Edinburgh!!!!
443 Miles
The Long Drive!
I woke at 5:30 am this morning, I had set an alarm for 5:45 am, but I didn’t need it, I can usually wake myself on time when I’m up to something that coming day.
I went running out over the old Kingsferry Bridge and onto the Isle of Sheppey.
The pavement is built on a steep bank that as some scrub and gorse growing on it and I was amazed at the number of rabbits I saw and rabbit holes too. In fact, some of the holes had collapsed and there was just a network of passageways. There were rabbits everywhere, and they didn’t care one jot about a human jogging past them, they just hopped about on their merry way.
The traffic coming off the island wasn’t so busy when I got to the main roundabout, it was around 7:00 am but when I came back at 7:30 am it was very busy, and very few drivers slow down so it took someone to stop and allow me to cross, or I might just still be there.
I got back to the caravan and the sun was coming out and it started to warm up.
As I had my smoothie, I watched breakfast news and on the local news for Kent they were showing clips of the queues at the Port of Dover, in fact they even declared a critical incident there due to the huge backlog.
Then there was news that 20 million people will be travelling on the roads this weekend as part of the Great British Getaway. Yes, the schools started school holidays yesterday so we had to prepare for a very long days driving today.
We collected granny and grandad at home at just gone 10:00 am, we were a tadge late as I filled the car with fuel at Morrisons while Wendy nipped in for some pies and sausage rolls for the trip north.
We had a bit of a sort out in the boot to get their things in and soon enough we were heading off the island for Iwade to collect the caravan.
Finally with the caravan in tow, we bid farewell to Mr Jenkins our last host, who we know reasonably well as we have stayed with him quite a few times over the years.
We took a little time getting onto the M2 at Stockberry Roundabout due to the roadworks but it wasn’t too long.
I had heard on the radio that there had been a fuel spill at the Dartford Crossing and that two lanes were closed. However, that was while I was out running and hopefully with the 2 hours that would pass before we got there, I had hoped that it would be clear, it wasn’t.
We left the A2 at the junction with the M25 and then we crawled for over 30 minutes before the traffic started to flow. We got through the tunnel without much delay, it was backed up to two junctions back when we got there but as the day progressed, we heard through regular bulletins that it had backed up to 4 junctions and that’s how it stayed all day long.
We made good progress along the M11 and onto the A1.
We did have another half hour delay due to an accident on the south bound carriageway where our carriageway drivers must have been slowing down to look at the commotion.
As we passed the scene we came across the tailback behind the accident and it went back for 7 miles, some poor people had given up hope and were lounging all over the carriageway.
We did one A1 toilet stop where the caravan toilet came in for some use, and then we again made good progress.
As we passed the M18 while we were on the A1(M), we ground to yet another halt. This time it was just the sheer volume of traffic, and so we lost another 30 minutes.
From then on though we made decent progress and we were never held up any further.
We stopped for fuel at Ferry Bridge Services and I was astounded that the coal fired power station has now been fully demolished and replaced with what looks like some modern either gas or wood pellet burning power station.
Ferrybridge power station was massive and it was reputed to be the biggest coal fired power station in Europe. However, On 28 July 2019, one of Ferrybridge's cooling towers was demolished followed by a further four more on 13 October, leaving only three of the original eight towers standing, 3 years after the plants' closure. The main boiler house, bunker bay and two chimney stacks were demolished on 22 August 2021. The final three cooling towers were demolished on 17 March 2022.
It was kind of sad for me to see it fully demolished. As I haven’t travelled this route for some time in the daylight, I never knew that its demise was imminent.
We got around Gateshead without a hitch and soon we were at the border. We nipped into the Morrisons Store in Berwick for a pizza for our supper and in know time at all we were unhooking the caravan on Alex and Robyn’s drive.
It’s now 9:40 pm and we have had our pizza, granddads done a couple of boobs already and has been roundly chastised by granny.
The pizza was actually quite nice and now its time to relax as I’m still buzzing from towing a caravan from the very south of England to Scotland’s capital city, a total distance of 443 miles.
And don’t even mention the cost of fuel!!!
178 Miles
Home!
We slept in Rose’s bedroom last night and I was fast on until 6:30 am, I never heard a muff all night long.
I was downstairs for my vegemite on toast, hot black tea and I watched the TV news and it was just lovely, the tea and toast that is, not the TV News. Wendy joined me and then took granny and grandad their tea upstairs. I got dressed and went running, for the first time in a while in two sweat shirts and my jacket. I was a bit worried that my sweat shirts would rub my arm and my shoulder wounds, but it was only 12 degrees outside.
I ran down to Musselburgh and it was lovely, the sun came out and it was rather nice, I was warm and I was sweaty by the time I got to the harbour where I sat and took a drink of my water.
The harbour was filling with water and the tide was rising, people were readying their boats for a day’s sailing, I must admit to a bit of sailing envy.
I got back to Robyn and Alex’s house and I was gasping for my smoothie, but I had no bananas. I could not believe it, I had to drive to the Coop and buy some, and it took an age because of a four-way traffic light system on the estate.
My smoothie was an utter delight, I loved it!
I undressed for a shower and I was pleased that my wounds had not been disturbed by the rubbing of my sweatshirts.
After my shower I nipped over to Tesco in Musselburgh to get some basic supplies for when we get home, I also needed some fuel so I bagged two birds with one stone.
As soon as I got back, we loaded granny and grandad into the car and drove over to Dalkeith Country Park where Alex, Robyn and Rose are having a camping weekend.
Rose was lovely, I was worried she might have forgotten me but I took her for a walk and she held my hand and we toddled off to the river. If she let go of my hand for a look at something she would hold her hand up for me to take her hand. In the end she wrapped her arms around my legs and made moves that you know she wanted to be picked up, which I duly did.
Up in my arms she gave me a huge hug which was lovely.
We played a bit of cricket with the plastic bat and ball and then I took Rose for a drag in their beach trolley, Rose loved it.
Time was passing and so we had to go back to the house and hitch the caravan up and drive north.
Jeepers traffic was slow, it was slow on the Edinburgh bypass, it was slow on the approach to the Queensferry Bridge and it was slow at times on the A9.
But has I had downloaded two early morning shows with Owain Wyn Evans presenting the time passed very quickly indeed.
In the end it took three and a half hours for us to get home, which wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
After unloading the caravan and settling granny in I lit the barby and we had a delightful beefburger each.
And that’s it for this latest adventure Avid Reader.
Here’s some of our Wales Adventure Stats:
Miles Travelled – 1,624 miles
New Places Visited – 47
Nights Away – 33
That’s it for a few weeks now, but be ready to pick the story back up shortly as I have more adventures right up my sleeve!
178 Miles
Returning GG
Well, that was a quick turnaround!
Actually, it didn’t seem like it, what did I do in the time I was at home:
Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?
This morning I woke at 5:50 am to a beautiful morning and after my tea and toast I was out running down to Beauly and back. I came across James setting out with his building crew at 7:45 am and as always, he was full of the joys of spring.
I got back to the house at 8:45 am and despite telling granny and granddad that there was no rush to start our journey, granddad declared that they were all packed and ready for the off.
I had a lovely banana smoothie sat outside in the sunshine and then a very nice hot cup of tea.
After showering I took on the mammoth task of packing the car with great care, as it was going to be tight.
Not only did I have granny and grandad’s strollers to cram in, I also had a dress makers dummy for Robyn that her mum had bought her in a charity shop, plus all the baggage and a bag of goodies for the journey.
I managed it with room to spare, I even got the rhubarb in that Uisdean had brought for granny.
After calling in at the Egg Hut, which is just outside our village, for some excellent free-range eggs for Rose, we set off for the drive south at 10:45 am.
The drive wasn’t too bad, the weather was good and once we were off the A9 we made good progress and we were over the Queensway Bridge before you could say, “That didn’t take long”.
We arrived at Alex and Robs house at 2:11 pm which was just about what the Sat Nav said when we first set off.
Robyn was at work and with Rose being at her nursery I unpacked the car of what we needed for the night and then I went down to Tesco to fill the car with fuel and to also get some food for our supper tonight. I was only cooking for the four of us as Alex and Robyn are making the best of having babysitters at home and were going into Edinburgh to visit an Italian Restaurant.
In Tesco I bought some massive pork chops, some marinated chicken breasts to cook on Alex’s barbeque and some cooked prawns too, also I got some supplies for a pack up for the long drive south tomorrow.
By the time I got back Robyn was coming home on the bus, or so I thought.
I went out to the bus stop which is about 100 yards from their front door and met the very glamorously painted Pride Bus only to find it absolutely empty of passengers, Robyn was nowhere to be seen.
I chatted with the driver who was a really jolly fella and he told me that she might be on the next bus which was due in ten minutes.
I then walked back to the house only to be told by Alex that Rob was coming home on the train, drat Apple Fine My Friends, I was sure that she was on the bus route. Never mind, unperturbed I walked down to meet her from the train and I got a nice hug and kiss for my troubles when I eventually found her.
Wendy, Robyn and me walked the short distance to collect Rose from nursery and it was a real treat to see her beaming smile as she came out in her nannies’ arms. I had to stay out on the farm track short cut, guarding the new buggy!
While an excited mum and dad readied themselves for their date night, I cooked the meat on the barby and Wendy acted as my sous-chef by prepping the salad, mushrooms and sweet corn. I also knocked up a delightfully little prawn cocktail using my favoured Jamie Oliver recipe.
We ate outside and Rose tagged along and ate her mushroom pasta that her mum had made her, which was supplemented with some pork and chicken from the barby, she loved it!
With Mum and Dad now away, it was nannies’ job to bath Rose while I washed the dishes and then I had five minutes with a very, very tired little girl.
Its now 20:30 pm and it’s still very warm outside and although I am sat in the kitchen, I have the door wide open and the breeze is a real treat.
I’m looking forward to tomorrows drive south, all 440 miles of it, I love a road trip and as long as the traffic keeps moving safely I’ll be as happy as Larry!
441 Miles
The Long Drive!
What a night!
We slept in the bedroom with Rose, she was in her cot and we had the big pull-out bed. Jeepers it was hot, even with an electric fan it was hot.
I turned in around 10:45 pm and no longer had I dropped off when Rose became disturbed, she wouldn’t settle so I put her into bed with us, Wendy took her sleeping bag off her so she was nudey apart from her nappy.
I nodded off but I got the occasional punch from Rose, I woke at one point and checked on her and she was laid on her back with both her arms and legs out by her side, like a starfish and she was taking the entire bed for herself.
I woke at just before 6:00 am and I went down and made myself breakfast.
I could hear some movement from upstairs and I thought it could only be Rose, and so I took Wendy a cup of tea up. Sure enough I found Rose and Wendy playing nicely on the bedroom floor.
Before I went out running, I said my goodbyes to Rose because by the time I got back to the house she would have already left for nursery.
I ran down to Musselburgh Harbour and I was astounded to find about 15 large campervans parked in the harbour carpark, free of charge of course.
I sat on a bench overlooking the harbour and I drank from my water bottle and I looked at the yachts which were laid on their side as the harbour was dry because the tide was out. I would love to have taken one out for a sail on the Firth on such a nice morning, but that couldn’t happen for a few hours at least.
As I left the harbour, I said good morning to an old boy who comes down and just sits on a bench. I have been coming down to the harbour for some time now and he comes down most mornings and I have got on nodding terms with him. He’s an early riser as he was there at 7:45 am today.
As I passed the parked campervans a woman from a German campervan was setting out a large table and some chairs for their breakfast, in a parking bay right behind their campervan, what cheeky, free loading buggers!!!
I was running back and I got to the council border which separates East Lothian and Mid Lothian council areas and I had to stop to take a photograph of the edge.
I have been running down this road for over 4 years now and each year I have seen that the council from Mid Lothian have their side of the edge cut back so that pedestrians can safely use the pavement. But for 100 yards after that East Lothian Council don’t bother cutting the edge, so the pavement is always obstructed by the growth of the edge.
The section in Mid Lothian goes on for a mile to the village of Millerhill so I can see why they cut that edge. But the section in East Lothian only goes on for another 200 metres and then it becomes built up. As a result, East Lothian are never going to send a crew to cut their section only, but it wouldn’t be any hardship for Mid Lothian to cut the edge which is East Lothians to make it fully safe for pedestrians, as it is now, I have to run in the road and dodge back in for cars, its crazy. It’s also lazy and its nonsensical!!!
Its not surprising though, having worked for the Highland Council I know how they operate and its something akin to how things most likely worked in the old Soviet Union!
I got back to Alex and Robyn’s house and Rose had indeed gone to nursery, but that’s OK as I will very soon be having another adventure with her and her parents.
The sun was shining as I had my smoothie in the garden and after my shower I packed the car and with granny and grandad safely tucked in we set off for the long drive south.
Actually, the road wasn’t that bad.
The A1 in the Scottish Borders and then Northumberland is single carriageway for about 50 miles and it did take us some time to get to the dual carriageway section, but from then on in we made very good progress.
The temperature rose to the mid-twenties by midday and then into the early 30’s by the time we were in Yorkshire.
The drive through Cambridgeshire was fine and we only had a little trouble on the M25, but it didn’t last. From the radio we ascertained that there was a fire not far away on the other carriageway and it was backing the traffic up. People on our carriageway were, for some reason, slowing up, I don’t know why but it soon cleared and in no time at all we were going over the Dartford Crossing.
By the time we were at grannie’s house we had been on the road for 7.5 hours and we had travelled 441 miles at an average of 60 miles per hour, which for me is pretty good going.
After dropping my passengers and unloading the car I nipped to Tesco to fill the car with fuel for the drive north tomorrow and get a few items for granny and something for supper tonight.
After our sausage and French bread hot dogs we sat in the kitchen with all the windows open and the doors too in an attempt to cool the house. The house was roasting hot when we first got in so we did really need to drop the temperature to make it comfortable to sleep in tonight.
Grandads garden is looking bone dry as there as been no rain since we left over two weeks ago. But I guess he won’t need to cut it anytime soon as it doesn’t seem to have grown since we left!
258 Miles
Yorkshire!
I had a lovely sleep last night on grannie’s double airbed despite the heat, we slept with the window open and it was nice and fresh. I was in bed just after 10:00 pm and up and about at 5:30 am, the birds woke me at 5:00 am but I stayed put until I was ready for a cup of tea.
Wendy was actually up before I had drunk my orange juice and took her tea back to bed.
The next I knew, after eating my breakfast was that she was dressed and ready for a run just as I was about to go out too.
We don’t like to go out together so I let her go first but I soon caught her up as she goes into the nooks and crannies of side streets as she likes to nosey around her home area.
She took a turn off the main road in search of more interesting things and I carried on up Minster to the cliffs for the return trip along what’s called The Leas, which is a lovely wide concrete coastal path that is popular with people taking an early morning walk.
As I was running down the cliffs I came across a paraglider who was fighting against the wind as he tried to get further up the hill. I stopped about 10 metres from him as it was all going wrong for him, and suddenly the wind had him up in the air and on a collision course with me. Obviously with my lightening reflexes I managed to duck out of the way as his boots passed just over my head. Once he was in the air he seemed to know what to do, but he really needs more practice for his take off.
From the cliffs you can see the old forts out to sea.
These were sea defences built for the second world war, see this website for some interesting info:
Red Sands: The Abandoned Estuary Sea Forts From The Second World War | Londonist
In the time I had returned from travels in Australia, in the mid 1980’s when I had left the mining industry and I was going through fire service selection, I took a summer job on the cross-channel ferry, The Olau Line.
There were two boats that crossed mid channel whilst sailing from Kent to Holland. They were all day and all-night sailings and we used to sail quite close to the forts while coming into the dock at Sheerness.
Boy thinking about those times, they were pretty wild, fantastic for a young person as it was nightly party time, but maybe not so good on passenger safety as the engine room Philippian crew would often be found carrying a bottle of whiskey with them during duty time.
I’ll always remember that time myself and a young Welsh woman tried to set the restaurant for morning service at 4:30 am after coming directly from another all-nighter, in a Force 10 gale!
I got back to grannies and after a couple of hours R&R we packed the car and started the long drive north.
Jeepers this was a long laborious one, but a laugh nonetheless.
We followed the exact same return route as yesterday but we had a 30-minute delay at the Dartford crossing and then it was slow go on and off from there on in.
Today we managed an average speed of 48 mph, which isn’t fantastic for such a much shorter journey than yesterday, but at least we made it safely without incident.
Our hottest temperature was on the M62 in West Yorkshire which was 33 degrees.
Jeepers I remember when this temperature broke the UK record about 30 years ago, and that’s saying something because its only took about 30 years to break the intervening records by a full 9 degrees. There really must be something happening with global warming!
We found our Travelodge easily enough and it is a cracker as its in part of a massive refurbished old mill just outside the town centre. This is one massive building and it must have been an amazing site when it was fully operational all those years ago.
After dropping our luggage off we jumped back in the car to visit the nearby small town of Sowerby Bridge for a look around.
It was around 4:30 pm now and the heat was very nice indeed, I had my St Lucian shirt on and my straw trilby hat as I needed to be cool with very good head protection.
We walked down the High Street and it was disappointing to find a large contingent of riff-raff types shouting and swearing whilst behaving like Neanderthal man, but it was nice to be back in Yorkshire despite this.
The town is actually very nice and we did buy something from a local shop where we were served by a really nice young woman.
We took our supper in the Weatherspoon’s bar, it was ok but we were again sat close to riff-raff types who think using conversational f-words is exactly how you bring up young children in the world today.
I am not a snub Avid Reader but I do know how to behave in public, its not hard, its just a simple matter of being brought up, not dragged up!
We drove back to the hotel where we took an hour out of the sunshine before getting out and about in Halifax town centre so that we could get our bearings for tomorrows exploration.
First impression is that Halifax is trying to be a town where you would want to come and visit, and that’s good. But sadly some of the locals wanted to display, rather loudly there lack of respect by hanging about street corners and necking beer from cans on the street corners and benches. That said, if you blocked them out you could marvel at the beautiful stone structures.
As we walked around town, especially after seeing the size of the mill our hotel once was, I could not help but think about all those children not many years ago that would scrabble under the weaving looms tying in the wool and linen while their parents work 14-hour shifts day in, day out for very little pay. I also thought about my grandfather, my great grandfather and my great, great grandfather that worked in the coal mines of Barnsley for a pittance of pay from the wealthy coal mine owners of yesteryear, and then the name of one man in modern politics sprung to mind, Jacob Rees-Mogg.
I bet he would savour the opportunity to take the working-class back to Dickensian pay rates whilst making him a princely sum!
Sorry for taking todays copy into the political arena, but I must admit the way things are going it does make food for thought!
Before heading back to the hotel, we took a glass of wine in one of the towns two Wetherspoon Bars, The Barum Top Inn. It was a cracker, nice and big with some decent clientele, phew!!!
No Travelling
More Sunshine
We slept well last night and it was all down to the 12-inch electric fan that we found in our Travelodge bedroom, it was a life saver! We had both windows open as far as the safety strap would allow and thankfully the fan brought in fresh cooler air into the room.
I woke at 5:00 am and I instantly remembered that I had not bought a day ticket for the car as instructed to do by the lovely receptionist yesterday. I could have bought it after 6:00 pm last night and I did intend to, but I forgot, so now I quietly dressed and nipped out and bought one for £4.80 which will last all day and then its free from 5:00 pm until 9:00 am the next day.
Before I go any further with today’s activities here’s some Halifax info:
Halifax is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It is the commercial, cultural and administrative centre of the borough, and the headquarters of Calderdale Council.
In the 15th century, the town became an economic hub of the old West Riding of Yorkshire primarily in woollen manufacture. Halifax is the largest town in the wider Calderdale borough. Halifax was a thriving mill town during the industrial revolution.
In November 1938, in an incident of mass hysteria many residents believed a serial killer, the Halifax Slasher, was on the loose. Scotland Yard concluded there were no attacks after several locals admitted they had inflicted wounds on themselves. Well I never!!!
I went out running and I ran up one of the biggest hills around to find a tower that we had seen on the way to Sowerby Bridge yesterday, and I found it after two miles uphill slog.
The 253 ft Wainhouse Tower was originally commissioned as a chimney for the local dye works by John Edward Wainhouse in the late 19th century. The structure was never actually used as a working chimney and as such, is regarded by many as one of Britain’s finest follies.
Halifax was badly affected by smog. For weeks on end the smoke laden atmosphere blanketed the town, reducing sunlight and contaminating the landscape with soot and sulphur trioxide. This national problem caused the Government to introduce a Smoke Abatement Act.
Wainhouse developed the idea of building a chimney 350 metres up the hillside from the Dyeworks, connected to it by an underground tunnel. Sir Henry Edwards, A wealthy neighbour of John Edward Wainhouse, made complaints about the smoke nuisance caused by the Dyeworks, leading to a feud between the two men.
The design incorporated an internal staircase that led to four balcony features. This exacerbated the deepening feud between Wainhouse and Sir Henry.
Sir Henry, an extrovert and boastful man, claimed that his private estate at Pye Nest could not be viewed from any house on the hills. Wainhouse said he would rectify this by putting an observatory at the top of his chimney.
In recent years Wainhouse Tower was open to the public on the Bank Holidays, for those brave enough to tackle the 403 steps to the viewing gallery at the top, the stunning views make it well worth the climb.
More info can be found here:
Wainhouse Tower - Visit Calderdale
Stupidly I ran down the hill to Hebdon Bridge, and then I had to run all the way back up to the tower, but this time it was even steeper. I had a right dab on by the time I got back to the hotel. Thankfully Wendy, who had not gone running, had been out to Tesco and had bought two bags of ice for the cool box so I could have a delicious and very cold banana smoothie.
At just gone 10:30 am we walked into town and we had a very pleasant shopping experience!
Our first stop was the Peace Hall:
Dating from 1779, when it was built as a Cloth Hall for the trading of ‘pieces’ of cloth (a 30 yard length of woven woollen fabric produced on a handloom), The Piece Hall was the most ambitious and prestigious of its type and now stands in splendid isolation as the only remaining example. It is one of Britain’s most outstanding Georgian buildings.
It is impossible to overstate the scale and importance of this trade, not just to the history of Halifax and the West Riding, but to the nation as a whole over some 800 years between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries.
Wow, this was one stunning building. It’s what I think is a quadrant with an inner square where there are bars, shops and swings for children. There are two upper floors of terraces where there are a multitude of small independent shops where Wendy and even me, could have spent a fortune. As it was we ended up with two winter dresses for two little girls and a pair of earrings for Wendy.
A walk around the beautiful town followed and we found an independent department shop called Harvey’s where we bought some really colourful bamboo plates, dishes and a jug for the caravan.
We also found a lovely indoor market where I have my eye, for tomorrow, on some pork and black pudding pies!
It was now almost 1:00 pm and we headed to the last Wetherspoons bar we needed to bag, the Percy Shaw, where we had a pint of Yorkshire Ale which went down a treat.
Percy Shaw invented the road safety lenses!
Reflective road studs, or ‘cat’s eyes’, were the brainchild of Percy Shaw. The Halifax-born inventor patented his ingenious invention in 1934 and soon began manufacturing them in his home town.
In 1934 he patented his invention of the reflective road stud and a year later he set up a company called Reflective Road Studs Ltd to manufacture his invention. The company is still trading today. He was awarded an OBE for services to exports in 1965.
He became a very rich man as a result of his very simple but very effective invention.
We went back to our room to drop off our shopping and spent a half hour out of the stinking sun, whereafter we went for a nice walk over the road and up a very steep hill and into a nice small park.
On the walk we circled back and took a drink in one bar, and then a little later another before finally going back to the hotel for an hour’s rest. Jeepers it had been stinking hot, and while Wendy bimbled on her iPad, I had 40 winks.
We took a lovely supper in evening air outside the Thai restaurant which is next to the hotel. It was absolutely lovely, actually it was a double delight. I had a sizzling duck platter and Wendy had some pork belly.
It’s now 20:40 pm and I have the electric fan giving me an occasional blast as it sweeps the bedroom and I think I might be in for another nice tropical night sleep!
225 Miles
Red!
I have to start today by detailing what I forgot to tell you yesterday, and that is that the building that our Travelodge was located in was once the largest carpet mill in the world. I told you that it was big, didn’t I?
I have to admit to having to get up twice in the night as I was so darn thirsty from my Thai supper. Thankfully I had some mango juice on ice in the cool box and that slated my thirst.
I was up at 5:30 am and I did my best to tippy toe around the room but Wendy woke on her own account as she was thirsty too. I made her a cup of tea which she promptly settled back in bed with.
I went out running with a specific mission in mind, to find the Calder and Hebble Navigation, and I did.
I knew I was close when I turned back yesterday so I had to find a more direct route back to where I was. I managed it at 2.5 miles so that meant I got to run 1.5 miles along a most beautiful canal.
The Calder and Hebble Navigation which is part-canal and part-river, connects the Yorkshire and Pennine canals, and provides easy access for walking and fishing in the Pennines. For instance, a long-distance footpath meets the towpath near Brighouse. Canal enthusiasts will appreciate the unusual waterways architecture, including quirky lever-operated locks.
It really is a very pretty canal that would have been used for transporting coal and wool to the mills but now it is exclusively used for pleasure and it would be a dream to sail along, especially in this lovely warm weather.
I got back to the hotel and the very first thing we did after I had cooled down was to take a Covid lateral flow test each. I had only gone and packed one of the original test kits, the ones that have to go either side of your tonsils and then up your nose. I had tears rolling down my cheeks during the mouth specimen collection part of the test, and when it was Wendy’s turn she did too, I could hear her in the bathroom.
Thankfully we both remained negative.
After breakfast and my shower, we packed the car and drove the short distance to Wickes DIY store to collect the double-glazed window unit that I had bought yesterday, and thankfully it easily fitted in the rear of the car.
We left the car in the stores carpark and we walked the short distance to the town centre as we wanted to get some meat and pies from the market. It was while I was walking along that I received a message from Robyn, that for next weeks expedition we all need to wear something red, she had forgotten to tell us sooner. She had already started to make her own outfit.
As we walked to the market, I nipped into River Island where I found just the thing, a nice short sleeved summer shirt, it’s not bright red but with some nice red shorts it will do the job.
That done We bought four pork and black pudding pies. Two normal pork pies and some lovely looking beef shin from a butcher’s market stall. I think the beef will be very tasty with a bottle of Theakston’s Old Peculiar and after about 6 hours in the slow cooker, now that’s Sunday’s supper sorted!
Walking back to the car we bought a bag of ice for the cool box and then we set off for our next destination, Spennymoor.
The Satnav took a route through some lovely countryside and then right through Leeds which was nice to see. We didn’t add too much time on but the daily average MPH was only 43 by the time we got to our destination at Millerhill.
Spennymoor was in the ideal location as it got us over from the west to a point about halfway to Alex and Robyn’s house, it was very close to the A1 and it had a Weatherspoon’s Bar, The Grand Electric Hall.
We arrived and I parked just across the road from the pub. There was a large outdoor seating area at the front of the pub and although it was fairly busy in the afternoon sunshine, we did manage to find a table in the no smoking section.
I had a pint and Wendy had a half of Doombar ale and it was lovely, and being sat outside in the sunshine made it taste even better.
After our drinks we had a walk along the only main street in the town and it was nice enough. The old Town Hall must have looked stunning in its day, and it still did retain its character despite being now utilised by small shops.
Back in the car and soon we were on the A1 heading north. As we passed Newcastle it was a little slow going through roadworks. But we made progress after the roadworks but then the Satnav wanted me to go inland. I didn’t take the turn off as directed to, and then I knew why, a half mile further up all the traffic came to a standstill. We crawled along but thankfully we were very near to another turn off which we took.
The Satnav then took us through the very interesting route along the A68.
The A68 goes up and down like a roller coaster in places but it does pass through some beautiful countryside.
We made really good progress and we were parking the car on Alex’s drive at 4:50 pm where we were greeted by Robyn and Rose.
Supper was an alfresco affair; Robyn made a small white bait starter and Alex made a chicken and chorizo paella which we ate outside in the afternoon sunshine. The chorizo was a little too spicy for Rose so her mum mixed it with some Greek yogurt which she then wolfed down.
Rose has my teddy from when I was small, he’s looking a little tired these days especially after he was also very close to his mum in her younger days, but he’s still up to doing his duty and from the way Rose seems to cherish him, he’s doing just fine.
As I detail tonight’s copy, Robyn is after my spot at the dinner table for her sewing machine as she’s working on her red outfit for next week, so until tomorrow good night Avid Reader!
182 Miles
Still Looking for Red!
I nipped down to Tesco at 7:30 pm last night to fill the car with fuel and collect a few essentials. A harr was encroaching on town and it was getting quite cold.
I slept well again last night but I did hear Rose coughing at one point, I also felt Wendy jump and almost hit the ceiling when a door suddenly blew closed during the night. She was just under the duvet when it happened or she would have been nursing a sore head.
She jumped out of bed to check what it was and then came back telling me that a door had banged shut, just as I was nodding back off to sleep.
I woke late, around 6:50 am and Rose was still fast asleep.
I went downstairs and made tea for Wendy and me, and some toast also for me.
I took Wendy her tea and still no sign of Rose, but when I went upstairs after my breakfast, I found Robyn in my bed chatting happily with her mum, but still no Rose.
It was when I was finally getting ready to go out when the three of them appeared with Rose smiling her little face off.
I had checked the temperature before I dressed for running, and as it was only 13 degrees outside, I put on a long-sleeved running shirt, a T-shirt, a sweat shirt and my jacket. However, as I got out of the door I could see the sun burning back the harr that had enveloped the village and I could feel it getting warmer.
I about turned and changed into my running vests, and I am so glad that I did because it was roasting hot by the time I was down at Musselburgh Harbour.
The sky had cleared and I could see Arthurs Seat in all its glory and right over to Fife on the north shore of the Firth of Forth
I had a right sweat on by the time I got back!
Robyn, Wendy and Rose were all dressed and ready to go, we were all going to a shopping centre to try to find me some red shorts, but as I needed to have my smoothie and shower, it was suggested that I step away from the mission and all three ladies would do it for me.
Fair enough I thought, I fancied a leisurely Sunday morning anyway.
As I had my smoothie I watched a documentary about the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise, which I used to see on her side in the Port of Zeebrugge when I was working on the car ferry.
The sinking was caused by a few failings, closing the bow doors being the main one.
One thing that was learnt though, which I found out when I studied as a Marine Firefighter, was the discovery of the free surface effect that sea water had on the huge open ferry deck when the water had entered through the open door. A few centimetres of water on the level deck wasn’t much of a problem, but when the vessel listed slightly when the skipper turned her, the water went rushing to one side of the ship and then it became a terrific weight of thousands of tonnes of unbalanced ballast, which turned the ship unexpectedly on its side.
There’s a lot to understand about ship stability and by the 1980’s after thousands of years at sea, the maritime world thought they knew it all, but sadly for over 193 people on the night of 6 March 1987, they suddenly discovered that they didn’t.
The ladies were back just as I came down from the shower and despite going in every potential shop, they came back without any red shorts for me.
As Alex was going to referee a football match at Berwick upon Tweed, which is over 50 miles away, we decided that we would take Rose for a walk along the seafront at Musselburgh, and as Robyn gave her a snack before we left, I trawled Amazon for some red shorts.
I went through hundreds of listings but none could deliver for me for Tuesday.
On the very last listing before it was time to go, I found a pair, I bought them and I will now be in suspense for 3 days hoping that they will arrive in time.
The walk along the sea front was lovely and despite her needing a sleep, Rose stayed awake for a good long time but she was as good as gold in her pram.
By the time we had found the café Robyn wanted to take us to, in a secret garden run by the National Trust, Rose was fast asleep and only woke after we had finished our coffee and cake.
Rose, when she was fully roused had a little play on the peddle cars at the café before we walked back to the car.
We had a little walk down the High Street of Musselburgh on the lookout for red shorts in case my order doesn’t arrive in time, but we drew a blank yet again.
As I packed the car Wendy and Robyn played with Rose in the lovely afternoon sunshine in the back garden.
We left for the road north just before 4:00 pm and no sooner than we were on the Edinburgh By-pass than the Satnav took us off. It was a good job too as the traffic came to a sudden halt as an incident had been reported.
The Satnav took us through a five miles detour and then put us back on the City-bypass where the traffic was flowing freely.
We were over the Queensferry Bridge just as a harr was enveloping the Old Forth Road Bridge and the temperature had dropped to 16 degrees, but within a further 10 miles we were back in the high 20’s,
The M90 was a doddle and soon we were joining the A9 at Perth.
Now everybody knows that the A9 is covered by average speed cameras along the route, apart from the dual carriageway sections.
However, the first section of road for about 10 miles is dual carriageway but for the first 5 miles there is a 50-mph speed restriction because some groundwork on a major building project is taking place directly adjacent to the road.
I set my cruise control to 50 mph and settled down in the left-hand lane.
As I drove, a huge pink 50 odd seater coach came rushing past me at what must have been 70 mph. I said to Wendy that he felt safe to do so because the average cameras doesn’t cover this section, but they could still have their mobile unit out hiding in a lay-by. It was now 2 minutes past 5:00 pm on a Saturday afternoon so I then said, “But he would be really unlucky if he came across one now as I’m sure Police Scotland wouldn’t pay overtime on a Saturday afternoon”.
Jeepers no sooner had I said that when the coach slapped the brakes on as a mobile speed camera unit was situated in a lay-by, well I never, it must have got him!
Now I don’t know the travelling weight of a 56-seater coach packed with passengers and their luggage or how far it needs to stop in an emergency. However, I have seen the effects of one when the driver had a heart attack and died at the wheel before turning over in a roadside ditch when I was the Fire Officer of for the Isle of Skye in the early 2,000’s. This accident resulted in some pretty nasty injuries, so I guess this driver deserves what he gets, as everyone knows the A9 north of Perth is one of the most dangerous roads in the UK, with 2 people sadly killed on it only two days ago.
We stopped by at Brad and Caroline’s to drop off some pressies and after a quick stop at Tesco we were home safe and sound by 7:30 pm.
We have 3 days to turnaround, have a sleepover with Eleanor, cut the grass and catch up on a few chores before our next adventure starts on Wednesday.
I am really looking forward to this one, and I have been since the turn of the year!
Home – Dalcross - 16 Miles
Dalcross – Gatwick - 469 Nautical Miles
Gatwick – London Victoria - 27 Miles
Victoria – Tower Hill – 4 Miles
London!!!
Well, it has been a busy few days since we left off last week, but most enjoyable as one of the days was spent with Rose who I had mostly to myself for the day.
Last night I did a run in the shed on my treadmill. I watched an Amazon Prime film as I ran, the Night Hunter. It wasn’t the film I was expecting but it was quite good. Jeepers I had a right sweat on by the time I had run 8 miles. I had to sit on a bench and bow my head for the sweat to run down either side of my nose and onto the floor, it was like the Victoria Falls.
I ran because I need to keep one in the bag for my stats as I won’t get chance to do one tomorrow as I will be out all day and won’t be back until late.
This morning I woke at 5:07 am and I couldn’t see the clock properly as my eyes don’t seem to function first thing so I mistakenly thought it was gone 6:00 am. I decided to get up but on checking the time again I could see that it was indeed just gone 5:00.
I did try to sleep again but it was pointless so I got up and had breakfast.
Not long after Wendy came through to the lounge in her running gear and she went out for a short run.
We left the house at a little before 9:00 am as Wendy was going to nip into M&S for me to see if she could get me some red socks, but alas they had none, neither did Tesco, River Island or New Look which we tried at the retail park on the way to the airport.
The car was booked into long stay parking and it was a fair walk over to the terminal. Of course this new parking malarky has all changed since I last flew out of Inverness Airport in the summer of 2019.
The inside of the airport had also changed too with the side before security being much smaller.
We checked in without any problems and got through security too without any hassle either.
I found a quiet spot where we could sit out of the way, but we were soon joined by two families with small children. They were far enough a way from us to not be any cause for concern.
I went and bought two large glasses of white wine from the bar and I nearly fell through the floor when I was told the price was £15.00.
Wendy was pleasantly surprised when I gave her her glass and she took a sip. She wanted to charge her phone and as I knew where there were some plug sockets I took it off her and went over to plug it in. That’s when I heard the jingle of a knocked over wine glass.
I don’t know how she had done it but she had completely knocked over an almost full glass of white wine. It flooded the floor and her trousers were wet and she had also managed to get some into her travel bag, I could not believe it.
After grabbing some napkins from the bar, she wiped up as much as she could from the floor, but her back leg was sopping with white wine, she wasn’t happy.
Being a gent, I shared my full glass and I’m sure she took more than half as she poured it. At those prices I wasn’t going back for another.
We put on the new FFP 3 facemasks as we boarded the flight, it was busy and a few other people had masks on but not many, and the flight was almost full.
I had booked the last two seats in the cabin, at the very rear of the plane but they had changed the plane size and so now we were over a wing and I was next to a big fat fella.
Never mind the flight was good and soon we were landing and luckily our bag was the first off the carousel, we even saw it coming through as we came down the stairs.
We got to platform 4 for the Gatwick Express and it was mobbed, thankfully I felt quite relaxed with my mask on, although they were few and far between.
We let the first train go as it was the slow coach that stops at all the stations on the route, the same for the next. In fact a young North American woman asked me if the next train goes to Victoria, I said that it did but that it was the slow train. She asked me how long and I said about an hour. She took it and 2 minutes later the Gatwick Express came and we were at Victoria Station in less than 30 minutes.
We took the District Line to Tower Hill and soon we were in our hotel room and after dropping our bags we went to meet Rose and her parents at the tube station.
Rose hadn’t had a long nap so I took her for a walk around town while mum and dad settled in their room. She wasn’t in the mood for a nap and chatted for the 30 minutes we were out.
Jeepers I just got back as it poured down with rain.
I put my running gear on and while Rose, mum and nanny decided what to do for supper I went out running, Alex was meeting an old friend for a drink in town.
I had my end of their life trainers on out running and because there is very little tread left on them, I was slipping on the wet pavements like Bambi on ice. Thankfully I had my credit card on me and at 1.7 miles I nipped into Sports Direct and bought some new trainers.
That’s a first for me, starting a run and changing trainers as I went along.
I ran down Fleet Street to Trafalgar Square, over Westminster Bridge and back along the south bank, it was busy but it was really good to be back and running in London.
I got back to the hotel sweating like a mad dog but it was nice.
As Wendy, Robyn and Rose had eaten at the hotel I nipped over to Wetherspoons and I had a lovely Mediterranean Salad with a sliced, grilled chicken breast.
By the time I had ordered my meal at the bar, as the app wouldn’t allow me to add the chicken, a young couple had taken my table. I walked up to then and said I know its not your fault, but you’ve taken my table and I have food coming. The lad was so apologetic and he said that they would move. I was only kidding as I saw a table a few rows back. I did tell him not to eat my supper though.
Thankfully he was an honest Spud because the meal went to him and he sent it over.
Jeepers it was tasty; it was an utter delight.
I’m back in the room, it is boiling hot and Wendy and Robyn are online sharing tips on how to keep the room cool, but I doubt anything will help, its roasting, thankfully we both have electric fans.
The trains run directly outside our rooms too, noisily as well, so am I the only one looking forward to tomorrows rail strike?
No Travelling
#RedforRuth!
I slept reasonably well but the heat was somewhat stifling, however I never heard a train pass by the window.
I woke at just gone 5:30 am and lay quietly in bed until around 5:50 am and then I dressed and took a walk outside in search of breakfast.
London was quiet, its like the capital was still asleep. London is nothing like New York, that keeps going all through the night.
I walked down to the Tower of London in the hope of finding a small café open, but I drew a blank. I then took a route into the city by another road and I almost ended up at the Gherkin Building. My luck was in as I found a Pret a Manger store where I bought a hot sausage and egg roll and a bacon and egg roll. As I wasn’t sure of my location in relation to the hotel, and as I didn’t have my phone to use mapping to get me back, I retraced my steps.
I didn’t want to mess about getting lost and then getting back with cold rolls.
I found Wendy awake in bed, on her iPad, but she hadn’t had the gumption to put the kettle on, what a wally. She did spring wide awake mind at the sight of her sausage sarnie.
After breakfast Wendy showered and went to help Alex give Rose breakfast in the restaurant while Robyn got herself ready for today’s adventure which is a day at Lords Cricket Ground watching England v South Africa on day 2 of the 1st test match.
Its also wear Red for Ruth Day, which we have fully embraced.
We left Rose with Wendy, and then we caught the tube to Baker Street and on alighting on to the street again, eagle eyes Alex spotted a Weatherspoon’s Bar to bag, The Metropolitan Bar!
We went inside and Alex bought a round of drinks and as we took a seat out of the bar area, I didn’t see the amount of red that was being worn by people going to the cricket match until I went to help Alex carry the drinks, the bar was very busy with them.
There’s a statue of Sherlock Holmes outside the pub too and I managed to get a photo of him, in-between the Chinese people having selfies with him.
From the bar we walked to Lords and it got busier and busier as we went along, and it also got red’er and red’er too.
We found our seats inside reasonably easy and we had really good seats, they were undercover too. I was assured by BBC Weather that there was little chance of rain today, but you never know!
Before the game started there was a tribute to Ruth Strauss. Ruth was the wife of the ex-England Captain Andrew Strauss when she died of non-smoking lung cancer at 46 years old leaving two young sons in 2018.
In her memory Sir Andrew, as he now is, launched the Ruth Strauss Foundation to:
Every year the England and Wales Cricket Board hold a Red for Ruth Day to support the charity by raising funds for its work, and we, out of sheer luck, attended today, #WearRedforRuth Day!
Well, being Gill’s and Shepherd’s, we just had to throw ourselves into the occasion. I bought everything red apart from the socks, Alex had a very nice red shirt and Robyn made her very own red gingham dress, and she looked absolutely stunning.
England were in a pickle and we were all out for165 runs.
To be fair the first day had been a terrible start for them, they had lost the toss on a most miserable day for batting and had been put in by the South African Captain, to bat.
Thankfully the weather stayed good for us and we had a very full days play. England actually, after a slow start with the ball, managed to get into the South African batsmen. However, Ben Stokes set a very aggressive, attacking field and once the batsmen were set in they took quite a few unnecessary runs from us.
At the end of the day South Africa were 289 for 7 wickets which I think was about 40 to 50 runs too many. They have a lead of 124 runs and we really need to take quick wickets in the morning in order for us to stay in contention.
I did my duty to The Ruth Strauss Foundation and I bought a baseball cap for myself and a rosette for Robyn, and I paid well over the odds for them, well it was all in a good cause!
At the end of play we walked back to the tube station on Baker Street after a thoroughly enjoyable day. I had sat next to a really interesting man who has only just retired from working with the Middlesex Teams Youth Academy, he had a few cans of beer with him and he told me that it was his first match since retiring and the first time he had ever had a drink of beer at Lords during a match.
The tube back was fine but we took the District Line to Liverpool Street Station and not the Circle Line as that had a delay. This meant a little more of a walk back to the hotel but it was interesting as we walked along the boundary of the City of London and we saw some amazing sky scrapers!
Back at the hotel we found Wendy had put Rose to bed in her cot and that she was fast asleep. We also found out that they had had a lovely day together which is good because we had had a lovely day too.
Robyn ordered food, I had some very tasty chicken noodles and then we settled down for the night, well actually it’s not quite settled as its now 9:50 pm and I’m here still with my copy to file.
Just before my supper came, I nipped to Tesco where I saw that they had Southern Comfort on sale for Clubcard members for £14, so I snaffled one and a bottle of Pepsi Max and as soon as tonight’s copy is filed I will pour myself a nice drink……………..and relax!
No Travelling
Rose!
I had another good night’s sleep last night, but I did turn upside down at some point during the night. Its an old habit of mine, I have absolutely no idea where it came from but when I get hot in bed, I sleep upside down.
No, I didn’t have too much Southern Comfort last night, I was very good and I was in bed not long after filing last nights copy, its just a thing of mine.
It freaks Wendy out in the morning if she wakes before me, like she did today!
I called in on Rose as I walked down the corridor to go running, I could hear her mum and dad chatting to her when I passed so I called in for a kiss.
Today I ran the same route as yesterday but I also detoured up to Piccadilly Circus and then down to Buckingham Palace. I then ran down Birdcage Walk where the guards were out early in their Busby’s and in easy dress, doing early squad drill in the fairly cool air of the morning.
From Westminster I took my normal route along the South Bank and back to the hotel.
To say there was a tube strike today I wouldn’t have noticed it, or maybe I did, I just didn’t recognise it as such. The City was very quiet and after St Pauls Cathedral when I really am out of the city, very few people were about.
I got back to the hotel and the others had all gone for a walk so I was looking forward to the New York Deli sandwiches that I had bought for my breakfast with a nice hot cup of black tea.
However, after climbing the stairs to the second floor, I found that my key card would not open the landing door. So, I traipsed back down the stairs to reception to get my card boosted.
That done I climbed the stairs again, opened the corridor door with the key card and walked all the way down the very long corridor to room 228 and the dam key would not open that bedroom door.
I tried 372 times and every time I got a red light.
Bear in mind I had just run over 8 miles in the morning heat of +20m degrees and I was sweating like a bull on steroids and I now had to yet again, trudge down the corridor and back down two flights of stairs.
By the time I got to reception I wasn’t happy, and I, as nice as I could, told the receptionist that it was no longer a joke, please give me a key card that actually works.
Thankfully it did!
Wendy came back for me just as I was showered and fully dressed and ready to start the day.
We met up with Alex, Robyn and Rose outside and off we walked down to the River to catch the boat down to Westminster.
By the time we had boarded Rose had fallen asleep. Thankfully though not long after she woke up and she loved being on the river, she really did lap it up.
Wendy, sat her on the side of the boat, trapping her behind the railings and she really enjoyed the trip up river, she sure is a natural water baby!
We left the boat just before Westminster Bridge and after a quick nappy change for Rose we walked up through St James Park and up to Buckingham Palace.
Unfortunately, Her Majesty isn’t at home, she’s in Scotland for her summer holidays so we didn’t get to see her. But Rose loved her first visit there.
We then walked down the Mall where at the entrance to Whitehall her parents and her nanny left me and her to carry on walking as they were going to collect lunch from a supermarket.
We chatted our way down Whitehall and I pointed all the sites out to her, Horse Guards, The Cenotaph, Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, in fact we did think about asking the lady police officer who was stationed outside if Boris was inside getting his birthday cake, but we thought that she wouldn’t be impressed.
We stopped in Victoria Tower Gardens and we played together while everyone else caught us up where we had a very nice picnic lunch on the picnic blanket her mum had popped in her prams tray.
Fully refreshed, and with the sun now beaming in the sky we walked along the rivers north bank, past Lambeth Bridge and the MI5 Building which is called Thames House. I once had a job interview in there and I am sworn to secrecy about it, but it was a very interesting experience.
We walked over Vauxhall Bridge and I was disappointed that I couldn’t show Rose the MI6 building close up as the back access along the river was closed due to building works.
We stopped at a bar for an outside drink as everyone’s feet were getting tired. Rose was as good as gold pinching her mum’s orange juice which she liked but maybe not so much her nannie’s soda and line as she pulled some funny faces as she drank it from the straw.
We carried on walking and we lost Alex just before Westminster Bridge, the scallywag had joined a group tour but he also learned some new info about Lambert and Westminster Bridges.
Apparently, Lambeth Bridge is painted red as its closest to the House of Lords and Westminster Bridge is painted green as its closest to the House of Commons.
We carried on walking and we had a rest again before walking over the Millennium Bridge so that we could go and visit the new roof top garden, 120 Fenchurch Street.
I have been up the Shard, and I have been to the Roof Top Garden on the top of the Walkie Talkie Tower, but this was something else.
It is only 15 storeys high but it’s a fully open roof top garden and when Rose woke up after her back pack nap, she loved it.
The views were really stunning!!
Now having walked all day long, apart from the boat ride of course, we set off for our last destination, The Honest Burger Restaurant at St Catharine’s Dock where we sat outside and had a very decent dining experience.
The food was lovely, although my chips and burger were cold, I didn’t dare say anything as everyone was tired out and almost exhausted.
Wendy knew because she pinched some of my chips and when hers came, she said mine are warmer than yours, and they were, by far.
Never mind, we walked the short distance back to the hotel where, according to Alex’s watch, we had walked over 35,000 steps.
As everyone went back, I nipped to Tesco to get a bottle of wine and some milk for Rose.
I think everyone has had a lovely sunny day in London but credit has to go to Rose, she has been an utter delight to be with today. She has been very well behaved and a joy to be with, its home tomorrow but it’s certainly been a very memorable trip with a very lovely and beautiful little girl. I can’t wait to come back with her when she’s in her early teens to show her London all over again!
London – Kirkhill
Gatwick Via Heathrow – 44 Miles
Gatwick – Dalcross - 469 Nautical Miles
Dalcross – Kirkhill - 17 Miles
Train Strike!!!
I had another upside-down sleep last night but thankfully I woke up at 5:50 am well before Wendy so she didn’t get a fright this morning. I had had my breakfast chocolate bar and cup of tea and I was almost out of the room to go running before she woke up!
Today I went somewhere different, I ran over Tower Bridge and through the Elephant and Castle and then on to Camberwell which is where I found Kings College Hospital. I also found, and stopped for my drink stop, a Wetherspoons Bar, The Fox on the Hill, but when I was there it was 7:45 am so it wasn’t open. It is now on my list of to do bars as it looks like a very nice establishment.
I ran in my vest again today as it was yet another nice sunny morning, it was only 14 degrees but it was still nice and pleasant.
On the way back I did something naughty, I bagged the Wetherspoon Bar at The Elephant and Castle, The Rockingham Arms. I could only have a diet coke as they don’t serve alcohol until 9:00 am, or I would have had a pint of London Pride!
The Elephant and Castle is believed to have gotten its name from a crest used by a group of ivory merchants known as the Worshipful Company of Cutlers. The name was first used by a pub which became popular and attracted many travellers due to its close proximity to the main road junction. Before long, people started settling around the pub and the area adopted the name “Elephant & Castle” which still exists today.
Wendy had stayed in today and didn’t go walking with Robyn, Alex and Rose who walked all the way up to Trafalgar Square, she had stayed to enjoy a leisurely morning and to pack our stuff.
I got back just before 9:00 am having first called in at Pret a Manger for two hot sausage and egg rolls.
I also nipped into the Coop to buy orange juice. It’s a smallish store and there are about ten self-checkouts that take card only and only one staffed till. However, the person on the till has to stack the shelves and yesterday I had to walk down to the bottom of the aisle to get the lady’s attention for her to serve me. Well, it was the same again today, the only difference was that it was a man. Now I was a little pipped as it seems the Coop want to get as much as possible done by the sole checkout staff so as a protest I put the price of my juice, £1.00, on the checkout and walked out.
After breakfast and a shower and with the others still out and about we walked about a mile into the city to bag a Wetherspoons Bar, Hamilton Hall, which is very close to Liverpool Train Station.
The area is really interesting as we were surrounded by sky scrapers but with much older buildings dotted around. It really was an interesting blend and quite a sight to see.
After our drinks we walked back to the hotel and as the others were back too, we took Rose for a walk for 30 minutes while her mum and dad packed their gear together.
At 11:50 am we all met back up with our luggage and took a short walk to a very nice small park which was very close to the Tower Bridge Tube Station.
We bagged a bench in the sunshine and Alex nipped off to collect some lunch while we played with Rose, or did Rose play with us?
The sun was in and out and it was all rather pleasant. I walked Rose around the path and some ladies took a shine to her and waved and chatted to her, but being Rose she only waved back and chatted when we were well out of earshot.
Alex came back with some fruit to supplement Roses jam sandwich, and after she had eaten, Rose was put in her pram and I was issued instructions by her mum to walk her to sleep so that she could ride the tube while fast on.
It took about 20 minutes and a wee grizzle from Rose but fast asleep she was when I handed her over to her mum.
We said our goodbyes and Rose and her parents headed for the tube, and we walked in a westerly direction with the hope of bagging two more bars.
Our luck was out on that front, the first one had closed, I saw this when I could check the app on my phone out of the sunshine. The app turns the icon black, instead of blue when a bar as closed and this bar, with the benefit of the shade was definitely black.
Never mind we still had one to go, but sadly that was located within the confines of a very tightly locked Cannon Street Rail Station. The dratted rails strike had struck again!!!
We grabbed the tube at Cannon Tube Station and alighted at Victoria where we took a walk around outside. The last time we were in Victoria there were major civil engineering and building works under way and the place felt like a death trap. Today I was looking around and trying to work out what had changed and I think I could see one new shopping facility but then I remembered that a lot of the new cross rail link works had taken place around the Victoria area and with that project complete it all must have moved on.
I saw some striking rail workers with their banner and flags outside the station and I walked up to them and I said to one fella, “You’ve caused me a lot of disruption today pal!” The fella’s face dropped and then I said, “But good for you, I don’t mind, you make sure you get what you deserve”. His face lit up and he said, “Thank you mate”.
We took a drink in a bar close to Victoria Coach Station. It was busy as the Spurs game was on TV but we found a table. I tried to order food with our drinks but they couldn’t do meals for another 40 minutes despite it being bang in the middle of lunch. Meals still did come out though so I grabbed a waitress and asked her why I couldn’t order a meal. She said she thought it was the chefs lunch break, well I never.
As our coach was set to leave at 3:00 pm we got to the gate at 2:45 pm and the bus indeed was on the stand. The station was mobbed and it reminded me of a rail strike in the 1980’s where again I found myself in the Coach station at Victoria, and today was exactly the same, it was like I was back in time.
A supervisor popped to the front of the queue and shouted what I thought was the last call for the coach to Brighton, which was ours, so off I went only to find that this indeed was the coach we needed but that this was the 2:00 pm coach and not the 3:00 pm, it was almost an hour late, it didn’t bode well.
Thankfully our coach did depart at 3:22 pm, but our coach driver didn’t rush one bit to get us out any faster, he dawdled along setting his seat up and chatting to a female colleague.
We made good progress along the route to Heathrow Airport, which was never mentioned when I booked the tickets!!! But we did get a slight hold up as we approached the A4, but as soon as we hit the M4 we made good progress.
After dropping off at Heathrow we were on the M25 where the only hold up we had was from the joining traffic from the M3, and then another short one on joining the slip road for the turn off from the M23 to Gatwick.
The airport was quiet and I had the bag dropped off, via the self-check in system pretty quickly, then we were through security in no time at all.
We hunkered down in Wetherspoons and I ordered two fish and prawn curries and 2 glasses of wine, the bill came in at over £40!!!
I think I’ll take sarnies next time I fly from Gatwick, the curry was tasty mind!
The flight was full but it left on time and we landed at Dalcross at 9:10 pm where I went to get the car while Wendy got the checked in bag from the carousel.
After a short detour to Tesco for tomorrow’s dinner, we were home and having a relaxing glass of wine at 10:30 pm.
My next official adventure starts in 33 days and 16 hours and I intend to spend those 33 days getting myself Lockdown fit, but you never know something might just crop up and I could be away somewhere out of the blue!
Foot Note - I forgot to mention, I have had a really lovley time in London, I loved the cricket, I loved going out running in the city again, I even loved the flight, with my facemask mind, but most of all I enjoyed being with my little chum Rose, oh and her mother, dad and nanny too, its been some adventure!
179 Miles
International Travel, at Last!
Well, the time has finally come for me to go out of the country and seek out some sunshine, and I am so excited.
But before I continue with today’s activities, I want to detail what I have been up to since our trip to London in late August.
Actually, it has been very busy.
First up I have moved my gym equipment out of the gym. I sold most of it and now I only have my treadmill in there, and its days in there are numbered too. It’s for the best, I don’t do weights anymore, I haven’t even done a single press up as my left arm is still in quite a lot of pain from my summertime tumble off the bike.
So, after all these years I am turning the gym into a garden den. I have already taken out the side windows and fitted in lovely French windows and a small window as well. The view is rather nice, looking out over the field and over to our very own mountain, Little Wyvis
I have built the bones of a porch and that only needs the roof covered with corrugated sheets and then I can start insulating it and plaster boarding it out on the inside.
I also hope to fit in a nice wood burning stove for all year-round use.
Work unfortunately slowed down when I got a job!
Yes, I am currently working in the very Highland Town of Aviemore at the Macdonald Resort as a Fire Safety Adviser. The work is very interesting, but also quite challenging, not from a technical point of view, but from a legacy point of view!
Its only a 3-month contract so I should be back to work in the den in no time at all!
I do like though how I am finding out how a very busy hotel resort runs. There are four hotels on the site, one very large conference room, which even includes a cinema, and recreation centre with a swimming pool.
Some of the events are massive, in fact I started work on the very weekend one of their most popular events took place, Thunder in the Glens. This was a massive event organised wholly around Harley Davidson Motorbikes. The sun was out all weekend and it was very well attended.
And finally we lost our dear Queen Elizabeth, what a shock that was!
Like most people in the UK, I have lived with the Queen as my sovereign all of my life and losing her wasn’t so much the end of a chapter, it was more like the completion of a novel. I blame that bastard Boris for lying to her, and then when his game was finally up, he had her at work on her holidays, at 96 years old!
Thankfully the country gave her a right Royal send off!
I was up at 3:00 am today, I woke to find Wendy bimbling on her iPad. I would normally have rolled over and gone back to sleep but after chatting to her I could not drop off again.
I got up, had some toast and then at 4:00 am I ran 8 miles on the treadmill while watching a movie on Netflix!
I was dripping in sweat when I had done and so I scoffed down a delightful banana and peanut butter smoothie before loading the car with our bags.
With Wendy in the car I drove down to work and parked Wendy in the bar at the resorts Highland Hotel, with the very lovely Jess on reception keeping an eye on her.
The resort was mobbed with people, there was a food and beverage trade fair on and the conference centre, including the cinema was loaded with people showing their items while all the networking their trade. There were heaps of freebies on offer, but being professional I didn’t use my work connections to obtain any, that just wouldn’t do.
I worked a short shift as I had a few hours bagged and at 2:30 pm we were heading down the A9 to stay the night with Alex, Robyn and Rose before we head to Edinburgh Airport tomorrow morning.
The traffic was good and steady progress was made, we even managed to collect Alex from his office and still be home by 5:30 pm.
Supper with Rose was a very tasty sausage casserole after which I nipped down to Tesco to get fuel and some very last-minute supplies.
Rose is quite unsettled tonight, and Robyn is trying to ease her back to sleep, hopefully she can have a good night’s rest and be back to her normal self by the morning.
Its looking like an early bed tonight as everyone is shattered, hopefully I won’t be woken up in the early hours of the night, again!
12 Miles
1759 Nautical Miles
37 Miles
Rose slept like a little trooper last night and I woke at before 6:00 am and sneaked downstairs for a nice bit of cake and a cup of tea before quietly dressing in the very large downstairs toilet and going out into the cold Millerhill morning air, it was 8 degrees!
Wendy came down before I left, Rose had woke her up with a little cough, we had her monitor in the bedroom so technically we were responsible for her, but apparently she slept on until well gone 7:00 am.
I ran down to Musselburgh Harbour and I loved it, the sun was just coming up as I ran along and it was a lovely peaceful morning.
I got to the harbour and I sat down and had a drink while a young seagull walked up to me and squawked at me, I am sure it thought I was its mother as it was quite close to me and had its beak open in anticipation of me feeding it.
I got back to the house and just managed to jump in the shower before Robyn and her long hair got in her shower.
Wendy, Robyn and Rose went off to the village hall for baby sports day, whatever that is, Alex was working from home in the kitchen.
While Alex had a video call with his big boss, I very quietly made myself, egg and toast and a lovely hot mug of tea. My only downfall was when I moved the slow cooker off the hob so that I could fire up the frying pan. Someone had plugged the slow cooker in and as I hadn’t noticed I brought two bottles of olive oil crashing down when the cable pulled on them. I think I got away with it as the meeting carried on as normal.
Breakfast was an utter delight; I ate it in the lounge and soon enough my piece was shattered as Rose came back with her Mum and Nanny.
At just gone 11:00 am Robyn and a very tired Rose jumped in to their car to take me and Nanny to Edinburgh airport where Robyn was charged £4.00 for a 1 minute and 30 second drop off.
We breezed through bag drop, albeit with some sarcasm from the supposedly helpful lady at the bag drop weigh in. She had her eye on my carry-on bag, but I knew I was on solid ground as I had weighed it before we left and I knew it would pass her weight test, and then the push into the bag measure contraption that she insisted I use. After she had failed in her attempt to extort more money from me as the bag’s weight only came to a measly 8 kgs, I smiled back at her, and not sarcastically. Why do some people do jobs they are not suited to do?
We managed security intact and headed for The Sir Walter Scott Weatherspoon bar where I was shocked to find that a bottle of wine was over £20 and a large rum and coke was £9.00, wow, Wetherspoons has certainly increased in price since I was last here, well that was almost 3 years ago.
We slowly polished the wine off but with another hour to kill I bit the bullet and ordered another bottle of wine online and some loaded chips.
We toddled off for our flight when it was called and I fell asleep for a quick power nap just as we rolled down the runway 30 minutes late.
I listened to my iTunes as we flew at almost 600 mph down the coast of Portugal.
I listen to Rob Beckett on Radio 2 on Sunday evenings on BBC Sounds as I am running and he has a segment called, “Trigger Tunes”, where people tell him about songs that bring back memories for them. As I sat in my seat, when an Elvis song came on, I was taken back to a Kirkhill Sings, which was held in the village hall many years ago, when Robyn and her mates did an act with big Calum Duff.
The theme of the night was Elvis, and in the end of show, show they performed “Return to Sender”, with Calum dressed all in white as the King of Rock and Roll while Robyn and her girlfriends all waved letters in front of their faces in a fanning motion. They had all dressed up as Elvis’s groupies with bright red lipstick and it was the first time that I thought that my little girl had now grown up, it was a great routine!
Also “Young Hearts”, by Candy Staten came on which brought back lovely memories of The Londoner bar in Monk Bretton even many more years before. Isn’t it funny how records can do that.
With Wendy bagging the window seat I sat next to a fella who had questionable manners as he obnoxiously cleared his throat every 30 seconds in a very not very nice way, and he watched some very strange films on his iPad. His last offering was a London Gangster movie where I saw one man clubbed to death with a golf club and another kicked to death with size ten boots to the head. Thankfully I am not an impressionable young man as he clearly didn’t care who saw what he was watching.
The flight landed and we breezed through into the Canary Islands and into Donald Andersons clutches.
The bugger, I knew it was him holding the David Gill Taxi sign as I left the airport, it couldn’t be anyone else. I asked him if Jenn was here too, “No” was his immediate answer, which I knew was a lie, and sure enough David Latham was waiting for us at the car park with a direct drive hire car all the way to our hotel.
After we had checked into our really lovely apartment, which has not much of a view sadly, we joined them all on Jenn’s balcony for a drink while David Latham played some fantastic Northern Souls sounds from his Spotify player.
Wendy was a bit bloto as she went to bed, I’m not sure if it’s tiredness or too much wine, but as I sit here in the living room, I can hear her chuntering to herself in bed about something or other!
No Travelling
Lots of Rain
I woke at 8:00 am, ish, and I was a bit taken aback by two things:
However, the tapping noise wasn’t Wendy, it was rain falling outside, it was chucking down.
For the first time in years Wendy made me tea in bed and I had it with a breakfast bar, and I have to admit that I felt a little squiffy from the night before.
But undaunted, as I have before in similar circumstances, I put on my running shirt, my sweat shirt and jacket and went out running in the lovely, warm Puerto Mogan rain.
Jeepers I must have been squiffy; I did 8 miles at over 11 minutes per mile. It was warm mind and I had a good sweat on.
Puerto Mogan hasn’t changed much in the years since I was last here, it looks like a new motorway has been driven through the hills and a new hotel built. Some businesses have closed down mind but in the main it’s still the same old place.
I ran all the way around to the harbour, and to the port where the fishing boats land. I noticed a nice-looking fresh fish shop at the harbour and I think that I might have to call in one day and buy something nice for my supper.
I ended running at eight miles and I had stopped right outside the Super Dino Hyper Market, where, with 80 euros in my pocket I went in to buy some supplies.
I bought two small bottles of freshly squeezed orange juice, amongst other things, and by accident I had not fully tightened the lid and when I put them on the check out belt it had spilled a little and the check out guy made such a big deal of it. He got a large roll of paper wipe and in an exaggerated motion he wiped the belt down and then he wiped down the two small bottles of orange juice.
Ah, but that wasn’t the half of it, when I handed him 3, wet, twenty euro notes he almost had a heart attack. He babbled uncontrollably in Spanish and waved his hands around a fair bit and then he got his blue wipe paper back out and wiped down each and every euro note. I had to say, “Mate, it’s a bit wet, if you’ve not noticed its chucking down outside”.
By now a large queue had built up and they all chuckled at his nonsense, it was funny in a way and downright stupid in another, what a plonker!
I got back to the apartment and I had a really nice banana smoothie with the tiny bananas that I had bought from the supermarket. I sat and drank it in the rain on the balcony, under the flimsy shade that didn’t do such a good job in the rain and I was often dripped on by water as it seeped through.
On a day like today there is only one thing to do, meet your mates and lounge around in a waterside bar, which is exactly what we did. Actually, it doesn’t sound so bad as it was well gone two before we had our first drink.
The fellas had a nice cold pint while the ladies had sangria, David Lathem and I then went onto a very nice bottle of red wine, with the ladies topping up their sangria, Donald stayed with the cold beer.
On the way back to the hotel we all dropped into the world-famous Yellow Bar for more drinks and by something past 6:00 pm we headed back for the night.
After negotiating the hotels maze of corridors, we eventually found our way to our apartment where I had to immediately go back out in the rain because I didn’t get butter on my morning shop.
Supper, for me was an utter delight, chicken thighs in garlic and black bean sauce over fried rice. All cooked perfectly by my own fair hands. Wendy didn’t see it like that, she hates bones in her food and, you’ve guessed it, the chicken thighs weren’t boneless.
As I file tonight’s copy, with the very large double doors to the veranda being fully open, I can hear the rain pouring down outside. I must have spent at least 6 months of my life in the Canary Islands and I have only ever known one rainy day, and that was in January, and the rain had stopped by 4:00 pm in the afternoon with the sun coming out not long after.
Today has been the worst day, weather wise, that I have ever encountered in the Canary Islands. However tomorrow and Monday are set to be worse as we have high winds coming too, it must be true as the bar tender in the Yellow Bar told us. Maybe he just wants our custom tomorrow!
I’m thinking that that’s it for tonight, Wendy is making bedtime noises and she is already in her Jim Jams, well it is 20 minutes past 8:00 pm!
No Travelling
More Rain!!!
What a night we had, it chucked it down all night long, it just kept coming. Sleeping with the window open didn’t help with the noise because even with ear plugs in, I could still hear the noise.
I woke before 6:00 am and it was pitch black outside.
I made Wendy tea first as we only have one large mug, the others are just tiny tea cups.
As I waited for my turn with the mug, I made myself some toast and vegemite, and using Spanish bread was a little treat as it’s just so tasty.
In my last copy from the recent London trip, I said that I intended to get myself lockdown fit. Actually, despite working a 10-hour day I did indeed manage to knock myself back into shape. I was 10 stone 10 pounds and I got myself down to 10 stone 5 pounds. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tone up my arms and chest as I still cannot put my body weight on my left arm after the summers bike crash.
I’m also still on my target of running daily and I am now up to 2,496 days at an average daily mileage of 8.56 miles. I have a new target in mind but it’ll take at least another year before I get there. Unfortunately, as I set off for the drive to work in Aviemore at 7:00 am and I don’t get back until well after 5:00 pm I have to run on the treadmill in the shed, but at least I have Netflix or Amazon Prime to keep me company. Actually, treadmill running really is a great way to lose weight as I sweat so much more when I use it, and I often finish my run dripping in sweat!
It hadn’t stopped raining by the time it got light, which was at around 8:00 am. I bit the bullet and out I went, and I got wet, very, very wet. But thankfully it wasn’t cold, it was around 24 degrees and the rain never got through my jacket so in no time at all I got a nice sweat on. My feet however were little swimming pools. It was unavoidable as there were some very large puddles around, in fact you can tell they don’t have to contend with rain water too much on the island because their infrastructure can’t really handle it. The roads became waterlogged pretty soon and the roof across from us was already over loaded with water which was cascading off, it was even coming through our ceiling and into a light fitting.
I ran one circuit of the town and then I found a track that took me up in the direction of a village. I got into the outskirts of the village and I was hoping to find a small local restaurant but I didn’t find one, although I didn’t go very far into the village as it was time to turn back.
I had a one tiny banana smoothie as it was our intention to go out and find a bar where we could get a nice Sunday lunch. I know it’s a bit British, going abroad and then looking for UK food but with the weather being what it is it’s a case of nothing really better to do. Thank goodness we don’t have small children with us!
We walked down to the beach and had a bottle of wine in a beach front bar and it became obvious that the rain wasn’t going to end anytime soon, and walking any further than a few yards resulted in you getting wet through.
A change of plans was required so after our drinks we headed to the Spar to buy some lovely food for a nice tapas extravaganza!
However, that idea turned on its head as soon as we opened the bedroom door as water was now pouring through the kitchen ceiling fan and the area where the first drips had started, the ceiling light was dangling down.
There was nothing to it, so I asked for a change of room. I called reception and the lady said she would get back to me, but she didn’t. After 20 minutes I went down to reception and I could see the poor woman was frazzled.
I asked her if it was a stressful afternoon and she gave me a lovely smile and a big nod.
I explained who I was and she pointed my room out on a sheet of paper and we were at the bottom of a very long line of rooms requiring moves. However, she said call down in one hour to collect the keys.
Back at the apartment Wendy was doing her packing routine and after we could do no more, I did a bit of Googling about the rain in Gran Canaria, here’s what I found:
The Spanish Met Office as issued a red alert as Tropical Storm Hermine passes to the south of the island of Gran Canaria with severe and widespread flooding expected.
The Regional President of the Canary Islands, Angel Victor Torres has stressed that the Archipelago could receive the most significant rains in more than a decade.
Oh dear!
Actually, it was getting both interesting and worrying as the roads were now covered in at least 3 inches of water and although I know we are on a valley which slopes down towards the sea, we can now see waterfalls pouring down from the high peaks that surround the town.
I called back at reception after an hour only to be told that the room wasn’t ready and it might take a while. I knew someone wouldn’t take that well so I called ahead and then took her down to Cathys apartment, where after a glass of wine and another hour I got the keys to our new room and we moved in.
It’s a bigger apartment and we have great views.
After unpacking we cooked the tapas which was an utter delight. Cathy, Donald and Jenn called by and we enjoyed a drink and a laugh in our new surroundings.
After our guests left for their supper, I went out to the supermarket where the rain was pouring incessantly. It’s getting really bad now and new waterfalls have opened up in the hills.
I do hope that it passes soon as it’s causing far too much disruption to the local economy.
I’m thinking that Donald and his gang might be back after their supper for a night cap, I must mind not to fall into the trap and let him pour my drinks as I would like to function as normal tomorrow!
No Travelling
Flooded, Again!!!
Donald, Cathy and Jenn did indeed come over last night, poor David Latham wasn’t well but at least we had a good laugh. I’m not sure what time they left, it was late, I’m sure about that.
I didn’t know it at the time, but at around 1:00 am I got out of bed for a bathroom visit and from my bed I put my feet into two inches of water. How can that be, we are on the 6th floor?
This wasn’t water coming from above, this was water that came from below, thankfully it was clean water.
I immediately phoned Cathie as they are on the 3rd floor and by rights, they should have been well under water. But thankfully they were as right as rain and after the call I went outside and saw where the water was coming from. We have a culvert that runs down the side of our block and it had overflowed and it was spilling into our corridor and into our rooms. Everyone in our corridor was being flooded.
There wasn’t anything we could do so I wiped my feet and got back in bed.
Thankfully we didn’t have any electrical items on the ground that would get ruined, only our discarded clothes from the night before.
On waking up we opened our 35th anniversary cards but I have to admit to not really taking much notice as I was worried about the water damage we might have suffered.
Thankfully the water had drained away, apart from various large puddles which I first swept away, and then I towel dried.
The rain had stopped outside but it was still very overcast.
I went running up the valley, four miles into the hills. I had to wade through deep puddles of mud and water.
I actually ran to the start of the Land of the Big! This is a valley where seemingly everyday items are placed outside people’s houses but they are very much oversized! You’ll be driving along and see an almighty big grand piano, or ironing board, or couch.
We first came across this phenonium in the year 2,000 where we had hired a car for our two weeks stay in Puerto Rico and we drove passed them. The kids were fascinated by them and hence the term, The Land of the Big.
My legs were red from the mud but I managed to find a small ditch where I nipped in and washed my legs off so that I could walk back into the hotel without leaving a snail’s trail as I walked over to the lifts. I still had some mud on my legs as I got back up to the apartment so I nipped into the shower and washed myself off, I then cleaned the shower.
After breakfast, of Spanish bread, ham and garlic mayonnaise I showered and then we walked into town with the intention of catching the ferry to Puerto Rico. However, as we had missed the ferry, we took a taxi to Playa de Cura where we had a drink before heading out on the coastal path to Porto Rico.
The track had been washed out in several places and we had to make some detours, but on the beach, we came across an impassable river that had never been there before. It was a torrent of water and I wasn’t at all bothered about going back and finding another way.
I stripped to my underpants and carried my clothes and Wendy’s belongings across to the other side. I then, against her protestations, got Wendy on my back and I horse carried her across.
All she could say as I traversed the raging torrent was, “You’re going to drop me”
I didn’t drop her, I did stumble at the deepest point as I came across a large rock below the water, but I held her steadfast. Actually, there was no way I was going to drop her, can you imagine the screaming that she would have done, they would have heard her in Lands End had she gone into the water.
Thankfully we made it to Amadores Beach where we stopped off for a pint of beer.
Back on the road we walked along the shore path all the way to Puerto Rico where we had a lovely mid-afternoon meal of bruschetta, to start with, and then a tapas sharer platter at the very, Gill famous Seahorse Restaurant. Jeepers it was tasty and we had it with a litre of sangria, without ice, (I hate ice in sangria, it dilutes it terribly).
We sat in the very front row and chatted nicely with the staff and it was a very pleasant afternoon. I did name drop that it was our 35th wedding anniversary and we were offered Champaign, but I wasn’t sniffing for anything so we declined the offer.
Actually, the waitress did offer twice but Wendy wasn’t feeling up to anything and even declined a honey rum when I offered her one.
After our meal we walked back along the coastal path back to Amadores Beach where we caught a taxi back to the apartment.
Sadly, Wendy Gill wasn’t feeling too well on arrival back at the apartment and she spent the night on the sofa feeling rough. Funny, she did this 15 years ago after we had had supper with Gordon Ramsay at the Savoy Hotel, maybe she’s not inclined to the good life.
I do hope she’s feeling better tomorrow as hopefully the sun will be out, actually I’m now not that hopeful because as I type tonight’s copy, I can hear the very loud pitter pat of rain on the awning outside, I do hope to heavens we’re not getting flooded again!!!!!!!
No Travelling
Sunshine
Wendy went to bed last night not feeling at all well, I did all the right things, looked after her and attended to her every wish. But with her permission I went down to the bar across the road to watch the England football game.
I caught the second half and it wasn’t pretty, we were 2 down pretty smartish in the second half, and then we scored three lovely goals. Then the telly went off and after the bar owner had sorted it out the score was 3-3 and I never saw what happened. Everyone shrugged when it came back on, how on earth did that happen?
I got back to the apartment to find Wendy fast asleep and then I promptly fell asleep on the sofa while watching something on Netflix.
Apparently, Wendy heard me snoring and came to get me to come to bed, and I made moving motions but fell fast asleep again and I can vividly recall waking up again at 4:00 am where I did eventually go to bed.
I was up at 6:45 am and Wendy still wasn’t good. I made her tea and then left her for my run.
The weather was still overcast but it did look promising for later on.
I ran around the old town and then up the hill and then one more time around town before going back to the apartment. The weather actually got worse; the clouds were by now very much thicker!
I got back to the apartment and Wendy said that she was feeling a little better, I knew she was lying so I made her do a lateral flow test for Covid 19. Thankfully we both passed so I took her out for breakfast at the Yellow Bar.
We have been going to the Yellow Bar for Years and today the owner served us. We ordered a bacon and egg sandwich for me and a ham sandwich for Wendy. I had a pint of beer, well it was gone eleven, and Wendy had orange juice. The food was lovely, my bacon sarnie was superb, every bite was an utter delight!
From the bar we walked into town and I bought some nice sandals, which Wendy very much hates, she says they are ugly. How on earth can anyone get so upset about sandals, I mean who looks at what you have on your feet, apparently Wendy Gill does!
Wendy had a bit of a relapse so we sought sanctuary in a bar where we shared a bottle of wine, with me having the bulk of it. We managed to get back to the apartment and Wendy went to bed.
I made a ham sarnie and settled down on the sunbed and relaxed, and I actually nodded off.
When I woke the sun was out so I nipped inside and lathered myself in suncream before going back out into the hot sunshine.
Wendy appeared and told me that she had arranged to meet everyone at the pool so off we went.
I could hear Donald Anderson chatting loudly as we approached the quiet pool.
The sun was well and truly out by now and we all relaxed by the pool taking in the odd small beer now and again.
I even managed a swim in the so-called infinity pool with Donald, although I bumped my head on the pool side doing the front crawl as I didn’t have my goggles on and I couldn’t see where I was going.
Jeepers the sun was hot; how can the weather have been so scabby these last few days?
I was the last one at the pool as everyone had disappeared by 6:00 pm.
I got back to the apartment to find Wendy in her now washed and dried jim jams, (the ones that had been soaked as she had left them on the floor during the last flooding).
I think I have already mentioned that there is a new motorway and that the old road around the coast is closed, apparently due to the danger of falling rock, but keen to see the town from this closed road I dressed into my running gear and after a warm up run around the town I climbed up the road and around the barriers.
It was brilliant, I timed it perfectly, the views from the top were stunning, although I had to climb two huge walls and traverse quite a few rock falls to get to the top.
At the top there is no way of going any further as there is a road block as high as Check Point Charlie.
Thankfully I got back down without any injuries, I had been a bit of a naughty boy, but at almost 61 years of age a man can be a little reckless, especially when he’s not hurting anyone but potentially himself!
Wend as took herself off to bed and I’m off out to see if I can find Donald, Wendy promised she’ll be better tomorrow but I’m not so sure!
No Travelling
More Sunshine
I think it was around 3:30 am that Wendy Gill woke me up with her attempt to open the outside door to the bedroom. Apparently, the bedroom was stifling and she was far too hot. She was pulling at the door but she had not released the catch so of course the door wouldn’t open.
I got out of bed and sorted it for her and although it did take me a little while, I did drop off to sleep again, eventually.
I was up at 6:45 am and Wendy soon followed me and we both went out running. For once I did all my running around the harbour, jeepers it was hot despite the sun not being above the hills. Its strange but it does not get light before 8:00 am and then the sun has to rise above the hill that I run over last night before we see it.
Actually, it was overcast again but it did look like it would clear up.
I got back to the apartment dripping in sweat, well I did have my sweatshirt and jacket on. I know its madness but I just love to sweat. Tomorrow I’m minded to go back into the hills with my vest on, but that depends on conditions, so I am not promising anything just now.
I got back and I had a delightful smoothie on the balcony, followed by a dazzling cup of tea.
After my shower we nipped over to the supermarket to get a few items that we needed, mainly rum and beer.
After dropping our supplies off at the apartment, we took a long walk down into town. There was a bit of a misunderstanding as we thought the others were in town and that we would meet up, but they had gone out for the morning in their hire car.
We walked down and we saw a very nice looking, out of the way bar where I think we might get a very nice tapa. Apparently, its tapas day on Tuesday and Thursday so tomorrow I might just chance my arm.
We walked along the back of the new main street so we avoided all the requests to eat in this and that establishment and we ended up in the old part of town.
I have spied a really nice sail boat that I would dearly like to own, its actually for sale. I know I can sail it, it’s not complicated and it is a really nice size. But I have one skillset missing in my seamanship skills and that is navigation. That really isn’t a problem these days with modern technology such as satellites and way finders.
I mean we rely on smart phones to manage our daily lives so why shouldn’t I put my trust in other modern devices.
I know it’s a pipe dream, Wendy is the most un-seaman type of person you could ever meet and hates being on a sail boat, although she will manage a small motor boat or ferry.
I now also have two grandchildren, with two more on the way so I can’t really be sailing the seven seas exploring when I want to see them grow.
As we walked we saw some children’s dolls that have the most scary face you will ever find on a dolly’s face, I mean they were Chucky scary, how on earth did someone think little girls would love a very scary doll. I did almost buy one for my girl’s mind!
After a nice walk around town, we settled down in the Yellow Bar for a nice cold pint of beer. We were nicely relaxing and so took advantage of the peaceful setting by having a jug of very nice sangria.
From the Yellow Bar we headed back to the apartment where after a while we went down to meet the others at the pool which is below our room.
The sun was out in full now and after a while Jenn and Cathy joined us but Donald and David were nowhere to be seen. As the ladies were getting on so well chatting, I went back up to the apartment and slowly cooked supper. Chicken thighs with chorizo, mushrooms, onion and creamy pasta were our meal tonight and while I cooked it, I lazed on the balcony’s sunbed listening to Steve Wright in the afternoon. I suspect that Steve finishes on Friday, it’s the end of September and he did say he was finishing his shows in September.
Wendy joined me for supper after which I shaved, and cut my face to bits, showered and then we took a walk up and away from the town, around the football stadium and then back down to town where we shared a very nice bottle of wine in that very quiet back street restaurant I fancy for tomorrows tapas.
We sat outside of the restaurant and as we sat there, I saw a black cat stroll inside like he, or she, owned the place. A long haired, fluffy sausage dog walked in not long after and then utter bedlam ensued. The dog did not take too well to the cat and the cat came running out like its life depended upon it, followed closely by the dog who was not going to give up lightly.
It was funny to everyone outside, but not to the bar owner who I think feeds waif and strafe cats.
Back at the apartment and I had to file tonight’s copy asap as Wendy is dying to watch the end of Strictly Dancing, I had better crack on then!
Hot Sunshine
We had no issues during the night, I slept well and I woke, at 6:45 am to Wendy bimbling on her iPad. I got up and had my tea and vegemite toast and I was out just after 8:00 am when the sky was nicely light.
Wendy had gone out just before me.
I ran down to the harbour and I was pleased to see an old boy who I have seen many times over the years. He is an old sea salt and I have seen him show the younger fellas how to make the large steal creels that they make here.
Boy he is knocking on in years now, but aren’t we all. But he was still sprightly showing the young fellas how it was done in his day.
I got back to the apartment and I had a change of routine. I didn’t have my much-loved smoothie, I had a small fig yogurt as today I was going for a tapas lunch.
After breakfast we walked down to the Hypo Dino Supermarket where I bought ice for the cool bag. The supermarket is down some steep stairs, there is a lift but its broken, so has I left I helped a damsel in distress.
She had her baby boy in a large pram and she was about to try to get it up the stairs. I did my gentlemanly routine and offered my services, she took the baby out and I carried the pram to the top of the stairs, jeepers was it heavy, thankful the little boy wasn’t in it or I might have dropped him. She was ever so grateful, its just a shame other people walked past her before I offered to help!
We walked on down to the beach and bagged a couple of nicely placed beach loungers and we settled down for the morning. Not long after the man came along and took 10 euros and 50 cents for them which we didn’t think was too bad, especially for such a nice spot.
I got settled and cracked open a small beer while I listened to the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio Two, on my I phone, (Thankfully O2 still allows roaming outside the UK or I would be getting stung to death with roaming charges – Thanks all you Brexiters who have taken back control of our Borders and got back our much-loved sovereignty, what a difference that makes to my daily life!).
The sun was roasting hot and it was rather nice to be back on a beach with hot sand under my toes after three long years.
After Jeremy had finished his show, we went to the bar where we were last night had we had the most delightful tapas lunch I have ever had, it was lovely.
The restaurant is off the beaten track and on the back street but it really is a classy little place.
On Tuesday and Thursday, you can have all you can eat tapas. We had checked TripAdvisor and the last review was a stinker and it nearly put us off. The person said the tapas wasn’t great and that they were hungry when they left.
We sat in the enclosed courtyard and the food was an utter delight, it was a very classical tapa. The lady said that we just had to ask for more food if we needed it, we didn’t, I just asked for one more small portion of bread to wipe my plate, well I am a Yorkshireman.
The food and wine were really lovely and the setting was really nice too.
Back on the beach the sun was now glaringly hot so I did the odd mooch along the shore line to keep cool.
Wendy left the beach first and headed back to the apartment for a shower. I listened to the Sara Cox show until after the Half-Wower and then I made my way back. After a shower we walked back down to town in the hope of seeing a very nice sunset from the point where you have to walk along a very dangerous cliff edge, well it’s the only place to see it.
Sadly, the lower cloud didn’t make for a good sunset, although it was still rather nice and it was crowded with people.
We did very clearly see the Island of Tenerife from our vantage point mind.
We walked back to the apartment and I wanted to get Wendy in for a drink in a local person’s bar on the back streets but she wasn’t feeling too good. Maybe something from the tapa didn’t agree with her? Anyway, we got back to the apartment and finally watched the end of Strictly Dancing. Jeepers wasn’t there some very odd marking scores on the night.
We just now have to catch up on Celebrity MasterChef and the Great British Bake off and we will be all caught up on our UK life. Some how though I don’t think that’s going to happen as I really like my evenings on the veranda.
Wendy is in bed early tonight, lets hope her sickness doesn’t last too long this time as I am hoping to take the boat to Puerto Rico tomorrow for another luncheon delight!
No Travelling
Boat Trip
I keep forgetting to detail that during the rain of earlier this week I could smell Eucalyptus trees while I was out running in the country. The smell was so strong it smelled like a Vic Stick used to. The rain must have brought the smell of the trees out to be more pronounced than normal.
I have detailed before about the many types of Eucalyptus tree in Australia but this is the first time that I have known of their existence in the Canary Islands.
All the species that exist on the Canary Islands are introduced and The Spanish word for them, 'eucalipto', contains all the vowels without repeating them.
I don’t know why they were introduced but my question is, why didn’t they introduce kangaroos or koala bears at the same time?
Today is Friday and that is market day in Puerto Mogan, and it gets very, very busy with bus and boat loads of people coming for the day.
I woke at 5:30 am because I was cold in bed. We sleep with the very large glass, sliding door open and as it was a very clear night the temperature overnight dropped.
Of course, I have to sleep near to the door in case some murderous murderer comes into the apartment, and therefore I catch the worst of the cold.
I got up and had breakfast and readied myself to go running. As we have four electric keys because we never took the old room keys back, we have to check the real key before going out. I did this just before I went running, and as our front door doesn’t close fully if you let it go, I accidently left it open.
All of a sudden Wendy Gill is out of her bed and chasing a ginger kitten around the apartment. She was like Mad Maud, with her hair everywhere. She chased the poor thing onto the rafters of the awning of the flat down stairs. I watched it and it could not get down so I coaxed the poor thing in and let it out of the front door much to Wendy’s annoyance.
I ran around town as the market traders set up their stalls in almost complete darkness.
The market has grown over the years and now extends all the way from the harbour, right up to the shopping centre at the top of the mall.
I got back to the apartment just before 9:00 am and I had a small pot of fig yogurt and tea before showering and getting ready for the day.
Today we were all going on the ferry to Puerto Rico for a walk around followed by some lunch.
We set off for a walk looking at the market stalls as we strolled along but it was far too busy with people and it had the appearance of a super spreader event so we dodged out of it.
In the harbour we could see the ferry discharge hordes of people as we waited for the others to catch up.
Thankfully the ferry out was empty, and we almost had the open top deck to ourselves.
The weather was absolutely lovely, it was hot with a small breeze which was provided by the movement of the boat.
As usual we sailed along the coast going past Playa du Cura and the man-made beach. The beach was put down in 2015, it used to be an old rock bed but the footballer David Silva, who comes from Gran Canaria was part of some financial group who wanted to make it a prestigious resort.
The sand looks great but the planned resort as so far not materialised. I seem to think its something to do with the shanty town that has grown up over the years nearby.
However, after a bit of Googling I found that there is a bit of a to do about the sand for the beach being imported from the Western Sahara.
Apparently, this area of land is the last occupied colony of Africa and there is a UN embargo of any goods coming from there. Morocco, another African nation has held the territory for a number of years and its ownership is very much in dispute. So possibly the sanctions against the company that David Silva is involved in cannot build on the land until the sand dispute is resolved.
Our walk around Puerto Rico was interesting, jeepers didn’t we see some sights, I mean of the human kind.
Now I know it’s a free world but I cannot understand why people, mainly young woman want to cover their bodies with tattoos. I mean why would any man want to be in a relationship with a woman with uglier tattoos than Bluto from the Popeye cartoons.
I also saw some very fat beer bellies on men who unashamedly walk bare chested, and some women who do not consult the view offered from a mirror when they dress in the mornings. I kid you not, I saw a woman and modesty forbids I tell you how she had presented herself to the world today, needless to say it was not a good look.
Now I know in todays woke climate I am body shaming, but Jesus Christ some people definitely require shaming!
Lunch was really quite nice!
We took it on the beach in an open-air bar and I had the fish fillet salad. Even though the menu consisted of a set of photographs the food was actually quite tasty, and the staff were all great too.
Jeepers we did laugh though, we got louder and louder as we drank. The German couple behind us could not contain their belly laughs at some of the subjects we covered.
The lady almost wet herself when I talked about the prostitute Jeffery Archer had been associated with, I only said why would you pay for a woman who is not much of a looker!
For back ground info Jeffery had done a very good interview with Jeremy Vine yesterday about his story telling ability.
We had a nice drink at the only harbour bar before boarding the boat back to Puerto Mogan.
The journey back was very nice and this time we did really have the top deck to ourselves.
We had one more drink in Puerto Mogan before we headed back to the apartment where after showering, I remembered that I needed to walk down to the Spar for some provisions.
As I type tonight’s copy, I have just told Wendy of my desire to go out for an evening walk, with her being in her jim jams already she was not overly keen on the idea, but when I told her we will have four months of a cold hard winter when we get home, she soon changed her tune and is dressing for the walk as I type.
I knew she would come round!
No Travelling
Tapas
We did indeed go for a very nice walk down to the harbour last night, it was nicely buzzing and after stopping off at the Yellow Bar for a drink we didn’t get back until gone 11:00 pm, where Wendy immediately went to bed and I sat and watched a film on Amazon Prime, although I didn’t get to the end.
I was going to finish a film that I had started on Netflix, but they have now stopped me watching on my laptop so I have cancelled my subscriptions. I had the subscription on three appliances, my laptop, my phone and Wendy had her own page on her I-pad. But now apparently, I can only have two devices registered, so I cancelled my subscriptions. I mostly watched it on my laptop, so why did they cancel that and not give me the option of changing the others, anyway I have left the service, the buggers only took my subscriptions the day before yesterday too!
This morning I got up rather late, it was passed 8:00 am and the sun was up, but it wasn’t too warm, like yesterday the clear sky overnight had cooled the temperature.
I went out running just after 9:00 am and it was rather busy out.
I got back at just before 11:00 am, I was a bit slower today, it might be because I seem to be developing an injury in my left hip. Its alright most of the time but it does give me a little gyp when I start to run, and then I have to run it off for a few minutes.
I had a really tasty smoothie for breakfast, sat out on the balcony in the sunshine.
After my shower we both walked down to the small fresh fish shop at the harbour. It was open as I ran past earlier on, but when we got there the shutter was down. We walked around the back to see if anyone was selling directly from the dock but alas, they weren’t.
As we set off to walk back to the town the shutter at the fish shop was open and so we went in. Sadly, all of today’s catch was rather ugly fish, stuff we had no idea what it was. There was huge fish that really needed to go to a hotel and then the small stuff that looked like it had come from the bottom, so we didn’t bother buying anything.
On the way back we stopped for a beer at the Yellow Bar.
We have become canny to their pricing strategy. A pint is 2.5 euro but a half pint for Wendy is 2.2 euro, so now we buy two pints and I finish hers. It means she has to sit with a, dare I say it man-sized pint pot but it is better value for money!
We called into the Spar for some provisions and I was rather pleased to come away with a very nice-looking piece of tuna which I would later cook for our balcony tapas supper.
Back at the apartment I spent the afternoon on the lounger while Wendy went down to the pool with Cathy and Jenn for a gossip.
I listened to the last ever Steve Wright in the afternoon show on BBC Sounds. I have listened to Steve Wright when he first emerged on BBC Radio One in the 1980’s, I listened to him as I drove back from the Fire Brigade Training Centre in the 1990’s and I’ll miss him. Is this another Woke statement from the BBC, well we’ll have to wait and see who his replacement is. Speaking of woke, I dare not offer comment on what Fridays main discussion point was on the Jeremy Vine show, Wendy says I would be disassociated!
When Wendy got back to the apartment, we spent a little more time on the lounger and then at 4:00 pm we made our lovely tapas supper, well actually I mostly did, Wendy did the spuds.
As I was cooking, the internal hotel phone rang. Thinking it was Donald Anderson winding me up I answered in French. However, the receptionist came back immediately in French to ask me if everything was alright as I had activated the fire alarm.
Thankfully my passable French got me through the conversation. I bet she thought why is this numpty Brit talking to me in French!
It was funny!
Supper was really delightful, the tuna was lovely, pan fried with prawns and maybe a little too much garlic. Why is that the Spanish garlic might be that little bit stronger, I think it is?
We spent a little more time on the sunbeds and being nicely stuffed with food I nodded off.
I woke just after the sun had set behind the hill and showered off all of the suntan lotion I had applied earlier, I then replaced it with after sun.
Just before it got dark, we went down to the town and walked up the 257 steps to the viewing platform. I think the steps must have got steeper because it was a right hike up there. The view across town though is well worth the effort.
I think its changed since I was last here, there is provided seating and some benches that look like they are there for barbeques. In fact just before we left a group of young adults came up carrying a cool box and a slab of beer for what looked like a promising party night.
We had a nice drink at a very quiet bar where we learned a little more about the destruction of last weeks rains. I might owe the maintenance people an apology as it seems, from hearing someone’s conversation in the bar, that rocks from above had slid down the hills side and had punctured the roofs of some apartments. Maybe that’s why the rain started to come through our roof!
No Travelling
The Story of the Drunken Man
I woke at 6:22 am as Wendy had not put her phone on silent and Bradley, from 2,400 miles away told the world that he had cracked Wordle in 5!
It didn’t wake Wend up mind!
I slid out of bed and had breakfast and went out running at 7:30 am. It was still dark but it was light enough for me to see my way along the track up and into the hills.
Jeepers it was very misty in the hills, even when the sun eventually came out it was still quite murky.
I got back to the apartment and Wendy said that our plan to go to the David Silva Beach was in disarray as Cathy had asked, via WhatsApp, if we didn’t mind going for lunch in town as Jenn’s hip was playing her up.
The word we was involved and that significance will become clearer later.
I showered after a breakfast of a muesli yogurt and a cup of nice hot black tea. I watched the London Marathon until the men’s elite runners came in and then we walked down town and took a taxi to the small resort of Playa Du Cura where the David Silva Beach is.
We settled on the beach and I realised that I had made a big boob, there wasn’t any shade nor was anyone hiring sunbeds. As the beach resort only consists of very nice sand it is only occupied by local people who take all their own belongings in small carts down there. There are some pretty good set ups with umbrellas and deck chairs but sadly no shade at all for Wendy Gill.
We laid our towels out and set about taking in a little sun and I did a very nice walk along the shoreline. I was amazed at how far the man-made beach extended into the sea. I thought that it would have been washed away below the waterline, but no it extended out a fair bit.
Just before I left for my walk Wendy got a txt from either Jenn or Cathy, what time are you coming down for lunch Wendy. Wendy had taken the, “We” to mean those four, and not us six so she had to get back to them asap and explain her mistake.
Not long after I got back to my towel, we went for an amazing lunch at the beach side café.
I ordered lamb chops which came with chips and salad, Wendy ordered seafood croquettes, which again came with salad and chips. As a starter the waiter brought us two small loaves of bread and the most garlicky dip that has ever been produced, jeepers I can still taste it in my mouth now, six hours later.
Our main meals came and they were bloody lovely.
We had a beer each before the meals came and a glass of wine after.
I had noticed two dodgy men sat at a table as we came in, two local looking fellas and I kept my eye on them. They had ordered food and when it arrived, they attempted to eat it, but it was hard going. The next time I looked one was fast asleep in his chair and the other staggered off and past us and went down to the shanty village.
The next I heard was the smashing of glass as the sleeping man climbed over the wall and then fell down drunken and then proceeded to sleep in a most silly place.
At first, he laid on his back and that looked a bit like he was going to choke to death and then he put himself, by accident, in the recovery position, thankfully.
The waiter came out and tried to wake him up, unsuccessfully and then shouted for his other drunken mate to come and collect him. Thankfully after a lot of pulling at his arm he did indeed manage to get him on his feet, and off they staggered.
I asked the waiter if they had been drinking all night and he told me that they had been on a 3-day bender in Puerto Rico. Jeepers that was some bender!
After our lovely lunch, which came to a grand total of 35 euros, we had another 30 minutes on the beach before we headed back in another taxi.
The taxi driver was a lovely old fella who told us that he had been at home for 18 months during the pandemic and that it had ruined the economy.
He also gave me his private number so that we can call him for any other trip we might like to take.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the so called, “Infinity Pool” where I listened to England thrash Pakistan in the last of seven 20 x 20 matches. We won the series 4 to 3!
Donald and Cathey joined us at the pool a couple of hours later and then Jenn joined us too. The afternoon sun was out but it was really hazy sunshine, it was almost like an Inverness Harr. It was also very much welcome though as I think I might have had a little too much sun these past few days.
We got back to the apartment after the sun had gone behind the hill and as I showered, I came out of the bathroom to a fast asleep Wendy Gill who was laid flat out on the sofa, she was even snoring!
I tried and tried for her to come out for a drink but she was not moving, so I went out on my own.
I didn’t go far, just across the road to the Country Music Bar.
I bought a glass of wine which came to 450 euros, it was a new barmaid, it was her first night and she didn’t know how to operate the till. Thankfully I’m not easily spooked or I might have had kittens on hearing the price.
I got back to the apartment not 20 minutes later and Wendy was fast asleep in bed.
I guess its another episode of Dahmer, the story of that terrible serial killer in the United States, well I have to watch something on Netflix before my subs run out!
No Travelling
Beach Day
I woke up at 6:30 am as Wendy had not put her phone to silent and she got a message at that time, she also got one from Brad the day before. Its funny mind, it never wakes her up.
Jeepers it was a very misty morning today, so I donned my large shirt, my sweat shirt and my jacket for today’s run.
I have been doing some very strange times here and some very, very strange distances on my morning runs. You may recall that I use two running Apps, the Nike+ app which I have used for a long while, and also the Strava app. I start my run outside the hotel and I do two laps of the town, I go up the valley and around the football stadium and then right down to the harbour. This brings me at just slightly over four miles as I get back to my start point.
I then didn’t even make 8 miles on the Nike+ app when I got back after my second lap.
The Strava app gave me a distance of 0.2 miles more, which is a fifth of a mile at the end of the run more than the Nike+ app. This never happens at home, usually they are only a couple of points out over the 8 miles.
Maybe its being a bit closer to the equator but strangely I have never had such a problem in Cape Verde which is even closer to the equator.
A very large yacht had moored over night at the point in the harbour where the ferry docks and it looked like there was a bit of bother when I got down there.
Some serious looking harbour chaps were firmly telling the yacht people to move on, but the yacht owners didn’t seem to care. As time went on, and after some shouting and serious hand waving the yacht moved on just before the ferry docked for the first time today.
Back at the apartment the mist was slowly moving and it looked like a good day for a beach day.
I had my banana smoothie on the veranda and although I say this every morning, it was bloody lovely.
I usually shave every two days at home but in this heat and then applying sun tan lotion I tend to shave every day. However, the application of sun tan lotion is still not an easy task on a hairy body and I hate having to rub it on to my body.
We walked down to the beach at just after 11:00 and some impromptu markets had set up along the mall. They were selling much better-quality items than they do on a Friday but despite her serious browsing, Wendy Gill didn’t buy anything.
The beach was nicely busy when we got there. I had stopped to buy some wine and ice for the cool bag, well one has to keep nicely hydrated in this sunshine.
I listened to the Jeremy Vine Radio 2 show but I turned the radio off after 2:00 pm in my small protest at the loss of Steve Wright in the afternoon.
I did a little shore walk and I was a bit dismayed to find that the water doesn’t look like it would meet even the current UK grade for a good beach, let alone the EU standard. It just looks a little soapy and it has a slightly oil cover on its surface. Needless to say I didn’t go anywhere above ankle deep.
At around 3:00 pm we had the pleasure of the company of Donald and Cathy Anderson who turned up with a cool bag of drink too.
The lucky buggers, the family of four who had paid for the beds beside us, and had their sunbeds marked as paid, vacated just as they arrived. So, Donald and Cathy got two prime spot sunbeds free of charge. Donald, the bugger, even had the audacity to sneak over a brolly for some shade.
We did have a laugh all afternoon though, what with Cathy and Wendy discussing the merits of various bodies that they saw and Donald playing the cheeky fool.
Jenn and David stayed on their balcony as David is beginning to feel the effects of the heat.
At just after 5:00 pm we kicked it on the head and walked home, Cathy and Donald left first.
I called in to the Hypo Dino supermarket for some bread to have with our supper tonight, left over tuna sarnies.
I ate mine with a nice strong cup of coffee while I watched the BBC evening news. Jeepers it’s been a right old turnaround U-Turn by the UK Government and the 45% tax cut. They really misjudged that one!
At 19:00 we walked down to town where we were supposed to meet the others, but true to form they were 30 minutes late, but at least they did turn up.
And do you know what, we had a smashing time. We had a few drinks at Robs Bar, at the outside area. Rob, from Wales established his bar in 2021 and he only does drinks, no food.
We got a prime table and chatted with Rob and as the other’s joined us more people came along, eventually it was mobbed.
I did see Rob making, “I can’t cope” gestures with his arms but people kept coming. Then Rob came outdoors and took some photos. He told us that he had never been so busy so he wanted to get some photos for the record.
After filling his bar, and making him a tidy profit I managed to get everyone back home, some were a little worse for ware and I’m not sure if we will make the early ferry or the later ferry tomorrow, I’ll let you know tomorrow Avid Reader!
No Travelling
Arguineguin
I often stop out side the kindergarten at the top of the mall, opposite the football stadium for my drink stop. Yesterday I was there when mums were dropping off their children and one little boy wasn’t happy to be left.
The poor mite cried his eyes out and would not stop.
His mum tried 3 times and each time he greeted and ran back out. It must be a nice place because lots of other tots stay and seem to enjoy it.
I had to leave so I don’t know what the outcome was, I do hope he managed to get over his upset and enjoy his day. His poor mum looked really upset at the situation.
I woke at 5:30 am this morning as Wendy had a terrible cough and she woke me with it.
I had tea and toast and I made her some tea but when I was in the bathroom, I could hear her coughing her lungs up.
I gave her, and me, a Covid test and we both passed as negative, so thankfully that was that.
I went out running just before 7:00 am and I bumped into Wendy on the river bridge down town and she seemed much better.
I got back to the apartment at 8:30 am and as it was now light, I could see that we were in for a strange overcast day.
I didn’t have breakfast, I had a slice of ham and a cup of tea as I wanted to be hungry for my lunch as today we were all catching the ferry to the small town of Arguineguin which is in an easterly direction along the coast, and is much further along than Puerto Rico.
The weather was still overcast but the sun was trying to pop out as we boarded the ferry and we all sat at the front of the boat.
We had taken a bottle of wine with us and after we had dropped off some passengers at Puerto Rico, we opened it and had a small glass as we bobbed along on the boat.
We dropped off some more passengers at the international timeshare resort at Anfi and then the ferry crossed the bay to dock at Arguineguin. I did go to the toilet while we were in the port at Anfi, but it was hard to do my wee when all the disembarking passengers were looking at me through the open porthole as they passed along the ferry.
Jeepers by the time we left the boat the sun was almost out, but not quite.
However, it was really warm and David Latham did not like it.
I used my Strava app to find our way into town as there weren’t any signs to point us in that direction. We came across a very large outdoor market where we roamed around for a short while but it was increasingly obvious that David was struggling with the heat.
We left the market and we headed back to the coast where we came across a few bars.
We settled on one bar, The Taste Bistro and what a fantastic find it was.
The waitress who attended to us was absolutely lovely. We had ordered wine and she tried to open the bottle next to me. She was really struggling trying to open the bottle with a corkscrew, however it was a bottle with a screw top. She struggled and struggled right in front of me. At one point I said can I help you? However, she said that she was new at the job and didn’t want her boss, who was serving another table, to see that she couldn’t open the bottle.
It was a right old affair, and then she said, “Ah, it’s a screw top”, and then she opened it how she should have done. She was a little embarrassed but we all said for her not to worry.
I asked her how long she had been working and she said just six weeks. Her English was great so it was easy to talk with her.
We all ordered food, apart from Donald who had had a very large breakfast. I asked for the 10-hour slow cooked pork belly, while Wendy had the filleted fish.
David Latham asked for a truffle burger, Cathy had a pork burger and Jenn had a few tapas dishes.
Jeepers the food was truly wonderful, it really was.
My pork was on a bed of mash and veg with a lovely rich sauce. The pork was cooked to perfection and it would not have been out of place in a Michelin Starred Restaurant. Wendy’s fish came in a foil parcel and that again was a delight, I know this for a fact as we shared a portion of each other’s meal.
Everyone found their food to be delicious, apart from Donald, who didn’t have anything apart from the odd nibble of Cathey’s burger.
The food was that good that 3 of us had dessert, I had a tremendous Crem Brulee, which was again just a delight to eat.
As we left, I told the owner that we had all loved our food, I also told the waitress that she was great at her job. Her face lit up and she held out her hand for me to take and she was just so grateful for what I had said. I do wish I had asked her her name because she was really lovely.
The sky was still overcast but the sun was still quite hot as we walked back to the port for the 3:15 pm ferry.
We had a drink in a small bar at the port before boarding the ferry where we again sat at the front of the boat, just in front of the bridge. I actually sat on the forward brow and it was a really nice journey. It takes about 80 minutes for the full trip and it was really nice to relax with a glass of wine as we sailed along the coast.
Back in Puerto Mogan we had a rum and coke with some ladies having a glass of honey rum before we headed back to our rooms.
I have to admit to being very tired after an early start and after a shower in our room I had a nap of around an hour, Wendy did too.
Jeepers I woke after the hour, even more shattered, just as it was getting dark and I saw that I had a message from Jenn telling me to get any washing I might have outside in, as it was now raining.
The drizzle soon turned to good old Highland rain soon after, but thankfully it was still quite warm.
I’m not sure what the rest of the night will bring, David and Donald have gone down to watch the football, Liverpool v Rangers, but I’m not really sure if I need to go back to bed, or party the night away!
No Travelling
Birthday Boy!
I had my first poor nights sleep last night and it wasn’t because I was excited about my birthday!
I eventually got up at 5:30 am and Wendy came out and gave me my birthday cards that she had tried to hide from me in the suitcase.
They were all very nice to receive and I put them on the small separating wall between the kitchen and lounge.
Eleanor had even taped me five-euro coins on the inside of her card and there was a little note posted that said it was for some mucky beer.
I went out running and even though the rain had long stopped, the dark morning sky still looked very overcast, so I put my jacket on. That was a big mistake because I was dripping in sweat by mile 3. Actually, again I bumped into Wendy in town and she said that she needed a drink of my precious water has she had swallowed a fly. She nabbed my bottle and took several good swigs of it, the bugger. My water, I knew, was going to be a very precious commodity today!
I nursed the rest of my water along my run and managed to make it back to the hotel, although I was absolutely drenched in sweat.
I had a sore eye yesterday and I thought that it might have recovered overnight, but sadly it got worse during my run.
I got back to the apartment and I immediately shaved and showered, I was that hot that I took a nicely cold shower.
I then had a small tub of muesli yogurt and then a nice hot cup of tea, actually I had two, and then another so that I would be nicely rehydrated after such a hot run.
I nipped to the shop across the road, where a beggar has been set up for the last four days. He has a very heart wrenching sign that tells people that he doesn’t work and has children to feed. He has some very strange priorities because he is often on the very latest smartphone whenever I pass him, needless to say I don’t give him anything. Its not about being cheap or cruel, I won’t be here next week, so he needs to get himself sorted out so he can provide for his kids himself.
We set off for the beach at 10:45 am with a very heavy cool bag of wine and beer.
It had been a little hazy overhead, despite the heat, but that very quickly burned off to give us by far the hottest day of the holiday.
At 11:30 am I left Wendy on the sunbed and I went with 2.50 euros of Eleanor’s money and went to the Yellow Bar where I had a very nice and very cold pint of beer. Jeepers it was just what the doctor ordered.
As I left, I reserved a table for six people for 2:00 pm.
Back on the sunbed I listened to the Jeremy Vine show on my I-phone and it was interesting to hear about the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis that happened exactly 60 years ago.
Max Hastings has written a book about the crisis and he was on the show giving his opinion about that and the current situation with Russia. He is worried because he said that back in the 1960’s President Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev where statesmen who understood diplomacy, and that Vladimir Putin doesn’t understand that concept and that he is quite unstable. Not such good news to hear on my birthday!
At 2:00 pm we walked along to the Yellow Bar, meeting Jenn and David and then Cathy and Donald along the way.
Unfortunately, no table had been prepared for us, but thankfully the waiters had one knocked up in no time at all.
My eye was still hurting quite badly and it was causing me a bit of hardship.
We took drinks and ordered our meals, I was going to have Mountain Lamb, which I was sure would be interesting. Jenn had washed my eye a few times with cold water but as it wasn’t having any effect, she took me to the pharmacy for some drops just before our meals came.
We got back just as our food arrived and I had a delightful, if not very unusual meal.
After eating Jenn now washed my eye out with the drops and it did give me a little bit of relief.
We ordered a dessert each and I had the best tiramisu of my life, it really was an utter, utter delight.
Someone had told the waiter that it was my birthday and a slice of very thick chocolate cake, along with a sole candle was produced and the entire restaurant sang happy birthday to me in Spanish.
We finished our meals and I thanked the staff for such a lovely dining experience and we then went back to the sun beds.
Donald and Cathy did their sunbed bagging routine and got another afternoon on a free bed while Jenn and David went back to the hotel as it was a bit too hot for David.
Jeepers it has been a stinking hot day.
Wendy’s cough now seems to have turned into a very horsey throat and she now sounds like she’s losing her voice, we did have a bit of a laugh about it. It’s not causing her any pain but she just sounds rather strange.
Donald and Cathy left the beach just before 6:00 pm and we followed at about 6:30 pm.
We showered back at the hotel and chilled out for a bit and we did intend to go across the road and spend some time in the Country and Western bar but we got side tracked to Donald’s balcony where everyone continued to make fun of my big toe on my left foot.
And now its time for bed, I have had a thoroughly lovely birthday in the sunshine but as I didn’t sleep that well last night, I find myself flagging.
Night, night avid reader see you again tomorrow!
No Travelling
Lazy!!!
I do apologise avid reader has I have been a bit remise about giving you some local information about our area. I do like to do this as its an educational aspect of my daily report and its very informative to my vast readership.
Well, where do I start?
Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands which is an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of North Africa and is part of Spain. As of 2019 the island had a population of 851,231 people, that constitutes approximately 40% of the population of the archipelago.
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the capital of the island, is the biggest city of the Canary Islands and the ninth of Spain.
Gran Canaria is located in the Atlantic Ocean in a region known as Macaronesia, about 93 miles off the north-western coast of Africa and about 840 miles from Europe.
With an area of 602 square miles and an altitude of 6,417 ft at Morro de la Agujereada, Gran Canaria is the third largest island of the archipelago in both area and altitude. Gran Canaria is also the third most populated island in Spain.
Puerto de Mogán, our resort town, is a picturesque fishing village and popular marina in the municipality of Mogán, set at the mouth of a steep-sided valley on the south-west coast of the island. From daylight which starts at around 7:45 am, it must take 2 hours for the sun to clear the hills to the east of the town, and it sets behind the hills to the west at just before 7:00 pm. The exact timings are subject to your location along the valley as the hills get steeper the further you are away from the beach
Canals linking the marina to the fishing harbour have led to it being nicknamed "Little Venice" or the "Venice of the Canaries". Its beach, Playa de Mogán has a good reputation.
Restaurants and bars fringe the marina and the beach front.
On Fridays there is a very popular market which brings in tourists from all over the island.
Puerto de Mogán has very few buildings over two storeys high and the government of Gran Canaria restricts new buildings taller than this. I’m not so sure of this, it might be right in the older harbour quarter but our hotel as at least six floors and the new one across the road has 4, and there are plenty outside of town that have more than 2.
I woke early again today but as it was a clear looking sky, we both waited until day break before we went out running. I chose to go out in my vest as it was bound to be warm when the sun came up.
I was right, I had a good old sweat on again when I got going and I was again lathered when I got back to the hotel.
After a nice banana smoothie and a shower, we both walked down the Mall to the Spar where we bought some supplies, and in particular some spring onions, a red chilli and some prawns. I am going to cook these in a nice Thai stir fry which I bought in the Aldi store in Inverness and brought out here in my suitcase.
After that we got back to the apartment and slipped into our beach wear for a full day’s bathing at the pool which is on the ground floor, directly below our apartment.
After I had dressed, I went out onto the balcony and when I came back out, I saw that we had some new neighbours to our left. I saw a single woman taking a Facetime call and she was telling someone about the views from the balcony. I could not crack her accent but as she was really blond, I am guessing Scandinavian.
By the time I had packed the cool box our neighbour had been joined by several other females and lots of laughing, chatting and occasionally cackling ensued.
We found some very nicely placed sunbeds by the pool and we settled down for a nice lazy day down there. However, the peace didn’t last too long as our new neighbours, 9 in total grabbed the beds next to us and settled down to chitter chat and undertake a little tomfoolery in the pool.
The group must be in their middle 40’s and to be fair they did seem very good natured. At the risk of being sizeist again, they were a group of mixed sized ladies, ranging from the very large to the moderately slight.
Donald and Cathy joined us a little later. Their flight isn’t until 10:00 pm tonight so they had a bit of time to spare so they joined us by the pool.
Poor David Latham wasn’t feeling too good so he stuck to his balcony again.
I had the cool bag with us and we did have a few beers and the odd sangria which made for that kind of really nice, time for a nod feeling, on my sun lounger.
I woke to find that Donald and Cathy had gone to town for some lunch with David and Jenn.
I nodded again and then woke as they all returned.
After a chat we said our goodbyes and waved them on their way.
I had a swim in the pool to cool off from today’s heat and then we both went up to the apartment where I cooked a very delightful supper which we ate on the balcony.
Wendy washed up after supper while I showered and then we headed down town for an evening walk in the nice night air.
We walked to the lookout where we can see the sunset but we were just too late, the night sky was lovely mind and you could just pick out Tenerife with its mountain.
We stopped for a drink at Rob’s Bar which was quite nice as it wasn’t as busy as Monday night. In fact, I asked him how busy it had been that night. He told me that it had been, “Bonkers, it was his busiest night since opening”.
We chatted with Rob for a while and then we tootled back to the apartment where after filing todays copy I’m going to watch a bit of Netflix and then settle down for the night.
Our new neighbours are quiet tonight, maybe they are all out and will come back blazing drunk at around 3:00 am. Maybe I’ll sleep with my ear plugs in tonight, just in case!
No Travelling
Arguineguin - Again
I’ve been meaning to detail about our bathroom door, its all glass. It is a little opaque but its still glass, and it’s a sliding door too.
Wendy is a bugger as she doesn’t fully open the door and as it’s a little dark where the entrance to the bathroom is, I keep bashing my shoulder on it. I have asked her a hundred times just to fully open it, but she never does, its likely I’ll be coming home with a black eye.
We were both awake before 5:30 am, with Wendy’s cough. It seems to be very bad overnight.
I went out running as soon as I could because:
It was another warm morning and I had by now my usual sweat on.
I saw Wendy in the darkness just running back to the new part of town as she was going over the short river bridge.
As I was running back, I was almost at the apartment when I came across Wendy who was going for a brief shop at the market.
And it really was a brief shop as she was back ten minutes later with 10 pairs of boxer shorts for me.
I don’t know why it is but continental boxers are far more comfortable than any I have ever bought in the UK.
After a quick breakfast of a muesli yogurt and a cup of hot strong black tea, a shave and a shower, we were off down to the harbour to catch the ferry.
Jeepers two ferry’s from the Blue Bird company came in and they were rammed with visitors for the market. We waited for the Salmon Line ferry as they have a better boat where we can sit up on the bow. Our boat eventually came in and it was more than rammed with people, it was over capacity. Thankfully only four of us got on for the return trip.
The journey along the coast was stunning, the sun was out and it was fantastic, just what the doctor ordered, bearing in mind we will be in Highland weather in 3 days’ time!
I had taken my cool bag with beer and wine and we had a couple of small beers as we sailed the coast.
We got to Arguineguin at about 12:15 pm and we walked around the back streets of the town. We didn’t do that the last time we were here but we managed it today and we saw some of the character of the town, and we liked it.
On one side street I came across a cracking little local bar, and I must admit to being a little jealous that I was going somewhere else for lunch as I really fancied this one.
We walked on further and we explored the town a little more.
We arrived at our intended luncheon restaurant to be bitterly disappointed that it was closed, for some unknown reason. The sign on the door said its closed only Saturdays, however it was closed, there was no mistaking.
And then it hit me, my wish had been granted, I could go back to the bar we had already found.
So, we retraced our steps and eventually we found it.
We sat outside and we were the only guests, but I still had a good feel about the place.
The owner came out to us and he spoke a little English which was good. We ordered his house wine and when that came we ordered several items from his tapas range.
The wine was lovely and we sat and waited for our meals to come out.
The outside seating area filled up with local people and it gave for a fantastic atmosphere.
Our food came in dribs and drabs as tapas should and every portion was an utter delight, it was phenomenal, it really was.
Here’s what we ordered:
Sadly, being the pigs we are we never ordered salad, and we saw some stonking salads come out later. However, we did have more than enough food for the two of us.
We had one last glass of wine and when I asked for the bill the waiter gave us a couple of options for an after-dinner liqueur. I had a honey rum and Wendy had a strawberry delight, both were really nice.
We walked back to catch the 2:15 pm ferry and again we had it all to ourselves.
The journey back, again was great and we sat on the rear seats facing seaward on the stern of the vessel.
We had a glass of wine on the boat and then after calling in for some provisions at the Hypo Dino store we settled down at the hotel pool for a few hours of sunshine, and some kip.
The sun set at 6:48 pm and after we had dropped our towels off at our room we took a walk to the very top of the hotel, about four more floors up. Wendy had found that there was another sundeck up there and that it might be nice for tomorrow.
However, we had to sneak up there as the stairs were blocked with traffic tape, and for good reason. There were boulders littered around the place and some had gone through the rooves of some apartments.
The recent storm had certainly left its impact on the hotel.
At around 8:45 pm we walked down to the Yellow Bar where Wendy had a cocktail and I ordered a half litre of sangria thinking that Wendy would take some too, she did but only a dash at the end.
Thankfully I managed to walk back and compose myself so that I could post my copy, but I do believe that time for bed is rapidly approaching.
It’s been a lovely day, but I am now feeling nibbley, but with end of holiday fast approaching there’s not much worth having from the fridge. I guess I’ll enjoy my vegemite toast even more in the morning!
The Stick Man!
No Travelling
I woke later today, it was 6:50 am when I woke. I felt a little tired and maybe I could have nodded off, but I fancied getting out and about.
Wendy was up not long after me and I took her tea to bed for her.
(Stop press - I have just been to wash my hands in the bathroom and she has done it again, left the bathroom door half open, I mean I have asked her for over two weeks to please fully open the bathroom door – what is it with females and simple requests?).
Anyway – We both went out together and I ran for two miles up the valley, came back and then carried on into the town and around the harbour. It was a very hazy morning which must have come about all of a sudden because when I woke up it was a beautiful clear night with the stars clearly visible.
I had a wonderful banana smoothie when I got back. For a smoothie, bananas are at their best when they are just turning yellow. They tend to have a texture then that makes the smoothie very smooth.
I had mine on the balcony and it was lovely.
We hung around the apartment for a short while, lazily actually while the haze cleared and then we went down to the beach for a day on a sunbed.
We found two sun beds just a row back from the front and settled down for some relaxation.
Jeepers it got busy.
And then the family, not quite from hell, but from poor parenting came and settled on the sunbeds next to Wendy.
They consisted of a young man and his wife, their two young children, a boy of around 10, called Noah. There was also a little sister called Poppy who was about 8.
Then there was his mother and Dave? And they had a little girl of their own, called Jenna. Jenna was about 9 years old, she was certainly younger than her nephew Noah.
Jeepers some people should not have children. The dad, (not Dave the dad) had no interest in playing with his kids and all they did was mope around the sunbeds, board stiff. The dad, (not Dave again, Dave actually never communicated with anyone). He never took them down to the sea, he never dug a deep hole and he certainly never got buried in the sand.
Coming from a council estate upbringing I have every right to say what I am about to say next. They were as common as muck, their only saving grace was that I never heard any bad language from any of them.
At some point the dad, (not Dave) told the kids they were, and I quote, “Doing his head in”. That necessitated him and Dave upping sticks and going for a pint in a beach side bar.
I took a walk along the beach and I have to say the state of the water was atrocious, it had a scummy sheen to it and lots of floatsum, naturally I didn’t go swimming.
I walked to the end of the beach and I came across another phenonium of this beach, The Stick Man.
The Stick Man is a fellow who we have all seen, usually in the early morning.
He has three sticks and attempts to juggle them around in some kind of Japanese mental wellbeing / martial arts thing. The trouble is that he is utterly rubbish at it. He drops the sticks more often than he holds them, then he does some strange pick up that usually requires a handstand.
I would say that he is in his middle 30’s and doesn’t look all that fit to be conducting his activities outside of his normal morning times. He had a right audience of not very impressed on lookers.
Back at the bed and the kids were still bored. Thankfully they were that board that dad suggested they get back in the taxi so that the kids could be washed and ready so that they can get good seats for tonight’s turn in the function room at the hotel.
Of course, they were northern English, most likely from Lancashire by the sound of their accents. Wendy found this very funny!!!
I never heard any of this because as soon as I could tell what they were like I put Radio 4 on my head phones and listened to the news at 1:00 pm and never took them off until gone 3:00 pm.
I got all this info from Wendy who had been earwigging their every word, well she would wouldn’t she, but in fairness you couldn’t really help it.
To celebrate their departure, we took a walk to the Yellow Bar for a nice refreshing pint of beer which we sat and sipped in the shade.
Back at the sun beds and peace and quiet had been restored.
We left the beach at 5:30 pm and called into the Spar for some chicken breasts and mushrooms for tonight’s supper.
I was on cook duty and tonight it was a bit of a mash up with stuff chucked into the pan to get them used up. Basically though it was chicken and a chilli garlic sauce with fried mushrooms and creamy pasta. But it was as tasty as anything, I loved it, we ate it on the balcony and it really was a delight.
We watched Strictly Dancing and for me Tony Adams stole the show with his very brave performance, for a 55-year-old man he doesn’t look half bad in the buff, well almost buff. I did like his suspenders mind!
No Travelling
WARNING – Strictly Result Below!
I was woken at 3:15 am by someone continually using the word “Shit”, it went on in a desperate soft voice, “Shit, Shit, Shit”. Of course, it was Wendy and the way in which she was saying it, it gave me the impression something was badly wrong so I jumped out of bed. I found Wendy in the darkness of the kitchen, “What’s wrong”, I asked.
“There was a cockroach in the bathroom”, was the reply.
Apparently, she saw it as the light from outside gives the bathroom a bit of twilight. It gave her a fright and then she lost sight of it but then she saw it again and chased it under the front door.
I could not get to sleep for ages after that little episode and then I woke at 5:30 am and found Wendy bimbling on her I-pad because she was too worried to go back to sleep in case it came back in.
I nodded a little more but finally got up at 6:10 am and as I walked into the lounge, I saw a kitten fast asleep on the sofa. Jeepers I shooed it out smartish as that would most likely have finished Wendy off had she found it.
At 6:30 am this morning while having my breakfast I Googled the Strictly Spoiler and the result was that Richie had been in the dance off against Fleur and that she had been saved and Richie had been voted off. It seems now as there is a Strictly audience the undercover mole as returned to their duties.
I went out running with the intention of running up the big hill which is directly opposite the hotel. I ran up the mall first to the kindergarten so that I would have warmed up before the big climb. However, when I got to the big steel gates to the road up, I saw a sign that said residents only, it had cctv and on closer inspection I saw what looked like a laser trip wire. I thought better of it, although having thought about it, I could have played silly and pretended that I had not noticed the sign, having said that I must have appeared on cctv looking closely at all the security stuff.
With nothing else to do I ran my usual route around the harbour.
I bumped into Wendy, who promptly demanded a drink of my ice-cold water.
I got back to the apartment sweating again where we went down to the laundry and after depositing 4.5 euros into a washing machine, we washed all my stinky running clothes, apart from the stuff I will wear tomorrow.
Today we stayed by the pool and what a stinking hot day it was.
As Wendy read her book, I listened to my running playlist on I-tunes.
I mention last week about trigger tunes and today I had the same experience.
Funnily enough I heard two tracks, one from INXS and one from Split Endz.
This took me back to my time on Operation Raleigh. I was on a month’s phase of my 14 week expedition, it was in the tropical rainforest of Mulgrave River and we were supported by the Australian Army.
The chap in charge was a really fantastic man, Major Phil Warwick, he was a topping fella and I got on really well with him. Being a Major though he was a little older than me, I was 24.
However, I also got on really well with his 2 IC, a young Lieutenant called Peter Murphy. Pete was an artillery officer who was more my age.
In the morning Pete had to send a situation report to HQ via a wind-up radio. The radio could be operated by one person but as I was up at 6:00 am I would wind the radio while Pete did his sit rep.
I can hear him now, “Mulgrave, Mulgrave, Mulgrave – Sit Rep, Sit Rep, Sit Rep, Over”. He would then proceed to tell HQ that all was well and that no injuries had been received.
It was during one of these transmits that he told me about an emerging Australian rock group, “It’s called in excess Dave, but here’s the thing its actually spelled INXS”, I said, “I know about them Pete, Australian music sometimes does extend to the UK”.
On another day he told me that I must never mention the word repeat over the radio as this was the command given to start an artillery battery. He told me with great pride that he had had the honour once to do it and he said it was really awe-inspiring to see the guns and rockets launch on his one command.
It would be nice to have a chat with Pete again after all these years, I do wonder how his military career progressed.
It was too hot for Wendy at the pool and she left at 4:00 pm and walked over to the shop for some provisions.
I got chatting to a fella from Macclesfield on another sunbed, he was an ex-coal miner like myself, but he had gone into the prison service after his mine closed and was now only working two days a week as he was semi-retired.
I told him about an incident that I had attended at HMP Lindholme in the late 1980’s when I was a fireman in Doncaster. It was a riot where the prisoners had gone on the rampage. I told him how I was impressed that before we could go in and tackle the fires the police had converged in vast numbers and that each officer had a holdall that contained their helmets, knee and elbow pads amongst other necessary equipment to quell a riot. He told me that was the prison service rapid response unit and that he had been a part of it, small world, eh?
I left the pool just before 6:00 pm and it had been really relaxing, I had had a couple of cold beers from the cool bag and a glass of sangria too, but by now I was beginning to get hungry for my last night meal out.
Wendy wanted to eat at a restaurant in the harbour area, but when we got there it was full so we ended up in the old faithful Yellow Bar. Thank goodness we did too, it was lovely food.
We both had The Chefs Fillet Steak and apart from the chef’s pretentious bacon wrap trimming it was absolutely perfectly cooked.
The bar even had live music too, and he was quite good as well.
I fancied a pudding but I could not eat a full one so we asked for two pudds to go, I had a tiramisus and Wendy had the chocolate maize.
We walked back hoping to see the Hunters Moon but it seemed to be hanging behind the hill so we went back to the apartment where I had half of my pudd and we watched the Strictly Dance off, and thankfully the Strictly Spoiler was spot on again!
37 Miles
1759 Nautical Miles
12 Miles
I slept quite well again last night but I was awakened at 5:20 am by Wendy Gill padding around the apartment going to the toilet and then she went into the fridge in the kitchen.
I got up at 5:50 am and watched the early morning news while I finished my tiramisu from last night and had a very nice cup of tea.
I waited until daylight before I went out running for the last time. I did think about going up that big hill but I thought that I had better not as I didn’t want to spend my last day in a prison cell.
Today I completed my 18th run in Puerto de Mogan, covering 135.75 miles. This brought my grand total to 21,443 miles over 2,509 continuous days at an average distance of 8.55 miles per day.
I ran in my vest today as I didn’t want to have to travel with a smelly sweatshirt and jacket in my back pack back to the UK.
I got back to the apartment and Wendy had extended our room until 7:00 pm, we only needed it until 5:00 pm and she didn’t have to pay the usual 36 euros, we don’t know why but that was more than a little win.
I had a very nice last banana smoothie and I sat out on the balcony for one last time while I drank it. I then had my cup of tea inside while I checked today’s news.
I was astounded to find that that bad bugger Vladimir Putin had the gall to call the Ukrainians terrorists for blowing up some teeny tiny bridge in the Crimea. I mean what the hell has he been doing since February?
I had a very nice long shower and then we finished packing our bags.
The sun was not fully out yet so we took a walk into town to give the dessert glasses back to the Yellow Bar from last nights, and then to have a walk around town.
We had one last walk around the harbour and then we headed back to the Yellow Bar for one last big beer.
From there we called into a small store where Wendy bought our little girls something she thought they would like.
Back at the apartment we sat out on the balcony getting the last of the sun before we head home into the autumn gloom of the Highlands.
Jeepers the sun was hot, it was stinking hot actually.
I listened to the Jeremey Vine Radio 2 show online and it was quite interesting as he covered the bridge attack in the Ukraine and nasty Russia’s response.
At 2:00 pm we walked back into town for a very nice lunch back at the Yellow Bar.
Do you know after almost 3 weeks from home I fancied some chips, and so did Wendy. We settled on the same food for lunch, a cheese burger with a portion of shared chips and it was very, very tasty. The burger was lovely, nice, meaty and cheesy and the chips were hot and tasty. It was good old-fashioned food and it was lovely.
The cheese burger was almost plain with only lettuce and a large slice of tomato, but it was a very meaty burger.
We shared a vey nice bottle of house wine too.
I chatted to the waiter who I have met before and I told him that we were going home to the UK today. He told me that everything ends, which I know myself is very true. He is from Romania and he has lived in Puerto de Mogan for the last 20 years. In fact. we found out that he worked at the German Bar, which is in the old town square where I had my 50th birthday meal. We even talked about the owner’s son Sven, who used to make cocktails there.
We walked back to the apartment where we spent one more hour on the balcony, Wendy fell fast asleep while I listened to the Nicki Chapman show on BBC Sounds.
It was still stonking hot and as Wendy slept, I drank the last of the vodka, the red wine and the sangria and it was very, very nice. There wasn’t much left to drink, and I didn’t want to be blazing drunk on the bus back to the airport.
At 5:00 pm we took the lift down to reception and waited for our bus to the airport. It came pretty quickly and as expected no one apart from two other couples and us wore facemasks on the bus as we are obliged to do in Spain.
Jeepers the bus was rammed full by the time it had wound its way around the hills of Puerto Rico and Amadores Beach.
Check in was as smooth as it could have been and we settled down in the departure lounge in very close proximity to the most screechy little girl that you could ever have the misfortune to meet. Christ she was loud, in fact I think she has caused permanent damage to my right ear drum.
The time in the airport flew and we were soon in the boarding area where it was a little chaotic, and Wendy had a little moan. Actually, we were the last to board the flight but that wasn’t a problem as we were only on the second row.
With my rather large cabin bag stuffed under my seat I settled myself down, I plugged myself into BBC Sounds, had a couple of glasses of wine with a sandwich and promptly fell asleep.
The flight went very quickly, as I was asleep for most of it!
We landed and we had to do the thing I very much hate, get onto a bus for a trip to the terminal.
Once at the terminal we were through immigration very quickly and our bags were coming round on the carrousel as we approached it.
We were out of the airport quick sticks and into a taxi which was driven by the best taxi driver I have ever met.
What a smashing lad he was! We were fully enclosed inside his cab but we chatted together through a radio link and he was just so full of life, and at 3:00 am.
The fair to Robyn’s came to £45 and as I had previously arranged with Robyn to leave me some money inside her front door, it was all in £20, so I gave him sixty quid. He was delighted and thanked me profusely. I told him anyone providing such a good service at that time of the morning deserves to be adequately rewarded. So, with a firm shake of my hand off he went back out into the night.
I was absolutely gagging for a drink when I got in the house and I was so pleased to find a bottle of Theakston’s Old Peculiar in the fridge. Now I know its not for Alex as its not GF, so either I have left it or someone has got it in especially for me!
188 Miles
Home
I didn’t sleep especially well and I woke at 6:20 am. I did doze but I was awake before 7:00 am. I can’t say I felt wide awake but I was at least functional.
I could hear Alex changing Rose in the bathroom before she came to find me and her nanny for a chat in bed. As we chatted, we spotted a present which I guess was a birthday present for me. I opened it to find 6 pairs of very nice good quality running socks and some very top of the range running gloves which will come in very handy this winter.
Robyn came and joined us and we chatted a little more.
We all ended up downstairs where Rose tucked into her Weetabix and I had some tea and toast. I just didn’t fancy going out running so just after 9:00 am, after Rose had gone to nursery, we left and headed north.
Thankfully the road was good and we made great progress, listening to the Ken Bruce show as we drove along.
Popmaster was a good competition today, the first player got 27 points and the second player got 33 points, and he went on to win 3 in 10 with hits for ZZ Top. He rattled them straight off the top of his head and Ken could hardly keep up.
We had one mad moment on the road when a box van behind a truck decided to overtake, just as we were almost neck and neck with the truck. Out of shear luck we were at the entrance to a long parking place so I managed to dodge almost certain impact on reaction alone. I did manage to quickly fire off two fingers in the direction of the driver.
We got a message from Brad to tell us to call in for my birthday present from Caroline, Eleanor and him before we went home.
Ellie was a little shy when we got in the house but like Rose had with hers, she came out of her shell when her gran gave her the sea creatures, we had brought back for her, like Rose she loved them.
My present turned out to be five speciality sauces which I will use with great pleasure over the coming winter.
After a quick chat we drove round to Tesco where we bought some basic food items before heading home.
We arrived home at just gone 1:00 pm and the first job was to unload the luggage from the car.
Jeepers by now we were both shattered but we were intent on keeping going so that we could have an early night tonight. I went and got some building supplies from B&Q for the new shed canopy and Wendy set about the washing.
I got back just after 3:30 pm and procrastinated for about 30 minutes before I got my gear on and went on the treadmill. The old gym is looking more like a construction site than a place to work out, but I did manage my 8 miles by watching a Denzel Washington film.
Supper was toasted sausage sandwiches, and I used some of my new sauce on and it was a real treat.
And that’s that for this trip, but tune in in 4 weeks’ time Avid Reader for a week’s long up and down the country trip as we drive down to Kent for Poppy’s wedding!
179 Miles
Heading South
I started my day at 4:50 am when the alarm went off, Wendy wasn’t expecting it and almost hit the ceiling when she heard it. I turned it off and slid out of bed and into my running gear for an 8-mile sweatathon before heading off to work at 8:00 am.
I had a good old sweat on when I had finished and then I had a lovely smoothie, some toast and vegemite followed by hot tea and a nice relaxing shower.
Packing the car wasn’t much fun as we have wedding suits and dresses, the travel cot for Rose and then I have to make sure that we have room to drop Alex, Robyn and Rose off at the airport after the wedding a week on Saturdays. Jeepers they do not travel light these days those Shepherd’s so its going to be an interesting 50 miles to Gatwick Airport.
We set off for work just after 8:00 am and the drive down to Aviemore was smooth and the traffic was light so I made it for 9:00 am.
I only had four hours to work and as I was working at the Highland Hotel that’s where I settled Wendy down before checking up on a few technical points for the fire risk assessment that I had just completed.
I had to go up into the lift motor room so Robert, the maintenance Team Leader helped me out by providing a long ladder so that I could get access.
I found a few issues up there but nothing serious, apart from the large CO2 fire extinguisher that I had found up there that had not been tested since 1997! Yes, that’s right it was 25 years out of test date, that’s the longest out of date extinguisher that I have ever found. I suppose it is an out of the way place and if whoever knew it was there had left the company and that information had not been passed on, then its easy to see why!
At 1:00 pm we headed down the A9, with me cadging a cup of coffee from Vera, the very nice lady who runs the coffee shop, it was just what I needed.
Traffic was light and we made good progress and we were at the house in what seemed like record time, it took 2 hrs and 30 minutes.
As Rose was at Nursery and as we need to make an early start for tomorrows long journey I did tomorrow mornings run.
The weather was still nice and I ran down to the Harbour in Musselburgh where I arrived just as night fell.
I sat on a bench drinking from my water bottle as the darkness flooded in around me.
I got back to the house just before 6:00 pm and Rose was home and had had her supper.
I got quite a few cuddles from her and some lovely kisses and we played for a while on the kitchen floor with her toys.
Soon enough bath time came and I had my supper, which was an utter delight, barbeque pulled pork, baked potato and broccoli, it was just what the doctor ordered.
As Rose went to bed, I did a little work on my report as I wanted to send it in before I left work for over a week. That done I nipped to Tesco for fuel and a few items for the trip.
As they had readymade babysitters under their roof Robyn and Alex went out for supper.
Wendy went to bed just after 9:00 pm and after I file tonight’s short copy, I intend to watch a little TV and then hit the sack myself as it’s been along and tiring day, well I did do a 16 miler!
464 Miles
Made It!!!
Alex and Robyn came in at around 9:30 pm and they had bought me a couple of bottles of beer, one Theakston’s and one Timmy Taylor. I took the Timmy Taylor and Alex put the other in the fridge. However, when Robyn later went in to the fridge, which is above the freezer section, the bottle fell out, hit the floor and fizzed a good while.
It looked like I was having another beer, but I quickly covered it in clingfilm and then to be double sure I wrapped the neck with an elastic band and put it back in the fridge, intending to take it with me tomorrow.
I was in bed by 11:15 pm and I settled nicely down. However, Wendy had Rose’s baby monitor with her and the poor little mite coughed a lot through the night, waking us up at regular intervals. Maybe Rose is allergic to me?
I woke at just gone 6:00 am and nipped down for tea and toast.
By the time I had washed and shaved Wendy and Robyn were downstairs talking and I heard Rose chatting in her cot.
I lifted Rose out and I got a lovely cuddle as I did, she even puckered up for a nice kiss.
After an hours play around we packed the car and we said our goodbyes and set off for the mammoth road trip at 8:00 am.
I had some concerns about this journey, because:
Normally going to Kent from Robyn’s we would take the A1 south, the A14, the M11, the M25, across the Dartford Crossing and then the A2, then the M2 and finally the A249 onto the Isle of Sheppey.
I wanted to try to avoid the Dartford crossing so instead I set the SatNav for Carlisle and after we got there, we could go down the M6 and then decide on the final approach when the picture was a little clearer as I would get regular radio updates.
The SatNav took us down a very beautiful road all the way to Moffat. The road was stunning, it was sunny but it was quite cold, it was one degree in most places.
The route was over the Borders and into Dumfries and Galloway and we popped out onto the M74 with about 30 miles to go to Carlisle.
We settled down on the road and as we cruised down over the hills of Cumbria, I set the SatNav to take me down the M40, but as the route over the Dartford Crossing was looking clear, I took that option.
I’ll never know if it was right or wrong, but all I can say is that it was busy.
But at least we were moving.
We stopped twice, both times to buy coffee to keep me awake as I was struggling at times.
We covered the first 350 miles easily, but the last 120 was quite hard. It was nose to tail over three lanes for most of the way and of course the idiots were out in force swapping lanes and weaving in and out of the traffic.
There was one accident we passed on the M1, where we crawled passed it. I never looked at the accident, I kept my eyes on the road and as soon as we passed the accident the road opened up and the traffic moved freely again.
We slowed up over the Queen Elizabeth Bridge at the Dartford Crossing, but that’s fine as the views are stunning.
We had one extra detour, we had to take the M20, instead of the M2 as there are roadworks at the exit we would need to take, which gave us another 30 minutes delay.
By the time we were at Grannies I was starving and I very much welcomed the hot and tasty beef cobbler that Granny had waiting for us, it was a delight and it filled me up nicely.
And that’s it for today, I am absolutely shattered, Granny is in bed, she’s very tired and we are sat with Grandad in the kitchen having a chit chat and it won’t be long before I am in bed too.
As we sit here at just gone 7:00 pm fireworks are flying about all around us, rockets and bangers are exploding everywhere, and now I can hear the sound of a fire engine, so it looks like its going to be a wild time on Sheppey tonight.
But, isn’t it the 4th, and not the 5th of November today, jeepers I wonder what tomorrow night will bring!
Would you believe I forgot the bottle of Theakston’s and its still in Robyn’s fridge, I’m sure it will be fine for my next visit at the back end of December.
No Travelling
Cricket!
Jeepers I had another bad night’s sleep last night.
I forced myself to stay up past 11:00 pm so that I would be ready for a good sleep and when I got in bed Wendy had been in for over an hour and was fast asleep. The air bed was low on pressure and I couldn’t blow it up as the pump makes a right racket, so I had to make do.
Then at some point in the night the heating came on and as the radiator is right next to the bed I was boiling hot. I had been assured by grandad that he had turned it off last night but it sure was hot in there.
I woke at 6:00 am and I had to get up, it was just too hot.
I had a slice of toast and a nice cup of tea, I got dressed in my running gear and waited a while for the cricket commentary to start before I went out. Wendy went out before me and did an extra-long run.
I set off and listened to the cricket commentary of England v Sri Lanka in the world cup game. Jeepers Sri Lanka started off knocking the ball out of the park, but thankfully we took some crucial wickets at the right time.
I ran down to Queenborough Harbour and then along the north shore of the island before heading towards town by passing Sheerness Docks.
I don’t think I have ever detailed any historical information about the Isle of Sheppey so here is some:
The Isle of Sheppey, some nine miles long and half as wide, lies on the southern side of the Thames estuary and is separated from the north Kent coast by a narrow channel of the sea called the Swale. Sheerness in the mid-seventeenth century was a short, beak-shaped point of uninhabited marshland jutting out of the north-western tip of the island. To mariners it was generally referred to as the Ness or the Point.
The Island was originally settled so that a dock could be built there. It was an ideal location for a naval dockyard as it offered protection to both the River Thames and the River Medway.
By 1738, workers from the Dockyard had built the first houses in Sheerness, a small shanty named Blue Town – so-called from the grey-blue paint they had purloined from the dockyard and used on the exterior of the houses. In the latter half of the eighteenth century a new outlying colony, Mile Town (a mile from the Dockyard) had sprung up, forming the nucleus of the modern town of Sheerness.
I like Blue Town, actually its only a short street of one row of terrace buildings with beautiful views of the dockyards high dark brick walls. In fact the dock wall towers over the terrace.
There are a few pubs along the row, there’s a museum and that’s about it. Its only a half mile from the town centre of Sheerness but it does retain its own identity and as I say I quite like it. Its particularly nice to sit outside one of the pubs on a nice sunny afternoon and enjoy a nice pint, especially with all the naval history around you.
There is a local legend that Lord Nelson spent the night with his mistress, Emma, (Lady) Hamilton on the island, but try as I might I cannot confirm the accuracy of this. Although I did find out that Emma had certainly lived an interesting life, even before she became involved with Nelson.
I got back just in time to watch the last two overs of the cricket match and England had, thankfully, pegged the Sri Lankans to 141 runs for their 20 overs.
I watched the England innings with granddad and we took off to a flying start and then a few wickets fell, and then we needed 13 runs from the last 12 balls. Thankfully Chris Woaks hit the winning four with just a few balls to spare in the last over. That was almost a nail biter of a game.
I showered after the game and then Wendy and me went to Tesco to get a few things for granny before settling down for an hour or two at the house.
It had rained while I was out running, it wasn’t heavy, more like a short shower but it had cleared up by the time we went out.
At 2:45 pm we all jumped into the car for the short drive to The Playa Bar which is on the Leas at Minster. The Leas is a very nice area as it overlooks the Thames Estuary and there are some very nice, and expensive houses along there.
I had booked a table and thank goodness I had, it was mobbed as there was a private function there, which was a surprise party for a 90 year old man, and he did indeed look surprised.
We each had a lovely meal and we all had something different.
And they were all hot, (apart from grandads obviously), very tasty and very well presented, and served by very smiley staff.
All in all, it was a very nice dining experience.
The landlady came over and chatted, and despite having a full house she spent ten minutes telling us about her early career in the hospitality business working alongside her granny, jeepers she was interesting, and funny.
Back at the house I had myself a very nice glass of wine in the kitchen writing todays copy while the rest of them settled down in the living room.
Its bonfire night tonight and its now dark so I guess that pretty soon I’ll be hearing the bangs and crashes of rockets and catherine wheels. Oh, I did used to love bonfire night when I was a nipper, we collected fire wood weeks before the night and then we had to guard it for a whole week before the night in case some bugger either pinched it or set it on fire!
And that’s it for tonight’s copy, I’m going to file early and then it’s going to be Strictly Dancing, maybe another glass of wine and then early to bed as the adventure continues because tomorrow, I’ll be up on the South Bank for three nights in London.
57 Miles
More Rain!!!
I had a better sleep last night, well I was in bed early enough.
I woke at 5:00 am and waited 20 minutes before sliding out of bed for my tea and toast. I was surprised to see Wendy pop out of the bedroom and then take her tea back to bed.
I was sat drinking my tea and watching TV on my laptop, via earphones so as to not disturb anyone, and I heard a right old racket going off outside. I looked out of the back door and it was bouncing down with rain. I went into the bedroom where Wendy was almost dressed in her running gear and after showing her the rain, she put a rain check on her morning’s fitness activities.
I was already in my gear, with my tracksuit bottoms on, which I had to take off and swap for shorts as the trackies come down my backside when they get wet.
I ran up to Minster and along the cliffs, down to the Lea’s.
The rain by now had slowed to a minor drizzle so I wasn’t that wet.
I got back to the house and it was actually dry overhead so things were improving.
Wendy had gone out as well so it was definitely an improving weather situation
After getting out of my wet clothes I made a bacon sandwich for grandad and me, and boy was it tasty. Grannies’ bacon was the nicest bacon I had had in ages, it was thick and very tasty. Wendy then fried a slice of bread in the bacon fat that had been left over, she is such a piglet!
By the time I had shaved and showered it was just gone ten so we set off for the drive to Battersea.
First up though we stopped at Morrisons to buy some ice for the cool bag that we had borrowed from Granny, well we do need to keep our wine cool.
Because of the roadworks at Stockburry roundabout the SatNav took us through Sittingbourne and then dropped us back out at Stockburry but sadly I was on the wrong side of the very busy dual carriageway that goes to Detling and I had to take our lives in my hand in getting to the other side. Jeepers it was busy but I was lucky that I could just nip out. I must make sure not to take this route if I have Rose in the car with me next week, although I don’t think I will be London bound with her.
The drive along the M2 was a bit tricky as the rain came back with a vengeance and there was lots of spray being churned up by the traffic. It was nice to see so many people slow down due to the road conditions, well, apart for the odd silly plonker who thought it ok to go at 80 mph!
We did well, driving along the A2 and into central London. We did come across a huge tailback on the opposite carriageway because of flooding along one section of the road. The tail back went on for at least 3 miles.
We did have some flooding along the route but nothing too drastic.
It’s been many years since I have driven around London and I loved it.
We went along Shooters Hill, through Lambeth, passed Greenwich, Peckham, Camberwell Green, around the Oval Cricket Ground and almost onto the south bank of the Thames. The SatNav threw a wobbly at one point and nearly had me in the congestion zone, but I wasn’t having any of it and I managed to dodge the charge by quickly doubling back.
Driving down York Road, through Battersea and we were in the Travelodge car park before you could say, “It’s still chucking down”.
On check in the young woman told us that it had rained really hard.
On the landing of our bedroom, I was attacked by two Iranian drones in the shape of two robotic vacuum cleaners. Jeepers they were rough and almost had Wendy on her backside.
I had to get the cleaning staff to call them off or they would have been in the bedroom with us!
After a quick bag drop, we were out and heading east along the Thames path, and then it rained, no it poured, no, actually it monsooned!!!
We had a small brolley each but pretty soon the back of our trouser legs were soaked. We did put a brave face on it mind and carried on regardless. But it didn’t last long, we knew we couldn’t hold out against the deluge so I did a quick check on the Wetherspoons app and I soon located the nearest bar, 0.4 of a mile away.
Safely tucked up out of the rain we hatched a plan to call into the nearest Tesco and buy food to take back to the room for an afternoon tapa, as by now we had given up on the Sunday roast we had thought we would like.
We spent 40 minutes in the bar and then we walked to Tesco only for the rain to stop. We decided to carry on with the plan and we walked again along the Thames Path.
We came unstuck at Battersea Park as it was closed due to a fireworks display tonight, and to walk around it would be a massive detour.
Unperturbed I set a course for the Wetherspoons at Clapham Junction with the thinking that if we came across a pub serving Sunday lunches, we would grab one and bag the bar later in the week. Sadly, I went into 3 pubs serving food, but they were all solidly booked, in fact they were already mobbed with young people, and there’s me thinking that there is a cost of living crisis ruining the country.
Never mind the Tesco tapas was back on the cards and we did indeed duly find an obliging store where we selected:
Actually, it was very tasty as I ate it while watching the rugby international where England lost against Argentina.
That’s it for tonight’s copy Avid Reader, Strictly Dancing is going to be a sad affair tonight, one of my favourites is eliminated tonight but at least they have had the time of their life while they were on the show.
I think an early bed is in store for me tonight as I intend to go for my run along the Thames path followed by another mammoth walk around the south bank of London.
No Travelling
The Long Walk
I woke at around 5:30 am this morning with the worst kind of cramp I have ever known. It was in my left calf and the entire muscle went into spasm, it woke me pretty quickly.
Rub it is I did, it took an age to clear, in fact it turned out to be one of those cramps that lingers in the muscle until a few hours later.
I did manage to get back to sleep albeit a bit disturbed, and I got up just before 7:00 am and made a very nice hot cup of black tea. Wendy was awake too so she had her tea in bed, well there isn’t much else you can do in a one seat Travelodge bedroom.
Thankfully it wasn’t raining when I went out for my run, but it was very overcast, it was so overcast I could not see the aircraft passing overhead on their final approach to Heathrow Airport, I could hear them though!
I ran all the way along the Thames River path to Hammersmith Bridge, it was great, if not a little boggy in places. I would have liked to go to the middle of the bridge but as it is under repair there is a one-way pedestrian system in operation so you can only go across one way and then back the other, so there wasn’t an option of a halfway crossing. Never mind I did at least make it. Wendy didn’t go out today as she has left her jacket at her mums.
I got back to the hotel and after eating a southern fried chicken wrap, and then a shower, we were ready to go and explore at around 11:00 am.
We had decided to walk back along the same route I had run earlier to Putney and at Putney Bridge we found one of the nicest Weatherspoon’s Bars, The Rocket.
With its large riverside window lounge, it’s very pleasant and comfortable seats and its easy pace of life. There was also a total absence of the riff-raff element that is usually associated with the pub chain.
We had a very nice pint of real ale and enjoyed the peace of the place, it was lovely.
As soon as we walked outside though the heavens opened, and the wind picked up.
We took a walk around Putney and nipped into a shopping centre where I bought a sturdier brolly from Sports Direct as the one Donald bought me in Gran Canaria has been battered to death.
Back out on the streets and thankfully the rain was easing.
We walked Putney to death and then set off in the direction of Wandsworth which was a very easy and interesting walk.
By the time we had got to Wandsworth, around 1:00 pm we were hungry so we found a bar where we went to take a look at the menu.
As we walked in there were a group of couples around my age sat near the window. As I was about to open the door, two of the people sat there waved at me. I knew wat was coming but I ignored them to save their embarrassment; they had mistaken me for someone else. As I passed, I heard one of them say, “I was sure it was him”, I heard another say, “He has a doppelganger.” Jeepers I would like to see who they were talking about!
The place wasn’t for us anyway so we went back to the river walk, heading back to our hotel as we knew of a pub close by where we could get some food.
The Ship, it was quite nice inside, it had a fantastic wood burning stove and although there was only one other couple in, the atmosphere was quite nice.
Wendy ordered a beef and ale pie which came with mash and red cabbage with gravy, and I pushed the boat out as I fancied a nice piece of fillet steak which came with triple cooked chips and a “Wild Rocket Salad”.
I had a beer and Wendy had a glass of wine.
The food came and Wendy’s meal looked and was lovely, it was hot and it was actually a full pie, not one of those brought in a dish, a kind of half pie.
However, I wasn’t so lucky, my steak was small, it was over cooked, at best it was medium rare and not at all anywhere near the rare I asked for, it was also a little tough which really isn’t what fillet steak is all about. The worst bit though was that the, “Wild Rocket Salad”, was just a handful of rocket leaves.
I ate it anyway, it was all right but it wasn’t a £34 meal, cost of living crisis or not!
When the fella came to take our plates, I had to tell him, I thought I would start with the rocket and then get onto the steak depending on how he takes it.
I said, “That wasn’t a salad pal, it was leaves, a salad is a combination of various vegetables, this was just leaves”. I could tell from his facial response that he could not care too hoots and that it would be a waste of time telling him about the steak.
I paid the bill a little later on and we left the place. It was only later while sat in another bar that I saw the TripAdvisor reviews which clearly showed that the place had gone downhill in recent months.
We carried on with our walk and after passing by our hotel we ended up at Battersea Power Station which has undergone a massive transformation in recent years. It is now part of a massive metropolis of high rise, large glazed apartments, and the interior of the old power station is now a very upmarket shopping centre on three floors, it also has some very exclusive apartments too!
Its amazing and its nice to see that after all these years the place is now a fully functioning and very useful building again.
We strolled through the very large Battersea Park heading back to the hotel and took in a very nice bottle of wine in a bar along the route as by now we were becoming a little weary after a long day on foot.
We got back to the hotel after being out over 6 hours and covering just over 12 miles.
Its my intention, or rather hope to avoid going north of the River Thames on this trip as I want to explore the south of London, although the weather might come into play tomorrow as more rain is predicted and the possibility of taking the tube to the West End might be a life saver!
No Travelling
Sailing Day!
Aren’t some people inconsiderate, I heard a woman’s North American accent at around 1:00 am this morning chatting away to someone, maybe on the phone, as she waltzed down the corridor. She didn’t wake me enough to get out of bed and rollock her, she was just on the peripheral of me being fully awake and half asleep. When we woke at 7:00 am Wendy said that she wasn’t the only one chatting their way down the corridor, apparently there were others.
It was a much clearer morning when I went out, I left Wendy in bed again as she is still using the, “I’ve left my jacket at mums”, excuse.
Today I ran along the Thames River Path in an easterly direction and I managed to get as far as Lambeth Bridge.
I was a little disappointed that due to building works I couldn’t go in front of the MI6 building, if my memory serves me right it was the same when I was here with Rose in the summer.
I got back to the hotel at just gone ten and after a duck and hoisin sauce wrap and two cups of steaming tea we headed out to catch the Uber Ferry to Greenwich. Sadly though, although we have Plantation Wharf directly behind the hotel, we had missed the last ferry for a few hours by a matter of minutes and so we had to walk to Battersea Power Station which was a walk of over 2 miles.
Never mind it was a lovely morning and the sun was out, I even had to put my sunglasses on.
We had s stroke of luck as we approached the ferry terminal. We were about 500 yards from the terminal when a ferry pulled in. It was 12 minutes past 12:00 pm and the ferry was due to leave at 12:15 pm. As we came from beneath Chelsea Bridge, I checked the time and it was 14 minutes passed, and there was a good-sized queue waiting to board. Being fit we managed the last 100-yard dash and we were the last to board the vessel.
Wendy, as usual didn’t manage to, “Tap On” with her credit card and I heard the ferry man shout, “Tap on the yellow circle!!!”.
I don’t know how she manages to do it but Wendy Gill always makes a hash of things whenever she comes into contact with an automatic processing system, she wont even use an automatic till for fear of it going wrong.
The sail down to Greenwich was really interesting, I have done it countless times before but I never cease to find something new of interest for me to marvel at.
We went through several rain squalls as we sailed down the Thames and even though we were sat outside at the back of the boat we were adequately covered so we remained dry.
We were dropped off at Greenwich at around 1:20 pm and yet again Wendy made a bugger of tapping off!
We walked into the town and as we were by now hungry, we looked for somewhere to eat.
We checked a few establishments out when Wendy said, “I don’t mind a Wetherspoons lunch today”, and in the next instant it started to rain so we doubled away in the bars direction and we had a very delightful burger each in The Gate Clock.
The food was good, I had a Tennessee Burger, which comes with a very nice Jack Danial Sauce, and Wendy had an American Cheeseburger but without the American Mustard. The bar was busy with old folk, well slightly older than me folk but there was a very nice atmosphere in there.
Jeepers as we sat in the bar eating there were two more downpours of heavy rain.
We finished our meal and as the rain had stopped we took a walk around the old admiralty buildings which are now part of Greenwich University.
The University is open to anyone who wants to walk around the inner courtyards so you come into close contact with lecture rooms.
First up we walked past a music lesson where a group of young adults were having a blues jamming session. They were using the widest amount of instruments going, and it was great to hear, in fact several people jazzed danced their way passed the open window.
Strangely the next lecture room I passed, the class was studding algebra, in fact it was very heavy algebra. I used to be very good at calculus and algebra but it took me a minute or two to even work out what the question was.
The main thing to do with any algebra equation is that you have to balance it to get your answer and I wonder how long it would have taken me to balance the one on the board, if I could even balance it.
Φr2 is the most basic algebraic equation I know and once you have grasped its concept you can eventually work out any other algebraic equation no matter how hard they are, all it takes is time. Well, I did with the equations I worked at in my Barnsley Technical College days, but then again, I was the Years Most Outstanding Mining Craft Apprentice of 1982!
The rain started soon after and boy did it downpour, but we had our brollies with us so we carried on walking around the River Path that passes through Greenwich.
Having bought a bottle of very nice wine at Tesco’s and some lovely looking cakes from a local baker we boarded the return ferry at 3:30 pm.
Before boarding Wendy had asked me to show her how to tap on using her credit card. I showed her that the best way was to tap using the chip side, and that she should place her chip directly over the yellow centre. True to form she tapped it with the chip the wrong way around and at the top of the card reading machine and not the yellow centre as I had told her to do. Thankfully she remembered and brought the card down to the yellow centre and the machine showed her mercy and pinged her in!
This was the last ferry back which would take us right to the doorstep of our hotel so we couldn’t miss it.
It was a 90-minute sail back and this time we settled down inside the boat on the port side so that we could marvel at the north bank of the Thames and its remarkable buildings as we went by.
London is my very favourite city, there is just so much to see, and if your limited for time one of the best ways to see it is on a Thames River cruise. Maybe an Uber extra high-speed vessel isn’t the best way to experience a cruse along the Thames, so take a slower paced trip where you get some commentary to better enlighten you about the history of London.
As we sailed down the Thames a thought came to mind, just how many bridges cross the Thames in what is officially Greater London?
So, after a wee bit of Googling, here’s what I came up with:
There are 35 bridges which cross the River Thames between Tower Bridge and Hampton Court Bridge, here’s a little info about the first and last of those bridges:
We got dropped off at 4:55 pm in darkness and headed back to the hotel.
Its looking like an early night tonight as tomorrow is moving day, and where I end up might be a little surprise but before we even leave the hotel tomorrow morning, I have a little mini adventure planned, stay tuned Avid Reader and you’ll find out tomorrow if I pulled it off!
PS – This is my 1,000th post!
33 Miles
Weatherspoon’s Bagging Continued!
Jeepers it did rain in the night, it was that hard that we both woke up at 5:30 am, and that’s how we stayed, awake!
I got up and made tea at 6:00 am and then did a few admin duties which I had neglected for a few days.
We had decided to go and find a Weatherspoon’s pub called the Fox on the Hill for breakfast after checking out of the Travelodge. Avid Readers will remember that when we were down in London for the cricket in the summer that I ran to this pub on 20th August and that as I liked it, it was going on my to do list.
However first up I had to undertake my mornings challenge which was to run to the London Borough of Lambeth, to Brixton to be more precise, to bag The Beehive, yet another Wetherspoons bar.
Thankfully the rain had stopped as I set off.
I had downloaded the route to the pub in Google maps and with yesterdays Jeremy Vine show playing in my ears I was periodically told to turn right or left into this road or that road.
It worked a treat and soon I was in Clapham where I ran the full length of Clapham Common before heading along a long residential road that took me directly to the pub.
As I had just short of a mile to do for my four-mile limit I ran all the way through Brixton, and boy was it lively.
I have only been to Brixton once before, that was so long ago it’s a distant memory. However, when Zof lived in Mitchem many years ago, when the kids were about five and six, we were staying with her and I woke early. It was summer so I snook down stairs and ran from Mitchem to Brixton, it was very early on Sunday morning but Brixton was still carrying on with Saturday night, it was a brilliant experience running through all the madness. It was a ten-mile round trip.
Today on my way back I stopped by at the pub and I had a glass of orange juice. I carefully selected a wooden seat so that I wouldn’t sweat all over the fabric. I needn’t have bothered mind as there were some likely looking characters of a very dubious hygiene disposition lounging around with their morning tipple.
I got back to the hotel in good weather and we were on the road by 10:00 am and though the journey was only 5 miles it took over 30 minutes to get there.
Now this is a cracking pub, comfortable and spacious and I ordered a bacon sandwich for Wendy and a traditional breakfast for me. I had coffee and Wendy had orange juice, however the bar was reasonably busy with early morning boozers.
The breakfast was a real treat, it was hot and tasty and my only grumble was that there wasn’t any butter on my very nice slice of toast. Not to worry I used it to mop up my portion of beans.
Back on the road and we travelled slowly through the suburbs of London passing through Tulsa Hill, Norwood, Croydon and then Godstone. We travelled entirely on A roads and it was really quite interesting and it got me thinking, where does Sussex start and where does London end?
I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to answer that question as I have the worst 3G signal known to man in the hotel bedroom, which surprises me as we are bang in the town centre.
We got to East Grinstead at 12:30 pm and as I had taken an early check in, I left the car outside the front door and luckily the manager was on at reception.
I asked him where I could park and he explained that the council car park is at the top of the road, on the left-hand side. I would have to pay from now until 6:00 pm tonight and then pay again from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm.
He explained all that and then he said, “Bugger it, the staff car park is quiet today, I’ll open the gate and you can shove your car in there”. What a smashing fella, I later checked the price and he saved me a total of £15 as it was £7.50 for over 4 hours but that it reset at 6:00 pm so I would have had to pay another £7.50 for the period 8:00 am to 12:00 pm tomorrow.
After a quick cup of tea, we went walk about in the town of East Grinstead and I can tell you its not half bad. East Grinstead is a nice, clean town which has been around since the Middle Ages as it grew up being a nice stop off point for traders travelling between London and the south coastal ports. In fact, we found the longest fronted medieval wooden homes anywhere in England in the town centre.
We also found a statue dedicated to Sir Archibald McLindoe.
Sir Archibald was a medical surgeon at the forefront of plastic surgery and who worked tirelessly with the airmen of World War 2 who were badly burnt following their duty.
He developed pioneering techniques to rebuild their terribly disfigured faces and hands and also helped then with the psychological problems that followed. He also encouraged the nurses and the town’s residents to socialize with the young airmen and to welcome them into their home during their recuperation. The townsfolk accepted these men as they went about their daily business and East Grinstead became known as, “The Town that does not stare”.
What a heart-warming story!
After walking the town’s shopping area, we took a beer in the Weatherspoon’s bar that is directly outside our hotel, and then Wendy came up with another adventure.
Wendy had found that East Grinstead is on the Greenwich Meridian, would you believe the very next day after we had been to Greenwich. So off we went in search of it.
We found the marker stone in a very nice park and it was located behind a lovely old Georgian Brick building. So, there I am in the lovely West Sussex sunshine with one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one foot in the western hemisphere.
We walked back to the hotel where we chilled for a while with a glass of wine while I wrote up todays copy.
It’s our intention to go over to the pub and have a curry a little later tonight and that’s where hopefully I will be able to grab some Wi-Fi so that I can download today’s photographs from my phone and eventually post todays copy!
Well, it’s been a very good Weatherspoon’s bagging day, that was two in the bag before midday and then one under the bar this afternoon, the grand total bagged is now 230!!!
104 Miles
Rose!
We both woke at 5:15 am this morning, I don’t know why, most likely because we were asleep at 10:15 pm last night.
I had a very comfortable sleep on a lovely new bed. In fact the Travelodge was really nice and clean, it had recently been renovated and it had the newness feel about it.
I went out running and so did Wendy for the first time this week.
The sky was clear and it was dry and there wasn’t much likelihood that she would get rained on so out she went.
I ran through the town and then I managed to find a country road with a nice wide pavement that took me through a nice-looking village. I couldn’t really see much of the countryside as the verges were so high, but at least I was out in the fresh air.
I got back to the hotel well before 9:00 am and after a nice cup of tea we were packing the car and heading out to the town of Crawley,
We have been to Crawley before, in 2006, when we stayed for the night there before flying out to Antigua. Robyn was just 16 at the time, Brad was 17 and we had a smashing time.
I don’t remember much about Crawley so I was looking forward to going again.
First up though we had to grab some breakfast so we called into the Weatherspoon’s Bar, The Jubilee Oak, for something to eat.
The bar wasn’t busy and I was served pretty quickly. Our food took a nice 15 minutes to arrive at the table and it was freshly cooked and pretty tasty. I had a bacon, sausage, egg and cheese muffin and Wendy had a sausage bap. Jeepers they were lovely, and nicely washed down by a half pint of orange juice.
I found out that the pub is called its name because of the giant oak tree that is planted directly outside of the pub which was planted in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. Its now a mighty oak indeed!
We took a very good walk around Crawley town centre and we really liked it. There were plenty of shops, some small independent ones and a smashing central square where there was a pretty good male busker singing for the Thursday shoppers. I slipped him a pound as I walked past and in-between his lines he whispered, “Thanks man!”
At the end of one street the area opened up into a smashing little town centre park.
The weather remained dry and it felt quite warm outside, well it was 16 degrees.
Having walked the town inside and out, and with two hours to kill we jumped in the car where I took Wendy on a mystery tour to another town, Horsham, which was close by, which just by coincidence had another Weatherspoon’s bar, The Lynd Cross.
I parked the car about 500 yards out of town and we walked directly to the pub where I had a half of North Sussex ale and Wendy had a small glass of wine. Again, the bar wasn’t too busy although a fair few meals went out of the kitchen.
After our drinks we had about 40 minutes to kill before we drove the 16 miles to Gatwick Airport where we were to collect Alex, Robyn and Rose who had been to Barcelona to celebrate Alex’s 30th birthday.
The reason they were flying into Gatwick and not going home to Edinburgh is because we are going to Poppy, (Robyn’s cousin) and Bret’s wedding nearby. Actually, when I say we are, we all aren’t has Alex is going to stay at Grannies on the Isle of Sheppey and look after Rose.
We walked down the High Street of Horsham and it was really nice, it was fairly busy and there was a very nice atmosphere around and about.
The weather was still good and we walked along taking in the shops where Wendy came across a Seasalt shop. Of course, she was inside before you could shake a stick, but she didn’t buy anything as we don’t have any room for anything else in the car, why she went in then is anybody’s guess.
As Wendy browsed in the shop, I happened across a small market area where there were some really good stalls. There was a fantastic looking bakers with some nice looking breads and even more delicious looking cakes. I wanted to buy some for us but they didn’t have any gluten free items so I couldn’t get cakes for all of us and leave Alex out.
Then there was a fish stall, a very nice-looking cheese stall, a few craft stalls and then at the end of the road there were 3 street food stalls. Jeepers one of them was doing a roaring trade, the queue for its food was so long I was thinking the last person might not get fed before their lunch hour was over!
We drove over to Gatwick Airport so that we would be there by the time they had landed.
Now this is a tricky one, how long does it take people with a baby to deplane, grab their bags and then find you in the car park?
Well, it was almost over an hour.
I managed to find a spot close to the car park and I poked the car in a gateway that said, “No parking, gate in constant use”. There were red no stopping lines painted but I was well out of the road and not at all impeding traffic. As I wasn’t intending to get out of the car I could easily move off if anyone wanted to exit the gate, but as it was locked with a massive chain and padlock, I didn’t think it would be an issue.
I got ten minutes before the police moved me on. I did chat back to the policeman, I knew it was pointless, but as I had just heard a Jeremey Vine article about the police who aren’t helping farmers who are having their equipment stolen, one poor farmer had his sheep dog and her puppies stolen, I was feeling particularly anti-policeman at that point.
As it’s £5.00 to park for 30 minute’s I had to drive around the airport roads until I got a txt from Robyn telling me that they had their bags and were about to leave the airport. Thankfully on my second drive around I found a road where I could park.
We soon had everyone in the car and we were heading along the M25 and back to grannie’s house.
Thankfully the traffic was light and we were home in just over an hour.
Granny had left as her and grandad are staying at a hotel with the wedding party, where Brad and Caroline are also staying, so we have the house to ourselves.
As everyone, including Rose settled in, I made a chicken baliti curry, just a jar knock up, but it did the trick and Rose wolfed her portion down, as did everyone else.
With Rose tucked up in bed, I had a quick trip to Tesco with Robyn and then settled down for the night.
Its going to be an early bed night for me as I have to be up and out for an early run in the morning and then get myself wedding ready for yet another trip along the M25 for the wedding.
I wonder if we will come across any eco warriors!!!
No Travelling
Wedding Day
I had another good night’s sleep but I woke again at 5:20 am and I eventually got up at 5:45 am.
Rose who had been sleeping in her cot in the lounge had a bit of a coughing episode and woke up. I did try to get her to nod off again by patting her bottom but she wasn’t having it so I took her to her nanny for a cuddle in bed.
I had my breakfast and then I went in the bedroom with Rose while nanny got up. I had Rose giggling by rubbing my whiskery chin on her bare tummy and she loved it. She was doing belly laughs.
My back is still playing up and I am now on regular pain killers just to dull the pain. It’s a strange one as it comes and goes, I hope that its not going to hang around long and that it scarpers before too long
It was a really nice, mild morning when I set off running. I went down to Queenborough Creek and then along the sea wall through Blue Town and then along the sea wall and then along the road back to grannie’s house at Half Way.
As I have discussed Blue Town in a previous copy recently, I stopped to take a photograph of the row of houses and the Port Wall, as you’ll see it doesn’t offer much of a view for the local residents, but it has been there for a couple of hundred years now so they should be used to seeing it.
I got back to the house at 9:00 am but I had to wait for Robyn and her mum to go to Tesco in Sheerness for a few things and in particular some bacon for my breakfast!
By the time that they had come back I had shaved and hung out with a very active little girl.
Breakfast was lovely, Alex and me had a bacon and egg sarnie and we both used grannies out of date ketchup, I do hope we will make it through the day as it’s date of use by-passed in May this year.
I jumped in and out of the shower as Alex took Rose for a walk to the post office and Wendy and Robyn did their two hour long getting ready routine.
I was still a little concerned about the drive over to the wedding function, despite the eco warriors calling an end to this week’s action as the M25 can be a busy and dangerous road at the best of times.
But I didn’t need to worry as we made it to the wedding on time, actually with time to spare.
Poppy looked lovely as she came down the staircase and the ceremony was really nice. Poppy was on time, actually she was perfectly on time and the registrar was right on point. No messing about, it was just about right and he ticked all the boxes.
I was going to drive back to grannies but as Robyn had intimated that she would be happy to drive home, I thought, “I wonder if I can get this arranged with the insurance company?”
Well, 10 minutes later and after a £15 fee and a chat with Amanda I was all set and Robyn was now the designated driver.
The food was an utter delight and the chicken starter was lovely, the duck main was nice, but I did have to ask for a wee bit more gravy, which did come in time for me to eat my meal while it was still hot.
The speeches were interesting and the singing waiters were something else.
Sadly, at around 8:30 pm we had to leave as poor Alex had been all on his own all afternoon in a strange house on a strange island, but at least he had fun with Rose.
Robyn did brilliantly driving back and we were safe at home by 9:30 pm.
It’s been a lovely wedding and it was nice to be invited and it’s been really nice to help Poppy and Bret celebrate their day!
335 Miles
Cousins
I had a lovely sleep last night, that might be down to the rum and coke I got from the wedding party before I left last night. It was lovely, I sat in the back of the car and slowly sipped my drink as Robyn safely got us home.
I woke at around 6:45 am and I was just quietly pottering in the kitchen when I heard Rose chatting to herself. I went and got her out of her bed and soon nanny and her mum were up too.
I’m glad we get to spend a fair bit of time with both our granddaughters, Eleanor and Rose, and its nice too when we occasionally get them both together.
Actually, it takes me back to my own days as a new dad, having a baby completely transforms your life. The life you had before a baby comes along changed forever. Not only do you have to devote so much time to a new human being but you also take on worries and concerns for the rest of your life that you would never have imagined before they come along.
Some people who haven’t yet had this experience can’t imagine what its like, a simple matter of going away for a few days requires minute and meticulous planning, forget something at your peril because you will soon have to seek it out.
The care that is also required for this little person is something that hits you automatically, you as an individual do not matter anymore, you are driven only by the needs of this little being that has come into your life.
And different families have different support networks. In Barnsley, with Wendy’s parents being over 200 miles away and with mine being in their 70’s we rarely left the children with anyone when they were small. Brad and Caroline are lucky as Caroline’s mum is able to help out with Eleanor and so are we, but unfortunately Alex and Robyn are at least a hundred miles from Alex’s mum, who works full time, and they are almost 180 miles from us, so their options are very limited.
And sadly, not everyone gets the opportunity to be a parent, some by choice, and that’s fair enough, some by nature and that’s such a shame. And, no one should ever be made to feel like they're a bad person just becuase they put their baby first, after all that's what being a parent is all about, even when they are in their 30's!!!
Me I actually like the grandfather role that I now have, the role brings the same worries as before, but thankfully someone else has to do all the hard work, and you get to smile while watching them do it because you know exactly what it’s like!
I ran up to Minster Cliffs today and down to the Leas, and straight into a Promenade Running race.
Its funny getting cheered along when you’re not really involved in the race, you feel a little bit phoney, and then there’s the funny look you get when you cross the finish line and then keep on running. That’s exactly what I did and experienced, again today. I have done it a few times in Locke Park where they regularly have organised Park runs at weekends, but it’s a first on the sea front on the Isle of Sheppey.
I had a water drink on the front, near to Tesco, before heading into town and I also stopped off for another water drink where I sat on the wall across from the old canal.
The canal ran from the seawall in the east all the way around the outer edge of Sheerness town to the seawall in the west, alongside the dockyard, although half of the western section was filled in many years ago. It acted as a kind of wide moat all-round the outside of Sheerness, split into the two halves by the main road into Sheerness.
The two halves to the canal, one running east and one running west, were connected under the road many years ago, but that has been blocked for quite some time now.
The eastern side however gets topped up with sea water and is completely different in appearance to the western side which is freshwater. The wildlife and plant life are also completely different from each other too.
I got back to the house and I was sat outside on the bench cooling off, when we had surprise visitors, it was Lily, Michael and baby Joy.
Joy is such a pretty little girl, she is very pale skinned and she looks very innocent whereas my Ellie and Rose look like little rascals who are up to their neck in mischief.
I made Alex and me a bacon and egg sarnie and then I took over the bathroom, brushed my teeth and jumped into the shower and when I got out again, the GG’s had come home.
The GG’s (Great Granny and Great Granddad), were back from their overnight stay at the wedding venue, and Great Granny was thrilled to have both girls playing on the kitchen floor as we sat around chatting.
Both girls were as good as gold.
After a while Joy had to go home and as soon as we said our goodbyes, George and Becca, and Ian and Karen arrived. However, I was very busy packing the car and making sure that we not only got all our gear in but also the Shepherd’s gear too as we were taking them to Gatwick Airport for them to catch their flight home.
At around 12:20 pm we said our farewells and jumped into the car for the drive over to the airport via the M20, M26, M25 and M23.
Jeepers it is such a faff dropping someone off at an airport these days. It’s been over 21 years since the terrorists flew planes into buildings and when they did, they changed airport security but after all these years and the enhanced security we now have, surely, we should be able to just roll up at the terminal and drop off their passengers. I mean if it wasn’t for the passengers there wouldn’t be a need for an airport!
After dropping Rose and her parents off we headed back along the M23 and back to the M25.
We had a bit of a slow stretch at the M4 junction but soon we were on the M40, the M42 and then the M6 Toll Road. At £7.30 a pop it does seem a little extravagant but it does cut down on the traffic as you cruise around Birmingham.
Thankfully the journey was smooth albeit a little tiring and we arrived at our Premier Inn at 6:30 pm.
As soon as I had dropped the bags in the room I headed out and I found a small takeaway where chicken was their speciality dish. Within 10 minutes I had two hot chicken wraps and a portion of chips each and do you know Avid Reader, they were bloody delicious.
Now I am back in the room after just nipping to the garage across the road for some chocolate. I do find that my wine is much smoother when I have a chunk of chocolate, or two with it!
Tomorrows look forward is the Twenty – Twenty World Cup final at 8:00 am where England play Pakistan. The weather isn’t looking good, so I might be getting over excited for nothing!
Here’s hoping?
335 Miles
Cousins
I had a lovely sleep last night, that might be down to the rum and coke I got from the wedding party before I left last night. It was lovely, I sat in the back of the car and slowly sipped my drink as Robyn safely got us home.
I woke at around 6:45 am and I was just quietly pottering in the kitchen when I heard Rose chatting to herself. I went and got her out of her bed and soon nanny and her mum were up too.
I’m glad we get to spend a fair bit of time with both our granddaughters, Eleanor and Rose, and its nice too when we occasionally get them both together.
Actually, it takes me back to my own days as a new dad, having a baby completely transforms your life. The life you had before a baby comes along changed forever. Not only do you have to devote so much time to a new human being but you also take on worries and concerns for the rest of your life that you would never have imagined before they come along.
Some people who haven’t yet had this experience can’t imagine what its like, a simple matter of going away for a few days requires minute and meticulous planning, forget something at your peril because you will soon have to seek it out.
The care that is also required for this little person is something that hits you automatically, you as an individual do not matter anymore, you are driven only by the needs of this little being that has come into your life.
And different families have different support networks. In Barnsley, with Wendy’s parents being over 200 miles away and with mine being in their 70’s we rarely left the children with anyone when they were small. Brad and Caroline are lucky as Caroline’s mum is able to help out with Eleanor and so are we, but unfortunately Alex and Robyn are at least a hundred miles from Alex’s mum, who works full time, and they are almost 180 miles from us, so their options are very limited.
And sadly, not everyone gets the opportunity to be a parent, some by choice, and that’s fair enough, some by nature and that’s such a shame.
Me I actually like the grandfather role that I now have, the role brings the same worries as before, but thankfully someone else has to do all the hard work, and you get to smile while watching them do it because you know exactly what it’s like!
I ran up to Minster Cliffs today and down to the Leas, and straight into a Promenade Running race.
Its funny getting cheered along when you’re not really involved in the race, you feel a little bit phoney, and then there’s the funny look you get when you cross the finish line and then keep on running. That’s exactly what I did and experienced, again today. I have done it a few times in Locke Park where they regularly have organised Park runs at weekends, but it’s a first on the sea front on the Isle of Sheppey.
I had a water drink on the front, near to Tesco, before heading into town and I also stopped off for another water drink where I sat on the wall across from the old canal.
The canal ran from the seawall in the east all the way around the outer edge of Sheerness town to the seawall in the west, alongside the dockyard, although half of the western section was filled in many years ago. It acted as a kind of wide moat all-round the outside of Sheerness, split into the two halves by the main road into Sheerness.
The two halves to the canal, one running east and one running west, were connected under the road many years ago, but that has been blocked for quite some time now.
The eastern side however gets topped up with sea water and is completely different in appearance to the western side which is freshwater. The wildlife and plant life are also completely different from each other too.
I got back to the house and I was sat outside on the bench cooling off, when we had surprise visitors, it was Lily, Michael and baby Joy.
Joy is such a pretty little girl, she is very pale skinned and she looks very innocent whereas my Ellie and Rose look like little rascals who are up to their neck in mischief.
I made Alex and me a bacon and egg sarnie and then I took over the bathroom, brushed my teeth and jumped into the shower and when I got out again, the GG’s had come home.
The GG’s (Great Granny and Great Granddad), were back from their overnight stay at the wedding venue, and Great Granny was thrilled to have both girls playing on the kitchen floor as we sat around chatting.
Both girls were as good as gold.
After a while Joy had to go home and as soon as we said our goodbyes, George and Becca, and Ian and Karen arrived. However, I was very busy packing the car and making sure that we not only got all our gear in but also the Shepherd’s gear too as we were taking them to Gatwick Airport for them to catch their flight home.
At around 12:20 pm we said our farewells and jumped into the car for the drive over to the airport via the M20, M26, M25 and M23.
Jeepers it is such a faff dropping someone off at an airport these days. It’s been over 21 years since the terrorists flew planes into buildings and when they did, they changed airport security but after all these years and the enhanced security we now have, surely, we should be able to just roll up at the terminal and drop off their passengers. I mean if it wasn’t for the passengers there wouldn’t be a need for an airport!
After dropping Rose and her parents off we headed back along the M23 and back to the M25.
We had a bit of a slow stretch at the M4 junction but soon we were on the M40, the M42 and then the M6 Toll Road. At £7.30 a pop it does seem a little extravagant but it does cut down on the traffic as you cruise around Birmingham.
Thankfully the journey was smooth albeit a little tiring and we arrived at our Premier Inn at 6:30 pm.
As soon as I had dropped the bags in the room I headed out and I found a small takeaway where chicken was their speciality dish. Within 10 minutes I had two hot chicken wraps and a portion of chips each and do you know Avid Reader, they were bloody delicious.
Now I am back in the room after just nipping to the garage across the road for some chocolate. I do find that my wine is much smoother when I have a chunk of chocolate, or two with it!
Tomorrows look forward is the Twenty – Twenty World Cup final at 8:00 am where England play Pakistan. The weather isn’t looking good, so I might be getting over excited for nothing!
Here’s hoping?
No Travelling
What a Lovely Day!
I had a lovely sleep last night, we did think the hotel might be noisy later on but neither of us heard a peep after lights out.
I woke just before 7:00 am and I nipped across to the garage to get some orange juice and then I had tea and a breakfast bar to start my day.
I went out running at 8:00 am so that I could listen to the Twenty – Twenty world cup final, with England playing against Pakistan, it was going to be a good game, I could feel it.
The weather was lovely, there was a little breeze but not something to talk about but the temperature was far too mild, it must have been 16 degrees, I was actually running in my shorts.
Wendy went out running too and almost did 6 miles, well Blackpool is great for running as its very flat and the promenade is very wide and well built.
I ran on the beach, the tide was out and I had the place to myself and the odd dog walker, well it was Sunday morning!
The cricket was going well and by the time I was almost back to the hotel England had taken vital wickets at key times in the game and they restricted them to 137 runs for their 20 overs. It was looking good.
Back in the room I put the TV on and turned down the volume and listened to the commentary on the radio while watching the game on TV. The TV and the internet radio weren’t in sync and the TV was one ball in front of the radio, but that doesn’t really bother me.
On my way back to the hotel I had stopped at Tesco and bought two almond croissants to have with our cup of tea and as I watched the match I had mine with my tea and it was lovely. It was very tasty and very moist, just how a croissant should be.
The game got a little nervey in the 12th, 13th and 14th overs but Ben Stokes, yet again, steadied the ship and hit the winning run. He actually run his run mostly backwards and I’m still not convinced that he actually did run the full distance.
It had been a cracking game and I was chuffed that we had another cricket world cup!
With the game and the trophy presentation over and done with we put on our coats and walked out looking for the bar where we were going to meet with my cousins, Marjorie and Ann.
Ann had sent me directions which I could use on my phone through apple maps but it had me go the wrong way for a little while, but we soon worked it out and headed out to where we needed to be.
We got to the bar with 5 minutes to spare and as we approached, I saw a man and a woman walk in just before us. As I took my coat off and hung it on a chair the man who had walked in before me came up to me and said, “Are you David”, I said, yes I was, and he introduced him and his wife to me, he was Alan, Marjorie and Ann’s brother. I didn’t say at the time but he did look familiar to me, I actually thought that briefly as I walked in the pub, but it wasn’t Marjorie or Ann that I saw in him, it was my family features.
Alans wife was called Pauline and she was lovely and Alan was just a very decent fella, he bought Wendy and me a drink, so I instantly took to him!
Not long after Marjorie, Ann and Phil joined us and we had a nice drink and chat in the bar. The bar was called Winston’s, and it took a while for the penny to drop, the pub was named after Winston Churchill!
At 2:00 pm having finished our drinks we walked no more than 100 yards up the road to an amazing little restaurant called Bar 90.
Ann had booked a table and we had a really lovely meal, and I did something that I haven’t done for ages, I had a 3-course meal.
I started with Burry black pudding, bacon and poached egg. It was delicious, the black pudd was very tasty but the poached egg was the best I have ever had, it was just perfect.
All 7 of us had the same main meal, the roast sirloin beef Sunday dinner. Now again that was just lovely. It came with a very nice sized Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, mash, green beans, other veg and a very tasty gravy. It was piping hot too and with a nice portion of English mustard it was a perfect Sunday dinner.
You would think I would be stuffed by now but with the chance of having a creme brulee I could not let that pass, no way. And it was most likely the best crème brulee I have ever had!!! Ann could not have picked a better place for our get together, it really was an utter delight.
We said our goodbyes to Alan and Pauline outside the restaurant as they lived in the opposite direction, the rest of us walked a little further and then Phil, Ann and Marjorie left us at the main road not long after.
It had been a really lovely afternoon and I’m so glad that we dropped in on the way home.
The night was drawing in as we walked in the direction of the promenade and I got to see the last of the days sun as we made it to the sea wall. We walked northwards along the prom and we took in a walk down to the end of the South Pier.
Back on the prom and the illuminations had now come on and they looked nice in the night sky, and it reminded me of my many trips to Blackpool when I was a nipper in Barnsley.
We stopped off for a glass of wine in a very nice micro pub which is on our road, just a few hundred yards from the prom.
The wine was very nice, it was sold in the small bottles like you get on a plane but thankfully they were only £3.50 a bottle and not the extortionate price you pay at 32,000 feet!
Back at the hotel and Wendy settled down for the Strictly Results show, but of course I already know who’s out, but I haven’t let on and Wendy hasn’t thought to ask, she will know who goes though when the second contestant for the dance off is known, it is that obvious!
The weather in Blackpool has been terrific today, its mid-November and its been 21.2 degrees not far away in Wales, this is scaringly too warm for this time of the year, now I know its nice but I am beginning to really fear for the future of my little girls Ellie and Rose, and the two others too that are currently in production!
365 Miles
The Beach!
We both went out running this morning, I was a little later then Wendy as I put more clothes on, so I never saw her or which way she went.
I went south today, I ran along the prom right to the end. As I was nearing the end, I saw what looked like a fishing rod on the sea wall. The tide was well out so I was thinking this fella has a long time to wait before he’ll catch any fish.
However, when I got closer, I could see that it was a man who was well wrapped up and he was operating a very sophisticated radio set. He looked like a military person sat there all concerned with his apparatus.
I ran past him and I couldn’t believe it, there was another fella operating a similar set of radio equipment at the end of the prom. Well my nose got the better of me so I stopped and I was going to ask him what it was all about but he was talking over the radio.
I didn’t listen too intently but I heard him say something like, “Thank you for describing the kangaroos and the landscape, it must be really beautiful where you are”.
I thought that he was listening to someone speaking through his earphones so I didn’t speak, but he looked at me as if he was giving me permission to speak, so I said, “There’s another fella down there operating the same equipment, what’s it all about?”
He whispered back, “Amateur Long-Range Radio”.
I later googled and found that apparently its very popular in Blackpool and someone there holds the record for holding a conversation with someone in Christchurch, New Zealand while cycling with a mobile rig, how interesting.
While I was waiting to talk with this fella I decided that as the footpath now moves away from the beach that I would go down to the beach and run there. I had only done 1.5 miles at that point so I had another 2.5 to go.
Its strange but when I run, I don’t really know that I’m running and I just operate, listen to a radio station and look at the view. Today as there wasn’t much to look at, I got lost in my thoughts.
First up I thought what a nice day we had had yesterday with my cousins and also meeting Alan and Paulene.
Then because the connection is through my granddad, I thought about him. My earliest recollection of him is this one:
My brother Alan and me were out playing in the street one Sunday afternoon, I was about 3.5 years old and Alan would have been around 7 years old.
We saw my dad drive away with my mother and my elder brother Michael and we were left alone playing in the street.
Sometime later someone told us to go to the end of the road, so we did and our grandad was there and he said, “Come with me”.
So we did, I didn’t know it at the time but I would never return to the house to live again as my mum had now left my dad.
Apparently, it had been going on for years, he would get drunk and pick a fight, he would hit my mother and Michael. Poor Michael had some really bad beatings from him.
And that was that, I was brought up with my mother and my granny and grandad.
Grandad was a smashing fella and he was very well respected in the area and town.
But to me he was grandad who we loved.
He was really old fashioned and I guess a lot of that has rubbed off on me, if he ever did anything it had to be done properly, if he had something on his mind he would say so.
In my working life I have worked with some other men who have had a positive influence on me.
One such man was the Old Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Tony Munro, and here’s where my thoughts went now!
Tony was a real straight shooter and he didn’t suffer fools. He liked me because I was capable and honest with him. He rollocked me once, he was wrong to do it, but I didn’t mind because I knew he wouldn’t hold it against me, and he didn’t. I learnt a lot from Tony, about officer ship and how to lead by example.
He retired in about 2004 and I missed his wise council.
But that’s how it goes and I just got stuck into my work and I was promoted to a very senior level and I became a member of the Highland and Island Fire Brigades senior management team, a position I held for over 8 years.
During the lead in to the Millennium Bug problem all senior officers were required to work at midnight on New Years Eve. I didn’t mind I saw it as my duty, and the Dep was offering a full shift at double time for working two hours either side of midnight.
The Dep said, in a speech at the time, “We are the fire brigade, people turn to us when they need us and on this night I want to ensure that we meet that commitment, and we will provide business as usual”.
One bad January night in 2005 I was the senior officer on duty when I was contacted by Fire Control, it was Elainer, she was in charge of her shift and she said, “David, what do I tell the people trapped in their homes?”
As gold commander I used to keep an eye on the weather and other issues that might impact on the service and I knew bad winds were coming, I had even sent my deputy to the Isle of Benbecula because the local officer there was on leave and we had a shortage of officer cover there.
I asked Elainer if she needed my help and as she did I jumped in the car and drove the short distance to fire control.
Jeepers there were 4 operators on duty, and every emergency line was in use and the calls kept coming in.
First up I recalled two more staff members of fire control to duty.
I then checked the tide status in the Western Isles, and it didn’t look good, we were an hour from high tide and the wind was at hurricane strength.
I phoned the Senior Police Officer on duty and asked if we were going to the highest emergency level, he said no. I phoned the coastguard and I was told all choppers were grounded. I contacted the ambulance service and they said they were not operating tonight.
I remembered what the Dep said and I decided it was business as normal. The only stipulation was that when we mobilised a crew, the Watch Manager had to phone me at control before leaving the station.
Jeepers we were busy that night!
Thankfully I knew every Watch Manager by name in all of the 130 fire stations we had and I knew their capability. I would tell them about the weather conditions and that we only help if we can, and we do not put ourselves at risk.
Despite one fire engine being swept out to sea on Benbecula, where thankfully the crew stuck together and got each other safely to shore, we didn’t have one injury and we came out of the night looking like the saviours we had been.
This was the process of my thoughts as I was running along the beach this morning and I concluded that on this night I had the backbone of my grandad with me and the hand of the Old Dep on my shoulder. We all got commendations for our efforts that night, I was just glad I was there to help!
Now normally I would conclude todays copy at around 1,000 to 1,200 words and by now I have exceeded this, but I have something else to tell, and its quite interesting, but please no laughing as it’s not funny!
With the bags packed in the car for the drive home, I wanted to fill the car with diesel and so I popped into the filling station that is 100 yards from the carpark.
As I approached from the direction of the hotel, I could see the road into the fuel station was wide enough for two lanes, but there were no separating white lines. I also looked for no entry signs as sometimes they have a one-way system, there weren’t any.
I pulled into the left-hand lane and as I drove alongside the shop a blue car came right out in front of me. Thankfully no one was coming the other way and I swerved and missed the blue car which had pulled to a sudden stop. I drove around the fuel pumps so that I was on the right side with the car and stopped at a pump.
The man in the blue car was out of his vehicle and shouting at me.
I said to Wendy, “I guess this fella wants to talk with me about something”.
I walked over to him, he was a little older than me but he was quite fit looking and he was swearing at me.
This is F-ing one way you *****, my dog has banged its head on the windscreen and smashed it you *****. Sure enough the windscreen was very badly cracked and there was a very sad looking collie dog sat on the passenger seat.
I told the man that I was sorry but there are no one way signs and left him still swearing at me.
I filled the car with fuel and as I got my wallet from the car Wendy said, “He’s really not happy with you”.
As I walked to make payment, the man was coming out of the shop and he shouted, “Its F-ing one way, he says so”. I said, “Its not signposted as such pal”.
I went in to pay and I thought, “I am not saying anything to the owner, he can tell me if he wants to say something”, he never mentioned the incident, I paid and went out.
I went around the corner to the entrance and the angry man apologised, he said, “I’m sorry for swearing at you, it’s not posted and the writing on the floor saying OUT, as faded away. I said, “I’m sorry about your dog and I’m sorry about the windscreen but it wasn’t my fault”
He said “I know its his fault” and pointed towards the shop.
I left him taking photos of the area.
Driving back, I thought that he was right it wasn’t signposted as no entry but as a regular he knew it was, but that didn’t help me. However, I don’t think he as a claim for damage anyway. I’m sorry to say that he had an insecure load in his car, and that its his fault that the window was cracked, the dog should have been properly secured in the boot.
Thankfully there were no more issues and after a brief Weatherspoon stop in Cumbernauld, we were home at 6:45 pm.
See you in a few weeks Avid Reader, I have a pamper session in a country house coming soon!
108 Miles
Thainstone House
I woke late this morning, 7:00 am, and I must admit I could have stayed longer in bed.
I had stayed up late last night watching the Walking Dead, well it is the final series and box sets are just so watchable. Anyway, it was a late night for me, but not Wendy.
She dragged me out of bed as we were going away for a two-night stay at Thainstone House, it was a 35th wedding anniversary gift for me from her. I was shocked when she told me I had a secret spar treat booked, because for 34 years we have never bought ourselves anything for our wedding anniversary.
I even got an additional extra on my birthday, a voucher for a massage at the hotel.
So, after my forced departure from my bed, I had orange juice, tea and toast and I was in the shed and on my treadmill before 30 minutes had passed.
I watched more Walking Dead as I trotted along on the treadmill and soon I was sweating nicely.
I did four miles, had a drink stop, another two miles, another drink stop, 1.5 miles, drink stop and then one more mile.
Back in the kitchen I put my sweaty gear in the washer and then made a very delightful banana and peanut butter smoothie.
I did a few admin jobs, actually I was quite pleased with myself.
I am in an Inverness Facebook group for Airbnb and as the council now licence such properties, they must all have a valid fire risk assessment as part of the process.
To cut a long story short I could see from one feed that a lady was getting herself in hot bother about her lounge door, it was half glass which isn’t allowed.
I sent her a message and we ended up chatting on the phone and then I went over last night.
I had a good chat with her and her husband and I gave them some advice and then when I was back home, I wrote for her:
As compensation for the door, I told her to put a smoke detector in each of her bedrooms and I wrote this into the fire risk assessment.
She was very grateful and gave me a rather nice bottle of red wine and a card.
Wendy opened the card in the car and it was a £20 gift card for Marks and Spencer’s, I told her she could have that for waiting in the car, (Because after we were going for a walk along the River Ness and then we had a pint at the Innes Bar as they have Theakston’s Old Peculiar on tap, and its chilled as well, it was lovely).
Anyway, I sent her the documents by email and this morning when I opened my laptop, I had this message from the lady:
“Wow David - that’s a really great bunch of documents. I’ll read through them all properly tomorrow morning but all really comprehensive.
Thanks so much for helping me with this difficult bit of the application.
Enjoy the wine!
June”
We set off for our spar adventure, which I had now learned was at Inverurie in rural Aberdeenshire and it was a lovely sunny day. It was a tad windy and the temperature was a bit chilly at 7 degrees.
The drive was easy, we took the back roads, down the A9 and off at Carrbridge for the rural route via Dufftown.
This route is known as the “Malt Whiskey Route”. It’s called that because there must be 20 Speyside distilleries along it, there is even a new one just before Grantown on Spey, which I had never seen before.
We got to the hotel at just gone 2:00 pm and we settled into our very nice and cosy room.
We have a massive bed; it must be 6 foot wide.
After a short while we took a walk around the hotel and its all very nice and pleasant.
Here’s a bit of hotel history:
Thainstone House is a mansion home dating back to the 18th Century. The architect Archibald Simpson extended the House in 1840 and it was further extended in 1992.
Whilst today Thainstone provides the ultimate in four-star luxury, it is impossible to escape from its impressive history. In the 18th Century, the Jacobites put Thainstone to the torch, however, James Wilson of Thainstone escaped the fire and fled to America where he later put his name to the American declaration of Independence.
Apparently its haunted too, by The Green Lady!
The Green Lady was the daughter of a former owner, and primarily resides in room 406.
The story is that a young girl was involved in a horse-riding accident where it is thought she was crushed by the animal. She was quickly carried to a bedroom within the house however later died from her injuries.
Her nickname comes due to wearing a green riding cloak and among those to have spotted her include the late TV spiritualist and professional ghost hunter, Derek Acorah.
Some room 406 guests have reported that their pets have been reluctant to enter the room while objects have been known to move of their own accord along with some unexplained noises.
The Green Lady has even been immortalised at the hotel by having its restaurant named in her honour, and that’s where I am dining tonight.
At 4:00 pm I went down to the spar for my massage, and it was fantastic.
I was attended to by a very small, young woman called Samantha, she was lovely.
First up she gave my legs a good workout and then she moved onto my back. It was so soothing that I fell asleep, I must have had a good ten minutes and she had to wake me up when she had finished. I felt so refreshed, I might go down for another tomorrow.
Wendy watched Strictly Dancing at 6:00 pm and was gob smacked when at the end of the show they told her that next week’s episode is on Friday night, at a time when we are booked into Aspects Restaurant at Macdonalds resort, my current place of employment.
She wasn’t happy about that, “Bloody Football” she said!
Supper was a bit of a mixed bag, we were the only diners at 7:00 pm, but that was ok. The staff were great, well apart from the charming young woman who was sorting cutlery, noisily, as we chatted.
My rib eye steak wasn’t rare, and its probably best that it wasn’t as it was a little tough. But that said it was alright and relaxing.
Some more guests joined us as we were relaxing with our wine, and that made for a nicer atmosphere.
Its now just gone 8:30 pm and we are back in our room and eagerly waiting for Matt Hancock not to be crowned King of the jungle, jeepers I really do hope it’s not him. I would like Jill to win, but I wouldn’t be unhappy if it was Owen, as long as its not that bastard Matt!
No Travelling
Well, I had a smashing sleep last night and I only woke when my alarm went off at 6:00 am.
The bed is that big that I didn’t know anyone else was in it. The Green Lady never came to see me either but I guess I’m room 205 and that’s not the room she haunts. Imagine booking into the hotel and being given room 406 and then later finding out the story of the Green Lady, I wonder if it would feel a little creepy?
We both went out running today, at just gone 7:00 am. It was dark so Wendy ran with me until she turned back at around 2.5 miles and it was getting lighter outside.
The run was good actually, we bumped into the receptionist at the spar and she told us to go to the main road, the A96 and cross over to find a pavement that would take us away from the main road and down into Inverurie.
We have been to Inverurie before but only to go and bad the local Weatherspoon’s Bar.
We crossed the River Don by going over a road bridge and it was interesting to see the river so wide, so far inland. Actually, now thinking about it we are probably about 12 miles from the coast. The River Don meets the sea at Seaton where Robyn’s flat was, and there are lovely river walks around Old Aberdeen.
I carried on on my own after Wendy turned around and I came across a footpath that crosses some wetlands, so I took it. I ran to 4.25 miles and sat down on a stone at an entrance to another footpath.
It was only when I checked the map on my running app that I realised that I was back at the start point of the first footpath that I had come to, I had run in a complete circle.
The weather was terrific, I saw the sun rise while I was running back and the sky turned clear blue without a cloud in it.
I got back just before 9:00 am and I jumped in the shower and quickly dressed for breakfast.
Breakfast was lovely, but I ate far too much. I had a full breakfast that included two sausages, two poached eggs, some real traditional bacon. There were also some very tasty mushrooms and a couple of hot cherry tomatoes, oh and toast too.
I knew that I had eaten too much, I was bloated.
As it was a nice morning we took a walk around the hotel grounds in an attempt to walk off my breakfast.
We walked through some woods and we found a small road which led up a hill. We walked to the top and we came across a Trig Point.
Now I have seen quite a few Trig Points in my time but I didn’t really know what they were so I took a few pics of it and decided to consult the Googlator later on.
We were back at our room for 11:30 am and while Wendy put the kettle on I booked us both into the pool for a 30 minute session at 12:30 pm.
Back in my room and I looked up Trig Points, here is what I found:
Trigpoints are the common name for "triangulation pillars". These are concrete pillars, about 4' tall, which were used by the Ordnance Survey in order to determine the exact shape of the country. They are generally located on the highest bit of ground in the area, so that there is a direct line of sight from one to the next. By sitting a theodolite (an accurate protractor built into a telescope) on the top of the pillar, accurate angles between pairs of nearby trigpoints could be measured. This process is called "triangulation".
This all started in 1936 and it turned out to be very accurate but they are no longer used as satellite tracking nowadays gives location to a much more accurate degree.
Would you believe there are thousands of them around the country and there is a group of people who bag them.
I entered the details of the trig point we had found and I saw that seven people have logged it on a specific website for trig baggers.
Here’s one bagger:
23rd Jul 2022 17:48 by pricklyangelduo
FB Number: S5266 Condition: Good Score: 5/10
Nice easy roadside find!
At 12:20 pm we climbed into our swimwear and walked the short distance to the pool in our complementary dressing gowns. We had a chat with the very nice receptionist, who’s brother lives in Barnsley and she opened the door to the pool and in we went. Wendy went first carrying the towels, and it’s a good job she did, because I went head over heals and into the pool.
I had my dressing gown and my specs on and I even had the door key in my pocket. I even had my complementary slippers on. Actually, it was the slippers that caused the problem as they slipped so easily on the wet floor.
There was nothing I could do, and in a split second I knew I was going in the water and somehow I managed to almost back dive so that I entered the water in a kind of controlled fashion.
There was an older fella at the opposite side of the pool, and as my head popped up from the water he said, “There’s no diving in here!” Wendy Gill almost wet herself laughing.
I rung the gown out and carried on swimming.
We did a good 30 minutes swimming and I must have done about 30 lengths and I was now feeling a little less full in my tummy.
Wendy got me another robe and I managed to get back to the bedroom safely.
At 2:00 pm we walked the 2.5 miles to Inverurie, the sun was out in the still clear blue sky and although it was a little nippy, it was perfect walking weather.
Inverurie is a really nice place but very busy town with a never-ending flow of traffic driving through. Wendy nipped into a charity shop and bought some small plastic model animals for the toybox and we took a drink in Wetherspoons.
We bought some sandwiches and a sausage roll from a local butcher and some pudd from Tesco and walked back.
I think that’s it for the day, we’ve been very active today and I don’t think I’ll be late to bed tonight, hopefully the Green Lady will leave me alone again.
Supper was actually quite nice, we ate our sarnies on our laps, and I nabbed a sachet of brown sauce from Wetherspoons for my sausage roll, which was a delight too.
I have no room for pudd just now, maybe that can be my little nightcap.
I’m already looking forward to tomorrow’s breakfast, but I don’t think I’ll eat so much again!
106 Miles
-2 Degrees
Well, the Green Lady certainly made an appearance this morning, at 4:25 am she set the fire alarm off.
I was out of bed in a flash, fully dressed and ready to go, so too Wendy, but it stopped after about a minute so I guessed the drama was over.
Back to bed and no harm done, I was just falling into sleep and at 4:33 am, she did it again, another sounding of the fire alarm.
I wonder what the occupants of bedroom 406 felt about it?
Again, it lasted only a few seconds and then that was that, she’d had her fun for the night and left us to it.
I didn’t get back to sleep again and I just lay there quietly puzzling things over in my mind.
I got out of bed at 6:00 am and made tea which I had in bed.
I checked my weather app and it said that it was below freezing in Inverurie, that did for Wendy Gill, she stayed in bed with more tea and I dressed in my running gear, with five sweatshirts on.
As I made my way out of the hotel, I passed a lady who works in the breakfast room and she told me that it was minus 2 degrees on her car thermometer.
Jeepers it was nippy outside, but I couldn’t see if there was a frost as it was still too dark.
I ran into Inverurie again and this time I went left at the town hall and I just got out into the country where there wasn’t any pavement when it was time for me to turn around.
Robyn bought me some really thick running gloves for my birthday and the cold was even penetrating those.
I managed a very quick drink stop and I was on my way again.
As the morning light grew brighter, I could see the extent of the frost, cars looked frozen in time. I haven’t seen a hard frost like this one in years.
The sky was bright blue again so it must have been a very clear night.
I got back to the hotel to see my poor car shivering in the carpark, she must have been frozen through in the night.
Back in the hotel and I took my time getting my gear off as I wanted to build up a little warmth before I jumped into the shower.
After a shave and a very nice rain shower shower, we went down for our last breakfast.
It was very nice too, I had Eggs Royale, Wendy had avocado on toast with a poached egg and that looked nice too.
The dining room windows run parallel to the hotels grounds and we had the morning sun streaming through the windows, and against the white frozen grass it was quite the scene.
While Wendy settled the bill, I set the cars Sat Nav for our next destination, the caravan shop in Elgin. We are taking the caravan down to Aviemore for the weekend on Friday and I did a check of the caravan last week and I found the new battery I got from Go Outdoors last year was as flat as a pancake, despite me having it on charge for over four days.
So, Elgin it was for a very heavy duty £209 battery.
Its probably for the best as the Go Outdoors battery is Ok for just summer use, but when your winter wandering you need a battery that’s dependable because the cold really does sap the life out of it.
Back on the road again and our next stop off was at Brads to collect Ellie from her Granny Mary. Caroline as she’s pregnant, for some strange reason, is not allowed to work during darkness so the two days a week that she does work has now become three days.
Now how does that logic work out, Caroline requested part time hours so that she could be at home more for her family, but in some managers wisdom she now has to work three days, and as far as they could know, she might have to make additional childcare payments, its nuts.
Anyway, we arrived just as Granny Mary had given her her lunch so while the two grannies cooed with Ellie I sat in the front room and chatted with Dave.
At home and with the car unloaded, Eleanor and Wendy went for a walk while I fitted the battery, and then tested it. Thankfully it did the trick and I tested it by powering up the movers and moved the van up and down the drive.
Supper with Ellie was a delight, cod fish cakes, peas, boiled potatoes and a parsley sauce. Ellie ate it all up, as I knew she would.
With Ellie now having Splish, Splash time in the bath I’m just getting ready for the football tonight. I think come what may, whatever the result I will be in my bed come 9:00 pm tonight, what with the Green Lady playing her tricks this morning and back to work tomorrow, I think I need to catch up on my beauty sleep.
That’s it for now Avid Reader, I’ll be back this coming Friday with yet more adventures, and we might even have snow, well it is cold enough for it!
41 Miles
Winter Wonderland
There was supposed to be a winter craft fair at the resort that I am working at and I thought I might like to be involved, but it never transpired as another hotel managed to jump the gun on us with their own craft fair.
So having booked the caravan in for the weekend I fancied staying anyway, Aviemore is a really nice place for a winter weekend break so that was it, Aviemore for the weekend it is.
I had had a mad, mad busy day yesterday and I was hopeful that today wasn’t a repetition of the same, and thankfully it wasn’t.
I was woken by my alarm at 3:30 am and I quickly dressed in my running gear and went into the shed for a nice early morning eight miles run on the treadmill. As I had only just, yesterday actually, finished the very last episode of The Walking Dead, after 11 years of 11 seasons, I started to watch it all again.
So I started my treadmill at just before 4:00 am with the very first episode and I couldn’t remember any of it. Obviously, I know the gist of the story, but the detail was lost in the midst of 11 years.
I got off the treadmill went inside and after a smoothie and a shower we finished packing the caravan with our possessions and as I had hitched the car and caravan last night, we were off pretty smartish for our route down the A9.
We arrived at work a couple of minutes before 8:00 am and I parked in a large car park. I started the gas fired heating and left Wendy to it as it was time to start work.
I always start my day at the Strathspey Hotel where the company is housing something like a hundred Ukrainian Refuges. I start there because it’s currently having a problem with the fire alarm and I want to know what happened over night. Its also where I can get some lovely hot and steaming black coffee.
The main lift, which has been out of action for some time is currently being replaced and I have got to know the two lads working on it quite well. The engineer is called Jason and his apprentice is called Spencer and both of them come from Middlesborough.
I sometimes have to disable the smoke detectors for them has they are doing some grinding which sets the fire alarm off. Thankfully every time I have, I have remembered to reinstate them, I guess I would be a pretty poor fire safety adviser if I didn’t!
I also did some work with the maintenance team who gave me access to the third-floor lift motor room in the Highland Hotel. I was up there a few weeks ago and I came across a CO2 fire extinguisher which had not been examined or subjected to a 10 yearly pressure test for over 25 years, that is by far a personal record for me.
Before I moved it, I consulted a fire extinguisher maintenance company of how to best remove it from service as basically it’s a high-pressure vessel waiting to blow.
Thankfully I followed the instructions I was given and I took it from the hotel to a remote destination and I set it off. What a racket it made.
That done I had a very tasty lunch of a prawn cocktail salad which actually was quite nice.
I snook out for ten minutes and dropped Wendy and the caravan off at the nearby caravan site where we are staying for the weekend, and then back at work I chased my backside for the rest of the afternoon.
Before I left for the day, I nipped over to say goodbye to Jason and Spencer but I was saddened to learn that Jason has to go home and not to Aberdeen for a weekend job as his wife had just been rushed into hospital with pneumonia. I would say that Jason is no older than about 30 years old and has a young baby now to go home and look after.
I got back to the caravan at around 4:30 pm and I tried to tune in the TV but unfortunately the batteries in the remote control were flat.
We decided to walk through the resort and take a look at the winter programme at the villages ice rink, which turned out to be a party in full swing, even the reindeers had turned up.
We bought the batteries from Home Bargains and then called in for a beer at the Skiing-Doo Bar which is on the way back to the caravan.
After a wash and a spruce up we drove the car to the resort, parked up and left it there for the night.
We had a very nice glass of wine in the downstairs bar at the Highland Hotel, in front of the log fire.
At 7:30 pm we walked up to Aspects Restaurant with our bottle of wine and we had a smashing dining experience.
We shared a haggis, neeps and tatties starter which was lovely, hot and tasty. Then I had slow cooked beef shins with very well-cooked crunchy veg. Wendy had the roast pork belly with veg like mine. Both meals were perfectly cooked, hot, well presented and very, very tasty.
Every staff member we met was polite and very friendly, it was a brilliant experience and it was on the house, care of my very good friend Linda McD.
Actually, there was one downside.
We were both stuffed so we declined a pudding when asked by the waiter, the family across from us ordered and the lady of the group asked for a chocolate ganache.
After a wee while Wendy asked the waiter about the chocolate ganache and from his description, she just had to order it.
Sadly, the waiter came back a few minutes later, the ganache was now off the menu. Well, you should have seen Wendy Gill’s face when the lady on the opposite table got her ganache, it was a picture.
Having left the restaurant, we grabbed our coats from the car and walked the short distance to the caravan where we settled down for the night, it was chilly outside, but the caravan was as cosy as you would like.
Jeepers, I’m looking forward to a nice long lie tomorrow, maybe I won’t get up until turned 5:00 am!
No Travelling
Big Boob!
What a mega sleep I had last night, I did not wake up until 7:45am, and I was in bed by 11:00 pm last night. I might not have got up then apart from Wendy getting up and putting the kettle on.
I went running, as did Wendy. I went up the mountain road and then turned left after two miles in the direction of Boat of Garton, and I came across the amazing sight that is Loch Pityoulish. It was at 4.25 miles so I sat on the shoreline and drank my water bottle and I sat there listening to the water lap against the shore. It was a very atmospheric experience, there were no other sounds around. I must have been looking at a view that has not changed in thousands of years.
I got back to the caravan and realised we had made a big boob, a very big boob actually, we hadn’t brought the hand blender for my morning smoothie. We had taken it to Gran Canaria with us and had forgotten to put it back in the caravan.
There was only one thing for it, I had to hand blend one as best I could, and I did.
Using one banana I blended it with peanut butter and milk in a large bowl and it wasn’t half bad. As I could not fully blend all the ingredients together with a fork there was the odd bit of un-blended peanut butter that resembled phlegm as it went down my throat, but it didn’t matter as I knew it wasn’t!
I have been in correspondence with the fire service about some procedures I am drawing together and I got an email while I was out running from one of my old staff members. So, as I knew he was working weekend duty and that I might have his attention I did a little work and sent it off to him, hoping he might look it over. While I did this Wendy sat making yet another snood for a toddler friend of Roses, it was in Celtic colours.
We took a ride up to the Cairngorm Mountain which is somewhere I’ve been visiting all of my adult life, I just love it up there.
We parked in the top car park and took a look around the shop. We found a nice little fleece jumper for Eleanor but we couldn’t find anything to fit Rose so Ellie wasn’t going to get the fleece. I told Wendy not to worry, if this is perfect for Ellie, then as long as we find something for Rose another time then that’s ok, so she bought it.
We took a walk up to the mid station and it was good to see the funicular railway running. Its currently running under test conditions since the repairs were made to the rail supports.
Actually, the funicular railway, although a fantastic concept, is an engineering disaster. Built in the late 90’s and opened in 2001, it closed in 2018 due to serious safety issues with the supports that raise the track above ground. Apparently, they used the wrong type of concrete for the conditions that the mountains weather produces. So, after less than 17 years it had to close and have mega more millions of pounds spent in putting it right, £16,000,000 actually!
The Lord only knows how the Swiss, the Austrians and even the Andorrans can build similar structures that last decades longer than the funicular as!
The track is just under 2 kilometres in length and it starts at the base station at 2,083 feet, the middle station is located at 2,510 feet and the top station is at 3,599 feet.
Two trains run on a single track and there is a mid-point where there is a passing place.
Its good in so much that it gives non skiers the chance to visit the top of the mountain safely, whereas before it was built, the only way to the top for a non-skier was on the out in the open two-seater chair lift. Jeepers you used to have to be really wrapped up for that experience.
The Cairngorm Mountain range can be quite a hostile environment with winds in excess of 100 miles per hour and temperatures of -20. But on a clear, sunny, cold crisp day there isn’t any place better for a good day’s skiing. I used to love going up there with Bradley and Robyn.
Both are excellent skiers and Brad is pretty good on a snow board too.
The last time I went skiing with Robyn we took Melanie from work with us and we had a fantastic day, I remember Robyn was skiing so elegantly and smoothly, it was great to watch.
On the way back down the mountain we drove over to Loch Pityoulish so that Wendy could see the beauty of the place. We walked along the shore to get a better view and it was stunning. It was so quiet and peaceful, and then we heard the toot of the Santa Express that runs throughout December until Christmas Day from its station in Aviemore.
It was gone 3:00 pm by the time we got back to the caravan where we had a half hours relaxation, where I sipped a nice glass of Theakston’s Old Peculiar and chomped on a few crisps.
At 3:30 pm we walked over to the Old Bridge Inn but it was packed, mostly with kids, actually there was even a baby in a pram parked at the bar while her mum and dad supped pints at the bar.
We carried on and had a drink at Café Mambo where we had had a drink at Brads stag do in 2020, and it was very nice, well apart from the two pretty girls in the booth next to us who could not string a sentence together without the “F” word being in there somewhere.
From there we walked over to Skiing-Doo for supper.
We were the only ones in, and despite the warm welcome from who I assume was the bar manager, the lad behind the bar who was doubling as a waiter could not give two stuffs.
I won’t drone on but his attitude wasn’t good, he took an age to get our drinks, he could barely talk to us, he let the music run out and he did not restart it, I had to go and tell him. I found him watching a video on his phone, oh and he had his hand in the glass when he took our drinking glasses down from the glass rack.
He actually put his grubby little fingers into the drinking portion of the glass. Thankfully I had a clean hankie, so with a little spit and polish I cleaned them both out.
The food was actually quite nice, I had chicken and wild mushroom in a creamy sauce and Wendy had a cheese burger, the wine was quite nice too.
Back at the caravan I watched last nights Strictly Dancing with Wend and before she can watch the results show on my laptop, I’m typing tonight’s copy, whilst watching the Socceroo’s v Argentina. Jeepers I do hope they beat the Argies!
I had the Strictly Spoiler alert very early last night, I bet Robyn and her Mum are pleased with the result, I’m so confident that the Spoiler is right, I’m even celebrating before watching it!
No Travelling
Colder!!!
I had yet another good nights sleep last night, shame about the Socceroos losing to the Argies but I do hope England do it later tonight.
I woke at 6:55 am and I checked my weather app and it was 0 degrees outside, thankfully it was nice and cosy in the caravan.
I had a slice of vegemite toast with my tea, and I was outside running before Wendy.
Today I wanted to make it to Loch An Eilein, I had tried to get there in the summer but I took the wrong route, so today I was determined to make it, and I did.
To say Loch An Eilein is beautiful is an understatement, it is truly stunning, and peaceful, well it was today on a cold winters morning.
I ran right around to the opposite side of the Loch and I do believe I could have made it all the way round but as I was at the end of my distance and that I didn’t know how the track would pan out I turned around and I ran back.
I’ve said the loch is stunning but I didn’t say that there is a small island fairly close to the shore line with the ruins of an ancient castle.
Here’s some info on the Loch and the Castle:
Loch an Eilein (loch of the island) with its island castle ruin and stunning surroundings of forest and hill, has seen human use for many centuries. It has also long been a much-loved favourite of countless thousands of visitors.
Very little written material exists about the construction of the island castle, though informed opinion dates its origin back to the late 14th century. It was built as a place of safety against marauding clan war bands, who used the so-called ‘Thieves’ Road’ along the eastern shores of the loch to descend on Strathspey in search of plunder. Modern examination of the stonework indicates the original basic stronghold was added to in later centuries until it gradually fell into disuse in the late 1700s. Repairs to shore up crumbling masonry were carried out in the 1800s.
The path around the Loch is 3 miles long and the maximum depth of water is 66 feet. It’s at an altitude of over 800 feet, that’s why it was spitting snow while I was running around it.
I got back to the caravan just after 10:00 am and I made a hand blended phlegm banana and peanut butter smoothie, it was just the ticket for a cold winter morning.
We hung around the caravan while I listened to the cricket on the radio. England have set Pakistan a very generous run rate to tempt them into taking shots, I’ll have to wait until the morning to see if their strategy has worked, but they had two choice wickets by close of play so they got off to a good start.
After the cricket we took a drive up the mountain to an outdoor activity centre which is accessed through a very tight and winding single track road. It was a busy and cars were all over the place trying to let the oncoming traffic pass.
Santa was there dishing out presents from a little shack and there were craft stalls in an undercover multi use all weather pitch.
There wasn’t much there for us at the craft fair but I did buy a bottle of Shetland Gin, made from seaweed, after a taster I was hooked. I amazed the lady with my knowledge of the Shetland Islands and she, in the end, at to admit she had never been to Shetland, she lives in Grantown on Spey, the business is her friends and she sells it on the mainland for her.
We called into another small tourist shop on the way back but it was all very overpriced stuff.
After a quick nip into Tesco for some chicken for tonight’s supper we dropped the car at the caravan site and walked into town.
Our first port of call was at the Bothy Bar of the Winking Owl for a pint of Highland Ale.
This was another bar where we called in on Brads stag do!
As we sat at a table near the bar, the barman got talking to me and learnt that I worked at Macdonald’s resort. Another local fella who was sat at the bar piped up, “Isn’t that where the Ukrainians are staying?”
I said that they were and he then said, “Its not right that they are staying there rent free, full board, getting an allowance from the Scottish Government and then are allowed to work locally and keep all their wages.” I had told Wendy that local resentment was growing in Aviemore about the situation and here was first hand evidence.
We called into the Cairngorm Hotel for one last drink and the last of Brad’s stag do pubs and then we headed back to the caravan where Wendy made some delicious chicken fajitas for supper, boy they were very tasty!
Having had a facetime call from both Rose and then Eleanor, I watched a little of my favourite TV programme, “Come Dine With Me”, before donning my 1966 England World Cup football shirt and walking down to the Cairngorm Hotel to watch the game in the public bar.
But that wasn’t to be, the sign on the door did for me, funny how it wasn’t up during the France game earlier.
I walked over to Mambo’s Bar where they had a big TV on the wall with the football on, there were two other men and a black lab in. I asked if they were showing the match and the barman said yes so I got a pint and sat down with the dog.
The telly volume was down and Mr BlueSky was blaring out during the anthems, which was a bit rude.
I went to the bar and asked if the commentary would be on, he said yes but the music stays on. I’d taken one inch off my pint but I grabbed my coat and walked out.
I went back to the caravan and drunk Theakston’s at £1.65 and not £4.00 a pint. I would most likely have had 3 pints and a large rum when we won, shop local they say!
Come on England!!!!
41 Miles
Back to Work
Well, that was one more very good sleep, I woke at 5:30 am but nodded for an hour and then I got up sharply at 6:30 am. I had the kettle and my toast on in double time and pretty soon I was outside in the cold, clear and very dark frost morning decamping.
The trouble with a frost is that the power cable becomes very stiff and takes an age and a lot of arm power to wind it up.
We were off site at 07:50 am and after parking the caravan on the Strathspey Hotel Carpark, and putting the gas heating on for Wendy, I walked into the hotel to start my day at 07:57 am.
This is the hotel that is currently housing Ukrainian refuges and the buildings fire alarm is giving the company huge problems as it keeps going off for no reason at all. The system is new and its wireless and it has repeater stations all over that pass the signal along until it gets to the main panel. To be honest I don’t think the system has been designed properly and it’s getting increasingly difficult to get the installers and the designers, two different companies, to work together to resolve the situation.
The problem area seems to be the lower ground floor which is currently not in use. It got so bad that the lower ground floors detectors have been disabled, and now reception staff have to do a fire walk all around the corridors every hour.
Thankfully after checking the log book and then interrogating the fire alarm panel I could see that there had been no activations over the weekend.
I did some work in the hotel lounge sipping their very nice black coffee as I did, and then I went over to the Highland Hotel for some work there, and then on and off through the day I moved around the site juggling jobs as I went along.
On site we have four large hotels, 3 staff large staff blocks a huge conference centre, shop, cinema and large event rooms, oh and a sports centre which includes a large swimming pool.
Its enough to keep me in work for years to come let alone a 6-month contract.
At 12:30 pm, Wendy met up with Linda for tea and cake in the shop café and I tagged along for a few minutes before diving back into work.
At 3:00 pm having spent the day walking around Aviemore and then spending time in the centres large and very nicely stocked shop, Wendy had had enough so I met her at the caravan and drove home.
We were home with the caravan tucked back on the drive by 4:00 pm and after unpacking all our gear, I had a cup of tea while Wendy nipped into town with the car for some Christmas shopping while she had the chance with the car.
I then did 8.5 miles on my treadmill in the shed.
My supper was a single banana smoothie and a small spicy chicken wrap.
At 8:00 pm I did some work on a fire risk assessment report to make up for the hour I had left over from finishing early today.
And that’s that for this year I think Avid Reader, I have nothing planned this side of Christmas, or until the end of February next year for that matter, although I might have the odd weekend away.
I have my eyes set on Coll and Tiree, two Hebridean Islands, but they might possibly be late spring events as the ferries just can’t be trusted these days with bad weather call offs, I’ve been island stuck a few times before and its not as romantic as it sounds!
98 Miles
Raasay House Hotel
I have to admit to maybe having a glass of rum too many last night and I fell asleep in my chair. I had the fire guard on and the telly off and I must have been having a period of contemplation and just nodded off.
I had had a very decent day at work, but a last-minute management meeting was sprung on me five minutes before I was due to leave and it gave me the right hump.
I only have a short contract to produce fire risk assessments for a large hotel chain and I submitted my first assessment in the first week of September last year. The assessment had a large number of contraventions and the Fire Service were already involved. I did my second assessment and submitted it in Mid-October. Again, this assessment had a large number of contraventions which were never addressed by the management board and after a fire safety audit by the Fire and Rescue Service this week, they are all now in a large flap.
During the meeting I was being grilled on things that I did not have time to deliver and produce documents that I didn’t have time to do because the very next day I was starting four days off and we were going away.
The final straw was the complete waste of 30 minutes of my time that saw Wendy waiting in the cold outside Tesco supermarket, so after a period of contemplation which included me running 8.5 miles on my treadmill, I submitted my resignation. This, although necessary, peeved me because I enjoy the job, I very much like the staff I work with, and I wanted to complete the mission that was set to me by the very decent General Manager.
I woke at 3:00 am and trotted off to bed, after finishing my rum first mind.
I woke again at 6:00 am and after a slice of toast and a cup of tea I jumped on my treadmill again for another 8.5mile run, while watching the latest series of Happy Valley.
After my run, I downed a large banana and peanut butter smoothie and then jumped in the shower, dressed quickly, packed the car and we were heading westwards by 10:00 am.
We were heading to the Isle of Raasay, a small island off The Isle of Skye.
In my fire service days, I was the District Officer for Skye and Lochalsh for over four years, it was a job I loved. For a large amount of my time posted there I was the sole full-time officer for a at least 110 miles. This meant that I was on my own, unsupported during many operational incidents, thankfully I was very well studied and very well trained.
As we drove over the very beautiful Highland Roads it became a lovey trip down memory lane.
Sadly, the memories were of two very bad road traffic accidents.
The first was one of my early incidents in the District, it was at Strathcarron where a Landrover driver raced the train to a none barriered rail crossing only for it to be a dead heat.
The car was dragged along the track for hundreds of yards and the car was an utter wreck. I thought the driver was sure to die, but thankfully a local doctor came along and kept him alive long enough for us to free him from the wreckage. At one point the doctor performed surgery on his chest, it was amazing to see. I do believe the driver made a complete recovery.
The second one was on The Isle of Skye, on a high pass location, in driving rain in the middle of winter.
I was first on scene and it was a two-car collision with one driver not having their seat belt on. As soon as I opened the car door, I knew the driver was about to die from his injuries, he looked at me with that look on his face and he knew his time was up.
Helped by other drivers I got him out of the car, people took their coats off for him to lie on in the driving rain while I performed mouth to mouth, with a young man doing chest compressions for me.
After about twenty minutes we were relieved by an ambulance crew but it was obvious the man would not recover, but at least he died surrounded by people who cared for him.
The ferry over to Raasay is about a 25-minute crossing and I stood out on deck, wrapped up and watching us make our approach to the island.
I have been to Raasay many times and it is one of my favourite Scottish Islands.
I was on the island to undertake a review of a fire risk assessment that I did nine years ago for my friend David Croy, who runs the business that operates from the house, a hotel and an outwards bound centre.
I have known David and his wife Freya for over 24 years and they are really nice people, actually scrub that, Freya is lovely, David is a laid back but enthusiastic man whose heart really is firmly fixed on the great outdoors, and being on the sea in particular, and over the years we have had some laughs.
After a cup of coffee with David, Wendy went for a walk while I started my review.
Raasay House is stunning and I’ll detail all about it in tomorrow’s copy.
At 5:30 pm, David cooked us a supper of chilli con carnie and we were joined by Freya, and we chatted while we ate our supper.
After supper more work followed but by 8:30 pm I was bushed after walking extensively around the large house and then working on the report in our lavish bedroom.
I think a glass of wine might be in order and then an early bed.
David and Freya live in the village and the hotel is currently closed until March, so there’s only the two of us in residence along with the traditional house ghost!!!
More tomorrow Avid Reader, its nice to be back on the road even if it is only a working break!
No Travelling
Hard Work!!
I woke at 7:30 am this morning, I had had an exceptional night’s sleep, I was fully refreshed.
I put the kettle on and I looked out of the window, it was just getting light outside and I saw the ferry leaving for the mainland, the Cullin Hills were a fantastic back drop and it made for such a fantastic photograph. Sadly I didn’t take it, I did pinch it from Raasay House Hotels Facebook page though as it really is a stunner, but at least I did see the same view.
I went down to the kitchen and made toast for Wendy and me on the industrial toaster that David had left for me. It took an age to warm up and for the chain drive to kick in, but at least it was worth it. Wendy had the tea made by the time I got back up to the second floor and it was rather nice having tea and toast in a very nice lardy-dah bedroom.
Wendy and me went out running at the same time.
I hate the husband and wife running routine so I gave her a two minute start, but then I caught her up, so I took some pics. I caught her up again on a big hill and then I found a road I have never been on before, so after sparing her a drink of my water I headed down this road.
Jeepers it went down and down and I knew that when coming back it was going to be a bit of a bugger, and it was.
I did get back up, eventually and to get my distance in I ran down into the village of Inverairsh. I ran along the shore and I went past Churchston House.
Churchston House is a B&B establishment that I stayed at every month for over four years.
When I was the Fire Officer in Skye I had to visit each fire station once a month for training duties. As the ferry stopped running at 6:30 pm for Raasay I could not get back to mainland Skye as training didn’t end until gone 9:00 pm, so I stayed with Stuart and Christine at Churchston House.
Churchston House had three unique bedrooms:
Every time I stayed; I was excited about which bedroom I would get!
Oh, and Stuarts full Scottish Breakfast was an utter, utter delight.
I did learn from a lady in the ferry queue that Christine had died but that Stuart is still alive and doing well, late into his 80’s.
As I had got my mileage in for the day I took a short cut across a farmer’s field, but I then had to climb over the farmers fence in order to get back to the hotel.
It was only after the second jolt of electricity in my private parts that I realised that it was an electric fence that I was trying to get over.
I gave up, I ran over to the gate and went through that.
Back at the hotel I had my morning smoothie and then after a shave and a shower I was ready for a hard day’s work, it was 11:30 am.
Jeepers I did put a shift in today!!!
Wendy has arranged a dinner party of burger and chips with our friends at home on Saturday night, so I had to make sure that we were in with a chance of catching the 12:15 pm ferry tomorrow afternoon.
As I had done most of my visual inspection yesterday, today was about pulling it all together, writing it up, printing it and filing it in three folders:
Folder One is a pig of a folder to write, it has to be site specific and it must detail the fire risk assessment, the outcomes, the hotel fire safety policy, the emergency fire action plan, the personnel emergency evacuation plan for people with movement issues, the staff training procedure, and finally the buildings hot works policy, (Fires usually start when a contractor is welding or grinding something in the building).
We had supper at 5:30 pm, it was cooked by the lovely Portuguese chef, and David warmed it up. It was absolutely lovely, it was chicken in a very tasty sauce served with fried potatoes and carrots, it was yet another utter delight!!!
Soon enough I was back at work and after too-ing and fro-ing with David about emergency action plans I had finished by 8:30 pm.
Wendy came down from the bedroom in her Jim jams and a jumper and David and Freya joined us, and we had a really lovely evening chatting about old times and the future and what it holds.
It was a really lovely time, however its fair to say Freya isn’t exactly over the moon in the place we fitted the fire folder wall mount behind the desk at reception, she soon got a large potted plant to put in front of them, women, beauty before requirement every time!
Its funny how you don’t see good friends for year to ten years but you pick up the friendship right away the very first moment you meet up again.
At 10:30 pm I was done in, I was really goosed, so I made my excuse and we climbed the stairs up to bed.
Wendy was in bed as soon as we got upstairs and I sat and filed tonight’s copy while watching crappy telly, I mean Graham Norton has never done anything for me.
Tomorrow, hopefully will be an easy day. It should consist of a morning run, a banana smoothie, putting all of the documents I have created today on a memory stick for David, and then a ferry over to Skye followed by an easy drive west to east and then a dinner party with Donald Anderson and David Latham, what possibly could go wrong?
99 Miles
Stunning Weather
What a lovely morning we had today! We both went out running, Wendy a little before me and we both ran to the south of the island and we saw a beautiful morning sky.
We have been so lucky with the weather; I mean it’s the end of January and we are on the west coast, there wasn’t a breath of wind nor any rain, is this a record.
I caught Wendy up just as she was having a breather at the old ferry slipway. It used to berth here when I first started in Skye, but then with a bigger boat now running the route they needed a bigger slipway so one was built a little further north, just below Raasay House Hotel.
We could see every ferry movement from our bedroom window.
Wendy turned back after a brief rest and I carried on as far as the road would go, and I saw the sun rise directly in front of the small lighthouse.
I got back to the hotel just after 10:00 am.
The original Raasay House was the seat of the MacLeod chief of Raasay. The MacLeod chief was said to be a Jacobite sympathiser and supporter of Bonnie Prince Charlie and it is for this reason that the original clan house was burned to the ground, along with every other dwelling on Raasay, by government troops following Culloden in 1746.
The building is Grade A listed and regarded as being of “outstanding” artistic interest” and also “high” historical interest”.
It was in a pretty poor state when I first visited on my Fire Prevention inspection and it was in need of a lot of tender care. But working with Lyn, Freya and David we soon had it in as fine a fettle from a fire safety point of view that we could get.
I loved going over to Raasay for my monthly training night and I would sometimes stay at the hotel if Christine and Stuart were visiting their son who lived on Mainland Shetland.
After I moved back to Inverness with work funding was found for a complete renovation, and with it being a Class A Listed Building it cost an awful lot of money to refurbish it.
One Saturday night in February 2009, by coincidence we were staying at the Applecross Inn, just across The Sound of Raasay, with friends, on a very cold, snowy and stormy night, just before the building contractor handed the building back over, the place caught fire. The wind was that bad that it rattled the bedroom windows and the snow piled up.
The first fire crew to arrive was the team from Raasay itself. A large tree had blown down and was blocking the access road to the hotel.
By the time the crew got around the tree, the hotel was well alight.
It was almost a total burn out, but at least the walls were still standing. David sent me some photographs, they made for very sad viewing.
But David being David, and Freya being Freya, they started again when the insurance funding came through and another four years later, they had the hotel back to themselves and it was a lovely place to visit.
I did the fire risk assessment just before they opened, we took the caravan over and parked in the grounds, we had Jess, our Labrador dog with us and she loved it. That was in February 2013, ten years ago.
Here’s some info on the top team:
Freya Rowe is the Managing Director; Freya oversees every aspect of the daily business as well as the big picture.
By Freya’s side is David Croy, David is Freya’s partner in life as well as business and he is another company director. David takes the lead on activities, improvement projects and maintenance.
The third company Director, Lyn Rowe, was actually the first. Lyn is a founding director of the company and ran the business for years before handing it over to her daughter Freya. Lyn’s role is increasingly ambassadorial these days but she is always on hand with a wealth of experience for the team to draw on.
They run some exceptional outward-bound trips from the hotel, and our kids and their Scout Group had a week with them many years ago.
In the photographs, if you ever watched SAS, Who Dares Wins you might recognise the Steading, its where the contestants lived. It’s owned by Andrew; an ex-firefighter and it was rented by the production company for a few series during the pandemic.
They also stayed at Raasay House Hotel.
David was telling us last night that it saved them from losing the business.
All of the cast, all of the crew and anyone working at the hotel had to join a massive Covid 19 bubble. They weren’t allowed home, they had to have regular Covid testing and they successfully applied for an alcohol licence and it was granted, they were the only establishment in the whole of Scotland allowed to sell alcohol during lockdown.
How interesting!
I had my usual morning smoothie and then we had coffee with David who tried his best to pay me for my professional services, but I told him that I live by Highland tradition and I only help my mates for the satisfaction of doing so.
So, then I got a beautiful bottle of Raasay Distillery Whiskey and Wendy got a very nice bottle of Raasay gin.
The ferry over was almost empty and soon we were back home in Kirkhill after driving through Glen Shiel and along Loch Ness.
At home, I soon had the barbie ready for tonight’s dinner party, burgers and chips!
Well dinner was a nice success, but its now 22:45 and I have to admit to struggling with tiredness, but it seems Donald and David have found their second wind, oh dear!!!
150 Miles
Glen Coe
I had a good night’s rest last night, Eleanor, our eldest granddaughter, at 2 years old, was staying the night so her mum and dad could grab some rest as they are just coming to terms with our youngest granddaughter, Lois, at just one week old.
Ellie was as good as gold overnight as she never made a sound.
I woke at around 5:45 am and got up and I was just finishing my breakfast when I could hear her chatting to herself in bed. I went in and scooped her up, along with two teddies and deposited her in bed with granny where they enjoyed a cup of tea in bed each, provided by myself of course.
I looked at the outside temperature and it was – 4 degrees. I was going to go out for a run, but at that temperature I would have needed five sweat shirts and a hoody too, so I decided to use the treadmill as I needed all my available sweatshirts for the coming trip.
As Wendy and Ellie had gotten themselves out of bed, and Wendy had started her pre-break chores of bed stripping, I made Ellie a nice warming bowl of porridge, which of course she loves because Pops gives her a nice dollop of honey in with it.
Treadmill indoors is always a good workout and by mile five I was sweating cobs, so I took a quick cooling break. I nipped into the house to check on Ellie who was helping Wendy with last minute packing. Jeepers I could not find her so I asked Wendy, she’s in the front bedroom was the answer.
I found her tucked into the cool box which she had pushed from the kitchen and into the bedroom. Both teddies were with her and she was smiling like she had done something really cheeky.
I made her chuckle by pushing her around the house before depositing her back with granny in the kitchen.
I finished my last 3.5 treadmill miles as Wendy and Eleanor left as it was time for her to go home.
By the time Wendy was back I had had my morning smoothie and I was showered and ready to pack the car.
It was still well below zero as I packed the car but at least the sun was out.
We were well in front of ourselves timewise as we left 30 minutes earlier than we had planned.
We set off at 10:30 am and the Sat Nav, as I had hoped, took us along Loch Ness and down to Fort William, along the Great Glen.
Jeepers the journey down the Glen was stunning, with lovely blue skies and very bright sunshine, so much so that I definitely needed my sunglasses.
In no time at all we were going through Fort William, but at the end of the short dual carriageway we came to a sudden halt as a massive dumper truck was under police escort, and it was going our way.
This dumper was massive, it took all of our carriageway and half of the other.
The A82 south of Fort William runs along Loch Linnhe on the west side and steep cliffs on the other. It took us 40 minutes to do the 12 miles to the Ballachulish Bridge where thankfully the police pulled it over to allow the extremely long line of traffic behind it pass.
We drove through the stunning winter scenery of Glen Coe and I looked out for the James Bond spot where Danial Craig had stopped with Judie Dench in Skyfall, but I couldn’t spot it, Wendy had no idea what I was talking about.
As we came out of the Glen, I was reminded of an incident that had happened exactly 30 years ago.
We were driving up in February 1993 for a week’s holiday in Glen Coe with the kids and Wendy’s parents.
It was late and we had just passed the village of Tyndrum, heading north when I saw the lights from a vehicle behind me, in my rear-view mirror, go straight up into the night sky and then disappear.
I pulled the VW Campervan, we had at the time up, off the road, and ran back down the road and I found a full back axel, and differential of a large car, I looked across the moor and then I saw what was left of a Range Rover. I ran down to the Range Rover and I came across a badly injured man who was laid fully on his back as he had been thrown out of the vehicle as it had left the road.
I quickly spoke with him and he was paralysed and could not move, I left him as he told me his friend was still in the wreckage of the car. I found the car and although the man inside was badly hurt, he wasn’t as bad as the first fella.
I ran back to the van and grabbed blankets and pillows and thankfully I was joined by others who had stopped. I remember a nurse took the badly injured man under her care, and had a tent erected over him, it was February and freezing cold. I then took care of the fella in the car.
I left the scene as more help arrived; I had two very small children to worry about and it was freezing cold so I went back to the van with the now bloodied blankets.
I found grandad at that back axle, in the dark, and he said to me, “That car must have been traveling at some speed for that to have happened”.
As we left the scene, I saw the emergency vehicles coming up the hill with their blue lights flashing.
I never knew what happened to the pair, its now a distant memory in my mind, Wendy and I spoke about it in the car as we passed the spot where it all happened and there’s far more to the story than I have detailed here, and that’s because it’s all now so long ago, and I thought it right that I only tell the facts that I am sure of. Thankfully the rest of the week was a very nice relaxing break.
We got to Helensburgh at 14:45 and we were checked into our Travelodge by a very nice young woman with a Northern Irish Accent.
After hauling our bags up to our room, we were very pleasantly surprised to find we have an upper floor bedroom with a stunning view over the Clyde.
The Travelodge is also openly attached to a very nice-looking pub too, The Commodore.
We dropped our bags and then we took a nice afternoon walk around town. The sun was out and the town is quite nice, there are a lot of really lovely looking residential properties here too.
We had a sneaky drink in Weatherspoon’s, The Henry Bell, before heading back to our room for a little relaxation after which we took a walk along the Clyde before taking a Katsu Chicken Currie in Wetherspoons.
We were back at our room for 8:00 pm were we will no doubt do a little more relaxing before turning in for the night.
I am really looking forward to running westward along the shore in the morning, but I might just have to wait until the mercury rises as I am dam sure its -15 outside just now!
No Traveling
Faslane
We agreed to an 8:00 am wake up last night and Wendy Gill was up at 6:00 am on the dot, well I never.
We had various temperature ranges for the weather outside, it was between -2 to -5 degrees.
Wendy went out running first and I followed about ten minutes later as I put far more clothes on than her. And it was indeed very, very cold. We made it far worse by running north towards the town of Garelochhead which put us on the shaded side of a very large hill.
Thankfully there wasn’t any frost, it was icy in places where water had run but not overall slippery.
I ran 4.5 miles and I was within one mile of the world famous Faslane Naval Base.
I got back at 9:30 am having seen Wendy going to Tesco for some ice, which was what I had just done. I can tell you it’s not easy running a half mile with a litre of milk and a bag of ice in a carrier bag.
Helensburgh is a very nice-looking town, its small but very clean and tidy and its famous for a couple of things.
The town faces south towards Gourock across the Firth of Clyde, which is approximately 3 miles wide at this point. Ocean-going ships can call at Greenock, but the shore at Helensburgh is very shallow, although to the west of the town the Gareloch is deep.
The journey by boat from Helensburgh to Glasgow could take several days, depending on the strength and direction of the wind and on tidal conditions. In 1812 Henry Bell introduced the paddle steamer, The Comet, for passengers to come and go to Glasgow from the pier at Helensburgh.
The Comet was the first commercial steamship in Europe.
That this vessel and subsequent steamships could travel straight into the wind meant that Helensburgh's shallow shore line was a much smaller problem for sailors. As a result, the town began to grow from a population of about 500 in 1810 to 2,229 by 1841.
John Logie Baird, the inventor of television, hails from the town. Actually, the invention of the first TV is very much disputed, but what is not disputed is that he is most famous for being the first person to demonstrate a working television, there you go.
In Hastings in 1924 he transmitted the image of a Maltese cross over the distance of 10 feet.
Baird's first public demonstration of television was in 1925, in Selfridge's shop in London.
In 1928 Baird sent television pictures from London to New York by short-wave radio. He also demonstrated television in colour, and developed a video recording system which he called 'phonovision', what a clever man, he probably transformed the modern world with his inventions.
After my smoothie, a shave and a shower we headed north along the coastal road to check out Faslane.
First up though we came across the Faslane Peace Camp, what a scruffy looking collection of old caravans that were set in a small wood, they looked an absolute mess. Lord knows how hygiene is maintained.
I had noticed a lot of traffic heading this way when I was out running and taking a look at the base I could see why.
There are over 11,000 people employed at the base and the majority of them are people local to the area, so it’s a major employer in this very rural area.
Of these there are 3,500 military personnel with around 800 family members.
Jeepers the base is big, its actually massive, but thankfully it doesn’t really intrude on the local environment.
Faslane is home to the entire fleet of the United Kingdoms submarine fleet which consists of :
4 x Vanguard Class nuclear powered submarines, and each one is equipped with 16 ballistic missile tubes. However, the Royal Navy loads only eight of the missile tubes with the Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles, each armed with up to eight nuclear warheads. The submarines are also fitted with four 21inch torpedo tubes for the use of Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes.
5 x Astute Class nuclear powered submarines which carry 38 weapons, which are a mixture of Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes and Tomahawk Cruise Missiles.
3 x Sandown Class Mine Counter Measure Vessels.
There is also a Royal Marine Commando unit based there, currently it’s 3 Commando Brigade who has around 550 marines.
Of the Vanguard fleet, one submarine is always at sea, one is under maintenance, one is training and one is available.
Now, with that lot in and out there’s no wonder it’s a big site.
We stopped for a short walk in the small but beautiful village of Garelochhead, we walked back to look at a Royal Fleet Auxiliary Vessel, The RFA Tideforce which was moored close to the base. Tideforce resupplies warships at sea and she carries many thousands of litres of fresh water, fuel oil and aviation fuel.
On the way back we bought a few food items from a local deli for a bedroom tapas supper tonight, before jumping into the car and taking the scenic drive down the Rosneath peninsula to the very small town of Kilcreggan.
This is another smashing little place with a few shops, including a butcher where we bought a Scotch Pie for the tapas. The houses are all solidly built and the place had a really nice feel about it. We took a beer in the only pub and we were made to feel really welcome by the young barman.
There seems to be a little discontentment locally as the foot passenger ferry which crosses the Clyde to Gourock on the mainland is being upgraded and it won’t be able to use the current pier, so another pier has been proposed. There are fears that the village’s B-listed Victorian pier will be neglected if it is not used by ferries, the opposition seems quite strong.
We drove back along the west coast of the peninsular passing another Navel base at Coulport. This base is the storage and loading facility for the nuclear warheads of the Vanguard submarines.
We dropped the car back at the hotel and took a walk into town to buy some more tapas provisions, stopping in another very friendly pub on the walk back.
We ate our tapas supper quite early, and as usual we had bought far too much food so most of it is in the cool box, maybe for later?
As darkness approached, we took a walk along the Clyde.
On the way back I bought a tub of ice cream from a fellow Yorkshireman, he spotted my accent immediately, and he gave me an extra dollop of ice cream for being from the home county.
As we walked back, we could see RFA Tideforce heading out to sea, she was slipping out silently under cover of dark and most likely on another resupply mission somewhere on the ocean waves.
No Traveling
Sunshine!!!
It was -1 degree outside and we had brilliant sunshine, so much so that I needed both my sunglasses and a baseball cap to keep the sun out of my eyes.
It was cold mind, especially out of the sun.
I ran passed a large Morrisons supermarket and across the road there was an academy school, which in Scotland is the High School. The road was quite busy but when I passed at 8:40 am, scores of kids were crossing the street from the school and going into Morrisons to buy food. I saw one young lad carrying a large bottle of Lucozade Orange and a pasty. I don’t know if that was his breakfast or his lunch or what everyone else was doing but surely school meals can’t be as expensive as buying a single pork pie, day in and day out. Not to mention the health benefits, it just doesn’t seem right that their parents let them go and buy what they want, eating really should be more structured and social than just scoffing a daily meal.
Maybe I really am old fashioned.
I got back to the hotel just after 9:30 am and I found Wendy feeling very funny, I’m not sure what that was all about but within 10 minutes she was sat in her favourite position, in front of the large bedroom window overlooking the Clyde doing her knitting.
After my usual morning routines, we jumped into the car and drove a mile to Hill House.
Hill House is considered to be Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s domestic masterpiece. Commissioned by Glasgow book publisher Walter Blackie, up-and-coming architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and artist Margaret Macdonald worked collaboratively to create everything from the building itself to the furniture and textiles.
Mackintosh was a revolutionary designer, but the materials and techniques at the cutting edge of architectural design in 1900 haven’t withstood a century of the west of Scotland’s harsh, wet weather conditions.
The external render of the property has not proved watertight and the walls have gradually become saturated and are crumbling, with water now threatening the interiors. Therefore, the National Trust for Scotland have embarked on a 10-year conservation programme, and they have covered the entire house with a protective steel frame structure covered in chainmail mesh.
After a walk around the outside of Hill House, we drove eastward along the Clyde for a short while before crossing it by going over the very beautiful Erskine Bridge.
The sun was still out in full force and even with my sunglasses on I did find the brightness a little much.
Our first port of call was a Weatherspoon Bar, The Lord of the Isles, in Renfrew. The Sat Nav had it as being in the Barrhead Shopping Centre. So after parking up that’s where we found ourselves. As I went looking for the bar, Wendy went on a shopping expedition.
I could not find that bloody bar, I even checked the Weatherspoon’s App and it had me in the right spot. I rang the bar three times before I got a response and obviously, I was in the wrong centre, I should have been in the XSite Centre which thankfully was a short distance away.
As I made my way over I heard someone chasing after me, it was Wendy who thought I would had been finished by now, so she came in with me.
After the bar we jumped into the car for the short drive to another Weatherspoon’s bar in Anniesland.
Wendy was hungry so I tried to order a portion of loaded chips, it took 3 goes for the barmaid to understand me, I nearly got a bowl of chips and then goaded chips, I mean surely they have been bought from her before.
Actually, the chips were quite nice when they came, and as there wasn’t any Doom Bar ale available I had a coke, as all the other beers were too high in strength.
We then jumped into the car again and drove over to the town of Dumbarton.
We have always bypassed Dumbarton as the A82 north goes around the town.
First, we stopped at Dunbarton Castle which is just outside of the town on the Clyde.
Dumbarton Castle has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Scotland. It sits on a volcanic plug of basalt known as Dumbarton Rock which is 240 feet high and overlooks the town.
The history of the Castle goes back 1,500 years and to be fair it is pretty stunning, sadly its closed for renovation work, but it did look impressive from outside of the walls.
Next, we parked up on a side street and wondered down the High Street.
The town is quite nice with the River Leven running about 50 metres to the west of the town.
We walked the entire town, which didn’t take long, and there were some old and interesting buildings, but a few shops were closed and there weren’t any quirky local shops, they were all mainly chain stores.
As I nipped in to my last Weatherspoon’s of this mission, Wendy went shopping for running shoes. She presented herself half an hour later with running shoes and a bag load of toys from the charity shop for her toy box at home, I say her toy box but it is used by our grandchildren.
To finish we took a walk along the river and I was amazed at how many damaged, dirty looking and sunken pleasure boats littered the river, it was like a boat graveyard.
We got back to the hotel a little before 5:00 pm were we had a quick wash and brush up before we headed out for our Friday night supper at Cattle & Creel.
Jeepers what a fantastic feed we had, and I nearly didn’t go, although they had a 4.5 TripAdvisor rating, a few recent reviews weren’t that good. But I am so glad I gave it a go, as the food, the staff and the atmosphere was brilliant.
To start we had some sourdough bread and oil/balsamic vinegar.
For the main, as it was tapas Friday we had a fish medley of monkfish cheeks, langoustines and octopus, all of which were lightly battered. We also had a hand dived scallop with slow braised beef and a delicious squash & roe puree.
Next up we had a fillet steak with a brandy peppercorn sauce and a portion of 36 hours braised ox cheek, with silky mash, red wine jus & crispy onions, oh and I ordered a side of chips.
What delicious food it was, it was an utter delight, and we were stuffed.
I was so stuffed that I declined a dessert and I had an After Eight cocktail instead, it was like velvet on my tongue.
151 Miles
Home!!!
Wendy excelled this morning; she was up and about at 5:45 am. She told me she had heard someone’s TV on at around 4:00 am and never really got back to sleep. I always sleep with ear plugs in whenever I am away from home and nothing disturbs me.
I had to nip down to the car to get my orange juice from the cool box in the car, yesterdays ice had melted, the bags of ice are much smaller these days and don’t last the full 24 hours. Anyway the car was like one solid block of ice, it was that cold outside.
I went out running, as did Wendy, I went north up to Faslane and Wendy ran around the town. My turnaround spot was just about a quarter of a mile beyond the Faslane Peace Camp. Jeepers up close it looks like a proper stinky place. Surely you can want global peace and still live a clean life?
Here’s an extract from the camps Facebook page:
“Faslane Peace Camp - anti-nuclear action since 1982.
The Peace Camp consists of a line of caravans and buses along a short stretch of the A814 approaching Faslane. Visitors, and potential new residents, are always welcome, and the Camp is child- and dog-friendly. Please be aware that alcohol and drugs are not allowed in the communal spaces to which visitors have access”.
I wonder what goes on in areas where the public don’t have access?
I got back to the hotel just before 9:30 am having completed just over 9 miles. I am doing an extra mile a day so that I can bring my running, major milestone further away from Christmas and into November, it is working as I am creeping ever further away.
The car was packed by 11:00 am and we were off on our way heading north. We had toyed with the idea of heading south and picking up the M8 with us eventually coming back up the A9, but I am so glad we didn’t as the views back were stunning.
First, we were soon traveling around the shores of Loch Lomond.
For those of you that don’t know, Loch Lomond is the largest fresh water lake in Great Britain by surface area in the United Kingdom, it is surpassed only by Lough Neagh and Lough Erne.
Loch Lomond has a surface area of 27.5 miles and is second only to Loch Ness in its total volume of water. Loch Morar, in The Highlands, near Mallaig, is the deepest freshwater body in the British Isles with a maximum depth of 1,017 ft.
The weather was stunning, we had clear blue skies and the carparks along the route were packed with visitors.
After you leave Loch Lomond its not long before you are climbing into The Highlands and then heading down Glen Coe.
Again, the carparks were busy and the views were stunning.
Now the reason I was glad we came this way is something that I had forgotten.
If it’s your intention to travel along the shores of Loch Ness, the best way to do it is to go north along the A82, along Loch Lomond and then through Glen Coe, the views going down the Glen are truly stunning and then the views along Loch Ness are pretty good too.
We arrived back home a little after 3:00 pm and while Wendy sorted the washing out which consisted mainly of my stinky running gear, I unpacked the car.
As I unpacked the car, I saw that the field behind us as been ploughed, I do like this annual event, it means we are now into the growing seasons, my most favourite time of the year!
As I file the last copy of this trip, I am growing in excitement that its England v France in the Six Nations at 4:45 pm, I am hopeful of an England win, lets see if we really can do it!
148 Miles
Desperate Dan!!!
I woke at 6:30 am this morning and Wendy was already sat up in bed with her iPad and she said, “I have some very sad news, Paul O’Grady has died”. That was sad, I really liked Paul, he was a no-nonsense type of person, very compassionate and he was very widely liked, he was also very funny!
Jeepers it was misty this morning and there was very poor visibility when I went out running to Beauly, thankfully I have a nicely bright yellow running jacket.
I got back home a little after 9:30 am and after my traditional smoothie and with my washing done we packed the car and headed south just a little after 11:00 am.
Having worked for the last six months down in Aviemore I feel like I know that first 30 miles of the A9 like the back of my hand, and in no time at all we were passing the MacDonald Resort with hardly any traffic on the road.
The route to Dundee, for us, takes us down the A9 as usual to Perth where we join the M90, however instead of heading south bound for Edinburgh we took the eastbound route, over the River Tay and on to the A90 all the way into Dundee, Scotland’s fourth largest city.
We are on a short three night break in Dundee as we are travelling down to Edinburgh to drop Wendy off at Alex and Robyn’s house as Robyn’s second baby is due shortly and Wendy will help out with Rose while her Dad and Mum are busy with the new delivery.
I have been to Dundee a few times with work when I was in the Fire Service as its where Tayside Fire Brigade had their headquarters.
I quite like the place although it has a very poor reputation with drugs and violence, that’s if you believe what you hear on the news, it was always happening in Dundee.
I have stayed a few times at the Premier Inn which is on the banks of the Tay Estuary, it’s quite a stunning location as its beside the new Victoria and Albert Museum and the RRS Discovery.
The hotel is ideally suited for running enthusiasts as there are good paths both along the shores of the Tay and over the Tay Road Bridge, which I have run over a few times.
We got into the hotel early having arrived at 2:15 pm, but sadly we didn’t get a riverside view, although Wendy insists she would have asked for one had she gotten out of the car and gone to check in. However, as I explained, the young lady on reception gave me the only available room at that time and we are where we are, facing another wing of the hotel instead of looking at majestic views of the River Tay.
Having dragged our bags upstairs we set off for a walk-in town, firstly having a brief look inside the V&A Museum. The museum is relatively new, opened in 2018 and I have to admit, in my opinion it’s a bit of a, as our new King would say, “Monstrous Carbuncal”.
It was designed by the Japanese Architect Kengo Kuma who also designed the Tokyo Olympic Stadium which hosted the 2020 Olympic Games.
The architect says the form of the museum was inspired by the cliffs on Scotland's north-eastern coastline.
The effect was achieved by cladding it in lines of pre-cast reconstituted stone panels that run horizontally around the curving concrete walls.
The 2,466 stone panels, which were made in moulds, weigh up to 3,000kg each and span up to 4m. I didn’t take a photograph; I’ll do that when we take a closer look inside.
From there we walked into town and found that Dundee City Centre has some rather nice old stone buildings. Actually, the architecture reminded me of the buildings in Aberdeen with the only difference being that in Aberdeen they used granite and in Dundee they used solid stone.
We had a fair walk around and we found quite a few of the university buildings and the bars that were aimed at the student population. We saw a few nice-looking bars and restaurants and we were both quite pleased with what we found.
We came across the Desperate Dan statue which is in commemoration of the comic, The Dandy which was published in Dundee,
At 4:00 pm I was starving hungry so we nipped into the local Wetherspoon Bar, the Counting House for something to eat and drink.
I had a chicken burger and a pint of Doom Bar and Wendy had chicken bites and a glass of wine. The bar was heaving with dare I say, lots of older people. I guess we are the only ones who can afford to go out these days.
Anyway, the food was hot and tasty and we were soon fully refreshed.
By the time we were ready to leave mind it had started to rain outside, but unperturbed we took in a little more of the town.
As we walked, I came across a small hardware store where I bought a small hearth set for the summer house stove, which I was quite pleased with.
We happened upon the City Quay which we walked around, and where we came across HMS Unicorn.
Launched in 1824, HMS Unicorn is the most original old ship in the world.
Originally constructed as a 46-gun frigate at Chatham Royal Dockyard, Unicorn arrived in Dundee in 1873 as a training ship for the Royal Naval Reserves – a role she carried out until the 1960s.
HMS Unicorn is still moored on the city’s waterfront and is now the oldest ship left in Scotland, as well as one of the six oldest ships in the world.
The vessel no longer has any upper structure and has now a very dubious looking roof over it, however a restoration society has been formed with the intention of bringing her back to life, jeepers that will take millions of pounds and lots of craftsmen.
Walking back along the Tay we passed under the Tay Road bridge and I showed Wendy how to get up onto the pedestrian section which runs along the central area of the bridge. The Tay Road Bridge was opened in 1966 by HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother and at 7,365 feet long it was, at the time, the longest road bridge in the United Kingdom.
After a short rest in our hotel room, we took an evening walk to the Tay Rail Bridge, now this is an impressive bridge, but with it being dusk I didn’t get very good photos. Hopefully in the coming days I’ll run past it and get a proper photograph and maybe I’ll tell you the story of a fateful accident that happened many years ago!
No Travelling
Exploration!
We slept in until almost 8:00 am this morning, which is unheard of, actually though I did stay up past midnight watching the last episode of the Night Manager, I had to watch it, its been a brilliant series.
We both went out running a little after 9:00 am and I went eastwards and I found a cycle route that took me around the back of the docks and then along a smashing coastal run all the way to the outskirts of Broughty Ferry.
The weather was good too, it was 8 degrees, it wasn’t windy, nor was it raining, so it was almost perfect.
Through the sturdy wire fence I could see that the docks were a hive of activity. There were two rigs in, one at each end of the dock but I don’t know if they were in for repair or they were being decommissioned.
I did a little Google about the docks when I got back and I found that they are a big player in bringing revenue into the area. They provided good stable jobs and provide a fair amount of income for the local council.
As I passed, I saw that they are also very much into the windfarm industry with loads of turbines piled up waiting for uplift by road, or for shipping somewhere else.
We were ready to hit the road by 11:30 am and our first port of call was the small community of Broughty Ferry, which is just 4 miles along the coast.
Here’s how Broughty Ferry are marketing themselves:
“Comprising an eclectic mix of big villas built by jute barons up the hillside and small fishermen's cottages along the shoreline, 'The Ferry', as it’s known, has experienced a recent resurgence and is now a popular and relaxing spot with some good restaurants and pubs that get particularly busy on summer evenings.”
And I have to say that after visiting I fully agree with that statement.
Parking was an issue but we eventually found a spot a short walk from the sea front.
First, we made our way down to the harbour where we found Broughty Castle. It looked quite impressive and we were surprised to find that entry was free!
We took a stroll around the small grassed area around the castle and I came across a smashing view of Broughty Sands, which themselves were quite impressive too.
The Castle has four floors, all accessed by a spiral stairway, the type that takes it out of you as you climb. It was a museum really and that’s not really my kind of thing so I made it smartish to the top but the views were a little disappointing because the windows were all covered with anti-seagull netting.
The Castle was first constructed in 1496 and it was to become an important asset to the area as it stood at the mouth of the River Tay.
It was held under siege for over six years, according to the fella who welcomes you inside. It fell into disrepair for many years but was fully restored in the 1800’s, and to be fair it is an impressive sight against the back drop of the Tay Estuary.
From there we walked around the shopping area which was bustling with local shoppers. There must have been 12 charity shops and Wendy went in every one of them looking for good quality toys for her toy box at home.
We bagged the Wetherspoon Bar, The Jolly Hotel and we had a very nice beer each.
Our next port of call was Arbroath where the famous Arbroath Smokies come from.
I didn’t know this, until I did some research, that Arbroath Smokies are protected because they attained PGI Status in 2004, which means that Arbroath Smokies can only be produced within a 5-mile radius of the town centre and they enjoy the same status as Parma Ham and Champagne.
PGI means Protected Geographical Indication and it emphasises the relationship between the specific geographic region and the name of the product, where a particular quality, reputation or other characteristic is essentially attributable to its geographical origin, there you go.
As we walked from the harbour, we must have passed about ten smoke houses where the fish is traditionally smoked, and the good thing was, they all sold their smokies from there too.
We found Arbroath town centre to be nice and pleasant and we gave it a tour. Sadly, we came across a very old lady who, it looked, had tripped and banged her head. There was nothing anyone else could do to help as some very kind people had made her comfortable on the floor, she had her head supported by a pillow and she was wrapped tightly in a large duvet. They had done a sterling first aid job and thankfully just after we passed the ambulance turned up.
Our last mission was to have a small beer in Weatherspoon’s before heading off to have a look at the small town of Forfar 14 miles inland. But before we left, we bought four pairs of smokies from a very nice back street smokehouse. The young lad who served us could only have been 18, but he was just such a nice helpful young fella!
The journey across country was really interesting as we passed a lot of really fertile looking arable fields that had been ploughed and were waiting for the crop to be sown.
There wasn’t much to Forfar, it was nice enough but it had just a short High Street with not many small independent shops, but never mind because at least I have seen it and now whenever I hear them mentioned when the football results are on, I’ll know where they are.
We got back to the hotel and while Wendy took the Smokies up to the room to put in the cool bag, I nipped over to Tesco to get some prawns and bread.
Supper tonight is hotel room knock up, consisting of a fancy pot noodle, with prawns mixed in to heat up during the cooking process, and do you know what, they were a delight to eat, they really were.
I’m thinking of an early night tonight, I don’t like getting out of bed late, it throws me all out!
No Travelling
Newport on Tay
I managed to get Wendy out of her jarmies at 7:00 pm last night to go for a walk in town, but has we got to the main entrance of the hotel we could see that it was chucking it down with rain, Wendy about turned and she was back in her jarmies within five minutes.
Thankfully the rain had gone by morning and I took my run over the Tay Road Bridge and into the large Fife Coastal village of Newport on Tay.
Tay Road Bridge Statistics:
The bridge from the Dundee side over to the Fife side is at a nice steady gradient but you are running up all the way across, and going over you get the feeling that you are never going to get to the end, and the end is hardly ever in sight.
I did manage to make it and I was just under two miles out from the hotel, so I had another two miles to explore Newport, and what a lovely place I found it to be.
I came across a Victorian type of structure in a very impressive location with the Tay Estuary as its back drop, here’s what I have since found out about it:
This is an ornate, canopied, iron fountain donated to the village by Mrs Blyth Martin of local Blyth House, in 1882. Back then there was a lack of clean public drinking water, so this would’ve been a much-appreciated addition to the community. It’s decorated with herons and stags, and was manufactured by Walter MacFarlane and Co. at Glasgow’s Saracen Foundry. Sadly, like so many other Victorian fountains it’s no longer operating as one, and is now purely an ornamental landmark. However, it couldn’t be situated in a more scenic situation, overlooking the silvery Tay, whilst marking the passage of time.
Isn’t that just brilliant, its a shame it’s still not working though.
Back at the hotel, after breakfast we jumped into the car and I took Wendy back over the bridge to have a look at Newport herself as I knew she would admire the lovely houses, and she did. We parked up in the small village centre and we took a walk around, but by now the weather had changed, it was now misty and drizzly.
After a short stroll we drove a little further eastwards to the village of Tayport, which again looks a splendid place to live. There is a small village centre and a small marina, but we only managed a stroll around the marina as by now the rain was much harder and a coffee in our hotel seemed a very good idea.
While having our coffee I Googled about the RRS Discovery only to find that it cost £17 each to visit, that would have been £34 for the two of us and it just seemed a little steep.
However, from my Google search I did find one bit of info that I most likely already knew, but not many people do know.
The Discovery was the ship that Captain Robert Falcon Scott took to the Antarctic in 1901 for his expedition to the South Pole in 1902. On his journey to the Pole he took two other men, one of them was Ernest Shackleton.
There has always been a mystery about Shackleton’s Health, mainly his heart, as he would never allow himself to be medically examined. On this expedition he took seriously unwell and at 820 17’s they had to turn back. Shackleton was so poorly at times that he had to ride on the sledge.
Scott never forgave Shackleton for this as he believed this robbed him of being the first man to the South Pole. They never went south together again and from memory I don’t think they ever spoke to each other after their return to the UK.
I know lots more about Sir Ernest as I used him as my subject for my leadership training in the Fire Service, his later exploits in the Antarctic are legendary and I would urge any young person to read his story, it is truly remarkable.
After our coffee we took a stroll around the Victoria and Albert Museum and it was ok, but museums are not my thing really, and I think I have concluded that I don’t like the design of the building. One other thing that put me off, I know it sounds silly, but I found a beautiful model of a sailing clipper, it truly was a work of art. But the thing is that the Union Jack at the ship’s prow was upside down, now was this just a slack bit of research or something more deeply insulting?
A walk around town followed but the rain came back so we took comfort in a nice local bar where we received a hearty welcome from the barman.
Refreshed from our drinks we went across the road to a small basement seafood restaurant, The Tailend.
While we were in the bar Wendy looked them up on TripAdvisor and the last reviews were not good, although their overall rating was four out of five stars. That left us a little unsure but we took a walk over and when I saw that the owners were the same owners of the Smokie where we bought yesterdays fish from, with the nice young man, we just had to give it a go.
I am so glad we did; the food was exceptional, the young waitress was the daughter of the owner of the Smokies in Arbroath, and her uncle owned the restaurant, she was lovely.
I had two small plates, scallops and then mussels in a cream sauce, Wendy had a hot smoked salmon salad and that was nice too. For dessert I asked what the cheesecake was and I was told by the waitress that it was a mini egg cheesecake and that she was worried that it might not be set as she had made it.
Obviously, I had to have a portion, thankfully it was set, but more importantly it was an utter delight, 10/10 actually.
After we left we walked over to a wine bar which Robyn recommended to her mum, but as it was heaving, well it was Friday, we gave it a miss and headed home.
Its now almost 7:00 pm and Wendy is in her jarmies, I’m thinking I would need a pretty big crow bar to get her out again tonight so I am just going to call it a night from here on in, well its Friday, I might have a glass of wine, watch some telly and take another early night!
72 Miles
Rose!
I woke at 6:30 am this morning, Wendy was fast asleep at this time, having been bimbling on her iPad at 5:00 am, I know this because I caught her and then I went back to sleep.
I waited until 6:50 am and then I snook out of bed and started to make tea, it wasn’t long before Wendy was up doing some more bimbling.
I went running westward towards and past the airport, where I found that the estuary gets quite wide beyond the railway bridge.
Wendy went out too but she went over the river bridge and was amazed at the uphill run out, but liked the downhill back a little more.
Now I said I would tell you about the fateful Tay Rail Bridge accident, and running past the bridge this morning I came across the memorial.
Here’s the story:
At approximately 7:15 p.m. on the stormy night of 28th December 1879, the central navigation spans of the Tay bridge collapsed into the Firth of Tay at Dundee, taking with them a train, 6 carriages and 75 souls to their fate.
The disaster is one of the most famous bridge failures and to date it is still one of the worst structural engineering failures in the British Isles.
The storm, force 10/11 had being blowing at 900 to the bridge all day long and the bridge had only been open for 19 months having been certified safe by The Board of Trade.
The first Tay rail bridge was completed in February 1878 to the design of Thomas Bouch. Bouch was responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of the bridge. A Court of Inquiry was set up to try and ascertain the reason for the collapse of the bridge. Sir Thomas Bouch was held chiefly to blame for the collapse in not making adequate allowance for wind loading.
There you go, what an appalling tragedy, imagine those poor people, almost at the end of their journey, plunging into the cold, deep waters of the Tay from such a great height, in the depths of winter.
They never stood a chance!
I got back to the hotel a little before 10:00 am and I broke with tradition, I didn’t have a smoothie as I was going to have breakfast at The Horn Milk Bar on the outskirts of Dundee.
Robyn and Alex bought me a little book of interesting places to visit in Scotland for Christmas one year and I keep it in the car. We noticed the Horn on our way in to Dundee and we planned to go there on the way to Robyn’s. However, while I was having a cup of tea at the hotel, I read their TripAdvisor ratings and they were not good. Overall they have 2.5 out of 5, which is very poor, but the worst thing is, is that 8 of the last 10 reviews have been given exceptionally poor ratings.
That was it then, I Googled for a café enroute and I found one just outside of Coupar, the Muddy Boots Farm Café and it was an utter delight.
The café was huge, nice and warm with a very interesting central log fire and the bacon and egg roll that I had was just perfect. My coffee was steaming hot too, all in all it was a perfect late breakfast, it must have been fate.
Wendy told me that there was a reclamation yard quite close to Robyn’s house, and as I was needing some reclaimed timber for the summer house stove’s hearth, we stopped off to take a look. It wasn’t a typical reclamation yard, it was more like an assortment of different barns and shipping containers of antiques and old furniture. It didn’t have what I wanted but it was a really interesting place.
We arrived at Robyn’s just after 1:00 pm, she had put Rose to bed for a nap about an hour earlier but she would not go to sleep so she was removed form her cot and she came down to play.
Alex was refereeing a game of football not far away.
As I was having a cup of tea, it came to me that I might find some other reclamation yard close by, so I got Googling. I didn’t actually find one close by, but I found what sounded like the perfect place in Falkirk, 33 miles away.
So with quite a run around the house getting nappies, jumpers and jackets together for Rose we jumped in the car and headed along the City Bypass, the M8 and then the M9 to Falkirk.
The SatNav took us straight to the address as detailed on the website, but it wasn’t there, it was a town house. I called the owner who told me I was a half a mile away and that the street was a different name to the website, it was all rather confusing but we got there in the end.
The place was as advertised and there was reclaimed wood, but the thing is the two old men working at the site, (The owner, he was somewhere else), did not seem to speak the English language in the way I would expect them to. They were both Scottish, but their dialect was just so difficult to understand. It was like two Gerald’s from Jeremey Clarkson’s farm.
Anyway, I settled on some suitable timber and after the lead guy phoned the owner for a price, which took another five minutes and more unintelligible conversation, I was told £6.80 per 7 foot length.
As they had no card facilities I had to nip out to Tesco for some cash, thankfully there was a store close by.
So, with the transaction finally completed and with the timber successfully loaded in the car, separating Rose from her Nanny, we set off on the short drive to The Kelpies.
We went to the Kelpies because we knew that our friends from Inverness who have moved to live on a house boat, have their house boat moored at the Kelpies.
We parked the car about a mile from the Kelpies and we walked slowly with Rose over to the Kelpies which are a very beautiful sculptural arrangement of two horse heads.
Standing at 100ft tall and weighing more than 300 tonnes each, the magical Kelpies are a man-made wonder and a feat of engineering. The works of art, created by artist Andy Scott, have become iconic on the landscape after being modelled on real-life icons of times gone by — Clydesdale horses Duke and Baron. The Kelpies represent the lineage of the heavy horse of Scottish industry and economy, pulling the wagons, ploughs, barges and coal ships that shaped the geographical layout of Falkirk.
Sadly, Florence and Iain were not at home but we did get to see their very impressive house boat, and we did all marvel at the Kelpies.
Back at home Robyn cooked a delightful supper of Arbroath Smokies, beef sausages, boiled potatoes, garden peas and chips for Alex who was back from his football match.
Rose ate all her dinner up and as she was a good girl in doing so she had a dessert treat of rice pudding, which she loved.
180 Miles
Ikea
Wendy brought Rose to bed at around 6:40 am this morning as she had just woken up and we had a lovely cuddle. I then slid out of bed and made her and her nanny a cup of tea each which she happily drank it all up.
I was just finishing my tea and toast downstairs when I was joined by Rose, her mum and her nanny as it was now breakfast time.
Rose had a bowl of cornflakes with her mum which she loved.
I went out running down to Musselburgh Harbour, it was another nice morning although a little chilly.
It was a quiet Sunday morning with very few people about.
I got down to the River Esk in town where I found red ribbons wrapped around quite a few trees along the river. I stopped to take a look and I saw that each had a note attached, apparently there is a campaign to stop the trees being cut down as part of some new flood prevention scheme.
Having run along the river for quite some time now over the last four years I don’t think I have ever seen the river look anything like being high, let alone being full to busting point so I think the campaign has made a fair point as I am not sure that such drastic action is needed. The flood plain, before the river would be approaching any property, is really wide and it would take an awful lot of water before encroaching on the houses.
I carried on and I had a drink stop at just over 4 miles at Musselburgh Harbour and I counted 7 campervans in the public carpark that had most likely spent the night there, in fact a family of four had commandeered a bench and were all sat there consuming their breakfast. Doesn’t seem like much of a holiday for me, having breakfast in a public car park. If the East Lothian Council are going to turn a blind eye to them camping there, they should at least get them to buy a ticket, jeepers even a fiver a night must be well worth it, then at least the local residents would get some funding contribution for their local services.
Back at the house and I saw that Jake and Evette were visiting, I wasn’t being telepathic, its just that there was a little green car on the drive and Alex said that they would call in as they were in the area.
It was nice to see them and hear of their summer plans for a two month visit to Barcelona, with them then moving onto Estonia for two years for them both to study a Master Degree in art.
Rose had her lunch and went to bed just as Jake and Evette left, it was naptime for her.
To while away the time, I did a bit of Googling about the flood prevention scheme in Musselburgh and I found that it is a very big concern for the council. Apparently, the last big flood was over 70 years ago and the worry is that with global warming and increased rainfall it will happen again.
There are two threats, one from the sea, due to rising sea levels, and one from the river, through excessive rainfall. They seemed to be throwing a lot of resources at it.
However, there is an equally vocal pressure group who are opposed to the scheme and have mobilised an impressive team to battle against it.
I guess I’ll have to wait and see the outcome in time, but for now my sympathy is with the trees, until I am convinced otherwise.
Rose had about an hour’s nap and when she woke, she was dressed and off we went to Ikea, leaving her dad home alone doing some studies.
Ikea was reasonably busy but we kept moving along the route through the store. Rose was as good as gold, sometimes riding in the trolley and sometimes holding hands and walking.
To say we only went for candles, we ended up spending £84, we bought:
We were home pretty smartish and while Rose, her mum and nanny played in the sunshine in the garden, her dad continued his studies and I did some work on a new project.
By 4:45 pm I was absolutely starving, Robyn was making a mango chicken curry in the slow cooker and it smelled lovely.
Supper was taken just after 5:00 pm and it was absolutely delightful!!!
The mango had disintegrated and had fully integrated with the coconut milk to make, along with the spices, a lovely tasting curry. We had it with boiled rice and it was that nice I had a second portion, Rose had an exceptionally sized portion too, giving it her sign of approval.
Having packed my car while dinner was cooking, I was ready to leave at 5:55 pm and so I said my goodbyes. I don’t know when I’ll be back down, that’s now in the hands of new baby Shepherd.
Traffic was light on the Edinburgh City By-Pass and it was a breeze over the Queensferry Bridge, and in fact all the way up to Perth where I nipped into Tesco to get a few supplies.
The A9 was quiet until I got to the end of the dual carriageway where the Sat Nav told me to leave the A9 suddenly. From this part of the road, I could see a couple of miles in the distance and I could see flashing lights and a long tailback so I took the Sat Navs advice.
My Sat Nav interacts with my mobile phone over the 3G network and somehow knows what’s happening on the roads. It’s magic and it seems to only tell me because no one else followed me.
I was taken through the large village of Pitlochry and after about 4 miles I was put back on the A9. As I drove, I had the road to myself, the only vehicles I saw were coming south bound and I got all the way to Aviemore before I encountered any northbound traffic.
It was a very good journey for me, but maybe not so for some other poor souls.
I called in at Brads house to drop his and Caroline’s Smokies off and I grabbed a quick smile from baby Lois.
I also got a small bottle of whiskey from Brad; I say whiskey as we have no idea what it is. He did a job for someone last week and he came away with an old whiskey cask, when he got it home he found there was some spirit still in it, enough to fill three small bottles.
It looks like whisky but as I have only just unpacked the car and put everything away and now need to sort out my washing, I might wait until the washings done before I steel myself for a tiny dram!!!
164 Miles
Baby Violet
I slept well last night; I have been on my own since my last adventure and most of the time I have been working on a Winter House for the garden. Actually, it’s a summer house with a wood burning stove in it. It was my gym, but as I don’t use it so much now I am older I thought I would put it to better use, and it’s perfectly placed for lovely views of the skyline at the back of the house.
I went for a run to Beauly after breakfast, it was very sunny, but also a little chilly.
I got back at 9:30 am and after my smoothie I had a whirlwind hour tidying the house, washing up, getting my sports kit washed and I even managed to do a spot of filling holes in the plaster board in the new den. Oh, and I had to pack for myself, which is something that I haven’t done for 35 years.
With the car piled high with my clothes bag and then my sports bag, and everything else I had to take to Robyn’s I set off for a few hours on the beach at Nairn, with my eldest granddaughter Eleanor who is a month short of being two and a half years old.
I collected her from home where I managed to have a quick cuddle with her tiny baby sister, Lois, as her mum got Ellie ready.
The beach was busy with people, the sun was blazing but there was a cold wind.
I had Eleanor on her reigns, I know what she’s like near the sea and I was determined she wasn’t going to get her feet wet.
She made a bee line directly for the water but I held firm and managed to keep her dry. I did pretend to throw her in a few times which had her laughing loudly.
From there we had a little play on the swings and after a while, and has she had been a very good girls so far, I bought a tub of ice cream for us to share.
She loved that!
She held the tub and took a couple of small spoons of ice cream and then accidently put a massive spoonful into her mouth, her eyes lit up in her head when the cold hit her and then she gave me a big smile of approval.
Needless to say that I didn’t get much of a share of the tub, but Ellie loved it.
We went back to the swings where she hooked up with a little boy about her age. He was a little bashful and was quite unsure what this little tornado was, who had just suddenly appeared.
The nipper tried to distance himself from her and made a run for it to the wooded pirate ship. Sadly she was over there in a blink of an eye and he just had to accept his fate, he had a new playmate.
Ellie had a good laugh on the baby swings with me pushing her and then she and her new mucker were up and down the baby slide, enjoying themselves.
After an hour and a half, it was time to go, but as I prised her from the slide, I got a whiff of a very unpleasant smell.
I asked Ellie if she had a dirty nappy and she told me no, but on checking back at the car I found that she had.
I put her changing mat on top of the bags in the boot and set about changing her, jeepers after being on the swings and then the slide, well you could imagine what I had to deal with.
About 2,500 wet wipes later and she was nicely tucked into her car seat and ready for home.
I dropped Ellie off just after 2:30 pm and said goodbye, after first snatching a kiss from Lois.
I was heading down the A9 not long after and settled myself in for the two hour drive down Scotland’s most infamous trunk road.
Eleanor must have tired me out because by the time I was down the Drumochter Pass I was flagging.
I called into the Ballinluig Motor Grill, which is just south of Pitlochry, where I enjoyed a nice hot cup of coffee. The coffee was that good that I actually took a takeout cup to drink as I drove the last few miles of the A9.
In no time at all I was on the M90 and heading over the Queensferry Bridge.
Now here’s a thing, The Edinburgh City Bypass is the route the Sat Nav always takes me, with the odd exception due to accidents. But as I was approaching at rush hour time the Sat Nav took me through the city centre as it had deemed the by-pass far slower.
I drove into the heart of the city, crossing Princess Street and then down Lothian Road. I passed by the Meadows, which was teaming with people either picnicking, playing football or just out for a run.
It goes to show, that the Edinburgh City Bypass, which is a relatively new road, can’t cope with heavy traffic flow around the city, which is what it was supposed to do. It’s actually quicker to go through and across the city, north to south at the height of rush hour traffic instead!
I was soon enough passing through Little France and the hospital where our newest family member, Baby Violet, was born two nights ago.
I was at Robyn and Alex’s house not long after where I found a freshly bathed Rose waiting for me to say good night to before she was whisked to bed.
I had a very nice cuddle with baby Violet and settled in for a supper of delicious hotdogs.
We are staying here for two nights and then we head south with a one-night stopover in Newcastle before heading down to Kent to visit Granny!
No Travelling
The Quiz!
I had a nice sleep last night although I woke at 4:15 and I thought that I wouldn’t drop off again, but at 6:45 am, Wendy woke me and said someone was calling for me.
I jumped out of bed and sure enough Rose was stood up in her cot shouting for her Pops!
I lifted her up and took her to bed and I was just about to settle in for a long cuddle when I remembered that it’s a week day and that she would have to be at nursery for her breakfast before 8:00 am.
I nipped down stairs smartish and made tea, one for me, with a slice of vegemite toast and a tea for nanny and a very milky cup of tea for Rose too.
I was having my tea downstairs when Robyn came down, with Rose and nanny not far behind.
I went out running listening to BBC Radio 2 and as it was a Thursday, I was looking forward to the weekly quiz on the Zoe Ball Show.
The quiz starts after the first record after the 8:00 am news and the quiz master is a lad called Jay, I don’t know anything about him other than he seems to be the one to provide the questions, and he does so via a telephone link.
Although the quiz is only five questions long its usually quite interesting and its often challenging.
There is also a strong competitive environment amongst the contestants who are normally Zoe, Tina Dehealy, (News Reader) and Ritchie Anderson, (Travel Reporter).
Here’s today’s questions:
Question One: What fish was Nemo?
Question Two: Who’s middle and surname is Louise Ciccone?
Question Three: Ganymede is the largest moon of which planet?
Question Four: How many US States begin with the letter U?
Question Five: which Colour comes next in this sequence, Red, Red Amber and Green?
Here’s my answers:
Question One: Dory
Question Two: Lady Gaga
Question Three: Jupiter
Question Four: One, (Utah)
Question Five: Amber (traffic light sequence)
I’ll put the Official Answers at the end of today’s copy!
I got back to the house and it was quiet because Rose was at nursery and Violet, her mum and dad were having a consultation in the lounge with the Midwife.
By the time I had completed my cool down, undressed and was ready for my smoothie, the consultation was over and Violet was given a clean bill of health.
With the successful use of the timber that I bought from the reclaimed yard in Falkirk when I was here last time, (I have planed it up and it made a cracking fire surround for the new wood burning stove in the new garden house, which is coming along nicely in the garden at home), I wanted to go back and get a couple more pieces which I will use as a door feature.
So, after my shower, Wendy and I jumped into the car and set off for the 30 odd mile drive to the Historic Town of Falkirk.
We joined the Edinburgh City By-Pass and ran immediately into a traffic jam. We edged along for about a mile before we came across two poor souls who had broken down in their car. Due to there not being any hard shoulder they were parked up in the slow lane, thankfully with a police car behind them in a traditional fend off position so as to deflect any speeding cars about to crash into them.
With the breakdown behind us we were in Falkirk where I was in a deep, one-sided conversation with the same man as three weeks ago and I could understand him less this time around than I could last time. Thankfully I came away with the wood I needed.
With a little time to spare I drove around town looking for a spot to park so that I could bag the local Wetherspoons Bar for a crafty half pint.
Jeepers I could not find a spot, there were hundreds of disabled roadside spots and they were all taken so there must be some poorly people in Falkirk, or someone’s at it!
I did manage to find one roadside spot and at 50p for 30 minutes it just met our needs.
The bar, The Carron Works, was a rather nice establishment, it was busy but there was a really nice friendly atmosphere inside with people mainly eating and chatting with their friends.
After I took one of the longest walks to the toilet, which is not unheard of for a Wetherspoons Bar, we left to go back to Robyn’s house to drop my timber off before we went shopping for tonight’s supper, which was to be a little bit of a celebration as Robyn, after now giving birth to Violet, is allowed rare beef steak.
First up we nipped to Aldi who I do say do a very nice fillet steak at £4.99 each, which is rather good value. We also got a few other items but has they didn’t have any fresh prawns I had to go to Tesco on the way back to collect some. I do prefer to cook with fresh, rather than cooked prawns as they tend to go very rubbery, very quickly in the pan.
I was main chef tonight with Wendy on salad and sweet potato wedges duty.
I cooked the steak, the mushrooms and the prawns in lots of garlic, even Rose dug into her half steak which she loved. In fact, she ate everything up and so she was allowed a dessert of grape jelly!
While her mum bathed Rose I gave baby a nice cuddle on my bed, but soon she was seeking food which I could not give her so mum took her for a feed, and I had bath time fun with Rose.
I’m signing off tonight’s copy Avid Reader as we have an early start tomorrow, I have booked an early check in at the hotel as parking is in short supply so I want to be there smartish so that I can grab one, well it will be Friday night in the Toon, I’m sure that will be interesting!
The Official Quiz Answers:
Question One: Clown Fish
Question Two: Madonna
Question Three: Jupiter
Question Four: One, (Utah)
Question Five: Amber
I got 3/5, not too bad!
119 Miles
Sleepy Head!
I did not sleep well last night, I woke at around 2:00 am, I heard Rose who was disturbed at around 2:30 am, Wendy went in to shoo her to sleep which seemed to work and then I woke again at 4:15 am. I did think I was awake but I was kind of just under and dreaming wildly.
I eventually woke properly at 5:20 am, and then Rose woke at 5:30 am. I went and got her from her cot and put her in bed with nanny while I went and made them both a cup of tea.
Again, I was having toast when they both came down for Rose to get her breakfast.
I was out smartish this morning and it was bloody cold; it was 6 degrees and the eastern wind was blowing a right gale. I had left my running gloves at home and I have only brought one pair of tracky bottoms with me.
I had to run with my hands tucked up into my running jacket before I got warm enough to dare bare them.
Again, I ran down to Musselburgh Harbour, and again it was low tide and all the boats were high and dry. I couldn’t hang around as it was that cold.
I got back to the house and Robyn was having a nap while Violet was asleep, Rose was getting wrapped up for some garden play with her dad.
I had my cool down and grabbed my smoothie before showering and then packing the car.
Robyn had told me that it was a 90-minute drive to Newcastle from Musselburgh so I worked on a 11:00 am departure as I had booked an early check in for 12:00, thinking I didn’t want to be first, so second or third on check in would be ok.
It was only after I had loaded the car that I set the Sat Nav only for it to tell me it was a two and a half drive to our hotel; I would have to ask Robyn about this!
Just as we were saying our goodbyes, I remembered that Robyn had asked me to help Alex pull the washing machine out as they had a leak and it took two people to do it.
We did indeed get the machine out but we could not see the reason for the leak. We cleaned the filter so hopefully that will do the trick.
Just before we left, I did ask Robyn about the 90 minutes’ drive to Newcastle, “Oh I think that’s when we take the train dad”, was her response!
As we left the house the Sat Nav took us down the main road to Musselburgh where we then joined the A1 heading south, and thankfully it did too. I was listening to BBC Radio 2 and Ritchie Anderson, the travel reporter, told us of long delays on the A720, Edinburgh City By-Pass due to a broken-down tractor, in the Millerhill area. Phew, we dodged a bullet there, that was so lucky!
The drive south down the A1 was fine but as we approached the English Border, I was beginning to feel very tired, sleepy even. I thought it best to have some refreshment so I called into the MacDonalds drive through at Berwick upon Tweed and got myself a coffee. Wendy was hungry too so we nipped over to the adjacent Morrisons store for a pack of sarnies.
With my faculties fully restored the drive down was very pleasant indeed, we had no issues and the traffic was fine and we were in our Travelodge room at exactly 1:30 pm.
No sooner had we dropped our bags when we were strolling along the River Tyne, fully wrapped up in our big coats.
Our first mission was to find a Weatherspoon’s we had bagged in 2009, when we were last in Newcastle. We had been in a few times while we were there but I could not recall the name of it, but I did want it for my bagging list.
The bar I thought it was, wasn’t, it was called The Mile Castle, so we had a small glass of wine inside while we tried to find it. Wendy found it, but it is no longer listed on the Wetherspoons App so I guess it’s now been sold. So, to be fair to the challenge I cannot now call that a fully-fledged bag.
After drinking up, we did walk to another bar not far away, and we bagged that, again with a small glass of wine.
From there we walked about five miles around town, and despite being here before, and having walked the town extensively, I cannot recall there being so many beautiful buildings, like Wendy said, “We could have been in Bath!”
We walked through the city centre and then we walked over the high Tyne Bridge and over to the Gateshead side were we again strolled along the Tyne. To get back to the hotel we walked across the Millennium Bridge, which we both could remember.
We briefly called into the hotel to change into a little more smartish clothes and then we went out to find a nice place for supper.
We walked upstream of the Tyne, where we came across another Weatherspoon’s Bar, but we didn’t bag that, that might be my breakfast location in the morning!
We did find a very nice, quiet restaurant, Hugo’s, on a street back from the Tyne.
We were the first customers of the night but that didn’t matter, the place was nice, the staff were really friendly and the food was fantastic.
I had the set meal which was a beef carpaccio starter and then slow cooked venison tagliatelle with a ragu sauce and wild mushrooms for my main. Wendy had the sea bream from the Ala Carte menu. We also shared a very nice bottle of Pinot Grigio.
It was all very nice indeed; the food was very hot and very tasty and the wine was a delight.
I had a good old chat with the waiter when we got our bill, he was from Leeds and had come to Newcastle to start his degree when he was 17, he had just started his last year at 27 because he had enjoyed himself so much in-between that he hadn’t had time to do so, until now!
We strolled back to the hotel just has the night scene on Newcastle upon Tyne was just about to explode, and by the looks of how things were looking it really was time for us to be indoors.
We called in to the Tesco store at the end of the road for a bar of chocolate for our after-dinner treat.
In the room, I wasn’t out of my shoes before Wendy Gill was in her Jim Jams eating Cadbury Fruit and Nut in bed with a last glass of wine for the night while watching, “Would I Lie to You”.
It looks like it’s going to be an early night tonight as we have over 300 miles to drive tomorrow, and I need to be up early if I want to bag a Weatherspoon’s Breakfast!
333 Miles
The Tyne
I had a much better sleep last night, I only woke once, at 5:50 am just in time to get a cup of tea before the 6:00 am news. I never heard a peep all night long, but then we were staying in the business wing of the Travelodge Hotel, which is a first for me as I have never heard of it before.
We both went running, it was a very bleak morning, it was barely light due to the overhead conditions, and it was drizzling. I went upstream and I found a path that took me almost to the A1. I actually crossed a Tyne Road bridge that we can see when we go north along the A1.
As I ran along the river I could see a huge timber structure in the Tyne, it was like a very long pier that entered the river and then ran perpendicular to the Gateshead bank of the river. I later Googled about it and I found out that it is called the Dunston Staiths.
The term “Staith” is in north-eastern England to describe a ship or boat loading structure. They are usually served by rail lines and contain loading chutes for bulk minerals.
Dunston Staiths is a 19th-century coal loading structure on the River Tyne near Gateshead.
From here, millions of tons of coal per year from the highly productive coalfields of the area were once loaded onto ships for export to other parts of the country and beyond.
The Staiths are more than 1,000 feet (526 meters) long with four railway tracks and six loading bays. The structure is said to be the largest timber structure in Europe.
Sadly, they are in need of repair as some sections have been subjected to arson, well why not? I’ll tell you why not, because they are fantastic structures that men built many years ago, (in Victorian times), through, most likely blood sweat and tears, something that the arsonists would wake up in a severe sweat if they had had to do it themselves.
I got back to the hotel at 8:45 am and after a quick shower we nipped to the closest Weatherspoon Bar, The Quayside, for a very nice breakfast.
After a cup of tea back in the bedroom we loaded the car and set off, driving over the famous Tyne Bridge as we left the city.
Now here’s an interesting thing, having traced my great, great grandads’ roots, William Watson, to his birth place in Newcastle I would have been embarrassed to have stood up in a Newcastle Bar and declared myself to be a Geordie at heart in the manner that the current president of the United States of America did in Ireland a few weeks ago. I mean I would have been laughed out of the pub, and rightly so.
I did like Newcastle mind, even if I don’t consider it to be any closer to my heart than a really interesting city to visit.
In close proximity to each other there are seven bridges over the Tyne, these are, from west to east:
1. The Redheugh Bridge
2. The King Edward VII Bridge, (Rail Bridge)
3. The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, Rail Bridge, (The Metro)
4. The High Level Bridge
5. The Swing Bridge
6. The George V Bridge (or Tyne Bridge)
7. The Gateshead Millennium Bridge
The George V Bridge, a road bridge more familiarly known as the Tyne Bridge is the most famous Newcastle landmark. Opened in 1929 by King George V and built by Dorman Long of Middlesbrough, it closely resembles the very much larger Sydney Harbour Bridge which was also built by the Middlesbrough firm at around the same time.
The lowest of the Tyne bridges in terms of height is the Swing Bridge of 1876, a road bridge that leads directly into the old heart of the Newcastle Quayside below the castle keep.
Designed by the famous Tyneside engineer William Armstrong (1810-1900) the Swing Bridge was opened without ceremony in June 1876.
The present Redheugh Bridge, a road bridge, is a concrete structure and was opened by Diana, the Princess of Wales in May 1983. It is the third bridge of that name, superseding earlier bridges of 1871 and 1901.
Also, I never knew that Newcastle was once a walled city:
Newcastle was a major medieval town and important place of trade but also lay close to the borders in what were often troubled times. The town’s first defensive structure was its castle which protected the river crossing and actually facilitated the rapid growth of the town. The Blackgate (1247) was a later addition to the castle’s defences.
The second major step in the development of Newcastle’s medieval defences was the building of the extensive town walls which to some extent made the earlier castle redundant. Both the castle keep and Blackgate survive along with some notable sections of the town wall and its associated towers.
In yesterday’s copy, it contained a photo I took of the Castle, which I wrongly called a wall tower, as it had the wall emanating from it, what a numpty!
The drive south was without incident, although we did have a very bit of excellent good fortune!
As we approached the M62, the roads matrix signs were saying that there was a 20-minute queue at the junction to the M62 due to roadworks. As we approached the junction the Sat Nav took me off a dedicated exit lane and onto the M62, where we then got off at the next exit and then travelled south, often catching glimpses of the traffic crawling along the A1.
After 4 miles of country lanes, we were put back on the A1 and we entered just as the traffic was moving. We had actually saved 4 minutes of overall time and we never stopped once.
I just love my Sat Nav, despite the odd bit of temperament she occasionally displays.
We stopped once in Lincolnshire at a MacDonald Café for me to get coffee, although we did end up with a burger each.
The rest of the drive was without incident and soon we were going over the Queen Elizabeth II bridge over the River Thames.
Not long after I was sat watching the FA cup semi-final on telly with Grandad!
Thankfully the weather is a little better, the sun was out and it was 16 degrees, although it was still a little too cold to sit out and drink wine with granny!
No Traveling
St Georges Day
I had another restful night’s sleep and I woke at 5:30 am and just lolled around until I got up at 5:50 am.
Wendy woke at 6:00 am and I took her a cup of tea.
The weather was a little milder in the south this morning but it did look like it was going to rain.
Today I ran off the Island by going over the old Kingsferry Bridge. Jeepers it was windy going out, but at least it was dry. The wind was pushing me backwards most of the way but I did manage to make it over the bridge, where the wind was at its worst by-the-way.
As I was coming back, I was overtaken by a younger, but chunkier young man and I thought hang on, I’m not having that, so I caught him up and run a couple of yards behind him all the way over the two miles stretch to the roundabout. I could have easily beaten him but I didn’t want him to think I was rubbing his nose in it. It was actually my fault has I was just plodding along listening to Owain Wyn Evans, well he does make me laugh in the morning.
After about a mile on my way back the heavens opened and the rain came pouring down, thankfully with the wind now behind me my jacket and hood took the brunt of it.
I got back to grannies and the house was in full swing so I did my cool down with a one banana smoothie as I had to save room for Sunday dinner.
I watched the start of the London marathon and the weather was exactly as it was 50 miles down the road where I was.
After a shower and a coffee, I drove down into Sheerness so that I could drop the car into Kiwk Fit for the rear nearside tyre to be checked for a slow puncture.
It was booked in for 11:00 am and after dropping the car off I took a walk down Sheerness High Street. It was very quiet; well, it was still early on Sunday morning.
I saw the refurbished town clock for the first time since it had been given a face lift and I must say it was looking rather dapper despite the morning drizzle.
I then came across the old windmill. I have seen the windmill as I have driven by it but I have never seen it up close. Actually, it’s in a back street square, just off the High Street, tucked away.
I walked up to it and currently the ground floor area is a solicitor’s office.
The structure looks very much like a windmill, but there aren’t any sails. As I left it, I thought I would do a little research when I got back to grannies
Leaving the High Street I took a short walk along the sea wall and I could see that the masts of the Robert Montgomery where still in place. They were meant to be removed before now, for fear that they were so badly rusted that they might fall and hit the structure of the ship below and somehow detonate the explosives that are reported to be in the ships hold.
Apparently, they are still in place as a boat owner who makes a living taking visitors to the area around the wreak for a living has lobbied to keep the masts as there will be nothing for the visitors to see if they are removed.
Bearing in mind it is reported that there is enough high explosive in the boat’s cargo hold to cause the biggest none nuclear explosion on earth, which will wipe out both The Isle of Sheppey and Southend, it does seem that the authorities have pandered a little bit too much in the scheme of things.
At 11:00 am I collected the car, and found myself £29.50 lighter for having a screw removed from the offending wheel, thankfully it didn’t need a new tyre!
Back at grannies and it was almost time for our luncheon appointment at the Five Bridges pub which is about two miles away.
Lunch was quite nice, we had good seats and the staff were all rather pleasant. The carvery had options, small plate, regular plate or large plate. This seemed fair enough, but I read down to see what the plate consisted of but I only found the calorie count for certain meats and other food items. When I ordered at the till I was asked if we wanted pigs in blankets, I thought well I guess so, so I said yes. When I got back to the table with the drinks Wendy checked the menu and found that pigs in blankets where an extra item and cost £1.99 for three. I had been scammed! Certainly in a nice way, but it was a scam nonetheless!
The carvery was really quite nice, the portion size of meat was fine and the veg was rather tasty, if not overly hot. However, the Yorkshire puddings were as tough as old boots, they indeed put the carvery into carvery. Now being a proud Yorkshireman I have to state that these should in no way be described as a Yorkshire pudding.
However, that said, granny did enjoy her afternoon outing and that’s the main thing, and all in all the food was nice enough. But having looked at TripAdvisor since we got back home, where the most recent reviews have constantly grumbled, I won’t be going back anytime soon.
Back at grannies I did indeed do a little research into the Windmill at Sheerness and I found that it was built as a windmill in 1813 and operated as a working mill until 1918, and it was demolished in 1924.
Here’s a little more detail - Great Mill or Ride's Mill is a Grade II listed smock mill just off the High Street in Sheerness, that was demolished in 1924, leaving the brick base standing. It now has a new smock tower built on it as residential accommodation. The owner rebuilt is in 2006 as residential accommodation comprising of three flats, however when I was there today, the bottom floor was used by a solicitor and was currently closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
I got my government safety text alert at 14:59, but Wendy didn’t get one!
Sarah and Dean called by and after a while Wendy and Me went for a walk to the shop to buy something stodgy as that’s what I was craving for. I bought a gooey chocolate pudding for two, which grandad and I had with cold custard along with squirty cream, it was just what the doctor ordered.
I watched the FA Cup semi-final football match with grandad and I thought it was a bit of hard work. It eventually went to penalties and Man U won, so that leaves a final in June with Man City, I can’t wait!!!
No Traveling
Casualty!
I slept well again last night but I did have a bizarre dream just before I woke, it was nuts! It was so strange that I actually said to myself, “I cannot be bothered with this anymore I am going to wake myself up to get out of it”, and I did.
It was 6:20 am so it was time to get up anyway.
For this morning’s run I went out down to Queenborough Creek and along the shore wall, over the docks, through town and along the sea wall before turning down a long residential avenue, Scrapsgate, to land me back at grannies, it was 8.40 miles exactly.
As I was running up Banner Way, which leads to grannie’s street I saw someone I knew, but the sun was directly in my eyes. I caught the woman up and as I passed her, I gave her a look and it was Joyce, Wendy’s cousins wife.
She said, “I said to myself is it him, or not, and it is”.
She was out walking as she is now retired.
It was lovely to see her, and she gave me a big kiss, I haven’t seen her for ages and obviously she didn’t expect to see me so it was quite a nice unexpected surprise.
Back at grannies and I had a new smoothie, I had two bananas, a small spoonful of peanut butter, lots of left over custard, from last nights stodge pudding, and then to top it off I gave it a good dollop of squirty cream. Jeepers it was bloody lovely.
Just before I jumped in the shower, Lily and her 18-month daughter, Joy, came to visit.
I was in and out of the shower smartish and I was chatting to Joy, who is such a beautiful little girl, in the kitchen. Everyone else was in the lounge but Joy and me were looking for birds coming to feed off grannie’s bird table. It was quite nice!
After a while chatting, she went back to the lounge but she would occasionally come back and say a few words to me.
It was around that time that I made the decision to go and have a couple of nights in Leicester on the way north.
I like to visit interesting places and as Leicester is an English City I would like to take a look at it. I can also kill two birds with one stone as I can also call in at Rugby before I get there.
At 11:20 am we said our goodbyes to everyone and we both got a very nice kiss from Joy, and then we set off for the 30 odd mile drive to Ashford.
I have driven through Ashford before but I have never visited so I thought I would go take a look.
Parking was a pain as I had to do it by the app, and the app was in the cloud, so I had to get it back from the cloud before I could pay for my parking, as did the next fella who joined me at the old and now defunct pay station. This, I think, is a very good example of all progress not being good!
If I am honest, Ashford is a nice enough place, its very clean and tidy, and there weren’t any reprobates hanging around the streets, but if I would have to sum it up, I would say that it is plain.
There are several streets making up the town centre but none of them have any interesting local shops. The only thing of any real interest is a World War One Tank!
The 26-ton British Female Mark IV Tank, No. 245, arrived by rail on 1st August 1919 and was driven through the town to St. George's Square where it has remained ever since. It was given to Ashford in recognition of the town’s excellent response to the National War Savings Appeal and was given to the town for being one of the most generous towns in the UK to donate funds to the war effort.
Actually, it contained, for a good number of years, an electrical substation, that’s why it could not be melted down for the war effort in the Second World War.
From the Tank we walked down to the area of town, where I have driven through before, where there is what’s called, “A Shared Space”
Ashford’s controversial 'shared space' road scheme was put in place almost 12 years ago.
Implemented directly in the town centre in November 2008, the area is designed for both motorists and pedestrians - removing traffic lights, and right of way signs and giving them equal priority.
The result is that you take your life into your own hands when you try to cross the road, not even a bus would stop to allow me safe passage and it’s reported that people now actually avoid the area, what utter nonsense!
To overcome this stupidity, we walked over to the Wetherspoons Bar, The County Hotel.
As we walked something struck me, and as soon as I realised, Wendy said to me, “Doesn’t there seem to be a lot of Nepalese nationals in town, and there were, in fact I would say one in four was of Nepalese origin.
I Googled it over my pint and I found that Kent has a large Nepalese population with communities in Folkestone, Ashford and Maidstone - with many families staying after serving in the Army.
The Nepalese Community of Ashford was established in 2004 by retired and serving members of the British Army’s Brigade of Gurkhas, following the special grace and recognition granted by Her Majesty’s Government as a special honour of gratitude to her Gurkhas most loyal contribution towards Britain for over 200 years.
The Gurkhas have fought, defended and protected British interests in both World War 1 and 2 and in almost all the major operations Britain has been involved in.
The change in the immigration law now grants naturalisation and settlement status to her retired Gurkhas and their families.
And proper order too, good on Joanna Lumley I say!
We got back to grannies after shopping in Morrisons for supper and I nodded off in the chair while Wendy prepared supper. As I woke Wendy told me that granny had asked if I could clear the guttering out from their veranda which is a nice outdoor covered area at the back door. So as to not disturb grandad who I know wouldn’t be able to sit down, I did it on the quiet.
In doing I saw a tree branch growing between the gutter and the wood. It was from a nice spreading tree they have.
So, I asked for a saw, so that I could cut the branch, but in doing so grandad came out and he ended up doing something he shouldn’t, he fell and we ended up at the minor injury unit on the island. Jeepers it was a nasty looking wound to his upper arm but thankfully they sorted him out.
Back at the house and we enjoyed a very nice fish curry, containing cod, large shrimp and prawns, it was an utter delight.
Its now almost 9:00 pm and grandad is on the settee in his jim jams and his dressing gown after getting a severe dressing down from all of us!
172 Miles
William Webb Ellis
I watched a Clint Eastwood film with grandad last night, “Hang em High”, it was a good old western and I really enjoyed it. I was late to bed mind as it didn’t finish until 11:20 pm.
I woke in the night with someone crawling over me for a bathroom visit, it was about 2:30 am and the person concerned doesn’t seem to remember it happening.
I went running up hill today and down Minster Cliffs, jeepers the wind on the sea front was horrible, it was in my face all the way along.
I got back just before 9:30 am and after my cool down I had my banana smoothie with a good squirt of squirty cream. I think I might make this my staple smoothie because there is something about squirty cream that just makes it that little bit better.
I didn’t see much of granny this morning as she was lard-de dahing in the lounge having her nails done. I did see grandad though, who was feeling a little achy after his tumble yesterday.
While Wendy was chatting in the nail lounge, I packed the car and I had a last coffee before inspecting grannies very nice pink nails and wishing her and grandad farewell.
The drive north was a doddle and we were through the Dartford Tunnel in no time at all.
The M25 was a little busy in places, as was the M1, but it didn’t hold us up and in no time at all we were parking the car in Rugby, in the afternoon sunshine.
It was still chilly mind but not uncomfortably so with a light jacket on.
We walked directly to the town centre and into the Wetherspoons Bar, The Rupert Brooke, because I was in need of going to the men’s room, but not before buying some beer!
Actually, it was a very nice bar, it was decked out in Union Flag bunting, which I presume is for the Kings up and coming coronation.
Wendy left before I had finished my drink to peruse a lady’s boutique close by, although she didn’t buy anything.
We then took a walk around town, and it is a very nice town actually.
I started out looking for a unique photograph to show my friend Linda as she comes from Rugby and I found the perfect one, the towns very nice clocktower.
I sent the photo to Linda using WhatsApp and for the next 30 minutes she told me of interesting places to go, the first being Rugby School.
Rugby School is where William Webb Ellis has been credited as the inventor of rugby football while a pupil at Rugby School. According to legend, Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it during a school football match in 1823, thus creating the "rugby" style of play. He was also an outstanding cricketer as well!
William was the son of James Ellis, an officer in the Dragoon Guards and Ann Webb whom he married in Exeter in 1804.
After James was killed at the Battle of Albuera in 1812, Mrs Ellis and her two sons were left totally unprovided for except for a small army pension of 10 pounds a year for each child. She decided to move to Rugby, Warwickshire so that William and his older brother Thomas could receive a good education at Rugby School with no cost as a local foundationer (i.e., a pupil living within a radius of 10 miles of the Rugby Clock Tower).
After university, William entered the Church and became chaplain of St George's, Albemarle Street, London and then rector of St Clement Danes in The Strand.
Well, isn’t that an interesting story?
With more guidance from Linda, we found the Black Swan Pub, or The Mucky Duck as its locally known. Apparently, Linda spent a good amount of time in this establishment in her younger days!
We found Rugby to be a very nice town, it was very clean and tidy and they are very patriotic with the streets decked with bunting and most of the shops showing a display for the coming coronation.
From Rugby we drove 18 miles north up the M1 to our two-night city break in Leicester.
Things didn’t go so well on entering the city, we got within a half a mile of our hotel at 3:55 pm and eventually got parked up at 5:05 pm, yes, the traffic was that bad.
Thankfully it was good natured, it was a hassle but no one got hot under the collar and there wasn’t anyone doing any angry horn honking.
Eventually we did find our parking spot, albeit in a massive shopping centre where I had to ask two lovely people, one a lady at a till in a shop who pointed the exit I needed out to me. The other was a young man and a young woman who found the hotel’s location on her phone where they then gave me very accurate directions.
After dropping the bags, we took a walk into the city, and we found we are bang in the city, to get some supplies.
After a bite to eat in the room we went to check our surroundings and we soon found our way to a beautiful river, The River Soar.
Wendy didn’t take her running gear from the car because she didn’t fancy running in the city, but as soon as she saw the river she said, “I might just go back to get my gear from the car”.
The river indeed was very nice, I am looking forward to explore it a little more in the morning. We also found the Grand Union Canal, so there should be lots to see.
Before we went back to our room I had a beer, and Wendy had a glass of wine in the bar next to the hotel. The pub was called The Richard III, so I thought it might be a little cultured, I guess it was but in the wrong sense because there were two gobby scouseers yattering on incoherently with lots of unnecessary bad language, I don’t think I’ll be going back!
That’s it for tonight Avid Reader, I am bushed, I might watch a little telly but I will most definitely not be too late to bed tonight!
No Travelling
Richard III
I went out running along the canal towards the left and Wendy went to the right. I found Leicester City Football Ground close by, and then I ran along some stunning English canal countryside. The area was truly stunning, I saw a wide variety of bird life and some really stunning houses backing onto the canal with some really nice gardens making the most of their location.
I turned back and got to the hotel just before 9:30 am. Wendy was back and showered and ready to go and explore so I had to wolf down my smoothie and shower.
Our first mission was to find Leicester Cathedral which we did pretty smartish, but we found it closed due to a major refurbishment which was a bit of a bummer. We couldn’t even walk all the way around it due to access restrictions because of the building work.
Never mind we did see it and that was good enough.
I did however challenge myself to find out more about Richard III because all I know is that his body was found under a Leicester Car Park a few years ago.
We walked around the Cathedral and we found the Old Town, which is rather nice. There were lots of interesting buildings for me to marvel over and the pace of life was much more relaxed.
There were some nice-looking shops too and a very good market place with a very well stocked fish market adjacent to it.
We walked and walked and just by accident we happened upon a Wetherspoons Bar, The Corn Exchange, where I had a very refreshing coffee and Wendy had a soft drink.
This was an outstanding bag of a Wetherspoons Bar as it is such an interesting old building which has been maintained in its original construction. There is a ground floor and a very nice first floor bar, and the main structure is all reinforced concrete from the pillars to the beams and the rafters. It really is a stunning building, and there was a really nice atmosphere in there.
Some more walking ensued and after an hour we had walked about four miles so we took refuge with a beer and a glass of wine for Wendy in a Walkabout Bar. Actually, it was very pleasant inside, it was nicely warm and really cosy. Sadly, though they don’t stock Bunderburg Rum anymore, should it even be claimed as an Australian Bar in this case?
Whilst sipping my beer I did my Richard III research and here is what I found:
Richard III was born on 2 October 1452 at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire to Richard, Duke of York and Lady Cecily Neville. York, a potential claimant to the throne who was frequently in opposition to the rule of Henry VI (descended from the Dukes of Lancaster). The following thirty years of instability and civil war between the Yorkists and Lancastrians is commonly labelled the ‘Wars of the Roses’.
At eight years old, Richard and his older brother, George, escaped to the Netherlands and Belgium following the deaths of their father and elder brother, Edmund at the Battle of Wakefield. They returned to England a year later following the defeat of the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton, and participated in the coronation of their eldest brother, Edward IV.
To cut a long storey short, Richard was a Yorkist in the Battle of the Roses and as they were the winners of that war, his involvement was not forgotten by the Lancastrians who had been soundly defeated at Tewksbury.
Richard was the fella who stole the crown off his two nephews who he was to have taken under his safe keeping, that didn’t go down well and he only reigned for two years.
Finally, in 1485, Richard successfully forced a confrontation with the rebels who didn’t like him, near the town of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire. On 22 August, Richard’s greater force met Henry Tudor’s army in battle in what was to become a pivotal moment in English history. Richard was slain, leaving Henry victorious as King Henry VII. Richard’s body was brought to Leicester and after a short period of public display, he was buried in the choir of the Grey Friars church.
Richard didn’t sound like a very nice chap, despite his Yorkshire roots, and I can’t quite fathom the who-ah when he was eventually found in the car park.
From the bar more walking ensued, and we walked through the large University Campus and along the river for a while.
I didn’t mention earlier but we also had a side mission, to find Robyn a Coronation mug! We walked yet many more miles in our attempt to find one. Eventually we did on the outskirts of the city at a Lidl Store, we bought the last two as well, the things you do for your children!
After seven miles we took a drink in the second Weatherspoon’s Bar where we tried to find somewhere to eat for supper. However everywhere we thought would be nice served Halal food, which, as inclusive I like to be, I do detest any form of animal cruelty. We did have Wetherspoons as a backup, as they feel the same as we do, as does Aldi, Lidl are a bit more wishy-washy. Tesco aren’t fully, but the slaughtered animals they buy have been killed humanely albeit with a prayer being said while they are.
So, we had a rest up in our room to mull it over some more before I nipped to Tesco for some ice for the cool box. As I walked past Wetherspoons I saw an interesting bar that served food, The Queen of Bradgate, and I am so glad that I did because we went there and it was an utter dining delight.
I had the Ox cheeks with lovely roast veg, Wendy had a beef and ale pie on a bed of mash and cabbage, and both were absolutely delicious!!!
The atmosphere in the bar was nice and the staff were lovely, the wine was nice too.
Being stuffed we took one last walk over to the river and back to our room.
In the day we have covered over 10 miles, and apart from the half hour in the room we had been out over 8 hours, so we did give the city a fair going over!
Wendy is now in her jim jams and eating chocolate in bed, I’m about to file todays copy, have a glass of wine, watch some TV and then have an early night as we hope to be off ASAP tomorrow for the drive north!
308 Miles
Barkers the Butchers
After I filed last nights copy, I thought I would watch the episode of I’m a Celebrity on ITV but the TV would only play BBC 1 & 2 only, all the other channels were fuzzy.
I went down to reception and I asked the lad at reception if he was aware of a problem with the network. He said he did know, he apologised and said that they hope someone would come and look at it soon. I told him not to worry, these things happen.
I also knew I could most likely watch any TV channel in the world via the remote connection between my iPhone and my laptop through my unlimited data, so all was not lost.
We did indeed watch an episode of I’m a Celebrity on my laptop and as we had missed the opening episode, we caught up on that. All we have to do is now catch up on last night’s episode.
I was asleep by 10:00 and I had a very restful night, and I woke fully refreshed at 5:30 am, which was fine as we wanted to get on the road as soon as possible so we could make teatime in Millerhill so we could have supper with Rose.
I went out running but Wendy didn’t, she often doesn’t when its moving day as she likes everything organised and ready for the off, even more so when she’s seeing any one of our granddaughters.
Today I went to the right along the canal track and I saw a different side of it, obviously!
Actually, both sections are a bit of a muddle to run along because the canal interacts with the River Soar many times along its length.
This section went past a lot of new housing, mainly small town houses built as terrace flats over 3 floors with great views of the canal and the countryside, some even have balconies.
Then I moved onto old industrial sites and then I was out in the country.
The canal, The Grand Union Canal was made from a collection of smaller canals which were all joined up at some point in time to create a pathway for barges from the coalfields in the north down to London. I suppose the clue is in the name and the penny should have dropped long ago for me.
At my four mile turn around spot I had come across a large collection of lakes which looked rather interesting, and I wished that I could explore them further on my bike.
The Watermead Country Park is a network of artificial lakes in the valley of the River Soar and the Grand Union Canal, I believe there are over 12 lakes. The park provides for bird watching, fish and water sports and is apparently a very nice place to visit.
On the way back however, I saw a massive structure on the skyline and it looked like a huge inflatable spaceship that was maybe alien in origin. It looked pretty spectacular but I had no idea what it was.
During the production of tonight’s copy, I did several google searches, using as much information as I could gleam from my photograph and I did actually find it, it’s the National Space Centre. Wow, I never knew we had such a thing.
During my search I found that there are six galleries, including the iconic Rocket Tower and the UK’s largest domed planetarium, crammed full of space suits, rockets, satellites and meteorites. Now I know I am definitely going back to Leicester as I love anything to do with space exploration!
Check the link below for further details:
Home - The National Space Centre
I got back to the hotel a little after 9:00 am and after breakfast and shower we were heading out of Leicester at exactly 10:30 am.
It was our intention to stop in Barnsley for a quick stock up with meat and pork pies from Barnsley Market. The distance to Barnsley was 77 miles and we were parked up in Morrisons carpark an hour and a half later.
Our main shop takes place at Barkers Butchers where you can get some really delicious products for very reasonable prices.
Today I bought:
We also got from another butcher, 3 links of black pudding and 2 large and four small pork pies.
The extra gammon slices are for Robyn and Bradley as are a link of black pudding and a pork pie.
I bought a few items in Morrisons but I mainly wanted a large bag of ice for the ice box to keep the meat chilled.
We were in an out of Barnsley in 50 minutes and heading north where again we had a trouble-free journey.
The Sat Nav threw me a little because she took us over a road I haven’t been over before. Just after Morpeth we joined the A697 for an amazing drive through unspoilt villages and countryside.
Wendy swears we have been over this road before but I am pretty adamant we haven’t, I know my road network and this is one road I have never been on before, but she remains adamant we have!
We made it for supper with Rose by arriving at 4:55 pm.
Supper was delightful chicken thigh curry followed by a pineapple slice upside down cake that Alex and Rose made before my very eyes, it was delicious.
That’s it for tonight Avid Reader, I am just about to finish my pint of Theakston’s Old Peculiar and join the others in the living room, Rose is tucked up in bed and Violet is getting passed around for baby cuddles.
183 Miles
Home Time!
Everyone was in bed by ten last night, just as I was finding my second wind, so I found a new series on Amazon Prime, “Falling Skies”. Its an alien taking over the world series but it is directed by Steven Spielberg so it should be OK. I’m through episode one and it does seem ok, but I find that long series do that, start well and then drop off, and there are five seasons so I’ll have to see how it goes.
I heard Rose in her cot at 6:00 am this morning asking for her Mummy, nicely though, not in an upset or distressed kind of way, just like a kind of, “Mummy, come and get me please I want to start my day”
I went and got her and put her in our bed, her nanny was fast asleep but slowly woke at the sound of Rose chatting to me. I had a fantastic cuddle but Rose did pull my nose a few times.
With nanny awake I got up and made them both tea and took it up for them.
I started to get my breakfast and soon the pair of them were down, with Rose soon tucking into two Weetabix!
Wendy went to get showered while I played with Rose and then I went up to get changed for my run.
The weather was dull and overcast but there wasn’t any sign of rain.
I ran down to Musselburgh Harbour and to my amazement the harbour was full of water, which would allow boats to come and go.
Its strange but there are not many times that I have run down to the harbour and it’s been high tide. I just had to Google this and here is what I found:
“Musselburgh Harbour is a traditional stone walled fishing harbour, now mainly populated by leisure craft. Jokingly referred to by locals as the harbour on the hill, it requires over 4 metres of tide for most of the yachts to begin to float, leaving a narrow window of approximately 2 hours either side of high water at Leith for entry / exit.
Once out of the harbour, the positives of the sailing area are immediately obvious. There is little to no tidal stream in the bay and there are no isolated dangers lurking to catch you unawares, just be wary of your depth as it can remain shallow for a long way out”.
The sailing on the Firth of Forth does look attractive as there are quite a few sailing clubs between Musselburgh and Queensferry, where the Forth Road and Rail Bridges are located.
I got back home and everyone was up and about and I had my cooldown sat outside the front door as I had, by now, quite a sweat on!
After my breakfast I was just going to shower when Nicky, Alex’s mum arrived for a flying visit to see her grandchildren. She had driven all the way down from Aberdeen to see them.
I packed the car with all of our belongings and the timber that I had bought last week in Falkirk, and after a last-minute coffee we were on the road.
I was worried about the bank holiday traffic on the A9, but before we got to that Alex had asked me to drop off some football refereeing technical equipment for a friend of his in Rosyth.
That done we were on the M90 heading north for the A9.
Thankfully the roadworks at the start of the A9 heading from Perth did not have a very big queue of traffic so we were not long before we were on our way and making good progress.
We left the A9 just before 3:00 pm and we drove the short distance east along the A96 to Brad and Caroline’s house so that we could drop off some provisions from Barnsley Market for them.
We got there just as Caroline and the children returned back from a shopping expedition.
It was lovely to see Eleanor and baby Lois for a short while, we had a few cuddles and kisses with them and promised to be back soon for an adventure afternoon.
On the way home we shopped at Morrisons for some produce from the salad bar. We were going to have the fillet steak we bought from the market and I just fancied some mixed-up salad stuff.
Jeepers I made a bad mistake by coming back home through Inverness town centre. Sat Nav had told me to go the opposite way and I should have listened as it was choc-a-block with gridlocked traffic, never mind we were home by 4:15 pm!
It took a while to unpack the car as we had that much stuff with us, and then to keep warm because the house was cold we did a few chores.
I had snaffled some timber from the woods before I left, the overhead power lines get trimmed every few years and the wood cutters leave the tree limbs at the side of the road for snaffling, so I had indeed snaffled them but I hadn’t had time to put them around to the wood store, so I did that. Wendy restocked the bar with glasses as I hadn’t gotten around to doing it after decorating the room.
At 7:00 pm with all chores done we cooked supper, Wendy put things together and I cooked the prawns and steaks and they were just lovely.
Well, that’s it for this trip Avid Reader, I am going to put my feet up tonight, watch a little TV and then head to bed as I have to finish that winter house soon, before summer arrives, if it ever does!!
182 Miles
Spain!
It’s been a very enjoyable but busy few days.
Robyn, Alex, Rose and new baby Violet came to stay, mainly because Alex was helping out with referee mentoring at the Ross County Academy Training Ground in Dingwall. But also because Robyn was desperate to see the Coronation with like-minded Royalists.
We had Ann and Phil stay with us too which was lovely as it was nice to get to know them a little more, and then Brad, Caroline, Eleanor and baby Lois turned up for an afternoons Coronation meal in the new Garden House.
And it really was a lovely time.
On Sunday with all our guests away we were invited over to Brad and Caroline’s for a really tasty Coronation Chicken meal with them. Brad cooked it to Ade Exley’s tried and tested recipe which involves broccoli and condensed chicken soup. This is a recipe that really has been tried and tested, so much so that it is now a regular go to meal for any suitable occasion.
We both relaxed at home with a glass of wine while catching up on I’m a Celebrity Get me out of Here, South Africa, as we had missed Friday night’s episode. We then watched the next episode when it aired at 9:00 pm.
We were in bed by 10:30 pm and I was fast asleep in no time at all.
However, true to form, due to my excitement of our impending travels I was wide awake at 4:30 am, but thankfully I managed to nod off again sometime between 5:00 am and 5:20 am.
I slid out of bed and did a little admin for the trip.
Alex had offered to take us to Edinburgh Airport at 4:00 am in the morning but as sweet a gesture as it was, it was far too early and we also thought that he might not be able to collect us on Saturday afternoon as he no doubt would have a football match to officiate at.
So, my admin chore was to compare the price of either taking a taxi from Millerhill to the airport, a journey of 15 minutes, or book the car in for parking at the airport.
I found a reputable taxi company and sent in my quotation request, but I didn’t expect anything back at 5:00 am so then I got a quote for car parking which was quite simple and I had a price within 5 minutes. £38 for ten nights which included £1.90 for overtime insurance in case there was a delay on the return flight.
With that done I watched a little TV and then went running at 7:00.
I ran out to Beauly Village and it was a very nice morning, the sun was out and it was by now 14 degrees. Traffic was light at that time of the morning but by the time I was on my way home it got quite busy with school busses and parents on the school run. In fact, my return badly coincided with parents taking their children to school along the single carriageway between Kirkhill and Beauly.
They make me mad; they leave it to the last minute and then whiz past me in order for the kids not to be too late at the school gate, they then whiz back to whatever other emergency they have in their lives. I have given quite a lot of parents a Winston Churchill salute when they have passed me at 50 miles per hour.
Back home and I had my smoothie, showered, did some packing of my running gear. I then received a quote for the taxi, it was £55, one way, so I booked the carpark instead, I then waited for my 11:00 am appointment.
I did a fire risk assessment for Owen who is the son of a friend of mine from my fire service days. Sadly, his dad died as a result of the Coronavirus in the very early days of the pandemic.
I did the assessment the week prior and I had met Owen at the flat, which is rather nice, and very close to the city centre so he should do good business with it.
During the assessment Owen asked me what my professional fees were. I told him on this occasion that they were free of charge, and I explained that his dad was one of my best officers, in fact Derek was the first man I handpicked when I led the Service Improvement Team in the dark days of Highland and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. This took him aback a little but being a good Highlander, he asked me if I drank whiskey, which actually I do.
Owen arrived bang on time and he gave me a very nice bottle of Royal Lochnagar which is indeed a very nice malt whiskey.
After filing his paperwork in the folder he had brought me and with the plastic dividers separating the various documents I went through all the paperwork with him.
After Owen had left, we set off for the drive south, but first we collected a birthday present for Robyn, from Brads as it’s her birthday on 11th May.
The A9 was thankfully very quiet and we even got through the roadworks at Perth with very little delay. The Queensferry Bridge was equally free flowing as was the City Bypass and we were with Rose at 3:15 pm.
Rose was just lovely and after a trip out shopping her Mum painted her face with the face paints that she had forgotten to use during the Kings Coronation.
Supper was a team effort with Alex barbequing a variety of items, jeepers it was a double delight, especially the rainbow trout, well done Alex.
At 7:00 pm I went to bed, my adventure starts tomorrow, I just hope Wendy can get out of her scratcher in time for the flight?
16 Miles
1,158 Nautical Miles
41 Miles
Sunshine!
Last night I slept until 22:50 pm and then I slid out of bed and tipy-toed downstairs and watched a little TV before heading out at 00:10 am. I think I heard Rose go to bed, but apart from that I had 3 hours of really good sleep.
I ran down to Musselburgh Harbour and it was lovely, there wasn’t a breath of wind, nor rain and just two drunken idiots walking home with their fish and chips.
I have a long time saying, ignore idiots, keep an eye on them, but ignore them, and of course at that time of the morning they were the type of idiots I could easily ignore.
I got down to the harbour at around 1:00 am and I sat on a bench, in the dark, I drank my water and just enjoyed the solitude and the dark.
I got back just before 2:00 am and I had tea and toast with lashings of marmalade. Robyn and Violet, who had been keeping her mum awake all night, joined me. I made tea for Wendy and she came down to help out while I showered.
We were at the airport in good time and in no time at all I was spending £25 for a half pint of stella and a bottle of Pinot Grigio at the Sir Walter Scott Bar. Jeepers Tim hasn’t half put his prices up!!!
We boarded the flight bang on time and then we left the airport apron on time too, only for the pilot to put the brakes on for a medical emergency and for us to return to the stand!
This was the most un-urgent medical emergency I have ever known; lord knows what happened but we spent an hour on the ground with a couple up front, first getting off the flight only to quickly return for another half hour and then to get back off. We then had to wait until their bags were taken off and for us to be allocated a flight slot. Wendy Gill was not happy; she hates wasting her time medical emergency or faff about or not!
After 1 hour and 20 minutes we were in the air and on our way.
The flight was actually quite good, I slept a little and I watched a silly movie on my phone, slept some more, had a glass of wine, ate a sausage sarnie we had brought aboard, and eventually we arrived at a very sunny Malaga Airport.
Jeepers the Brexit Queue for immigration was just under an hour long and I got my now worthless stamp in my passport, but at least it is all worth it in the long run, illegal immigration has been controlled, we have our borders back, we have sovereignty and Jacob Rees-Mogg still has his offshore tax haven, oh and Boris Johnson is still a twat, but at least he got Brexit done!
After we collected our suitcase we met our driver, Gabriel, who, although he didn’t speak much English, was a very nice man who had us sailing along the Costa del Sol Coastal Road in no time at all.
We had some delays around Marbella but we were dropped off at the hotel just about an hour later. I gave Gabriel a ten-euro tip which did seem a little inadequate but as the euro is almost parity with the pound it seemed a fare tip for me, for an hour’s work.
Thankfully the hotel is stunning, we have a kind of sea view but not quite, but the room is really nice and we have a small fridge that can accommodate 3 bottles of wine, four cans of beer, and two water bottles.
After unpacking the cases we took a walk around the resort, which was nice, and then we walked around the area and found a small mini market where we bought a few supplies, and then we had a drink in a local bar. The barman was a smashing young man who made us feel very welcome, and then we walked back to the hotel.
At 4:00 pm while we were lathering ourselves in sun tan lotion we got a message from Alex telling us that he had passed his recent assessment and that he was now a fully-fledged Chartered Surveyor, jeepers this required an exceptional celebration so I took a generous rum and coke down to the pool to undertake some serious sunbathing activities in the afternoon sun.
I like this hotel, there are two pools, a family pool and a quiet pool, and it was at the quiet pool that I settled, with my rum and coke and BBC Radio two in my ears, where I laid down on the very comfy beach bed and relaxed.
Wendy left at 6:00 pm and I stayed until she rang me at 7:00 as she was starving for her supper.
On check in we could have upgraded to All-Inclusive for another 820 euros, but as we couldn’t see us eating and drinking 82 euros of food and drink every day over the next ten days, we politely declined the offer.
Supper none the less was a very nice affair with us sat out dining on the Mediterranean Terrace in the setting evening sun. The food was an utter delight, albeit if the wine was a little bit sweet.
I am now sat on the very nicely sized balcony and its rather nice, Wendy is in bed, fast asleep and it won’t be long before I join her as I think I am in desperate need of catching up with my sleep!
No Travelling
Sunshine!
I slept like a log last night, but I did wake at 5:30 am with a headache, so I went and got some paracetamol from my toilet bag and then I settled back to sleep and I never moved until exactly 7:00 am.
I could not believe it, I jumped out of bed and into my running gear, which included my GB running vest for the first time this year. Wendy declined running, instead choosing a cup of horrible tea in bed. Yes, the water isn’t up to making good tea, its ok to drink but I later found its not very nice boiled.
I went out running but it was a bit hard work.
What I call the Costa del Sol Coastal Road is a very busy dual carriageway that runs through our area and there isn’t much in the way of pedestrian access like good footpaths. As a result, I had to nip in and out of side streets in order to make up my milage. This gave me a very poor time as I was constantly checking my running app to pick my way through the estates.
What I did do though was find that we are in an area of very nice residential housing with high walls which has the occasional and very tasteful resort hotel along the shore.
Actually, there isn’t much around us, there aren’t any greasy restaurants selling burgers or chickens that have been on the rotisserie all day long. In fact, it’s a fair walk before we can find a shop.
I got back at 9:15 am and after a quick shower we went down for breakfast, and what a treat it was. The food selection was very wide and I ended up with very nice bacon, (You usually don’t get good bacon on the continent), a fried egg, mushrooms and fried broccoli, it was bloody lovely.
Wendy had pastries and fruit; well, she hadn’t been out running.
I spied the fizzy wine on offer and made a beeline for two very nice glasses.
We ate outside on the Mediterranean Terrace and it was just perfect.
I had a cup of tea on our balcony and Wendy was absolutely right, the water is rubbish for making a good cup of tea, it was dreadful.
After a very nice close shave, we were down to the pool for a relaxing but careful morning in the sun. I had larupped my head with factor fifty suncream and my arms and legs with factor 30.
The sun was out and it was lovely.
I have brought a book to read but I left it in the room, instead listening to BBC radio Two through my ear buds.
After a while I took a walk through to the sea to dip my feet. It’s been a long time since I put my feet into the Med and it was very nice indeed.
I do like the Mediterranean Sea, it’s probably my most favourite sea in the world, which seems strange, but being a kid in Barnsley in the 1960’s, during geography lessons, I never in my life thought I would ever get to see it.
To make sure we don’t get too much sun we took a walk to explore our area at 2:00 pm.
We walked up to the highway and took a foot bridge that gives us access to the other side. I’m glad we did too as we found a very nice collection of local bars and restaurants.
We took a beer in one local bar where he had a very nice tapas selection on offer and we had a beer each. The fella behind the bar was exceptionally fat and he needed a walking stick to move around. It took an age to get the beer as he had to incorporate the walking stick into the routine, with it at one point being in my face as it was laid flat out on the bar.
We walked back over the bridge and into the local Aldi store where we stocked up on wine, beer and snacks.
As we neared the last leg of getting back to the hotel, we found a large supermarket where I bought some more soft drinks for the fridge and we both had a Milko ice cream. At first Wendy didn’t want one until she had had five minutes in the sunshine guarding our shopping and she saw me dipping into the freezer, “I’ll have one too” she shouted out to me.
After dropping our supplies off at the room, we got into the lift with two younger people as we made our way back down to the pool. We chatted with them and they were both from Kent and they were both suffering from sunburn. They had been here since Sunday and had mistakenly had too much sun has it had rained on the first day they arrived, and they had tried to catch up meanwhile.
We had another two hours on our sunbeds and it was rather nice, I even had the odd snooze.
I do like this hotel, there are enough sunbeds for everyone, you don’t have to get up at 2:30 am to put your towel down and mark your territory.
After showering we went down for a very nice supper at around 7:30 pm, the food was an utter delight and we again ate on the outside terrace.
After supper we took a walk around the shore in a northerly direction. I had told Wend to put on some comfortable shoes, but what she was wearing wasn’t really appropriate for a rocky beach. Eventually we came to some rather nice housing and we found them all deserted, no one was home, some of them were stunning.
After walking further, we saw a man and he walked around the corner and up a metal stairway. We headed that way so we could follow, but the ladder must have been a private access for him because when he got to the top he raised the stairway electronically, like something out of the Thunderbirds, Wendy was most pipped off.
We managed to find a road back to the hotel, but the thing is, there were massive and impressive houses but no one was home, it was deathly quiet.
Back at the hotel and we are now on the balcony, its just gone 9:15 pm and I think we are heading for an early night, maybe we’ll be up in time for Wendy to go out on a run of exploration in the morning!
Stop Press - I have just been advised that I have neglected the birthday of one of my Avid Readers, sorry Robyn. A very happy birthday to my most beautiful, funny and cheeky daughter on her 33rd birthday, happy birthday Robyn! xx
No Travelling
Friday
I do like a Friday Avid Reader, I don’t know why but I just do.
Today I woke at 5:45 am, but I could barely see the clock at the far end of the bedroom so I thought it was 6:00 am so I got up and put the kettle on.
It was still dark outside and it didn’t get light until 7:00 am.
We both had tea and it was disgusting again. Now I had carried five litres of fresh water from the shop yesterday so it shouldn’t be so bad again. That’s when Wendy admitted that she had bought cheap tea bags from the supermarket at home, tea bags that she had never used before. Now I know we are in a cost-of-living crisis but surely you have to be sure of your tea before you take it to a foreign country, especially one that is not renowned for being a nation of tea drinkers.
Today I went to the north for my run and you would not believe the size of the properties that lined the streets that I run along; I mean some were mansions. Some were very nicely looking modern buildings and there were several plots for sale with huge billboards with drawings of the prospective building that could be accommodated there and they were stunning.
I don’t know what these people do but they must be dripping in wealth because I didn’t see many people around so these must be second homes.
As I was running back, I saw king Charles in the passenger seat of a pick-up truck. I did a double take and saw that the man driving had a dummy sat at the side of him with a King Charles face mask, now what was all that about?
I got back to the hotel and after a good cool down I showered and we dawdled down to breakfast. We got a good seat on the outside terrace and I had a very nice bacon and egg toastie followed by a very nice glass of sparkling wine. Wendy wasn’t bothered about a glass until I brought her one, which she duly drunk.
You know I do love being in a warm climate, its just so nice to be able to sit outside and eat your breakfast in the warmth, why wasn’t I born in the tropics. But I guess if I had been then I would most likely have been born in to poverty and that wouldn’t be much fun, even in the sunshine!
I snaffled a few tea bags from the coffee station in the restaurant but it was just as bad as what Wendy bought when I had a cup back in our bedroom, is it the water, is it the kettle?
We spent the day down at the family pool, it’s a bit noisy but nowhere near as bad as the noisy pools we had at Cape Verde.
In fact, it was fine, the sun was out and people were enjoying themselves in the cooling pool waters. We were going to go to the beach but there weren’t any sunbeds there with shade for Wendy, its not such a great beach anyway so it wasn’t a problem.
A couple of the Animation Team Members tried to coax us to take part in aqua aerobics but we weren’t up for it, I didn’t fancy swinging my arms around with a gang of old folk.
I did a little snoozing on my sunbed, in fact I cannot believe how much I am sleeping on this holiday, maybe I should join the old folk for aerobics.
The sun was hot but with factor 50 on my face and then factor 30 all over everywhere else I was safe and sound.
When 2:00 pm came around we left our sunbeds and walked up to the shops to buy some soap, some wine and sangria. I hate the shower gel we have; I much prefer a bar of soap for my shower so I treated myself to some good old Palmolive.
We also bought some Tetley Tea bags for my morning cuppa, please lord let it be normal!!!
We had a walk around the back streets of the very nice housing schemes, there were lots of flowers and lovely smelling trees everywhere.
We had a drink in a very nice Spanish bar, and I bought Wendy her favourite tapas item, tortilla which was served warm with white bread and mayonnaise, I shared a bite and it was really tasty.
Having been out of the sun during the hottest part of the day we reclaimed our sunbeds at just after 4:00 pm where I have to admit to having another wee snooze.
Wendy woke me with the offer of a glass of sangria and I watched the youngsters this time on the aqua bike session. Now this was a bit feistier so I might have a go in the coming days, well there wasn’t an old person to be seen in the gang so I might have to hold an end up for them.
We returned to our room at just gone 6:00 pm for a shower and then a fairly decent lathering of Avon Skin So Soft which we swear by as a very good after sun condiment, it even smells nice too, and it keeps midges away!
We dressed for supper, and we looked quite dashing as we headed down.
It had been decided that we would have a tapas supper, I was going to collect the meat and fish and Wendy was going to get the salad and veg, what a spread we ended up with!
There were king prawns, cuttle fish, razer fish, huge mussels, lovely pork and the slow cooked ox beef was an utter delight. The salad and veg was pretty nice too!
So here I am, sat on our balcony stuffed to high heaven, I did offer the suggestion of a nice walk to help with the digestion process but Wendy was already out of her dress and into her night clothes and socks for a glass of wine on the balcony.
Actually, it’s a bit nippet tonight so I have my sweat shirt on, well that’s OK, we sleep with the large window fully open so tonight we should be nicely chilled!
No Travelling
Barnsley FC
It was Barnsley Football Clubs turn for a shot at getting promoted to the Championship today as they play Bolton Wanderers away at 3:00 pm today. Sheffield Wednesday lost 4 – Nil to Peterborough last night so I think we can say their chance is slim.
Well, I have to admit my morning cup of tea was only marginally better this morning, and that’s with using a Tetley teabag and bottled spring water.
I went running south today, all in a straight line and all along the Costa Del Sol Highway. Actually, it wasn’t too bad, I could take a look at the local shops and bars and I was mapping out our position in relation to Estepona.
The wind was rattling the windows when we woke up, and the sky looked very angry indeed when it got light so I thought I might be in for a shower, so I had donned my sweatshirt and jacket, but thankfully I got there and back without any rainfall.
I ran on the other side of the road and I got over by using the walkway bridge. There was a local fella at the top of my access, he had a bike and he was drinking from a large beer bottle, which he was putting into his bike bottle holder when I got there. He tried to stop me and started to put his hands together in a pleading kind of way and he said something but all I recognised was Porfovore. I gave him a wide berth and said no thanks mate.
I got back and at looking at the route I had taken I had not even got halfway to Estepona, so I guess walking it there isn’t much of an option as it would be at least a 16-mile round trip.
I was going to have a light breakfast today so I grabbed some cereal and pimped it up a bit with extra raisins and dried banana chunks. But when I saw the lovely looking scrambled eggs that Wendy had I just had to have a portion of these too, with two slices of toast. I even put a portion of mushrooms on the plate only to find out that they had garlic on them, even I think garlic is a no no at breakfast time.
I had taken my mug down as well as a Tetley tea bag, I was determined to get to the bottom of the funny tea situation. I filled my mug with boiling water from the coffee machine and I have to say it was marginally better, this is driving me nuts, I cannot get a decent cup of tea!!!
We spent a little time in the hotel, we were going to try to catch the bus to Estepona, but we gave it half an hour and the weather improved, the wind dropped and the sun came out and it was very nice, so we went and spent time at the quiet pool.
I took my book down, the one Grandad Bryan gave me when I was last down, it’s called “The Reckoning”, by John Grisham. I think Grandad told me it’s the first book that he didn’t know what the outcome was until the very end. From the first 50 pages I think I know what he means.
The sun was very warm, there was still a bit of a breeze but it was ok to sit out and laze in the sun.
At 1:30 pm we took a nice walk along the beach. Its not a glamorous beach, in fact it’s quite stoney where our hotel is, but it gets much better, and after about 200 yards to the south the sand takes over and you could easily walk in and have a swim in the Med.
As we walked along Wendy pointed something out, and she said, “Is that Gibraltar?”, and sure enough it was. Way out to sea I could clearly see the Rock of Gibraltar, what a lovely site she was. The land must curve bay fashion as you could only see the Rock, and she looked like an island all alone.
We had a fair walk and turned around at a resort that I found on my first run.
Back at the sunbed and we had another nice hour of reading our books before we headed back to the room for us to change into sensible clothes for us to go and find a bar where I might be able to watch the football match.
We walked up to the bar area, which is across the Highway and I saw something that I hadn’t seen before. I walked up the road a little further than I have done before and I found a stonking looking Spanish, local tapas bar. The place was buzzing and I am now of the mind to have an afternoon’s relaxation there before we come home.
I nipped into the bar that we had had a drink in yesterday as he had televised sport, but try as he might he could not find the Barnsley match on his listings. I thanked him for his trouble and moved on.
I did have a trump card up my sleeve, it was a bar where I had previously had a drink and I knew he showed Sky Games.
He was showing Speedway Racing to no one when I went in with my request, and sure enough, after a fair bit of phone swapping so we knew what we were both talking about, he found the game and happily put it on for me.
I got myself a pint of local beer and Wendy had a glass of wine.
The first half of the match was good, Barnsley seemed to be on top.
At half time I got two glasses of wine and two tapas dishes, which were an absolute delight.
The sky clouded over during the second half and it even rained, well drizzled for a short while, but I didn’t mind because Barnsley had scored.
The lead wasn’t long lasting as we let in a soft goal, but thankfully we were still the better side.
Wendy walked back to the hotel before the end of the game as it was a bit cooler and, it’s fair to say, she’s not a football fan!
The game ended in a one all draw and I am now looking forward to the second leg which will be at Oakwell, the ground will be buzzing and if I was at home, I would have drove down to watch it.
I got back to the hotel and the sky was still overcast but the rain had stopped.
After a call to granny and a very delighted grandad, Notts County have been promoted, one of the 22 teams he supports, and a facetime call with Eleanor and Lois, we went down for a smashing supper.
I had 3 porky pig courses, soup, lovely oxtail with roast potatoes and broccoli, and Wendy had a sushi selection, we both then had a generous portion of cake.
Its now 9:00 pm and we are both far too full to budge, I might put Eurovision on, or I might just read my book and then go for the results and watch our nul poi come in!
No Travelling
Nul Poi!!!
Well, that was a turn up for the books, was it 25th out of 26th, well someone must have voted for us. I did watch it until the last contestant and to be honest I thought ours was lacklustre and flat. I had not seen her live in fact I had not seen our act at all, I had only heard it on the radio and I wasn’t a fan. Never mind, it looked like Liverpool gave the fans what they wanted anyway.
I was late this morning waking, it was 6:20 am and it was looking like a lovely clear blue sky, although it was too early to tell.
I had my almost bearable tea and went out running into the hills. It was brilliant, the scenes were stunning and I must have climbed 1,000 feet.
The road was a bit iffy as there wasn’t any pavement, and sometimes there wasn’t anywhere I could jump if anyone wasn’t paying attention.
Thankfully with it being a Sunday morning the traffic was light and what traffic I did come across they were all paying attention and gave me a wide birth.
The strange thing is, only the second mile was iffy, the second, although it had no pavement, it did have a kind of marked hard shoulder where I could run in safety. After the 3rd mile I came to a fantastic stretch of road which went high into the hills, it had not only a fantastic new pavement but two cycle lanes too.
I would like to do it one more time before we leave, maybe I’ll leave it to the last day.
At four miles I came across a car boot fare, or at least a small market, this did attract some cars and the road was busier coming back.
I got back to the hotel and the sun was now high in the sky and we had a lovely Sunday breakfast on the terrace, in the sunshine, we even had a delightful glass of fizz.
Again, I took my mug and had another iffy cup of tea at the breakfast table.
Breakfast was a little busy but there wasn’t any hassle as everyone went about collecting food from the vast range available without any trouble.
Today we were going to have our very first full day in the sun, but first I must tell you something about one of my fellow guests who goes out into the sun every day.
This man as a massive fat belly, I’m not judging, this is a factual description. He has a mobility scooter and he and his wife sit at the pool in deckchairs and he soaks up the sun, topless.
His belly is of such a size that you might think that if it got any bigger it would pop! But, here’s the thing, he has no belly button. This man is totally absent of any sign of ever having a belly button in his life. Its like he was not born of a woman. His belly has grown so large that it has stretched it out of his tum, it’s an unbelievable sight! I’m not picking on him, he must know what it looks like and he sits there as proud as punch every day!
Today we spent the entire day down at the quiet pool, it was hot and sunny and nicely quiet. However, as we don’t go down and lay our towels on the sunbeds, we have to take what’s left and today as it was busy we had the beds close to the small pool which has water jets spurting all day long. That’s not a problem, in fact its quite soothing, no it’s the occasional spray that blows over which gives me a little shiver.
I read my book with gusto and I am now onto part two, the book is gripping and I am hoping that I will finish it before we head home.
The sun was nicely hot and at some point in the afternoon I took a dip in the pool, which was rather nice. The pool is mildly heated, its not hot but its not cold either so there is no sliding in and shivering for a while.
More reading ensued and after a few small cans of beer and a glass of wine we both had a snooze in the sunshine, Wendy kept out of the sun in the shade so has not to burn, I put my cap over my face and nodded off. Its funny as I usually snore and wake myself up when I sleep on my back, but on a sunbed I don’t have this problem, or at least no one has told me I have.
At 5:30 pm we had given the sun a good old shift so we went back up to the bedroom to shower and prepare ourselves for supper.
I must now try to limit my food intake as I am sure I am clapping weight on, the food is absolutely delightful and if I’m not careful I’ll end up without a belly button!
We went down to supper just after kick off at 7:00 pm and I was surprised that it was really quiet. We grabbed a table outside and we enjoyed our food in the bright sunshine. I had pork slices, a few chips and green beans. Wendy had salmon portions and was a little disappointed that she found the odd bone.
After our main meal I toyed with the idea of a dessert, Wendy didn’t toy, she was in for a nice portion of apple pie, which had been nicely spiced with a hint of cinnamon. As she had forgot to collect a spoon I went and got her one as I was going to grab a small chocolate mousse.
As I got to the dessert counter two little girls, about 3 & 4, had managed to get a large piece of chocolate cake onto a small plate and were fighting with the squirty cream. I could see them struggling so I asked them if they needed help, lord knows where their parents were. I gave them some cream and they agreed to tell me when to stop. They also asked me to get the chocolate sprinkles for them, they were very polite little girls and knew all the correct please and thankyous.
With my duty done I enjoyed my mousse and Wendy her apple cake.
We walked up to the shops after dinner and bought ourselves two days of supplies including soft drinks, wine and chocolate.
I’m toying with the idea of going to Gibraltar for a day trip, I would like to go again, I love the place. But I also like enjoying this sunshine and I don’t fancy a four-hour excursion, if I could coincide with a dull day then that would do it, but it looks set fair for now!
No Travelling
If you Can’t ……..
……..Beat them, join them! That’s a long standard British phrase and although I have heard it many times, I haven’t had any need to abide by it, until today!
I was awake at 5:45 am and Wendy was still asleep, so I pottered around quietly, getting my breakfast and then dressing. Wendy woke at 6:20 am but declined my offer of a nice steaming cup of tea, I wonder why?
We had decided to have a beach day today, but as there are limited sun beds there, and as we had tried a couple of days ago and saw that they had all been occupied, I snook down with our beach towels and bagged two prime sun beds, at 7:00 am, just as it was getting light.
I despise doing this myself, but I knew that if I wanted a day at the beach, in comfort, it’s what I had to do, and do you know what, two other people had already beaten me.
That done I went out running, this time I went south through the estates and twice I ran along the beach. I saw the sun come up and I saw Gibraltar looking very majestic in the morning sunshine.
Back at the hotel, Wendy was already showered and she was starving hungry, so I had to be pretty smartish with my own ablutions.
Breakfast for me was rather nice, I am really into the scrambled eggs so I had a plateful with bacon and mushrooms. We also had a glass of fizz, well it was Monday morning, how often can you have fizz for breakfast on a Monday morning!!!
We were on the second row of tables back from the front, beach row, and a lady with a small child occupied the table in front of us. It must have been a bit of hassle with a young child and she had loaded a plate for the two of them and then she when to find the child a high chair.
In one fell swoop a seagull swooped down and took a large piece of bacon off her plate, before I could chase it away it swallowed another piece.
I chased it off and another lady covered her plate with a napkin.
When she came back, I told her a bird had taken her food and that she should not eat what was left. She thanked me but she did indeed eat it and shared it with her child. She then turned around to us and asked, “Was it a big bird?” We both said yes it was, she then said, “Its just come to me that the bacon is missing”.
Well I never, I guess something was lost in translation but not much as before she asked that question she was doing bird impressions to her small child. I’m not sure, knowing how much a scavenger a seagull is, I would want to share my plate with one.
After a very nice, and interesting breakfast we went back to the room and gathered our beach stuff and we were down there with the other bed snatches at 10:30 am.
It was a stonking hot morning and it was getting hotter by the minute.
My sunny reading glasses broke yesterday so I only have my varifocal readers, and they aren’t very good at close quarters reading. I had read my book last night until gone midnight, it was so riveting, and I had just had to finish the second part of the book but it was hard going with the varifocals, but I did complete the second part but left it at that, I want to carry on tonight with my normal reading glasses in the bedroom after dinner.
I listened to the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio Two and then I went to dip my feet into the Med, I was going to take a swim as it was very hot, but the water was freezing cold. So, I sat on a large rock and let the surf swirl around my waist until I could take the cold water no longer. I guess it’s too early in the season and I may need to come back at the end of August.
Mediterranean Facts:
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant in Western Asia.
Total Surface Area: 2.5 million kilometres
Maximum depth: 1,500 metres
There are very few tides, unlike other extremely large bodies of water, the Mediterranean Sea has very limited tides. This is due to the area being almost entirely landlocked and only being connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the narrow Strait of Gibraltar.
Finally, there are over 3,000 islands in the Med, it really is an interesting sea!
We lounged on our beds until 5:30 pm with Wendy occasionally nipping into the shade as it was by far the hottest day so far, Siri told me that it was 29 degrees centigrade.
Back at the room we showered and lathered ourselves in after sun, Wendy sat on the balcony and I did a few home admin chores. At 7:30 pm we walked down to have dinner and what an interesting occasion it was.
First up I got a couple of glasses of water and went to meet Wendy on the terrace, and what a gale was blowing, it was wild. There weren’t many people out there despite the sunshine and I could see why. On my way to get my supper I collected about 42 napkins that had been blown off tables and were in a very short while going to end up in the Med as dolphin food.
Despite the wind, supper was an utter delight, I had a big salad with pork fillet slices and a beef filet slice and Wendy had a salad with, get this, roast rabbit!
Both meals were nice and now, because of the wind, there will be no evening walk so I guess I’ll just have to get along with my book, here’s to finding out about what happens in Part 3!
No Travelling
The Lift
I have been sleeping with my ear plugs in as I am easily disturbed by noise, but with them in I hardly hear anything. I did however have a faint noise penetrate my ear defence and it was Wendy Gill on the balcony at 5:00 am giving two lads what for, for making a noise. “Excuse me, its 5:00 in the morning”, I heard her say.
She got back in bed and we had another hour’s sleep!
She told me when we woke at 6:00 am that it was two young lads, about 14 years old. They were chatting on the balcony and they must be our new neighbours on our left side.
Apparently, they apologised and scarpered.
They aren’t our direct neighbours as there is the lift shaft between us and them, but their balcony is close to ours.
I went running to the same place I went yesterday as I get to run along two beaches and my four miles turn around has stunning views of the Med and Gibraltar.
I got back just before 9:00 am and Wendy was already showered.
I showered myself and we went out to the lift which is just next to our door. There are three lifts, and for an 8-storey hotel they aren’t very large. I saw a young woman waiting for one lift, she had a pushchair with one ten-year-old sat in the pushchair and two younger children, a small boy and small girl.
As the lift she was waiting for opened, it was almost full, and I must apologise for the next line. In full view of the lifts occupants she said, rather loudly, “Fucks sake”, and then she tried to ram the pushchair and her kids in. Thankfully our lift arrived and I said come and join us to her. There were to other people in and they were going up, but we jumped in anyway. We went to the eighth floor and then we stopped at every floor going down. The young woman got everyone on board until the fifth floor where she would take no more.
I later saw her in the food hall where she was sat with her mates outside and her kids had their own table inside and they were pleasing themselves with regards to food. I saw the youngest boy had his hands on every item of pastry from the shelf and handled the lot. Thankfully I later got a chocolate croissant from the back shelf where he couldn’t reach!
We headed back to the room and grabbed our towels for a day at the quite pool. At the lifts we found that one lift was out of use, that’s why they were so busy. As the lift doors were closing, I held the doors for two fellas who had a golf bag each, that just about fitted in, in fact it was a struggle for them to turn around for them to get out on the ground floor.
We had to spend the morning at the family pool as they were building what looked like a new bar at the quiet pool. Jeepers the pool was busy, but we did bag two beds with a sunshade, unfortunately it was near the animation team’s area of operation and their loud music speakers.
Never mind I had my ear plugs with me and I read my book.
Thankfully an hour or so later the quiet pool opened and we almost had the place to ourselves.
The sun was hot today again and it was very nice sat in the sun reading my book, I had 70 pages to go and I was keen to finish it today.
I had forgot to put some lipsal on my lips so I nipped back to the room to put some on, thankfully I managed to grab a lift.
I had to come back down the stairs as there was a huge queue for the lift when I wanted to come back down. Jeepers I somehow got between a very fat German man and his wife. Boy did they argue, I do know a little German from my time on the Olau Line ferry, not much mind, but enough to know they were going at it hammer and tong, all the way down from the 4th floor!!!
We have what looks like the ruin of a castle turret in our hotel grounds and I have seen a couple more on my runs, Wendy found out this about them for me:
“It is a Muslim work, as it is included in the list of castles and towers of the coast of Granada that after the conquest, was made during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs. It is inferred that from this tower the Islamists exercised surveillance over the western part of the maritime space of Marbella and was, therefore, an essential piece of their defensive device.”
I had to translate it from Spanish, but you get the drift.
I had been coaxed by one of the very nice animation team to take part in the pool exercise bike routine that they have at 5:00 pm and has I only had a bowl of porridge at breakfast I nipped up to the room for a snack, Wendy came with me as she needed something.
On the way back down, again in the crowded lift, we got chatting to a young couple from Coventry who were pumping us for info about the hotel. They had only booked the holiday at 10:00 pm last night and it had been a whirlwind experience so far, they are a really nice couple too.
I have finished my book, and has Grandad Bryan said it was a very good read and there was no way on earth you could guess the outcome which was detailed on the last few pages, I’ll say no more other than it was called The Reckoning by John Grisham.
We took a walk around the hotel grounds as by 4:00 pm it was roasting hot. We came across the kiddy play area and now Wendy is keen to get her little girls over as they would love the water park!
At 5:00 pm I joined the animation team in the pool and although the exercise wasn’t greatly challenging it was a bit of a laugh, and the lad was very enthusiastic and pleased that I had turned up.
Supper was an utter delight, again I loaded my plate with salad and some chicken fillets and I am pleased to say that I believe the timber that I put on in the first few days is now being shed, or maybe not because I did have a rather nice slice of chocolate torte with squirty cream.
After supper we walked up to the shops to get some supplies and to check the opening time of a tapas bar, I saw a few days ago.
Wendy says her weather app is predicting rain for several days from tomorrow, my app says rain tomorrow and Thursday and thunder and lightening on Friday, oh well at least I have a decent tan now!
No Travelling
Overcast!
I have been having very shallow sleeps whilst I have been here. We have twin beds and my bed is really comfy and I am finding sleep very easy but I don’t think I go into any deep sleep. I am dreaming quite a lot and I often think I am awake while I am dreaming, its very strange, but here’s the thing, even if I go to bed around midnight, I wake up at 5 minutes to six every morning and I feel fully refreshed, its bizarre.
It was very overcast this morning but thankfully the rain had held off.
I went out running and Wendy stayed in bed.
Today I went north in the direction of Marbella and I came to a very interesting town area which had a very nice long walkway through a very busy road network.
In getting there I had also come across another tower built by the Moors, and also at the side of it was what looked like another large Moor structure. I got quite close to the structure but I couldn’t get to the info on the nearby plaque as the garden sprinklers were all drenching the grass, even James Bond couldn’t have gotten through without getting soaked!
I got back to the hotel and still the rain had held off and so after a very nice shave and shower we were off for breakfast. My breakfast now consists of peach juice, porridge with honey, a pastry, sparkling wine and tea, and I love it!
Wendy had orange juice, scrambled eggs, toast, a pastry and sparkling wine, and she loves that too!
Back at the room I did a little home admin, and assessed the weather and at around 11:30 am we thought we would go for a walk to the area where I ran to this morning.
As I discussed the route with Wendy she told me that she knew the area and could take me along a short cut, which she did.
We didn’t know it but we were in the very pleasant town of San Pedro de Alcántara, here’s what the local tourist info says about the town:
“San Pedro de Alcántara is in an ideal situation, just 10 kilometres west from all the glitz and glamour of Marbella, yet just a few minutes’ drive away from the natural beauty of the Sierra de Ronda Mountain range and 20 km from the town of Estepona. An ancient farming community, once famous for sugar cane, today San Pedro is a refreshingly unspoilt pueblo with an appeal all of its own.
Be sure to head for the Plaza de la Iglesia with its gracious parish church and surrounding narrow streets which are packed with intriguing small shops, sidewalk cafes and bars”.
And what a cracking little town or pueblo it was, we did indeed find the Plaza and all the little shops. Wendy bought a new dress and some presents for our biggest little girls. I bought a book from an English owned charity shop where when I asked where I was, the lady very politely explained.
As the weather had improved and the sun was breaking through, I bought a smashing M&M ice cream, it was lovely.
By now I had walked Wendy down the central and very wide walkway and over the footbridge which spans a large roundabout. The bridge splits midway and one way gives you level passage and the other gives you a roller coaster road which kids in their pushchairs love being rushed over.
We had a very nice glass of wine from a local bar and we sat on the busy street drinking it while people busied themselves around us.
We moved out from the town and down to the beach front which has a very nice promenade which we think might lead to Marbella.
After a very good walk around town, we headed back and I took Wendy over a footbridge into an older part of town where we again had a nice glass of wine outdoors.
While we were over the other side of the road, I had seen what looked like an interesting reclamation shop so we went over and took a look.
What an interesting place it was, I loved it, and we came across a really nice dining table, I think I would even build an extension to house it if I could have brought it back on the flight home.
After we left the reclamation yard, I saw a footpath that might take us to where we wanted to go, to the Tapas bar, over the footbridge which we use, close to our hotel, however it did go along the highway.
Wendy wasn’t keen and did give me the odd scowl as the path got thinner and close to the highway, but we were never in any danger as there was a huge barrier between us.
Indeed the path got us to where we needed to be but sadly the Tapas bar was closing for the night, it was 4:30 pm, bugger!!!
Never mind we went to the bar where I watched the Barnsley Game last Saturday and we had a dream meal each, and two glasses of wine each, all for 29 euros!
I had slow cooked pork and chips; I even got an unexpected perfectly fried egg. Wendy had chicken fillets in very garlic butter, it really was a very nice treat.
Back at the hotel, having walked over ten miles, we took a rest in the quiet pool garden on their very cosy garden seating and as Wendy had nipped to the room, she brought down some wine for her and a beer for me which we drank while resting our weary bones.
It’s been an absolutely cracking day; I have loved it. We have explored a little more of Spain, I have found another place to run, will I get to Marbella, (probably not, but I can try), and it’s made a refreshing change.
From my investigations about San Pedro de Alcántara I have found out that tomorrow is market day, so even if its overcast tomorrow, we might just retrace our steps and do some more shopping.
It’s now gone 8:00 pm and I think that’s me done for the day Avid Reader, time for a glass of brandy, Spanish brandy that is, and then hopefully a relaxing night.
Thankfully the lifts have been repaired and the queues haven’t been so long, but we did meet Wendy’s mate from Essex again this morning, although thankfully she was on her best behaviour!
No Travelling
Sunshine???
I woke late today, at 6:10 am and I found Wendy bimbling on her iPad in her little bed. I think I have bed bugs as I have been bitten on my bottom and behind my legs and Wendy hasn’t got one bite. I usually don’t get them and she does, I was also lathered in Avon Skin so Soft which is endorsed by the SAS as being very effective as an insect repellent, but that didn’t work.
I ran to San Pedro using Wendy’s short cut with the intention of going as far as I could along the beach path. I got on the path at around 2.8 miles and I did a further 1.5 miles along it, it is stunning!!!
It wasn’t too busy as I trotted along and it was rather nice. At some point I had to cross a river and to do so I followed a woman on a bike who nipped through a hotel car park and over a road bridge, I then went down one small street and then joined a smashing boardwalk.
They are building a wooden footbridge to join the two paths and when it’s done it will be seamless along the beach.
I ran until I was 4.3 miles away from the hotel and I would have loved to go further but I had to get back in time for breakfast.
I sat on a fence overlooking the beach for my drink stop, and I saw a massive motor cruiser moored in a bay not far away, quite close to Marbella. I looked at it with utmost envy, how much money must someone have to own something which is really just a huge pleasure item, kind of what my caravan is to me.
I got back just before 9:30 am and after a quick shower we went down for breakfast.
I was determined to have a freshly made omelette today but the hot plate where the chef is, was mobbed with people wanting one, I have never seen a queue there in all the time I have been here. Never mind I made do with rather nice scrambled eggs, bacon and mushrooms, all washed down with a nice fresh glass of peach juice and of course a rather nice glass of fizz, which I have found out is Brut.
Do you know what Brut Sparkling wine is Avid Reader, OK, I’ll tell you:
“The history of brut champagne can be traced back to the early 19th century when champagne producers started to make drier versions of their wines in response to changing tastes. Before this time, most champagnes were sweeter, as sugar was used to balance the high acidity of the grapes grown in the Champagne region. As the popularity of brut champagne grew, it became the dominant style, with the majority of champagne houses producing at least one brut offering in their portfolio. Today, brut champagne is synonymous with luxury and celebration, enjoyed by people all around the world”.
Well, there you go!!! I do like to take an opportunity to educate in my travel diary and I think today’s is a cracker.
After breakfast, with the weather improving we went down and nabbed a sunbed at the quiet pool, the sun was out and I was nicely topping up my tan. After about 30 minutes I took a walk around grounds and somewhere near the family pool I came across a Zumba class.
There was about 15 women and one very brave man! I watched for a while and I have to say it looked good fun and the fella did very well in keeping up, he looked like he knew what he was doing actually.
Back at the pool and I laid on my bed listening to BBC Radio Two and I could hear the odd loud noise. Wendy thought it was thunder, but as it was really sunny overhead, I thought it must be something else, maybe military manoeuvres somewhere.
After a while I went for a walk down to the beach and I saw a massive storm raging out at sea, it looked quite wild. I watched it for about ten minutes and I could see that it was moving south and not coming inland.
Back on my bed, again, and the storm clouds from the north came rolling in.
The sun went in and everyone cleared off.
Wendy went to get our jumpers as it was getting chilly and then we went down to the beach bar for a glass of wine.
The rain started not long after.
We sat for a good while watching the storms rage about us.
It was obvious the rain wasn’t going to stop anytime soon so we headed back to the hotel and sat on the balcony, drinking wine, eating green olives and pringles.
The storm got much worse so I cleared the balcony of our drying sports gear and watched it absolutely chuck it down. The thunder was directly overhead and it was a very violent storm, although we didn’t see the lightening.
It never let up and that was us for the rest of the afternoon.
At around 4:30 pm we did something we never do, well not often, we took a snooze.
I woke first about an hour later, Wendy had another half hour, she woke absolutely shattered with hair like Mad Maude, she doesn’t do afternoon naps very well.
We went down for supper at 7:30 pm and it was busy in the inside area because the terrace was flooded out.
Wendy had a mixture of small items on her plate, I had the slow roast ox with a baked potato and spinach, but when I got to the table Wendy told me her ox was cold, and it was, it was clap cold. Thankfully there is a microwave and I heated my dinner up and it was then a double delight.
We took a leisurely supper, with a glass of wine, and I had a slice of tiramisu, which was very light and very nice.
We could not help notice the fat family, (I know, two nights running, but that’s what you get when people go all inclusive). The fattest member, a woman, in a mobility scooter had to have lots of assistance from the staff to get in her dinning table chair, but as soon as they went, she walked off and got two huge plates of food and ate them simultaneously, and then got up for a massive dessert, all while her mobility scooter was a trip hazard for other dinners as it was parked where people needed to walk.
Isn’t it funny, people watching, I wonder what they think about me?
41 Miles
1,158 Nautical Miles
16 Miles
Home Time!
I didn’t turn into bed until gone 12:00 last night I was still bursting with excitement about going to Wembley.
However, I did sleep very well and woke just before the alarm went off at 5:50 am.
No running this morning, I’ll have to leave that until I get to Millerhill this afternoon.
It was a lovely morning and as it got light we could see that it was set for a nice, sunny and hot day, bugger!
We packed our bags as best we could with only the items we needed after breakfast left out.
We were down for breakfast at exactly 7:00 am and the food court was almost empty except for the odd golfer. You can tell the golfing gang as they all where the same polo shirt.
I had a right belly full today, porridge, toast and a chocolate beignet with added Nutella, it was lovely and I was stuffed, oh and we both had a last glass of fizz!
Back at the room and after our teeth brush, we completed the packing and I went down to check out.
In the lift I met two women from Doncaster who had arrived at 1:00 am this morning, they pumped me for as much information as the flight down to the ground floor in the lift would allow. So now they know where the shops are and where to go to walk to San Pedro. One of them asked me how far it was to walk and I told them two miles, whereby they both agreed they would need flat shoes. Only a woman would think to have to worry about that!
It was 7:45 am when I got back to the room so I did a very British thing, I drank my last small can of beer on the balcony in the morning sunshine.
At just turned 8:00 am we went down stairs and waited outside for our driver who came nice and early at 8:20 am. The driver didn’t give his name but he was a very nice fella and we chatted throughout the trip to the airport.
Traffic was light and we didn’t encounter any of the tailbacks that we did when we arrived, it was plane sailing all the way.
I asked him how many trips to the airport he was doing today and he told me that he had seven. He said that if it is another busy summer like last years was he will be doing ten trips per day. Jeepers that’s a lot of milage.
We arrived at the airport at 9:10 am and check in was a doodle as was security and then we sat witing for our flight, nicely relaxed. I was going to buy some duty free but the prices were as dear as it is in the UK, so I didn’t bother!
The flight boarded in good time and we got our oversized hand baggage on board without it been checked in the baggage scale as I was sure we would get dobbed.
We got our seats and I gave Wendy my window seat and I had the middle seat.
A woman, who was maybe a little younger than us sat beside me, she never made any attempt to say hello so I ignored her. Soon she started pushing my elbow off the arm rest. I would happily have shared it with someone, someone not quite so rude. She then pushed my elbow off with hers, so I did it back, then she did again, with much more force. I then turned to her and said, “Is everything alright with you”, She gave a big huff and pulled a face like she isn’t the type who should be flying general class on a Jet2 flight, and then she said, “yes”.
She had the face of a spoilt brat for the rest of the flight. At about the halfway point she went to the toilet and left her rather large handbag on the seat. About five minutes later her hand reached into the seat and she snatched her bag. She had found a seat on an empty row two rows back, what a rude cow!!!
The flight was very steady with no turbulence and we were bang on time.
Thankfully the bus was waiting for us when we exited the airport and in no time at all we were on the Edinburgh City Bypass heading to Alex and Rob’s house.
As everyone was out when we arrived, I got my gear on and did my daily run and went down to Musselburgh Harbour where I found the annual gala in full swing.
It looked a fun event, but it was just scaling down by the time I got there.
I got back in time for supper with Rose and her dad had made a very delightful paella, it was bloody lovely.
I nipped down to Tesco for some fuel and a few supplies and Robyn came with me as she had a few items she needed. While I was just paying for my shopping a tannoy announcement was made informing all managers to go to the front door. As I left the store, I saw that a male, scrouty looking made in his late 20’s had been caught shoplifting. He had about six to eight bottles of spirits hidden in a plastic carrier bag and they took the bag off him. They removed the spirit bottles from the bag and gave him the bag back. He was told to get lost and to not come back.
How stupid was that, what sort of deterrent is it, if you get caught, they just take it off you!!!
Its now 8:40 pm and I am absolutely shattered so I am having a cold beer and I’ll be soon to bed, hopefully!
180 Miles
Home!
We had the baby monitor for Rose through the night and she did become unsettled at around 2:30 am, but her nanny soon had her back to sleep with a little bottom patting, she does seem to like that.
Then I was in a very deep sleep but I was quickly woken up by a little voice in the dark asking nicely for her daddy, it was almost 6:00 am. I was going to get her but Wendy said leave her she might drop off again, apparently, she had done so a little time before.
But it didn’t take long to realise that there wasn’t much chance that Rose would go back to sleep so I went and grabbed her from her cot, with her big smiling face, and I nestled her in bed between me and nanny.
I had a lovely five-minute cuddle but she become very active, very quickly and while nanny went for some reading books, I went down to make tea for everyone and some toast for me.
Rose loves her tea in the morning, especially in bed!
I had my tea and toast and I was soon joined by Rose and her nanny and while nanny had a shower, I watched Rose while she ate a bowl of porridge.
After she had almost finished the porridge, I had the delight of scraping the bowl out for her so she had the lot, well she is a growing girl.
I went out running just after 7:00 am, it was very damp outside due to overnight rain, it was overcast but at least it wasn’t raining.
I got down to Musselburgh Harbour and the streets were very quiet, but I guess it was early for a Sunday morning and some local residents might be a long time in getting out of their beds if the gala party went on late into the night, as they have a habit of doing around these parts.
I got back just after 9:00 am to a house of complete bedlam, Bradley, Caroline, Eleanor and Lois had dropped in for a bacon sandwich before heading south for a week-long break.
Rose and Eleanor were at it none stop and both babies needed to get in on the action by demanding lots of cuddles.
Actually, it is nice to see the bigger girls playing nicely, although one of them was very obviously tired. It’s strange but one likes a late morning nap and the other likes an after-lunch nap. It was the morning napper who was clearly wanting some rest.
I got out of my sweaty gear and I joined in with a bacon sarnie followed by a one banana smoothie, followed by another two cups of very nice tasting tea. I have missed my morning smoothie, despite having a very wide range of breakfast items available at the hotel, I would swap it all for a good old banana, peanut butter and thick cream smoothie.
After a shower it was time to pack the car and head home.
Brad and his mob were the first to leave, they were on their way to Lancaster but stopping at Kelso to Eleanor and Lois’s great grandmother, GG Sadie, Caroline’s granny.
We left straight after and made good progress along the Edinburgh City By-pass, thankfully!!!
As we got over the Queensferry Bridge I put on the BBC Radio 4 Friday night political programme, “Any Questions”, which was recorded with a local audience from our village on Friday night. I had downloaded it on the BBC Sounds App. The BBC Sounds App is absolutely fantastic and I would urge anyone to download it and get to know it.
Actually, the questions were all predictable, and I didn’t know any of the audience members who asked a question, it was rather boring actually. I did have a ticket to attend and I felt guilty giving it back when I booked the holiday, but jeepers I am so glad that my potential attendance didn’t persuade me not to book the holiday.
We were coming down the A9 towards Inverness at around 2:45 pm and turned off for Tesco for some essential provisions. As soon as we got out of the car the wind and the cold hit us, it was 12 degrees and we felt it immediately.
We didn’t hang around, that was the quickest £60 I have ever spent in Tesco!
I had to also nip into B&Q for some garden strimmer line as I am anticipating that the lawn will be in desperate need of cutting in the coming days.
We arrived home at 3:30 pm and not long after unpacking the car, putting stuff away and making a volcano sized washing pile on the floor, I lit the shed fire and I am now about to prepare the BBQ for a lovely beef burger supper.
That’s it for this short break Avid Reader, but don’t go too far as there may be a very good impromptu break in three days’ time.
There’s an interesting look forward for you!!!
109 Miles
Lands End to John O’ Groats
Yesterday afternoon we had four house guests for the night arrive, Clare, a long-time friend of mine, Bridget, another long-time friend of mine who I have not seen for 37 years, their friend Jo and Clare’s daughter Sam.
Bridget and Clare are cycling the Lands End to John O’ Groats challenge which is a distance, by cycle of over 1,000 miles. They set off on 12th May and have cycled every day since.
Jo, who is a very keen cyclist, having done the journey before, joined them when they passed through Yorkshire and has been with them ever since.
Sam, their back up crew, followed them on in her small van, which has a small bed and some other living luxuries in it.
Sam arrived first, at just after 5:00 pm and then the riders came in at around 6:00 pm.
Showers were the order of the day as Wendy and me made a lovely supper of BBQ smoked pork leg and various vegetable delicacies. We took supper in Wendy’s Garden house and we had a very nice time, only a few glasses of wine had been consumed as the riders have two more days of hard cycling before they complete their challenge at the top of Caithness.
Jo, who was staying at the Old North Inn, left just after 9:00 pm and we had a little more chitter chat before we all turned in for the night.
I woke at 5:30 am this morning and made tea and toast for me, which I had in bed so as to not disturb our guests, and Wendy had a cup of tea.
It was a really lovely sunny morning and we made breakfast for our guests to have in the conservatory. Breakfast consisted of porridge, made by me with cream and honey, it went down a treat. There was jam and croissants, a fruit salad, toast, yogurt, fresh orange juice and coffee. It was all very well received.
After breakfast the riders made preparation for the off and Jo joined us from her night at the Old North Inn.
The riders set off at almost 9:00 am on the dot, but sadly for them, their back up driver was heading south as she had a date with Harry Styles at his Edinburgh concert.
With our guests away I went for my morning run, and today I went around the Cabrich circuit and it was rather nice in the continuing sunshine.
I got home before 11:00 am and I fitted the bike rack to the car. I had arranged with Bridget last night to fit the bike rack as when they finish at John O’ Groats tomorrow they will have a further 20 miles to cycle back down to their hotel in Wick. So, it was decided I would fit the bike rack and then we can all drive back down.
When Clare told me about their challenge at the start of the year, I told her I would like to be at the end of their journey and thankfully I can be, so to do so we are off north in the caravan.
We were off by 1:00 pm and we had a really easy drive north. The traffic dropped off when we passed Invergordon and I only had to pull into a layby once to let a van behind me safely pass.
We were on site, which is in the town of Wick, by 4:00 pm.
The site is really nice and we have the River Wick as our view for the next two nights.
I had the van nicely parked on site smartish, with a little bit of nifty reversing, but then I opened the caravan door and all hell had broken loose inside.
The fridge door had come off!
Wendy wasn’t happy, but thankfully DG is smart enough to travel with his full tool box and I had the door back on, ship shape and Bristol fashion, in 20 minutes. Sadly, the travelling fridge door lock was buggered and I could not repair it, the door closes as it is, but I would have to barricade it shut when we next travel.
30 minutes of online activity later and I think I have bought a replacement and it should come before our next continental adventure which kicks off next month.
We took a walk along the river and into the town, it was quiet, well it was by now gone 5:00 pm and we had a very nice stroll. The river path is very nice and the views are stunning.
After a quick shop in Tesco, we took a drink in the Alexander Bain, which used to be a Wetherspoon Bar before it was recently sold. I spoke with the barmaid who told me that the bar is now owned by a Highland company who have quite a few hotels and restaurants throughout the north. Thankfully its still open as it is a really nice, attractive building.
At Clare’s request we checked out a local restaurant for a meal tomorrow night, I do hope we make it as I have already been charged £25 per head for nonattendance, well I guess it will be a Friday night!
We got back to the caravan and we found, thankfully that the fridge door had stayed closed.
Supper was an utter delight, leftovers from last night’s meal, it was yummy.
Its now gone 9:00 pm and the sun is still in the sky and we might have at least 2 more hours of daylight. Thankfully I have my eye mask so that I’ll get some shut eye tonight.
Tomorrow, we hope to do a little relaxing around town and then in the caravan before heading north and meeting the riders as they cross the finish line. So far, they have not had a drop of rain on their travels, lets hope that one more day of dry weather will see them home, if it does, then it must be some kind of world record!
No Travelling
Nice Sleep
I had a cracking sleep last night, I had tried to read my book in bed last night but I only managed a few pages before my lids were falling, so that was that, I put my eye mask on and my ear plugs in and that was it until 5:50 am.
The sun was shining outside when I opened the top blind and it came pouring into the caravan. What a lovely start to the day!
After some tea and toast, I went for a run up the river, inland, but I only managed to get a mile and ¾ when the path came to an abrupt stop. I then retraced my steps and then I ran around the harbour. Wick as two harbours, one which is mainly used by the fishing fleet and the other which has a pleasure boat marina and some more fishing boats.
The sun was shining over the harbour and it was very peaceful. I didn’t recall the harbour being so big, it must have been a three-mile run around all the walls. At my turn around point I came to the cliff walk which I have run along before. Hopefully if the weather is kind tomorrow, I’ll run the cliffs again.
I got back to the caravan and I sat outside in the lovely morning sunshine.
The caravan park is really nice and it is moderately busy, with mainly campervans from the Netherlands.
I have been to Wick quite a few times, both when I was in the Fire Service and then the Highland Council. I quite like the town, but it can be a little rough.
I came up one weekend when I was the Station Officer in charge of the training team. I came with Graham Clarke and we were stopping in a small guest house. The owner was a man who was brought up in Wick but who had worked as a police officer in Middlesbrough all his career, so he must have seen some sights.
He gave us a lift into town and told us one pub to avoid. We tried all the other pubs and they were dead, it was Friday night so we chanced the rough pub. We ended up a little merry, Graham more than me, and I ended up dragging him back to the digs. We had met some of his old mates, by chance, and we had a right old karaoke night. The singing was that bad that a group of women would howl like dogs if anyone was out of tune.
Graham was that hung over next day he spent most of the time in the toilets at Wick Fire Station chucking up, I had to run the course we were doing all by myself!
Wick is famous for a couple of things:
Herring – It had a very decent sized herring fleet and there are still a few boats that operate from the harbour. The harbour by the way was designed and built by Thomas Telford in the early 18th century, he even helped build the new town of Pulteney.
Whiskey – There is one very old and established distillery in town, Old Pulteney Distillery which produces the World Famous, Old Pulteney Malt Whiskey. This is a very nice Highland Malt and its one of my favourites!
The Worlds Shortest Street – At 2.06 metres in length and with just one door, Ebenezer Place is recorded in the Guinness Book of Record as the world’s shortest street.
We took a walk around Wick in the sunshine, but there wasn’t much to see so we loaded ourselves into the car and drove up to Dunnet Bay where we took a lovely walk along Dunnet Beach.
Dunnet Beach is truly stunning, it is a most beautiful sandy beach and if it got anywhere near south coast sunshine there would be rows of hotels along it. That not being the case we almost had the place to ourselves.
We walked just over 1.30 miles and as we were getting a little worried about the time we turned around, and we still were nowhere near the end.
Dunnet Beach is a world-renowned surfing beach however there wasn’t anyone out today, I thought the surf was a little lumpy, as we say in the surfing trade. Usually there are plenty of young dudes out there enjoying themselves.
As I had a message from Clare that they would be at John O’ Groats between 4 & 5 pm, we headed over there to wait for them.
As we were a tadge hungry we shared a tray of very nice, hot, but lacking in density chips. They were lovely but there was only really a half portion.
From there we went into the John O’ Groats Brewery where I had a pint of nice local ale, Wendy had a half and it was really nice. We sat in the shop window, at a table, and watched the ships passing on the approach to the Pentland Firth.
I got a little worried that the cyclists were late and sure enough I got a text saying that Jo’s bike had had a major malfunction and I was asked to go and collect her, which I did,
At the same time Clare had a bad sickness bug but thankfully made it to the very end, where her and Bridget shared a brief moment of elation before I whisked two of them down to Wick, to their hotel.
I went back and picked up Bridget and then Wendy and I went back to the caravan to wash and dress for the night.
We had arranged for a meal together, but sadly not everyone could make it!
Sadly, we only ate with Jo as by now Bridget had succumbed to the sickness.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom; the food was nice and Clare did eventually join us for a glass of lime and soda while the other 3 of us had a glass of wine in the bar.
Sadly, again, we didn’t see Bridget anytime after as she was still very sick.
At just before 11:00 pm, Wendy and me walked back along the river path for a very much needed sleep.
It’s a shame that after almost 1,000 miles of cycling their challenge had to end so poorly, but at least they made it, and that, as Bridget assured us, is all that matters!
109 Miles
Helicopter!!!
I had yet another good night’s sleep, I woke at 4:30 am, to brilliant sunshine, I went to the bathroom, then pulled my mask down back over my eyes and then slept until 6:50 am.
I was up and boiling the kettle by 7:00 am and I was plotting my run along the cliffs at Wick when I received a WhatsApp message from Clare at 7:30 am:
“Morning, please could we have a lift to the airport? Bridget is feeling terrible. 8.30 by the door you dropped us off? xx!”
Wendy was going to go and run them up to the airport but as I was looking at an 8:00 am start to my run, I wouldn’t be back by almost 10:00 am and that would mean that I had an hour to have breakfast, shower and decamp as we have to be off site by 11:00 am, so I decided to go, and I’m glad I did as it wasn’t smooth sailing.
I got to the hotel at 8:20 am and Bridget was waiting outside for me, jeepers the poor thing looked very unwell.
I loaded Clare’s and Jo’s bikes on the car and Clare and Bridget jumped in the car. Jo cycled Bridget’s bike up to the airport as it didn’t fit the bike rack.
I had set the Sat Nav for the postcode for the airport but it took me to a rear gate, thankfully a guard was there and he gave me directions to the main gate. He did tell me that no flights, in or out were expected today. I told him we were looking for a private flight, I felt very VIP!
We did indeed, eventually get to the airport’s main entrance but it was locked tight, it was closed. It was 8:30 am and it was cold, overcast and blowing a gale.
We unloaded the bikes and the rest of the gear and Bridget didn’t look any better at all so she hunkered down in the back of the car, Clare who just about looked human also took shelter from my side of the car. Clare had received a text from her daughter, Sam, who was traveling from Edinburgh to Devon, via Glasgow after watching Harry Styles last night.
The trouble was Sam had a low coolant light on in her car which she found when she had started the car up. Some frantic phone calls were made and a photo of the said warning light was sent to me. I did a bit of Googling and told Sam, via Clare, to top up her expansion vessel with water and that should do it. A few minutes later we got a text back saying that the matter was sorted, phew!
At exactly 2 minutes to 9:00 am, a helicopter could be heard approaching.
The chopper landed on the apron at exactly 9:00 am and it was an absolutely stunning flying machine, one that James Bond would not be ashamed to be seen in.
Through the mesh security gates I saw a young lady airport officer meet the pilot and give him a very, nice to meet you handshake. From there she came and opened the security gate where we all mucked in in getting the bikes and the rest of the gear to the helicopter. I pushed someone’s bike over and I marvelled at this beauty of a flying machine, it was amazing.
The pilot was a very nice fella who welcomed us all and we proceeded to put two bikes in the six-seat rear cabin, and the rest of the stuff in a rear hold.
That done I received a farewell hug and kiss from each of the ladies and I was driven back to the exit from the airfield by the airport nice lady.
I didn’t stop to watch take off because the helicopter was being refuelled and also, I know that helicopters take along time to run up before they can take off.
I got back to the camp site and I enjoyed a nice hot cup of coffee and a slice of Wendy’s very nice apple and blackberry crumble with some very thick fresh cream.
A little later, I was walking the toilet cassette to empty it at the ellsen point when their helicopter flew overhead, it was a fantastic site!
The drive back down to Kirkhill was easy and without incident, well bar that one local idiot who overtook me approaching a bend, where another car was approaching from around the bend, as he was entitled to do, the idiot just managed to pull in front of me.
I knew he was a local fella as he had two fly rods fastened to the outside of his car like local people around these parts do!
We were home and had the caravan on the drive in a matter of minutes of pulling up at home, and we didn’t delay the three cars wanting to leave the street by many minutes, but you wouldn’t have thought so from the face of the driver of the second car, which was a taxi!
It didn’t take much longer to get the car unloaded and then I went for my daily run.
It was sunny overhead but very windy so I ran twice around the local Kirkhill circuit. This is my go-to run when its windy as half of the run is sheltered by thick woodland.
I was on my 4th mile when a really bad squall blew up and brought with it driving rain. The squall caught me out, in the open countryside and I got wet through, in fact I was soaked.
Never mind though I was already nicely warm from running so it didn’t matter too much, and anyway the storm passed pretty quickly.
Back at home I showered quickly and had the BBQ going nicely for some marinated pork fillet.
Supper was an absolute delight; it was bloody lovely.
That’s it for our Northern Adventure, next up it’s a Southern Soiree to Wembley, Bradley and me are off to support the Super Reds, let’s hope it’s a victorious affair as 600 miles just to lose isn’t much fun, I’ve done it before and its definitely not very nice!
16 Miles
466 Miles
27 Miles
Wembley
I woke exactly one minute before my alarm which was set for 5:50 am, it was bright and sunny but at 5 degrees it was pretty nippy and it had me concerned as I had my short already laid out.
We collected Brad, who was waiting at the traffic lights at just after 6:00 am and then we were soon dropped off at the airport.
Jeepers there’s been some dramatic changes at Inverness Airport. We now have automatic flight ticket check in at security and even security it’s self has been ramped up, gone are the days of a friendly chat, it’s all rather business like, with no smiles!
We sat in the bar that was closed and I had to chuckle as the Captain of the Amsterdam flight tried his best to explain the 90 minute delay to the flight. He sounded about 12 years old and he was extremely nervous as he did his best to explain the situation!
Would you believe it there were 3 Sheffield Wednesday Fans in the queue, all women, who were easily spotted as they were draped in Wednesday Flags! I just had to introduce myself to them, and we shared a laugh. They also pointed out another Barnsley Fan, a young man.
The plane left on time and we had a very smooth flight, it was a doddle, we even arrived early.
The Gatwick Express was seven minutes late and the wind was a bit nippy around my legs. It was almost empty when it came and we bagged a nice table to sit at and charge up our phones. All my tickets are on the phone so I would be buggered if it ran flat, this is the first time I had traveled all electronically and it was a little unsettling!
We got to the Premier Inn at exactly 11:00 am but despite phoning last week for an early check in, and being advised that it would be easy to do on the day, there was no early check in. We were told to come back at 12:00.
To pass the hour we walked to the nearest Wetherspoon Bar which was 1.5 miles away.
We only had a swift half in a very good natured atmosphere where both sets of supporters mingled.
We got back to the hotel bang on 12:00 only to be told that check in was at 3:00 pm, I wasn't happy and I had it out with the poor manager, what a shocking performance.
There was nothing else to do but get changed in the scabby toilets, I’m thinking about a strong letter of complaint.
We did manage to leave our bags and we walked two miles to Wembley Stadium.
It was actually a very interesting walk taking us through a large Indian community housing estate where for some reason people were enjoying garden parties.
We got to Wembley and we took a drink in a Wetherspoon Bar that had been dedicated for Barnsley fans.
It was packed with red shirts and the atmosphere was tremendous.
We had two very enjoyable pints in there and then we walked to the stadium.
Before we went in we went to see the crowds walk up Wembley Way. We saw one silly young local man get picked out by a drug sniffer dog, he made a run for it but he was expertly brought down by a security guard and was then handed over to the police.
We got our seats in the ground and we were very soon joined by my brother, Michael and his son Mark.
The game was good and both teams were evenly matched but we seemed to have the better chances.
I was directly opposite the sending off and from my position it looked like the Wednesday player was at fault.
We did well with only ten men to take them to the last minute of added time in extra time.
Bugger, it was a good goal!
We all walked to a pub for a drink with Michael’s lady friend who had come down for the day.
We bid our fairwells and we walked back to the hotel with me occasionally stopping to shake the hand of a small Wednesday supporter.
Thankfully by 7:30 pm were allowed to check in!
We took a really lovely supper in a very nice Japanese Restaurant quite close to our hotel. We had no idea what we ordered but it was Yummy Scrummy, in fact we were nicely stuffed.
We had a last drink in the hotel bar, surrounded by gloating Wednesday fans, but I guess if the boot was on the other foot we would be exactly the same!
27 Miles
466 Miles
16 Miles
Actually, I forgot that in my mileage total the ten miles we must have done on the underground from Victoria to Hanger Lane. We crossed two lines, The Central Line and The Circle Line and on both occasions, they were very quiet.
I slept very well last night, well apart from Brad waking me up with his snoring at 1:30 am, I chucked a pillar at him as he was at the far side of the room in the single bed. He woke when it hit him and I just said, “Snoring Brad”, he said, “You do it too!” and we both went straight back to sleep.
I woke at 7:00 am and put the kettle on and its boiling noise slowly woke Brad. I had a cereal bar and a cup of tea and then jumped in the shower, Brad showered not long after and we left the hotel at just gone 8:00 am. I put the room key in a jar marked up, “Please leave room key here”. There must have been at least 20 keys in there already from people who had left the hotel. If they had been a little more organised they could have cleaned those rooms for early check-in’s, (Have you noticed I don’t let things drop).
We caught the underground at an overground station at Hanger Lane and changed at Notting Hill. This train was almost empty but at Notting Hill it did get a little busier, but it wasn’t bursting.
We got to Victoria just after 9:00 am and we called into the very nice first floor Wetherspoons Bar in the train station for a breakfast bite.
The bar wasn’t busy and actually our food was very tasty. I had a breakfast muffin and Brad had a breakfast.
We caught the 9:29 am Gatwick Express which had us at the airport at 10:00 am. As the train dropped us off at the South Terminal we had to catch the shuttle to the South Terminal for our flight to Inverness.
Brad checked out a few shops while I headed for the bar where I treated myself to a pint of Doom Bar, just to while away the time.
Brad joined me just as I was draining my glass and he bought me a refill.
We joined the flight at 11:45 am and we were off and into the sky just after 12:30 pm. The flight was easy and without any problems, in fact we landed just a few minutes early.
Jeepers there was a real difference in the weather, in London it was overcast, chilly with a breeze, but here in the far North it was wall to wall sunshine. I even had to take my jacket and hoodie.
Wendy and Eleanor collected us at the airport and we dropped her and her dad off at home. I had a quick five minutes with Lois who is now into a growing spurt and looking far bigger than I saw her just last week.
After a quick nip into Tesco for some lamb chops for tomorrow’s supper we were home in no time at all. I was dressed in my running gear by 3:30 pm and heading for the Beauly River as it was such a nice day.
Jeepers it was hard going running, I could not seem to co-ordinate my legs. This happened when I went running after flying back from Spain last week, I went for a run and my legs were all over the show, maybe running after flying isn’t the done thing!
The River Beauly was stunning in the afternoon sunshine. There weren’t any people fishing but there was one young lady who had an easel set up and she was doing a landscape painting, she was a very pretty young woman and she gave me a lovely wave and a very nice, happy smile.
I got back in time to get the barbie lit for a burger in the sun which we ate on the new sun deck outside Wendy’s Garden house.
And that’s that for the Wembley adventure.
It was a bit of a disappointment, not winning the match, but I was proud of how they played and the determination they put in, but on this occasion, it just wasn’t to be. But I did have good a time away with Brad, and I met up with Michael and Mark.
Don’t go away too far though Avid Reader, there’s another short adventure looming and then a big continental adventure, the summer is far from over, in fact its not really begun and I hope to make the most of it this year!
Stop Press! Its now gone 9:00 pm and the sun is still up, but it’s not going to be long before I think we might be treated to a stonking sunset, if we are I’ll add the pics tomorrow!
2.9 Miles
Weekend Away!
I had a lovely night’s sleep last night despite not being over my disappointment at the result on Monday. I was just about over it when I heard Michael Vaughan on Test Match Special yesterday, with a hoarse voice because he had lost his cheering on Sheffield Wednesday during the play off final. And to think I supported him through the recent racism storm.
Actually, I have followed Michael’s career over many years and I know I don’t personally know him, but having heard him talke very many hours on TMS I would say he is the most all-inclusive person going, and he only ever gives me the hump when he talks about the restaurant he went to on the previous night, and the wine he drunk, all on licence payers’ money!
Today I ran down, via Cabrich, to the Fairy Glen carpark where, after me telling the Forestry Commission staff who were working there on Wednesday that we need a sign to deter campervan parking, I found the most stupid and pointless sign in the world. It will end up being taken down and chucked away before the weekend is over, it was an utter pathetic attempt. It should have been placed high up in a tree so unlike the last one it couldn’t be removed by the campervan fraternity so they can claim ignorance when I challenge them for being utter tight buggers camping for free. Oh and of course littering a beautiful glen in their £90,000 campervans when there are two £30 a night campsites two miles either way, east or west!
After breakfast I nipped in to Inverness to drop some grass cuttings off at the city recycling centre and then I called in for some generous supplies for our weekend away at Beauly Holiday Park camping ground, which is exactly 2.9 miles from our house.
The sun was shining and it was a delightful day.
As we had 30 minutes before we could check in on site, we walked around to Kirkhill Community Centre for coffee and cake at the regular Friday afternoon Café. I had a very nice slice of banana cake, with coffee, and Wendy had a slice of lemon drizzle cake, with tea.
At 1:30 pm we drove the very short distance to the campsite and checked into a very nice sunny plot very close to the Beauly River.
The warden was a very nice fella called Dave, who we later learnt was a Scot from the Boarders who had a very successful swimming pool cleaning business in Cyperus. Apparently, Dave employed a lot of British students during the summer but has Brexit now limits the amount of time that UK residents can stay in EU Countries, his business folded. Its good to see that the Brexit Bonus is still giving. Oh, am I just loving my SOVERINTY every day that I live, good old Boris……………what a twat!
It was wall to wall sunshine as we set up the caravan and as soon as we had finished, we took a walk around the extensive camp grounds which includes a nature reserve.
The site is really nice and its surprisingly quiet, even though it’s very near the A862 which is on the North Coast 500.
As we got back to the caravan, I realised that I had not brought any BBQ briquettes or fire starters with me so I nipped home in the car to bring some back. That’s a first for me, going home while on a weekend break!
We spent the afternoon sat in our reclining chairs, sipping moderate amounts of wine while I listened to Test Match Special who were covering the England v Ireland four-day test match. England are fully in control and I am almost certain that the game is not going to last the full four days!
As we sat there the caravans and campervans rolled in and even Alan, the site owner, had to lend a hand in getting people on to their allocated plots.
Alen popped over to say hello for a few minutes, in between sorting campers out. I know Alan quite well, I did all his fire safety work a few years ago, I sorted him out with everything he needed, all for the renumeration of one very good bottle of malt whiskey and a large cylinder of propane gas for the gas cooker at home, he was very grateful!
I cooked supper on the BBQ, duck legs and breasts, which really could have done with another ten minutes on the barbie. They were alright, they were cooked through. But they were a little tough, in fact Wendy gave up on hers so I snaffled it all up.
At just gone 8:00 pm we walked over to the bar to have a drink and watch tonight’s turn, a local singer. His name is Dave Cowan, and he usually fronts a band called Rhythm and Reel, who are a long-standing Highland group who I have seen a few years before.
Actually, it was a cracking night and he was very good!
He sang the usual full range, country music, some pop and then some good old Scottish country music. I particularly liked the song Wild Mountain Thyme, (Will you go my Lassie go). After a break he was joined by a fiddler who I am sure I have seen many years ago when he was a young man playing at a concert in the village hall.
During the performance he asked where everyone came from, we had Holland, Fife, West Lothian and Bristol. I kept my mouth shut but Alan, who had popped into the bar, came over and said, “I was sure you were going to say Kirkhill Dave.” Not likely Alan, I’m from Barnsley!
During the break I had a look around the bar and I found an old fireman’s helmet on a shelf. I took a pic of it, with the Lovat Bridge in the background and I sent it to Fireman Lymburn who was a previous owner of the caravan park, but moved to New Zealand some years ago because his wife, Heather, came from there, here are the messages:
“Is this your old helmet Steve?”
“Could well be, grass needs cut if u ask me”
Bit critical, I thought of Steve there!
The night was really good but we could only manage two hours and then it was time to settle down for the night with a glass of wine back in the caravan, and it was nice to sit in the slowly dimming sky at 11:00 pm, even if we are only 2.9 miles from home!
No Travelling
Beauly River
You will never guess what we did first thing Avid Reader?
After breakfast I got my running gear on but I could not find my water bottle carrier, I knew why, because I had left it at home. How unorganised are we? So, I drove home to collect it and Wendy came with me because she hadn’t brought a dress with her and it was looking like another very sunny day!
That done I ran the complete distance from the camp site along the banks of the Beauly River.
It was just pure fluke that my four mile turn around came while I was just at the Kilmorack Dam, which is one of several hydroelectric dams along the river as it comes down Glen Affric where it originates from the rainfall of the upper hills and mountains.
All of the dams have a generating capacity of 20 mega watts and each as its own fish ladder to allow the salmon to reach the upper areas of the river.
I sat down in the sunshine and drank from my water bottle, with the gentle hum of the dams’ turbines behind me. As I sat, I watched the large area of water that’s been created at the bottom of the dam and I saw five large fish leap. In all my years of visiting this river I have seen many people fish it but I have never seen anyone catch anything, maybe they need to go up to the dam
Beauly River is about 15 miles long, beginning near the village of Struy, at the confluence of the River Farrar and the River Glass. In my opinion it is a truly stunning river at the best of times, and in the beautiful morning sunshine it really was a sight to behold.
Access hasn’t been made easy, as, I am led to believe, the current occupant of the large riverside house is the son and heir to Lord Lovat, the Clan Chief of Clan Fraser, who as diverted the footpath that used to run in front of the house, to around the house, which only takes you off the riverside for a hundred or so metres, but it is quite a long walk around. Also, car access as been restricted since he moved in about six years ago, and very recently several gates have been erected to prevent any vehicular access to the river, unless of course you are a paying customer of the Lovat Estate for their very exclusive fly fishing which seems to be a very toffy sport, with their fancy tweeds and all!
Actually, I met the said fella on my way back. As the footpath has to pass over the drive to the house, he was at the gate having just been walking with his small daughter and two little dogs. We exchanged pleasantries but he did remind me to stay on the core path, I did play a little silly at this point and I told him that’s where I have come from. He said, “No, you came from that way”, I said, “No I came from that way, but I came from that way to get to that way”, that did seem to puzzle him, and he did seem a little confused.
Back at the van and we had a lazy morning in the sunshine, I read and finished my book while having my smoothie and then after my shower I did a little computer filing of photos while listening to Test Match Special.
At lunch at the cricket, we walked into Beauly Village for two reasons, one to buy Wendy a copy of the Times on Saturday as she likes to do the big crossword, and two to have a beer in the village as we didn’t have to drive home.
As we got into the village, we could see that there was a shinty match on so we walked over to the pitch to see who was playing, it was Beauly v Lovat. Lovat are from Kirtarlity, the village next to Beauly, who take their name from the ancestorial home of the Lovat Clan, Beaufort Castle, which is just outside the village.
As we stood watching the game, Jan, who lives down the road from us came to chat. Her son Sergio was playing for Lovat, in what is a very nasty local derby. Jeepers if my son was playing, I could not have watched as this game is ruthless. Shinty is hocky without rules and it is such a dangerous sport. When I worked on the Isle of Skye, I had firefighters who were top shinty players and they used to come to fires with me with lumps out of their faces, they were also has hard as nails.
Actually, Wendy used to mind Sergio when she was a child minder, he was a lovely little boy and it was strange to see him at 20 years old knocking bits out of the opposition, especially as he was playing for Lovat and not Beauly, Kirkhill’s traditional friends!
We walked on and we had a lovely pint of real ale in the beer garden at the Priory Hotel.
Back at the caravan we had our first course of our picnic on the red blanket on the grass. I had wanted to go and picnic on the river bank on the estate side. But as there are so many restrictions on what you can and can’t do over there Wendy was worried about getting hassle from the Ghillies. Personally, I don’t really care who wants to give me hassle about having a picnic on a sunny day on a beautiful river bank, but having said that I have a rule of never getting into any hassle when I have had a glass of wine, it never ever looks good in court so at Wendy’s suggestion we had some lovely tapas starters of mini pork pies, sushi, olives, crisps and a very tasty quiche.
I listened to the cricket and marvelled at Ireland managing to avoid an innings defeat, good for them!
After the cricket we walked over to the estate side of the river and as the gates were all locked to cars, we thought it safe to get our blanket out and drink a very nice glass of wine in the afternoon sunshine.
We came back and I should have known better as Wendy took us down the steep track to the caravan park where she went arse over front when she lost her footing. Thankfully I saw that she didn’t bang her head and that she was quickly on her feet as a car was approaching and she didn’t want to be seen to be silly.
Back at the caravan and she discovered that she had been through stinging nettles and had lost her sunny varifocals. Guess who had to go back and find the specs, yes me, and when I got back, I had to apply a cold flannel to her thigh as it was riddled with nettle stings. From there the daft bag climbed on to the bed and had a well-deserved nap while I sat listening to yesterday’s Jeremy Vines afternoon radio show through my ear phones.
At 7:30 pm the patient got off the bed and made a very tasty smoked salmon, cream cheese croissant which was an utter delight. We then finished last night’s lovely dessert.
Its now gone 8:00 pm and its still sunny outside, the wind has picked up a little but it’s still quite warm.
Who would have thought we would have had such a lovely short break from retirement at Beauly Holiday Park which is less than 3 miles from our house, who would have thought.
PS – The patient is much better now and is now reading her paper and talking about having a glass of wine!
3.1 Miles.
Home Again!
I had yet another cracking sleep last night and I woke at 5:30 am but I did manage to nod off for another hour before fully waking at 6:30 am. I laid quietly in bed as I didn’t want to wake Wendy.
As soon as I slid out of bed at 6:50 am, Wendy was awake and in need of tea, so I made some and some toast for me.
I had to nip to the car to get my sports bag and I saw that it was overcast, nippy and a bit mizzley, but I just new it would get warmer this afternoon.
Today I ran to Muir of Ord and Wendy ran the length of the river, almost to the dam and then she came back on the access road that services the few houses along the river.
I ran over the Lovat Bridge and I now see it in a completely new light. After running, driving, walking and even cycling over the bridge for over 25 years, I found out yesterday that the bridge was built by Thomas Telford.
This bridge was built in 1811-14 by Thomas Telford (engineer) and George Burns (contractor) as a major element in the former's northern Scottish roadbuilding programme. This bridge is the largest in the area with spans of 40ft, 50ft, 60ft, 50ft and 40ft over 470ft of waterway.
This bridge carries former line of the A9 public road (now the A862) over the River Beauly to the South of Beauly. The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Kirkhill (to the East) and Kilmorack (to the West).
It is a stunning old stone bridge and there are eight refuge points, four on each side. But the thing is that at each refuge point there are two same sized stones laid directly on top of each other, not in stretcher fashion, but just on top of each other. The stretcher bond carries on with differing sized stones from there on. I don’t know why that is but I’ll hazard a guess that Thomas did it over 200 years ago just to make me think about it now as I cross his bridge.
I stopped at Beauly Fire Station for a drink on my six-mile point and I sat on their very nice wooden bench. When I was in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service as the Area Commander for South Command, I arranged for the fire station to be built, I arranged for a fully sized fire engine to be delivered and I proudly attended the opening of the station.
I didn’t do it because this station covers my village, I did it because it’s the busiest retained duty station in close proximity to Inverness and is invaluable when Inverness are out and attending larger incidents as they can go and safely cover the station there while the Inverness pumps are out.
I got back to the van just before 10:00 am and the weather had not improved.
We started to decamp just after 11:00 am and I remembered that I had to buy a propane gas cylinder from Alan, the owner, as I might need it in France. Its best to go to France with lots of gas because we cannot buy it over there as we use a different system.
Dave, Alans Warden, sold me a cylinder for £29, jeepers they have gone up in price!!!
Then I saw that they are selling a new rechargeable system where you buy a cylinder that can be recharged at a filling station for half the cost of a replacement cylinder. It cost £230, but as I needed almost £30 of gas, which came with the new system I only now have to recharge about eight times and I will be making good savings.
Alan fitted the system for me, which took an age as he does like to chat. I think Wendy’s impatience finally did the thing and soon we were on our way home.
To cut out the single-track road to home I stayed on the main road and then nipped back into the village via the old smiddy. It put a further 0.2 of a mile on my journey but at least I didn’t have to keep stopping in a passing place to let cars going to Beauly for their Sunday morning papers pass me.
The caravan mover has been playing up for the last few years and she did indeed struggle to get the van back onto the drive so as soon as we were unpacked, I was on the phone to arrange a new one to be fitted. Now I have to take the van over to Elgin on Monday 12th June, some fifty odd miles away.
Wendy had the dinner on smartish as Bradley, Caroline, Eleanor and Lois were coming for Sunday dinner.
Thankfully by the time they came over at 3:30 pm the sun was shining and after dinner we all sat in the garden and tried to tire Eleanor out, it didn’t work as we were all run ragged by a little girl who seems to have endless energy.
I’m pretty sure that’s it for a week or two, my next adventure is on the 18th or 19th June, and that is going to be a little Highland Cracker!
87 Miles
Country Retreat
I woke this morning to the sound of heavy rain.
We had slept with both the big and small window fully open last night and the sound of the rain woke me at 5:30 am. Actually, I lay there still and just woke my eyes, I was letting my senses work out what the sound was when a little voice next to me said, “It’s raining hard”, and jeepers so it was.
Its funny but over the 25 years we have lived at Sunnyside, we have gone from winters full of snow and – 10o centigrade temperatures, to sometimes barely having a frost in winter, and then from hardly ever opening a window in the summer, to now living with every window in the house open for days on end.
I lay still for a while longer and then at 5:50 am I made some tea and toast and watched the morning news. Wendy took her tea in bed as there was no way that she was getting out of it to go running in this weather.
I bit the bullet and ran to Beauly and back and although it did pour down on the way out, the rain did subside on the way back and I wasn’t soaked too badly by the time I got home.
It was just before 9:00 am when I got back and I did a few jobs getting the caravan ready for our journey to France which starts on Wednesday.
Today though we were driving through to Inverpolly which is a very small hamlet and is a couple of miles off the main Ullapool to Achiltibuie road, on the west coast.
We had got most of our gear ready to go on Sunday night so we were off sharpish at 10:30 am, but first we had to go to Inverness to collect my spare car key which was left at the garage where my mate had put me a new clutch and timing belt in it on Saturday afternoon. I had collected the car using the main key on Saturday night, but I wanted the spare just in case as we will be away for five weeks in France, where anything can happen.
I also collected some fresh bread cakes for tonight’s supper.
The drive over the hills between Inverness and Ullapool was a delight, the weather had vastly improved and the rain was now long gone.
We stopped in at Tesco in Ullapool to get a bag of frozen chips and the car park was full, mainly of campervans.
The last section of the drive was on the single-track road which is off of the main road north which eventually leads to Achiltibuie.
Clare, a long-time friend from my time on Operation Raleigh, which is where we met over 35 years ago, as some friends who own a country lodge and had had a cancellation for this week which they offered to Clare, free of charge, apart from a few running costs, so she invited us both to tag along with some other friends.
We got to the lodge just as Clare and her daughter Sam were leaving for Ullapool where they were off to collect another friend of hers.
Here’s some Inverpolly info:
Between Achiltibuie and Lochinver just off the scenic single-track coastal road Inverpolly Lodge sits above the River Polly in the pretty Strathpolly, with Stac Polly and the mountains of Coigach in the distance. The sea and the beach at Polly Bay are a short walk away.
The lodge is a comfortable and relaxing house with a large sitting room with wood burning stove, dining room and well-equipped kitchen with a large range cooker. The house has 9 bedrooms and can sleep 18, double or twin beds are available. There are 3 bathrooms, a shower room, utility room, drying room and pantry.
By the sitting room is a large pineboard-lined games/rod room with a table tennis and a pool table and plenty of space for fishing, shooting and walking gear and another log burning stove. All the principal rooms have views across Strathpolly and the river.
Here’s the website, go look at the photographs:
Self-catering lodge in the Scottish Highlands | Inverpolly Estate
The house was empty as Bridget and Liz, two friends who had already checked in, (both Liz and Bridget were also on Operation Raleigh with me), had gone for a walk.
We unpacked the car and had familiarised ourselves with the very nice house and then we took a walk down to the private beach that is located nearby.
It was quite overcast but not cold, and there was a little mizzle in the air.
The beach is a little cracker with a small river flowing into it. The River Polly is really slow moving but is rumoured to have quite a lot of salmon in it, actually I did see one go for a fly on our way back up to the house.
We got back to the house and Bridget and Liz had returned. Bridget has two lovely dogs with her, Betty, who has quite a lot of Labrador in her, and a spaniel called Ginny. Clare also has a dog with her, it’s called Luner and is a whippet.
Wendy and the others settled down in the dining room chatting and I did some prep for supper. I had already made a dozen beef burgers and about 6 spinach burgers last week and frozen then ready to be defrosted and cooked. I chopped three onions and cooked them and then I prepped some tomatoes.
That done I settled down in the lounge and listened to the cricket.
Sam and Linda came back in the car but Clare had taken her bike with her and had been dropped off at the main junction and cycled the last 12 miles back. Clare got back soaked because we had had a brief period of good old West Highland rain.
The rain started again but that didn’t stop Sam going down to the river to try her hand at fishing, fly fishing actually.
I gave her ten minutes to get herself set up and then I walked down to join her. Sam knows what she’s doing, she had all the right actions. I had a go but I was woefully inadequate and despite Sam’s encouragement I was never going to catch anything.
Back at the house I dried off and washed the barbie down as it was full of fat and grease from its last outing, and I couldn’t have that spoiling my very tasty spinach burgers.
Supper was an utter delight; I know I’m biased but everyone said that they liked them too.
After a period of digestion most of us took a walk down to the beach where it was high tide, Betty loved swimming for stones that I threw into the sea for her, and she would still be there if I had the strength to do it.
We went back to the house when the midges came out and I frustrated Sam by beating her 2 games to nil at table tennis, well I was a Fireman in a previous life!
No Travelling
Sea Swimming
I had a lovely sleep last night, from midnight to 5:30 am.
Again, I was up before 6:00 am and I had a leftover beef burger for breakfast with my tea. Wendy, again took her tea in bed as she wasn’t going out running in the hills.
Linda was up too and she was going for a run as well.
I set off in the direction of the road to Ullapool, jeepers the first hill was two miles long and it was a killer, up and up to over 500 feet. I had a right old dab on when I got to the top.
The views were stunning and I had a very clear view of Stac Polly.
Stac Polly, or in Gaelic, is Stac Pollaidh, is a mountain on the estate that rises to 2,900 feet. Its not a Munro as it would have to be 3,000 feet high for that accolade, but its only just missing out by 100 feet.
The ladies in the house are intending on walking it on Thursday, apparently the views from the top are stunning.
As I got to the bottom of the hill where I could go left to Ullapool, I chose right in the direction of Achiltibuie. I stopped to take a photo a minute or too later and I was joined by Linda who had caught me up. We ran together for about a mile where I turned round and came back leaving Linda to do a little extra distance.
I had to go back over that bloody hill but it was less steep coming back than coming over. Again, the views were stunning and I found the perfect picnic spot.
I got back at about 8:45 am and everyone in the house was awake and getting ready for the day, actually that’s everyone apart from Sam who stayed in bed until 10:00.
All of the ladies went for a walk on the hill and that left me home alone where I sat outside in the morning sunshine and drank my smoothie, it was bliss!
After my shower I did a little home admin and Sam turned up and went for a walk down to the beach.
The ladies came back just as she left and after we all had a cup of coffee, we all went down to the beach for a swim, well apart from Wendy who tagged along for the walk.
I had my wet suit on because the sea’s temperature was 10o, the ladies however went in in their swimming costumes, how they did it I’ll never know, needless to say as they entered the water there were quite a few gasps and sharp intakes of air. Liz, who is a marine biologist did put her wet suit on but she did go quite a distance out in the bay with her snorkel looking at the marine wildlife.
The ladies didn’t hang about they had their swim and quickly got out and got dried, I hung around a little longer bobbing around in the sea like a small seal.
We had lunch at 12:30 pm and as we did the rain came, and it chucked it down.
Thankfully the rain didn’t last too long and then we were blest with bright sunshine.
We took the opportunity to take the small boat out to sea to try and catch tonight’s supper. Clare, Sam, Liz and me boarded the boat which was moored in the next bay and we were soon dragging fish into the boat like there was no tomorrow.
It was my job to both row and steer the boat while Sam was pulling them in, and then it was me who had to dispatch the fish. Sam had forgotten to bring the codger so I used my right croc to do the dispatching.
We actually caught 8 fish!!!
The sea was calm and we had a sail around the coast to our bay but we couldn’t see the house. We did try our luck with a little more fishing but we didn’t have a bite, but fair enough 8 fish is more than good enough for 7 people
We think we had a mixture of mackerel, whiting and pollock.
Sam and Clare cleaned the fish back at the house while I sat in the sunshine with a beer and listened to Test Match Special.
The sun was nice and the beer a delight, but occasionally a cloud would come over and give us some spittle which required everything moving back inside until it had passed over.
The sun was out all afternoon from that point on and I listened intently to the cricket. At one point I thought we just might win but sadly it was not to be, never mind we did have a five-day end of day finish and it really was a very good test match. I’m still not convinced with the Baz Ball methodology mind!
Supper was lovely, we had a starter of a medley nibbles of fish followed by a vegetarian Sri Lankan Curry, which was nicely hot and very tasty.
The crème-de-la-crème was though Sam’s Empire biscuit delight which she had lovingly made in segments all day long. They were just perfect and they finished the day off almost nicely.
I say almost nicely because straight after supper we had a game of doubles at table tennis where Sam and Clare were the opponents of Bridget and me. We won the first game and gave the second game away only for us to trounce them in the last game of the match!
They were gutted!!!
71 Miles + 181 Miles = 252 Miles
France
I woke again at 5:30 am and on looking out of the window I could see a ground hugging mist that looked quite spectacular in the morning light. I grabbed my phone and took a quick picture.
I had tea and toast, with vegemite, and then I got ready to go running, but by the time I went back to the bedroom to get dressed Wendy was sat up in bed and wanting her morning tea.
Today I ran on the road to Lochinver, it’s a single-track road and thankfully it wasn’t as busy as the one yesterday, but it was just as steep, if not steeper.
The views were again stunning and they were very remote.
I did come across one campervan and one car with a roof top tent parked up in passing places, both didn’t have any toilet facilities so guess where they are doing their daily routines, and they wonder why they aren’t popular with locals.
I got back to the house and everyone was, apart from Sam, who was still in bed, sat outside having a bowl of porridge in the morning sun, even Wendy was in on the act. Clare had made it and had used some very nice double cream.
I took a bit of mockery from Bridget about the amount of clothing that I wear to go running, but as I told her I like to sweat, and sweat a lot. For me its not a workout unless your clothes are wet through and sweat is running out of every pour.
I had my cool down and then I joined them outside with my rather nice banana and peanut butter smoothie. After I had finished that I had a small bowl of Clare’s very nice, creamy porridge.
After I had showered, we packed the car and said our goodbyes, well apart from with Sam as she was still fast on in bed. Bridget had given me four bottles of Yorkshire ale which I have promised to not drink until I reach the Cote D’ Azur. I left an almost full jar of vegemite for Linda. She had asked me if she could have some for her toast yesterday and of course I said yes, but she only took the lightest of coverings so I told her it was hers now to splash it all over.
We left Inverpolly Lodge at 10:20 am and we were back home by 12:30 pm where it was absolutely chucking down with rain.
While Wendy made coffee, I unpacked the car and got slightly wet.
Thankfully after the coffee the sun came out and it was roasting hot.
Now it was time to load the car with all of the items that we need for an extended trip to France. The inflatable awning was loaded, as was the large camping fridge, the deck chairs, my tool box, some other essentials and 10 litres of Highland water to get us through the three days that we will stay in Kent because the water there fur’s our kettle and makes tea taste slightly yucky!
As we have a long day’s travel to Grantham from Millerhill tomorrow I was going to do tomorrows run after we got to Millerhill, but as the car and caravan were hooked up and ready to go by 2:00 pm, I decided to do my run early so I did it on my treadmill and I had another dam good sweaty workout.
After my run Wendy and me had a small snack by sharing a tin of chicken supreme that we had in the attic in case of a national emergency, it was 3 years out of date but it tasted bloody lovely.
The reason we were hanging about at home instead of setting off when the car was ready was because today is my son, Bradley’s birthday and as I haven’t seen him on his birthday for the last few years, I thought I would at least go over to see him after he had finished work to wish him a happy birthday.
When we got to Brads house, Caroline had almost finished supper which they were going to take in the garden sunshine, and she showed me the most magnificent birthday cake that she had made, it looked absolutely delightful, and massive.
I played with Eleanor by pushing her around the garden at breakneck speed in her little car and I also had a lovely long cuddle with baby Lois.
We left Brad’s at 5:30 pm and the drive down the A9, at that time, was easy peasy.
We arrived on site at exactly 9:00 pm and after setting the caravan up I nipped down to Tesco to refuel the car and get a few supplies.
Back at the caravan I had a supper of haggis, neeps and taties that had been frozen at home in the freezer for about 18 months!
Its now almost 11:00 pm and I think it might be time to turn in, we have a long drive tomorrow, down the A1, on single carriageway roads and then we have to negotiate the roadworks at Newcastle and then the roadworks at the M62 / A1 junction, it might not be too much fun!
288 Miles
Thunder
I woke late today, at 6:30 am, I had slept soundly and I hadn’t even had a mid-sleep bathroom break. I had vegemite on toast for breakfast, along with my cup of tea.
It was a really lovely sunny morning and it was already shaping up to be a very nice day. We were on the road for 8:00 am, just in time for Jay’s quiz on the Zoe Ball breakfast radio show. It was a poor day for both of us, we got the 1st 3 questions right but not the last two.
Traffic was light on the A1 and we were in England before you could say, “Fiddle Sticks”.
Traffic was that good that after getting beyond Newcastle and then Gateshead we stopped at Birtly Services for a sandwich and a cup of coffee.
I was listening to the news on the radio in the hope that the missing submarine would be found, but alas it wasn’t the case.
The roadworks in North Yorkshire, where the West Yorkshire border is, just before the M62 added about 30 minutes to our journey. I don’t mind queuing but it does give the cars clutch a bit of hard work to do with all the hill starts.
I did have a bit of hassle enroute, but that’s life on the road in the UK.
I wanted to pull out to overtake a truck who was going about 50 mph. I could see a lone car coming along in the inside lane at a very fast rate of knots but I indicated in good time. I did give him a chance to slow down but he didn’t, he just ignored my signal, so I pulled out. I didn’t pull out in front of him but he did have to chuck his anchor out to slow down.
The trouble is with the caravan, the car can do 70 mph with it, no problem, but because it isn’t turbo charged it does struggle if it loses momentum.
Anyway, I was around the lorry in seconds but the car driver had to honk his horn rather loudly when he went by me, what a proper numpty!
Without any further ado we were off the A1 just after the main Grantham junction and after a short drive we were on our campsite and met by the very nice lady who manages the site.
Jeepers it was roasting hot, the car thermometer said that it was 28o centigrade.
I had a bit of a dab on when I was setting up.
After we had set up we took the short ride in to Grantham town centre.
We have been here before as we bought this caravan from Grantham Caravans.
The town is lovely, there is a main street and a few side streets, and there was a Wetherspoons bar just waiting to be bagged.
Grantham has two famous people as their main claim to fame:
Sir Isacc Newton – Sir Isaac Newton FRS was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author who was described in his time as a natural philosopher. He was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that followed.
To my knowledge his discovery and understanding of gravity was his greatest achievement. It was also the bane of my life when I was a mining student at Barnsley Technical College as gravity is a formula that is widely used in many mathematical calculations. Thankfully I fully understand the concept that gravity is a mathematical certainty at 9.81 m/s2.
Actually, gravity, really, is created by the body of a larger object upon a smaller object. On earth it averages 9.81 m/s2 across the planet but it does have variations depending on your latitude and elevation. With the moon being four times smaller than earth, its gravitational pull is four times less so an astronaut on the moon weighs four times less than they do on earth!
The second famous person from Grantham is a woman, Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female Prime Minister.
I won’t go into Maggie’s history as we are all well aware of it, but I will tell you about her not so famous statue that stands in the town’s high street.
Originally her statue was intended to be placed in Westminster but the local council didn’t want it and refused planning permission thinking that it might be inciteful. So, on 15th May 2022, the statue was installed on St Peter's Hill Green in Grantham, close to the Museum, but was attacked with eggs within two hours of its unveiling.
It’s now been attacked on 3 separate occasions, the second where it was daubed with red paint and the third where the inscription, “Tories Out” was emblazoned upon it. It was also alleged that a woman’s sex toy, (apologies GG), had been placed on her head, although this has never been confirmed.
I bumped into her son once somewhere near Leicester Square, he was a proper toff, with his velvet coat collar. But I know what he really is, he is a coward who let his mate, Simon Mann, take the rap for his failed attempt at a coup in African Equatorial Guinea where he was left to rot in an African jail. I won’t go into it in detail, but heres’ a snap of his adventures:
“South African police were able to prove that Mr Thatcher had transferred about US$285,000 to the mercenaries that were to execute the operation and had met and talked frequently to them prior to the coup attempt. After pleading guilty, he was given a four-year suspended sentence and a fine of about US$560,000”.
Margarets statue is impressive mind at 10’6’’!
We got back to the caravan starving so we had a prawn and mussels’ cocktail at just gone 4:30 pm, it was delicious!
After supper we took a walk to the nearby canal so we could scope it out for tomorrow mornings run. No sooner had we got there when the clouds formed and thunder was rumbling, thankfully we got back to the caravan just before the downpour.
Its alright just now and I’ve asked Wendy if she fancies a walk around the area but with her jarmies already on she declined the invite!
As I prepare tonight’s copy, I am receiving sad reports that the wreckage of the missing submarine has been located in the North Atlantic Ocean, I knew it wouldn’t end well!
164 Miles
The Pork Pie
I watched a Richard Gere film last night, The Flock. It was very good; I won’t go into the plot but he does play a very good role. Actually, I haven’t seen a bad film that he’s been in.
We stayed at a really lovely camp site last night, the site was managed by an older couple and they were just so lovely and friendly. The site is in a terrific spot too with easy foot access to the countryside and its within a short drive to Grantham.
I woke at 6:20 am and it was a little overcast, but it was still very warm. We had slept with the windows open but there wasn’t much breeze blowing through.
I went running along the canal towards Grantham and Wendy went out just before me and she went in the opposite direction.
The canal had a very good rough track, with a hardcore base, but the grass along the bank was very high, in fact in places it was taller than me, at times I felt like a pygmy!
I met a few dog walkers along the path and we exchanged good mornings. After about a mile the path turned into a much better running surface with that fine dusty gravel that they seem to use on the continent.
The canal finished at the A1 at about 3.4 miles. Actually, I did find an extra bit of the canal by using my Strarva mapping. I had to go along a main road and then through a housing estate. The sun was out and it was very hot.
I sat on a bench watching the kids go to school and I enjoyed my frozen bottle of water which had just thawed enough for me to get a good cold drink.
The Grantham Canal:
The Grantham Canal ran 33 miles from Grantham through 18 locks to West Bridgford, where it joined the River Trent. It was built primarily for the transportation of coal to Grantham. It opened in 1797 and its profitability steadily increased until 1841. It was then sold to a railway company, declined, and was finally closed in 1936.
It was used as a water supply for agriculture, and so most of it remained in water after closure, although bridges were lowered. Since the 1970s, the Grantham Canal Society have been working to restore parts of it. Two stretches are now navigable to small vessels. A new route will be required where the canal joins the Trent, as road building has severed the original one.
The canal is actually a really good place where nature has embraced the fact that it is no longer used for navigation, and I saw fish jumping and several families of swans.
I got back to the caravan and Wendy was washed and dressed and she told me that along her route she had come across a young man and two young woman who had 100 dogs all running around having fun. There were that many that they had to escort Wendy through them all.
The dogs were beagles and Wendy asked how many of them there were and she was told 100!
That would require a lot of poo bags!
I had a lovely banana smoothie while sat out in the now morning sunshine and it was very nice. The nice lady host must have been going out for the day as she came to say goodbye and wish us a safe journey.
We left Grantham at just gone 10:30 am and we were soon heading south down the A1.
The M11 was very busy and at some point the opposite carriageway had come to a complete standstill for some reason that I didn’t see.
The road for us improved and we made very good progress.
There was one thing that I noticed, and that was lorry drivers no longer seem to flash caravans in with their headlights. I am a qualified artic driver and I understand the need to flash another long vehicle in as its hard to gauge when you have cleared them so you can safely pull in and let the traffic behind you go. Not one lorry driver has flashed me in in the entire journey from North to South.
The traffic was very busy on the M25 when we joined it but thankfully it did thin out as we approached the Dartford Crossing and we were over it in no time at all.
I might have said this before, my Sat Nav seems to interact with something online through my phone and it gives me a change of route if the route I was going on is slower. Today I was taken off the M2 at junction 3, instead of junction 5. We went down a massive hill and then onto the M20 and then up Detling Hill which with the caravan on the back is a killer to climb, and it was third gear most of the way up!
Thankfully we were soon on site with Mr Jenkins waiting for us.
Mr Jenkins is a lovely fella but he is so nice that he hangs about chatting while, after a long drive with a caravan, all you want to do is get set up and relax.
After the basics were done Wendy took the car to the butchers on Sheppey to get a meat order that I had arranged. The order was an important one as it was to be Wendy’s Father’s Day present for her dad.
Granddad, a few years ago said that he was going to make a pork pie, he never did get around to it so Wendy came up with the idea of getting a recipe and making one with him.
Most of the meat had been ground for her by the butcher but he said that his grinder was far too big to grind 200 grams of belly pork. To sort this out then I had a small grinder sent by Amazon.
I had the sun canopy open and secured by the time Wendy got back and then we headed to Morrisons for some supplies before going over to Grannies for supper.
Bugger, we had not picked up the swede that I had paid for in Morrisons, I had got chatting to Dean Timmons and that must have put me out of sorts because I left it behind.
Anyway, to make amends I took a walk to the local shop but they didn’t have one but at least I got some white sauce mix that we had forgotten to buy.
As I walked back to the house in the afternoon heat, I saw that the Micro Pub was open so I went in and took a very nice pint of real ale outside.
Just as I was halfway down my beer, Wendy rang and said that we had forgotten to bring the haggis that we were having for supper, it was still back at the caravan.
Jeepers, anything else?
I necked my pint smartish and Wendy picked me up at the pub and we drove through the mad island traffic back to the caravan and collected it.
Eventually, supper was an utter delight, garden peas were substituted for the swede and it actually worked quite well.
We had a few technical issues with the grinder but we eventually got it to work and Granddad successfully minced the pork belly for tomorrow’s pork pie cookery class!
Now that is going to be interesting!!!
No Travelling
Midsummers day
This is a nice camp site; we have stayed quite a few times before and it’s in a nice location and it never gets too busy. The field is big enough to accommodate five caravans without anyone being too close. And its now 8:00 pm and I’m sat out in my night dress writing tonight’s copy, it can’t be bad.
The weather must have been great across the UK today as some of my friends are on their last day at Inverpolly and they have sent me some cracking photos, with a beautiful sunset last night. I Facetimed Brad this evening too and he was in the garden having a BBQ with their friends and it was roasting hot.
This morning I ran up through Iwade and then through the very nice village of Bobbing. I missed my turn off coming back and I came across a delightful village cricket ground, it was really nice looking. I would love to go and watch a game there, maybe if its sunny tomorrow I might make it.
Wendy didn’t go out this morning, she took her bike over to her Mums so she could start to embark on the pork pie making escapade with her Dad.
I got back dripping in sweat, it was 20o centigrade when I set off so I dressed in a running vest and I am glad I did because it was roasting hot, it was a proper sunny Midsummers morning.
Today is Midsummers Day, I have no idea why it is called that because technically summer only starts on the 1st June, so you would expect midsummer to be somewhere mid-July. I have researched it and I have no clear conclusion.
One theory is that it is the midway point in the growing season, that seems fair enough. The other is that it’s some Pagen event as its so close to the longest day. But that’s it as far as my research goes, so I am still no wiser.
I got back to the caravan and I had a delicious smoothie and then a very nice cup of tea. By the time I had completed my bathroom routines of teeth, shave and shower it was just gone 11:00. Actually, I was a little late as I had been looking for sandy beaches in the south of France in an area well away from the Cote D’azur. Narbonne beach is looking pretty good, but the thing is the campsites are all holiday destinations with waterparks and the what not.
I did hike through there with my mate Gaz Steel in 1982 and I do remember the lovely beaches but I have since been back and not been able to find them, maybe this can be this trips main mission, to find those beaches!
I drove to Grannies and I had to do a little urgent banking as it’s been quite an expensive month and I wanted some cash to be able to buy some euros.
This month’s expenditure, apart from the normal day to day stuff has been colossal, here is some of what I can remember:
And that is what I can just remember, there’s been a big hit on any inheritance this month, it looks like I’ll be looking for a job this coming Autum, something adventurous that pays well mind, if I have any hope of continuing my jet set life style!
At just gone 12:00 pm I took the car down to the local Kwikfit centre for two new front tyres and while that was being done, I found a small independent travel company where I bought some very expensive euros, that’s the continuing Brexit benefit for you!
Actually, the lad at the travel agency was a smashing lad and we chatted about touring France in a caravan.
After that I went down to the sea wall to sit in the sunshine and watch what everyone was doing. The beach was busy, it wasn’t packed but it was busy enough, there were even kids in the sea, jeepers they are very hardy!!!
I received a call, that the car was ready at 1:20 pm and after I collected it I nipped to Tesco for some last minute BBQ items. I could not get any cheese slices for love nor money, everyone must be BBQing burgers on the island today.
I got back to Grannies, dropped off the supplies and then nipped back to camp so that I could cycle back over to grannies. The weather was a little cloudy but it was still quite warm. It was that warm that I took a can of Tenants lager in my water bottle holder, just for little sips along my route!
Finally, I was at grannies and I was just about to light the barby when I realised that I had no firelighters, thankfully Grandad had a good supply.
When it was underway, the barbie consisted of beef burgers, a chicken burger for granny, sausages and two very nice sea bass which I cooked in wine and butter.
As the cooking was underway, I chatted with our nephew Ellis who is a very nice lad, and he’s grown into a very sensible young man since I last saw him.
We ate our meal, which was very nice actually, in granddads covered area by the back door. There was a few of us there, Wendy’s sister, Sarah was there but unfortunately her friend, Dean, had had to leave due to a family medical matter. It was very hot though under the plastic roof covering.
Wendy and her dad had been making the pork pie all day with lots of messing about, the last being soaking the internal area with gelatine. Grandad made a bit of a boob at the end by pulling the funnel away and soaking the pie in gelatine, but hopefully it will be okay tomorrow.
We cycled back to the caravan where I am still sat outside listening to music while I file my copy.
I have also been corresponding with Nathan, another very nice young family member, who has been celebrating Independence Day at Queenborough today. Apparently, the English took it back from the Dutch in some long-ago war, but if it’s a summers day and the sun is out, why not party for some long ago and virtually unknown event.
He did invite me over but I’m getting too long in the tooth for anything more impromptu than a bbq in Grannies garden these days!
No Travelling
Hot!!!
That was another good night’s sleep, the caravan is so comfortable I feel fortified every morning, despite 15 glasses of wine at grannies, and a dare devil cycle home.
Today I ran onto the Island and I was sufficiently wrapped up, it was 20o centigrade but I fancied a good old sweat. I had one running shirt, one sweat shirt and my jacket on, and I was nicely dripping when I got back.
We brought a tub of vanilla ice cream with us but as there wasn’t much ice cream in it I had it with my banana smoothie and it was lovely, I must do that more often.
I had a little work to do on the sunshade today, the holes for the retaining spring button do not give it a firm fitting so I carefully, by using electrical tape marked exactly where I needed the new holes to be and I expertly drilled them in and they were just perfect. The awning is now rigidly fixed to the caravan when its fully extended.
I did get a sweat on doing it because by that time it was roasting hot, but thankfully I had the presence not to shower before doing the awning, so I took a nice cool shower directly after.
After my shower we drove over to grannies to enquire if they wanted any shopping as we were going to restock the caravan with fresh supplies. Granddad could not wait to finally taste the pork pie that he had made with Wendy and it did look and taste very nice indeed, in fact I might have a go myself when I get back home
As they didn’t want any shopping supplies, we drove first to Morrisons as I like their home brand rum, its as good as Captain Morgans and quite a bit cheaper, sadly they had sold out.
We then filled the car with fuel at Tesco and then did our shopping there too. It’s a bit of a bugger, the Tesco at Sheerness. There is no self-scan as you go hand held devices, and you need a pound coin to release a shopping trolley, its like the local population can’t be trusted!
To this end we ended up with two shopping baskets loaded to the gunnels with shopping and a ten pack of Doom Bar under my arm. Robyn and Alex bought me a case for Father’s Day which I have unopened in the fridge, but I thought that I would have a ritual of having one a day, for the first 20 days of the trip, so I needed an extra pack. French lager is OK, but you can’t beat a pint of English bitter, as long as its ice-cold mind.
After the shopping trip we nipped back to the caravan to stow the supplies and then headed back to grannies with the aim of taking them in their pushchairs along the Leas.
Sarah, Wendy’s younger sister, and her friend, Dean, were at grannies by the time we had got back. Dean had already been given a slice of pork pie and he loved it too. Sarah kindly brought a bottle of Jack Danials and a bottle of Brandy for me, how nice was that? They took a nice slice of pork pie for Ellis when they left and before we had granny and granddad loaded in the car, Ellis phoned grandad and told him his pork pie was superb.
We managed to get a good parking spot at the Leas and soon enough I was pushing granny and Wendy was pushing grandad along the seafront.
The Leas is a really nice area, I run along it often, coming down from Minster Cliffs and boy was it busy today, it’s the busiest I have ever seen it.
The Leas, here’s some info:
“Minster Leas Beach is a lovely tranquil place to come and relax and enjoy the views. A grassy area with park benches slopes down to a long, shingle beach where a number of groynes stretch out into the sea. When the tide is out, a good expanse of sand is revealed with some patches of mud.
An excellent promenade runs alongside the beach which is popular with dog walkers and families looking for somewhere for little ones to ride bikes and scooters. There is an outdoor gym on the promenade with free exercise machines for those who want to tone up their muscles”.
Well, we had a good old walk and it was really enjoyable. Granny isn’t the best of wheelchair patients and gets worried about any remote possibility of an accident. But I can’t really blame her, not since Robyn and me took her, in a rented wheelchair, for a pub crawl around Edinburgh. I mean the cobbled streets of Scotland’s capital city and a boozy afternoon and even the coolest person on the planet would be worried about the occasional tip. The thing I remember about this event was Robyn pushing granny up from Grass Market up to Greyfriars Bobby at breakneck speed, Robyn really went for it, granny shut her eyes and hoped for the best.
We got back to grannie’s house and had a late lunch, early supper. I had leftover burgers from yesterday which were very tasty.
After supper Wendy got the washing together and we said our goodbyes to granny and granddad.
Back at camp and we sat outside, in the sunshine listening to my classical collection of music from my iTunes playlist.
I had, The Dam Busters, The Thunderbirds theme, The Bolero, the theme from The Great Escape, Abide with Me and many others, it was lovely and relaxing.
We both took a very nice cooling shower and now I am watching Glastonbury on the BBC iPlayer.
Cat Stevens wasn’t my cup of tea but Becky Hill is ok, for a youngster.
Tomorrow is moving day, France here I come!!!
It’s been an absolutely cracking day weather wise on the Isle of Sheppey today, it was 32o centigrade for most of the afternoon with a nice stiff breeze, this has got to be the best June of my life.
Long may it continue!
Miles – Kent – 44 Miles
Miles - Channel Tunnel – 31.5 miles
Miles – Calais – 5 Miles
France!!!
I watched a bit of Glastonbury last night, the Elton John performance, everyone is raving about it today but I think it’s Emperor’s new clothes syndrome! I thought it was utter rubbish, but all the lovies on radio and online want to suck up and go on and on about it being a fantastic performance.
Actually, they played a song by Debbie Harry on Radio 2 this morning, she was singing live and it was utter tripe, she sounded like a hoarse man, I know she’s in her 70’s but jeepers someone should tell her she’s lost it!
Today the sun was shining again but it was a little cooler. I ran up to Bobbing and took the wrong turn off. It didn’t matter it just meant that I did a half mile by the side of a busy road instead of lovely fields full of corn!
As I got back to camp, I bumped into our host, Mr Jenkins, and he very kindly told me that we could stay as long as we needed to, which was good of him.
I spent the morning looking at camp sites. Our night tonight is booked in Calais, then we have two nights booked in Rouen and then I was just about to book 3 nights in Angers when I remembered that Wendy Martin had told Wendy that Le Mans is a nice place to visit.
A couple of nights in Le Mans would be the perfect stop as it breaks up nicely the 180 miles trip from Rouen to Angers.
I found one nice looking site in Le Mans, it was in the grounds of a Chateaux but for two nights it was €97 so that was far too expensive, so I found another who I have emailed asking if they have space but as of yet I haven’t had a reply.
Stop press – I just discovered this about the euro sign on my laptop:
“On standard English-language keyboards, the symbol became a special character accessible via modifier keys (e.g., using the combinations Ctrl + Alt + 4, Ctrl + Alt + 5, or Ctrl + Alt + E). On some European keyboards, the euro sign came to replace the Dollar sign”.
Well, I never, I don’t have the sign physically on my laptop keyboard but I knew there must be a way to get it.
We lounged around the camp with me doing the odd chore, cleaning the car windscreen of dead bugs, fitting the headlight deflectors to the cars headlights.
Being a seasoned continental driver, I usually just stick black electrical tape over the headlights. But with Brexit causing issues I didn’t want to give anyone an excuse to get all regulatory with me so I splashed out on the real thing. The instructions in the packet were terrible and I have ended up just plonking them where I thought best, electrical tape would have been far easier.
Having done as many chores as I could do, we packed up at 1:00 pm and left the site for the short journey down the M20 to the service station which is just before the Channel Tunnel.
I missed the turn off for the services, well technically I didn’t because it wasn’t signposted, you have to take junction 11 off the motorway as if you are going to Hythe. As a result I had to go beyond the Tunnels turn off and get off at the Folkstone turn off and double back.
The carpark at the services was mobbed and we got the last caravan stop but inside the services it was dead, there was hardly anyone in there.
After a walk in the service centre, we ate a slice of grandads excellent pork pie, with pickle of course and we had a ham salad roll each, it was all very nice.
As we had an hour to wait, Wendy sat in the car with her book, as we now put the bikes in the front of the caravan, and I sat on the bed Googling interesting info about the Channel Tunnel!
Here’s 4 Channel Tunnel Facts:
Euro Tunnel, now called Le Shuttle, tell you to turn up no more than one hour before departure, but having seen the lack of traffic going into the station when I passed earlier, I thought I would try 90 minutes and see if we could get an earlier train.
I entered the check in and I was supposed to input my customer number but it seems they have automatic plate recognition because the computer screen welcomed me by name. The computer also told me I could take the 4:24 pm train if I wanted to, and as I wanted to, I took it.
Bugger, I had put the fridge on gas mode when we were parked in the service area and I had forgotten to turn it off, thank goodness they have a little man check that its off before you are given your lane details.
As I was on the bed at the service area, I received an email from tonight’s campsite telling me that the office was closing and that my plot number and the gate access code was in an enclosed document, however it was all in German, thank goodness for Google Translate or we would be sleeping rough tonight!
We boarded on time and we actually left a minute early. Because we have the caravan, we get loaded at the front of the train which means we were one of the first off.
I had to remember that I am driving in France with a very big caravan behind me and that every turn I make must be taken very wide and in the wrong direction. It’s a lot to get used to but you do pick it up very quickly.
The campsite directions were perfect and we found our plot with no problem. I almost had a problem with a hidden post mind. As I was creeping into the tight spot, Wendy shouted for me to stop as she had heard something, so I reversed a little and then I was attempting to come back in and she stopped me again.
There was a post that I could see, but there was a post next to it that was hidden by lavender flowers. When I was hooking the power up I could see how close I was coming to doing some damage as I had lavender down the side of the van.
After settling in we took a walk along the beach into Calais where I bought a French stick, some soft cheese and a bottle of red wine for my evening meal.
When we got back to the van, while I was doing a few chores I took a beer that my lovely daughter had bought me for Father’s Day, it was very nice.
Chores done I settled down with my evening treat and it was an utter delight.
Moving day tomorrow, Rouen here I come!
143 Miles
Going South
It was a lovely morning in Calais, the sun was up and people were out and about.
I woke at 6:10 am, which was 5:10 am on my body clock. This is the first time ever that the one-hour continental time difference has got to me. I just wasn’t tired last night when I went to bed, but I was when my eyes opened this morning.
I forced myself out of bed and my morning cup of tea brought me round.
Did I tell you that I have brought 10 litres of Highland tap water with me. The water in the south of England is too hard and it makes rubbish tea, so I brought my own. I know I will run out but at least I might make it to some softer water at some point.
I went running into Calais today, I was hoping to make it to the Jungle but it seems to have been moved to somewhere else. I do like to take a look at the little devils, not out of morbid curiosity but to make sure that I am right in that they are not all little loves who are escaping conflict. In fact, from my last visit there they looked like a mob who could stand all of the conflict in the world!
Actually, I think they may have moved further north, closer to Dunkirk where they may not be spotted entering the English Channel in their little boats.
It was nice to be back in Calais as I do like the place and I have some very happy memories of stop overs there. In fact, I might just have a day or two there on our return journey.
The sea was calm and its very likely that small boats will have set sail again to the land of milk and honey. Its not actually that dangerous in months outside of winter.
Running along the beach area I could clearly see the White Cliffs of Dover, and with the modern materials in inflatable boats and the technology of outboard motors these days it would be a sinch to cross on a decent day.
I got back to camp and I sat outside in the morning sunshine in my deck chair and I had my smoothie and then a nice cup of tea before my shower and it was lovely.
The morning sunshine and its heat was delightful!
At 11:00 am we easily negotiated our way out of the plot we were in without any difficultly and soon we were heading south down the famous road that is N1.
I have travelled this road many times, I have even hitch-hiked down it and I can recall all the places where I managed to get a ride south.
I set the Sat Nav for our new location but as the address did not seem to be right, I had to do a little jiggery-pockery with the Sat Nav to get me in the general direction. I then set my phone with the address through Google mapping just in case.
The drive down was easy. Sat Nav was set to avoid tolls and it took us through some very nice-looking small villages.
We didn’t have any issues at all and we listened to BBC Radio 2 through my phone on the car radio via Blue Tooth, isn’t modern technology great?
The countryside we passed was beautiful and it was nice to see the crops looking so healthy. The corn is almost ready but the sweet corn is still very small, but then I guess there is two more months of good growing to be done. We also saw potato fields but we haven’t yet come across anything that looks like sunflower fields.
I was right my Sat Nav ran out about a mile from our destination but thankfully Google maps got us there. The only trouble with that is that whilst my sat Nav knows the size of the caravan, Google mapping doesn’t and I could come unstuck. I’ll have to keep an eye out for low bridges.
Our new site is lovely, its just plain and simple but the plots are quite large and we have privacy screening from nice hedge rows.
We were set up in no time at all and after a quick Google I found an Intermarchie supermarket not four miles away, on my laptop.
I took the Google map web address from my laptop, I then WhatsApp ’ed it to Wendy and so then I had it on my WhatsApp account on my phone and then I used it to Google map a cycle route.
Now that is modern technology working well.
We biked across the village where we are staying, which is pretty nice, through a road through the countryside to the next village and onto the supermarket. The sun was now very nice and it really was a very pleasant ride.
After picking up our supplies we rode back to our village where we sat outside the local bar and we both had a very nice glass of white wine, it was lovely.
We got back to the campsite a little after 5:30 pm and has the lady on reception had told us that a pizza van would be coming soon we decided that is what we would have for supper.
From the leaflet Wendy selected a pulled chicken pizza and we both walked up to order.
The management team of the van were a husband and wife combination and after making our order I was persuaded to order a home made dessert of tiramisu.
Actually, it might sound like my arm was twisted but as soon as she said home made tiramisu I was already sold.
As the meal would take 15 minutes to prepare, we went back to the van and set up the camp table and chairs outside as it was a lovely afternoon.
Wendy went to get the food after the fifteen minutes had expired and I have to say the pizza was bloody lovely, I was even considering going and getting another for tomorrow night!
I said that I was tired from my stolen hour so after dinner I pulled back on my chair and I took an unashamed forty winks sat in the chair, apparently, I did a little snoring!
I need to have a good restful night tonight as tomorrow is a day of sightseeing in Rouen which is supposed to be a beautiful medieval city.
No Travelling
Rouane
I was up again at 6:20 am, and I am still not over this lost hour, its crackers, I have never had jet lag going to the continent.
Today I ran to where we had cycled yesterday and it was very nice, it was overcast but warm, but not too hot.
I had my smoothie outside the caravan as the sun was creeping through the clouds and that was nice too.
I did a few chores, I booked our site in Angers, that’s two sites in front now booked. I have never booked before, in fact before Sat Nav we would just drive far enough and stop at the first camp site we came across, there were no reviews to read or to worry about, we just got on with it.
The sun was out by the time we left for the historic city of Rouen.
Jeepers I nearly came a cropper pulling out of the site, I was going left, I checked left and there wasn’t anything coming, I had stopped but then Wendy had a double fit of the screaming type. I was going to pull out in front of an oncoming car, coming as a car would do in France, on the right-hand side. Thankfully Wendy’s heart attack moment stopped me in my tracks.
Am I getting too old for continental driving?
Apart from that, we had a very nice drive down to the city which was just 8 miles away.
I entered an underground car park, but on entry at the point of taking my ticket a notice said that you pay by phone. Paying by app on your phone in the UK is hard enough, but doing it in France would be a non-starter, so I drove around and made my way out.
Wendy had a bit of a flap on thinking we should pay something, but the barrier went up when she presented the ticket and off we went.
We eventually parked on a street for 3.5 hours for €4, which took 3 attempts for me to make payment, but at least I made it.
Wow!!!
What a stunning little city Rouen is, its magnificent, and ancient, and hot!
The first place we went was the cathedral, sadly it is under refurbishment, but that was OK, it does need it.
Walking around it was a chore, it is massive! It was that big and the streets surrounding it so close that I could not get a clear photograph.
Outside it is truly splendid, but inside it, I found it to be a little underwhelming, and having just discussed it with Wendy, she said she felt the same.
Funny thing!
What I did do while walking around being underwhelmed, I Googled Joan of Arc, now she is far more interesting.
St. Joan of Arc is a national heroine of France and their Patron Saint. She was a peasant girl who, believing that she was acting under divine guidance, led the French army in a momentous victory at Orléans in 1429 that repulsed an English attempt to conquer France during the Hundred Years' War.
Captured a year afterward, Joan was burned to death by the English and their French collaborators as a heretic.
She was 19 years old!!!
It was the church that judged her, they said that she was blasphemous and that she wore men’s clothes. Despite it being a very long war, how on earth could anyone burn, at the stake, a 19-year-old woman.
No wonder people hate the English!
She was made a Saint in 1909 by Pope Pious.
It seems that the 100 years war was a bit messy with both French and English Kings claiming they were the ruler of this and that, and, actually it lasted 116 years, what a to do!
We walked the small city to death and we admired the beautiful old buildings, some of which were leaning like the Tower of Pisa. In fact, one of them, (in pictures) was almost hypnotic with its leaning and bizarre paintwork.
It was a hot day, which was made bearable by a lovely cool breeze.
After we had done the city to death, we walked down to the River Seine which was really stunning. We must have walked miles down one bank, we got that far we were almost in the docks.
Wendy was confused, she thought that the Seine passed through Paris after Rouen, but I assured her that it is long after. The river enters the English Channel at Le Havre so it must pass through Paris first. Actually, we have been in the village at the point where the source of the Seine starts, the villagers actually make a big deal of the fact that it starts there. Unfortunately, this was before the time of the blog so it’s not accurately recorded.
We stopped for a drink in a bar by the river and it was really nice. We had a lovely glass of white wine which fortified Wendy as she was feeling the heat.
We crossed a bridge and walked along the other bank and then we crossed back to town over a bridge which actually spans a large island, the île Lacroix.
The island is amazing, it had quite a few high-rise apartment blocks on it, and it’s so cramped with buildings that you would think it would sink.
Walking across the bridge we did actually nip down some steps and on to the most westerly point of the island.
After 3.5 hours of walking Wendy was buggered, later claiming it was dehydration, so we drove back to our village where we bought some steak from the butcher and I filled the car with diesel for tomorrows trip further south.
By the time we had made it back to camp the sky had clouded over and it did look like rain was coming, but it was still very warm.
I did a few chores, like programming tomorrows destination into the Sat Nav, fitting the caravan mirrors to the car and prepping the BBQ for cooking supper.
Actually, supper was lovely, the steak was a little dubious as Wendy had translation issues with the butcher, but it did cook nicely on the barby, and it was very tasty!
Tomorrow is moving day, we have about 135 miles to our next destination which is supposed to be a very, very nice village. I am looking forward to it, apparently, we have a very nice river to see!
136 Miles
Numpties!!!
I thought that we might have had some rain in the night, but we didn’t, it was another warm morning!
Wendy stayed in bed, she wasn’t up to going out running today but I went in a different direction from yesterday and it was quite interesting. I went through two very nice villages and they were quiet on my first pass but I saw them come to life as I came back.
I got back to the caravan and we folded the awning away and I did a few moving chores during my cool down period.
It was an overcast, but warm morning and I sat outside drinking my banana smoothie without a care in the world, it was lovely.
After my shower it didn’t take much time before we were on the road heading south.
Actually, we did go back to Rouen and over the very big bridge. Then soon enough we were driving along a toll-free motorway with very little traffic with us. We listened to BBC Radio 2 for the first hour and at 12:00 noon, 11:00 am in the UK, we moved over to BBC 5 Live Sports Extra for the third day of the second test between England and Australia.
The drive continued to be easy and after about an hour from our destination I began to feel a little tired as I wasn’t exercising my mind, the road was empty and I didn’t have to concentrate as much as I normally do.
We found our campsite in the village of Beaumont-sur-Sarthe straight away, without difficulty but reception was closed. However, there was a note on the window telling anyone wanting to arrive now to call a mobile number.
I called the number and a very helpful young lady gave me the barrier access code and then the number of our plot, we were on site in five minutes.
We have a lovely little spot, near to, but not too close to the river.
I have brought the water contraption with me, but on three sites now we have had taps that are spring operated and we are not able to attach our hosepipe to because there is no screw thread. It didn’t matter on the last two sites because the taps were too far away and out of reach of the hose pipe.
However, this plot has its own tap, a spring operated one mind, and so you have to stop with it and keep operating the tap until your tank is full.
But me being me I took a look at it, and then I looked at what we have with us and I knocked up a very acceptable way of filling the water contraption.
The only worry I had was that the water pressure is that low it might not be strong enough to open the watercock valve.
Here’s what I did, I took the tap connector off the hose, I put the small hand filler hose onto the tap by pushing it over, thankfully it made a tight connection, and then I pushed the hand filler hose down the larger hole of the main hose pipe which was connected to the water contraption. I then asked Wendy to operate the tap so I could see if the water pressure lifted the watercock valve, it did and the contraption started to fill.
Now here’s the crem-de-la-crem, to prevent the need for someone to keep pressing the spring-loaded tap, I “Duck Taped” it in the open position, and it worked a treat!
As the tap was filling the system, I got chatting to a man from Nottingham who is here for the Classic car event at Le Mans which is taking place tomorrow. I knew that the main 24-Hour Race was about 3 weeks ago, but I didn’t know about a classic event. As we want to go and see the city tomorrow, I thought that it might be busy and we might have issues getting into the city as I know that they race along the town’s roads as well as the stadium. I’ll have to bear that in mind tomorrow and play it by ear!
After finishing the set up by unrolling the awning we took a walk in the very pleasant village.
It’s a little hilly but it has small streets and it has a very local feel to it.
The river is very nice and I saw a lot of men fishing it, some fellas had their caravan on a river plot and had all their gear out fishing, it was the perfect fishing set up.
We bought some bread from a bakery and a very nice-looking cake which we would later share.
We stopped for a glass of wine in a bar and a couple who are staying on our site asked us to sit with them. As I went to the bar Wendy found a table but unfortunately it was near them.
Now I like to mix with people and I like to chat, but I knew these weren’t really my people, and they weren’t. The woman was nosy, she was asking lots of questions and the fella was one of those men who likes to mock you every opportunity he got. They were an older couple and I just couldn’t take to them.
As we were walking around, I was listening to the cricket through my earphones, but I took them out at the bar and as I sat down with the drinks, I popped my ear plugs in just to get the score before I took them out again.
Wendy was chatting to them and I apologised soon after when I got the score and took my earplugs out. I said, “I’m sorry I just wanted to get the cricket score”, he said, “Is Scotland playing”. I said, “No I’m listening to the England match”, he said, “Why would you do that?”. I said, “Because I am English and I like cricket”. He says, “I don’t support England”. I just looked at him, with a non plused facial expression. She pipes up, “He says that to his mate, he’s a big England supporter, he does it to wind him up”.
I thought, what a numpty thing to say to someone you have just met.
Yes, that’s the type of fella he was, oh and he is English, from Milton Keynes!
We did learn from our new friends that there is a big local event in the village tomorrow with road closures.
After the drinks we walked back to the camp site and we paid our camp fees as reception was now open. I asked the lady at reception about the event in the village tomorrow and she said that it will be beautiful but that we should be able to get out as its only the village square that gets closed.
Supper was very nice; we had some soup that Wendy had made some months ago and had frozen it. It was really nice as she had fried some crispy bacon and stirred it in. It was however very garlicky and I fear that we might suffer from this later tonight.
After we had regained our normal, none garlicky mouths Wendy brought out the cake that she had cut. It had been unevenly cut I noticed with one piece being bigger than the other. Before I could say anything, she had the larger piece in her mouth and then proceeded to tease me with it!
After dinner I listened to the cricket while Wendy did her crossword.
About ten minutes before the end of play, 7:30 pm our time, we took a nice evening stroll around the village, the barriers had been set up and the local bar was buzzing with excitement. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, hopefully we’ll get to see Le Mans and then have a little party time in the afternoon!
Oh, on reviewing my pics I forgot to mention that the village obviously enjoys its ties to Le Mans as many shops have little racing displays in their windows!
No Travelling
Le Mans
Today I had a very pleasing run, I just followed a road and I went through villages but they were all very quiet and peaceful. It was a cooler morning at 12o degrees centigrade but the sun was coming up and it got a little warmer as I ran along.
To finish my run I ran through the High Street of the village and I found the local Aldi store which I knew we would need later in the day.
I also ran over the main road bridge going out of the village and the views down to the riverside houses was stunning.
Wendy went out running but went later than me has her phone needed charging and she was just in the shower when I got back.
The water contraption and my tap arrangement is working well, I filled the tank before I went out running and I filled it after we had both showered. I’ll fill it one more time in the morning and that should do for this site.
I really enjoyed today’s smoothie, it really was lovely, I used a ripe banana and a very green banana and I think I have found the perfect combination.
Today we set off for Le Mans with a little uncertainty, I had tried to find a location to park but there wasn’t anything helpful online. Then there was the issue about the classic car event, which we didn’t know if it was going to run through the streets.
I set the Sat Nav to take us to the city centre and she took us through country roads for all of the journey until the last two miles, where we popped out onto the main road.
Within a half mile from the city we came across a massive carpark, which was mainly full. Thankfully I found a spot and then I went out looking for the ticket dispenser to pay for my spot.
I couldn’t see a ticket dispenser so I asked an old fella in my broken French, it was a little hard going so I reverted to hand signals. As soon as I did the loading money routine he got it, he gave me a big smile and said, gratis, which I do believe means it’s free.
The river that runs through the city is the Sarthe which is the same river that runs through our village.
We walked along the river and then we came across some steep steps which took us up to a magnificent cathedral. The Saint-Julian Cathedral (11th–15th century), which towers over the old city, combines Romanesque and Gothic styles and it is massive. The cathedral is built at the top of a small hill which houses the old town of the city and the architecture all around is pretty stunning.
The old town, which is mainly cramped within the old Gallo-Roman walls on the left bank of the Sarthe, contrasts strikingly with the new city, which surrounds it.
We walked around the cathedral but we had to go down some more steps which led us to a very large market. The market square was full and it looked brilliant with the cathedrals majestic back end as its backdrop.
We had a good walk around the market and Wendy bought some very nice fresh cherries from a vendor.
We followed the wall of the cathedral back up and into the old town where we walked around the old towns nooks and crannies.
We then walked down to the newer part of town and that was quite nice too.
We did indeed see quite a few classic cars but they were just driving in general traffic as opposed to some kind of race. Maybe they waited until the market had closed down before any racing started.
Having spent a couple of hours walking around both parts of town we headed back to the caravan. This time the Sat Nav took us directly on the main road and we were back in our village within the half hour where we called into the Aldi store for some supplies.
Aldi was empty, we thought everyone must be at the village summer fair.
Back at the caravan we had a nibble of French bread and some local pate which was very nice.
I eventually managed to book our next but one campsite, after a little hassle with the website, but thankfully that as now been put to bed.
At 3:15 pm we walked into the village expecting to enter a village full of merriment, but alas the event was only just being erected, so it looks like it’s an evening kick off.
We tried to get a glass of wine at the second bar in the village but I had language issues with a young girl of oriental descent who had absolutely no idea what to serve me. The local drunk tried to help but despite his best efforts I had that feeling that this wasn’t going to end well, so I left it at that. We did however get a drink in the bar in the village square and we sat there watching the event slowly come together.
Back at the van and I listened to the cricket, got the barbie ready for supper while Wendy rested her tired legs, with her eyes closed.
The wind got up a little and the sun had by now gone in!
I cooked some very nice pork slices which had been marinated in herbs and spices, we had them with salad and couscous, it was lovely.
After supper we took a walk into the village square in the belief that a fair would be in full flow, however it wasn’t, it was nowhere near ready for the off.
My obnoxious mate from the bar yesterday told us that they were leaving early this morning because of road closures and of total out and out merriment that would take place today, I knew he was a knob, and it seems I was right.
Moving day tomorrow, down and over westwards to Angers, it’s a place we have been twice before. The last time we were there the lovely town was being ripped up for the installation of a new tram system, I’m keen to see what it looks like afterwards.
There is one other reason to go to Angers, but I won’t tell until I see that its still there for myself when I get there!!!
77 Miles
Rain!!!
I was in bed nice and early last night and all was well until the rains started in the night, it was about 2:00 am and it was light to start with but then got heavier and then much heavier. Even when it occasionally stopped the wind blew what water had accumulated in the large tree just behind us on to the top of the caravan.
The rain eventually stopped at about 5:00 am but by then I was wide awake.
I got up at 6:00 am and started my day. Normally Wendy wakes up asking for tea, and now she wants a slice of toast these days. She woke and said she was going back to sleep so I left her tea and toast on the side, only to see a little hand sneak it back to bed.
I went out running, Wendy stayed in bed.
I went out over the lower bridge and out into the lovely French countryside. The road was fairly flat and I passed through a few small villages.
I came across something that I have been looking for but I had yet to see it, a field of sunflowers. However, they are nowhere near ready and they need some good sunshine to bring them on.
On my way back, at six miles, I sat on a bench in a village for a drink of water and I could see the sky in front of me getting darker and darker. Sure enough it was raining soon after.
Thankfully it was very fine drizzle and I must have missed the worst of it because the sky looked black.
Back at the caravan I did a few getting ready to move jobs during my cool down.
While I was having a cup of tea, I did a little research in to the River Sarthe, and I found out that it’s a tributary to the Loire, and that its 195 miles long. It actually flows into the Maine at Angers, which flows into the Loire shortly afterwards, what a smashing coincidence!
We set off on very quiet roads at just after 10:45 am.
The Sat Nav took us down bumpy, windy country roads for 22 miles where I was thankful that I then joined main roads.
The journey time was just over 2 hours so we filled a flask of coffee for a stop over as we couldn’t get into our camp ground until 2:00 pm.
I could not believe how quite the roads were, it was like Christmas Day in the UK!
At just over half way I pulled over onto some spare ground and as I was now starving, I made myself a sarnie of French bread and left over pork slice from last nights dinner. Wendy just nibbled some pork slice.
The weather had been miserable throughout the drive until the last 20 miles when the sun broke through the clouds and the temperature jumped to 23o degrees.
We arrived on site at 1:40 pm and we both went to reception where a very nice young woman booked us in.
Our plot is small but it’s a very nice site, with a heated outdoor pool on site and a few other extras, which we most likely won’t use.
After settling in and yet again deploying the water contraption, on a fully functionable tap, we took the bikes for a ride into the city.
We have been on this site twice before as we like the area.
There is a great cycle track that is just under 3 miles long and which takes you directly to the city steps.
The cycle along was nice and it brought back memories of previous visits, there were some new additions, there were new bars quite close to the beach, (There is a very wide area on the river where there is a beach, it might be man-made?).
We locked our bikes around a tree and walked the steep steps up in to the walled city.
First up we walked into the older area of town where we bought a French stick, I do like my French bread, I’ll be as fat as a fool by the time I get home!
We walked around the walls and back in to the city centre where it was mobbed with people. There were that many people it was uncomfortable to walk.
At first, we thought there was a market on but we soon realised that the city centre shops had actually moved some of their stock outside and were selling it from there.
It really was busy but I never saw one police officer, not one!!! I did see lots of graffiti about the young lad who has been killed by a police officer. I know a little of the storey but not the detail. I do know about the riots but so far we haven’t seen any kind of unrest.
We walked and walked and we stopped at a shop to buy some wine and something for supper, but there wasn’t anything we fancied as it was just a mini supermarket.
We rejoined the crowns and meandered for a little longer and at around 5:00 pm we got back on our bikes and cycled back to the camp site, and I jumped in the car to go to a large supermarket that I saw on the way into the site.
I wanted to fill the car with fuel, so that I am ready to go on Tuesday morning, and I needed to get some food for tonight as its Sunday tomorrow and everything closes in France on a Sunday, (We have burgers for tomorrow!).
I managed to fill the car, eventually! I had logged into one self-service fuel dispenser but I was told that diesel was out when I lifted the nozzle. Thankfully the lady who had come in behind me spoke good English and knew to reverse so that I could back out and try another fuel dispenser. Actually, she was that nice that she found me a dispenser that had fuel.
Then I got into the supermarket and it was massive, it is the biggest supermarket that I think I have ever been in.
I nipped round and I managed to buy, reasonably quickly, two bottles of wine, a chicken, some butter, a lettuce, four cans of Red Bull and a sliced loaf!
The checkouts were mobbed with people with large shopping trollies full to the top.
I played the joker and joined the disabled queue, thinking that if the check-out lady challenged me I would act like a stupid Englishman. Thankfully my acting skills were not required today and I was through the till in five minutes flat!
As I file tonight’s copy Wendy has the chicken in the rotisserie that my Dad bought us many years ago, its still going strong and I’m looking forward to some good tucker tonight.
I have listened to most of today’s cricket commentary and I have to say that playing “Baz Ball” style of cricket against the Aussies in a home Ashes series wasn’t the smartest way of trying to level a one nil deficit.
Maybe Ben will pull off another miracle tomorrow, I would like it but I’m doubtful.
No Travelling
The Rave!!!
Wendy says that she heard loud music last night but I never heard a thing as I had my ear plugs in. I woke at 6:30 am, thought about a lie in because it was Sunday but because Wendy was also awake I got up and made breakfast.
I bought some sliced bread for the toaster yesterday and its very wide, so I have to turn it around to make sure I get the whole slice toasted. The thing is though it is really tasty bread, it’s delicious.
I went running along the track into Angers and just after a mile from camp I came across some exceedingly loud music. I could hear it over my music and as I ran on it got louder and then very, very loud.
I had stumbled upon a rave!
They were in a car park by the river and they had loud boom-boom music. There were gangs of young men there and also gangs of young women. There were liquor bottles strewn around and a good deal of them looked stoned or drunk, or both.
The car park had quite a few cars in, so who was driving them, lord only knows.
I wanted to run along the track by the river so I had to run right through them and I happened upon two women peeing in the grass just off the track, charming!!!
That must have been the music that Wendy heard in the night, jeepers it did look like they had been hard at it all night.
I ran on right in to the heart of the city and there was an antiques market being set up.
I ran past the ravers on my way back and some lads could hardly stand, let alone do a jig!
We did a camp walk last night and we found the pool, the café, the bar and a lounge area where I found a booklet about Angers.
It had a lot of interesting information about Angers:
Angers has twice the national average of urban nature, a no pesticides policy for its green spaces and many exceptionally floral villages and it is a several times winner of the Greenest City in France Award.
I got back to the caravan, stripped off my sweaty gear and put on my swimmers and took myself, on my bike to the pool.
Before I got in the pool I took a shower because Wendy said that I was stinky and then I went for a lovely swim in the nice heated swimming pool. It was a real treat as I had it to myself!
After breakfast we set off for a cycle ride to the village of Bouchemaine which took me in the direction of the confluence of the Loire and the river that runs through Angers, The La Maine, I was excited!
The weather was both overcast and sunny, at times.
The cycle path was easy going and we were soon at a market along the river at Bouchemaine, which was very busy. There were also two restaurants doing a roaring trade in luncheons. People were also sat out on the grass, in the sunshine enjoying a picnic, in fact I saw several groups with very generous looking picnic hampers.
The village of Bouchemaine was quiet but that was to be expected as it is a Sunday.
We went further down the river until we came to the confluence and it was a delight to see. We have previously followed the Loire from Bois to its end at the Bay of Biscay, in fact I have a photo in the album at home of me at that very point so it was nice to see it at this point.
In the sunshine we headed back to camp for a well-deserved beer and a couple of rounds of French bread and pate.
We sat outside the caravan in the sunshine but soon enough large clouds came over and we then jumped back on our bikes and headed in the direction of Angers.
I must say at this point that all morning, since start of play I had been listening to the cricket, England v Australia test match, and it was riveting.
We cycled along this morning’s running route and it was now gone 2:00 pm, and the rave had disbanded, worryingly all the cars had gone from the car park.
We passed the city and followed a new cycle track.
We have been to this campsite twice before, and the first time we came a very nice old Englishman told me about a cycle track that goes beyond Angers. It was a rutted old track that eventually led to a small hand pulled ferry which took you across the river to a small outlet that sold their own wine. It was just a terrace overlooking the river where you could buy a half litre carafe of red wine for just a couple of euros.
On the way there we passed the confluence of the River Sarthe and La Mayenne, which then flows in to La Maine, which then flows into the Loir, that’s two confluences now bagged in one day.
Boy how things change, there was now a concrete cycle path which leads to a very large car park where people just park up and jump onto the ferry, it wasn’t the same.
The ferry was full when we went over, I have never known more than six people on it before, now it was mobbed, and these buggers hadn’t done any hard slog to get there, actually neither had we?
We did however enjoy our half litre of red wine, with a handsome portion of lovely pate and French bread. We did also take seats on the old veranda, which was nice. But the place had extended, in fact there was about 3 times more seating available for customers.
Never mind it was still a very pleasant Sunday afternoon.
The cricket was still going strong and Ben Stokes was knocking the Aussies out of the park, but on the cycle back they had him caught going for a big hit just as we crossed the old bridge that we take into the city, sadly he was our last real hope.
The cycle back was fine, and we were back just in time to see a rear-guard action by the tail enders, but sadly we were forty odd runs too short, we should have battered better in the first innings.
As it was gone 6:00 pm, and after 21 miles of cycling we just hung out for the rest of the afternoon at the caravan, which was just the perfect end to a lovely Sunday, such a shame about the cricket though!
Foot Note: - It’s just gone 8:00 pm and as per my nighttime routine I have prepared for tomorrows breakfast, and I have to state that I have now used the last of my Highland water supply. Thankfully its not all doom and gloom as the water in this area of France is pretty good to drink. as I have been using it for my morning coffee and my running bottle!
Additional Footnote:- We did cycle over 21 miles today, which I think does deserve an early night in bed, but I must have eaten 42,000 calories in the process!
No Travelling
I did have a nice long sleep last night and woke at 6:15 am, I felt nicely refreshed.
I ran down the short path between the river and the lake, Lac de Maine to the city.
The lake was created in the 1960’s by quarrying out the site and then it was filled with water, it officially opened as a nature park in 1978. Its actually quite a stunning area with the water forming the main centre point with sailing clubs and other water sports.
There are also some really good cycle and walking paths throughout the wooded area too.
Here’s what they say about it:
“Do you want to relax, to roam, to sail, to swim, to get a good look at fauna and flora, to exercise, to rest, to meet and to sleep there? Then come and enjoy the theme park at Lac de Maine. United around four centres (the Nautical Centre, Ethic Etapes, the four-star campground and the House of Environment), it has every chance to seduce you.
Opened since 1978, it was created by the City of Angers upon ancient water meadows. It spreads on 220 acres (110 for the lake itself) and is an extraordinary site, highly favoured by locals as well as tourists.
Access to the lake is easy from the town centre, just follow the river through Parc Balzac”.
It was very overcast and it did a fair amount of very fine spital.
I stopped to look at a weir on the river and I had to climb down the river bank, when I climbed back up the bank I could see a fair amount of very good slate beneath the soil.
After my now customary swim in the pool when I got back to the camp, I did a little Googling about Angers and slate.
I found out in an instance that slate has been mined in Angers for centuries, I should have had an idea because thinking back now the city walls appear to have had slate included in it.
There is even a slate museum:
“The slate museum is a place to learn about the work of the region’s shale miners; a great place to discover the geology of region, the evolution of quarrying over 600 years, the daily life of slate workers and the landscapes they created. Truly interactive and educational, it includes a live demonstration on the ancient techniques used to create the tiles that adorn many of the roofs in the Loire Valley”.
After breakfast we took a drive to the Carrefour Supermarket, I did want to go to the one closest but Google could not find it so we went to the one at the other side of the city, jeepers it was big, it was massive. As a visitor you haven’t a chance in doing a worthwhile shop, you would have to be local and have studied the layout for at least six months before anything like having a successful shop.
We did manage to get the essentials we needed but it did involve a lot of back and forthing!
Back at the caravan and while doing a little more campsite booking, we both had a pate croissant each. That’s campsites now booked all the way to the south coast!
With the sky’s clearing nicely we jumped on our bikes and cycled into the city.
We parked up opposite the castle walls and walked all the way around it, it really is a stunning building. It was built in 1230 and has 500 metres of ramparts and 17 towers, it’s undergoing some renovation on a couple of the towers and the scaffold involved must cost a fortune for its daily hire as there is loads of it!
We did a fair bit of walking around the city. The last time we were here the town centre was a bomb site as the city council were installing an electric tram service. But now it’s finished the tram lines and trams do blend in well.
We stopped for a beer in a Scottish pub, however none of the bar staff knew anything about Scotland. In fact, the fella who served me said that he doesn’t know much about Scotland but does follow Premier League football clubs. I ask him which was his favourite, Rangers or Celtic, he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. He did know how to charge mind; the cost of a pint and a half of local beer was 12 euro!
After the bar we took a long walk down a lovely avenue where the grass hadn’t been cut all summer and it was full of wilderness, it made me think about our own lawn and how much hassle it would save if we let it grow.
At the end of the avenue quite a few old fellas were playing boules, jeepers they were good, and accurate. I could have watched them all afternoon. They seem to have a new way of marking where the person bouling stands, it’s a completely foldable circle, every team had one.
We meandered back to the bikes and then stopped at a bar on the lake side for a small glass of wine. We were charged 8 euros but I would get two euros back if I took the glasses back. I explained to the young woman that its traditional in the UK for the customer to take their glasses back, she laughed at me.
We enjoyed our wine sitting in the sunshine and when I took the glasses back I got my 2 euros back, I promptly gave it back to the same young woman and she gave me a beaming smile that was worth 2 euros of anyone’s money.
Back at the caravan, Wendy made a lovely chicken curry for supper and we ate it outside as it was still very sunny.
After an appropriate period of digestion, we packed away the awning and did as many moving day duties as we could.
We have an at least four-hour drive tomorrow so we need to be off pretty smartish.
Angers has been a really nice treat, it lived up to its expectation but its now time to plough on to the Med!
166 Miles
The Lake
Today I ran south along the River Maine to its confluence with the Loire, and what a sight it was in the morning light. I can’t say morning sunshine because it was mainly overcast but the views were cracking nonetheless.
The Loire is Frances longest river at 634 miles however quite a lot of it is unnavigable due to its low depth, in fact it’s only a couple of inches in some places.
I got back to the caravan and as its moving day I forgot to go for my morning swim, instead emptying the caravan toilet.
I had a lovely smoothie and we were on the road heading south at 10:50 am.
We listened to the Vernon Kay radio show and we were on the edge of our seats as one contestant for the quiz, “Ten to the Top”, was in for maximum points for the last question. Despite Vernon giving him a very big build up, the poor lad didn’t get the right answer and so it was a big anticlimax.
As we drove south the landscape changed, we came across grape vine fields and we saw our first sunflower fields with the heads open. They were only just opening and they, most likely have a long way to go, but it was nice to see the rows and rows of yellow heads.
The weather improved vastly, the sun was out and we hit 27 degrees on the cars thermometer. Sadly, it didn’t last long as the clouds gathered, and we went down to 21 degrees and we passed through some very heavy rain showers.
I even stopped in a layby to take a photo of a passing storm, thankfully this one didn’t involve us as it looked a cracker!
At 1:00 pm we had a sandwich that Wendy had prepared, it was sardines in a mustard sauce, and in French bread it was a delight. Wendy made a right mess of hers as the filling fell out onto her lap, boy did she moan!
I had a couple of cups of coffee enroute and all in all it was a very enjoyable journey.
I have booked our next few night stopovers at two nights each, with them all being around 130 to 160 miles apart. The site we are now at is in an area I have never been before and I wasn’t sure if we might be in an area that might be mountainous, thankfully we are not.
We took main roads for the vast amount of the drive with only the last 15 miles being on country lanes. As I could see the lie of the land, I knew we were not heading anywhere near very high ground.
Thankfully though I had studied the map, and the lack of nearby communities gave me the idea to stock up on provisions. We are very well stocked and it’s a good thing because the closest village is a mile away and it is tiny with one very small communal store that looked closed when we passed through.
We are at a very nice campsite on the shore line of Lac de Saint-Pardoux which is a huge lake in the countryside.
On arrival we could not have been made to feel more welcome, the young woman who booked us in was really lovely, she had an infectious smile and she was genuinely happy in her job. If I was headhunting for someone front of house, she would be my first target!
We picked our own plot which is on the lake frontage. However, there is a very large edge between us and it, but that’s fine because the plot is huge.
We were settled in within ten minutes and the weather had vastly improved.
We took a walk around the shore line and the first thing we saw, directly in front of us, was a water-skiing line like the one we went on for my 60th birthday week at Rother Valley Country Park. Real Avid Readers will recall that the kids took me water skiing on knee boards for my birthday treat and that we all ended up with sore muscles for at least a week after. No, I will not be giving that another go, was my response to Wendy Gills question!
Here's some blurb about the lake:
Situated about 25 kilometres to the north of Limoges, the Lake of Saint-Pardoux is one of the most visited destinations in the Haute-Vienne department of Limousin.
The lake is substantial in size, with a surface area covering more than 300 hectares (750 acres), and offers a wide range of facilities and activities to summer visitors.
Start your visit at the Site de Santrop, at the main entrance to the lake. Here you can find a good choice of outdoor activities, from quiet walks around the edges of the lake to boating on the water, and from beaches around the edges of the lake to acrobatic tree adventure parks.
Among the most popular with families are the various activities on the beaches, while active teenagers will enjoy abseiling across the waters of the lake.
The site is really peaceful and quiet and I’m looking forward to tomorrow where my options are:
As we walked the path around the lake near the site 3 young men were playing volley ball on the beach and as it was 2 against 1 I was invited to play. I declined the invite; I would have joined them but they were playing with a beach ball which was getting blown all over the place with the wind.
When we walked back, they were playing with a proper ball with lots of girls in bikinis, but they never gave me a second invite!
We took a nice walk around the camp and placed an order at the café for some bread for tomorrow.
Back at camp, supper was an utter delight.
I bought a chicken a few days ago, it cost over 10 euros and I wasn’t happy about that but so far, we have had a roast chicken supper, a curry with it, and tonight Wendy blended what was left in with some sauces and we had it with salad and couscous and it was delicious. So that was 3 meals at around 3 euros a pop, so not so bad after all!
At 7:30 pm we took a walk down to the lake side where we sat in the evening sunshine, but when the sun went behind a large cloud Wendy went back to the caravan leaving me laying on a pontoon gently rocking with the lap of the lake, the sun came back out again and it was quite relaxing.
I’m already looking forward to tomorrow!
No Travelling
Bike Ride
I walked down to the lake last night when Wendy went to bed, I was hoping to see the sunset but I just missed it, the sky was still quite nice though.
We slept with the door open last night, with just the fly screen pulled over, it was still warm in bed though. However, the camp site was very nicely quiet, there wasn’t a sound to be heard.
We were both up by 6:30 am and we found it to be an overcast morning, it was cool too, only 14 degrees.
Wendy got her running clothes on and I was just going out before her when it started to drizzle. We had decided that I would go left around the lake path and she would go right around the lake path in the opposite direction.
With the rain coming a little harder I pulled my hood up and set off.
The path left the lake side and I ended up taking a ¾ of a mile wrong turn, so I doubled back.
I found the path again and carried on, the rain was quite hard now, and I got lost again, I went off the path and ended up on a main road, I didn’t double back I carried on until it was time to turn around.
On passing through a small village, I found a monument and I wondered what the inscription was. I had passed the monument on the way out and again on the way back. I knew I was lost again when after another half mile I was back at the monument!
It wasn’t really my fault, it was chucking rain so I couldn’t use my phone much to check the map, and there were no signs to tell me which path to follow, and this area is full of paths.
Finally, I managed to get on the right track and I was almost back when Wendy phoned me asking where my wallet was. She was going to the site shop where we had ordered bread. I met her at the shop and we walked back to the caravan and I asked Wendy what she saw on her side of the track and did she find the track easy to follow?
“I didn’t go out” she said, “It was too wet so I took my running gear off, got showered and read my book”. Well, I laughed out loud, she was ready to go when I left!
Before my breakfast I translated the inscription on the monument, here it is:
Here on August 6, 1944 graves are
Under German bullets
Duditlieu Jean
Garbarovitsch Leon
Mrs. Vve Darting
Here is what I found about the monument:
“Violent fighting took place between guerrillas and occupying forces in 1944 at La Brandouille. A stele there commemorates the sacrifice of three martyrs”.
I also found photographs going back several years showing that there is a service there every year for the martyrs. Just shows, even tiny little villages way off the beaten track aren’t spared the suffering of war!
It was still raining hard after breakfast so we relaxed in the caravan, Wendy reading and me doing some admin chores. At midday with the rain slowing, we set off on our bikes for a ride around the lake, good idea, bad timing, it chucked it down again.
We set off going around anticlockwise and it’s a good job we did because the conditions at the start were horrendous. The track was hard going and the wet conditions made the tree roots and stones slippery so we ended up walking a lot of the way, pushing our bikes.
Thankfully, just after 3 miles of slog we came across a small village and from there on in it was smoother going.
The weather improved and the rain had stopped and the sun was trying hard to come out.
To finish the ride we did an extra mile by cycling down to the village of Saint-Pardoux. The village is really nice and the lake comes right up to it, in fact the local restaurant has its dining room looking out to it. Sadly though it seems everything is closed on a Wednesday, the bar, the restaurant and the baker were all closed!
In the end we did almost 12 miles and the first 3 miles were by far the hardest.
All in all, it was a good experience as we got to see all that the lake has to offer, and I must say this, it would be great for young families!
The weather was now so nice that at around 4:00 pm I set myself an outdoor kitchen area and I cooked pork chops and mushrooms in a Hoisin Sauce, we ate our meal outside and it was an utter delight.
We sat out a while, in the sunshine and it was rather nice.
At around 6:00 pm we took a walk down to the beach and it was quite busy. People must have been fed up with the rain and grabbed their stuff and nipped to the beach for some sunshine.
This is a great campsite, there are loads of school groups here and the atmosphere they create with their laughter and good fun is infectious.
I just did a little reading about the lake and I found out that it is actually man made and that it was opened in 1976 and it is one of the main tourist lakes in the region.
The lake represents more than 330 hectares. 192 hectares are reserved for sports and leisure activities (sailing, pedal boats, etc.), 88 hectares for motorboating and 50 hectares for fishing. Many outdoor activities are also offered. Swimming is permitted in July and August only.
The lake is situated at a hight of 330 metres above sea level which is well above 1,000 feet.
We have had a lovely stay on site, thankfully we haven’t run out of anything as our restocked covered all bases.
Its moving day tomorrow and it’s also the start of the Headingly Test, let’s hope the spirit that Ben Stokes drew upon at Lords can run through the whole team tomorrow!
I’ll be listening Avid Reader!
137 Miles
Gobsmacked!
Would you believe I got lost again while I was out running?
I went around the beach area and then down to the village, I ran out of the village for a few miles and the weather was lovely, sunny and warm. I ran along a quiet main road out of the village and then I turned right into a small village and carried on from there.
I stopped for a drink at a very nice lake and then turned back.
After a good while I thought, “I don’t recognise this area”, but I must be right because I haven’t come to the village yet. I carried on for another 200 yards as there was a bridge over a river up ahead and I thought I would check the map there and take a look at the river.
On doing so, the river wasn’t much to look at, and, I had missed the turn off that I can’t remember taking back to the village, it was half a mile further back.
I got back to camp, very hot and very sweaty and one mile over distance!
Wendy didn’t go running, her mouth and throat are sore and she didn’t fancy getting lost, like I seem to be doing a lot of.
I had an extremely delightful smoothie sat out in the sun, after which I showered and did my camp break routines.
As we were near a very nice lake, I caught our caravan runoff water in the storage container. Camp owners don’t mind you letting it go in the hedge as it feeds the ground, but its not right near a water course.
I took the toilet cassette and the waste water carrier up to the empty point which was up a large hill, on the site, and it nearly killed me.
The waste water alone weighs over 50 kilos and the toilet cassette isn’t much lighter.
We were off site and driving down the motorway at around 11:15 am, which was a little later than normal, due to my navigation issues on my run.
The first 65 miles of today’s journey was on a very nice, very quiet motorway, after which we took a minor road for the next 50 miles over some very large hills, and around some very tight hair pin bends.
I didn’t fill the car with fuel before we left as I knew we had enough for the journey and it helped enormously. The Yeti as a 2-litre engine but as its not turbo charged it’s a little sluggish when you start from first gear. It helps with the caravan not to have a full tank because that’s a lot of weight to carry along with the van.
Jeepers we flew over those hills, the only thing limiting our speed was the bends.
They don’t do many laybys in France so I would indicate in when the road was straight to let traffic pass, I would also slow down too. The trouble is the drivers behind me didn’t take the hint and sat behind me most of the time, the wallies.
We were on high ground and Wendy clocked us on my altitude app as being over 600 metres, which is well over 2,000 feet.
The last section of the drive was on a fairly straight road, but we were still on high ground.
We entered the town of Aurillac at around 2:30 pm and I had to have my wits about me as the roads were tight for the caravan. It was mainly a one-way system which helped a little but even though the Sat Nav was set for caravan mode I had to have my eyes peeled for low obstructions, so the concentration was very high level.
Actually, the town was much bigger than I was led to believe and we must have drove through it for about 3 miles.
We got to the site without any issue and what a cracking site it is.
We are on a river bank and the site is pretty impressive, it has had a major refurbishment and it only opened again last week. The ground and the facilities really are top notch!
To get to our site we had to cross a very narrow bridge, which wasn’t a problem as there was plenty of room to manoeuvre.
Our site is lovey and we can hear the sound, quite loudly actually, of the river flowing passed us.
Jeepers it was hot setting up, it was over 30 degrees, and sunny.
As soon as we had set up, at around 4:00 pm, we had an early supper of beef carpaccio, prawn cocktail, corn on the cob, olives and fresh French bread that I had nipped to get on my bike from a shop close to the camp site, it was very nice indeed.
We took a walk into town and here is where my “Gobsmacked” title comes from.
Before I book a camp site I try to get as much info on the site and the local area as I can. However, I could only find one review and it basically said, “The site is rubbish and the town isn’t worth the visit”.
Well thank goodness I didn’t take any notice of it; this town is stunning.
The old town is beautiful and the streets and shops are a treat to walk around. The architecture is really pleasing to look at. The river is integrated into the town and it’s just such a lovely place to be in.
We walked and walked, and got lost a few times too. The streets are all over the place because the town is so old I guess, but it seems to work quite well.
There seems to be a large church high on a hill that we might explore tomorrow, or maybe not.
We took a beer in a small bar and I placed my order fully in the French language, and what’s more the lady understood me completely!
After our drink we walked a lot more which was nice, but it was hot!
We got back to camp at around 7:00 pm and then took a camp walk around the site and we found it to be almost perfect, and its quiet, there are very few people staying here just now.
As I sit here typing my copy, I am a stone’s throw from town yet I can hear the birds settling down for the night and the river passing through camp, and its rather nice.
After our walk we sat outside in the evening heat and now we have showered, I used the on-site shower which was nice, (But the toilets don’t have a toilet seat, they are not designed to have a toilet seat, you just sit on the ceramic, I bet that’s not very comfortable!), and now we are sat inside with every window wide open with the fan blowing cool air all around, and its very nice indeed!
No Travelling
Brollies!!!
I had a lovely sleep last night, thankfully it was cooler than I expected it to be, I suppose the elevation helps.
I went running, Wendy didn’t as she is unsure of the countryside. I think the fact that we are high puts her off as she thinks she is going to have to climb some hills and with high temperatures as well.
I followed the river and surprisingly the path was very level, I was on a purpose-built track and I followed it on an almost level basis for four miles. The river is nice but the views weren’t great, although it was a proper walking and cycling track. I was just going through estates and other non-view types of places, but at least I got my run in.
It was hot though, when the sun came up it was very warm and I had a right dab on.
This got me thinking, I ought to know a little bit more about the area, so I did some research when I got back, here is what I found:
Aurillac is at 600 m (2,000 ft) above sea level and located at the foot of the Cantal mountains in a small sedimentary basin, which I have found extends for several miles.
The Cantal mountains were formed over 13 million years ago and were made by the largest ever volcano in Europe, which last erupted over 2 million years ago, I guess we are safe then!
So we are on a large plateau, which in itself is an area of fairly level high ground.
Don’t get me wrong there is the odd hill, but in the main the town and its surrounding suburbs are fairly flat, with the Jordanne River flowing nicely through it.
Actually, on the way back I stopped at the river, in town, and looked into it. The river is clean all through the town and you can actually see large fish swimming merrily in it.
I got back absolutely lathered and I took some time to cool down. My banana smoothie, with extra ice did help mind.
As soon as I was washed and shaved, we jumped in the car and drove to the nearest supermarket to fill the car with fuel and to buy some salad for our supper. We also stopped at our very local supermarket because they have a delicious looking meat counter there.
We bought what we thought were filets steaks and I almost had a thrombosis when I was told that it was 19 euros. But on checking the exchange rate I saw that they were £16 which I guess in a consumer crisis isn’t as bad as it first seems.
Wendy had put some washing on just before we left and was just hanging it out when we left, so when she had finished hanging it out, we took a walk into town.
There is, what we thought was a very nice-looking church on a hill close by to our camp ground. We walked, in the midday sun, up some very steep steps, lots of them, only to be met with a very uninspiring council looking building.
I had another dab on, climbing up the steps and we laughed at the old advert for “Sure” deodorant, the one where they sprayed a tick on a woman’s back and had her undertake strenuous activities in the jungle. It is so obviously against any moral type of modern advertising that you just could not air it these days.
Here it is, it took one simple Google search to find it, go on, check it out and have a laugh:
Advert for Sure Deodorant, 1970s - Film 1093303 - YouTube
We got back down to the town and we did look at one proper church, however it is under serious restoration and wasn’t worth taking any photographs inside as there was just a temporary alter.
We had a very good walk around town, in the blistering heat, but we did manage to occasionally dodge into the shade every now and then.
We came across a local market where local produce was being sold. There were some bars too but none were doing much business. Wendy was meandering in front of me and stopped me when I caught up and told me a store holder had made her a cheese and chorizo type snack, which she didn’t want as she doesn’t like cheese. I ate it instead and it was lovely. We were going to buy a roll of the meat, it was duck, but it cost 13 euros for one roll, which was as big as my long finger, which really isn’t very long. The fella said I could have two for 25 euros, which still didn’t do it for me. Had it been a fiver I might have! No one likes to shop locally more then me, but I won’t do it when it hurts like a bee sting!
In town, and it was on my second street of artistically displayed umbrellas that a memory of Aurillac was actually famous for being a large producer of umbrellas came into my mind, and sure enough it is. The umbrella industry is a major employer for the town as well as farming and cheese making!
We stopped at our favourite bar where Wendy had a glass of wine and I had a small beer. It was so lovely sitting there under a large umbrella that we each had another glass of wine before walking back to the caravan.
We got back to the van at around 3:00 pm and as Wendy wanted to take some time in the shade, I jumped onto my mountain bike and headed up into the hills.
I went in the opposite direction from my run this morning and it wasn’t until I got 1.5 miles from camp that I started to climb up.
I came to the small, but very nice-looking village of St Simon where the climb really did get very steep. I pushed on and the sweat was again pouring out of me.
I got to over 850 metres in height and then I turned around and glided back down to the camp ground. I had to be careful coming down as my bike needs some new brake blocks, but the breeze was an utter delight as I came down the hill.
The countryside was stunning, it was also very green which is obviously because the area gets an over average amount of rain per year from anywhere else in France.
The farms were all dairy and there were cows everywhere, in fact I could hear the clanging of bells as I sped down, this is why the region is famous for its cheese production!
Supper, was another fantastic dining delight.
Wendy prepared the mushrooms and salad and I cooked.
The steak was perfect, it needed a little longer cooking, but it was lovely and we ate outside, under the canopy in the last of the afternoons hot sun and it was perfect.
After the cricket had ended, we took a walk into town for one last drink with our new friend, the bar owner. To get there we walked through the local market which was actually buzzing with people, the bars were mobbed and so were the food stalls too, well it was a lovely Friday night.
We had a last glass of wine with our friend and she did something really nice, sadly I have run enough copy for tonight Avid Reader, but I promise it will be the first feature in tomorrow’s run!
95 Miles
Hill Climbs!
When we left the bar yesterday afternoon, we went for a look in the craft shop which was next door. As we left and passed the door of the bar, the owner shouted for Wendy to go in, which she did, I sat outside and waited.
She was gone an age; lord knows what they were talking about.
Wendy eventually came and told me the lady thought that we were very nice people and that she had taken our photograph and she asked Wendy for her email address so that she could send it to her. She also told Wendy that she liked her dress!
Anyway, when we got back to the caravan Wendy suddenly said, “I gave her a wrong email address”, I said, “How on earth could you do that?” “It’s not wendygill@uk.com is it?” was her response, “No it’s not that Wend!” was my reply.
So that’s why we went back to the bar to give the poor lady the correct email address, she laughed when Wendy said that she was an idiot!
I told Wendy where to go running where she wouldn’t find too many hills and she went out before me this morning. I went the same way too and met her on her way back.
As soon as I set off, I knew I had told her the wrong way, it was first right out of the camp and not left then right as I had told her.
Actually, it was a much better road, I got even further up the hill then yesterday and I sailed through the village of St Simon. I got to my four-mile point and there were about ten cows in a field. They each had a large bell around their neck and they were making a right old clanging noise.
It was that warm that I had to fill my bottle from the river, thankfully I had a large chunk of ice left so it cooled it really nicely.
I got back to the caravan and confessed about the wrong direction, but we both agreed it was actually a very good road to run along.
We set off from the campsite at 11:15 am and it was already 28 degrees, it was gone 30 by the time we had left the town, it was roasting.
We took a good straight road for about 30 miles and then the road started to climb, it was a monster. It must have been over 3 miles long. Towards the end I was down to 3rd gear and doing over 2,000 revs per minute. About a half mile from the top, I saw the temperature gauge move upwards from its normal halfway position and I throttled back, just a bit. The fan must have kicked in because the temperature went back to normal, phew!
I have to admit it took all of my knowledge and experience to get this car and caravan over that dam hill.
We then went down for a fair bit, in fact it was about 5 miles, with an advertised run off lane 4 miles away, fat lot of good that would have done if my brakes had gone there and then.
We came out in a most beautiful gorge, The Lot Gorge:
Embedded between the Aubrac and Causses plateaus, the Lot River Valley is a paradise between the two less hospitable highlands. The river takes its source on the northern slope of Mont Lozère. I have to say it is truly stunning and I managed to stop and take a few pics.
As we went on, we passed through a most beautiful village on the banks of the river, they should have put a sign up at the start of the village where there was a large car park, “Stop here because this is a beauty”, but they didn’t so I drove through as slow as I could to take a look at Estaing.
Here’s a little tourist blurb that I later found about Estaing: The Gothic bridge that straddles the Lot is classed as UNESCO world heritage as part of the Chemins de St Jacques de Compostelle. Each year, it is crossed by pilgrims on their way to St Jacques. While crossing it, they can admire a wrought iron cross, symbol of the Aveyron. This cross inspired the goldsmith Henri Lesieur who made it into a famous gold work of art. Opposite, is the statue of François d’Estaing, Bishop of Rodez, welcoming pilgrims.
Further on the Sat Nav took us off the main road and over yet another massive hill, but this time I was smart enough to manage the car over. It did actually save us a good deal of milage and it was a good short cut but in hindsight, had I known I would have driven the extra miles and not put the car through it.
We joined the A75 with about 20 miles to go and that’s where we passed the 890-metre elevation marker, jeepers that is 2,920 feet high! I know I have been over 10,000 feet in the USA, but that wasn’t in my car pulling a two-tonne caravan!
For the last 10 miles the Sat Nav took us down a smaller back road and all we did was just drift downwards.
We were soon in Millua and our campsite was 100 metres off the main road.
We are camped on the banks at the confluence of two rivers and it’s a smashing site, we were booked in by a lovely young woman and soon we were all set up, and roasting hot by the time we were done.
After a snack under the awning, we took a walk into the town centre. Jeepers its much bigger, and hotter than I can ever remember.
We walked around a fair bit and then stopped for a cool beer in a shaded bar, now that was a real treat.
I bought some new iPhone ear plugs as I have gone through another set. I was given one set, but when I got out of the shop, I tried them and they didn’t fit my phone. They only cost 20 euro so I took them back, the manager then gave me a pair of fully fledged iPhone ear plugs for no extra. These ear phones go for £40 in the UK and I did offer to pay the extra, but he insisted it was his mistake so that was that, I was dead chuffed!
We did a supply shop on the way back to camp and then we took our beach recliners down to the river side for about 90 minutes of lovely hot sunshine.
By this time play had started at the cricket and I listened to it through my new ear phones.
Supper was a delight of knock up tapas under the awning after which we took our two free camp site bar, free glasses of welcome wine.
I took a walk while listening to the cricket and Wendy went back to the caravan to relax.
I have booked us on an adventure trip tomorrow, will it be paragliding, abseiling, gorge walking or bungy jumping, you’ll have to wait and see Avid Reader, but I’m sure it will be considered extremely dangerous by Wendy Gill.
There’s just one fly in the ointment about this site, our French neighbours have a noisy air conditioning unit in their caravan, they have gone out just now and left it on, Wendy is fast asleep and I can put my ear plugs in and drown it out, but surely aircon in a caravan is outside the convention of peace and quiet caravanning, isn’t it?
I might just have to put my Geoffrey Boycott head on tomorrow, or maybe even tonight, if I feel that way out!!!
10:43 pm - Adedendem - The Air Con is now off, it must have been my dirty looks!
No Travelling
Canoeing
I was up at 6:00 am sharp, and so was Wendy Gill, actually she was up in bed and reading as I opened my eyes.
I burnt her toast, just a little bit, this morning and boy did she moan, she actually left the slightly brown bits.
I went running along the mountain road, four miles into the hills. The sun had not come from behind the mountain so I was ok. Actually, it was just a long gentle climb and I think I got to 400 metres altitude and it was nice, there was no one around apart from the odd cyclist.
Wendy stayed in her scratcher and I found her sat under the canopy when I got back.
Our appointment with adventure wasn’t until 11:00 am so we relaxed at the caravan with my lovely banana smoothie and then I did a few chores, like plotting our course to the Med, it’s the last leg, and it’s on for tomorrow!
At 11:00 am we walked about 200 metres to the adventure association, which is next door to the campsite, for fun on the river.
Actually, we did this years ago with the kids and neither of us can remember much about it apart from the snake in the tree! Wendy was rather reluctant to go along just because of that, anyway that was such a long time ago that the snake in question is sure to be dead!
Actually, it is a much bigger enterprise now, when we last went it was just one man at the campsite with a few canoes, now there are trailer loads of them and it’s a never-ending cycle of people being dropped off up river.
We drove up with a French family of five, with three teenage boys, in a small mini bus with the canoes in a trailer behind us.
We were first to leave and I sat in the back of the canoe, taking control of operations.
You could not believe it, the very first rapids we encountered and she was chuntering, wildly.
You would have thought we were going down the Grand Canyon without a paddle from the screams she emitted.
There was nothing else to do to calm her down so I pulled in at an appropriate stop and gave her two glasses of white wine. That did the trick and from there on in you would have thought that she had been a born sailor.
Wendy, bless her, did try to paddle but she could not grasp Newtons Law where he stated that every action results in an opposite and equal reaction. She constantly paddled on the wrong side of the boat. As a result, we ended up ramming the river bank on several occasions, and every time she said, “I’m sorry, it’s the wrong way, I’ll get it soon!”
We did one further wine stop and then we carried on. The gorge we went down was stunning, it was well worth the hurt on my ears every time we went down some rapids.
Actually, the river was quite low and I had to get out a few times and push us off the rocks.
We never once looked like turning over but I did give it an extra wobble from time to time just to keep her on her toes!
All in all, we spent two and a half hours on the water and it really was such good fun.
During the time we pulled in I would quickly check the cricket scores to see how we were getting on, it wasn’t great but we were still in the match.
After we dropped off our canoes we had a half hour at the caravan, jeepers the sun was hot, it was roasting.
To top off our day of adventure we took our bikes in search of the Road Across the Sky.
The Millau viaduct holds the world record for the tallest bridge, culminating at 343 metres (higher than the Eiffel tower), 2460 metres long and touching the bottom of the Tarn Valley in only 9 places.
Conceived by the French engineer Michel Virlogeux and designed by the English architect Lord Norman Foster, it fits perfectly into the naturally intact and grandiose landscape: a very thin slightly curved steel roadway supported by stays gives it the appearance of a huge yacht and the ensemble rests on 7 very slender pillars.
I have driven across it a couple of times but I have never seen it from below so we took our bikes for a 9-mile, roasting round trip, to see it, and it was cracking, but very hot.
Jeepers it was hot; it was so hot we just had to stop for a beer at a riverside bar and we bumped into the lad who served me in a bar in town yesterday. This was the lad that I had a good chat to while he was changing the beer barrel, and who Wendy was sure was a girl in transition. Well, he looked pretty settled as a man to me with his very pretty girlfriend, but I guess you can never tell these days. It was nice that he remembered me and gave me a wave, but I guess that any English man speaking in cruddy French is worth remembering.
All this time I was listening to the cricket and it was thrilling, could we do it?
After the bar we cycled back to the caravan and I had to do several laps of the site as Woaksy and Woody took us over the line. Everyone must have thought me nuts as I punched the air when Woody smashed a six!
To celebrate our fantastic win, we took our sun beds down to the beach for a little R&R, along with a glass or too of wine. It was nice, but jeepers it was hot, its almost 10:00 pm and I’m sat outside and it still blistering hot.
For supper we had home made burgers that I cooked on the barbie. These are burgers that we brought from home, well over 1,000 miles ago.
Its moving day tomorrow, our final destination, will we have to go into the clouds yet again or can we just have a delightful run to the Med?
No, I don’t think so either!
Foot note, I’m being a little obnoxious tonight as our neighbours have again got their air con unit on making a right racket with every window open, so I have RD Taylor on my speaker on full blast, we don’t have anyone on the other side or behind us, it’s just them so see how they like it.
So much for entente cordiale eh?
78 Miles
38 Degrees
I forgot to mention a couple of things in yesterday’s copy:
1. One of Wendy’s funny quotes, “I should have had a drink of wine before we started!”
2. I went swimming in the river after my run yesterday, it was exhilarating and so refreshing. I left my crocs on as the river bed is very stoney, it’s surprising how buoyant Crocs are, despite all the holes in they made my feet float. I just lay there and let the current float me down river. It was so good I did it again today.
I ran to the Road in the Sky this morning, jeepers it was hot, if this continues, I will have to start running in my vests!
We left Millau at 11:15 am and it was 31 degrees centigrade, at over 1,000 feet!
That wasn’t very good for the old car, because within two miles of leaving the camp site we were climbing up into the mountains for over 6 miles. It was a nonstop drive to heaven.
We had to contend with hair pin bends and also with exceptionally steep hills. I tried to keep the engine revs at around 1,500 per minute but occasionally I hit 2,000 revs, in third gear, in fact I never got out of third gear until we were on the plateau at the top.
I watched the temperature gauge intently and it only once started to move away from its normal setting, I dropped the revs and it went straight back down. I couldn’t do anymore; I had checked both the oil and the coolant level before we left and both were full to their maximum indicators.
On the plateau we sailed along in fifth gear for about 30 miles, at almost 3,000 feet.
The road down the hill lasted another seven or eight miles and it was, again, third gear all the way down, thankfully this time I didn’t go anywhere near 2,000 revs.
We were not allowed onto our new campsite until 2:00 pm and the Sat Nav was saying we were going to be there at 1:20 pm, so I was looking for somewhere to stop for a forty-minute break.
We came to a roadside Aire break with about 25 miles to go so we stopped, it was 36 degrees and there was very little shade. There’s absolutely no point trying to sit in the caravan as it gets roasting hot and you would melt, even with the windows fully open. Thankfully there were some trees that gave us some good shade.
We nabbed one such tree and I went to put the kettle on for a cup of coffee and then I carried the sun chairs up to the tree, and with my coffee we had a lovely relaxing forty minutes. It was a delight, the crickets were buzzing and it was roasting hot, but we did get an occasional blast of a very nice breeze.
By the time I had drunk my coffee I started to listen to the Jeremy Vine show who started with talking about the BBC Star who has been a little bit naughty, but at least it’s not Jeremy.
Back on the road and the car thermometer had risen to 38 degrees as we drove on.
It was 36 degrees by the time we had found our campsite, and its rather nice.
We are on a campsite which is on the banks of the River Herault. There is a cycle lane directly outside our campsite and its absolutely level which will be a bonus for running tomorrow.
We set up camp in the blazing sunshine, I have to admit that my shorts were wet through with sweat as it was dripping down my entire body.
But, in no time at all we were fully established on site.
We now have the air inflated awning up, camp kitchen established and we are now fully functional with two working fridges.
As it was too hot for Wendy, I went on my own to go and undertake a reccy of our area. I did want to first go to the Med, but I went in the opposite direction. Silly me, I should have noticed that the boats on the river were facing the direction of the flow and were pointing upstream.
But actually, it was a blessing in disguise because I found the town of Adge for tonights supper, and in there I found a Spar supermarket where I bought two pork steaks in a spicy sauce.
The town looks quite nice, I didn’t get off my bike for any pics as the town is in disarray due to road works, but I will be back tomorrow.
I dropped the supplies off at the campsite and then Wendy joined me on her bike for a ride down to the Mediterranean Sea which is just over a mile away.
Jeepers it was very, nicely hot.
We found the beach and it was buzzing, a market was just setting up and it was all rather nice.
The bars make no accommodation for the English language so its fair to say we are in a French tourist hot spot, and that in itself is quite nice.
There are bars and restaurants down the river and along the Med and they do look quite inviting.
The town, which I haven’t worked out its name is where our river meets the sea, and it’s a hive of activity with jet skis and paddle boards.
We had a beer in a bar and it didn’t break the bank, thankfully.
We bought a bottle of organic wine from a nice market trader and then biked our way back home, where after I had an evening dip in our very nice pool, I cooked supper outside and it really was a treat.
We are now sat outside with the electric fan on, nicely cooling.
We have, for some unknown reason, all-inclusive bands on our wrists for accessing the site, but I guess as we have a very nice bar area, a lovely pool and other facilities, freeloading campervan people might just sneak in and use the said facilities, so the bands might be a security measure, I do hope it doesn’t mess with my tan though!
No Travelling
Overcast
Well, thankfully we are on a very nice campsite which although had a musical group on last night in the bar, it was all quiet after 11:00 pm.
Some sites with permanent residents can be a little noisy as its their life, and they live it like being at home. Maybe I wouldn’t have booked this site had I known a lot of permanent residents were here.
Like yesterday, the old fella across the road had parked his car on our plot. He had added that much to his plot in extensions and very nice raised platforms that he hasn’t any room for his car. He came out lipping in French to me, I don’t think he was being grumpy, I think he was apologising, but he had parked his car on a campsite that someone was bound to want to pitch up at.
He wanted me to back up so he could get out, but I wasn’t backing up without my guide so I just pulled enough forward so he could get out. Wendy had gone to reception to tell them about the car so she couldn’t help. He did a little bit of under breath chuntering as he passed, but I wasn’t caring!
If I could speak French, I would have told him he was being selfish, but I couldn’t be bothered, I just wanted to get set up.
It was warm overnight and we slept with the fan on, but I slept just fine.
It was overcast this morning but it was still hot so I went out in my running vests, and it was lovely.
The bike track we have outside the site runs both to the town of Adge and to what I think is the Cap de Adge, which is the seaside resort. We are perfectly safe on there and it runs along the side of the wide river, its perfect!
I ran down to the river mouth and then I ran along the prom. The prom stopped and so I went along the back streets which ran parallel to the beach. I was hoping to get back onto the beach at some point and I found a track that took me there at my four-mile point.
I sat on the beach drinking my bottle and a young woman came down the same track as I had just done and then ran along the beach, back towards the river, which I couldn’t see because it was three miles away.
I thought that I would like a beach run, so I followed her and low and behold it took me right back to the river, I was dead chuffed.
Wendy was showered when I got back and I had a nicely relaxing smoothie in the awning, it was still overcast but the sun was breaking through and it was now very hot, again!
We have an issue with the caravan fridge, it has stopped working on electric mains power, it works fine on gas and on battery, when we are towing with the car, but not on mains power.
I have tried to look online for a solution, I have checked the fuses and they are fine, but I cannot get anything back to help me. The bottom line is that we have the travel fridge in the awning which has its own freezer section, but it is nice to have a food fridge and a drinks fridge, in this heat.
I am now running low on gas and so I will now have to find an outlet that sells rechargeable LPG, (Avid Readers will know I bought a rechargeable system from Beauly Camp Ground several weeks ago).
Therefore, today’s mission was to find such an outlet, and thankfully I did, it’s a massive supermarket about four miles away where we also bought some supplies. Tomorrow I will go and fill the cylinder which will last us another week or two!
After we got back to the caravan, we took our bikes to the beach and went for a nice walk around town. Actually, we were looking to buy a beach trolley, we need one to get our stuff to the beach and I don’t think that loading the bikes like we have done before by strapping things to them with bungees is for me anymore, not now I am in my 60’s.
We found one, it was in a small hardware shop but we said we would buy it on the way back so that we weren’t trundling it about with us.
Carrying on walking and I got a severe weather warming for thunder and downpours for our area on my weather app.
There was nothing else to do but go find somewhere nice for lunch and just laze the day away. The trouble was that we had left the top vents in the caravan open which isn’t great with rain. So, the plan was, we would buy the trolley, I would somehow cycle back with it, close the roof vents and cycle back, oh and bring Wendy her brown leather strappy sandals back too.
On the way to buy the trolley we came across another shop, selling the same model for 10 euros less. So we bought that, and snook past the other place so they didn’t see us!
I cycled back, with the trolly folded and placed on my handle bars, it was a bit ropey but I did manage to get there without falling off.
Now the next dilemma, do you know how many brown leather strappy sandals Wendy Gill has in the caravan wardrobe, millions!!!! I took two pairs with me and thankfully I took the right pair.
I cycled back to the beach and we then went back to a restaurant we quite liked and we had an absolutely stunning lunch.
Originally, I was in my vest, but back at the caravan I changed into a nice casual shirt, standards have to be maintained at lunch, sadly I was the only one at the restaurant with any style.
The food was a delight though, I had beef tartar and Wendy had tuna tartar, the salad was a delight too!
We sat outside on the beach and we just really enjoyed the food, and the wine too. The staff were all really nice as well and it was just such a relaxing meal.
We headed back to the caravan where after a little R&R we took the bikes into the ancient town of Adge.
We followed the cycle track in and then locked the bikes and walked around.
The town is old and was once a walled town, but there isn’t much in the way of shopping there. There are quite a few, nice looking riverside restaurants but not much else.
Walking around the tight streets of the old town I felt a little bit like I was in the film, “Interview with a Vampire”. I could envisage that 200 years ago that vampires would be on the roam looking for prey, it is that kind of place, Wendy wasn’t keen at all.
We settled back at the caravan with a few nibbles of bread, cold meats, cheese for me and some pate, it was rather nice.
My weather app says its going to be hot tomorrow so I am hoping to load the new trolley up, somehow hook it to my bike and enjoy a day at the beach.
I have to, I promised Bridget that I would take the Skipton beer bottle she gave me at Inverpolly and drink it when I got to the Med, iced cold and tomorrow I hope to do just that!
By the way, the thunder and rainstorm never came, not so far anyway!
No Travelling
Rain!!!
Actually, just after filing last nights copy, we got rain, it was mizzle to start with, that lasted an age then the good stuff came, not for long but long enough for the garden.
I got up for a drink in the night and I went to get water from the outdoor fridge and I could see the clouds clearing in the night sky, it was about 3:30 am and it was still dark outside.
This morning we woke at 6:30 am to brilliant blue skies and the sun just poking out of the corner.
Wendy stayed in bed and I went running to run to town, over the bridge and down to the Med on the other side of the river. I had guessed it would be within my daily 8 miles, I was wrong, it was 4.35 miles there, meaning it was 8.7 there and back.
I ran along the River Hérault and it’s a rather pleasant and busy river with lots of boats coming and going. The river is just under 100 miles long and for the first mile and a half is tidal. The river is navigable for the first seven miles and forms a short stretch of the Canal du Midi and there are lots of boat hire companies operating on it too, there is even canoe hire but I can’t somehow persuade Wendy to go out on one with me!
The other side is really interesting, the beach is stunning but it’s not so much commercialised as our beach.
After breakfast we went on a gas hunting mission.
I haven’t filled an LPG gas cylinder before but being a retired firefighter, I do know about the dangers of LPG, so before going on the hunt I watched several YouTube videos of what to do, and I thought I had it, thankfully I did.
The first place we went to didn’t have LPG, which actually is called GPL in France, even though they advertised that they did.
We then went to the Intermachie fuel station and they did indeed have it, but it was self-service but they didn’t have any payment system at the tank. I went to the shop and the lady there was as helpful as a chocolate fireguard. Thankfully it clicked that I paid for it at pump one and assigned my filling point as pump 9.
I did manage to fill the tank in the end, when I had to disconnect the connection to the tank, I knew that there was pressurised liquid gas still in the connection, so I said to Wendy, “Are you ready for this?”
The resulting bang and gas cloud had Wendy hitting her head on the car ceiling. She said, “Did you know that would happen?” I said, “Yes of course that’s why I said are you ready!” She then said, “I thought you were kidding”
On a serious note, I was going to buy a refill gas cylinder in Beauly for £30, when the camp warden in Beauly explained the refillable system to me. Today I paid 8 euros for a full cylinder of gas. Another few refills and I’ll be making money!
Back at camp and with the refill now fully functioning and keeping the fridge cool, we gathered our beach equipment together and put it into our new beach trolley and attached it to my bike.
I had actually had a few trial runs and it did seem to work.
And it did, we had a lovely day on the beach, jeepers it was hot and roasting.
I took my first dip in the Mediterranean Sea since 2018. I then had a beer that my friend Bridget had given me at Inverpolly, it was ice cold from the cool bag, and it was also an utter delight. I told her when she gave me it that I would only drink it on the beach at the Med, and I kept that promise. I also have another one that she gave me, that’s waiting in the fridge.
The sun was hot but there was a nice cooling wind. I fell asleep briefly while listening to the Jeremy Vine show and woke to a cloudy sky, it was still very hot.
The beignet man came calling with his hand pulled cart and I bought Wendy one, but she was not impressed, it was as dry as a dead dingo’s donger, so she said. There are 3 competing beignet carts on the beach so now she is going to have to try them all to rate them!
The wind did indeed get uppity and it blew our old and tired parasol inside out so we binned it and bought another one from the same people we bought the beach trolley from, they were very pleased to see us, again!
At 3:30 pm we rode back to the caravan park, with me pulling the trolley again and would you believe it the sun came back out.
After Wendy had taken a shower, we took our bikes down into town and over the bridge and then we cycled all the way to the beach on the other side, and it was good fun.
We took the route that I had taken this morning and we got to the beach again, and it was now mobbed with people.
There isn’t much there on the other side of the river apart from a few bars and some stunning beaches, and that stunning beach was mobbed with people, where did they come from?
After a walk to the end of the pier we rode our bikes along the back streets and we found a massive car park that was full to bursting, that’s where all the people had come from, and a local market was also setting up.
To while away the time while the market was set up we took a beer in a very nice riverside bar and it was then I decided that instead of cycling back, we would jump on the small ferry that runs back and forth to both river banks.
At the market, Wendy bought two dresses at the same shop, she was delighted.
Back at camp I cooked a supper of chicken breasts and I have to admit it was a little stringy and undercooked, it was still tasty mind in a very nice garlic jus!
Then we watched a little bit of the distasteful news of a very nice BBC presenter who has got himself into a bit of a pickle with his private life!!!
No Travelling
We had an early night last night and it was very peaceful, I woke at 5:30 am just as daylight was coming through. I laid and watched it get brighter outside and then at 6:00 am I went outside in my night dress and sat in the cool morning air, it was lovely.
I’ve seen news reports that we are in for two weeks of a heatwave, and it is pretty hot here. But we are well equipped for it, we have a good fan, we have two fridges and there is a nice cool pool at the site. There is also a very nice breeze at the beach and the sea is lovely to lay in.
I ran along the beach for a full 3 miles today and it was interesting towards the end. There were some fantastic homes along the beach front and one in particular stood out, alone and looking really nice, I was, I must admit, a little jealous.
I got back and has a market had been set along the prom I took a quick shower and we biked down to take a look.
Jeepers it was busy and there was everything you could possibly need on sale!
The trouble was we had no cash euros, I knew that there was a cash point in the town but it was mobbed, there must have been about 30 people in the queue so I didn’t bother.
The only thing I would have bought was silicon wine bottle stoppers, which look quite good, and some light shorts. It’s just too hot with heavy shorts on so I need some lighter ones, but never mind, there’s always next week.
Back at camp I had an extra cold smoothie and then we went shopping to the biggest supermarket in the entire world, it was a, “Super U Massive”, and it was.
We needed Hansel and Gretel to find our way back, it really was that big!
As we queued in the very long queue, (French people seem to like to spend a lot of time in a supermarket, dawdling and then slowly check out), I nipped over a barrier to find a cash point. That was a mistake, I was questioned by about 17 check out staff who wanted me to walk back through where I came in. No way, I acted silly again as it was a half mile away and thankfully I got away with it!
Back at camp we unloaded our goods and then we readied the chariot for the beach. I am no longer allowed for the trailer to ride shotgun with me on my bike to perceived safety concerns, so I had to walk it into town, but it wasn’t too bad.
Today we took our beach spot right on the tide line, Wendy wasn’t overkeen but it meant that we didn’t have anyone blocking our view, and it was nice to hear the Mediterranean Sea washing in and wash out again.
Jeepers it was hot though but thankfully Wendy, who doesn’t like the heat these days, managed to gather herself under the new parasol and so she managed to keep out of the sun.
I took a few walks along the shore, dipping my feet and then I took a nap whilst listen to the Jeremy Vine show, It was Jezza that put me to sleep.
I was woken suddenly by Wendy who said that I had missed the beignet man as he had just gone by.
This was not just the beignet man, this was Captain Beignet, he says so himself on his tray!
Jeepers I don’t know about Captain Beignet, he was more like Dr Legg! I could not catch him, he was off like he was on a major mission. I actually had to wade around some rocks, waist deep in water, while trying to whistle him.
My whistle isn’t up to much these days so I didn’t get his attention, but a few choice Yorkshire Hey’ Ups, seemed to do the trick and I managed to get his attention.
Again, I bought a Nutella beignet and again Wendy was not overwhelmed with it, but it was better than yesterdays, so the leader board is, Captain Beignet one, imposters nil. There is one more operator to go for, watch this space avid reader!!!
After about 3 hours on the roasting beach, we walked back to the caravan, via a very nice riverside bar where we took a couple of glasses of very nice white wine as we watched the boats come in and out, it was lovely.
The walk back to the camp site was fine, but hot but after a shower I cooked mussels in a white wine and cream sauce. That was very nice, although the mussels left us both feeling very salty.
It’s now 9:30 pm and we are both sat in the awning with both side flaps halfway down, the saltiness from the mussels has subsided a little but it is still lingering on.
Wendy washed up the pots and pans and we seem to be missing a purple chopping board, I swear to goodness that it’s nothing to do with me, but Wendy is backtracking all the way back to when she last saw it in Calais, but I assure you Avid Reader it really isn’t me this time, honest!
No Travelling
Bastille Day
We both had a poor night’s sleep as a loud drumming noise, (actual drumming) was coming from somewhere far away. It sounded to me like the drumming tune you would play while someone was walking up the steps to the guillotine, now would that have anything to do with today’s date?
I went running towards the main town just to find a little more about the area and guess what? I found the Canal du Midi.
The Canal du Midi is a 240 km long canal in Southern France. Originally named the Canal Royal en Languedoc and renamed by French revolutionaries to Canal du Midi in 1789, the canal is considered one of the greatest construction works of the 17th century.
Described on the list of world heritage sites by UNESCO on December 7, 1996, this fantastic work, the principle of which dates back to antiquity, remained in the planning stage for centuries. Only the tenacity of one man, Pierre Paul Riquet, will come to the end of this crazy idea: to create then feed an artificial watercourse 240 km long, 10 to 20 meters wide and 2 meters deep linking the Garonne and therefore the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean with the technical and topographical means of the 17th century, under the reign of Louis XIV.
Throughout its route, and more particularly in Languedoc, the Canal du Midi encountered many obstacles requiring the construction of many structures, sometimes unique in their time, (Info care of Philipe Calas).
After my second breakfast we went on a bike ride, and what a cracker it was.
It was our intention to get to the large marina that appears to be up coast from us, that’s to the north.
There isn’t a direct route but I did manage to pick my way through the streets in a kind of direct way.
At one point an old man on a bike came out of nowhere just in front of me and I followed him. He went down a rough track and I followed him because he seemed to know just where he was going, and he did.
He led me to a secret beachside cycle track. I did know that there was a track there, from my Strava running app. But I didn’t know if it was good enough for a bike or was it just a beach run where people run along the sand.
Thankfully it was a nice, wide tarmac track, just built for bicycles.
As we got nearer to the marina, we came a cross aqua park where there were a range of obstacles in the water for kids to undertake, and there was a bar with tables in the sea for adults to watch them while enjoying a drink.
There was one obstacle that required a person to jump from a scaffold onto a giant balloon and then bounce into the sea. I was looking for five minutes but no one dare undertake the mission.
We cycled on and we found the northern most access to the port and we parked our bikes and locked them up, and then I found out that I had forgotten my vest!
Wendy wasn’t happy but thankfully we found a stall nearby that sold me a very nice fitting vest for 10 euros.
It’s a good job too because the sign on accessing the port said that a shirt was required for access.
I wanted to go to the port so that I could get a good photo of an island that we had seen from our beach. At first, we thought it was a large ship out at sea just leaving port, but because it has now been there several days we thought that it must be an island.
The marina is massive, it is huge and we walked miles to get to the point on the breakwater closest to the island but it was closed off with police tape and we could not get through. I was not going to be thwarted so after a drink in a bar we got back on our bikes and I did manage to get access to the southern breakwater where I did get a photo of the island.
The island is quite small and is about a mile from shore, and there is a military fort there called Fort Brescou.
It was built in the 1600’s and then it was disused but later refortified and later was used by the Nazis in the second world war as a defence line from a possible Allied invasion from the Med. Nowadays it is closed to the public but people can still visit the island and sunbath on the beach, which from the photograph seems to be a popular attraction!
We took one more beer in a beach bar and then we cycled back to the caravan where we rested after putting in a 16.20-mile cycle ride in stinking hot temperatures!
We had a glass of wine under the awning and we were going to go to the pool but it was too busy so we settled down on our plot and did a bit of sunbathing in our reclining chairs, and we both did a little snooze!
At just after 7:00pm we loaded the trolley with the BBQ gear and we went out of the camp site to an area that I had selected so we could have a nice evening meal.
It is extremely hot and the camp owners are not allowing BBQ’s so we had to go off site. I took with me a plyboard sheet to put the BBQ on, a fire extinguisher, a bucket, with rope and the watering can.
Wendy said she felt a “Ninny” because we were so over the top with our safety considerations. I told her what my boss Calum Munro always said, which was, “There is truth and there are perceptions”.
The perception was that we might be being reckless with the BBQ, the truth, with all that firefighting gear there was never going to be any danger, and do you know what? No one bothered us.
The beef however was the toughest I have ever known, it was meant to be grilling beef but after an hour and a half on the BBQ it was still as tough as old boots, tougher even!
It was that tough that Wendy cut her leftovers up and left it on a rock for the water rat that she had been mesmerised by while I was cooking supper.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom; we had some very nice prawns and garlic mushrooms with fried potatoes which were quite tasty!
Back at camp and we are all washed up, showered and ready for the Bastille celebratory fireworks, which are usually quite impressive!
Do you know Avid Reader? I have been in France on Bastille Day on quite a few occasions and I do hope that this one will live up to expectations, I don’t mind the fireworks, but I do object to the early morning guillotine step walking drumming!”
No Travelling
Sète!!!
It was an overcast morning when we both went running at 7:20 am, Wendy went first and then I followed. I was going for a beach run but when I got down there the wind was wild, it was crazy.
The Med was as wild as I have ever seen it before. I was running along the breakwater and I saw a young man on his surf board trying to get up onto his board but he wasn’t having much luck. At one point he was swept into a much bigger wave and I lost sight of him. I was getting worried and I kept looking for him but he was nowhere to be seen.
I found him dragging his surfboard out on to the beach, he had had enough, and I didn’t blame him.
So, with the beach run off the cards for today I headed back inland, past our campsite and up to the town.
As I was approaching the highway bridge which my path goes under, I could see an old lady struggling with her dog. The dog, about Labrador in size, was on a sniffing frenzy, and it was on a very long lead and she was really struggling with it. All of a sudden she was dragged over and she fell quite badly.
No one went to help her, people closer than me just left her. I was about 20 yards away and so ran over to help her. I would say she was in her mid-70’s, she was quite round and had a very low-cut top on.
When I got to her the dog was still going nutty and she was still holding the lead. I tried to get her up but the dog was pulling her away from me.
I made her give me the bloody dog lead, so here I am trying to pull this lady up with a dog going mental on a lead that I am holding and so I made a massive effort, I had both her arms in mine and I had to pull her quite hard to get her moving. It worked too well because my head was in her ample bosom in an instant, which I can category state was an act of force as opposed to ungentlemanly conduct.
I checked her over for injuries but thankfully she had no cuts or scratches.
I left her while she was giving me plenty of Merci’s and before she thought to contact the BBC about our accidental collision!
Back at camp and I cooked myself and Wendy an egg on toast, I also had fried tomatoes and fried mushrooms, it was a very nice once in a while change of routine.
We were going to have a beach day but we thought it too windy so we jumped into the car and headed for the city of Sète, which was 18 miles away.
Sète, pronounced Set, was absolutely fantastic, it was a stunner!!!
As soon as we arrived, I could see that it was, “A Little Venice”, and it was.
The lie of the land is bizarre, Sète is split in several places by sea lagoons and sea rivers that flow through the city, they all then form a large inland sea lagoon behind the city.
On the drive out to the city we drove on a thin spit of land that is only wide enough for a road and a railway line. This spit is also fronted by a stunning beach, miles upon miles of it.
The city was busy and the roadside cafes and restaurants were crammed packed with people and the food looked absolutely delightful. The city is renowned for sea food, especially shellfish which is farmed locally
We walked around the small shopping district where I bought my first ice cream of the trip, it was a double chocolate cornet and it was delicious.
The sky had now cleared and the sun was blazing.
We managed to, eventually, get to the coast and then we took a drink in a bar.
As we sat with our beer’s I did a bit of Googling about the city as I didn’t know anything about it, here is what I found on “The Lonely Planet” website, and it perfectly explains Sete:
“Set alongside the saltwater lagoon of Étang du Thau, Sète is sometimes called the ‘Little Venice of Languedoc’ – a reference to the many canals that run through town, including the Canal du Midi, which terminates its 240km journey here from Toulouse, (This is inaccurate), and the Canal du Rhône, whose 98km journey from Beaucaire also ends here.
Sète is a bit short on sights, but its honest, workaday atmosphere makes a refreshing change from the built-up tourist towns of the rest of the Languedoc coast. If you like seafood, this is the place to indulge: Sète sports restaurants galore cooking up sea urchins, sardines, cuttlefish and myriad coquillages (shellfish). Its centre is a great place to explore on foot. Be sure to walk up Mt St-Clair (the small hill that lords over the centre) for panoramic views and wander around La Pointe Courte, the old fishermen's quarter”.
As we were just around the corner from Mt St-Clair we decided to go and walk up there.
Jeepers it was steep, it is 176 metres, (577 feet) above sea level, and we started at sea level.
It was a slog, but thankfully we are both fit enough to take it in our stride, and the views really were something to behold.
There was a small church at the top, set into a cave where we sat for a few minutes in the cool air.
There was a café at the top where we shared a Nutella crepe and a can of oringena.
There was a photographic description of the owner making some squid pies and has they were for sale in the café I bought one for a treat before supper.
We took some steps back down to the city, there must have been 3 trillion of them!
After another walk around we drove back to the caravan.
We stopped at a beach access point about halfway down the spit and there was mile upon mile of sandy beach and it was all mobbed with sunseekers!
Back at the caravan and we swapped the car for our bikes, we wanted to put a chicken in the oven for supper but when Wendy opened the packet it was off, it stunk to high heaven. It gave us the hump because I only bought it the day before yesterday and its sell by date is the 17th. It’s been in the fridge all this time too, would it not be a hassle we would have taken it back, thankfully we also have some pork kebabs which are fine, with the same sell by date.
On our bikes we drove to a wine cave were after tasting we bought five litres of white wine for 12 euros. The owner was a smashing fella and he had Wendy tasting several of his liqueurs which she loved!
Before I cooked the kebabs we shared the octopus pie, and it was delicious!
“The family recipes for ‘tielles’ have been passed down from Italian immigrant fisherman to today’s passionate bakers of Sète. The essential ingredients of the tielle are octopus or squid and tomatoes.
Above all, the tomatoes must be really good and the sauce simmered for a long time. The reason I opened my store was to perpetuate the family tradition. I knew the recipes: I grew up with them.”
That’s a quote from a local woman who says that she, and only one other family makes them, that must be the fella we met at the café.
The real story is here, it’s quite interesting:
Tielle de Sète - Poor man’s pie that became a local French food icon (connexionfrance.com)
Supper was a little underwhelming by comparison, the pork was poor quality in the kebabs, I have never shopped in Hyper U before and I can promise you now Avid Reader I won’t be going back!
No Travelling
Beach Time!
I forgot to mention that on Bastille Night we did indeed get a massive firework show close by. It woke me at around 11:00 pm and I just laid in bed listening to it. Even though I didn’t see the fireworks I still enjoyed the noise they made, it was tremendous and lasted about 20 minutes.
I also forgot to mention that I was the subject of sexism the other day too. We were walking to the beach when a woman called over to me, “Monsieur”, she called me and I knew exactly what she wanted me for, my body!
She wanted help getting her mums disability scooter into the back of her van. She picked the front end up and left me with the back end, where the batteries are kept.
Jeepers it was heavy; I could have pulled a hernia. After it was safely tucked in she told me, in French, that it was supposed to be handled by a single person, who, Hercules, was my reply!
Now why did she ask me and not Wendy? We are supposed to be equals, aren’t we?
Last night we slept with all the blinds up and the fan on, jeepers it was a hot night.
I got up for a drink in the middle of the night and it was still roasting hot.
I went running along the beach again this morning and it was rather pleasant, there were lots of people out and about enjoying the morning sunshine.
When I got back Wendy took a load of washing to the laundry, it was 7 euros for one small load, that’s the most we have ever had to pay, what a rip off!
We walked down to the beach at around 11:30 am and it was pretty quiet. We found a nice space near the sea front but as we might block an elderly couple’s view of the sea, I sat in front of Wendy, well what a strop she had. She wanted me to sit next to her, as she always does, but I said it would be rude. She said they can’t be bothered about a view if they are sat 3 rows back, I said that they thought that polite people might be kind to them and left it at that.
Another family parked up close by and nabbed the view, and then the elderly people packed up and left, as I always say, “Its nice to be nice!”
I was listening to the radio after about an hour of being at the beach and I heard the roar of approaching jets, I took my ear phones out and looked behind my shoulder.
Six fighter jets were approaching at top speed in an arrow head formation and just as they got to the start of the beach, where we were sat, they moved into line and at that point they discarded a cloud of colour into the sky, it was a line of red, white and blue and it was a pretty amazing sight.
Being a smart cookie, I had my phone in my hand in an instant and I got some, what I thought were pretty good photographs of the event,
I have absolutely now idea what it was all about, Bastille Day was two days ago and I would have thought that that would have been the day to do it. However, I am so glad they did it today as I saw it all happen. It was pretty fantastic to see the jets drop the spray at the exact moment they all joined into formation.
Well, you could not beat that, well apparently you could!
The beach got busier and busier and we shared a beer and then a glass of wine and then I did a bit of reading.
Wendy spotted the beignet man coming along the beach with his cart and I went out to check if this was the third trader that we needed to try, and indeed it was.
By the time I got back to Wendy for some money he had taken his pitch about 20 metres from us and I went over.
I asked for a Nutella beignet and he took one out of a cool box and cut it open and spread fresh Nutella onto it! I said that’s how they used to be made and he said, “Only me do this”.
His English wasn’t good but he did ask me how the war in England was going, I told him it was going well. I think he might have got something mixed up here?
He gave me the beignet and he gave me a loyalty card, and if I collect six of them, I get a free beignet, now with 3 days left it seems I have a challenge!
Wendy loved the beignet, it was the best by far, it was moist and lathered with Nutella, its by far her favourite one and I guess we might make that 6 target in the 3 days left! I don’t think it was as good as the jets but Wendy loved it!
The beach got busier and busier and hotter and hotter!
By the time 5:00 pm came it was time to walk back and shower, but not before buying a very nice shirt that I fancied from a local trader. I had a worry about the size, medium was far too big and small, which is what I bought might have been too small. The trouble is these days everything is undersized and without trying it on its hard to judge. I couldn’t try it on as I was sweating and sandy!
By 6:30 pm I was shaved and showered and it was still very very hot, but at least the shirt fits, with room to spare.
As it’s a Sunday night we fancied a night out so at 7:30 pm we walked down to the beach and found it to be very busy, but we did get in at our third-choice river restaurant, the other two were full.
I had a camembert starter which was delightful, Wendy had beef carpaccio which was also very nice. For mains I had tuna linguini with roast tomatoes and Wendy had steak, chips and salad. Mine was very nice, but garlicky beyond belief, I might be thirsty later on. Wendy found her steak a little tough, but it was tasty, but she left her salad for me has it had a very mustardy sauce. I had a crème brulee for dessert but Wendy declined, she was stuffed, I am now!
We walked back, slowly to the camp and now I am sat inside stuffed while Wend’s outside doing her French lesson online!
No Travelling
More Beach Time
I was thirsty in the night, getting up twice for a drink.
Wendy didn’t go out running again this morning, that’s two days in a row and it’s because her calves are sore from climbing and then coming down the steps from Mont St Clair on Saturday.
I had a message from an Avid Reader last night asking why we had the fly past at the beach yesterday, I have tried a Google search but I could not find any reason why, perhaps the mystery of it added to the event, it was brilliant to watch, they all dropped their colour at the exact same time as they joined in line together.
The only thing I can find is that they were established in 1931 and they are considered to be the best aerobatic pilots in the world. That there are 10 pilots and they rotate 3 pilots each year and they, as a group select the next 3 to join them.
They fly a maximum of 9 planes and they often fly as 6, 7, 8 or 9. If they are flying 9 planes one pilot stays on the ground to direct operations, that’s most likely the same as any formation but that’s why they have ten pilots, so they can fly their maximum of 9 jets. In total they have 12 jets but again these are rotated for maintenance.
They also have two dedicated teams of mechanics, again these people are very carefully selected. One group is the Hit Squad who sort out last minute problems and then the second crews are very special, these are the Field Mechanics:
Based on the tradition, the Field Mechanic chooses the pilot. The mechanic accompanies the pilot during the appropriate season on all "meetings", and navigates in the rear for all transit flights. In a particular uniform, the latter ensures the effect placement of each flight departure and return. The confidence between the mechanic and pilot is absolute/total.
That’s maybe why they are considered to be so good!
I tried to run along the Canal du Midi in the direction of Sete but the track ran out. I did come across a field of the most withered and weary looking sunflowers. The ground was bone dry and it looks like they haven’t been watered for ages. The had barely grown three feet in hight and their flower heads looked like they could cry, what a shame.
I got back to camp and as it was near enough to 10:00 am I went down for a cooling swim in the pool which was rather nice.
I then had my smoothie inside the awning and it was very nice, I could get used to living in this heat. It’s a shame about the weather at home, I read online that there has been flooding at Blackpark yesterday!
Today we went to the big supermarket as we needed some supplies, and again it was mobbed. Its like every family have a day out there and they take their time about doing any shopping. And, they don’t mind holding up anyone who wants quick in and out.
I like my caravan life as it makes me have to live the life of a local, to a certain extent, and its rather interesting.
I will also say that the price of food is very expensive in France, so is fuel, at around 1.80 euro for a litre of diesel. Today we bought a packet of sausage for £5 and £7 for a piece of salmon that will barely do both of us!
After putting the shopping away, we had a beer and some crisps under the awning and it was very nice. I had mine with some brie cheese, that was really nice.
I have to say that the cheese in France is some of the nicest I have ever had, their soft cheese is an utter delight. Wendy doesn’t like it, she sits there and watches me eat this delicious cheese and she never touches one bit of it, she is nutty!
Today the beach was very quiet to start with and we found a very nice place to set base camp at the waters edge. We were setting up just as our favourite beignet man trundled up. As I was setting the umbrella up Wendy went and bought a beignet from him. I could hear them chatting as I went about my work and they did do some gassing.
Wendy came back with a kindle chocolate beignet, jeepers I had to have one of them so as soon as I had done my duty, I went over to buy one.
We got chatting and I found out that he is from Poitiers, which is a place we have been to.
He told me that he is at university and that he is studying medical massaging, which I suspect is chiropractor related or something similar. Because we were busy talking, he actually made me a Nutella beignet and was mortified that he had done so, and he was going to bin this one and make me another. I wouldn’t have him throwing his profits away so I took that, and it was delicious, and we got another 2 loyalty card tokens, so that now we have 3!
We were both reading our books on the beach and we both nodded off. I woke first and took a walk along the shoreline, the sea was actually warm. I waded in to knee deep and it was still warm. I later went for a swim and even out of my depth the Med was warm.
Bare in mind that we were in southern Spain in May and the Med was cold then, it just goes to show what the current heatwave is doing.
We stayed on the beach until almost 6:00 pm where we left and went and bought 5 litres more white wine and on Robyn’s recommendation, we tried two types of rose wine and bought 5 litres of the second one we had tried, actually they were both very nice.
The trolly wheels squeaked along under the weight of 10 kilos of wine!
After a quick shower each we jumped on our bikes and rode back down to the beach as it was Monday market night. The market was full but there wasn’t anything that we felt we needed to buy.
Back at camp and we had smoked salmon, cream garlic cheese and delightful French bread, oh and I had a few slices of Brie.
Its now turned 9:30 pm and we are sat outside without a breath of air around us, it’s still 30 degrees in the caravan so I’m guessing we are in for a very hot night tonight!
Tomorrow we are supposed to hit 40 degrees, I guess I need to make sure we have plenty of frozen water bottles for the beach then!
No Travelling
Even More Beach Time
Following yesterdays copy where I mentioned the heat in the sea here, I thought I would do some research, here is what I found:
“Summer of extreme weather highlights stark reality: The Mediterranean Sea is warming, fast!
Climate change is occurring faster on the shores of the Mediterranean than in the rest of the world, on average.
On one side there are extreme storms, and on the other, droughts. The shores of the Mediterranean are experiencing two sides of the same coin: climate change. This change is, on average, even faster than in the rest of the world. In the Mediterranean, the average temperature rose by 0.036°C per year between 1993 and 2020, that is almost 1°C in total, as revealed by data from Copernicus, the European Union's Earth observation program”.
Jeepers that is a worry, 1 degree every 20 years will be the start of World War 3 as water supplies run dry around the Med!
Last night we could hear some very loud music so when Wendy went to sleep, I went for a walk to find what it was all about and I found a pool party in full swing at the swimming pool.
It was well gone 10 pm and kids were bombing in the water and people were dancing about all over the shop, most were drinking, some were drunk and there were even outbreaks of petting”.
Now this is the pool that doesn’t open until 10 am and closes at 8:00 pm on the dot, you are not allowed to eat or drink there and there is a life guard on duty all day long.
Lord knows what happened last night but it looked like a party that Caligula would have been proud to have thrown.
This morning I ran along the beach and Wendy went out and her calves were a little better, jeepers it was hot on the beach.
I googled about the fridge not working on mains the other day and a page come up with, “Chat with a Thetford mechanic” so I clicked on the page and it was a Just Ask page, it would cost me £1.00 to chat and I thought I would give it a go. I did indeed chat online with a fella, so it said! He did actually explain why it works ok when running off the car and the gas and he suspects the mains heat exchanger has gone.
I thanked him for his help and let him go.
This morning Revolut, my travel money card, got in touch to say they had stopped a dodgy payment of £30, if I had authorised it, they would pay it, if not I would have to cancel my card and get another one, which I did.
It just goes to show you cannot trust anyone in the online world!
There was method in my madness, I used my Revolut card because it only had £50 on it and it cannot go overdrawn, if there is not enough cash on it the purchase gets refused. Had I used my credit card they would have had access to thousands upon thousands!
I had another swim in the pool when I got back from my run and then a lovely thick smoothie after which we headed down to the beach.
As soon as we set off the trolley wheels squeaked, so being a good engineer I employed my critical knowledge and deployed some WD 40, and it did the trick.
Every good engineer knows this basic rule:
If it moves and it shouldn’t – Use duct tape.
If it doesn’t move and it should – Use WD 40.
And that is why I travel with both, and I have successfully deployed them when required!
When we got to the beach it was overcast, in fact it looked like rain, but we settled down and read our books. I’m into a Michael Connelly book that I picked up in a charity store before we came away, its gripping!
Wendy was starving and at 2:00pm I went looking for our mate the beignet man. I walked a good while before I saw him coming down to the beach and I dashed back to Wendy to get some cash ready. She had already decided to go for a strawberry beignet.
Sadly, when he arrived it was not our fella, it was another man.
As we couldn’t see how he operated, and being on the receiving end of two dry duds, Wendy didn’t want to suffer the disappointment of another dry beignet so she gave it a miss.
As the sun was in and out of the clouds the beach thinned out but we stuck in, low and behold the clouds blew away and we had another very hot and sunny afternoon.
After a couple of hours, the new beignet man came back and I decided to look a little closer when he passed by. He did indeed have the spread on sauce that we get from our favourite fella so I went for one for Wendy. He had run out of strawberry but he had raspberry.
He did indeed spread it on and I got token number four for the freebee which I hope to cash in on tomorrow.
I asked him if he would be back tomorrow and he told me that he was standing in today for his best friend, I asked him if that was the blond-haired lad and he said yes, and he told me that his mate would be back tomorrow, phew!!!
We hung out at the very hot beach until 6:00 pm where we walked back to the campsite. Thankfully the squeaky wheel was still quiet, WD 40 is the thing for squeaks!
Supper was a delight, cooked by Wendy, we had sausage, garden peas, carrot puree and a very nice red wine jus, made by me,
As we were cooking outside, the fella who had his car parked on our pitch when we first arrived came over and spoke fluently in French. I knew exactly what he wanted and I used Google translate to tell him his answer, Thursday at 10 am, the cheeky old bugger!
Supper was lovely but Wendy was having a heat overload and had to have a cold shower straight after, and then the fan on her, solely, thankfully that did the trick.
Its 8:30 pm just now and it is still hot, hot, hot!
Tomorrow morning we will get the awning down and prepare for moving day on Thursday so tonight is just book time, wine and then an early night!
No Travelling
Commotion
We had to move fast at 4:00 am this morning as we had a sudden downpour. From her position in bed, Wendy instructed me to close the roof vents and then I had to go outside and bring the things that weren’t under the awning, under the awning. What a gale was blowing as well.
And before I got in to bed it all stopped and calm was fully restored and I was back to sleep in seconds!
Wendy didn’t go running as she said that she had not been able to get back to sleep.
Last night I hatched a little plan, today I was going to do a teeny tiny triathlon.
I cycled my bike just over a mile down to the beach, locked it up and ran the full length of the beach, right to the marina and port which was just under 4 miles. I managed to get my four miles by running along a short section of the portside.
I had run out in very good time; I suspected that the wind behind me was going to be troublesome coming back, and it was. It was blowing a gale and it was overcast.
Thankfully the sand wasn’t getting whipped up on the wet sand that I was running on, but I could see dust clouds driving across the dry sand.
I got back and I had done more or less 11minute miles, now that is slow.
I promptly undressed to my “big” pants and went for a lovely cooling swim in the Med. It wasn’t the ideal weather for it but it was rather refreshing. I did want to swim out a long way but I didn’t fancy the idea of leaving my stuff unguarded on the beach so I just splashed around in the shallow waters.
After the swim I put my shorts back on and cycled back, was that the tiniest triathlon ever?
When I got back, I found that Wendy had done a lot of work and the awning was ready to come down. The only thing I had to do was to pull the pegs out which was easier said than done as they seemed to be concreted in.
After the awning was packed away, I had my smoothie as I was starving.
After a little more tidying we drove to the supermarket to fill the car with fuel for the trip north tomorrow and to top the LPG gas cylinder up so we know that we can make it home with both fridge’s working.
Everything went to plan.
I have explained previously that I have to pay at pump one for my LPG. Today I filled the car at pump one and then I paid for my LPG at pump one, I then walked over to pump 9 and filled my cylinder while Wendy moved the car from the pump and in to the supermarket car park, a distance of about 20 yards, but it was unique because it was the first time ever that’s she has ever moved the car on the continent where other cars have been anywhere near her, and she did it without any issues!
Back at camp we decided that we would bike down to the beach to see if the wind had died down as we fancied one last day at the beach.
The ride down was nice but sadly it was very windy down there, so a beach day didn’t look like an option, it was also a little overcast. But we also had a second mission, we took a Tupperware bowl down to buy three beignets. We would buy 2 beignets and then use all of our collected tickets to get a 3rd beignet free. Sadly, despite our search of the beach, our man was nowhere to be seen.
So, what to do on a windy day when you are already on your bike, and listening to test Match Special, go for a bike ride!
First up we rode up to the town of Adge so that I could take Wendy to see the Canal du Midi. When we got there, I was starving, which isn’t like me after I have had a nice big smoothie, but I was, so I put the idea of a lunch in the old town to Wendy, and she snapped my hands off.
We found a nice little place in an old square where they had a French menu, but with an English translation. I ordered a beef steak, chips and salad, Wendy went for a fish burger. We also shared a litre of white wine, which was delicious!
My meal was an utter delight, Wendy wasn’t happy with hers. I did ask her who would order a fish burger in France. She explained that she would have thought that she would have had the finest fish burger in the whole world in France and not a fish cake with a cheese slice on top, and a bit of raw onion.
Our waitress was lovely, she was very pretty, she spoke very good English, but she smoked king size cigarettes when she got the chance!
The afternoon was lovely, despite Wendy’s burger and we sat there with our meal by the river and it was nice. For dessert I had a crem brulee and it was the best I think that I have ever had in my whole life, it was like a master symphony on my tongue, it was that good. I even licked the dish when Wendy wasn’t looking, in the main I got away with it too!
After our meal, and relaxation we cycled back down to the beach in search of our much-loved missing in action beignet man.
We sat on our bikes for a while scouring the beach in search of him but all we saw was Captain Bignet, and his are far too dry.
To while away a little time, we sat in a bar and ordered one small and one large beer. When the waiter brought our drinks, he asked for treize euros. I knew exactly how much he was asking for and so I gave him 10 euros. He said, “Non, Treize euro”, and then he wrote the number 13 on the table with his fingers. I said “Mate that is an outrageous amount of money for two beers, you are ripping me off”. I gave him a 20 euro note and he came back and gave me 7 euros change like it was a huge favour.
We made sure we wiled away the beers while we watched the shoreline for our bignet man.
Thankfully we could see his trolly come trundling into view so I nipped down to the shore. Sadly, it wasn’t my mate, but he was a nice enough lad, I bought two Nutella bignets and he gave me two loyalty tokens which I then added to the four I already had, I gave them to him and I asked for an apple bignet, which he dutifully gave me with a smile on his face.
By now the sun was out, it was still windy but not as bad.
We cycled back to camp and I did a little more preparation for tomorrows move. As Wendy was melting with the heat, I left her in the shade in her chair.
Its now 9:30 pm and we are sat outside, Wendy has the fan on her at full blast and she is just about coping.
Tomorrow, we head north for about 200 miles and I am thinking the interior of the north of the south of France will be hotter than where we have been for the last ten days, will Wendy melt Avid Readers?
197 Miles
Mountains
We were in bed earlyish last night and I set my alarm for 5:45 am. I woke thirsty at 4:30 am and went for a drink from the fridge but when I took the drink out it was clearly not cold. I checked the ice cubes and the tray had not frozen, there was a problem.
I went back to bed but I couldn’t sleep and at 4:55 am I was just thinking about sneaking out of bed when a little voice said, “Why are you fidgeting?”
I explained the situation, and with us now both awake I set about looking at what was wrong with the fridge. It could only stem from me swapping gas bottles yesterday while I refilled the rechargeable one.
I knew the gas was on so I turned the fridge completely off and then I turned it on in mains electric mode. I then changed it to gas operation and put my ear on the fridge door while doing so and I heard the gas light up.
It was then a fingers crossed couple of hours to see if the temperature had dropped.
We both went out running, I went out first at 6:20 am and I was greeted by a fantastic red sky, it was amazing. I took a picture but it doesn’t do it justice. I also saw a stunning sunrise.
I ran up to the town and then back down to the beach for one last look at the Med. By now the sun was up and there was a clear blue sky without any clouds around, it was a little windy but nowhere near as bad as yesterday.
I had my last smoothie in Adge in the glorious sunshine, sat in my chair with my legs resting on the little table, it was lovely!
We left the site at 10:00 am but we had to call in to the reception office to get our bands removed and we also got our 10 euro deposit back. The only thing we can think why we needed bands was that some people might have been caught sneaking in and using the facilities, like the showers and the pool.
I had set the Sat Nav to use toll roads because I didn’t want to get into the mountains only for me to come down to a lower level in Millau to miss the short toll section. Had I done that we would have come down, bypassed the short toll section but then we would have then had to climb back up to join the motorway after the toll section.
Traffic was light and we were on the main roads in no time at all.
We started to climb really steeply after about fifty miles and the first climb lasted for five miles.
Again, I kept the revs to around 1,500 rpm which meant that at times I was doing only 40 mph in third gear. The temperature gauge did a little wobble at one point but as soon as I throttled back it settled back again.
The highest marker we saw was 1,107 metres which is 3631.89 feet, which is pretty high for a non turbo car pulling a large caravan!
There were some more ups and downs but nothing as challenging as that first climb.
In no time at all we were heading over the bridge, otherwise known as the, “Road in the Sky”, at Millau. It was absolutely stunning and I did actually feel that we were flying through the sky.
We came down to earth with a bump when we got to the toll booth not long after as we were charged 18.60 euro which was £16.17 in our money!
After the almost heart failure of paying so much at the toll I had a cup of coffee from the flask and a half of apple beignet, it was a delight.
Not long after I had a half of Nutella beignet with some more coffee, Wendy had applied extra Nutella and it was dripping with it, again it was a delight.
This is the first time that we had approached Issoire from the south and it made it really easy to get to the campsite.
We have been here at least 3 times before, the site is a cracker, its big and its roomy and Issoire is such a lovely town.
We settled on a great pitch and soon we had the sun shelter out and Wendy had some washing on.
Again, it was roasting hot but we do have a pitch with some good shade.
We have also employed the water contraption because we have our own tap, and as we have our own drain, I have even deployed the waste water pipe which is a real bonus!
While Wendy waited for the washing, I cycled over to the hypermarket to get some bread and other essentials and when I got back we enjoyed a smorgasbord of brie, chorizo and very fat spring onions with French bread, in the sunshine.
We have one lady, in a tent sharing our section and she came over to chat. She was very impressed with the number of places we have visited in France over the years, but I couldn’t help thinking she would be thinking, “Then why can’t you speak the language?”
Her English was really good!
We took a cycle into town and we passed by the Gypsy camp which is close by. I have now been here on 3 occasions and there seems to be a large Gypsy gathering in July, and here it is again. The camp is massive and I have on occasion run around the tracks around it and I have sometimes come across ladies relieving themselves in the nearby cornfield. How very Romany!
The town is exactly like I remember it, but it was stinking hot, I mean it was toasting!
We took a drink in a bar and for 5 euros we had a very nice glass of wine each. Actually, the bar displayed their prices on a board outside and a 25 cl of beer was 2.5 euros, had we been charged this yesterday the bill would have been 7.5 euros, not that I am bitter at all!
Wendy cooked a lovely salmon salad supper and tomorrow, as its Friday, we did think about going to the pub I mentioned in a previous post. But as we rode past it today, they have taken the garden wall down where the tables are and you might as well be eating on the road, so we might spend the money instead for a super barby!
I have listened to the cricket all day today and it as been utterly fantastic, I do hope the weather holds so that England can level the series with one more test to go, I really do hope it does!
No Travelling
BBQ!
It was a little chilly in the night. We had been sleeping only under a sheet and with all the windows open when we were in Adge, and as it was so hot last night we did the same here. That was a big mistake because it got rather chilly through the night and when I woke at 6:00 am Wendy asked me to pass her the duvet, which she quickly wrapped up in.
As I had my breakfast, I looked at the elevation of Issoire and I was astonished to see it being 388 metres above sea level, that’s 1,273 feet, no wonder it was chilly.
We both went out running and I even had my sweatshirt on and I was only mildly sweating when I got back.
As I said yesterday, this is my 4th or it might even be my 5th time in Issoire. I really like it here and the camp site is really nice. The town centre is a ring of smallish buildings, of 2 or 3 storey’s which circle a large town square, well it’s oval actually. There are quite a few small intermingling backstreets which lead to the large inner oval.
There are also some shops and restaurants in the oval too.
The oval is called The Place de la Republique, and I think I might have mentioned before that quite a few towns have a similar square named the same.
The town has a river which flows through, it’s not massive but it is a pretty river and it passes quite close to our camp ground, it’s called the Couze Pavin. The Couze, which means fast flowing, then joins the Allier just outside of Issoire and then eventually it joins the Loire.
The area around Issoire is highly fertile ground.
I’m fascinated by the statistic that Issoire has an average of 60 days per year where the temperature does not get above 0o centigrade. I have only ever been in summer months where it is roasting hot. Imagine living with such a wide range of temperatures?
I ran around the outer circle twice and then I ran along a road to see if the Cave du Vin was still there. The building was and it was still showing the signs, but because it’s all locked behind a large shutter I couldn’t see inside.
It’s funny but at 7:00 am the council provides 3 men, 2 equipped with petrol operated leaf blowers and 1 man who sits in a small vehicle that has 2 brushes and a big vacuum cleaner. The leaf blowers blow litter and leaves into the vacuum cleaner and they go all around the circle and into the oval.
It was 7 am and the noise was deafening, its also a very unnecessary climate change contributor. 3 men with a brush each, and a barrow, would be far more carbon friendly and a darn site quieter. And they have done this in all the years I have been visiting!
After breakfast we went for a bike ride to the Cave du Vin, but it was locked up tight, with no evidence of opening, which was a darn shame!
So instead of going back with a 5-litre container of white wine, we diverted to the hypermarket for today’s big BBQ supplies.
I have to say now that supermarket shopping in Issoire is far more a pleasant event than it was in the far south. The supermarket doesn’t seem to be a full day out family affair, it was just the way I like it, business like!
We left with tonight’s BBQ treats, a nice piece of tuna for tuna carpaccio, some very nice-looking king prawns and two very tasty looking steaks. The steaks look more like sirloin so I think I will give them a little more BBQ time.
With the supplies back at the caravan, I had a coffee while waiting for the test match to start and then we went out on the bikes.
We did intend to go and find some quiet villages that we have visited before but jeepers the traffic was horrendous. There were trucks whizzing past and cars at light speed so we knocked that on the head just when we got to the confluence of the Couze Pavin and the Allier.
We headed down a road which takes you past a race track, its an actual race track where cars race, today there seemed to be some motorcycle trials.
We then came across an entry sign for Issoire Beach.
The sign took us down a very rough track to what indeed was a very real beach.
There was a beachside restaurant there and there were a table of about 20 people enjoying a large lunch in the shade.
We took a beer in the shade by the lake and it was quite nice, obviously I was listening to the cricket.
From there we cycled back into town to take a small glass of wine at the Le Coch Hardie, (I know, what an unfortunate name!) This is the place where we wanted to have a meal but it seemed to us that the side garden, that did have some glazing panels that separated patrons from the road traffic, had now been removed and you’re almost sitting on the main road.
On closer inspection it looks like a rear garden dining area is being made.
We sat in the old café, with the road roaring by and we had some very nice, and very cheap wine, at 2 euros per glass. I didn’t see the old owner but I was served by a nice young woman with a little girl of about six years old, maybe it’s changed hands.
From there we cycled to the cathedral where Wendy requested that I take my ear phones out as I was entering a solemn place. Johnny Bairstow was knocking the ball all over the ground so I kept one ear plug in and I hoped the Good Lord would forgive my indiscretion.
It seems he didn’t because Johnny was left stranded on 99 not out!
Supper was a masterclass in campsite food!
We had medium BBQ’d steak, prawn cocktail and tuna carpaccio, with a very nice salad and Canarian potatoes, it really was an utter delight, and wickets kept falling, but maybe not quickly enough.
After the cricket we took a lovely walk around the lake that is just outside of the main entrance to our camp and it was rather nice!
Tonight, the duvet is on the bed and I am looking for a much warmer night, I’ll let you know how it goes, but right now it’s a very pleasant Friday night!
No Travelling
Market Day!
Jeepers I was late out of bed this morning, and it was only 14 degrees outside, so I had two sweat shirts, two running shirts and my jacket on when I went out running.
Wendy went out five minutes before me and I met her running in the opposite direction to me around the lake. I gave her a smashing high five as we passed and I think I heard her wince, she is such a whiner!
Later she told me that she had run along the corn field that runs alongside the gypsy camp and that that they had a bbq station set up in the middle of the cornfield and that there was evidence of human waste along the footpath.
I have mentioned before what I have seen in the cornfield and it doesn’t surprise me one bit. I had 25 years in the fire service and I have attended several serious incidents at such encampments and to say the gypsy life is completely alien to ours is an understatement. They have their own way of life which is fine by me, but they also seem to want it both ways when it comes to interacting with ours!
It was a lovely hot morning and after I had my smoothie outdoors, and a lovely cool shower we took our bikes into town as it was market day today in Issoire.
I saw the market being set up as I ran through town and it looked like it was going to be a busy morning,
We parked our bikes at the train station, which is a pretty impressive building itself but sadly its not worth a photograph as half of it is covered in scaffolding for restoration work.
We walked into The Place de la Republique and the market was in full swing, it was extremely busy.
We walked around and we saw that you could buy anything that you wanted, from a ladies dress, to underwear, to fruit and veg, live chickens, toys, knives, (large and small), fish and meat, you name it and it could be bought.
We only bought from one stall, and it was a brilliant purchase.
For the purpose of tonight’s copy, I will call our purchase sausage, but it wasn’t sausage in the way we know it in the UK, it was more like chorizo.
The stall was a smasher, decked out in lots of different sausages.
The stall holder had a deal on, 20 euros for 8 sausage or 5 sausage and something else that we could not work out.
As we chatted the stall holder spoke to us loudly in French, and as we had no idea what he was saying Wendy and I chatted to ourselves and the lady in front asked us if we were English and we said we were, she then spoke to the stall holder, who in turn spoke to us, in very good English. Before she left, as she had been served, the lady, in English said, “His produce is very good”.
He was very busy but he explained that we could have 8 normal sausages for 20 euros or 5 normal and one big one for 20 euros as well.
We opted for the 5 and 1 and we took a basket to fill.
As we were carefully selecting, he would occasionally pop a slice over the counter for us to try, the lady was right, they were delicious.
We made our purchase and the stall holder told us how to store them, normally not in the fridge but because it is hot we could put them in there for now, but ideally they should be at room temperature.
We walked the market some more but didn’t buy anything else.
We did nip over to a supermarket in town, the Monoprix. If I was comparing Monoprix to any UK supermarket it would be Marks and Spencer, and yes it was a little more expensive than normal but as it was so hot we didn’t want to have to cycle over to the hypermarket close to camp!
Boy it was hot so we took a beer in a roadside bar in the outer circle.
It was nice sitting there drinking a very cold beer in the shade.
The owner loves me because I take my glasses back to the bar before we leave, he always gives me a very generous Merci!
We cycled back to camp and that was that!
It was that hot that we kicked back at camp and just lolled about in the sunshine, it was lovely!
The campsite in Issoire is what is known as a transient campsite, people use it as a stop over on their way to the Mediterranean, or back north. This means that its quiet after 9:00 am and then busy after 5:00 pm.
Wendy sat in a deck chair and I got a beach recliner out and we sat there in the very quiet sunshine, all we could hear was the birds tweeting, we both read our books.
At one point, around 4:00 pm two fellas set up a tent on our plot but it was far too hot on the site they had been allocated as there wasn’t any shade, so they moved on and left us alone again.
By now the cricket had resumed and I was listening but we could not get a wicket.
At 5:30 pm we had supper, it was a delightful tapas meal of yesterday’s leftovers with a generous amount of French bread, it was delicious,
At 6:00 pm another group joined us on our plot, (we have plots for 3 pitches and they are quite large so we have plenty of privacy). They were French and after they had settled, they started to cook supper and it smelled absolutely lovely, and even though I was stuffed I could have joined them.
Its now just gone 8:00 pm and I am sat in my night dress, Wendy is in her comfy dress and we are inside the caravan with all the windows open, there is barely a breath of air and it is absolutely delightful.
I am listening to my Tamla Motown iTunes while I file tonight’s copy and Wendy is sat bimbling on her iPad.
It’s been a lovely hot and sunny day, we are making the most of it as we have been assured its not going to be like that when we get back to blighty, I might need a holiday!
No Travelling
Stinking Hot!!!
I slept in until almost 7:00 am this morning, it was lovely!
I went running, round the lake and then into town.
Wendy went out too.
As soon as I was out, I could hear the loud roar of formula something cars, it was deafening.
As I got closer to the race trace it grew louder and louder. I could hear the roar of very fast cars. The engine noise was immense and there was the occasional blow back like you get in formula one.
I later Googled Issoire Race track and there were no official races today. However, I found that anyone can rent the track for any activity, they can even rent the cars. They can have corparate days or they can just hire the track for testing prototype cars.
I also found that the track is 2.40 km long and it has a long straight of over 900 metres. It also shows that they have diversified by introducing an off-road track for 4 x 4 fun.
They have official race days too and it seems we just missed one.
The noise went on all day long, we must be two miles away, Lord knows how people who live nearby put up with it?
Jeepers it was hot today, it was a very mild 18 degrees when we went out running, it was 25 by the time I got back.
I had an extra big, icy smoothie and I sat under the caravan sun shade drinking it and it was lovely.
After a nice cool shower, we took the car out for a visit to two places, Brioude and Lavaudieu.
The first place we visited was Lavaudieu.
This is an out of the place village, miles from anywhere and was marketed as a very beautiful village. It was pretty nice but not exceptional.
We had to park out of the village, by a lovely river where heaps of families were in the shade of the river lined trees having a lovely family lunch.
The village was stunning in so much that the streets were iggly-piggly and all the houses were built of stone. There was a lovely church in a central square but it didn’t have that wow factor, for me anyway. It was however extremely hot!
I had forgotten to take a hat and I have found in recent years that my head suffers heat stroke and I get headaches, I really should grow my hair!
But it was interesting enough walking around the quite streets, there was no one around, they were all down by the river having lunch!
“Lavaudieu - A charming place for a relaxing stroll, this wonderful village is renowned for its Benedictine abbey. Founded in the 11th century by Robert de Turlande, the abbey boasts a remarkable, perfectly preserved Romanesque cloister, unique in Auvergne!
Then take the time to stroll along the village's narrow streets and along the Senouire to admire its golden stone houses with rounded tile roofs, the two-storey bell tower at the Abbey of St. Andrew and the old bridge with several arches spanning the river. A most picturesque scene...”
It was still raining in Manchester by the way and so there was no cricket!
After a good stroll around we got back in the car and drove the short distance to the much busier town of Brioude.
It was now 36 degrees outside, thankfully I found a clean cap in my running bag which was stored in the car!
We parked the car in a free car park just outside the towns gate at Brioude. The town appeared to be a walled town and it was still stinking hot.
“One question that is commonly asked about Brioude is "How come it's not better known?"
The answer is simple. Unless they are located close to big cities, or in particularly popular tourist areas, France's small towns are not well known – however interesting they may be.
The best of France's small towns are for connoisseur’s, and Brioude has a strong claim to be at or near the top of the list of interesting and attractive places to visit, for a day trip or for longer”.
We walked through the main gate of the town and straight into a Guinness pub, I have no idea how that got there but we walked on!
The town was lovely, but it was absolutely closed, the shops were shut, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially having seen the families taking lunch together by the river in Lavaudieu.
We had a good old walk around the town and thankfully we found a bar that just served drinks in a quite square where we sat and enjoyed an ice-cold beer on a stinking hot day.
If the shops were closed the towns cafes and bars were bursting with people enjoying a Sunday lunch!
We carried on walking and we eventually found the cathedral which was very impressive, and thankfully cool inside.
After about 90 minutes we jumped back in the car and headed back to the caravan where we sat outside all afternoon, under the shade of a young oak tree.
Yes Avid Reader it must have been hot for me not to sit in the sun.
We took a light snack of fancy sausage and bread while we both read our books, as the cricket was unlikely to start anytime soon due to the rain in Manchester.
I took a camp walk while Wendy made supper, which was something she called Spanish egg? It was very nice as we ate it under the young oak tree, with the electric fan now being powered from an extension cable from the caravan.
The cricket was called off and yet again we have failed to reclaim the Ashes on home soil. Personally, I can’t blame the rain, I blame the fact that we didn’t win either or both of the first two tests. We seemed to have learned the lessons from those two failures in the third test but as the weather has proved it was far too late. Let’s just hope we can restore pride by winning the final test at the Oval!
Its now just gone 9:00 pm and the heat is just bearable. I am sat in the caravan with every window fully open, with the insect blinds up and with the fan directed on me. Wendy has sought solace in bed and is currently fast asleep, I think she finds the heat these days very draining.
Tomorrow, we move further North, but not far, and as far as I know its going to be a really lovely day, we are meeting up with very special old friends!
75 Miles
Further North, and East!
What a thunder and lightning storm we had overnight, we got some rain but not a great deal. The lightening was most impressive and the thunder was quite loud, and it went on for a good while, in fact it went on that long that I fell asleep again and was periodically woken by the noise.
That was the reason Wendy Gill did not go out running, so she said as I left her in her bed.
It was really overcast outside, there wasn’t any break in the clouds but it was still very hot.
I ran into town and did 5 laps of the outer circle. Its just under a mile long and I kept seeing the same faces in the cafes. Everyone smoking, actually smoking must be really cheap in France because everyone seems to be at it.
I got back at the camp site dripping in sweat!
As we didn’t have to be off site until 12:00 pm we took things slowly, which was just nice.
We were heading north-east to Lapalisse where we know people.
The first 20 miles was taken on the A75, which is a toll-free motorway. We then criss-crossed the countryside on various minor roads.
We were approaching a roundabout in a village and a warning sign flashed up on the Sat Nav, I had never seen this sign before and so I proceeded with caution.
As we got closer to the roundabout the cars in front of me were pulling onto a high pavement to go around something. I had seen a police car with its blue lights on, on the other side of the roundabout, on an exit road but there wasn’t any sign of them here.
When it came my turn to pass the mystery object it became clear what had happened. Six very large straw bales where laying in the road! I had to, very gingerly, mount the pavement and go around them.
They had fallen off the back of a tractor which had been stopped by the police, with the driver being spoken to. This was another hazard to get around!
As we have been driving north we have seen that the arable crops have been gathered and from this point on we must have passed about 30 tractors with too many hay bales on the trailer and yet more accidents waiting to happen.
We arrived at the site at 1:15 pm and, it was closed.
In my email I had asked them if the site was closed during the day, but they never got back to me. Before when we have been here you could go to the tourist information office and get the barrier code, so as the board at reception said that they didn’t open until 2:30 pm we went to the tourist information office to try our luck.
Some other Brits were in front of us but they told us it opened at 2:00 pm, but the board clearly said 2:30 pm.
We took our bikes and went for a ride in town just on the off chance the tourist information office was open, it wasn’t!!! It would open again at 2:00 pm.
With 30 minutes to go we sat outside a café and had a beer. The chap on the next table to us, a young priest actually, was having his lunch and his table manners were shocking, he kept burping and clearing his throat in a most ungentlemanly manner, it was quite funny actually.
The lady at the tourist information office didn’t know the barrier code, so we went back to the site at around 2:10 pm. The other Brits had managed to get the barrier code from someone already on the site, so as it said on the sign that if there was no one in the office we could go in and find our own pitch, we did just that.
How on earth we can find our own pitch when there is a whopping big barrier blocking the way in is anyone’s guess, but we managed it?
Wendy cycled ahead and found a plot with a tap on it, so we bagged that one. It was after I had rolled the hosepipe out to the tap that a fella came to me to tell me that there was no water in the tap. This gave Wendy Gill the right hump as we could not deploy the water contraption, she was not happy as she would now have to roll the water hog to the nearest tap which was a long way away!
After finally settling in we took a ride to the hypermarket for supplies and then after unloading we went for a ride to see if Chantelle’s bar was open.
Avid Readers will know from our adventure in France, Spain and Portugal from 2017 that we last visited our friends then, but here is a quick recap.
Chantelle is a lady who owns a café bar in Lapalisse and we called for supper when we were staying at the campsite in 2013. They had a 13-year-old son, Clement, who spoke very good English, but neither Chantelle or her husband Thierry can speak much English.
Clement sat with us and chatted and then arranged to play the organ in the large church which is across the street from the bar. We met next day and this young lad played the most amazing music on this massive church organ.
Since then, we have been back 4 more times and Clement has been and stayed with us for a week in 2018.
They are a very musical family and they have a once-a-month concert on a Friday night, where they play music and cook dinner in the grounds of a massive Chateau. We went once and we had an amazing time!
The bar was closed but I agreed, by txt, for us to meet at 6:00 pm!
We nipped into the church as the organ was being played, but it was by a lady and not Clement. It’s a very nice church and I bought a 2-foot-long candle for 3 euros. I know, I explained to Wendy, that I am meant to light it in church, but I was sure God would be happy if I made an advent candle out of it for Christmas!
We nipped back to the caravan for a quick shower and a change of clothes and then we were back at the bar at just gone 6:00 pm, and what a lovely evening we had.
First up we chatted with a glass of wine with Clement, and his mum and dad and then we ate a tremendous meal. To start we shared beef carpaccio, with a lovely salad and a bowl of chips. For mains I had the beef tartar, which was made by Chantelle, and Wendy had a prime beef burger made by Thierry. Both meals were tremendous, they were an utter delight, a double delight actually and I was stuffed to high heaven.
As other customers moved on, we went from sitting outside to inside the bar where we had a good old laugh. Clément’s cousin and his girlfriend are working at the bar and they were both good fun too.
Just before 10:00 pm the pear vodka came out, which we had to drink neat, and then we knew it was time for home.
Hopefully we will call up in the morning for a coffee and to say our goodbyes before heading to our next destination, Orleans.
This night out has been a bit of a deviation out of our way but it was well worth it to see the boy I met 10 years ago, now a young man in his own right, doing really well for himself. Oh, and he gave me a present of a very nice bottle of red wine, for a special occasion, of course!
182 Miles
Further North, and a little West!
It started raining in the night and it never stopped, it was heavy at times and then it might have been lighter but been all snug in my bed I just dozed through it until 5:50 am, where I got out of bed just in time for the 5:00 am news on UK time, Sky TV.
I had my tea and toast and then went out running, Wendy had her tea and would not move out of bed.
It was 17 degrees outside so I rigged myself for a wet run, and I got one.
Thankfully the rain was not cold, and I did actually sweat a fair bit, but I was soaked to the skin by the time I got back.
After my smoothie and shower we jumped in the car and first we called at a supermarket for some bread and butter and then we drove to the local Brocante, which means Flea Market in English.
We have been here before and I had forgotten what utter tut they have for sale, it is rubbish, utter, utter rubbish actually.
All they have done is collect people’s trash and put expensive price tags on. They must then wait for some mug to come along and buy it.
Its also a death trap, it’s an old, very large disused garage without any fire exits and with fire loading that would see it burn to the ground before anyone could phone “999!”.
We didn’t buy anything!
We were back to the caravan for 10:20 am and we were parked in the large carpark which is very close to the bar for an 11:00 am appointment with Clement and his parents.
At the bar, we were looked after by Clément’s cousin as they were ten minutes late, Wendy had tea made for her and I had a teeny tiny coffee, which actually was very nice.
Clement and his Mum and Dad arrived at 11:10 am and we had more coffee and some chitter chat. I told Thierry about our visit to the Flea Market and he laughed and did some dangerous hand signals mainly in the fashion of being buried under all the tut.
After coffee Clement took us over to the church and he played the church organ for us. I went up with him to the organ and Wendy and his parents sat in the church.
Jeepers he gave us 20 minutes of beautiful music, and I watched him work every aspect of the organ. His hands were pulling knobs out, his fingers were playing the keyboard and his feet were dancing all over the place on about 15 different pedals.
The music was stunning, Wendy said it was very loud down below.
I looked down a few times and his parents had that very, very proud look on their faces.
We said our goodbyes at 12:00 pm and jumped into the car for the journey north.
The Sat Nav took us down small country roads for the first 25 miles which was a bit of hard work as we passed 100’s of articulated lorries coming the other way, and French lorry drivers give no quarter!
We did go through some very interesting villages though.
We then joined a motorway for about 80 miles and then it was back to the minor roads.
At one point we crawled for about 10 miles through village after village that had a 20-mph speed restriction and the biggest speed humps in the world. Normally I don’t mind a speed hump because if you go over them at the correct speed you are normally fine, but when towing a caravan, you have to slow right down and just go gently over them or everything comes out of the cupboard.
We went through some torrential rain and thunder storms and at one point the temperature outside was only 16 degrees.
It was motorway all the way for the last 20 miles and the Sat Nav took us straight to the gate of the campsite, and thankfully it was 24 degrees and sunny, with some clouds.
The site is very nice, its compact but we have plenty of space and we are on the banks of the Loire, we even have a river view!
We arrived at 4:30 pm after a 4.5-hour drive but we were all set up by 5:00 pm.
Wendy wasn’t bothered but I went for a short bike ride to get my bearings and I found that we are about 2 miles out of Orleans with a cycle track that should take us straight there.
About a half mile from the camp I found a large bridge over the Loire which I nipped over, the views were terrific, but I could see an approaching thunderstorm so I made my way back, smartish.
No sooner was I back at the caravan when the heavens opened, it poured down for about 30 minutes, with very heavy rain.
Wendy was as happy as Larry as she likes a downpour when she’s all tucked up in her caravan, it was a shame for the large group of kids in their tents though!
As it rained, I cooked a delightful steak supper with garlic mushrooms, Wendy even let me grill some soft cheese on top of her steak, which she actually liked. We had it with a salad and a French stick. I am going to have to run back-to-back marathons to shift the weight I have put on after eating so many French sticks!
Its now almost 8:00 pm and the site is completely full, in fact they are now turning caravans and campervans away, boy I am so glad we booked!
Actually, this is the first full camp we have been at, normally the South of France would be heaving with visitors but there were always empty plots!
Last night Clement told us that business wasn’t great with the bar as not as many tourists are around so far this year. Apparently Europe is having a cost of living crisis too, but not as bad as ours in the UK, but at least we have our sovereignty back which is worth everything, not!
No Travelling
Exploring
Well to say the site was full it was very quiet last night. I took a camp walk before settling down, Wendy was in her jim jams and didn’t want to get changed so I went out on my own.
It was tight in a few places, and there were a large group of youngsters camping and they had a look of refugee status by the look of their camp. There were tents everywhere!
I had to chuckle as they had obviously paid for one electrical point and were using adaptors upon adaptors. In one adaptor alone there must have been 7 phones recharging.
In fact, they must have been using their phones a lot last night as data download was very dodgy and I took an age in uploading my copy.
They left this morning and now I can do anything online through my data, the buggers!
I woke at 6:20 am and did my usual morning routine, making tea and toast.
The rain had moved on and it looked like a much nicer morning.
I went out running in the direction of Orleans and Wendy went the opposite way.
I had a clear walking / cycling track along the Loire all the way to and well beyond the city, it was lovely, I was safe from traffic and I had stunning views of the river all the way.
I got back and the camp site was almost empty, I couldn’t believe so many people had gone and some were still packing up.
I sat out with my smoothie and then I booked our last two camp sites as we are now on the final straight, we just have to get around Paris!
We cycled into the city and locked our bikes up on the riverside.
We walked across a zebra crossing and straight into what we have been looking for for two weeks now, a good old proper cycle shop.
Wendy wants a basket for the back of her bike and we were sure we would find one in France; it’s took some finding but eventually today she found exactly what she needed. The trouble is we didn’t want to cart it around the city with us so we told the shop owner that we would call back for it when he reopened at 3:00 pm. They still close for 3 hours during the day like they do in Spain!
It was a very nice, warm and sometimes sunny day as we entered the city, and what a city it is, it is truly stunning, its also very, very clean.
We walked and walked around the city, its not massive but it makes very good use of large open spaces. First up we walked along a main road leading from an old stone bridge and the buildings along the avenue had been built with a very nice covered walkaway that had been incorporated into the building. I would guess that there is a technical term for this type of construction but I don’t know what it is, but it is highly effective in keeping the city dwellers cool on hot summer days.
At the top of this avenue was a huge square, The Square of the Martyr, and bang in the middle of it is a very impressive statue of Joan of Arc, The Maid of Orleans.
I mentioned Joan of Arc when we were in Rouen because she was tried and burnt at the stake there. But it is in Orleans where she made a name for herself, more later Avid Reader!
There was an interactive fountain in one corner of the square where some small children were interacting with it. What fun they had, we sat on a bench and enjoyed seeing their fun. One little crawler loved it, he must have only been ten months old and he was fascinated by the water.
We then walked to find the Royal Cathedral of the Holy Cross and what a beauty it is!
The building apparently took 6 centuries to build under the patronage of the Kings of France and Joan of Arc prayed there in 1429.
The Cathedral is 500 feet long, 175 feet wide at the transept, 375 feet in height at the spire and covers an area of almost 3,000 square feet, it is massive!!!
We walked all around the outside and then we walked all around the inside.
There was a small gift shop inside the cathedral and I bought a booklet with the translated story of Joan of Arc. Inside the booklet I did indeed find that she had broken the English siege of the city and that for a short time she was revered in France. But she was also brought down by her countrymen and burnt at the stake on the order of the church who feared her reverence as she herself believed that she was on a mission from God himself to free France from tyranny, well they could not have that could they?
From the Cathedral we walked on and on and we took a very nice beer in an old town bar, and then we walked some more.
I really like Orleans, (pronounced – Oli-on), it is a very nice place to come and visit, and with it being alongside the beautiful Loire makes it all the more special!
All in all we must have walked 8 miles and we think we got a very good look at this beautiful city.
At 3:00 pm Wendy trundled her bike over to the bike shop and had her new basket fitted on the rear of her bike. I am so pleased about this because I always carried the load in my front basket and in my back pack, on my back.
We left the city and then we cycled along the river and then we nipped inland, close to our camp and did some shopping for tonight’s supper in a drop on Lidl.
We had that much shopping that both cycle baskets were full to the top and we cycled the short journey back to camp.
After reading my Joan of Arc booklet I cooked a supper of:
As I cooked supper my heart sank as a fresh mini bus load of kids were dropped off with their back packs. Its not that I don’t want the youngsters to have fun, they were very well-behaved last night, it’s just that I want to be able to get my mobile data without an age of buffering!
After supper at 8:00 pm we took a very nice bike ride along the bank of the Loire and then we came back to camp along the main road. It’s nice cycling in France as they seem to go out of their way to making cycling safe for their people. All the Highland Council does at home is paint cycle lanes on already existing roads making it even more dangerous!
I did have a little issue with a lamp post and a roller shutter on a shop front but Wendy will make it out to be much worse than it really was because she was following me, anyway I only have minor bleeding on my right arm, just a flesh wound actually!
No Travelling
Bike Ride!
I didn’t wake until 6:30 am and after a drink of juice I got back in bed and had a 30-minute nod.
That meant we didn’t go out running until 7:30 am which was fine as we were having a steady day today.
We can’t really see the weather conditions as the trees are very close together in camp so we can’t see the sky. As soon as I got in a clearing, I could see a very angry looking sky. It wasn’t raining at that point but it was coming soon.
I ran over the bridge onto the south back of the Loire and I found another nice running track that actually took me across to a large island in the river.
By the time I was two miles coming back to the caravan there was a lot of spittle in the air and by the time I got back it was pretty thick mizzle.
No sooner than I had got out of my running gear and the heavens opened and it banged it down.
Now its about time I gave you a little info about the Loire:
The Loire is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world.
The river is 625 miles in length.
It drains 45,195 square miles, more than a fifth of France's land.
The Loire begins about 4,500 feet above sea level in the Cévennes mountain range of southern France. It is fed by melting snow from mountain peaks. The Loire flows north through central France before swinging in a great curve past the city of Orléans and turning westward. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean near the city of Nantes.
It really is a beautiful and interesting river, it’s far too shallow where we are in Orleans and looking down from the bridges you might think that you could walk through the water from one bank to the other. The only boats I have seen on the water here have been canoes and kayaks.
We hung out in the caravan for a while and I started to listen to the cricket.
The rain had stopped by now and before we went to the supermarket for some fuel for tomorrows drive we had a lovely cup of coffee.
We were back from the supermarket within 30 minutes and then as the weather had improved, we packed a picnic, took a jumper each and our pakamacs and set off for a long bike ride in a westerly direction along the Loire.
Within ten minutes I had my sweatshirt off and then within another 20 minutes I had my t-shirt off, I should have taken a vest, it was roasting hot!
The views along the river were truly stunning, they were amazing.
Just beyond Orleans there is a canal that runs parallel to the Loire, but it was empty of water. I think that it is used to get small boats through some very shallow areas.
When I was in Lapalisse with Clement, he told me that many areas around their area are on red alert warnings for the shortage of water, maybe the Loire is exceptionally low and that is why the canal is almost dry.
I did some Googling just now and I found that its an extension to the Loire Canal and that it gave a 3-mile addition that allowed boats to get to Loire avoiding the shallow water of the Loire River. It was built in 1921, the original canal was built in 1692. However, the extension was allowed to silt up and it is currently being dredged. We did see a digger stuck in the mud in the dried-up canal, it had shed a track and it was in real difficultly, I would hate to be part of the team that has to get it out!
Stupidly, as it was overcast when we set off we didn’t take any water, what Wally’s
Thankfully as we passed a village we nipped in to buy some water.
The streets were empty, and as I was listening to the cricket, the teams had just come out from lunch, so in my mind it was around 2:00 pm, that’s why the shops were all closed!
We found the supermarket and it was closed, the shutters were firmly down.
I looked at the time and it really was 2 minutes to 3:00 pm so I told Wendy we should give it 5 minutes to see if it opened.
Bang on 3:00 pm the shutters lifted and Wendy was oblivious to it, she was miles away.
I shouted to her and asked if she had heard the noise, she laughed as she hadn’t.
We bought a very cold soft drink and a large bottle of water and then carried on.
At 13 miles we came across the perfect picnic spot on the side of the River Loire.
We settled down and we had a smoked salmon and cream cheese croissant, a very tasty cold sausage and a very chocolaty chocolate pastry which was divine.
We washed it down with a bottle of wine that Chantelle gave Wendy on the morning we left Lapaliesse, it was bloody lovely.
The picnic spot was fairly busy and there was a family who had a donkey with them. We have come across this before, apparently it is a thing to walk a donkey along the Loire Valley. The family had enough equipment with them so I think its fair to guess that is what they were doing.
We cycled back, in lovely sunshine but the wind was in our face, it was a warm wind but it was feisty!
Four miles from camp, we came across a lady with a very nice café van who had deck chairs set up on the canal bank.
We took a beer each and sat down in a deck chair, it was lovely,
We had now cycled 21 miles in the hot Loire sun.
The beer was delightful and it fortified us just enough to get back to camp.
All in all, we did a 25-mile bike ride, which isn’t bad for people in their 60’s.
We sat at the camp table outside and had a nibble of French bread, olives and fancy sausage before breaking camp as much as we could because tomorrow, we have a long drive north.
I had listened to the test match all day and I think it’s fair to say it was Australia’s day.
I have had to consider a few things for tomorrows drive and I have come to a calculated conclusion, I think I have come to the right decision, I’ll let you know tomorrow if I was right, hopefully I will be!
175 Miles
Roadway Madness!!!
The rain started at 4:00 am and it carried on through the night and was heavy at times.
I went out running along the track that Wendy showed me, but after two miles the track narrowed and then went in to woods, and the woods then encroached around the track and in no time at all I was getting tugged at by branches and I had to negotiate fallen trees. After ¾ of a mile I had had enough and I turned back.
By sheer luck as I turned around I saw a fruit tree that we collect the berries from in Issoire. We do so because we have seen locals eating them. They are cheery sized, they are yellow and they taste like a plumb. I got a good pocketful to take back to the caravan.
Jeepers I was soaked to the skin when I got back, but thankfully it wasn’t cold.
Today we headed north to Amiens and we had to go around Paris.
Normally when we go south, avoiding toll roads, as all roads take you through Paris, I usually set the Sat Nav for a town to the west of Paris and then when we get there, I set the Sat Nav for my destination and we make it without having to go along the mad roads of Paris.
But we haven’t got time to do that on this trip so I looked at my options.
Normally we don’t go on toll motorways as they are expensive and boring.
I did a route check for our next destination on the Sat Nav last night and it was 197 miles and just over 6 hours travel time on none toll roads.
I then set the Sat Nav to take us there on toll roads and the milage came down to 175 miles and the time to just under 4 hours.
It was a no brainer, we took the toll road, however it was supposed to cost 20 euros, according to the toll calculator.
The first 48 miles were on a toll road and when we left it, we were charged 19.70 euros, (£16.89).
It rained the entire journey, sometimes the rain was abominable, it was that bad.
You are supposed to reduce your speed to 110 k/m per hour and put your headlights on in rain in France, but very few of the buggers did!
We followed the Sat Nav to the letter and would you believe, even with it set on using toll roads it took us through normal roads directly through Paris.
We were in the thick of traffic that is utterly madhouse in the City of Paris, I even saw the Eiffel Tower. At one point we took a turning that took us to La Défense. I thought to myself that it would be near stupid for a city not to have an orbital road that does not take you into the heart of that city. How wrong I was, because all of a sudden, we popped up not 200 metres from La Défense.
I love La Défense, I have even walked to it from the Arc de Triomphe several times, which is some considerable distance. However, I do not fancy it when I am driving my right-hand drive car, towing my caravan with all the stupid traffic that Paris can throw at me, but I managed it, somehow!
Soon enough we were on the Boulevard Périphérique which is a circular road situated along Paris's administrative limit of the city, i.e., almost within the city centre!
It was fine, we did manage it without any problem, but I did have a sweat on at times.
It was chucking it down and at times I had to have the wipers at double speed. It was also only 19 degrees outside.
But we made it safely and then we were on another toll road which cost a further 14.20 euros (£12.18), so that was £29.07 in total.
Now we only covered about 100 miles on a toll road, so if that rate was applied to UK roads, we would have to spend about £180 to get from our house in Inverness to Grannies house in Kent!
As we approached Amiens I could see a massive church in the town, it was huge, and we were about 4 miles away at that point.
We got back to our camp site easily enough but despite me already booking in by email, and filling in enough details for my profile to be cloned, we were not booked in.
The receptionist insisted that I had booked for two nights two days ago, telling me several times that she was sure that I had not arrived for the dates that I had booked. While she was saying all this in front of a long queue of new arrivals, I found the conformation email from the campsite telling me that I was booked in for two nights from 28th July and that should I not be on site by 6:30 pm my pitch would be given to someone else. I never even got an apology!
Our pitch is nice enough, but our neighbours have parked right on the border line which makes us quite close, I do hope that they don’t snore in their sleep.
Thankfully it was 26 degrees!
While Wendy did the washing I nipped to a local supermarket for some fuel and a few supplies.
All day long I have been listening to the cricket and it’s been a strange day tactical wise from Australia, but a good day overall for England.
After I had got back from the supermarket and with the washing hanging out, we took our bikes for a little explore.
We are very close to the Canal de la Somme which is also very close to the Somme River. As I don’t know very much, if anything about these two water courses I am looking forward to exploring the town tomorrow.
We took a ride for a couple of miles in the direction of Amiens along the canal and at one point the massive church was directly in front of us albeit a few miles away.
We had supper while listening to the last of today’s play at the cricket, it was chicken curry which we had with very nice French bread, it was delightful!
It’s been an eventful day today, it was very pleasant and at times mind boggling, but pleasing nonetheless.
Its an early night for me tonight and I bet I’ll be up smartish in the morning for a full day exploring in Amiens, lets hope the rain keeps off!
No Travelling
A Very Interesting Day!
I didn’t mention yesterday that I had been stung by what I thought was a bee.
We were sat out yesterday evening and a bee started to pester Wendy, who of course started flapping her arms around. This went on for about 5 minutes. It was flying off and then it would come straight back. She even waved her crocs around trying to swat it but it just got angrier and angrier.
In its anger it landed straight on my chest and before I could get it off it stung me.
The little bugger, it instantly hurt and swelled up. I managed to pull the sting out but the damage was done. It hurt like buggery for a couple of hours and it’s still itchy today.
Today I ran along the Canal de la Somme in the direction of Amiens, it was a really lovely morning and the canal is stunning.
I ran past town and I saw a very large church and a very large, what looked like some kind of tower, I was excited about going back on our bikes to explore later.
The Canal de la Somme is just short of 100 miles in length with 25 locks, from the English Channel at Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme to the Canal de Saint-Quentin at Saint-Simon.
The canal which was built and extended between 1770-1843 to provide an outlet to the sea from Saint-Quentin, is in effect the canalised River Somme throughout the greater part of its course. It is one of the most attractive waterways of northern France, passing through a marshy valley dotted with lakes, peat marshes and gravel pits, and is ideal for pleasure cruising.
I really like the look of the canal and the River Somme and they are quite interesting as they form an interesting water system around the city.
I got back to the caravan and I had my smoothie, but I had to wait for my phone to recharge before we got going. We took a bike ride around camp and it is indeed a rather big camp, but by then most people had cleared out and it was quite quiet.
With 90% charge on my phone, we cycled into the City of Amiens, and what a corker of a city we found it to be, it is a stunner!
Before we set off we talked about rain and should we take our waterproof jackets, Wendy decided, “Lets live dangerously”, she said.
We parked our bikes just outside the city, not far from the canal and immediately walked into a nice-looking market.
The weather was nice and warm and the sun was out more often than not.
Amiens has a reputation for small pastries and I saw a young woman with some at a stall. I bought something like an almond Bakewell and it was bloody delicious, Wendy bought a piece of baclava, which she rather liked.
We found the cathedral and it is massive, and we found that it is the largest gothic cathedral in the whole of France.
We walked around the outside and then we walked down to the river where there is an old fisherman’s quarter. The river down there intermingles with the canal and visa-versa and it makes for yet another Little Venice. The riverside restaurants were doing a roaring trade too!
There was a fella, a statue actually, stood on a plinth in the river. We found out that there are two more of them, another man and a woman on various structures in the city, but we only found the one.
This fella had been bound in a makeshift straight jacket, not as the artist intended, most likely by someone wanting to make a political statement, but it was interesting none the less.
We went back up to the cathedral and we went inside, how amazing it was!
It was immense, it was stunning, it was just amazing and it’s a UNESCO world heritage site, twice I believe.
We walked all around inside the place and it took us an age, it really was wonderful to see.
At one point I stood and looked at it and I thought of the men who worked on this building over the many centuries that it took to build, what amazing craftsmen!
We left the cathedral and our next bag was originally the first and highest sky scraper in Europe.
Tour Perret is a 29-storey, 110 m residential skyscraper in Amiens, France. It has been described as France's first skyscraper, and was registered as a historic monument in 1975.
It really is a stunning building and the apartments have fully openable French doors with a steel guard to prevent people falling, but its not a full door height structure and accidents can happen. They even had steel folding shutters on the windows and doors.
It really was an amazing building!
More info can be found here:
Tour Perret (Amiens) - Wikipedia
As I had just completed my look around the tower it started to rain and a squall blew in, it caught everyone, including us, by suprise.
We nipped in a bar for a glass of wine but the rain persisted.
We ran for it and got a little wet but thankfully the rain subsided and the sun came out, however as it was nearing 4:00 pm we walked back to the bikes to make our way back.
As we walked, we came across a small craft market where Wendy hummed and haared about what to buy at a particular stall, 30 minutes later she bought a ceramic flower on a stick.
As we cycled back, I said to Wendy that I needed to find a nice log from the Somme for this ceramic flower and more importantly for Brads Tower of London poppy.
She told me she had seen some on her morning run, on the canal, in the opposite direction I had run.
After I had nipped to the supermarket on my bike for tonight’s supper, we took a ride along the canal where I did indeed find a rather nice sized log that is just perfect for the job.
Actually, we did a good six-mile ride up and down the canal and it was really nice countryside in the nice afternoon sunshine.
Supper was an utter delight, on the BBQ I cooked two fillet steaks and a rather tasty unknown white fish.
I’m just about to finish tonight’s copy with the news that Stuart Broad is retiring from cricket, jeepers I will miss that lad, he has given some amazing, memorable cricket moments for a considerable amount of time, and I for one will miss him on the cricket field!
101 Miles
Windy!!!
Bee sting update – I had a troubled nights sleep as I now have a small plate sized swelling on my chest and it is as itchy as a woolly jumper. Its also seeping a little puss where I pulled the sting from. I put some antiseptic cream on it this morning but that didn’t do anything for the itching, I just had to suffer in silence!
I ran along the cycle track that Wendy took me down yesterday, where as we cycled 3 miles, I did a further mile along. It’s a terrific cycle path, it is tarmac all the way and is used as a road in one area where there is a small community. The path has bollard’s so cars can’t go any further along the track, they have to use one small bridge that takes them to the main road on the other bank.
It was a nice morning and I had the track to myself, the views of the river and the canal were lovely, again the canal met the river and vise-versa!
There was a shrine to Allied soldiers from World War One in the Cathedral yesterday, there was the plaque that I took a photograph of for British and Irish soldiers, and there were a few others too for Australians and Canadians.
These memorials relate to the final decisive battle that ended the First World War.
“The Battle of Amiens, also known as the Third Battle of Picardy, was the opening phase of the Allied offensive which began on 8 August 1918, later known as the Hundred Days Offensive, that ultimately led to the end of the First World War”.
They made a massive advance against the German army of just seven miles in one day, the longest gain of the war!
We left the camp site a little before 11:00 am and it started to rain just as we left Amiens.
We drove along national roads for about 75 miles and then we joined the A16 toll free motorway with 25 miles to go.
The rain had long since cleared but I had another metrological issue to contend with, wind, very high winds and extremely strong gusts.
Its not easy driving a caravan in high winds, and on one occasion we cancelled a day’s travel plans one day due to it. But when you’re heading for your cross-channel train you have a deadline that has to be met, so I had to carry on.
I have before filled the water tanks and put them on the floor of the caravan to lower the centre of gravity, but having already left camp before the wind picked up, I couldn’t even do that!
The main problem is when the wind is broadside of the caravan when the car is not pulling the car under engine power, like when going downhill. The wind can hit the van which gives you the snaking motion that can lead to the caravan jack-knifing.
You have to concentrate really hard and anticipate when it’s going to happen and keep the gears low and drive through it, and it is quite tiring.
Thankfully we made it without any issue and when we arrived at the campsite at Calais the sun was out and it was reasonably warm, but the wind was howling!
Thankfully we are booked on the channel tunnel tomorrow and not a ferry, if this wind keeps up.
We arrived at 1:45 pm but reception was closed until 2:30 pm, so we took the bikes out of the van and locked them up while we just lazed around inside the van.
I had been listening to the cricket on the drive north and as it was lunch when we pulled up I could at least listen to Aggers interview Chris Broad, Stuarts dad. Chris himself was a distinguished English opening batsman and it was nice to watch Stuart knowing that his dad who had served us so well, in the 80’s and 90’s would be watching him when he was taking wickets as often as he did.
I saw a queue forming around the reception door at 1:20 pm so being the first in the camping queue I walked up to the door and stood there. The lady opened the door at 1:25 pm and I was the first processed, well I was there first!
It was just starting to spit rain when we set up and by the time we had done it was raining nicely. I had only just put my running gear out on the airer, but at least its now getting a freshen up, thankfully I have a spare set.
The first job after camp was set was find some gas as I was running low. Thankfully the first place I went had LPG and I filled the cylinder from almost empty to full for 8 euros. That would have cost me £20 at home.
We had intended to have a meal out for our last night on the continent, but it was just not worth the hassle of getting wet through and blown away.
So far, I haven’t had snails all the time I have been in France, and I was looking forward to having some with my supper tonight, but never mind.
We decided on a caravan tapa as we are quite good at being inventive, so we nipped to the city supermarket and bought our supplies, including a very nice portion of snails.
After refitting the gas bottle, I wanted to go for a walk on the beach as I fancy a beach run in the morning and I wanted to check where to get access, weather permitting of course, but Wendy wasn’t keen, so she started the tapa prep.
Instead of walking I took my bike, and I nearly got blown away!
There was no one on the beach, I parked my bike and walked a long way down to the edge of the Channel and I could see one ferry coming in. Actually, the sea was, I would say moderate, but that there would be no small boat crossings today, it was like November on the beach, albeit at 20 degrees!
I got back to the van and with the cricket still rained off we listened to Liza Tarbuck, who never fails to make us laugh, even if her music taste is terrible.
Supper was an utter delight, Wendy, under guidance, did us proud, my snails were just a delight, but try as I may, Wendy wasn’t having one.
Its now knocking on 6:00 pm and I am closing for the night, as I file copy the wind is still shaking the van and the rain is now driving, and the poor Brit across the road has eventually got his large tent set.
Bee sting update – The wound as been itching all day long and it’s been driving me crazy. The area of the swelling hasn’t increased but it has now deepened so much so that my heart operation scar, after slowly hiding for 26 years, has now come back to life!
Miles – Calais – 5 Miles
Miles - Channel Tunnel – 31.5 miles
Miles – Kent – 46 Miles
More Wind!
Jeepers it was windy and rainy overnight, thankfully with my ear plugs in I didn’t hear it too often, but we did get the odd rattle in the caravan.
I woke at 1:00 am for a drink and my chest was still extremely itchy.
The wind was wild this morning when I went out running. I wanted to run along the beach but that was a nonstarter due to the wind. Instead, I ran on the road to Sangatte which is a route I have done several times before.
Going out 4 miles was a huge battle and I could only manage 11-minute miles, I gave a wry smile when I sat down at four miles, out of the wind, for a drink.
I did manage to find a sea wall to run on for one mile on the way back which was nice.
Wendy stayed in bed, it was far too windy for her run this morning.
I had to be smartish in the shower this morning as Wendy didn’t fill the water container as the pressure is so poor it takes a lifetime to fill the 50-litre tank. It was driving rain when she was filling it and I had the caravan fully set up, I had even been to collect the bikes from where we had locked them up yesterday before she had half-filled it.
Thankfully I managed to get showered before the sputtering of the pump started.
After my shower I had a coffee while I did some researching carparking for caravans at the Cite Europe, which is a huge shopping centre just outside of Calais.
I had to change my BT broadband package before tomorrow which thankfully with the help of online Lesley I managed to do. In doing so I saved £8.00 per month which is almost £100 per year.
We left the camp site at 12:00 pm and drove straight to Cite Europe and parked in the easily found campervan car park.
The wind was still howling but the rain had stopped so we didn’t get wet walking over to the centre.
Jeepers it was a big one and we walked all around it, both levels, but it was mainly clothing shops and nothing took our fancy. There was a massive Carrefour supermarket where we bought a few things. I am looking forward to cooking the massive piece of pork I got. Its not a joint but it must be 2 inches wide.
We got to the tunnel check in 2 hours before our time in the hope that we might get an earlier train but it wasn’t to be. The check in terminal informed me that there were delays and that we would get our train at the right time, 3:35 pm, but not earlier.
We sat in the caravan and I listened to the cricket and the heavens opened, so that was driving rain to now contend with. There’s nothing like a wet ending to your travels!
After a while to break the time up we took a walk into the terminal building and it was mobbed with people lazing all over the show. I noticed a monitor and we were now delayed for an hour.
So, with two hours to kill we went back to the caravan and I had a coffee and sat at the table and Wendy had a large glass of wine and sat on the bed.
I had my laptop open and I opened Le Shuttle website to look at the departure board and our train didn’t have any boarding advice at all. I started to watch an episode of Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime and I kept checking the departure board every now and then.
After about 20 minutes I checked again and I found that we were boarding in 4 minutes. We packed up smartish and joined the queue.
French immigration was a doddle, as was their customs.
We were very slow going through UK immigration but after that we joined a long queue, and it didn’t move. It was obvious we were not going to make our train.
When I got to the lady who tells you what queue to join, she seemed a little disturbed, she said that she was talking to someone on the radio about me. Eventually I was told to go to lane 4. I asked her if we were going to make the train, she didn’t know anything was her reply.
I was at the front of the que and nothing happened.
Our time came and our train was boarding but others were being led to it.
I asked a member of the loading staff and he said that they would load in alphabetical order and we would go soon.
The departure board said our train had boarded and was departing.
We then got another time, 5:41 pm.
Which came and went again!
Now our boarding number, M3 was taken off the board and nothing else was put up, there was just the others that were following us at a later time.
I went to see the lad again and I told him we had gone off the board, he said don’t worry its letter L now and then it will be M. I said, “What about the board we have been taken off?” “The board people don’t know what they are doing”, he said.
Then they lifted another barrier and it was for letter N, I wasn’t happy now, but as the lad was far away, I left him to it. About ten minutes later our barrier lifted and that was us for boarding, 2.5 hours late.
There has been stupid delays before, once I was very near the front of the train and the female attendants could not get the door to open. It was hydraulically operated but it had failed, that’s fine these things happen, but the attendants could not work out how to use the manual emergency pump. Everyone was reversed off but me.
I didn’t know they had left me until I went to look, I was all alone with the empty train and just two other cars in front of me.
I walked down the full length of the train and asked why I had not been reversed off, the attendant said, “You have a caravan, you cannot do it!” I said, “You just watch me.” And I did much to the happiness of the two cars in front of me!
The M20 was fine and we were on site with our old friend Mr Jenkins at 6:30 pm.
I was just unhooking the caravan when Stuart Broad took his last wicket in test cricket to win the game for England. It’s been a thrilling series and I’ll miss it all summer now it’s over.
We had supper with granny, a very nice salmon quiche which was rather nice indeed.
We are back in the caravan now and I am going to file tonight’s copy, watch the cricket highlights and then its bed for me. I think it must be this morning’s wind because I am shattered and I am really looking forward to my bed tonight!
No Travelling
Yorkshire Day
Today is 1st August and it is Yorkshire Day, Yorkshire Day is a yearly celebration to promote the historic and beautifully stunning County of Yorkshire. It was first celebrated by the Ridings Society in 1975 as a protest movement against the local government re-organisation of 1974 where part of the East Riding was renamed, Humberside, and Hull was removed from the County of Yorkshire.
This was never accepted by the people of Yorkshire and from being a boy I can remember the, “Welcome to Humberside” signs being overwritten with the word Yorkshire.
Thankfully it has now being returned within the County of East Yorkshire.
Wendy Gill wasn’t up to going running this morning, opting for extra time in bed.
I went out onto the island and it was a much better morning then the one yesterday in Calais, it was actually quite warm.
As I was running back I thought about the French baguette I brought back with me yesterday and I thought of a bacon, egg and mushroom baguette. The nearer I got to camp the more I was excited by the idea. We had eggs, we had mushrooms and we have a huge pack of frozen bacon.
As I got back to camp my mind was made up and so I told Wendy, and she said, “I have just had breakfast, but I can just have a bit of bacon”.
Instead of trying to defrost the pack of bacon, I nipped a half mile up the road and bought a pack from the local store in Iwade.
I cooked the lot in one pan, and although the bread was past its fresh best, it wasn’t half tasty. Wendy had two rashers on one slice of bread.
I showered and as soon as I was done, we drove over to Grannies.
I did have a few admin jobs to do at Grannies.
1st – Work out how to use the new ear buds I have bought and had sent to Grannies address because I am sick of going through cabled ear phones.
2nd – Change my bank details with the Dartford Crossing. You might or might not be aware that the Dartford Crossing have changed the company that collects the online tolls. I have an account and I was sent an email saying that I would have to re-enter my bank details due to data protection. Well, there as been a massive oh-ha as the online system is not working and people are likely to get fines.
I entered my password several times but it was not recognised, so I pretended that I could not remember my password and I changed it 3 times, and 3 times it was not recognised when I tried to log in, even though I have 3 emails telling me that my password has been successfully changed!
Finally, I managed to pay as a casual user for two crossings which I will be making in the next few weeks.
3rd – It’s the first of the month and I had to sort my accounts out.
Phew, all that rigmarole took its toll out of me, thankfully Wendy supplied me with coffee, twice.
After that we both sorted the car out for the trip north.
As we are taking Granny and Grandad back with us, we have had to leave some stuff with them and put the seats back in the car, as we had left them at their house because we had that much stuff to take with us for five weeks away.
We also had to clean the inside of the dam thing because after five weeks of camping it was in a bit of a state.
Jeepers the sun was out and I had a right dab on by the time we had done.
We took the car back to camp and again had a bit of a sort out there.
I managed to catch Mr Jenkins, our camp site host, so that I could pay him his site fee.
Mr Jenkins is a really lovely man and he does like a chat.
I asked him about business this year and he said that it had been slow. I told him that its very busy at home with campervans, but that they don’t camp at camp sites, they just park up for the night. He said it’s a big problem down here too. He said, “I only take campervans for a minimum of 2 nights because they stay in laybys for a week and then they want to spend one night here so that they can empty their toilet and their waste water into my septic tank which costs me hundreds of pounds to have pumped out every few weeks, and then fill their water tanks with water”. Jeepers I never thought about this!
After a long chat we cycled back to Grannies for an afternoon BBQ with Sarah, Wendy’s sister, Dean, Sarah’s friend, Ellis, Wendy’s nephew and his fiancée Hannah, oh and Granny and Grandad too.
There was that much food we barely made a dent in it, but it was delicious.
It was the first time we have met Hannah and she is a really lovely young lady.
After the food had been cooked on the bbq I put on the big fat juicy pork steak that I brought back from France and slowly cooked it.
After a massive clean-up we bid everyone goodnight and cycled back to the caravan; the pork was nicely wrapped up in Wendy’s new rear cycle basket.
Back at the van and it was still quite warm, while Wendy showered, I cut the pork into small slices so that it will fit into the freezer. I had the odd slice and I can say that it was an utter delight.
Its bed time soon, Wendy is already doing loud yawns, I need a shower and maybe a glass of wine before settling down. I won’t be long though as we have a day trip over to Sussex tomorrow.
Before I go though, I must tell you about the goat in the tree house, I know I couldn’t believe it myself but as we got back to camp, I thought I saw a goat in a tree house in the allotment next to the campsite, and on looking closer, I saw that I was not wrong in my assessment.
There was indeed a goat in a tree house?
No Travelling
Now It’s Wind and Driving Rain!!!
I cannot believe that yet again it was windy this morning.
Again, Wendy Gill would not get out of her bed to go running.
I took the car on to the island and parked up on the road to Queenborough and ran along the coastal path, along the docks and along the sea wall before coming back for the last two miles running directly into the wind. Sometimes I was almost standing still.
I forgot to mention the biggest admin issue that I completed at Grannies yesterday, was that I wrote a stiff letter of complaint to Le Shuttle about the fiasco of our return, I bet it gets nowhere!
I used my new ear buds today and I was pleasantly surprised at how good they are. I was worried to death that one would fall out of my ear and I would lose it, thankfully I didn’t. They are not easy to adjust the volume though as it’s a very small button on each ear piece, the left is to turn down and the right is to turn up the volume. You have to tap it once for an incremental increase or decrease. It’s not easy when you are running and your hand keeps missing the button so I did it on my phone which is much easier. I don’t often have to change the volume its just when there is a lot of traffic noise.
I got back to the caravan and I did a quick check to see if the goat was out of the tree house, it was, it must be too windy for it.
After breakfast we jumped in the car for a 50-mile jaunt to see an old friend of mine. The wind was still roaring but thankfully we didn’t have the caravan with us. The Sat Nav took us down some lovely country roads and through some stunning villages.
As we were a little early, we stopped in the closest town and did a little shopping, it was now raining, hard.
We walked up and down the High Street and with it being a bit of an area of wealth we looked in the local charity shops and we ended up buying a book each, a puzzle for the toy box, some little wellies for home when unexpected downpours occur when any of the girls are over, and a very nice cane basket for Wendy to use for fire wood in her new garden den.
We got to my friends a little late as a road had been unexpectedly closed, it might have been a tree down as the wind was even wilder here.
As soon as we had said hello, we were in her car and in a jiffy in a very nice country pub where we were booked for a late lunch.
The waitress assured us that we had the best table in the pub with a stunning view up the valley, sadly we couldn’t see it today due to the driving rain.
Lunch was nice, the two ladies had fish, chips and mushy peas, which I was immediately envious of when they arrived. I had a burger and chips, and actually it wasn’t half bad, a bit of salad would have been nice but the chips were hot and the burger was very tasty.
We sat and chatted and caught up on things, Wendy as known my friend since we have been married and they are great pals now too and they did most of the chatting.
After about an hour we went back to her cottage where due to matters I can’t disclose she has two guard dogs. One is an Alsatian and one a nippy little Jack Russel, what bedlam ensued when they saw me. Thankfully they were both in the kitchen going wild.
As my friend has a really nice garden, we donned our jackets and despite the rain we were going to walk around it. I was the first into the conservatory and got the shock of my life when all of a sudden, a werewolf’s head popped through the bottom of the kitchen door!
Thankfully the hole restricted the dog’s ability to bark or snap.
We sat in the lounge but the dogs were still going crazy in the kitchen so they were introduced to me one at a time. The Alsatian sniffed me a few times, growled a little and then settled down. Meanwhile the Jack Russel was headbutting the kitchen door trying to get at me.
We chatted and had some cake that a sister-in-law had baked, which was very nice and then due to the incessant barking from the kitchen, the Jack Russel came in to the lounge.
Actually, he was fine and just padded around with a bone in his mouth.
At 4:30 pm as we were about to leave, I got up to visit the bathroom and he wasn’t happy with me and did give me a serious level of growling and barking, but my friend kept him under control.
We did indeed leave just after 4:30 pm for the drive back.
I know it might have seemed an ordeal but I left satisfied with the new necessary security arrangements in place!
The drive back was a little difficult as the rain was torrential, but we made it back safe and sound.
I nipped onto the island for some fuel for tomorrow’s journey north, it’s a big one, Kent to Edinburgh in one go, 454 miles!
It might be only a short copy tomorrow, as I am hoping there are no dramas along the route!
Good Night Avid Reader!
482 Miles
What a Journey!!!
I woke nice and early and I went straight out running, I went up to Iwade by the long road route and then through to Bobbing and I managed to get my four miles in before I went cross country.
It was a nice morning and the sun was out, but it was exceptionally windy, again.
I got back just before 8:30 am and I started to get the caravan ready to move. Wendy had gone to Grannies to make sandwiches and to bring everyone over when I was ready for them.
I did things a little back to front as it was still quite early as we couldn’t really set off until after around 9:30 am because of the roadworks at Stockberry Roundabout and the tailbacks it causes.
I had a shave first and then my smoothie and tea, I brushed my teeth and then showered and then let Wendy know I would soon be ready.
I had everything ready for 9:45 am and just as I was going to get changed into my clean clothes Mr Jenkins came over for a chat and to wave us off. He told me that he was taking his granddaughter for an interview in Sittingbourne and so couldn’t be here when we left. I have said that he is a smashing man already, and he really is!
At around 10:00 am Wendy turned up with Granny and Grandad all ready to go. Wendy was putting things in the caravan fridge while I coupled the car to the caravan. I just had everything ready to go when Wendy said, “Wait!”
A few frantic minutes passed where by a search for some items was worryingly undertaken and it was quickly ascertained that Grandads medical supplies had been left behind.
The only thing to be done was for me to unhook the caravan and let Wendy go back to their house and get the supplies.
She did quite well because she was back with her cargo about 25 minutes later.
When we eventually set off the Sat Nav said that we would be at our destination at 9:00 pm and that the distance would be 454 miles.
As soon as I got to the end of Mr Jenkins drive the Sat Nav wanted me to go right. Now I did not obey this command because the roads in that direction are very very tight and I did not fancy taking the caravan that way.
I went in the opposite direction and in a few minutes the Sat Nav happily accepted the route I was taking.
We were delayed about 5 minutes at Stockburry Roundabout but that was fine, however the Sat Nav wanted me to go in the direction of Maidstone and not on the M2 towards the Dartford Tunnel.
Again, I didn’t obey the command and again as soon as I got on the M2 the Sat Nav accepted this new route.
When we were almost at the end of the M2 and about to join the A2, the Sat Nav insisted that I take an exit and join the M20. As this was now the 3rd time that she had requested I take this route I thought that I had better do as she said as she usually knows when there is trouble ahead.
Eventually, we ended up on the M20 and then the M26, and then the M25 heading westwards and completely avoiding the Dartford Crossing.
The road was busy and we were in traffic jams several times so I do hope whatever delay there was at Dartford, that it was significantly longer than the ones we kept coming across.
The M25 was built in sections over quite a few years and was completed in 1986. It is an orbital ring road motorway that goes all the way around London and it is 117 miles long.
The Dartford Crossing takes the motorway traffic westbound through 2 deep tunnels and 4 lanes of motorway traffic over a very large bridge over the River Thames.
There is a fella who I know, from our village, who doesn’t often travel far. One year, when the children were small, he drove them down to Disneyland Paris.
On the way back he crossed at the Dartford Crossing and a few hours later he found himself back at the Dartford Crossing, he hadn’t taken the M11 north when he should have, what a wally!
We eventually were told to take the M1 which we did and we made good progress, however traffic started to slow down just before junction 12 and the matrix signs said that there were lanes closed due to a breakdown. Just has we where just about to go passed the slip road at junction 12 the matrix said that there were lanes closed due to an accident, it was at that exact time that Radio 2’s Ritchie Anderson told us that the motorway was closed due to an accident. We later found out that it took 3 hours to reopen!
I managed to get off the motorway but I had no idea where to go, I asked Wendy to find me an alternate route and we did have a little squabble, but we quickly sorted it out. We drove up to the next junction where we could see the motorway moving very slowly so we decided to head eastwards and join the A1.
Would you believe that as we approached Newark the Sat Nav wanted me to leave the motorway. As I could not see any reason to do so we took a democratic decision and all 3 of my passengers voted to stick to the A1. Wendy asked me how I would vote and I said that I had no idea what to do so that’s why I asked them. Just as I was about to go beyond the exit slip road a red line in the direction of the motorway appeared on the Sat Nav and I could see the traffic on all 3 carriageways stood still.
I quickly and safely took the slip road. As I drove on, I heard Grannies little voice in the back of the car say, “Well that wasn’t very democratic”.
As we drove on, we saw that the A1 was completely blocked due to another serious accident.
The new detour took us about 4 miles and it actually put us back on the A1 just before the accident. We actually merged in turn with the queuing traffic and passed by the accident.
It was a car in a bit of a predicament with an LGV lorry pulled up a few yards further up. The police were in attendance and the road would be shortly closed so that the wreckage could be recovered.
Thank goodness I took that slip road when I did.
We managed alright from that point on and stopped for refuelling a couple of times. In fact while everyone else was in the services I saw a car at an electric recharge station being charged and I went to take a look. The car had been on charge for about 14 minutes and was half charged, does that mean it would take 30 minutes for a full charge, and how far would that get them, and how much did the charge cost? It was interesting!
The Sat Nav had one more trick up its sleave as just after Newcastle it took us inland and through the winding roads of the Borders. I was past caring and just did what I was told.
We arrived at Robyn’s house at 9:55 pm, almost 12 hours after we set off.
I set the caravan up on the drive while everyone else disappeared into the house to cuddle Violet, Rose was asleep in the tent in the back garden, but that story is for tomorrows copying Avid Reader as its now 00:15 am and I am very ready for my bed now, good night!
Actually, I think I need to unwind with a glass of wine while Wendy is fast asleep in bed!
Home Time
178 Miles
I woke at 5:50 am this morning and went in to the house from the caravan to make some tea and toast. I wasn’t going to go running until I got home as we needed to leave smartish as Rose is undergoing chickenpox inoculation and there is a remote possibility it could be transmitted so we didn’t want any over exposure. That sounds a little uncaring but it’s not meant to, she looks very well and is growing into a lovely little girl!
As soon as I had had my breakfast, I nipped to Tesco to fill the car with fuel and when I got back Rose was up and about, Granny and Grandad were still in bed.
I had a good chat with Rose and then I went and packed the caravan and repacked the bikes on the back of the car as I was taking one back from Robyn’s for Caroline.
Jeepers we had a sofa bed to take back and it must have weighed a ton! I didn’t realise there were so many big bits to a flat pack sofa bed. Of course, there were two mattresses to take home too.
I managed it though and then I went and made myself, and Granddad, a bacon sarnie, mine was toasted and Grandads was on plain white bread, I couldn’t give him his favourite brown sauce as there wasn’t any available, he scoffed it anyway.
I had a cuddle with Violet and I then, as everyone was climbing into the car, I asked Rose to take me a walk up the street and show me where her friends lived. It was nice, she chatted to me all the time we were walking and pointed her friends houses out to me, she then told me that she was going swimming today with her friend Leo.
With everyone in the car we headed off along the Edinburgh by-pass which was unbelievably quiet for a Friday morning, but then Alex did tell me that it is quiet during the school holidays, and it really was.
In no time at all we were crossing the Queensferry Bridge over the Firth of Forth and then onto the M90. It was then that we heard Jules, the Radio Two Travel reporter, tell us that there will be travel disruption on the A9 today between Perth and Pitlochry due to the World Bike Championship that’s happening in Scotland this week.
Our fears were stoked when we got to Perth and we had a half mile queue to get off the M90.
This fear was compounded by the fact that the Sat Nav was wanting me to turn around at the roundabout and go back down the M90 and into Perth and that it was showing a total distance to travel of 170 miles, when we should have only have to do about 120 miles. It looked to me that she wanted us to take the old road up to Braemar, most likely due to disruption on the A9.
As there wasn’t any diversion, or warnings of delays, I headed to the A9 and when we got to Perth, we found a new bypass, that had been under construction when we had left, had opened and that it was not yet showing on the Sat Nav.
I took the bypass and it did indeed look like we were driving over grassy fields for about 2 miles before we rejoined the A9 proper and the Sat Nav found its proper place, and the milage come down to a reasonable 115 miles and a new arrival time of 1:00 pm.
The A9 North was pretty good, although we did get behind one van who was dawdling between 50 and 55 mph. I guessed that he was working and didn’t want to be anywhere particularly fast. I managed to get round him at the Kingussie dual carriageway and from there on in it was plain sailing and we were back at our house at exactly 1:00 pm.
It took an hour to empty the car and caravan and then Wendy went shopping for some food supplies and I went for a run to my old favourite, The Fairy Glen.
I got back just as supper was ready, pork chops and stir fry veg, which was very tasty.
Then, because the grass in the garden must be a foot deep, I strimmed all the edges so that we can cut the grass tomorrow, hopefully, if it’s not raining.
I then took a very nice shower in my outside bathing area.
And that is that, back to normality.
It has been a most fantastic adventure touring France.
The caravan has been a dream to pull along and we haven’t had any hassle or issues along the way. We have been to some smashing new places and revisited some old favourites. In total we have travelled 2,901 miles to the South of France and back.
I am really looking forward to my next trip out, to Tenby, in Wales in September but I also have the delight of taking Granny and Grandad back home to Kent in the coming weeks so I hope to explore some new places along that route too.
So, keep your eyes peeled Avid Reader, there’s another adventure coming up very soon!
164 Miles (Round Trip)
Sunshine
This is an impromptu copy as it’s been such a nice day out that it just had to be preserved for posterity.
It started off like any day at home, at around 6:00 am on a nice sunny, summers day.
I ran to Beauly Village and it was rather nice, my stride was good and I had a very enjoyable run.
I did a few admin chores after my delightful banana smoothie and tea and then after a shower myself, Wendy, Granny and Grandad, Wendy’s parents, all jumped in the car for a day’s road adventure to the Isle of Skye.
I filled the car with fuel at the filling station in Beauly because diesel is very reasonably priced there at the moment, in fact it has been all summer, so far,
Then I took the north road to Skye which takes you up into the higher lands passed Garve and then Achnasheen and down into Starthcarron. As usual the views were stunning but the road was exceedingly busy.
I was the Fire Officer for Skye and Lochalsh from 1999 to 2003 and I used to travel this road on a weekly basis and I would always get a friendly wave from locals travelling in the opposite direction when we pulled over for each other on the single-track passing places. Not today though, with the number of campervans and tourists on the road, I was very lucky if anyone actually pulled into a passing place.
In fact, going around the coastline of Lochcarron I was following a hire car that was obviously being driven by someone who did not know the roads as they had their foot on the brake every second minute that passed. But they would not let me pass them, even on passing a sign that said, “Allow cars behind you to pass when required”. I even put on my right indicator for about ten minutes but the bugger did not heed the message.
Eventually I pulled into the lay by on the higher ground above Lochcarron to look at the view below and I found that the often-deserted layby was now mobbed with campervans.
The Highland Council, being very enterprising, now allow campervans to stay overnight at the small charge of £7 per night, but you can only stay one night with no return within 48 hours. You have to pay the charge by using a parking site app, which I am sure will be very rigorously enforced.
The views are still as stunning as I first found them over 25 years ago but the trees do need lopping at the top as I had to stand on top of a wooden fence in order to get a good photo.
We drove onto Kyle of Lochalsh where we parked in the main car park. Wendy and Granny went into a charity shop, Grandad went to spend 50p and I walked down to the pontoons and took some pics of the Skye Bridge. I also chatted to a very nice couple from the USA who were replenishing their stunning yacht with fresh water.
Back at the car, with Grannies newly purchased porcelain Ming vase safely wrapped up and in the boot of the car we drove the short distance over the Skye Bridge to the really lovely village of Kyleakin, the first village on the Isle of Skye.
My good friend, Jackie MacLennan, told me about a new café that her friends had opened in the village so we headed for a spot of lunch there, and what a treat it was.
Jackie and her husband Angus joined us and we had a smashing sunny catch up, it was a real treat, and on Granny too, how very nice of her!
After lunch we headed northwards and then eastwards to the small community of Kylerhea where we were going to board the Glenelg ferry that crosses the Sound of Sleat.
The road to Kylerhea is long and winding with some stunning views and at one beautiful viewpoint I stopped to take a photograph and spoke with a couple, my age, from Hampshire. They didn’t know about the ferry and so I explained all about it to them and as they were staying on Skye, I suggested that if they had time, they ought to take the ferry and then visit Eilan Donnan Castle on the way back to the island.
We got to the slipway just as the ferry was departing for the mainland, but that didn’t matter as we had time to take in the views. My new friends had decided to take my advice and they did indeed board the ferry with us.
The MV Glenachulish, is the last manually operated turntable ferry in the world. She is ideally suited for this unique crossing to Skye and is an important part of local heritage. Although there has been a car ferry service crossing here since 1934, the very same crossing has been in almost constant use for hundreds of years, as this is the closest point on the Mainland to the Isle of Skye.
The MV Glenachulish was built in 1969 and has a length of almost 18m and a beam of 6.7m. The ferry has a capacity of 6 cars but will allow any variation of foot passengers and vehicles within its safety specifications (maximum 12 passengers).
Would you believe, one of my old crew was the skipper on our crossing, Ronald, he’s a police officer now, has been for over 20 years but comes back home from Inverness occasionally to keep his hand in on the ferry.
On the way home we drove into the village of Glenelg to show Granny and Grandad the lay of the land. Then we drove up to Mam Ratagan Pass, to its summit at a height of 1,100ft, where we took some nice photos of the Five Sisters of Kintail before driving back through Glen Shiel and then along the north bank of Loch Ness.
To finish the day Granny treated us all to a drink at the Old North Inn where we sat in the back bar and chuckled as the bar staff annoyed the chef, who was cooking at a BBQ range in the beer garden, by constantly getting the table numbers mixed up!
After a sandwich snack of a ham roll and a pork pie at home we all settled down after a lovely day out!
181 Miles
Home Time
I was up smartish this morning, just before 6:00 am. We have been sleeping in the caravan since last Thursday as we had Robyn and Alex stay over in our room with their girls, with Rose having the back bedroom and Violet staying in with her mum and dad. Then on Saturday night we had Bradly, Caroline, Eleanor and Lois stay over in the new garden den, they all loved it. But it meant an awful lot of washing with just a few days to spare before we headed south taking granny and grandad back home to Kent. Hence the discission to stay in the caravan so at least one set of bedding can wait until we get back home late next week.
The weather was nice and sunny as I left for my run to Beauly but the temperature was down from yesterday as it was only 11 degrees outside. I ran in my shorts and I wished that I had put my tracky bottoms on as it was rather chilly as I ran down the straight backroad to Beauly.
I tried to time my run so that I would get back just before the late mums came hurtling down the single-track road in an attempt to get their kids to school before the bell rang. As always there was one who had to pass within a foot of me at 60 mph, I guess she didn’t see me give a two very good fingers in her rear-view mirror, but by the way she drives I doubt that she ever uses it.
I got back just before 9:00 am and I did some packing of the car chores before my smoothie.
Jeepers we have some clobber to take back with us!
After breakfast and a shower, I finished the packing and I just about managed to get everything in, but it was a little tight in the rear for granny and grandad.
On the way out of town we stopped at Matalan, which is on the southern ring road, and Wendy nipped in to return some shorts that she had bought for me yesterday as they were two small for me, despite my very athletic frame.
Thankfully the refund didn’t take long and we were soon heading down the A9.
The SatNav, for some reason, took me off the A9 just after Aviemore and we trundled along a back road for about ten miles before rejoining the A9 again. I don’t know what the issue was but we shaved two minutes off our expected arrival time by doing so.
The rest of the A9 was a cinch as was the M90, even the Queensferry Crossing didn’t hold us up. Finally, the Edinburgh City bypass was clear and we were parking up at the house at a little after 2:30 pm having done the journey in a minute over 3 hours and 30 minutes.
I parked the car on the drive and I was first out of the car to see my two little girls, but I had been thwarted, Rose had had a late sleep at nursery and Robyn had gone, with Violet, to pick her up.
Bugger!!
I found Alex in the kitchen with some very sorry looking bread. But Alex is a good lad and he immediately coughed to having had a timing issue with focaccia bread which was going to be used for supper. I had a taste, actually I had a fair bit as I was hungry and after getting through the crunchy bits it did actually taste very nice. Thankfully though another portion was proving and was ready in time for supper. With Rose and Violet back with their mum we left dad, and granny and grandad at home while Robyn and the girls took us to their new leisure centre for me and Rose to have a swim.
The centre is a very new David Lloyd Leisure Centre and I was very impressed with it, it is really nice. The indoor pool area had two very nice sized children’s pools, one a little deeper than the other. There was also a very nice sized competition pool inside and a heated one outdoors as well.
I had a swimming session with Rose while mum and nanny watched us while drinking coffee behind a very large glass window. I was pleased with Rose as she was very confident in the water.
Back at the house and Robyn had made an absolutely delightful chicken and vegetable lasagna which we had with a green salad and some very, very nice focaccia bread.
It was bath time for the girls when I went to Tesco for fuel for the car and a few items from the store, and not long after they were settled down nicely for the night.
Granny and Grandad were both in bed by 8:30 pm and I hope not to be long behind them as I hope to have an early start in the morning. I’m really looking forward to running down to Musselburgh and the harbour as it’s been a few months since I last did it.
I do hope the tide is in as I like to see the boats floating in the harbour instead of them lying on their side in the mud!
262 Miles
High Tide
As we are not towing the caravan, we are stopping at a halfway point to break the journey up and I picked Workshop as the destination as I know granddad would like to revisit as its where his mum was from.
We hadn’t told him as it was to be a surprise, but to enjoy the surprise a little I asked Rose to tell him last night, which she did, and she did a very good job about it, however granny and granddad couldn’t understand her, even though she was saying “You’re going to Worksop grandad”, as clear as day.
So, I wrote the text on a note page on my phone and asked Rose to give it to grandad, thankfully the penny dropped.
I ran down to Musselburgh Harbour this morning and I was indeed blessed with a very nice High Tide, I was only seven minutes after high water, it was a real treat!
I knew I was onto a winner when I turned around the corner and ran along the sea front as I could see a sail boat leaving the harbour. I still had a mile to go but I knew I would see the harbour full of water.
The weather was good too with only a very light wind.
As I got to the harbour the local rowing club was just pulling in at 7:30 am after they had done their mornings training, jeepers they must be early risers.
It really was a lovely morning and I sat on a bench watching the sky get lighter as the clouds cleared away.
I got back to the house just after 9:00 am and I had a chat with Rose who was on her way to Nursery. Robyn took her on her new bike and they looked really good cycling off with their matching helmets on.
We set off on the road at just gone 10:30 am and we went directly south down the A1, the road was busy but we made very good progress into England.
I had updated my SatNav last week and I noticed that the top speed limit for the dual carriageway sections of the A1 was only 60 mph. It was the same yesterday coming down the A9 and then the M90.
When we neared Holy Island the traffic was very heavy and at times we crawled along. It only got better when we hit the dual carriageway at Morpeth.
Yet again the A1 was showing a 60-mph speed limit all the way down.
We stopped for a comfort break at the service station close to Wetherby, jeepers it was busy and I could not find a disabled parking bay as they were all full. Some cars were parked in the disabled bays without displaying a blue badge, the buggers.
Back on the road again and the SatNav took us off the A1 due to roadworks that were showing a long delay at the M62 interchange and so we took the M1 south. The only time the Sat Nav showed us a 70-mph speed limit was when we got onto the M1.
The M1 was busy but we managed to keep going and we checked into our Travelodge at a little after 3:45 pm.
No sooner had we checked in and dropped our bags and we were in Cemetery Road, Worksop so grandad could have a look at the house his grandfather built.
From there we drove into town, parked up and we took a stroll along the High Street. Granny had a mission to buy some pork pies from a local butcher as she remembers liking them from there. We did have to find a side street close to a shopping centre but we do now indeed have a selection of pork pies in the cool box in our bedroom. They will be fresh in there as the box as plenty of ice in with the pies.
I have to say that I found Worksop to be a little rough, it was just that kind of place.
Granny treated us all to supper in the Weatherspoon’s Bar, The Liquorice Garden, and I had a very nice Grilled Chicken Katsu Curry and it was really very tasty.
After supper I took a ride looking for a large lake just out of town but there did not appear to be any road access to it. Thankfully I did drop on an Asda store where we bought some wine and some croissants for breakfast tomorrow.
After dropping granny and grandad off in their bedroom we took a walk looking for the canal.
Jeepers we did go through some very ropey side streets and I have to say the back alleys of Worksop are not somewhere I would want to be after dark.
We did find a very nice-looking cricket ground though, and I watched a couple of men doing some practice out in the middle. I looked at the boundary rope and I thought that with all the practice I have been doing with my bowling machine in my cricket net this last two weeks, I might fancy a few fours there and maybe even the odd six!
We did find the canal in town and you’ve guessed it, it wasn’t one of the nicest kept canals I have ever come across!
Back at the hotel, as the internet was down we couldn’t watch any TV so as I write tonight’s copy we are listing to a previous edition of Trevor Nelsons 10:00 pm show, actually I like Trevor’s music taste so its not all doom and gloom.
I’m hoping that the traffic going south is kinder tomorrow than it was today, there is one traditional bottle neck that is often bad on a Friday afternoon and that’s The Dartford Crossing, fingers crossed then!!!
212 Miles
Mystery Tour!
I slept like a log last night despite some rather unsavoury characters sat on the smoking wall which was directly below our first-floor bedroom window.
I went running and it was a lovely morning, the sun was out and it was just all round very pleasant.
I found the canal after just one mile and then I ran westwards in the direction of Chesterfield.
The track was brilliant and it really is a very interesting canal. After it leaves Worksop town centre it enters some very beautiful countryside. The tow path is brilliant to run on, nice and wide and mostly tarmac.
There were quite a few small locks to climb though, jeepers there must have been at least 30 of them.
The tow path passed the rear gardens of some very nice-looking bungalows whose owners had made the most of their canal side location by being very inventive with cosy outdoor seating areas.
The canal wasn’t very wide though and it is over hanging with branches in a lot of places which did make it a little shaded at this time of year.
Chesterfield Canal Factoids!
I got back to the hotel just before 9:00 am and sat for five minutes on smoker’s wall alone, thankfully, to cool down.
Back in the room I had a banana smoothie and tea and then I showered.
We were all packed into the car and we left at 10:30 am just as Vernon Kay started his ten to the top quiz.
The road south was fine until we hit the M11 where we encountered slow traffic. There seems to be a “New thing”, driving in the slow lane faster then the cars in the fast lane and then pulling in directly in front of the people in the fast lane, when they, the slow laners approach a slower vehicle causing the people in the fast lane to have to brake hard. It happened to me 3 times and on the last occasion I have a photo of his registration plate which I will report to Cambridgeshire Police, fat lot of good it will do mind!
Having driven this route for over 40 years I know just about every mile of it, so when I knew I was very close to turning off for the M25 I knew there must be delays because the SatNav had me going down the M11 for another 10 miles.
Then I got a warning message from the Sat Nav telling me that there was a traffic jam of two minutes on the A406, The North Circular Road, so I knew then that I was going in an obscure direction.
I was in two minds whether to take the M25 anyway as I was worried I might get a London Congestion charge of £18 if I carried on the A406, but I decided to take the risk and I am so glad we did as we kept moving and we had a really interesting drive through the high rise buildings of the far east end, including Canada Square. We drove through The Blackwall Tunnel, which I think I might have done many years before!
Once we were on the south side of the Thames it wasn’t long before we were cruising down the M20 and over to the Isle of Sheppey arriving at around 2:45 pm.
As everyone was getting out of the car, I had a look at my messages on my phone and I saw to my absolute sadness that a good friend and colleague from Highland and Islands Fire Brigade had died.
Karen Gallie was a lovely woman; she was around my age and made me feel very welcome when we first moved north. I also worked with her husband, Gilbert, who was a Station Manager in the Fire Brigade. Funnily enough I also worked with her two sons, Andrew and Graham, when I was a life guard at Inverness Leisure.
She was always in a very happy mood and I’ll always remember her good humour and laughter!
Wendy had to take her mum and dad to the opticians for a fitting session but when they got back Wendy and I took a walk down to the main road for a beer and a glass of wine at Sheppey’s first micro pub, The Heritage.
We sat outside, in the sunshine, I had a lovely pint of real ale, with a head, blimey, and Wendy had a glass of wine. It was around 5:00 pm and we sat and marvelled at the utter stupidity of what I now call motorcar madness at the Halfway traffic lights.
The motorcar madness fun was so good we even had another round, I had a glass of wine this time and it was lovely!
Supper was salad and pizza and a small starter of Worksop pork pie; it was all utterly delicious.
I’m having an early night tonight; it’s been a long couple of days driving. I know we have done it in about 200-mile stints but it is rather tiring concentrating for 3 to 4 hours at a time on busy roads. I think I might have to go back to doing the entire journey in a oner, that way I can get it over with in one go and then only get one session of motorway jet lag!
No Travelling
Sheerness Canal
We spent the night in the back bedroom sleeping on grannies blow up bed. Its actually quite good, it has its own built in air pump and it even has an inflatable headboard.
Normally I get a good night’s sleep on it but last night Wendy Gill was up and down, tossing and turning and she actually got up taking her i-Pad with her at 3:30 am, she was back within ten minutes mind. Thankfully I did manage to drop off to sleep again and woke at 6:00 am.
It was a lovely morning when I got up and after my tea and toast, I went for my morning run which today had a secondary mission.
I have been coming to the Isle of Sheppey for over 40 years and I have always known the long strip of water that runs on the outskirts of the town of Sheerness as the canal, that’s what local people call it too.
If you take the main road in from Halfway, where granny lives, the road at the outskirts to Sheerness appear to go over the canal, but it doesn’t.
The canal is actually not a canal, it was built as a moat to protect the naval dockyard and an army garrison which was stationed in Sheerness, it was created in the 1660’s.
The waterway was called officially Queenborough Lines but it has always been known to local people as The Canal. This waterway ran from the seawall in the east all the way around the outer edge of Sheerness town to the seawall in the west, alongside the dockyard, although half of the western section was filled in many years ago. It acted as a kind of wide moat all-round the outside of Sheerness, split into the two halves by the main road into Sheerness.
The road used to be an open bridge over the water, but years ago the area below was filled in which effectively cut both sides of the canal off at that point.
The canal is now two very different waterways, the one to the east is filled with sea water as there is a connection to the Thames Estuary and the one to the west, which has been infilled at its point with the sea at Queenborough is freshwater.
My mission today was to run along the sea wall at Queenborough, go past Sheerness Docks and through the town up to the point where the canal separates. I wanted to run along the eastern, freshwater side as I have never been along that route at all.
The run was nice along a grassy bank, it went on for almost a mile and then the canal ended. I could see the area where the canal had been filled as it is covered with reedy grass. I managed to get down to the end of the canal for a photograph, it looked stunning in the morning sunshine. When you look at it from this point it was an ingenious plan which someone had to build as it does effectively cut off the town of Sheerness from the rest of the Isle of Sheppey.
I got back to grannies house a little after 9:00 am and I sat on her bench by the front door for my cooldown.
After breakfast I made the mistake of offering to reorder grannies Blue Badge, what a palaver, it was a replacement badge and it took about an hour and 10 minutes to fill in all of the questions, lord knows what the initial questions would be?
After all of the faff, we drove to Gravesend as it’s a place that I have never been and it has a Wetherspoons bar!
Parking was a cinch as there was a massive car park on the last road into town and the first two hours are free on Saturday, now that is a way to encourage people to come and shop in your town centre!
We walked into town and my first priority was to bag the pub, The Robert Pocock.
It was busy inside, but the thing was, it was full of older men. All of the time I was in there I only saw two women. I felt like I was amongst a mob of East Gangsters, they all looked very dodgy. It was like a gang of old lags were reminiscing about the old blags of days gone by. I didn’t feel uncomfortable, it was just very odd, I expected Ronnie and Reggie to walk in at any moment.
After a drink we walked down to the Thames and we came across a small indoor craft market where we bought 4 very nice-looking cup-cakes.
Down at the Thames we found a not very friendly riverside walk. It wasn’t friendly in so much that there was a huge flood prevention wall and the only glimpse of the Thames was when you went over some interconnecting steps.
I did see a huge car transport boat leave its berth and head out to sea. It was the Yasmine and it was heading for Rotterdam, it looked quite impressive out there on the river.
We walked back to town calling in on the small pier and then to the church where there is a very nice sized statue of Pocahontas.
Pocahontas died in Gravesend while undertaking a tour of London and she is buried there; you can find the full story of her life through the link below:
The Real Story of Pocahontas: Her Life, Death and Meaning | Time
We walked around the town a little more before deciding that we had seen enough of Gravesend and that we might not, in all likelihood ever come back.
The SatNav was telling me to get off the M2 well before junction 5 where I would get off for the Isle of Sheppey. When I went passed junction 4 she then told me that I would have to go to junction 6 and then come back via back streets.
Thankfully I was prepared for this and I came off at the services just before junction 5 and then took the secret service road that would allow me to get back without using the much longer way the Sat Nav had suggested. She could not suggest this new route because its illegal to travel the 10 metres that got me out of the service station.
Back at grannies I had a supper of hot pork pie, chips, mushy peas and thick gravy, it was lovely, everyone else had their pork pie cold with salad and chips, it must be a southern thing?
Tomorrow morning we head slowly home but not before I run along the rest of the canal, in the westward direction!
155 Miles
Queenborough Lines
I slept a lot better last night because Wendy Gill slept a lot better, and she didn’t get out of bed once!
It was another nice morning so after my tea and toast I went running up to Minster Cliffs and then down to the canal so that I could complete my running tour of the Queenborough Lines.
I also needed to do some hill running because I have entered a running challenge to run over 1,000 metres in height in 20 days. Yesterday I didn’t even manage 20 metres but today I made 62 metres.
I got to the canal and I sat at the end closest to the sea wall and drank my water, I was sat on a bench and it was rather nice.
I got back to Halfway and I needed to do one more mile so I ran up a rather large hill to get yet more metres climbed, and after one more circuit around the area I did indeed get in my eight miles.
I had a lovely smoothie at grannies and after a shower I had the car packed smartish and in no time at all we were heading along the A249 for a ten-minute Sunday morning queue at Stockberry roundabout where significant roadworks are currently underway.
The M2 was very quiet but as we neared the turn off for the M25 I could see from the SatNav that we were not going to take that option. Yes, again we were going to go through the Blackwall tunnel, and I could see why because when we passed the turn off we could see vehicles backed up all the way up from the tunnel to the slip road on the M2.
Never mind it was again a very pleasant drive through the east, east end of London, although the Blackwall Tunnel was a little nose to tail all the way through.
The M11 was fine and soon we were pulling into the small town of Whittlesey, which was seven miles to the south east of Peterborough, for a drink in our 250th Wetherspoons bag.
Actually, it was a very nice little place which we took a walk around after having a beer in the very nice bar. The town was busy with people but it was very clean and tidy with an old market square, which to be fair had mostly been taken over by Wetherspoons outside seating area.
We took a walk around the church grounds which had a rather magnificent steeple before getting back in the car for the drive to our Travelodge which is bang in the heart of the city.
Sadly, there isn’t a car park on site so I dropped Wendy off, after I had carted all of our luggage up to the room, and I went to park in the Travelodge recommended car park.
The car park isn’t far away, but its an open car park where the local soap kitchen supplies food to some really, “Interesting people”. Now I appreciate that people can be on their uppers but they did all look to me to be right old worthies, as the old Highland saying goes. In fact I saw one of the characters later eating a MacDonalds MacFlurry in town, which I guess must have been his dessert.
After getting back safe and sound to the hotel we took a walk into the city centre.
Our first stop was at Peterborough’s Lido where I want to go for a swim tomorrow.
As it was latish on a Sunday afternoon the rather nice young woman on the check in counter let us take a look inside free of charge. Jeepers it was busy with swimmers, there was lane swimming and play swimming and it all looked rather warm in the 28-degree centigrade water. I did chuckle at the life guards though who were wrapped up in duffel coat type fleeces.
From there we found the River Nene which passes through the city and we came across a beer and food festival. Jeepers it was heaving with people and as we walked down from the bridge to where the festival was, the first thing we came across was the portable toilets where one drunken middle-aged woman fell out of, and flat onto her face on the floor. Concerned toilet queuers went to her aid but you could see that she was 3 sheets to the wind just by looking at her laughing there where she had landed, I bet she’s not laughing tomorrow when she’s black and blue!
After walking around the festival, which included a very noisy band, we bought a very nice looking, clarty chocolatey, fudge cake from a young woman and one portion of Caribbean prawns and rice from a street food vender.
We walked a little further along the river, along the other side of the bridge and we came across a nice-looking boat restaurant which sadly isn’t open on a Monday.
From there we bagged one of the two Wetherspoon Bars that Peterborough has to offer before heading back to the Travelodge for supper.
I have to say there are quite a few homeless looking people in Peterborough and although we didn’t go looking at the Cathedral, we did see quite a few scruffy tents camped in park grounds quite close by to it.
Supper consisted of a shared portion of Caribbean Prawns and rice, with a rather nice spicy sauce and a shared jerk chicken pasty which was a delight in its own right.
The clarty pudding was indeed very clarty and although it was alright with me, Wendy thoroughly loved her portion.
I hope the weather is nice for us tomorrow because we hope to visit the Lido first up and then go for a full days exploration of the city and take in the second of the cities Wetherspoon bars.
No Travelling
Swimming!
I had another very good nights sleep, despite us being in the city centre it was mouse like quiet.
Yesterday as we drove to Whittlesey, we passed the MacCain Oven Chip factory and the air smelled very chippy indeed. In fact Wendy said that she couldn’t live there as she would be constantly hungry.
The weather was brilliant this morning, warm and with bright sunshine.
Wendy went out running and I followed about 5 minutes later.
I ran down to the river and then I went left along a section of river that is paved and where some canal narrow boats are tied up. The river there is lined with lots of willow trees however there are quite a few homeless tents set up along there. Sadly, the area is badly littered with beer cans bottles and other things.
But as I ran on, I followed a lovely tarmac path.
Just before 2 miles I met Wendy who was coming back. She told me that the tarmac was very uneven after that, but it soon smoothed out again not long after and it followed the river side.
At 3.5 miles the path took me over a very nice footbridge and then over to the other side and into the Fenlands. At 4 miles I came out into an industrial area and would you believe I was bang outside of the MacCain Chip Factory, in the lorry park!!!
The Fens are very nice, I was out alone in the countryside but it is exceptionally flat, the only gradient I had to contend with was the small incline back up to the hotel, this isn’t going to help my Strava elevation challenge.
I got back to the room and I had a quick shower before we both trotted the short distance to the Lido for a morning swim.
Jeepers the pool was busy, mainly with older ladies who were there just for the gossip and to get in my way. There were two in particular who wore head visors and just pootled around in the same area getting in everyone’s way, as I passed them I could hear their incessant chitter chat!
Wendy got in and managed about 10 minutes before asking for the locker key.
The water was a very balmy 28 degrees and I loved swimming outdoors in bright sunshine.
The pool is 50 metres long and I did 16 lengths so that’s 800 metres which I do believe is a half a mile!
Lido Facts:
Opened in 1936 the Lido was a striking Art Deco building. Surrounded by gardens and adjacent to the embankment of the River Nene.
In 1933 the City Council launched a competition to find a Designer to work on the project. The response came from a group of the leading City’s Architects. They worked together and charged the City Council no fee for their work.
On June 8th 1940 a German bomb damaged the North-west corner pavilion. The building was restored after the war.
Then in 1991, a fire, left a huge repair bill. The Lido survived again when Councillor Neville Saunders dipped into his own pocket and paid the bill
It did suffer a dip in attendance when the City’s indoor pool opened but a save it campaign in 2002 ensured that it was refurbished and granted Grade II Listed buildings status and once again it is now very popular with swimmers.
I loved it there, my morning swim set me up for the day, the best thing about it was the quietness of it!
We got back to the hotel and after my smoothie and tea we checked on the car and replenished the parking fee. There were quite a few worthies hanging about which is a bit of a concern but there’s nothing I can do about it.
Our first mission in town was to find the Cathedral, which we did pretty smartish, and what a cracker it was.
It’s one of the last Norman Cathedrals built in England and it is stunning, and massive, it took over 150 years to build.
We walked all around the building and then we went inside. We didn’t have all over access as there was a Star Wars Exhibition on and that cost £10 per person. We didn’t bother, but then again why a Star Wars Exhibition in a Cathedral, are they that badly financed?
From there we walked over to the last Wetherspoons bar in town and sat in the very nice beer garden and had a pint of very nice ale
After that we went in every nook and cranny of the city, from the city centre to a beautiful river walk.
I have to say though that the city does need a kick up the backside. There is litter everywhere and the highest number of rough sleeping people that I have ever seen in the UK. There are also lots of eastern European nationals, that doesn’t make it a bad place but again some of them, to me, looked very dodgy. Where multi nationalism seemed to work in Leichester it doesn’t appear to be working in Peterborough!
We took a delightful early supper at 3:30 pm in a Caribbean restaurant, the Turtle Bay, actually we sat outside in the lovely hot sunshine.
Boy the music was loud as I ordered inside and the waitress who took my order look frazzled. However, the food came out and it was delicious, we shared spicy prawns to start with and then we both had a chicken main, Wendy had Jerk Chicken Breast and I had spicy chicken thighs. It was all very tasty!!!
It was lucky we went in when we did because not long after they ran out of draught lager and then bottled beer. A large group of hungry people, who consisted of some proper boozing types had to go across to a nearby bar and bring drinks over from there!
As we ate we noticed what looked like an Anthony Gormely statue on a roof top, and after a bit of googling Wendy found that it was a Gormley statue and that there were two others. So, more walking ensued and we did indeed track the two others down.
Having now walked over 7 miles we took a rest in the hotel.
I had to get Wendy off the bed at 6:00 pm as she was about to fall asleep, it took her a minute to regain her faculties but we did go for a very nice riverside walk before finally calling it a day on our walking activities.
In all we walked 9.40 miles, I swam for half a mile and ran 8.23 miles, so I guess I have earned a few slices of chocolate tonight, that’s if Wendy leaves me any?
188 Miles
Naughty Sat Nav!!!
I got stung again yesterday, on my throat. I was running through a wooded path and there were some flies around and I felt a nick on my skin and it did feel like a sting, but I never saw anything bigger than a fly.
It was mildly irritating during the day but overnight it was itching like buggery and kept waking me up. When I got up and checked my throat it was badly swollen and I looked like I had the neck of the Elephant Man. When I tilt my head forward I can feel a big lump in my throat. I haven’t been stung since I was ten years old and now that’s twice in two months, have I become very tasty for some reason?
I ran in the opposite direction along the river than I did yesterday and it was quite nice but it was just along a tarmac path with no river views due to trees along the river bank.
I got to a bridge and I ran across that, and then I ran along a little further down another track, passing a very long line of small boats that were tied up along the river bank, each one had its own little summer house, there seemed to be 100’s of them.
I also came across a stonking river side board walk that seemed to go on for miles.
Coming back I ran along the other river bank and I thought I was heading for a small bridge over a branch stream which went off the river and went to the rowing club. When I got there though the bridge had been removed and so I had to go and follow this river branch and work my way around it, it was at least another half a mile!
Back at the hotel and Wendy had been out and got me fresh milk and ice for my smoothie, and on seeing my double chin she went out again and got me some cream to rub into my chin as it was driving me crackers with its itchiness.
I brought the car to the hotel at 10:30 am and thankfully it had not been broken into, which I believe us to be very thankful for, and at 10:40 am with the car packed we set off for Blackburn.
On leaving Peterborough I reflected on a few things and I concluded that with everything it has going for it the town leaders should tighten up on two important things, litter and homeless people, which I have to admit I think go together. Last night on our walk we passed one such man, who was begging, and he had a right strop on at a couple who walked past him without giving him anything. He was swearing and cursing about being ignored like he had an entitlement to people giving him money. This kind of thing gives a very poor impression of what could be a very nice city.
Driving north I called in at Barnsley just to buy a Chronicle, Sat Nav wasn’t happy but as she was going to take us along the M18 anyway I thought she would soon get over it.
I had set the Sat Nav for Hebdon Bridge so it wouldn’t take me over the M62 to Blackburn, which actually takes you south towards Manchester.
We were almost at Hebdon Bridge when I changed the Sat Nav to Blackburn. Sat Nav kept trying to get me to turn around but I followed the signs for Burnley which I know is close to Blackburn.
Jeepers she would not let it go, she kept giving me orders to go this and that way and in the end I took her advice and we did indeed end up on the M62, and now 20 extra miles on the clock. Never mind I did get to drive through the Calder Valley.
Our Premier Inn is bang in the centre of town and after parking the car we were greeted by a smashing young fella who gave us a verbal tour of all the dining establishments which he thought we would like.
After dropping our bags we headed directly to town to get me some antihistamine tablets to try to reduce the swelling on my chin, which was now sagging like I had 3 chins.
Blackburn is a very very multi racial town and from what I saw everyone got along, but there is, yet again, a fair riff-raff element in town. I might have said before that I am not a snob, but I did do very well from my working class roots, however I have never left sight of where I have come from and that is to be mindful of others and a mother cursing and swearing in front of her small baby is not acceptable in my mind, or is allowing a 12 year old boy to vape directly in front of his parents, well that’s Wetherspoons in Blackburn for you!!!
Actually, the town is very clean and tidy and there are some stunning older buildings and lots of interesting statues too.
One good one is of the old Prime Minister Gladstone who looked a little like the New Zealand cricket umpire Bill Bowdon giving a poor batsman out with his crooked finger.
Another, very respectful one, is of Barbara Castle who in my younger days was a very prominent and decent Labour Minister who did a lot of good for working-class communities, just like Boris and his Tory mates are looking after their very wealthy mates thank you very much!
Our final visitation was to the Cathedral which is actually fairly new.
Blackburn Cathedral still retains its status as a parish church. Although the current building was completed in 1967, the site has been home to a church for over 1,000 years and the church, which was built in 1826 now forms the cathedral's nave. There isn’t much stain glass in the windows apart from the glass above the alter, which looked absolutely beautiful in the afternoon sunshine
We got back to the hotel after a good couple of hours exploring and after dropping off our shopping we went to find the route to The Leeds to Liverpool Canal which passes very close to the town centre.
With the canal located we ate supper in, would you believe, a Turtle Bay Restaurant. Although it was very quiet, at 7:00 pm, we had lovely service and very nice food. Wendy had spicy salmon and I had Caribbean ribs, we also had a rum cocktail each, well it is home time tomorrow!
Its now dark in Blackburn and from our 4th floor hotel window we can see the stain glass lights shining from the Cathedral and they are a site for sore eyes, if not poorly chins!!!
369 Miles
Lots of Rain
I woke at 6:02 am this morning, thankfully not having had my sleep ruined by my itchy neck.
Looking out from our very nice city view I could see the rain pouring down.
Wendy had left her running kit in the car and last night I said I would nip down for it in the morning.
I had tea and a cereal bar and Wendy got out of bed and took one look outside and said, “Oh no!” I said, “Shall I nip and get your running kit?” “No thank you”, was her reply.
The rain had not abated by the time I got outside and it was even worse when I got on the canal track. There was no point trying to avoid puddles, I just had to accept that I was going to get wet.
It chucked it down all of the way out for my first four miles and I took shelter under some thick trees for my drink stop. Just before stopping I had run past 3 older women with five dogs and they just about made room for me to get past them. On the way back there were 6 women, the first 3 where chatting to 3 others who had walked from the other direction and there were now 8 dogs. They were all stood chatting on the canal tow path and even though I was visible for 100 metres they never moved out of my way, I was blocked solid.
As I got close to them I said, “Come on ladies give me some room please”, a couple of them moved but I had to barge through the others, not badly but I did brush their jackets. Jeepers why could they not just step aside, or was their gossip much more important?
All along the route I never came across any canal locks, I must have been on the highest ground! It wasn’t a pretty run because of the rain but at least I have run another good section of the Leeds to Liverpool Canal.
I got back to the hotel soaked to the skin, I had to peel my trainers off!
Wendy had been over to Morrisons and had bought me some milk and ice so I had another smoothie, which was just what the doctor ordered.
After showering we took a few bags down to the car and then nipped to the market to buy:
2 x very nice-looking sirloin steaks
1 very nice portion of shin beef
2 x peppered burgers
2 x Tennessee burgers
2 x pork pies
1 roll of black pudding
With all of that nicely chilling in the cool box Wendy walked over to the British Heart Foundation shop.
Yesterday, on our way to Wetherspoons we called in to the shop looking for curtains, but instead Wendy fell in love with a drop leaf table that she thought would be perfect in her new summer house, it cost £25.
Wendy was concerned that we might not get it in the car but I said I would take a look in the morning and if I thought we could do it, we would buy it.
Having checked the available space in the car, bearing in mind we had the travel fridge, 2 x 50 litre water butts and the 50-litre waste water container from the caravan, which we had left at grannies as we had granny, grandad and their luggage with us on the return trip from France, it was going to be tight, but I thought we could do it.
I drove the car over to the shop using the Sat Nav to get me to the right street, but as it was only 100 yards away, which we didn’t know because of the silly one-way network in Blackburn, I took the car back to the car park where we would have more space to sort everything out and repack the car. Thankfully the sun was now out.
By the time I had walked over to the shop Wendy had bought the table and we carried it back to the car.
Actually, packing the car wasn’t as bad as I thought and we got everything in, squeezed mind, but at least it was all in.
Before heading home, we nipped to the small town of Darwen to bag a Wetherspoons bar, The Old Chappel where we both had a sausage buttie each, Wendy had orange juice and I had black coffee.
From there we took a walk around the small-town centre and we found that although it was small it did pack a big punch. There were plenty of shops and a very nice old market building which had a massive market square where children were encouraged to make chalk drawings on the paving stones.
It was sunny in Darwen, but the wind was up and it had a nip to it.
At midday we got back in the car and headed north.
As we approached Cumbria I felt dog tired, I didn’t know why because I had had a good nights sleep, and then it came to me, it must the tablets I am taking for my neck sting.
By Penrith I knew I couldn’t go much further so I suggested to Wendy that we swap at the service station just south of Carlise.
Wendy doesn’t like motorway driving but she can manage the M74, which is usually quiet.
It’s a good job she could manage it because I was fast asleep before we got back onto the motorway and we were about 20 miles short of Glasgow before I woke up.
Wendy was pleased when I told her to pull in at the next service station where I took over driving duties.
The route north was great, we almost had the A9 to ourselves and after stopping off at Lidl for some supplies, we were home by 6:30 pm.
After unpacking the car, and carefully putting the new table in the summer house, I took a shower and had some pork pie and black pudding for supper.
Sadly, the pie wasn’t great, the black pudding was dry, but at least I was home safe and sound!
That’s this adventure over Avid Reader but check back soon as another adventure awaits in just over a week’s time!
181 Miles
Mr Duck
Yesterday wasn’t such a good day, it was the funeral of my friend Karen which I detailed in one of my recent reports. It was an extremely sad event for such an obviously close family and one that they will not ever get over for the rest of their lives, life can be very cruel at times.
I went out running at 7:45 am this morning and I have to say that it wasn’t an enjoyable run. Suddenly, 4 days ago I developed sciatica in my right leg, jeepers even with paracetamol its extremely painful. But having had this condition several occasions before I know that the only way to get over it faster is by keeping going.
I used to have to take codeine for sciatica a few years ago and I think I might have to resort to it again, I do have the odd box labelled, “Use by 2015”, it should be ok, shouldn’t it?
The trouble with codeine is that it does make you drowsy for a few days until your body gets used to it, and having to drive long distances for the next few days I don’t think that it would be a good idea to start taking it now.
Before I got out of the village I found a small plastic duck on a wall, it had a label around its neck which asked for the finder to tag it on Instagram. I took a photo so that I could show the family WhatsApp group about it and see what they thought?
I carried on with my run and I managed to get the four miles to Beauly where I had a good rest on a bench. It was a cold morning with it being only 7 degrees when I set off so I could not hang about too long on the bench before a chill set in.
The last two miles were the worst and the pain was immense, but I did manage to get back for my recovery smoothie.
The duck was still on the wall as I returned home!
On checking, I had a message back from Robyn who had checked the Instagram page of the duck and it seems that they are from someone in Fort Augustus and that the belief is that they want to see how far they can get from that location, which is about 30 miles from where I found it.
After showering I packed the car with all of the equipment that we had got together these last couple of days for our next adventure, along with the luggage, which was substantial!
This next trip will see us visit Alton Towers with Alex, Robyn, Rose and Violet, and from there we will spend a week together in an apartment in Tenby which is on the south Wales coastline.
Even with the rear seats folded up the boot was looking pretty full by the time I had done the packing. That was a bit of a worry as Robyn wants me to take their two inflatable stand up paddle boards with us as their car, because with two tots and all of the stuff that they need will very likely be stuffed to the brim.
By the time we were ready to leave I had decided that if the duck was still on the wall, I would collect him and take him on the adventure with me.
I never told Wendy about the duck and because she never knew about the WhatsApp exchange because she had left her phone at Robyn’s two days ago when she was down babysitting, she had no idea of the reason why I had turned right when I should have turned left.
The duck was indeed still on the wall and as soon as I passed it to Wendy she knew what it was about, or so she thought. Wendy thinks I have to take it and leave it for someone else to collect, take and post a photo on the Instagram account and then someone else take it on another adventure. I am not so sure, but some additional guidance would have been helpful, but maybe the intention is that you make your own rules up!
We had to call in and see our granddaughters Eleanor and Lois before we left Inverness as I had some Euros for them for ice cream treats on their upcoming trip to France.
With the money drop completed we headed south down the A9 where we had a thankfully stress and danger free drive south.
The A9 is long overdue for the complete duelling of the route and while driving I did think of how, as it currently is, could it be made a little safer.
A few years ago, I measured the distances between the sections of dual carriageway and I found that the longest section was only 15 miles long. I did this to give some guidance to guests attending Robyn’s wedding in 2018 as I knew a lot of attendees would not have driven the A9 before.
In the guidance I detailed that no matter how slow the vehicle in front was going that you would never be much longer than 15 minutes from a safe overtaking opportunity. I appreciate it’s not scientific but it was food for thought when you’re hanging on the tail of some numpty doing 45 mph.
On todays drive I wondered that it might be helpful that at the end of every dual carriageway section a notice is posted stating the distance in miles and in time to the next dual carriageway section? Especially, when it’s one of the shorter sections of just a half dozen miles as it might take the frustration out of the journey knowing you can overtake in a couple of miles. This might be more helpful to people who have never driven along the road.
I also thought about the duck a little more and that it might be used by fundamental terrorists to spread a biologically harmful germ, well as we have seen to our cost before the buggers can be extremely resourceful!
We arrived in Millerhill at just gone 3:30 pm and soon I was getting a lovely cuddle from Violet. Rose was at nursery still, so I had to wait a little while longer for a cuddle with her.
I did pack the car with the paddle boards and some other gear too and I was pleased that it did indeed fit into the car quite easily.
When Rose was home, she took me for a walk to show me the horses that live close by and we had a really lovely walk, and we chatted nicely as we walked along.
Supper was a delight, a chicken and rice meal which Alex knocked up. and for pudding we had apple crumble and custard with apples that Wendy had brought down from our orchard at home.
As the tots were bathed and put to bed, I posted my idea for making the A9 safer on the A9 Dueling Facebook group page, fully prepared for the negative comments that invariably good intentions attract on Facebook.
As I needed fuel for the drive south tomorrow Robyn took me to Costco which is just a few miles along the city by-pass.
I was amazed that diesel was 10p a litre cheaper than Tesco and I was even more amazed when Robyn took me inside the store as it is utterly massive!
With a few bought items safely placed in the car we went back home and relaxed a little before tomorrow’s jaunt south.
Robyn is so excited about her trip to Alton Towers on Friday, its like she is 14 years old all over again!!!
248 Miles
The M6!!!
I had a bit of a sleepless night last night, I was a bit tossy and turny, but I still woke at 5:50 am and I didn’t feel too bad. It had rained heavily last night just before bed but it had now brightened up and I was good to go for my morning run.
The road I take to Musselburgh, which is my favourite run when I stay at Millerhill, is closed to all traffic and pedestrians until December as much needed improvement work is being carried out, and there is no suitable alternative route.
So, I headed in the direction of Edinburgh along a very main road, and it was chock-a-block with traffic all the way in. Well, it was 7:00 am and people were going to work in the city. It didn’t help that there is a very large hospital directly on the route and a lot of people were heading there for work.
The sciatica wasn’t any better and yet again the last two miles were agony, but being the stubborn bugger that I am I managed to get home, I have the codeine on standby, but I’ll persevere with the paracetamol for a few more days!
My post on the A9 Dueling Facebook page has now produced over 168 likes and 20 very positive comments. This evening then I sent a message to Fergus Ewing, the MSP for Badenoch and Strathspey asking that he consider passing on my suggestion to the relevant public body. I worked with Fergus when I was the Fire Officers Association Rep for Scotland some years ago. Although I don’t agree with his independence beliefs, I do respect him as a decent politician who does try to work for the benefit of all his constituents.
I got back to the house at exactly 9:00 am and Alex and his gang were just about ready to depart, so we said our goodbyes and sent them off on their merry way.
I had my smoothie, showered and shaved and then repacked the car.
At this point I have to admit to making a colossus boob, I have forgotten to bring along my vitamin tablets. Having studied relevant scientific guidance for recovery after strenuous exercise, I take a course of calcium, zinc and magnesium, vitamin B, vitamin D and cod liver oil every morning with my morning juice. I have taken this concoction for quite a few years and having not had as much as a cold or anything more serious for many years, I swear that it does work. Now I know that its not much good against sciatica or any other physical injury, but I do swear that for recovery it does give me the strength to keep going every morning, with vigour!
As a result, before we could set off, we had to nip over to the large shopping centre where there is a Holland and Barret store where I could buy some more supplies. Wendy wasn’t put out by this diversion as it meant that she could call into Waterstones Book Store and get her first day copy of the new Richard Osman novel, which Alex and Robyn are hoping to read too!
After shopping, our route took us over the border hills that separate the east from the west coast of Scotland which does offer stunning views so its no hardship to do.
On joining the A74(M) which then runs into the M6 in England the road for the next 200 miles was very monotonous.
The traffic on the M6 was absolutely mad when we hit the midlands and I saw more dangerous driving then I have ever seen in northern Britan. It’s not that it’s a northern thing, its just that the roads are not as madly busy as they are down here.
At one point I was doing exactly 70 mph, as measured on my SatNav, which is 5 miles per hour more than the gauge in the car, and I was in lane 3 and overtaking a car, as I am allowed to do. I saw in my rear-view mirror a transit type van come hurtling down and take up a position a few inches from my rear bumper.
I saw the driver gesticulating in frustration that I was blocking his road. Bearing in mind that I was doing the maximum legal speed limit, and I was legitimately overtaking a car which was moving at a lower speed, I took my time in pulling in after the overtaking manoeuvre just so that I could see the idiot boil over further with his stupid frustration.
The van was marked up in company colours and had I been a little sharper I would have Wendy get the details but has she had just woken from napping I didn’t think she would be up to the sudden burst of energy that it required.
As our traveling companions had had a long stopover at the shopping outlet at Gretna Green, we arrived at our Premier Inn hotel about 20 minutes before they did.
We were checked into our room by two smashing young fellas and just as we were unpacking the car, Robyn and Alex and the girls turned up.
So that mum and dad could settle in we took Rose for a little walk around the area which we found wasn’t pretty. Its one of those Premier Inn’s, on a busy main road with very little around it.
After everyone had settled in, we took the short drive to the town of Hanley so that we could have supper in the very nice Wetherspoons Building, The Reginald Mitchell.
Four out of the 5 meals taken were fine, however Wendys small fish and chips had a tiddler for the battered fish and her chips were lukewarm, but she didn’t complain, not officially anyway!
With Rose and Violet going back to the hotel to settle for the night Wendy and I took a walk around the town. It wasn’t pretty, it’s a nicely decent sized town but there are some very badly run down buildings and some of the local population looked like they belonged as extras in a Star Wars movie, even I wouldn’t fancy being in town late at night.
After getting some fuel in a Tesco supermarket we headed back and after settling the girls down with Robyn, Alex invited me for a drink in the bar downstairs, which was rather nice and relaxing.
Its now well gone 10:00 pm and as I file copy Wendy is fast asleep in bed and I won’t be long behind her as tomorrow will be an exciting but busy day at Alton Towers where I am guessing we will walk at least for 10 miles!
No Travelling
Knackered!!!
Despite the large number of workmen staying at the Premier Inn last night the hotel was very quiet, I only heard one fella starting his van at just gone 6:00 am when I was boiling the kettle.
I was up at 5:55 am but I was tippy-toeing about so that I didn’t wake Wendy up, but she soon stirred when I was filling the kettle.
I had a breakfast bar and a very nice cup of tea and then got dressed for running. I knew I was in for another painful run as my left leg was still tight when I got out of bed. I took 3 paracetamol to alleviate the pain, it didn’t seem to work.
I had my running route planned, it was a very up and down road, a dual carriageway actually, and it led me to the town of Newcastle under Lyme. It took me 3 miles to get there and then, after consulting the map of my Strava running app I toured the town.
As it was Friday it was market day and as I ran down Market Street, I saw the market traders setting up. From my Strava map I saw that there were two main streets in the town, so having run down Market Street I ran out of town looking for the very small river that runs through it, Lyme Brook. Lyme Brook is a tributary stream of the River Trent, which flows through Newcastle-under-Lyme, and the outlying areas of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire
Prior to the 20th century the upper course of the brook could be traced through the area to the north of Newcastle, but subsequent development and culverting means that only parts are now visible, thankfully that’s the sections I found, but sadly its not looking as clean today as it should really be!
I got back to find an empty hotel bedroom, Wendy had taken a lift with the Shepherd family to go to Alton Towers, the main reason for our stopover in Staffordshire.
Up to now the weather had been overcast, but warm. By the time I had had my breakfast and showered and then set off to catch them up, the sky was now clearing.
I got to Alton Towers and parked in the very large car park where I found that there was now a daily car park charge of £7.00 per day!!! And I had to download the Alton Towers App so that I could pay for the parking charge, and I then had to download a QR Reader with my exit barcode on it, jeepers, what an expense and what a faff!
I walked over to the main gate instead of taking the monorail and walked through the main gates and I saw the same frontage of Alton Towers that I had seen many times, and many years before.
I have a friend, Andy Leedham, who lived in a village called Oakamore, which is very close to Alton Towers, and because of the traffic disruption that the resort causes, every local in a certain radius received a season ticket as a sweetener to prevent negative feedback. Every year since the kids were old enough Andy would post me the season ticket and we would use it and then post it back. My children were almost raised in Alton Towers!
I found everyone in the CBeebies section which was very close to the main entrance.
The weather was improving and the sun was soon out and we were all out an about in our short-sleeved shirts.
Originally a private estate of the Earls of Shrewsbury, Alton Towers' grounds were opened to the public in 1860 to raise funds. In the late 20th century, it was transformed into a theme park and opened a number of new rides from 1980 onwards.
Well, what a day we have had, I am now officially buggered, I have been walked to death, (Alex did over 28,000 steps on his watch tracker), and I have been twisted in every possible human position, I have hurtled at over 100 mph and I have been upside down more times than I can remember, and I am almost 62 years old!
Our little girls were angels, Rose was as enthusiastic as usual and Violet smiled, slept and then smiled a lot more all day long.
The girls had lots of fun too, Rose loved the Teletubbies show and even had her photo taken with them, she even high fived Dipsey! They also had a good half hour with nanny who took them on the Postman Pat ride and the Night Garden Boat.
Rose even went on the runaway train, twice, once with me and her mum and dad and once with her nanny and her mum and dad. Robyn is still giggling at the fun she had laughing at her mum’s horrendous ordeal!
Alex, Robyn and me went on every adult ride, I loved them all, but there were two outstanding ones though, Rita, (I know, that’s a strange name for a rollercoaster, and Smiler. Smiler did it for me, it was fantastic, I have never been on such a thrilling ride in my life, what great fun it was.
The Smiler rollercoaster in the X-sector area of the park was the biggest investment for a ride at the resort, costing £18 million to build. It has the following features:
• Ride time: 165 seconds
• Passengers per ride train: 16
• Minimum rider height: 1.4m
• Location: X Sector
• Highest drop: 30 metres
• Maximum speed: approx. 85 km/h
• Track length: 1,170 metres
By 6:00 pm it was time to leave the park, we were all shattered.
After walking back to the car we said goodbye to the Shepherd’s and we drove the 18 mile ride to the town of Newcastle under Lyme to bag the local Wetherspoons bar and to take a short walk around the town.
The bar was nice enough but I drank a beer and Wendy had a glass of wine in about 15 minutes.
Having run around town this morning it was nice to see that on the walk I had almost covered every town centre street. It’s a nice enough town but with it being a Friday night, a hot one at that, it was full of kids sniffing laughing gas and dropping litter everywhere.
After a shop at Morrisons and a shower each, Wendy made a supper of fancy pot noodles, supplemented by cooked prawns and it was an utter delight, if not a bit spicy.
And after a whirlwind stopover in the north west midlands we head tomorrow for the main event, one week of R&R with Rose and Violet in Tenby.
179 Miles
Hills!
News flash Avid Reader, with last night’s copy I became the biggest blogger on the Get Jealous website with 1,115 entries’, overtaking a fella from Scandinavia. Actually, he’s not so much a blogger than someone who just shares his travel photos online.
I won’t let it go to my head though because when I started this trip, I was down to almost zero hits, but by today, after 3 posts, I am now back up to 2,000 hits.
This morning I had a little bit of a lie in and got out of bed at 6:50 am, I didn’t go to bed early mind staying up after midnight watching the highlights of the England v New Zealand one day cricket international, England won, but only after I had to turn in. The first thing I did was to check the result when I got out of bed!
The weather was lovely and dry and quite warm this morning and I, again, ran into Newcastle under Lyme. Today though I ran along Lyme Brook in the opposite direction from yesterday which was downstream of the town and the water quality was much better.
I came across an information board where the local authority are trying to encourage brown trout, which are widely found in the River Trent, into Lyme Brook, I wish them well but I don’t think they’ll get much further upstream then where I was today.
My sciatica is still giving me bad gip and I was really struggling to get back to the hotel and I was so glad when I did.
I didn’t have my smoothie today, Robyn and her gang had left the hotel and were heading to Wales so I showered and packed the car and headed over to Stoke on Trent to do two things!
I know you’ve already guessed, to look at the town and to bag a Wetherspoons Bar.
I parked in a municipal car park very close to the bar and I was just getting out to walk over to buy a ticket when a young man came up to me and offered me his ticket. He said, “Have this mate, it’s got two hours on it and I have only used 30 minutes. I thanked him profusely and used the ticket. Normally you have to put your registration number on the ticket these days, but this ticket didn’t, thankfully.
I wanted to have eggs benedict for breakfast but they were off the menu as was black pudding benedick and mushroom benedick too. I asked if they had run out of eggs and I was surprised when the barmaid said no. Anyway, I settled for a small breakfast which was really tasty and nicely cooked, and Wendy had a sausage buttie.
As I was waiting for my breakfast, I googled for some info about Stoke and I was surprised at what I found!
Stoke City is polycentric, formed from the federation of 6 towns in 1910. It took its name from Stoke upon Trent where the main centre of local government was, and the main railway station. However, Hanely is the primary commercial centre. After breakfast we had a walk around town and we found it to be very small.
We bought a large jigsaw puzzle for our granddaughter’s toy box and a lovely earthenware casserole dish from the Salvation Army charity shop, sadly the dish was made in Portugal and not from the home of UK pottery, Stoke on Trent.
After nipping into a smashing little inside market where I bought two packs of five very nice sized sirloin steaks, two pork pies and a link of black pudding we headed back to the car and set off on our journey to Wales.
This was a journey on roads that I have never been on before in the UK and we must have done at least 140 miles along single carriageway roads.
I kid you not, as soon as we entered Wales it started raining, and it suddenly got very, very hilly.
The rain wasn’t hard but it did spoil what I imagined were beautiful views.
I stopped to take a photo of the countryside and I walked into a field which was full of pheasants and their hens, it was amazing, I’m sure I could have caught one.
We carried on and it did become hard work as we were going up and down hills, around tight bends, forever changing roads and difficult junctions, all in all by the time we hit our first section of dual carriageway, 20 miles from our destination, I was shattered.
We got to our very nicely sea view located apartment at around 5:00 pm, about ten minutes after the Shepherds who had stopped for a nice lunch at a Wetherspoons bar enroute.
Jeepers it seemed to take an age to unpack the car, thankfully we are only on the first floor.
Our bedroom has beautiful sea views and we do have a balcony too but sadly as we finished unpacking the rain caught us up and it chucked it down!
Alex and I nipped to Tesco for a few extra provisions and then after we got back I cooked supper while everyone else unpacked and sorted their rooms out. Rose was very excited about our new apartment and she seems to love being on holiday with her nanny.
The kitchen is well stocked with utensils but it is very small and it has an electric hob which I do disklike at the best of times.
We had stopped at a small farmers honesty stall, not far from Tenby, which we knew from our holiday in the caravan last year, to buy some eggs for supper.
Wendy found the eggs and told me the price which was £2.50 for a half dozen, which she thought was very expensive but I was happy to help a local farmer so I put my money in the honesty box.
When I opened the box when I was cooking, I saw that they were duck eggs, actually they were that large they looked like goose eggs.
I cracked them open and two of them were double yokes, but the shells were that hard to open I broke the yokes, and then with messing about with the darn electric hob I over cooked them, which was a huge disappointment. I might have to relieve myself of cooking duties for the foreseeable future!
Its now turned 10:30 pm and the children have been as good as gold all evening, after this days travel, I must admit I’m dog tired myself.
Let’s hope the rain subsides for tomorrow and we can get out and explore the lovely beaches that I know Tenby has!
No Travelling
Chucking Down
I didn’t sleep too well last night as I had a few things on my mind, so I got up at 4:30 am and did a bit of bimbling on my laptop.
Everyone was up and about by 7:00 am and thankfully last nights rain had cleared but it did appear to be very windy outside.
At 7:30 am I took the plunge and I took two codeine tablets to help with the sciatic pain in my right leg.
Anyone who has every taken codeine before knows that these are very strong painkillers that have some very difficult side effects, one being a very strong feeling of tiredness and the other, well you’ll just know. It takes a few days of use for the drowsiness to move on so I only took them today knowing that I wouldn’t be going anywhere.
Sciatic pain is probably the worst pain I have ever experienced and the codeine only just takes the edge off it. The pain is always there but it just feels that you are a little remote from it.
It was high tide at 8:10 am so there was no beach to run on today, there was sand, but its far too deep to run on, you need nice solid wet sand and when you get it it’s a delight to run on.
I managed to find a run to the south of Tenby but at just before 3 miles it took me along the cliffs and through an army firing range. It was quite slippery under foot but at least I made it.
I got back to the apartment and everyone was out, thankfully there is a key box where a key had been left for me.
I didn’t have any more breakfast as it was the intention to go out for a nice Sunday lunch.
Everyone got back just as I was showered and dressed and as Violet needed some attention I took Rose, or rather Rose took me down the steps and onto the beach.
It’s started spitting rain as we left but thankfully it didn’t come to anything.
I have lost count on how many beaches there are at Tenby, but they are only ever interconnected when the tide is out, but there are two main sizable ones, the north beach and the south beach.
We bimbled along on the beach and we did some running and then we searched for the perfect sea shell for Roses mum, which we did eventually find in the shape of a tiny cockleshell which luckily still had both shells connected together.
We had to walk down quite a few steps and on the way back we set off for another set of steps to walk back up, just for the variation. It was a bad idea because when we were halfway there there was a notice painted on the steps detailing that it was a private stairway. Why on earth could they not have painted that sign lower down!!!
We did get to see the lovely looking beachside café, Joe’s, where they had a very nice selection of ice creams. Unfortunately, I hadn’t brought any money with me so we missed out on this occasion, but I will be much sharper next time because Joe’s ice cream looked really tasty.
After we got back, Violet had been fully replenished and we all took off for a walk-in search of a very nice Sunday roast, within minutes Violet was fast asleep in her pram.
Jeepers, as it was a breezy, and potentially rainy day everyone was out and about and looking for a Sunday roast. Because, technically, there are six of us it was really hard to find a place with a table for us all.
We tried every place in town but alas no one had any room, or they were fully booked.
It got a little desperate and we started to look for a place where we could just get any food.
As a last resort I split from the main group and they went down towards the harbour and I headed out of town. As luck would have it I found a place that had a good menu that could take us all so I called Robyn and told her, and she told me that they had found one too.
As I was settled, they all came up to me and we settled down.
Three roast beef dinners were ordered, one fancy salad and one child’s chicken curry for Rose.
The meals did take a little longer than I would have expected but the tots were well behaved and we waited patiently.
When the food came out though it was an utter delight. My roast beef was very nice, hot and tasty, the veg was nicely cooked too and the beef was plentiful. Even the Yorkshire pudding was very nice too!
We were all stuffed, poor Rose never stood a chance as the child’s portion was enough for even the hungriest of people.
As we finished our meals the rain came and it bucketed it down.
We all got back wet and soaked to the skin, apart from Violet who, thankfully was nicely snuggled in her pram under her rain cover.
A lot of keeping Rose entertained followed and eventually the rain stopped.
At 5:30 pm we bit the bullet and went down to the beach to have a game of cricket and for me and Rose to go for a paddle. We loved it, I had wet pants and Rose got wet pants too, and we had a load of fun in the process. I have heard the word, “Again Pops and “Pops again” about 1,000 times this afternoon, even in that short space of time, it really was that much fun!
After taking a very short nap with Violet on my chest I walked down to the Tenby House pub where a large board outside the bar detailed that the Rugby World Cup Game between England and Japan would be on tv. I walked in, bought an expensive pint of flat as a fart beer and sat waiting for the match.
As the national anthems played Buster Blood Vessel was belting out Lip Up Fatty on the loudspeakers so I went to the bar and asked if they were putting the commentary on for the game. The barmaid replied, “No, I don’t think we are”.
I have to admit to being more than a little miffed, I mean why say they are going to show the game, and for me that means no loud pop music, it means an atmosphere created by the commentators no matter who is playing or how many people are watching, if you invite people then you should do the decent thing. I am here for a week but I won’t be going back in that pub ever again.
Thankfully I watched the start of the game on my phone walking back to the apartment.
Its now half time and its not pretty, the Japanese look like they are keen to spoil England’s party, I do hope they don’t, I’m in Wales, I couldn’t live it down!
No Travelling
Barafundle Beach
Thankfully England came out for the second half last night full of energy and steam rolled Japan, so I felt a little better about not seeing the game in the pub.
I had a much better sleep last night and I only woke when Wendy went in the bathroom at 6:30 am, it was only just getting light outside.
I made Wendy tea but before I could deliver it I was joined by Alex and Rose. Rose soon settled in with her nanny and I had my tea and toast watching the news on ITV, the only channel that the apartments TV can get.
The weather looked like it could rain at any time so I wrapped up for a downpour but before I could go out I had to wait for my codeine tablets to take effect.
Would you believe that as soon as I got outside the weather improved and the sun came out.
Today I ran uphill when I got out of the front door as I was looking for the northern section of the coastal path. I found it easily and it went up and up and up, then it went down and down and even deeper down. I went so far down that I found myself at a secluded cove which had a slate beach. Had the beach been sandy it would have been the best beach in Britain.
I wasn’t keen for going back up that hill so I managed to find a back road that took me back to Tenby where I managed to find a country road where I got my daily mileage in.
By the time I got back everyone was out again and after my shower I was going to follow on.
The sun was out and so I sat on the balcony with my smoothie, it was delightful.
I had my tea and then after a shave and a shower I jumped into the car and went looking for everyone else. Just as I got to the car Wendy phoned to tell me where they were and then Robyn sent me the location details, they were going to a walled garden tea room in Stackpole.
I set the SatNav with the post code and off I set.
It was an 18-mile drive and I was bang on with the directions and the Sat Nav proudly pronounced I was there, but sadly I wasn’t. I was in the car park of a woodland walk on the Stackpole Estate. Thankfully a fella was cutting the grass and he told me where to go, but I missed a turn and ended up in the wrong place again. With no mobile phone signal I couldn’t phone anyone for directions. Thankfully after another discussion with a middle aged couple I did indeed find everyone. I was there just in time to enjoy tea and cake in a marquee with the sun out and us sheltering from the wind.
I have to admit to being a little shocked at forking out £25 for 2 coffees, 1 cup of tea, 1 cappuccino and 3 slices of cake, it nearly knocked me off my feet, and the waitress didn’t break the news to me carefully!
After our refreshments I followed Alex to a secret beach that he had been to when he was a youngster, all those years ago!
It was a twenty-minute walk over a breezy hill but it was well worth it because the beach was a little cracker! It is called Barafundle Beach and its about 400 metres wide with steep cliffs on both sides which meant we had some steep steps to negotiate.
It was well worth it though as the sun came out and despite the wind it was rather nice. Within 2 minutes of settling out of the wind Rose and me were in our swimmers and paddling in the sea. The water felt a little cooler today but we still had lots of fun with me going in over my knees and dangling Rose in front of incoming waves only for me to lift her out of the water wildly as they were just about to break over her.
We had what seemed like 20 minutes at this activity, it was most likely 10 but Rose is now growing fast and is a fair weight to be chucking about at my ripe old age!
Alex took Rose to the rock pools looking for shells and I took a walk over the beach to the other side; I then walked down to the sea and walked along the shore to the Northern cliffs. The tide was fully out now and I could just about walk around the cliffs where I found a fantastic pirate cave. Actually, I have no idea if pirates used the cave or not but it would fit the roll if it was ever needed.
I waded through deep water and I climbed over some rather slippery big rocks but I did manage to get right into the heart of the cliff, if it wasn’t full of water for the best part of the day it would have made a cracking shelter for a castaway!
By the time I got back from my explorations it was time to leave the beach. I ended this trip by taking a look at the very small, but nice cove, where we had parked our car.
We got back to the apartment where Alex cooked a delightful supper of chicken fancy, which we had in pitta bread with a very nice salad which Alex also put together.
After dinner we had a lashing of rain so any idea of a walk was put off, but it did clear up after the girls were in bed so Alex and Robyn went for a walk leaving us in charge of the tots.
Earlier I nipped to Sainsburys for some whisky so if any of the girls wake before mum and dad return I know just the tipple to help them settle back down!
No Travelling
The Storm
I woke at just gone 6:00 am, I tried to nod off again but it wasn’t going to happen so I slid out of bed and made some tea and toast, very quietly so no one would be disturbed.
It was barely light and I couldn’t tell if it had been raining or if it was still raining. After another ten minutes the light improved and it was most definitely raining and even more the wind was driving the rain.
I went out running at a little before 8:00 am and it was wild.
Tenby town is set high above the coast and it is fairly exposed so I got a bit of a battering to start with. I ran into the wind which is what I prefer to do to start out with as I can then return with the wind pushing me back.
I did have to run around the town a little to get my distance in and I saw that there were very few people around. The only people I saw were coach parties who were boarding their busses for a day trip, jeepers good luck to them, hopefully any excursion they might be having will hopefully be indoors, like maybe a big castle.
Apparently, this storm is going to last for 36 hours and we are bang in the middle of it!
I got back to the apartment and everyone was in apart from Rose and her nanny who had nipped out into the rain to get a sticker book for Rose. They came back in a few minutes later and apparently, I ran past them, but in my defence my glasses were steamed up.
After my smoothie breakfast, Plan C was instigated, Plans A & B, a visit to a dinosaur park and then a visit to a deer centre was off due to weather conditions.
Plan C was to take a walk around the old castle, the life boat station followed by a meander around Tenby’s back streets.
At 11:00 am we walked out expecting to be blown to bits or get soaked to the skin but actually the wind had lessoned a little and the rain had passed over.
The walk to the old castle was ok but I had to hold Violet’s pram tightly down the ramps which lead to the lower pedestrian level.
At the Castle, which is in an elevated location, a gust of wind almost carried Violet off to Cardiff, thankfully I held her tightly with my left hand.
A visit to the lifeboat station followed which was quite interesting as the lifeboat is dynamically launched from the lifeboat station into the sea. Robyn was thrilled by this idea and is dying to have a go. Sadly, she had to watch the launch on a video presentation instead.
Walking back towards town we saw that the old lifeboat station, which is very close to the new one, had been converted into a residential home.
As Rose was getting hungry, we all piled into the Three Mariners pub where Alex had a very tasty looking baked potato topped with bacon, mushrooms and melted cheese. Robyn had a sausage baguette which came with a bowl of chips. Robyn shared her food with Rose who ate everything put in front of her. I helped out with the chips and they were really tasty, they were very nicely cooked, hot and very crunchy.
As I had only recently had my smoothie, I only had a coffee, but that was very nice too.
Back out on the streets and we did a bit of meandering in and out of shops. I bought a fridge magnet, much to Wendy Gills annoyance, and a jar of very nice-looking marmalade from a local craft stall in the market.
The weather had vastly improved and the sun was trying its best to come out, so after nipping back to the harbour to buy some mussels for supper we headed back to the apartment for a coffee and to change into our beach wear.
While drinking my coffee I did a little research into the old lifeboat station and I found that it was bought by a couple sometime in the late 90’s and it took them almost two years to convert. The process was filmed by Channel 4 for their programme Grand Designs.
Here’s a link to the article on Grand Designs:
Tenby lifeboat station, South Wales - Grand Designs magazine
At just gone 3:00 pm with our wet suits on we all left for the beach, obviously Wendy didn’t have has she was nominated to look after Violet!
Jeepers it was windy down on the beach so we tried to make Wendy and Violet a shelter and then we left them to it.
The tide was out and it took us an age to get to the sea. Rose was first in in her little shortie wetsuit.
I was the most dressed man on the beach with a wetsuit, booties and substantial gloves. I was warm enough in the water but the wind was whipping up and making it a bit of a bind.
After ten minutes we had had enough, Rose had had an adventure and we had had some fun.
Soon enough we were packed up and heading back to the apartment.
After a big tidy up I nipped to the shops for some provisions and met Rose and her dad who were out for a stroll.
Robyn and Alex settled the girls in bed and then went out for supper but not before I had made Wendy a delightful pot noodle meal by mixing some delicious mussels in the mix. It was a bit spicy and I thought it was delicious, Wendy on the other hand, after much coughing and spluttering and lashings of cold drinking water thought it a bit too hot for her liking!
We are hoping for better weather tomorrow so we can have a bbq on the beach as we still have 5 delicious steaks in the fridge from our trip to Stoke. I’m not sure hoping will do the trick, maybe I should start praying too!
No Travelling
Another Storm, and Bigger
Jeepers it was even wilder than wild this morning, it was blowing a proper gale.
The rain was blasting down too, but I went out, and got wet. But it was quite enjoyable, me against the weather!
I was absolutely soaked to the skin by the time I had got back.
Thankfully though the weather had improved when I was back at the apartment. The rain had stopped and the wind had drop drastically. Alex told me that his weather app had said that it would improve during the day.
I was knocking about the flat just before my shower and I was in the kitchen and I heard an almighty smash, and then thankfully I heard Rose say, “Oh no”, which meant that she was at least safe.
The flat as a very large blue fruit bowl that was in the middle of a very low coffee table. Sensing a potential breakage Robyn put it out of the way close to the fireplace, seemingly out of harm’s way.
As a person who has conducted quite a few workplace risk assessments, it would be hard to predict what would come next. The apartment has some very high back dining chairs and Rose has a very heavy beach blanket / wrap, that was on the back of the chair. Rose bumped into the chair and with its now very high centre of balance, it toppled over and smashed this fruit bowl into at least 2,000 pieces.
At least I knew that Rose was OK!
There is a note in the apartment that said breakages must be paid for, or replaced. The trouble is we have no idea of its worth, and we have looked but we can’t find one in the town.
The thing is though, that as a business they are allowed to claim like for like tax exemptions for breakages, so why don’t they just do that, I mean Alex and Robyn have paid for a whole weeks rent!
Plan C was that the Shepherd’s would set off for Saundersfoot, a small town about two miles to the north and we would follow them when I was dressed and ready.
As I started my breakfast Wendy went into the town to do some lady shopping.
By now the weather had vastly improved and I settled down with my smoothie, just me and the Jeremy Vine show, it was bliss.
I was ready to go out and meet up with the Shepherds by the time Wendy came back with her shopping, and I could not believe that she had bought yet another handbag!
I had reason to look under our bed at home recently and I found a large storage container absolutely full of handbags, it was that full that the lid would not shut, why on earth did she need another handbag, “Because I like it”, was her answer.
We left for Saundersfoot at just gone midday and we were parked up in about 10 minutes.
We found the Shepherd gang sheltering out of the breeze behind a very large rock.
The weather was fine but there was a slight breeze from the west.
Rose is now into shell collecting so we walked hand in hand along the full length of the beach with her shell bag and we collected loads. She chatted all the way down and all the way back.
Saundersfoot beach is a cracker, it must be ¾ of a mile wide and it is just pure sand with the odd pebble and shell on it. The tide was fully out so we had a lot of beach to search.
Coming back, Rose was a crafty little girl and told me that she was cold and that she needed a cuddle, who could resist? The little monkey hugged me all the way back to her Mum.
After a walk around the small craft market stalls, where I bought some cockles to share and where Robyn bought a very nice full-length dress, we headed back to the apartment to start the afternoons activities.
Alex wanted to take Wendy and Me for a drink in the Yacht Club and that was lovely. The sun was now out and shining brightly and the wind had almost gone for the day.
The Yacht Club is down at the harbour and it is a really nice building and the bar on the top floor is just perfect with its views across the harbour.
We sat nicely with the girls and we shared a very nice bottle of wine.
As we had packed our beach trolleys before we left for the Yacht Club we grabbed them after our drinks and walked down to the beach and settled down in the last of the days sunshine, under the large rock. We were determined to have a beach bbq and tonight was the perfect setting.
It was a simple affair, the last of the sirloin steaks that I bought in Stoke, Tesco Sausage and mussels bought from Saundersfoot which Wendy had parcelled in tin foil with garlic, butter and white wine.
I cooked it all slowly while everyone played and when it was ready, I have to admit that it was absolutely delightful, I had cooked it perfectly!
As the sun dropped behind the larger town buildings the temperature dropped too so we headed back to the apartment.
We had a right amount of gear, bbq’s deck chairs, plates, cutlery, wine and beer, we even took the apartments high chair for Violet, thankfully we had two beach trollies.
Both girls were very tired and they were in and out of the bath before I could get the two pound out of the tumble dryer that Wendy had put in.
Wendy had done a load of washing, which costs £2.00 per load and then put it in the tumble dryer at £2.00 a load, but it would not start. She was wild with rage, she was bristling, so I tried to open the padlock to get the money back but for the first time we have come across this instance in this apartment, the owner has paid for something that works, and I could not open that padlock without causing damage!
Well to say we had the worst start to any day we have had so far in Tenby, its finished pretty well.
Its now almost 9:00 pm and there is talk of Alex and Robyn heading to town to a local bar, I on the other hand will be heading to my scratcher in the next 36 minutes!
No Travelling
Fish and Chips!
I woke a little late today at 6:30 am and thankfully it looked like a nice day was developing outside. I have been waiting for the tide to be right for me and it looked like it would be good for me today.
When I went out I found a clear’ish sky and absolutely no wind.
The tide was perfect and so I ran along North beach, which is the beach directly in front of our apartment. The tide was coming in and high tide was going to be at 10:25 am, so If I was smartish, I could get my full run in.
It was just slightly over 2 laps of the beach per mile for the first four miles and then as the tide came in the distance between laps got shorter and shorter and by the last mile it was 3 laps per mile.
I saw some interesting things at the beach.
First, I saw 6 elderly ladies come down and strip off and get into their cosies and go swimming, well two swam and four just stood neck deep in the cold sea water and chatted. How on earth they can do that I will never know, I hate cold water.
Then I met a couple of running chums who did a few laps on the beach. A young woman turned up and settled down by some rocks and did about 30 minutes of yoga.
A couple, around my age, went into the water and conducted a heavy petting session, they even continued to mess around when they were getting dressed. I mean is that appropriate that early in the morning?
A man turned up with a paddled board and paddled around the bay.
More elderly women came and got into their cossies and went for a swim, and they did do some serious swimming.
It all seems to happen on Tenby Beach.
Tomorrow I am hoping to run along The South Beach which I understand is one mile in length, we’ll have to wait and see if there is any truth in that!
Not long after I got back to the apartment everyone went out to a local craft market. They weren’t out long because they were all back by the time I was out of the shower. Seemingly there were only 3 stalls at the market. However, Violet did come back with some rather snug fitting booties, and a hand knitted red dragon.
At around 11:30 am we all left the apartment for a day at the beach, we were going to have fish and chips on the beach, a real treat.
We walked down to what I call Central Beach, which later Alex told me was called Tenby Castle Beach, this joins south beach at very low water and it makes it a really long beach. Sadly I don’t think that I will manage a run on the full beach because I think it has to be at least 3 hours before high tide.
We were all settled on the beach with the deck chairs, the wind break and the fishing umbrella giving us some shelter from the mild breeze, it was reasonably warm enough to hang about on the beach and it was rather nice. Wendy and Alex went for the fish and chips and I went for a stroll on the beach to watch the loading of the boat with passengers for Caldey Island. Its’ interesting as a large tractor reverses a huge platform and pontoon into the water so the boat can dock at any time of the day and at any state of tide.
Rose joined me and she was interested in the goings on too.
We got back to the camp just as the fish and chips arrived, they were delightful and it was a real seaside treat.
I just finished my coffee and the heavens opened. It wasn’t just spittle, it was a right down pour and we had to pack up quickly and head back to the apartment.
As soon as we got back and tidied up the sun came out.
I took a walk to Tesco for some shopping and I passed Alex and Robyn in the street who where off to browse the shops.
As soon as I got back, Rose was coming down the stairs as I had promised her an ice cream at Joes Beach front café.
The ice cream was delightful, Rose had two scoops, a chocolate one and a triple chocolate one. I can’t remember what I had because they were very bizarre named chocolate scoops.
Nanny had to help Rose with hers as it was massive.
By now Violet was getting tired so we walked into town along the sea wall where I came upon the idea of having a drink in the Sailing Club Bar. I sent Robyn a text and they were up for it too! Violet was fast asleep and never muffed whilst she was carried up the long staircase into the bar, or out of it as well.
Back at the apartment once more and the sun was now shining on the beach so Wendy and me took a beach walk. We walked all the way out to the new and old lifeboat station because the tide was only just coming back in.
We came across a fella who had a very expensive camera set up to take a shot down the middle of the legs of the old lifeboat station.
I got chatting and I had a nice ten minutes with him.
He was from Stoke and he is an amateur photographer who likes to do landscapes, he was waiting for the tide to swirl around the last set of legs of the old lifeboat station where he would take a very long exposure shot. He explained that the water would look like a mill pond in the finished shot.
After the beach we took a very nice beer in a very local bar two streets back from the high Street. It was a cracking bar with a nice atmosphere and it got me thinking that tourists are a fickle bunch, this pub is only around 100 yards from a very busy resort High Street but yet none of them could be bothered to go and sample real life Tenby. Well apart from me!
And that’s that for another fun filled day with Rose and Violet in Tenby. Mum and Dad have taken Violet for a sunset walk and Rose is fast asleep in bed.
Is today the Autumnal Equinox? If it is you know what that means Avid Reader, summer is over and winter is knocking on the door, it looks like I now need a sunshine holiday!
No Travelling
Early Morning Snuggles!!!
I had a very nice rude awakening at around 4:30 am this morning, Violet joined us in bed. She would not settle and then her mum appeared and said, “Might she need a bottle?” And she did, her nanny fed her and she wolfed it down, then she snuggled in and pushed me and her nanny to each side of the bed. She was still fast asleep when I woke at just gone 7:00 am.
Her mum and dad had gone out early to go paddleboarding and they had such a stunning morning for it. The sunrise from our veranda, was fantastic, it was heavenly.
I could see them, they were out on the sea right in front of our apartment.
Just before I went out running Robyn sent a message saying that Alex was coming for Rose to take her on a paddle board. Apparently, nanny sat the whole time at the window watching and wittering!
I went out and I ran all along the south beach, the weather was brilliant. It’s a mile to the start of the beach from the apartment, actually it’s 1.03 miles and then I ran directly to the far side of the beach and the distance recorded on my Nike+ app was now 2.23 miles. I am therefore in a position to confirm that south beach is 1.20 miles in length. I think I did about five laps to get my daily milage in.
The weather was that good the views were stunning.
I got back to the apartment and Wendy was out shopping with Rose, they went to get some chicken thighs for dinner and to buy a replacement bowl for the one Rose accidently broke.
Actually, its not a bad replacement, its blue and it holds fruit, it will do!
The sun was shining and I drank my smoothie on the balcony where I was joined by two window cleaners who had no regard for their own safety. There was no fall arrest equipment or any other kind of safety equipment in use. They just pitched their ladder on the ground outside up to the second floor and marched on up there. One fella came through our apartment and cleaned the front windows from the balcony. Lord knows how they did the back windows and the third floor too.
The Shepherds went for a walk into town and after I had showered and Wendy had got the washing from the machine, we were going to join them.
Robyn had packed their beach trolly before they left and I took it into town. I had to trundle along the pavement dodging people and dogs. It seemed to be take your dog out day today as there were dogs everywhere.
We met up in town and then we walked down to the south beach and all along the beach to the very far end. The wind had gotten up but it was quite nice when the sun shone, but it did get nippy when the sun went in, and it was pretty much half and half sun in, sun out!
I trundled Rose in the beach trolley all the way down the beach as her dad had Violet in the harness. It was easy actually until we got to the far end of the beach where it was a little more stoney, but Rose never complained.
We sat on a wall and everyone but me had a sandwich to eat, I was still full from my morning smoothie. Actually, I did feel a little tired sat in the sunshine so I laid down with my jacket as a pillow and Wendy as my wind break.
We had collected shells for Rose on the way out and we carried on collecting on the way back. Robyn had Violet in the sling on the way back and after a short while Rose wanted a ride on her dads’ shoulders.
There is a very nice restaurant at the start of the beach where they also have a small café where we grabbed a coffee each. Robyn and I had a Capuchino and it was boiling hot when we received it, it was volcanic. I don’t think it is possible to get a drink of water any hotter, it was undrinkable for the first 10 minutes.
Eventually, having finished our coffee we walked back on the beach all the way around to Tenby Castle Beach as the tide was now fully out.
We had seen quite a few Belgium flags being flown in town, there were two posted outside a prominent hotel, with the words Tenby, Belgium 1940.
As there was a Belgium flag flying over the small island museum I walked over and asked the ticket man what was with all the Belgium flags. He told me that a large number of Belgium solders had been billeted in Tenby in 1940 and that some veterans and their families are coming over this weekend and that there will be a large civic reception.
More info can be found here, through this link:
Belgian Free Forces Veterans set to receive a ‘warm welcome’ once again in Tenby | tenby-today.co.uk
We walked through the High Street, encountering more dogs, actually there were lots of dogs on the beach too, so that we could get some mushrooms for supper tonight.
Wendy was going to make a chicken curry for our last night meal and was going to do a side plate of garlic mushrooms as an accompaniment.
Before though I carried a lot of our stuff up to the car in our beach trolley as a prelude to leaving tomorrow.
We have to be out of the apartment at 9:00 am, which does seem very early to us but we spent the early evening getting everything together.
Supper was an utter delight, the curry was delicious and the mushrooms were perfect, (I love mushrooms), but the star of the show was dessert.
Robyn bought two giant flavoured meringues yesterday, one double chocolate and one raspberry and white chocolate. I broke them up into small chunks and cut strawberries and blackcurrants, tipped in almost two cartons of extra thick double cream. I then mixed it all together adding two Cadbury twirls and one crunchie bar. It didn’t look pretty, in fact Robyn said I would get nil points for presentation on come dine with me, but boy was it very tasty.
That’s it for tonight Avid Reader, we have to finish taking stuff to the car and then there is a football game to watch, England v Scotland for the woman’s Euro Qualifiers. Then it will be an early night for DG as I am having to get up nice and early in the morning, well I hope to be able to run all beaches in one go, weather permitting!
216 Miles
Sunrise!
I did indeed manage to get out of bed before 5:30m am and I had a small amount of last nights dessert with my tea.
It was just starting to get light when I went out running.
I managed to feel my way down the dangerous steps to the north beach.
The tide was quite low and I managed to run all the way down to the old lifeboat station. As I ran, I saw the amateur photographer that I chatted to a few nights ago just setting his camera up. I gave him a wave and he waved back, I bet he thought, Who’s that?”
I went over the steps up to the harbour walls that separates the north beach and I ran down to Tenby Castle Beach and as the light was now a little better I saw that I could run through the cave that goes all the way under St Catherines Island, so I did run through it.
With the tide being low I could run all the way onto the south beach and as I did so I could see that the sun was getting ready to come up. It took me about 15 minutes to run to the other side of the south beach and all the time I was looking over my shoulder to look out for the rising sun.
I managed to get to the end and turn around and I was about a quarter of the way back when I saw the first flicker of today’s sun.
I stopped in my tracks and I watched the most amazing sunrise that I have ever seen anywhere in the United Kingdom, it was truly amazing.
I stood riveted to the spot and watched it rise from out of the sea and take its place in the sky. The beach wasn’t busy but everyone who was on it stopped and watched the sunrise like I did.
Its funny but the sun is rising all the time somewhere in the world, just as its always going down on the opposite side of the world. Its with us for a about five minutes, but five minutes over the hill it’s starting all over again. When you think of it that’s fascinating!
Walking back along the beach yesterday Alex asked me a very good question, why does the sea stay salty when fresh water rivers are always flowing into it.
I could answer that, but then I posed one myself, if rain water comes from evaporation from the sea, and then accumulates in the clouds, due to the height of the clouds and the cold temperatures up there, does rain start as snow and then melt on the way down. I thought it did!
I Googled it when I got back and here is what I found from a reputable source:
“Much of the rain that falls in the UK starts off as snow, even in high summer, because the temperature at cloud-level is frequently below the freezing-point. As the snow falls through the air below the cloud the ambient temperature becomes progressively higher, so the snowflakes turn to raindrops”.
Anyway, as the sun was now just a little above the horizon in the sky, I saw something that I have never seen before in my life, the sea evaporating in to the atmosphere. I could see the steam shimmering in the morning light and it was an amazing thing to see. I know it’s happening all the time but you never see it, well today I did.
Thankfully the tide stayed favourable for me and I managed to complete the full beach to beach run.
I got back to the apartment just before 8:30 am and I immediately jumped into the shower, no smoothie, no tea either.
I brought the car down to the apartment and I had it packed by 9:00 am, Alex had theirs packed shortly after.
We kissed everyone goodbye and set off for the drive north.
First up we stopped off in the very beautiful market town of Brecon, I never knew there was a town here, I thought it was just a national park.
It was a very nice, small town with a very small indoor market where we bought a lemon drizzle cake and some strawberry muffins from a local baker.
Then, you’ve guessed, we bagged the Wetherspoons Bar, The George Hotel.
We had breakfast in the George, I had Eggs Benedick and they were really nice, the eggs were perfect. Wendy had a sausage buttie, which she also liked.
After a stroll around the town, we jumped back in the car for the tortuously long winding drive up through the Welsh countryside. Jeepers it was hard going, especially through all the 20 mph sections that have sprung up overnight, no wonder the locals aren’t happy.
We did over 170 miles on single carriageway roads, in all it took us just over 6 hours to do 216 miles!
The views of course were stunning, but apart from the few small towns and townships we passed through, it just shows you how sparse the internal area of rural Wales is.
Actually, we left Wales behind and entered England only to re-enter Wales about 15 minutes later, we then drove about 20 miles further in Wales.
We checked into our Travelodge at around 3:30 pm and after dropping our bags we headed to Ashton-in-Makerfield to bag another Wetherspoons bar, The Sir Thomas Gerard.
It was OK but the area was a little rough and not one I would want to take my granddaughters for supper to.
I only booked this hotel based on price and location to Wetherspoons Bars, I did want to go to Burnley, but it was £150 a night, then Sheffield, and that was just as bad, I eventually found this Travelodge for £70 a night. I was under the impression that Robyn and her gang were staying in Lancaster for the night. Would you believe they are only 2 miles down the road so we arranged to meet for supper at the Wetherspoons Bar, The Nine Arches in Newton-le-Willows.
Jeepers it was busy, and one very large table must have been celebrating something as it was full of family members and boy were they noisy.
Supper was quite nice, we all enjoyed our meals but it’s been a long day for all of us, especially two good little girls so we called it a night and went our separate ways.
After todays drive, I am going to have a glass of wine and not much later fit my ear plugs and then hopefully sleep a long and peaceful night!
5 Miles
St Helens to Kirkhill
380 Miles
Police Raid!
I was reading a magazine on the bed last night and I heard a bang on our bedroom door. I didn’t move, I wasn’t expecting anyone but Wendy jumped off the bed and said that the police were at the room opposite. I took a look through the peep hole and I saw five officers go into the bedroom. I could hear some swearing from a very scroaty voice, it didn’t much sound like a Mr Big from the underworld.
After about 30 minutes the police left the room but didn’t take anyone with them.
I went and listened to the door and I could hear Mr Scroat still swearing and talking to someone but I didn’t know if he was on the phone or talking to someone in the room.
We went to bed when we were ready and we never heard a peep all night long. We have no idea what went on but the police seemed keen to chat to matey!
I woke at 6:30 am and I immediately looked outside, the weather was fine, the sky clear and no wind. Last night we were warned that there would be a massive storm over the midlands and the north but it never happened.
I went running and I knew exactly where I was going and what I would find, I ran along the East Lancs Road.
I have driven this road several times before many years ago when I drove for Argos on my fire service rota days off. I would take a trailer from the depot in Castleford and drop it at Liverpool Docks, so I would drive the full length of the road.
The East Lancs Road is the United Kingdom's first purpose-built inter-city highway. The road, which remains a primary A road, was officially opened by King George V on 18 July 1934. It links Liverpool to Salford, 3 miles west of Manchester city centre.
The road was built to provide better access to and from Liverpool docks to the eastern area of Lancashire, it is 29.5 miles in length and is virtually straight for all of its length.
They did intend to take the road all the way to Hull but that never happened, that had to wait until the M62 was built, but that is nowhere near straight.
The road was built with a 1930s Dutch-style cycle path running its entire length. Many roads at this time were built with cycle paths but most have been lost due to road widening schemes.
As good look would have it, I came across a very high footbridge at my turnaround point of 4 miles. I scrambled up a very steep banking to get to the top and onto the bridge but it was well worth it as the views of the road were great from up there.
I did however slip on the way down, it was a controlled slither really, on my left leg which was then black with mud for the rest of the run.
I got back to the hotel, showered and we left at just gone 10:00 am.
The town of St Helens was only 5 miles away so we drove down into town and bagged the Wetherspoons bar, The Glasshouse, my 261st bag.
I had a sausage buttie with a fried egg and an extra slice of toast for dip purposes, it was lovely. Wendy had avocado on toast which took the barmaid an age to find on the till, I guess avocado is not often requested in St Helens.
While waiting for breakfast I did a bit of reading about St Helens.
It has a population of over 100,000 and its roots are in heavy industry, coal mining and glass making. There used to be some really big companies have their factories in St Helens but there is only one left now, with its factory almost in the town centre, and that is Pilkington Glass.
After breakfast we took a walk around the town centre and it was nice enough, but there were quite a few empty shops. There was a very interesting large open square bang in the centre of town with a big church to one side of it. Shops ringed the square but again quite a few were closed, permanently.
From the town I saw the large Pilkington’s Factory and when I filled the car with fuel at a town centre Tesco I saw St Helens Rugby League ground, it is massive!
We got back to the car at around 11:40 am and set off for the long drive north.
We were soon on the M6 and making good progress. The road south just after Manchester was chock-a-block with slow moving traffic for quite a few miles, it was at a section where a new smart motorway section is being built, I was very pleased it wasn’t us!
By the time we had entered Cumbria I was falling asleep, badly, it was the codeine tablets I had taken before my run. I would have thought by now that the drowsiness would have worn off but it hadn’t.
I managed to get the car into Scotland where Wendy took over and I rested in the passenger seat nodding in and out of sleep. I woke up about 17 miles south of Glassgow and took over driving at the next layby.
Apparently, we had been through some very heavy rain and it did rain hard all the way over to Perth, and then a good way up the A9.
The A9 was fine, mostly. We did have someone after the first dual carriageway going at 40 mph but after we got passed them on the second section we went nicely all the way north.
We stopped in at Tesco to get some immediate supplies and then we made it home at around 6:15 pm.
I unpacked the car in the rain and we were done and dusted by 7:00 pm.
Wendy made a Mexican supper, not to plan but it was very nice.
Now we are in a mad panic to get packed for our next adventure which begins on Tuesday, its all go in retirement Avid Reader!!!
177 Miles
Off, Again!!!
Well, that must have been the quickest turn around we have ever done, car unpacked, washing done, ironing done, euros obtained and packed once again and then ready for the A9.
I got my new Codeine tablets from the chemist yesterday and I was hopeful they might be better than the old ones when I took two this morning, but they weren’t. In fact, the sciatic pain was the worst I have suffered this time around, the first four miles of my run were agony. I ran to Beauly and I was so glad to take five minutes on my regular bench.
Coming back was a little easier, isn’t it funny how sciatica is, ever changing, it’s a laugh a minute actually.
I got back home and Wendy was in town getting some last-minute shopping and I had just had my smoothie by the time she got back.
Today I got back into bed after my shower and took a long nap. I have no idea what time I went to bed but I didn’t wake until 12:20 pm. I’m not sure how much I slept but at least I got up refreshed and free from the tiredness that I get with these tablets.
I packed the car and we were ready to hit the road by 12:50 pm.
The drive down the A9 was, again, very good without any hassle, well apart from the rain.
The rain started just after Kingussie and it chucked it down. By the time we were at Dalwhinnie the rainfall was biblical. It was that bad that I could barely see the road and we could not hear ourselves talk, in fact we could not even hear the radio. All we could hear was the thumping of the rainfall on the roof of the car.
The rain lasted until we reached the roundabout at Perth.
The drive down the M90 was a dawdle and so was the city bypass and we arrived at Alex and Robyn’s house at just gone 3:00 pm.
After settling in I took Rose for a short walk to see the local horse which we like to and on the way down the country road we saw an amazing rainbow. Rose loved it, it wasn’t a full rainbow but it was very colourful.
By the time we got back Rose’s supper was ready so Wendy and me left them to it and took a walk up to the Coop to get some chestnut mushrooms, some single cream, wine and chocolate, its our 36th wedding anniversary and we were going to have a steak supper, while babysitting two little people, just like old times.
On the way back we nipped into the Old Colliery Inn for a crafty pint.
The Old Colliery is a fairly new pub but it got its name from the coalfields that used to be worked in this area of Scotland.
Danderhall village is an old mining village, which used to supply labour for the nearby coal mines of Edmonstone to the northwest, Sheriffhall to the southeast, Woolmet to the east and Monktonhall beyond that. The latter was the last to remain open, but closed for good in 1998.
Woolmet Colliery opened late in Scottish mining history (1898) and closed in 1966. It was operated by the Niddrie and Benhar Coal Company. It employed around 700 men and produced around 200,000 tons of coal per annum.
Today, apart from the Old Colliery Pub you would never know that coal mining ever existed here.
We got back to the house to see the girls bathed and washed and ready for bed. I had five minutes with Rose and her mum in her bedroom and then went to say good night to Violet.
Alex and Robyn left for a yoga class at their local gym just before 8:00 pm and I got down to cooking our anniversary supper of Fillet Steak, a Robyn Shepherd salad and a Gordon Ramsay recipe creamy mushroom sauce. It was all very tasty, the mushroom sauce was out of this world, well done Gordon.
While we ate we had two baby monitors on the dinner table but both of them were very good and they let us eat our supper in peace.
I watched the England Women’s football match, they were playing Holland, they played really well but sadly through two simple mistakes they lost 2:1, but they did play their hearts out.
I do hope my leg isn’t as bad tomorrow, but no matter what I need to be out of bed smartish for my run, Storm Agnes is reported to be heading my way, I hope to be done dusted, showered and on the M8 heading west by the time the first rain falls, Gran Canaria here I come!
72 Miles
Storm Agnes
We slept in Violet’s bedroom with her last night and she was as good as gold but she did wake me at 5:30 am and I could not get back to sleep again, but she could, the little chump!
I took my new tablets again this morning and they never touched the pain, I ran around Dalkeith and it was agony. But I managed to get round and if that’s the worst it gets then at least I know I can make it. Hopefully the warmer weather I am hoping to get will make it a little better.
I got back to the house just as Rose was walking to the car to go for her doctor’s appointment and then off to nursery. She came running towards me and gave me a nice big hug.
With Alex working upstairs at his work station and the ladies away from home I made a smoothie and drank it while watching the Jeremey Kyle show. There was an article about something said by an obnoxious presenter about a female journalist, they never said what had been said but in this day and age it’s not acceptable to say anything derogatory about anyone without very good reason, and from how the story was being told there didn’t seem to be any good reason.
Just as I was finishing my cup of tea the ladies came back, minus Rose who was now at nursery.
I looked up, online, some stretches to alleviate sciatica.
I found one but the way that it was described wasn’t helpful to me at all. I asked Robyn for some help and she demonstrated the stretch to me but it didn’t seem to be much use.
Robyn then looked up some stretches with video descriptions for me which was much more helpful and I did some there and then by using a table seat. They did indeed seem to be some help!
I jumped into the shower and after I was dressed I packed the car and we said our goodbyes and left for a night in a Travelodge at Dumbarton.
I did have a cunning plan mind!
I have bagged quite a few Wetherspoon Bars in Scotland but I have a few more to do in the Glasgow area. I studied my online map of Wetherspoon Bars on my laptop. Yes, there is one for baggers, it’s provided by a bagger for baggers and is far better than the Weatherspoons App.
I saw that there are 3 which we could do, one after the other, in an almost direct approach to Dumbarton by going around the south of Glassgow as opposed to the slightly shorter route, through the city on the M8.
Our first bar was in Cambuslang where I managed to park at the side of the road, for free, and only 100 metres or so from the bar.
Cambuslang didn’t seem to be a rough area, as you hear about some areas of the city but we did spot some chancers sat on the step of the bar as we walked past it on our exploratory walk.
After our exploration we went into the bar, the chancers were still there but they were not as we originally thought customers of the bar, no they were swigging spirits and beer directly from the bottle or can.
Inside the bar was really nice, it had been an old cinema and a lot of its character had been retained.
With it being around 12:30 pm we only had a hot drink, well we had two more bars to go!
As we left the bar it started to spit rain, but so far there wasn’t even the slightest breeze.
We got back in the car and drove about 3 miles to the small town of Rutherglen.
This time we parked in a town centre shopping centre car park, well at 50p for 2 hours it was a no brainer.
Again we walked around town and there was some very impressive buildings, the town hall was a stunner, and it was flying the Union Flag from its very high flagpole. The rain was heavier now but still there wasn’t any wind.
Having done our tour of the town we went into the bar where I asked for two half pints of real ale. I even paid for 2 half pints, so I was very bemused when he passed me two full pints of ale. I never complained, I mean, who would?
As I sat down it came to me, I did know something of Rutherglen, this is the constituency held by the SNP where, following the recall of the sitting MP, Margaret Ferrier after her Covid rule breaking a by election is to be held on the 5th October 2023, my birthday.
Again the bar was nice and friendly but mainly filled with pensioner type people who were enjoying what was looking like a very bad weather day. We left our half drunk beers which seemed mighty sinful, but what could we do?
Our last destination, Paisley, was about ten miles further away and by the time we arrived the rain was pouring down, but yet again no wind.
With the rain we went straight to the bar, which was a cracker. Its some kind of old building, it as a very long frontage and it opens up onto a very nice large town square.
As it was now well gone 3:00 pm we did toy with the idea of having a meal in this bar, as we thought that our hotel might be someway out of town, but we decided against it and instead we kept our options open, so we thought.
After a small glass of wine we took a walk around Paisley and I have to say, despite the rain I was very impressed with it. Again, there were some lovely buildings and quite nice looking shops.
We arrived at our Travelodge at just gone 4:00 pm and by now the wind was up, and the rain was driving.
After checking in I went looking for a food outlet.
There is a very busy dual carriageway outside the hotel and I had to be nippy to cross it without injury. There was one fast food establishment, but I didn’t fancy it, the M&S Food store had run out of warm food too. I crossed back over the road and the filling station on that side had run out of food as well, so that left me with one option, a roadside Indian Restaurant.
I nipped in and asked if I could get a takeaway, with cutlery as I was in the Travelodge and I was assured I could, so I ordered.
While I waited, I looked online to see what Mr Fox had said and I could see why he had caused an offence. What an absolutely obnoxious thing to say about any person let alone a young woman, especially in this day and age. I do hope he gets the full, “Me Too” treatment, as he fully deserves it!
I got back to the hotel and while Wendy opened the food package I got out of my very wet clothes, only to be told that there was no cutlery in the pack.
Jeepers I was cross, so I dressed again and legged it back, sciatica and all, back to the restaurant and they could see I wasn’t happy. After strenuous apologies I left with very suitable cutlery and some very nice disposable plates.
The food really was very tasty, it was very hot too despite the messing around, and we have more then enough left for a cold breakfast in the morning.
That’s it for today, I am going to get changed one last time and take a look at the weather outside and then I am hunkering down with an Amazon Prime film while Wendy’s knitting needles go ten to the dozen!
11 Miles
2005 Nautical Miles
30 Miles
Jeepers I had a good sleep with my ear plugs in, I never heard the train that runs just past the hotel car park, just behind our room. I never heard the contractors driving their vans out at an unearthly hour and I never heard the clodhopper upstairs jumping around at 5:00 am.
I only felt Wendy Gill settling down with her iPad at 5:30 am and then that was me, I was wide awake. I have told Wendy several times before that ear plugs do really work, but I guess with her it’s a style thing!
Well to say we were supposed to be within an inch of our lives with Storm Agnus, it blew in and out before any damage could get done. In fact the worse it got for us was it rained a little and it was a bit blowy.
I went out running and there was just a gentle breeze.
I ran along a track that I found behind the hotel and it took me directly into town and along the River Leven.
As I met the river I remembered one thing about it from our last visit. The River Leven is the worst river I have ever seen anywhere in the world where the wrecks of pleasure boats, and bigger craft are sunken or rotting on their moorings. Why on earth the local council do not do anything about it I will never know, its like a shipping graveyard. Maybe it’s considered abstract art?
I got back to the hotel and Wendy had done a bit of rearranging with the suitcases.
We bought two large suitcases recently but she only packed one big one and one of our older smaller ones. I did tell her that we had a nice 22 kg and a 10 kg carry on allowance each but she assured me that they would be ok.
She checked them with our hand scales and she was happy with it.
As we didn’t need to be at the airport until gone 2:00 pm I took a very nice leisurely bath, while listening to Jeremy Vine’s TV show.
As always it was an interesting mix of opinions and views but there was one issue they were all in agreement on, the Laurence Fox nastiness that happened yesterday.
Storm, one of Jeremys co-presenters, put her point across very well. She said that what Mr Fox did was the last attempt some people do when they have lost the argument, attack the person by nastiness and unpleasantness. Having heard the full conversation on the show, it was apparent that is exactly what he did, I hope I never see him again on any media platform, what a nasty man!
We left the hotel at just gone 11:00 am and we parked the car in town and we took a nice walk along the river. The weather was fine, in fact it was a little milder than yesterday.
Coming back through the High Street we nipped into Wetherspoons for a pint and a little R&R and just to while away the time.
It was rather pleasant in there, it was gone midday and we were on holiday, or travelling as I like to say.
We left for the airport at 12:45 pm and we dropped the car off at just gone 1:00 pm.
We were at the airport soon enough and we were led to the automatic bag check in where the scales informed us that the large bag was 1 kg overweight and that we should discus the matter with a flight assistant.
“It’s a scam”, Wendy Gill exclaimed, “I checked them with my scales and they were bang on.” “Wendy, I don’t think we are going to win any argument with the airline with your Micky Mouse luggage scales against their state-of-the-art electronic ones!”.
The upshot was that after some shuffling between both suitcases on the floor, in front of all the other passengers I ended up with my running trainers in my nicely packed and very well considered carry-on bag!
Security was a doddle and soon we were sitting in a very nice, none Wetherspoon Bar, (because there wasn’t one at Glasgow Airport), drinking very expensive white wine.
Actually, I jumped the queue for a table!
I left Wendy with the bags; I walked into the bar area and saw a table which had just been cleaned and I bagged it. I called Wendy by phone and she joined me. It was only after I had come back from the bar when she pointed out the long table queue at the back of the bar. I never saw it, there were no instructions to find it, so I felt completely guilt free.
It was very pleasant sat there, close to a window watching the planes come and go.
I saw a huge Emirates Airbus backing out from its stand and I said, “Look at the size of that!” There was a man standing just behind me and he said to me, “I used to fly those”.
We had a very nice 20-minute chat where he told me he worked for Emirates as a pilot and that he was flying to Gatwick to do a flight simulator assessment for a new job with Logan Air flying their much smaller planes.
He was around my age and he said that he worked for Emirates, long haul, for 13 years but he had to give it up as it was just constant jetlag, which is not something you want to hear from your pilot!
On his phone he showed me a photograph taken from his cockpit flying over the Himalayas, it was stunning!
He also showed me a photo of his last flight with the airline. He was in his pilot’s seat and every space around him was taken up by the face of the cabin crew members, each with a glass of champagne, raised for the photo, all smiling like it was one big party. There must have been a dozen of them squeezed into the picture. He told me it looked like a scene from the film with Leonardo DiCaprio, “Catch me if you can!” I don’t think he should have shown me that photo, I can imagine the heat it would have brought had it made front page news!
Our flight took off 35 minutes late, but that wasn’t the worst of it, they had no white wine at all on the flight. Wendy Gill was not impressed, not one bit, she was fuming. I did come up with the idea of filling my empty water bottle with the duty-free bottle of Chardonnay that I got before we boarded but I was stumpped as it had a cork top. I bet that’s done on purpose!
I watched a film on my i-Phone and I used my new ear buds on noise cancelling mode and it was amazing, it took out all the drone of the plane and I could barely hear anyone talking around me, even the obnoxious little boy behind me.
When the trolly came round for the second time we relented and I got red wine and Wendy got rose, and not long after we landed.
Immigration was a doddle; bag collection did take a little time but we were soon on the bus and thankfully we were the first to be dropped off.
We are now in our 4th floor apartment and its quite nice, we have a sea view which is nice but we can’t see much as its dark outside.
Night, Night Avid Reader its now 11:45 pm, time for a glass of wine on the balcony and then its bed time for me!
No Travelling
Settling In!!!
We stayed up late last night on the balcony chatting and drinking wine, of course. We had no food except a bar of chocolate and that was fine, we managed with that.
It was about 2:00 am by the time we went to bed, we were exhausted but you know, you kind of need some wind down time when it’s been a long day, and we had nothing pressing today!
I didn’t wake until 7:50 am and I didn’t get out running until 9:15 am and it was hot, very hot actually. Wendy didn’t go running because of the heat.
I ran up to Puerto Rico and all the way to the top of the valley. There is a very new shopping centre which is just above the old, not very good shopping centre. I say it’s not good, that’s because it’s a concrete monstrosity built, I would imagine, in the 1970’s.
The new one does look good though.
Running back, I had to stop to rest my sciatic leg, which was giving me some right old gyp.
I sat on a stone just off the path that is in an open area between the harbour and the main part of town. As I was sat there a young family passed me with a little girl in a pushchair. I didn’t take much notice but when I set off five minutes later I came across Peppa Pig who was lying in the middle of the path. She was a big Peppa, nearly as big as my little girls Toby Tyke, so he was going to be missed by someone.
I picked her up and ran to catch the family up but they were a long way in front of me.
So here’s me hobbling down with Peppa in my hand shouting excuse me, it wasn’t until I was on top of them until the dad turned around. When I asked him if they had dropped Peppa, he was so pleased I had brought her back, he thanked and thanked me.
I guess Peppa is quite important to the little girl!!
I got back to the apartment and Wendy had been to the shop and got me some bananas and milk for my milk shake.
Jeepers I had a right sweat on, my vests were ringing wet.
I stripped off and sat in a pair of old shorts on the veranda with my sea view and drank a very nice smoothie.
It was gone 11:30 am after I had showered and we walked over the new beach that David Silva had created in the hope of having a drink at a seaside bar that we have used before. Actually, there are two bars together. But they were both closed, one of them looked like that it had police crime taped over a door sealing it shut until further investigation.
Not put off we walked around the coastal path and around the rocks to the resort of Playa del Cura where we enjoyed an ice cold beer on the terrace. Jeepers it was a cold beer, it was that cold that ice formed in the middle of the glass and it was such a delight that I had two of them!
Walking back and the tide had come in a little more and we got our feet wet. We sat on the rocks near to the commune and dried our feet off in the hot sunshine.
We called into the Spar shop which is very close to the hotel on our way back and we carried a few more supplies back to the hotel.
Now here’s a bit of info about our hotel.
Before I booked this holiday I checked the hotel on TripAdvisor and one lady had put a really good review about this hotel. It’s a 3-star hotel and there were some very negative reviews after hers, but as hers was quite lengthy I read it fully.
She explained that she thought the people who were complaining were out of order. She and her family had just stayed for two weeks and the hotel was as described by the owners, a 3 Star hotel close to Amadores Beach.
She went onto detail all the positives about the hotel and dismissed the negative reviews. On the strength of her review I booked it and I am so glad I did.
We have a top floor room with a nice view of the Ocean, we aren’t on the seafront but we do have a nice view. Our room is lovely, we have a nice sized fridge freezer to keep all of our drinks cold and my running bottle, more importantly, frozen.
The bedroom is of a nice size with a large door which we leave fully open at night, a nicely equipped kitchen and a very comfortable lounge and yet another large French window.
The veranda is very private and we cannot see our neighbours and they can’t see us, so all in all its rather nice. Its also very clean and tidy so I need to thank the lady who wrote the review, and so do the owners too.
After dropping the supplies, it was gone 3:00 pm and we went down to the pool and grabbed two sun loungers and a sun shade and settled down for a few hours of afternoon sunshine.
I nodded and soon enough it was close to 6:00 pm and the sunbeds were being cleared up, rather noisily by hotel staff.
After a shower we sat on the balcony and we saw a lovely sunset, it was a stunner.
At 8:30 pm we walked down to the beach for supper, we were going to Puerto Rico but we just didn’t fancy the long walk. Actually, we had a very nice supper, it was a meal deal, two fish meals and wine for 45 Euro’s, and we got a very generous honey rum afterwards.
Tonight, we aim to be in bed shortly, so we don’t make the mistake we did today so night night for now!
It’s been a lovely day but tomorrow we are going to have a very nice stinking hot day by the ocean, with a few cold drinks, obviously!
No Travelling
Stinking Hot!!!
I slept really well but I did hear some fellas below chatting like it was daylight at about 3:00 am, it didn’t really disturb me as I needed a bathroom visit, and by the time I got back they were gone.
I woke on time at just gone 6:00 am and I was up and having tea and toast by 6:15 am. Boy that toaster is nippy, I had smoke coming out and burnt toast in 3 minutes flat, I’ll have to keep an eye on that. I immediately looked at the smoke detector, but thankfully it was far enough away not to be a problem. I would hate to wake everyone up with an early morning alarm call.
It was dark until turned 7:30 am but we did still have a stunning full moon still shining brightly in the morning darkness. We both went out running, Wendy went just before me. I took 3 codeine tablets this morning and the pain in my right leg wasn’t much better. I am thinking of going underground for some cocaine, surely that must do the trick?
I got back and again I had my smoothie on the balcony in the morning sunshine and it was nicely cold and delicious. While I sat there Wendy nipped to the shop for some groceries, however they didn’t have much in so we would have to find somewhere else.
We walked down to the beach and settled on two sun beds on the harbour wall where we have been before with Brad, Caroline and Robyn. Jeepers it was hot and it wasn’t much gone 11:00 am.
We settled down in the hot sunshine and soon enough the young man came to get our sunbed fees. Jeepers I was shocked at the amount of sunbed inflation that has occurred since I was last here, it was 12 euros for two beds and one umbrella. I told Wendy that this was a her one and only treat, we have dragged our own sun recliners in our suitcases and we are going to use them.
Wendy read her book and I managed to listen to Owain on my phone using my new ear buds and it was rather nice.
At around 12:45 pm it was roasting hot, it was stinking hot actually and there wasn’t any breeze so we decided to walk over the footpath to the Spar in Puerto Rico.
It was actually quite warm walking over there too. The Spar was busy but we did get what we needed, which was chicken breasts and some burgers. I did also chuck in two nice looking corn cobs. Thankfully we managed to bag an empty check out, but alas it didn’t save any time as the corn cobs were not price marked. The store manager was involved, some looking at a stock sheet occurred and despite several secret service whispers on her fitted two-way radio I had to admit defeat and tell the young lady we didn’t really need corn on the cob for supper tonight.
To lift spirits before our walk back we took a beer in a beach side bar, this was a bad mistake as one large beer and one small beer came to 8 euros!
Finally, we walked back over the footpath that links Amadores Beach to Puerto Rico. The foot path is exactly one mile in length and looking at it you would think it’s not long been built. Actually, it’s been here ever since we have been coming to Gran Canaria. The first time we came was in 2000 and I can remember walking with the kids when they were only small over this very same foot path.
I know I have harped on about this many times before, but here I go again! How on earth can a Mickey Mouse country like this manage to make such a walkway around some very seriously high and steep cliffs when one of the richest nations on earth cannot get a cycle track around the Moray Firth?
By the time we got back to our sunbeds we were ready for a sleep so I put Owain on again and nodded off, Wendy read her book but when I woke about 30 minutes later she was fast asleep, and she would still be had it not been for the woman on the sunbed not far away who decided she wanted to change her beds direction and duly scraped it in a 180 degree movement making a right old racket in the process.
To escape the heat we nipped to a bar for a glass of wine, the bar was almost empty and the bar man was bored out of his mind and doing all sorts of silly things like chasing pigeons.
We struggled on some more with the heat on our sunbeds and Wendy was intrigued by a fat fellas funny looking belly button which I am sure I have seen somewhere else before!
By 6:15 pm we thought that we had got our money’s worth out of the sunbeds and we packed up and headed back to the hotel.
After showering I nipped to the shop to buy some elusive milk but I had to settle on UHT, I’m sure it will be fine for my smoothie tomorrow.
Even though we had bought two nice looking chicken breasts and a couple of beef burgers we didn’t fancy those tonight, instead we settled for some bread, balsamic and olive oil dip, and some meat slices on the balcony and actually it turned out to be the perfect Saturday night!
I think we are due an adventure tomorrow Avid Reader, I think I am due a sail on the Atlantic Ocean to that old favourite of mine, the Yellow Bar in Puerto Mogan.
No Travelling
Sailing!
I had yet another lovely sleep, with my ear plugs in. I woke just gone 6:00 am and Wendy soon followed, she told me that there had been a right racket with a vehicle at some point in the night. I told her to wear ear plugs as I never heard a thing, she says that she likes to know what’s going off around her?
Again I took 3 pain killers for my leg but I knew they weren’t going to help so I ran around the Amadores Beach area as its entirely flat, it didn’t help. I did find though that from each end it is exactly 0.8 miles long. I think I did five laps.
From our location we don’t get much sun before 9:30 am as there is a huge cliff between us and the sun, so at least I was not boiling hot in the sunshine.
I only had a one banana smoothie today as we were going to catch the ferry to Puerto Mogan for a nice lunch and I wanted to make sure I was going to be hungry.
It’s a walk over the cliff walkway to the harbour at Puerto Rico and we took a nice long and leisurely walk. I was nicely dressed for the occasion and I had my new crimpley shirt on that I recently bought in France. I did, however, have to carry my shirt because as soon as the sun hits me, despite having deodorant on I sweat like a monster, my armpits become little rivers.
The ferry was very quiet and we sat in our favourite spot, on the bow and we had a really nice sail in the sunshine, it was a delight.
We arrived in Puerto Mogan at 12:30 pm and we took a nice walk around the marina and we settled in the bar at the far end of the harbour for a nice relaxing beer.
I forgot to say, the night before last I thought I had better report that we have no TV remote in our room. We don’t need one but I thought it best to report it missing as I don’t want billing for it. I spoke to the man on reception and he had the most striking resemblance to Nosferatu I have ever seen. I said this to Wendy and she said, “Who?” Wendy Gill has never heard of Nosferatu; I can’t believe it. Anyway, while I sat with my beer I Googled Nosferatu and I showed Wendy a picture of the man himself and she did indeed agree that the resemblance was uncanny.
Now here’s a thing, I only typed the letters N and o into Google and auto find immediately brought up Nosferatu. I asked Wendy to do the same in her phone and Nosferatu only came up after she had almost typed the full name. I am sure that an i-Phone recognises your voice and is constantly listening to what you’re saying.
After our beer we walked all the way back around the marina and into the new area and we went straight to our old family favourite, The Yellow Bar, actually it is called Morgan Marr.
I recognised a couple of old waiters and we placed our order. I had a fillet steak with a big salad and Wendy had tuna. I asked for my steak to be rare, Wendy forgot to tell them how she wanted her tuna and it did come a little well done, but it was still quite tasty.
My steak was really very nice. I had a nice lump of fillet and a smashing salad. Wendy had some lovely Canarian potatoes with her meal, thankfully she gave me one, it was delicious.
The table next to us was filled with a granny and granddad and two young boys, under 10 years old. I could hear them chatter and I just had to ask them where they were from.
You guessed it, Barnsley!
He was an ex-coalminer from Hougton Main Collery and after its closure had taken to lorry driving. He now lived in Cudworth but as he as only lived there for 10 years he didn’t know my mate David Wilson. Believe me, if you were brought up in Cudworth you would know Wilsey.
They were really nice people and they were on a cruise and had been dropped off by coach but they were having to spend another night in the harbour as the stopover in Lanzarote had been cancelled due to a bus drivers’ strike.
We had a dessert, Canarian Mousse, we have had it before and we both love it. Wendy was dead chuffed when after asking, the waiter confirmed that it was wholly Gluten Free. She now intends to make it for Alex when he next stays over.
After a very nice Sangria we caught the 3:45 pm ferry back, and again we sat on the bow where we caught the afternoon sunshine.
Back at the hotel we took our towels down to the pool and grabbed two poolside beds. Wendy napped a little while I listened to the Rob Becket radio show.
At just before 6:00 pm the sunbed collection by the hotels staff started and anyone dozing was immediately woken by the dropping of sun beds onto each other. Wendy woke and went up to the room, I sat poolside and stuck my feet in the pool and laid back and enjoyed the still hot sunshine.
This really is a very nice hotel, actually it’s the best package holiday hotel I think I have ever stayed in, the hotels nice, the room is great and we have a smashing view, I love it, can I book an extra week?
Its now gone 7:30 pm and I am going to file tonight’s copy, I am hoping to persuade Wendy to take a walk over David Silva’s beach to see if the old fella as opened the bar, I’ll let you know how I get on tomorrow Avid Reader!
No Travelling
Beach Day
I did indeed manage to persuade Wendy to walk over to David Silvas beach last night but sadly both establishments were closed. Wendy Googled Poi Poi and I Goggled Vistamar and I found that Vistamar was closed by the police, with police crime scene tape, and Wendy found that Poi Poi was closed due to financial irregularities.
What a shame because both places in their pomp were great places to eat and they had live bands on at weekends. Locals would come from miles away to enjoy the night.
Jeepers I got some more very bad news last night. A man I knew from Beauly Fire Station had died, Martin MacLean. Martin was a cracking fella, full of fun and very dependable. I hadn’t seen him in a while but a few months ago Alex was on a referee training course with him and he sent me a photo of him. I didn’t recognise him as he had seemed to have aged an awful lot.
My friend Karla told me today he went to his doctors on Friday and was sent to Raigmore Hospital where he ended up in the High Dependency Ward and that he died yesterday from pneumonia. He was younger than me too, the poor fella.
I woke up upside down on my bed this morning, I remember doing it, turning around. It was that warm I needed to get my upper body down to the slight breeze that comes from the open window. I have no idea what Wendy thought because she was wide awake and bimbling on her i-Pad before I woke up.
Again, today I took three tablets and off I went, Wendy did not get out of her bed, the lazy mare!
I ran around both marinas at Puerto Rico and I did find the slightest easing in my pain, it was still a bugger but slightly less of a bugger. Actually, I ran through some tunnels at the end of the marina and up a very steep hill where I got my four miles in and sat on the cliffs looking at the ocean below.
On my way back I came across a man wearing a brand-new Barnsley Football Club shirt. He was about my age and I stopped to chat to him. He told me he goes to all the away games but that he doesn’t go to home games anymore. I asked him why and he said that it was a long story. I thought that if he didn’t want to tell me that’s fair enough, but later on he told me that he had been a season ticket holder for many years and that he and his son sat side by side for lots of them, as season ticket holders. He then told me that his son had died of cancer and that he could not bear to go and sit next to the empty seat that his son sat in.
Bugger what a sad story!
But we chatted a little longer and we then both went our separate ways.
Back at the hotel I had my smoothie, (you do know I bring my hand blender with me, of course I do). And then I showered and after packing the cool bag with ice and drinks we left for a full day at David Silvas beach.
Jeepers it was hot walking over, but we had our sun shade and our beach beds and we made it and settled down at the far end of the beach. It was then that Wendy remembered that she had not remembered to pack the small sandwiches she had made!
The beach was virtually empty which was in stark contrast to the beach at Amadores which was hutching with sunbathers when we walked past it.
We settled down nicely and I listened to the Jeremy Vine show while Wendy read her book. I then did a bit of snoozing, after a full beach walk.
At around 3:00 pm I walked back to the hotel, despite Wendys protests, for the sandwiches in the fridge.
I was just putting my wallet back in my bag, with the bedroom key in it when the hotel maid breezed in, she nearly died of fright! She must have been in a few minutes before and had found no one in, then there I was large as life like someone returned from the dead, maybe Nosferatu?
I walked the almost mile back to Wendy on the beach where she sat and immediately ate the very nice meat sandwich that she had earlier made.
We had a very full day at the beach and we waited until gone 8:00 pm to see the sun go down, it wasn’t a stunning sunset but at least we did see it go below the Atlandtic Ocean.
On the way beck Wendy nipped into the supermarket for wine while I went back to the room to start dinner.
Tonight we were having a sweetcorn starter followed by a beef burger.
Its here where I found the first flaw in the apartment, you cannot get two pans on the hob at the same time. Never mind I did manage supper which we took on the balcony, with the sky now fully black.
As I file tonight’s copy Wendy is sat next to me with her watching her i-Pad and the Strictly Dancing Results Show, she keeps chuckling about something that Les Dennis is or is not doing, I bet he is the first eliminated from the competition, or maybe not, not wanting to be a spoiler but with the depth of her laughter I am guessing that it’s the former and not the latter!
No Travelling
Hotter!!!
I slept upside down again and I never moved, thankfully there was enough, only slight mind, breeze to keep me from boiling over.
I woke at 5:55 am and I jumped straight out of bed, the reason being is that we were going to have a day at the pool and I needed to be back from my run smartish so that I could bag a good spot.
I started to run in the dark and it was rather nice. I could see the light changing behind the hill and the sky slowly get lighter.
My leg wasn’t too bad for the first 4 miles but it did give me lots of gyp after mile 5.
I only ran around Amadores and I did come across Wendy who did go out today, I have no idea where she was going as she was going in the opposite direction. Actually, I have just asked her and she said that she did a few twiddles, whatever that means. Wendy has hurt her back, she did it in the shower yesterday and is now on paracetamol. She’s moving but rather delicately.
I got back just after 9:00 am and I got Wendy to drop me the towels from our bedroom. The gang of 4 had already bagged their usual spot but I did manage to get a nice spot overlooking the bay.
It was already quite hot!
I laid out our spot nicely and then I asked Wendy to drop my swimming trunks.
Under the cover of a beach towel I deftly slid into my trunks and then I dipped into the pool, it was delightful.
By the time I had cooled off Wendy had come down to the pool and so I went up and had a very nice leisurely smoothie on the balcony.
After a nice strong cup of black tea I showered and had a very nice clean shave. I’m a bit late but I always change my blade at around the first of the month, I forgot to do it on Sunday. My shave was very close and this new blade should last me a month as I shave every two days. I would like to shave every day like I do when I am working but its just such a bind when you don’t have to do it.
I went down to the pool with the clear determination of starting my book. It’s called Final Option and its by Clive Cusseler, actually it can’t be because he recently died and this is a new book. Clive being smart started having ghost writers some years ago, but he was very careful to only find writers who can write in his own style. This book is one of a series about a group of high-class mercenaries who have a ship which is cloaked as a dead-beat cargo ship but it’s actually a very high-tech vessel with the latest technological engines. I have always liked Clive’s books and I have read most of them, especially the ones with Dirk Pitt but this series is a nice departure from the NUMA stories.
At 12:00 pm I had to go to the room to shower as it was very hot indeed, I was soaking in sweat.
At around 1:00 pm I went to the pool bar to get a couple of beers as we needed the plastic glasses for our next beach adventure. We left one behind at our first beach day and so we needed a replacement so we didn’t have to nurse maid a glass like we did yesterday.
I was surprised at the hotel’s bar prices; it was only 7 euros for 2 large beers.
I carried on reading my book as I was now well into it.
The sun was getting hotter and hotter, it was roasting and Wendy sheltered under the brolly most of the day.
I took a walk over to the Spar which is about 200 metres from the hotel as we needed some wine, Wendy also wanted a savoury nibble. The only thing I could get her was a chocolate doughnut type thing that was stuffed with chocolate. She did want something like a bread nibble but when she had her first bite she loved it and had to stop herself from eating it all in one go, apparently it was very moorish.
The fella close to me on a sunbed had a Charlton Athletic towel on his sunbed so I got chatting to him about football. He is from Croydon but now lives in Grimsby. He mentioned something about his second ex-wife but the woman he was with now had a north American accent, so lord knows what’s going on there?
The sun got hotter and hotter but thankfully by 4:00 pm a little light cloud cover came over.
I had another nice dip in the pool before more reading and by the end of play I was on page 155. Wendy is reading “The Last Devil to Die!” by Richard Osman and she is loving that too.
At 5:30 pm the maintenance gang started to clear the sunbeds away, in a manner that said. “Right you lot its time for you to go.” I think that’s a bit early, Wendy went up to the room at 6:00 pm and I hung around until 6:30 pm, with the sun still in the sky, I was the last man standing. I wasn’t happy about it but I guess that I had had quite a lot of sun for the day.
I cooked supper, chicken, mushrooms and onions in a satay sauce with spicy noodles. The noodles were a bit tricky as the instructions were in Spanish, but I did ok.
We ate supper on the balcony, it was lovely, I love eating outdoors!
After supper we took a walk down to the beach where I bought myself a tiramisu ice cream which was lovely but it did make me very thirsty.
We called in at the hotel bar for a drink of wine where the never-ending happy hour keeps on giving, it’s been happy hour since 4:00 pm!
The Elvis impersonator wasn’t great, he looked nothing like him and he certainly didn’t sound like him, but fair do’s he did entertain, not just in the way he intended.
Walking back to the room we saw all the sunbeds nicely locked up and that’s how they’ll stay until turned 9:00 am tomorrow, at least it stops the bed baggers from getting them all at the crack of dawn!
It’s now almost 10:00 pm and its 29 degrees and there’s not a breath of wind, it looks like another upside-down sleep is on the cards again tonight!
No Travelling
Nudity!
I read my book until exactly 11:00 pm before heading to bed, Wendy was already fast asleep.
We have had some trouble with the main door handle buzzing over the last two days. We reported it on Monday and a very sweaty maintenance man came and fiddled with it but it started to buzz again yesterday so we asked for another repair. When I went up to the room yesterday afternoon for something the buzzer started again and I heard the maintenance man fiddle with it but he couldn’t get it to stop and just left it, the bugger.
Eventually it stopped on its own.
I was having a smashing sleep but at 3:00 am my darling wife woke me and told me the door would not stop buzzing. I had my ear plugs in and wasn’t bothered by it. I got up and fiddled with the door a few times but it would not stop buzzing, so it was me, not Wendy, who had to go down to reception and bring the chap on duty up to sort it out, which he did.
He told me that if he used a proper metal key to lock and unlock it it would stop buzzing and it did.
I got back in bed and put my ear plugs back in but I could not drop off again, Wendy was sound asleep! I read a few chapters of my book on the balcony and then thankfully I got back to sleep.
Today I ran over the big hill that separates Amadores from Puerto Rico, it was exactly a mile long steep climb to the top. The views over Amadores Beach and then Puerto Rico beach were stunning!
I then had to run downhill which plays havoc with the sciatica. Actually, today was the worst my leg has been and I had to stop 2 or 3 times on the last mile as it was agony. It must have been all that downhill running that caused it. Its funny but its easier to run up hill than down.
When I got back to the bedroom Wendy told me that a new man had been and he had completely changed the main door lock, so hopefully that wont wake Wendy up, who then in turn wakes me up!
After a shower and smoothie we headed with a tapas pack up to the David Silva beach. As we got to the beach level, I saw that we were missing a beach towel, it was my fault I took it off the cool bag when I packed it before we left.
Wendy went back for it and I carried all of the stuff to the beach. We had talked of not going to the far end so I found a spot a nice distance away from anyone else and made camp. I had the umbrella up and the beds out before I could see Wendy coming over the hill, and then I saw it, a very naked older lady, stark naked actually.
I looked around a little more and there were lots of them at it, one man went swinging down to the sea for a dip.
Wendy came and I pointed out my mistake and she giggled.
Then, would you believe an older couple plonked not 10 feet from us and stripped off, everything!
I guess we were at the nudist end.
Why do nudist people have to be a bit elaborate with their body language. Like matey above, he walked down to the sea about ten times, each time with his hands on his hips in a very exaggerated way. One woman walked right past us with both of her hands on her head. It was all a bit like I am going to show everything I can and you are going to have to see it.
I’ll tell you what I noticed, there is a very obvious trend amongst nudist bathers, I can’t say any more than that Avid Readers!
Never mind, we read our books and at around 2:00 pm we had a very nice plate of tapas with wine after which I went for a dip in the sea to cool down.
A breeze got up at around 3:00 pm, a few umbrellas went blowing away and the sun went behind cloud cover so we packed up, got back to the apartment, showered and then walked to the new shopping centre at Puerto Rico.
I saw it on the first day, it’s a lovely looking new centre at the top of the old one, where the aqua park used to be.
As we walked along the sea wall though the sun came back out and we were both dripping in sweat. We just had to nip onto a beach side bar and have a nice cold beer.
The shopping centre was really nice, it was cool and very nicely laid out. Wendy went into a few shops while I sat out in the cool air-conditioned mall, but she never bought anything.
While I was sat waiting, I checked my phone and I saw some excellent news that the Highland Council will start to build a footpath from the end of the Kirkhill straight, joining with the Beauly footpath, and make a new foot path all the way up to the Cabrich turnoff. This will be brilliant and I won’t have to run on the road anymore, it starts on 26th October!
On the way back, with the sky yet again clouded over we had one more drink in a beach side bar before walking back over the cliff footpath to the apartment.
Its now gone 8:00 pm, there is talk of walking down to the bar, but I must admit I am tired from last night’s shenanigans so I might have a balcony drink and then hit the sack.
No Travelling
Birthday Boy!!!
I woke at 5:58 am this morning and I was 62 years old, I didn’t feel it, but here I am.
I had some smashing cards and now I have 4 little girls names on them now too, how lovely.
I went out running and I went along the south coast and up the valley at Playa del Cura. This road at the end forms a path that takes over some very rough road over to Puerto Rico. I just got to the start of the very rough road which was 3 miles. You have to be seriously prepared to go any further as it’s like being in the Australian Outback. I passed a couple of old people who seemed to have set out for the day, I saw them get to the rough track and then they turned back.
There are some very remote houses up there, I can see that they have swimming pools, they seem the perfect retreat as only idiots like me go up there.
I got back to Amadores and I had two miles to finish around the bay, jeepers my leg wasn’t giving me the day off, it’s the absolute worst it’s ever been and I had to use all my grit to get home. I think for some reason I am being tested!
I got back and I had a shave and a shower and then I went down to the pool for a sports massage by Anabel. Anabel is, I would guess in her mid-forties and does do a very good sports massage. I told her about my sciatica and she did indeed concentrate on my lower back. She used a few different oils but one in particular got very warm and soothing. I had 30 minutes with her and I felt like I had had ten rounds with Mike Tyson by the time she was done. I told her that she gave a very firm massage and she said that she had been doing it for over 20 years.
I’m not sure if it will have any effect on my sciatica but at least it was worth a try.
I got back to the bedroom at 11:30 am and we set off for the walk over to Puerto Rico harbour to catch the ferry over to Arguineguin for a very nice tapas lunch.
The ferry was very quiet and we had the front bow seats all to ourselves where we opened a bottle of fizz to start the celebrations off. It was lovely sat there in the midday sunshine and heat with the smell of the sea and the up and down of the boat, it was a real treat.
We docked in Arguineguin Harbour at around 1:00 pm and we walked directly to the tapas bar. This is the one we visited the last time we were on the island. It’s a cracking little outside bar and it was a lovely treat.
We have a habit of over ordering tapas dishes so we sought the advice of the waiter. He is a smashing young man who was here last year, he advised on four dishes. As it was my birthday Wendy let me pick all four.
I ordered:
The food was all lovely, and we had it with some very nice white wine.
We sat out in the sunshine, under a large parasol and it was an utter delight.
As, for some unknown reason, there wasn’t any dessert we had a very nice glass of sangria as we sat and waited for the 3:15 pm ferry.
As a very nice thank you the waiter brought us a very tasty, home-made honey rum each. This was the best honey rum I have ever tasted; it was delicious.
We did catch the 3:15 pm ferry and we finished the last of the fizz sailing back on our front seat location, again the sail back was lovely.
When we reached the harbour at Puerto Rico, we walked back over the cliff walkway and grabbed our towels and bagged two sunbeds close to the pool.
We both nodded off but we woke when the sun bed stacking procedure started. However, today was very different.
The sun beds were not locked away they were laid out in rows and more importantly we hung on and let it all happen around us and we saw the stacking crew off to see a fantastic sunset for the pool area.
On packing up I saw a new sign that had been placed today, this isn’t going to go down well with the punters.
I’ll post the sign in the photo section but if I am right it now looks like its going to cost 8 euros for two sunbeds or 5 euros for one, and you have to book them too. Now imagine if you’re flying out tomorrow with three teenagers and that additional 200 and odd euro bill might just tip you over the edge.
It will be fun in the morning when the sunbed stampede starts, thank goodness I’m going to Amadores beach!
And just like that, that’s another birthday over!
I have had a really smashing day in the sun, I have had lots of lovely messages from people all over the world which has been nice and some lovely cards too. We have three days left in the sunshine but I am really looking forward now to coming back and seeing the four very precious little girls in my life!
No Travelling
What a Result!!!
I didn’t file it in last night’s copy but I had a very poorly woman with me last night. Wendy went to bed not feeling good as soon as we got back last night and as I was writing my diary I could hear her being violently sick in the bathroom. I did check on her but there wasn’t anything I could do. She went back to bed and I checked on her a few times and she was sleeping.
I didn’t put my ear plugs in so I could hear if she was unwell, but apparently I missed hearing her being sick again and having a shower afterwards.
She didn’t even want tea in bed this morning so I knew she wasn’t well.
As I had my tea and toast I saw the first good result of the day, the By Election in Rutherglen had been lost by the SNP and won by the Labour party, by a massive increase in the share of the vote. I do hope this continues!
I did a bad thing this morning, I know, it was naughty, I took 4 codeine tablets, but they did bugger all with the sciatica and I struggled through my run, but I made it back safely.
I did think we would need to hang about at the hotel for the day with my patient, but she was up and showered and Adam Ant that she wanted to go down to the beach.
We had decided to get some sunbeds on the top deck at Amadores Beach and watch the ocean and the packed ferry taking punters to the market in Puerto Mogan.
We had some plumb beds, they were perfect.
We were going to read our books, Wendy fully shaded and me in the sun, however I could not believe it, I had left my sunny readers in the hotel so I had to walk back and get them, thankfully it wasn’t that far.
We had a lovely morning, and it was nice to watch the ferries and other boats sail by.
Wendy was a little chipper and we had a glass of wine, which she seemed fine with.
We had another glass of wine and then a little nap, while I was listening to Jeremy Vine.
I got rudely woken by a girl on the phone who insisted that I had had a car accident, I do apologise now but I did give her short shrift for waking me on my sunbed beside the Atlantic Ocean at 33 degrees, she cleared the line very quickly!
At 3:30 pm we decided to have an early supper in a bar at Amadores, and we could not have picked better.
On perusing the menu Wendy said that she was having fillet steak and salad, she said it rather confidently and I was pleased for her. I selected the fish salad and a starter of grilled octopus.
When the waitress came to take our order Wendy went first, “Ham sandwich and chips please.” I was flabbergasted, I actually couldn’t order myself, one minute it was fillet steak with all the trimmings the next it’s a ham toastie. I had to explain to the waitress why I was speechless, she just laughed and said, “That’s life!”
Wendy later explained she didn’t want to be sick with filet steak if it came to it, rather just a ham toastie!
Actually the food was superb!
I checked the bars rating on TripAdvisor and they have a solid 4.5 out of 5, which is excellent, especially against over 200 reviews!
We went back to the sun beds and I did a little more reading and Wendy had another sleep.
The 2nd result of the day came when I took a call from Robyn at some point in the afternoon where she directed me to an email that I had been copied into. The message was very good news, but alas I cannot detail the contents as I am soon to be the subject of one of those celebrity gagging orders, well one does what one as to!
At around 6:00 pm I took a walk and then climbed over the huge rocks that form the sea wall and sat on a rock close to the sea and just sat there with the tide coming in and washing in around me. I spent 30 minutes there, the sun was setting, it was still hot and it was so peaceful.
I watched a small crab on a rock getting battered by the waves but it just sat there clinging to the rock. Even when the waves and the force of them got harder and harder it clung on.
I got back to Wendy and I could see she wasn’t good so we upped sticks and headed back.
We split up at the shop, I called in for supplies and Wendy went to the room. By the time I got back she was showered and in her jarmies.
Its now 9:30 pm and any thoughts of going down and mingling with the new riffraff types that have just arrived at the hotel are over as Wendy is now fast asleep in her scratcher. I think by tomorrow she’ll be over it. I think I know this for a fact as she’s Adam Ant she wants one more day at David Silvas beach, I wonder why that is?
We had a cracking sunset tonight, one of the best, it was a ten from Len for me anyway!
No Travelling
Last Full Day
Well, the patient had a full night’s sleep and woke up just after me at 6:00 am, she did look a little tired from her 14-hour sleep but she did take a full cup of tea and she soon brightened up.
I have no idea what happened with Wendy, she was floored for at least 24 hours but I have no idea why. On my birthday we ate and drank the same things, we did the same things but she came down really poorly, and I do mean really poorly. But this morning she bounced back large as life, well after that cup of tea, she even went out running.
I went out just after her and I did the daft thing, I ran over the hill to Puerto Rico and boy was it hot. Jeepers it was windy too, very blowy actually.
My leg was still as bad and I had to rest a few times during the last mile but at least I made it, times of 15-minute miles are not doing my credibility any good. I also don’t like the looks of pity I get from people who think an old man is out and about.
I had a cracking smoothie on the balcony though, it was delightful. I managed to snaffle a few large bananas from the Spar and they were just the ticket. I do like my smoothie!
We bimbled around for a bit in the bedroom and I thanked our lovely room maid who has looked after us for the last week, I gave her the day off today as we didn’t need cleaning today.
Today, as it was the last day before we head home, we walked over to David Silvas beach. Wendy insisted we keep well away from the nudist colony, but that meant we were out in the wind, and boy had it picked up!
Thankfully the beach wasn’t that busy and as soon as we got there and were settled I went into the sea for a nice refreshing dip, boy it was lovely.
I settled down and read my book, I was very thirsty and soon, with Wendy’s help we had consumed a two-litre bottle of water. I then had to have a few ice-cold beers.
The wind was wild and it even picked up a little to the point that the odd umbrella went flying in the air. In fact, one made a bee line for us but I managed to catch it just as it hit our brolly.
Why don’t people understand very basic science, you have to point the bulk of your brolly into the prevailing wind. That way the brolly will withstand any amount of wind!
At around 2:00 pm we had had enough of the battering by the wind and we decided to go to the beach at Amadores. It was really hot though so as rough as it was the wind didn’t cool anyone down.
I found a nice spot on the beach at Amadores, it was busy but I bagged a spot which was reasonably clear.
I could not believe it, no sooner had we made camp when four young women sat up stall within 2 feet of us, as bare faced as you like, local types!
They spread two large towels out and then tried to put two brollies’ up, they were useless.
Wendy was hunkered down under our brolly, out of the sun and clear of the wind, I was reading the last few chapters of my very good book so I wasn’t caring what was happening.
I saw some fellas try to sort the brollies out for the girls next door but they were rubbish because it flew away twice, almost injuring people. I carried on with my book and then a little voice said I’m not comfortable here can we go back to the hotel.
Apparently, Wendy was in fear of being hit by a brolly and on the way back told me how the fellas were that bad at trying to get the girls brolly to stay put, she was fearful of being hit by it. I was to engrossed in my book to notice.
Back at the hotel I managed to bag two sun beds, two mattresses and a brolly and we sat at the very far end of the area and away from everyone else, it was bliss, I even managed to finish my book.
At 4:45 pm I watched the England V Samoa rugby world cup game on my phone with my blue tooth ears in. What a game it was, it was nip and tuck throughout.
How cool is that, watching rugby on my phone!
Do you know I watched the Live Aid cricket match on my Sinclair portable TV in 1985 while I was in a geology lesson while I was at college in Doncaster. It had a two-inch screen and it was in black and white. Only two overs were bowled because the game was rained off. And here I was now, watching on HD on my i-Phone over the Spanish 4G network, isn’t progress great! Thankfully England won, but it wasn’t pretty!
Wendy went back to the bedroom before the end of the game and I followed after it ended.
After showering and getting dressed we headed off out for supper.
We walked down to the beach and ate at the same place where we had our first meal. Again they were doing a deal, 50 euros for Chateaubriand with a bottle of wine. It was cooked rare and it was delicious, it really was.
I would have loved a pudding but I was stuffed, stuffed to the top. I think I need to come home so that I can calm down on my eating!
That’s it for tonight Avid Reader, we’re sat on the balcony with a honey rum and it is so hot we have the front door open and all the windows. There is not one breath of air moving through the apartment and I swear it must be 40 degrees.
I have seen the rain at home, can I stay another week?
30 Miles
Home Time!
What a hot night we had last night, it was roasting. We always sleep with the lounge and bedroom sliding doors fully open and then there is one small square window in the kitchen and another similar one in the bathroom and they are always kept fully open too. But last night there was no air movement at all. I kept waking up roasting hot, I lost count of how many times I went to the fridge to get a cooling drink. Actually, I drank two half litre bottles of sports drink, that’s how many times I went to the fridge.
Then around 4:00 am the wind picked up, I could feel the breeze coming through. I had my ear plugs in but I heard a loud crash. I took the ear plugs out and I looked at our bedroom door and I could also see the bath room door, they were both still open. The only other door that could slam was the main door, which I couldn’t see.
I listened and I thought I could hear some movement so I got up expecting to find someone in the lounge. But what had happened was that the tripod leged lamp had been blown over by the wind and the large lounge curtain was blowing wildly, we now had a hurricane blowing, or so it seemed.
We both went out running and it was wild along the bay of Amadores Beach, stuff was blown everywhere. In fact, when I got out of the lift Nosferatu was sweeping loads of leaves and litter up off the floor which must have been blown in.
I got a right pasting from the wind and I nearly lost my cap when it blew off.
I got back to the hotel and chucked my running jacket in the bin, it’s been a good jacket but it’s now paper thin and as just about worn out.
I had my last smoothie in the heat, sat on the balcony, it was lovely, if I had had anymore milk I would have had another.
Wendy had sorted us some sunbeds and was almost done packing.
At 10:00 am we went down to the sunbeds leaving the cases in the room for another hour, we didn’t have to be out of the room until 12:00 pm so we left the drinks in the fridge as long as possible.
Wendy went down to the beach to look for some small pressies for the girls and I lounged on the sun beds. It was still breezy but we were pretty well out of the wind.
It was hot and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I took my last beer down with me and sipped it at my leisure, I must have got a taste for it has I bought another one from the bar when Wendy got back.
At around 11:15 am we went up to the room to get the bags and empty the fridge.
As I was loading the cool bag I noticed we had made a boob!!!
We had put a full 2 litre water bottle into the fridge’s freezer section and it had frozen solid, and it had expanded, a lot. It would not move, it was right at the back and wedged tight. Try has I might it would not budge. I scraped the ice from around it and it still wouldn’t move. Then I saw that the bottle had actually started to push the walls of the freezer out. I was not getting this bottle back unless I took drastic action, so I did.
I took the fridge out from under the unit, un plugged it and put it on its back. I then filled the kettle with hot water from the tap and filled the freezer unit with the hot water. Within five minutes the bottle was free and thankfully still very icy.
I cleared the water out of the freezer unit and wiped it out, I had it back in position in no time at all much to Wendy’s relief.
As the fridge was clean and not operating when we got into the room that’s how I left it, you would not believe the ice build-up in the ten days we have had it, so I think I also did the cleaner a favour. Actually, I was already in the cleaner’s favour because I gave her 20 euros yesterday for being such a friendly and nice young woman.
Now here’s a new concept, at 12:00 pm we checked our bags in at the hotel reception, they were taken to the airport in a van!
That’s it done and dusted, so all we had to do was lounge around and top up our tans before our pick up at 5:30 pm.
Jeepers it really was hot at the pool, but a few more beers did the trick and then the frozen water bottle slowly eased the thirst.
I had a right sweat on on my lounger, Wendy kept in the shade as she has done all the time we have been here. Come to think of it, how come her tan is as good as mine?
Wendy had booked the shower room for us for 4:45 pm which was just a nice time. We had two side by side showers and it was like a race against time as we only had the shower room for 15 minutes. I was done first and I left Wendy finishing off and went to reception with the towels. The receptionist asked me for the key, but Wendy had it. While the next two people took the lift two floors up I ran upstairs, caught Wendy coming down and just managed to have the shower room open for two ladies, it was a very personal service.
Our bus collected us on time and we breezed through security and immigration.
We have just shared a tuna sandwich and we are keeping our heads down as we are sat at the wrong tables, we are in another food outlets area, well their seating is much nicer than what we should have taken.
And that’s it for today, hopefully we will leave on time, 9:35 pm and be tucked up in bed before the small hours turn into bigger ones!
2005 Nautical Miles
67 Miles
The small hours did indeed turn into the bigger hours.
The flight left on time, the Captain of the plane told us that we were making good progress with a very fast tail wind and that he would let us know in due course what time he expected us to be at Glasgow, he thought we would be early.
I watched a couple of hours of a BBC TV series “The Devil’s Hour”. I have no idea what is happening but it was very gripping. It involves murder, as I saw two bodies, possibly some kidnapping and some strange police work.
I also had a couple of attempts at nodding, and I was successful to a certain extent.
I had the middle isle seat and to my right was a young woman who was a little bit what I would say, modern. There was something going on with her lips, she was very bright orange, made worse by the orange jump suit she was wearing. She was nice enough and would talk back when I spoke to her, but she never started the conversation. She also had very thick make up on.
The pilot was good to his word and he told us we would be on the stand at Glasgow airport at 2:00 am and we were, almost 30 minutes early.
We were off the plane and through passport control quickly but then we had to wait around 50 minutes for the baggage to come out on the carousel. I thought that we might have been able to get the car from the compound by 2:30 am and then on our way soon after, hoping that we would be in our bed by 3:30 am.
The bus driver who collected about 25 of us, with suitcases too, brought a very small bus, apparently two bigger buses had just broken down. It was that tight that the isle had to be packed with suitcases, trapping us all behind a woman with a baby in a pushchair.
It was a bit of a farce at the compound. Normally where we have been before a bus drives around the compound. There are a lot of bus stops and all you have to do is remember where you got on and get off at the same place. I always take a photo of the car and its location which makes finding the car a doddle.
However, this time Wendy got dropped off with the suitcase at the main entrance with the cases, and 15 other people, and I had to walk a mile, in the dark, to find the car. Actually with my photos I did find the car pretty quickly.
Then I drove to reception and collected Wendy and the cases, which we had to pull through some very large puddles.
All loaded up I headed for the exit barrier where my instructions were that the automatic number plate recognition would recognise me and lift the barrier, it didn’t. I drove backwards and forwards a few times but that didn’t work. I then got out to look for an intercom, but there wasn’t one. I was getting concerned someone would pull behind me and trap me, but thankfully no one did.
By this time Wendy Gill was not happy.
Luckily a minibus driver came into the compound and told me I should have been given a barrier code on a small card when I checked in, I wasn’t. My written instructions were clear, the barrier would lift on the recognition of the number plate.
I backed the car up and Wendy nipped for the code while I did some nifty reversing and manoeuvring so that I didn’t have to drive all around the compound again.
Thankfully with the code we were allowed to eventually leave.
I had the SatNav on and soon we were passing through Glasgow on the M8.
Everything went well from that point until we got to the Edinburgh City By-Pass, which was closed! No one told my Sat Nav because she was flummoxed!
Bugger, with no help from the Sat Nav I headed for the city centre. The Sat Nav was telling me constantly to, “Turn around where possible!”
Would you believe at 4:30 am in Edinburgh City Centre we came across a car that was undertaking learner driver training, yes as daft as what it sounds that’s exactly what they were doing.
And the driver was very, very inexperienced because they were all over the white lines, never went about 25 miles an hour, stalled it 3 times at 3 different sets of traffic lights, at one set the car was stalled twice. It was extremely frustrating, and I had to follow them for about 6 miles.
Thankfully the Sat Nav eventually worked out a route and took me down Lothian Road, I knew where I was from there anyway.
My last hiccup of the night was when a large fox darted out from some bushes and nearly ended up under my right wheel. Wendy almost had a heart attack.
We got to the house at 4:45 am and by the time we had sorted ourselves out we weren’t in bed much before 5:30 am.
I could not drop off to sleep and tossed and turned until around 7:45 am where I heard some little girls’ voices, so I got up and found Robyn, Rose and Violet doing their best to be quiet.
I did my run a little later and again my right leg was quite bad with sciatic pain. I’m looking forward to doing a fair bit of running on the treadmill at home in the next few weeks as that should be easier on my leg.
The rest of day was spent just playing with the girls and pottering.
Supper was a treat for me and Nanny from Rose and Violet and we took it in the David Lloyd sports centre. I had some time with Rose on the swings and slides outside while we waited for our food to come and when it did it was rather nice.
It’s now bath time for little people which is then followed shortly by stories and then bed. I hope not to be too long in following on as I feel like I have the jet lag of someone on the red eye from Seattle!
179 Miles
Really Home
I slept well last night and although we slept in her bedroom Violet only did a few muffs and never really woke up.
I woke at 6:50 am and sneaked downstairs to find Alex finishing his breakfast before going to the gym and then to work at his office.
I had decided not to go out running, the run around my Dalkeith route yesterday had taken its toll so I thought I would leave it until I got home and then run on my treadmill.
I had my breakfast and I was settled doing some work on my laptop before Wendy and Rose came down for their breakfast. Rose was full of beans and she had a very good breakfast while sat next to me at the dinner table.
Violet, the little sweety was still fast asleep in her cot.
I did a little work on some holiday reviews whilst listening to the world cup cricket match where England were playing Bangladesh, England were off to a flyer, batting first they were piling on the runs.
Violet joined us for her breakfast and I helped her mum out by giving her the last of her breakfast by helping her with her yogurt. I don’t have the skill that her mum as and the poor little mite was covered with yogurt all around her face by the time we had finished, but she was still smiling.
I had an idea for a bite to eat before we headed for the long drive north, a bacon sarnie from the chuck wagon which is based in the car park at Jewson Builders Merchants.
I nipped down in the car and ordered three bacon sarnies, one with a fried egg for me. As the food was freshly cooked the young lady owner chatted with me and she was a really lovely person and easy to chat with.
In about 10 minutes I was driving back with the food, in two brown paper bags.
I had mine at the kitchen table, with tomato sauce, black pepper and salt and it was an utter delight, it was delicious. The bacon was perfectly cooked as was the egg and the bread roll was really tasty.
Not long after we said our goodbyes and jumped in the car and headed home, it was around 10:10 am.
We drove along the city bypass, over the Queensferry Bridge, up the M90 and then the A9 without one bit of hassle and we were in Tesco at Inverness for supper shopping not many hours later.
We had chatted about supper during the drive and I suggested an end of Spanish holiday tapas and we decided on:
We arrived home a little before 4:00 pm and after we had unpacked the car, I took some codeine tablets in preparation of my treadmill run.
While I was waiting for the tablets to take effect, I found a Jason Stratham film called. “The Wild Card”, on Amazon Prime.
By the time I had found the film and I had changed into my running gear I could feel the effects of the tablets, they make me feel very sleepy. I am sure they don’t help with the pain, I think the tiredness makes me not care, but usually that doesn’t work either.
With the film running I got on my treadmill and although I had to drop my speed slightly the pain in my legs wasn’t half as bad as when I run on the road. I stopped after 4 miles for a cold drink and to cool down a little and then carried on. The film was a good, an old daft action film but it was amusing and interesting. I stopped again at 6 miles for another drink and cool off and then I finished my eight miles. I felt really good, in fact I had to stop myself from overdoing things as I was getting carried away.
The film finished just as I had hit my 8 miles.
After showering Wendy and me cooked supper, I did the prawns and the chicken, Wendy did the rest. We were going to drink some Spanish Cava while we cooked supper but Wendy accidently opened a bottle of No-Secco by mistake, but that was fine as I was starving and the real thing may have gone to my head.
Supper was very tasty and we have loads of left overs for tomorrow too!
And that’s it for this trip,
I had hoped the heat of the Canaries would have helped with the sciatica but if anything, it’s now worse. I now have 40 days to go before the trip to the Equator.
Here is the current status of my Equator running mission:
Consecutive Days Run - 2,875 days
Miles Covered - 24,503.13
Miles Left - 397.87
Days left to Run - 49 days
Miles per Day to Complete - 8.12
I’m on the home straight now and I do hope to sort this injury out before we head off. As I file tonight’s copy I have a heat pad on my lower back, it’s now a case of Equator or bust.
I think I’ll make it!
190 Miles
Latitude: 55o 51’ 36’’ North
Away, Again!!!
Well, the time as finally come around for this new adventure, it’s been a long time in planning and many hours have been spent in research so hopefully I have got it right!
All will become clear in the coming week Avid Reader!
But for now, I was out of bed just before 6:00 am this morning and I was relieved that we had had a continuation of the weather that I had found for the last two mornings, no rain, no wind and mild temperatures of 8 degrees, just right for an early morning run.
I had my tea, toast and vegemite while watching the very depressing news on TV and then I got dressed and went out. It was just after 7:00 am and the sky was just showing the first signs of daylight disturbing the night sky.
I ran down the back road to Beauly where I was passed at stupid speeds by a couple of irresponsible drivers. Most people slow down and give me a wide berth on the single-track road, but there’s always one or two that thinks they don’t have to share the road, they really should check the Highway Code.
Beauly was quiet when I got there, well it was Sunday morning, and I sat on the park bench at my four miles turnaround point and I had a good slug of ice chilled water from my water bottle.
I got back just before 9:00 am and after my cool down I did a few last-minute packing duties before having my banana smoothie and a nice relaxing shower.
We were eventually ready to leave home just after 10:30 am and the drive down the A9 was fine until we hit the notorious roadworks at Dunkeld. Thankfully we only had a 12-minute wait for our turn through the temporary traffic lights. We were lucky, it was Sunday morning, on Friday there were tailbacks of over two hours on either side.
We didn’t go directly to our digs at the airport, first we nipped into Glasgow to have an early supper and to bag a couple of Weatherspoon Bars.
I didn’t know, but I should have guessed, with it being a football international weekend that there was a chance that Scotland would be playing at Hampden Park, and they were.
The city was packed with members of the Tartan Army, all being very well behaved and dressed as they usually do in their colourful kilts.
Thankfully we managed to get a quiet table in the corner at the first bar and we took the opportunity, while we were nicely seated to order dinner.
Wendy had a spicy chicken wrap and I had a Ramen Noodle Bowl which contained noodles, bean sprouts, shiitake mushroom, spring onion, carrot, pak choi, bamboo shoots, red onion, sliced chilies in a light broth. I also added a half portion of chicken breast.
It arrived boiling hot and it really was a double delight, I loved it, the best Wetherspoon meal for a long time!
Wendy enjoyed her wrap too, although it was a little spicy for her.
After dinner we took a short walk to another Weatherspoon’s bar where I had a coke and Wendy had another small glass of wine.
From there we walked along the River Clyde back to the car park.
Jeepers car parking is expensive in Glassgow, its £1.15 for 15 minutes on the roadside and £6.00 for two hours in the car park.
I didn’t hang about and thankfully we didn’t go into another hour of parking charges, and not long after we were back on the M8 heading 9 miles westward towards the airport.
We are staying at a very nice airport Travelodge which we have stayed in before.
Check in was a doddle, but getting the car park fee, (yes again), paid took an entry onto an iPad, then I had to load a webpage from a QR reader using my phone and then enter my PayPal details, it took forever. I told the receptionist it’s a good job I’m not in my 70’s, where Wendy piped up behind me that I almost am, charming!!!
We were soon in our very cosy room where I set about doing a few online chores. Wendy had done a little channel surfing on the TV and had settled on Mama Mia, the movie, where she sat on the bed drinking a glass of wine chuckling at the most ridiculous attempt at singing by Pierce Brosnan that I have ever heard, it was terrible, it was worse than what I could have done, yes it was really that bad!
I think we will be turning in early tonight, maybe after the Strictly Result show, (I already know who’s out via The Strictly Spoiler, but I won’t spoil it).
We have a 1:15 pm flight tomorrow but as its long haul we have to check in four hours before, so for now its night, night from me!
3,157 nautical miles by Air
8 Miles by Limousine
Latitude: 25o 14’ 45’’ North
The A380
Well why are some people so dam selfish?
Wendy settled down to sleep not long after watching strictly dancing last night so I sat up reading my book and knocked off for bed at about 10:00 pm.
I know airport hotels can be a little noisy with people coming and going so I put my ear plugs in and I was fast on in no time at all. Something disturbed me at 4:10 am so I took my ear plugs out and sure enough someone was banging and slamming doors somewhere upstairs. I mean there are only two doors in a Travelodge bedroom, couldn’t they just close them.
Our bedroom has an interconnecting door to the next bedroom so no sooner than I was awake then the couple next door started to hold a discussion on what sounded like nothing remotely interesting that anyone else would like to listen to at 4:30 am. At that point Wendy sat up and said, “Well as long as they’re up!”
And that was that, we were both awake!
Our neighbours left ten minutes later, slamming their door as they left, of course!!!
The hotel settled back into silence but the damage was done, we were both in the wide-awake club!
Thankfully with an internet connection there is always something that you can find to do.
After a cold sausage sarnie and a cup of tea each, we showered and dressed and left the airport at 8:20 am.
It was a stonking, sunny and dry morning as we left the car at the airport parking service.
I had been told to be at the airport for this flight 4 hours before departure but the bag drop didn’t open until 9:15 am, but we were the very first to drop our bags.
The airport was really quiet and security was a doddle, well apart from me getting swabbed for explosives, which was a first for me!
With 3 hours until our flight we settled into a bar where I bought one pint of Stella, one medium glass of white wine and one croissant, all for the princely sum of, get this……..£18.15!!!
We managed to sip our drinks until it almost got to that embarrassing stage where we were looking like free loaders, using electricity, having the best seats and pinching Wi-Fi, so with an hour and a half to go we bought a bottle of wine to share!
Actually, it was quite nice!
Our flight was called and although we were half an hour late, boarding was easy, and I had some good luck because I got an empty seat beside me.
We were on an A380 aircraft which is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner.
A380 Statistics:
Take off was brilliant, we have cameras front and down and we could see our take off from the pilot’s view on our TV screens, it was amazing!!!
We settled into the flight and it was just like sitting in the lounge at home, the seat was comfortable and we had loads of leg room.
I bought some in flight Wi-Fi, it cost me £12.00 but it was worth it to keep in touch with the charity donations coming in, and it was nice to see as there was a few of them.
Do you know that there are mobile 4G masts that direct the signal into the sky for planes to lock onto, I didn’t. They also, when they are over the ocean, lock onto satellites so that there is no break in service.
Our lunch was a little late coming out but when it did it was delicious! I had a chicken curry and rice and Wendy had cottage pie. Our starter was a small portion of potato salad and sweet corn which again was lovely. I had a can of Stella and a glass of red wine with my lunch and Wendy had a glass of white wine.
After lunch I watched an in-flight movie, Top Gun Maverick, it was amazing!
I saw Top Gun when I was living in the south of England in 1986 and I thought it was very good, it was my first introduction to Tom Cruise but he seemed to pull off a terrific performance.
I didn’t think Tom was anything like Jack Reacher when he took on that role, but I have to say that he smashed the ball right out of the park with the follow up to Top Gun, it was amazing, actually it was the best sequel that I have ever seen!
During the film our supper was served but being already stuffed we stashed it away for later but we did get a top up or two with the wine.
Just after supper, whilst we were in Iranian air space, we hit bad turbulence. Wendy Gill was all over the place as she knew where we were as she had the live flight map on her TV screen. She was certain we were under attack from land-based surface to air missiles, thankfully it didn’t last too long.
We landed a few minutes ahead of schedule but it took an age to get off the plane, passport control was a bit Micky Mouse but we made it.
We had a little confusion with our collection at the airport but thankfully it was quickly sorted and we had a smashing fella drive us to the hotel.
We are in the hotel and for some reason, which we are not complaining about, we have been upgraded to a suite, its rather nice!
And that’s it for tonight Avid Reader, I have to get myself to bed as its now 2:30 am in the Middle East and I have to be up before dawn for a morning run!
Night, Night!
No Travelling
Burj Khalifa
I got in bed just before 3:00 am and I was soon asleep, but I woke at 5:10 am and got up, I had a cup of tea, got dressed and snook out running, it was still fairly dark.
Jeepers there was an awful lot of cyclists out on their way to work, they were mostly construction workers, dressed for a day’s hard labour in the sun.
I went out in search of the beach, and I eventually found it, although it was further away from the hotel than I thought.
I seemed to run through some kind of themed resort but as it was so early it was eerily quite so it did have the appearance that it might not be open, although security were there mob handed.
I did eventually find the beach at my four-mile point, I wasn’t overly impressed but then there is a lot of building work going on. I did however see a lot of, what are they called, influencers poncing about doing some light exercise all the time taking selfies.
By the time I was at the beach the sun was up and I could feel the heat building.
I did run a little further along the beach as I had the space to run a little further as I knew I had been lost a few times down rabbit holes.
I got back at exactly 8:00 am and I found that Wendy had just got out of bed and she said that she still felt shattered. Wendy Gill is not good with lack of sleep, and she’s even worse with lack of sleep and the effects of eastwards jet lag!
After Wendy had showered, I jumped into the shower and as soon as I was dressed, we went down for breakfast.
Well, was breakfast any different than any other meal, you could get anything, and I mean anything. I ended up with a shell fish portion, bully beef slices and a fried egg, with a very nice portion of French bread. Both the orange and apple juice appeared to be freshly squeezed and it was lovely. Wendy picked at a croissant with butter and jam, she didn’t fancy being adventurous.
The place was mobbed, there were kids everywhere, so we hid in a quiet corner.
After a very nice cup of tea in the apartment we went for a walk all the way to downtown Dubai, jeepers it was hot.
Dubai, to me, seems to be a place constantly under construction, with one aim, to go high!
Our main mission was to find the tallest building in the world, The Burj Khalifa.
Before we went, I had mapped out our route so that we were on main routes and it was quite an interesting walk. There are an awful lot of building works underway and we had to pick our way around them. We also went through some residential areas which had accommodation above retail units. They must be a very clean community because all I saw was rows and rows of clothes washing out on balconies.
Our journey was over four miles long and it was very hot in places, and it was busy.
Dubai seems to have massive five lane roads running parallel from the coast going inland, every second inland road is a major highway that is bustling with traffic and at one point we had to go into a major overhead walkway, with electric travelators, so that we could safely cross the road.
We got to The Burj Khalifa and we didn’t go over to it, as it was another six-lane road to cross, but we did sit on a bench just across the road from it and marvelled at its size and its structure.
At over 2,716.5 feet and more than 160 stories, Burj Khalifa holds the following records:
We managed to flag a taxi down for the trip back to the hotel and it was worth every penny of the £6.00 it cost. Actually, it was 23 UAE Durhan which was £4.99, but has he was a good sport I topped him up to 30 UAED.
I found a brilliant app before we left, it instantly converts any currency into pounds sterling in an instant, which will be great for Indonesia as its about 2,000 rupees to a UK penny, and that does take some serious calculations to work out.
Before we went back to the apartment, we nipped into a supermarket close to the hotel and bought a nice chunk of sirloin steak and some pot noodles for tonight’s supper.
After a coffee in the apartment, we took our books up to the pool for an hour’s relaxation on a sun lounger where I promptly nodded off.
I woke up after about 20 minutes and I felt refreshed enough to go and cook an early dinner, and do you know it was actually very nice indeed.
At around 4:00 pm I persuaded Wendy to go for an evening stroll, it was a little cooler than the high of 31o degrees we had had today, and so having dragged herself up, and off the bed she was very much up for it.
We walked about 2 miles down to the coast and we saw a stunning sunset which dropped behind what I think is some homes on a new man-made island. We could look back to the city and see the sky scrapers too, it was really rather pleasant.
We walked back along a different route and strangely I got chatting to a young Indian man who just loves cricket just as much as me. It was good because I know the game quite well having watched it many years so I knew of most of the Indian players he spoke about. He was gutted about India losing at the world cup final.
As we neared our hotel, we passed the nearby mosque where the sunset call to prayers was being hailed across massive loud speakers, I found it rather interesting.
Its now gone 7:00 pm and Wendy is already showered and in her jim jams, we are sat at our large window, which we have open and we can still hear the call to prayer.
I, myself will be in the shower shortly as I am anticipating an 8:00 pm bedtime routine as I need to get up nice and early tomorrow for another day of activity on the Arabian Peninsular.
No Travelling
The Meridional Circumference of Earth
Well, that was an interesting sleep!
We were in bed by 8:30 pm last night, I read for a while and then I slept. I woke at 1:00 am and I tossed around until 2:00 am. I kept still because I knew Wendy needed the rest but at 2:00 am I snook off to the bath room and sat on the shower floor and read my book for 40 minutes. I was fast asleep by the time my head hit the pillar after that.
I woke at 4:50 am and snook out again, I made some tea and sat at the table drinking it and catching up on world events on the Sky News app.
I was dressed and out running at bang on 6:00 am, Wendy was still asleep.
I was going to run to the island that we walked to last night but I missed the turn off so I kept running in a straight line in the direction of the beach.
At my four-mile turnaround I sat by the side of a bridge that connects yet another residential island which is some distance offshore. I had wanted to run there but it was just too far.
This was the point where I have managed my first achievement, I have completed running the entire Meridional Circumference of Earth.
The Meridional Circumference of Earth is the distance from The North Pole to the South Pole and then back, in the opposite direction, back to the north pole. It is 24,860 miles; I have now completed 24,864.5 miles at an average distance of 8.52 miles per day over 2,918 days!
I now have only 36.5 miles to go to complete the Equator.
As we fly early tomorrow, and it’s a long flight I don’t know whether to run tonight before bed, or get up at 4:00 tomorrow and get back before 6:00 am, have breakfast to be ready for collection at 7:40 am, I’ll see how it goes.
I got back to the hotel just before 8:00 am and I was soaked to the skin with sweat, thankfully I had found a refrigerated water filling station at the end of the beach and I topped my bottle up with ice cold water, or I might have been struggling.
No sooner had I got back to the apartment than I was in my swimmers for a cool dip on the roof top pool. The sun was beating down on the pool and it was a fantastic experience.
I didn’t fancy the Beef Balls for breakfast so I had a bowl of oatmeal, which was like a very creamy porridge. It was rather nice and I followed it up with a beef slice toastie.
After tea in our room, we went down to reception and hailed a taxi which took us a long way to one of the Palm Island’s, Palm Jumeirah.
The taxi dropped us right at the outer circle which is within The Arabian Gulf, actually it was at the very famous Atlantic Hotel.
We managed to cross the road and we walked along a very nice plastic board walk while watching rich people race around on jets skis or just cruise along on a nice motor boat. We walked along to look at an amazing hotel that seems to have been built using modular sections in an iggly, piggly way.
Here’s a bit of information about Palm Jumeirah where I believe that David Beckham as a property.
“The tree-shaped manmade Palm Jumeirah Island is known for glitzy hotels, posh apartment towers and upmarket global restaurants. Food trucks offering snacks like shawarma dot the Palm Jumeirah Boardwalk, popular for its views of the Dubai coastline and the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel. Beach clubs with spas and infinity pools turn into boisterous nightclubs with live DJs in the evening”.
We got back to the Atlantic Hotel after an almost two mile walk and I asked some people how might we get back down the spine of the island and they told me that there was a monorail we could take.
It was brilliant, we even bagged the front seat.
The views were amazing as we trundled along.
We got to the ¾ station and got off.
We did want to go up to the observation deck of a very tall hotel but we had heard that it might be closed, and it was. We asked a very nice concierge and he told us it was closed because the Sheikh was visiting!
That’s OK, we then walked the rest of the way off the island through a stonking park which had the monorail running over head.
We were on the wrong side of a major road when we got off the island, and we were directly opposite the Metro Tram, but sadly it was not safe to cross. Thankfully I flagged a taxi down so we rode back in style.
After a period of relaxation, we came to a decision about supper. We were going to use the restaurant downstairs but it had closed suddenly for some reason unknown. Wendy wasn’t keen about finding somewhere else so we decided I would go and walk to an authorised alcohol retailer and Wendy would go to the supermarket and get something she could cook.
I had a real problem holding my end of the bargain up though!
We found the nearest shop which was about 1.5 miles away, but when we asked Google for directions it opened the Google Map App up but it just went to a, “Your Current location page”, and it didn’t give me any directions. I tried on Wendy’s phone and that was the same.
I did a screenshot of the shop from their web page and set off. I did not know which way to go when I got outside so I asked reception staff, who sent me in the wrong direction, I think by accident.
I managed to turn my way around but it was clear that although I might now be in the right direction, I only had a vague idea of where the shop was. No problem, I’ll flag a taxi to get me there and then I’ll know where I am and I can walk back.
The first taxi I flagged said he didn’t know the place, so he called a mate. The mate pulled up, and he was clearly associated with the majority religious community and flatly refused to take me. I showed him the address on my phone and it did say alcohol sales on it. I said can you take me there and showed him and he said no. I said so you won’t take me to that address and he said, “No!”
So, I judged the situation as a waste of time and gave up on the quest and went back.
Wendy then cooked a lovely supper of beef chunks and noodles and from there I guess we will have to eek the last of the wine we brought with us.
It shouldn’t be a problem as I hope to be in bed by 8:00 pm as I have now decided to get up for an early run before we leave the hotel for our next destination to the Island of Java.
8 Miles by Limousine
4,072 Nautical Miles by Air
15 Miles by Limousine
Latitude: 6o 14’ 7’’ South
I was indeed in bed by 8:30 pm last night and I read for a while but I knocked off and nestled down at 9:00 pm. I was awake at 23:30 pm.
Just before we went to bed, I told Wendy I was going for an early run and she said she was worried about me going out at night, I told her I would be fine.
But when I woke, I thought about my sweaty running gear as I wouldn’t be able to dry it in time for the flight, so I decided to go and use a treadmill in the gym as I would only need one vest and I wouldn’t use my bottle carrier which itself soaks up a lot. I have to have two vests, one to stop the bottle carrier from rubbing on my back, and one to stop it bouncing around when it’s on my back!
The gym was empty when I got there at 12:30 am, obviously, and I had an amazing run, I loved it, I listened to Owain Wyn Evans and sweated vigorously for 8 miles.
I got back to the apartment at just gone 2:00 am and found Wendy bimbling on her iPad in bed. I jumped in the shower, got in bed and read a chapter of my book and that was it until 5:45 am when the call to prayers had finally woke me up. They start at around 5:10 am and go on and on until turned 6:00 am when the first light of the day appears in the sky.
For breakfast I had corned beef stew, creamy mash and falafel, and it was absolutely divine. Wendy had toast and jam.
Our lift wasn’t supposed to come until 7:40 am but he arrived at 7:15 am and I got a hasty phone call from reception, but we were ready.
The drive to the airport was a dodle and we were checked onto our flight by a really lovely young woman. She was amazed that we were 5 kilos under on each suit case, she said to Wendy, “That’s lots of room for shopping”.
I got snagged at immigration and had to have a little more looking at but I knew I was fine and it didn’t take long.
Soon enough we were in the duty-free shop and left with 4 litre bottles of rum, thankfully it was at duty free prices. Wine was much more expensive though so we gave that a miss.
I sat Wendy down at the aircraft gate while I did a little exploring, I was looking for a bar, and I found one. I went back and got Wendy and I bought a pint of Heineken and a bottle of white wine; it came to just over £50 but it was well worth it to sit down in a relaxing environment and just chill until our flight was called.
We boarded before time and as the plane isn’t full, and I also had the seat next to me free, I thought that we might be off on time, but we were 30 minutes late. I had actually dropped off before take-off and only woke when the engines propelled us down the runway.
What fantastic views we had over Dubia when we took off, they were amazing.
We were flying on a Boeing 777-300 which was again, every comfortable.
Boeing 777-300 Facts:
Lunch wasn’t long in coming out and it was lovely, we had some kind of chickpea starter and a very tasty fish and rice main meal. I thought the fish was Monkfish but Wendy wasn’t so sure, whatever it was it was very meaty.
I was stuffed, I had snaffled my roll and butter, the nut packet and the cheese and crackers into my rucksack for later if needed but I could not stash the profiteroles as they were in an airline dish, so I had to eat them, jeepers they were nice too, but totally not required as I was now stuffed to high heaven!
This flight actually was a bit boring, after lunch I watched the last Indiana Jones movie and I have to say it didn’t really grip me, the most exciting thing was the turbulence that occasionally gave us the odd scare.
However, my excitement grew as we passed the Equator at 8:47 pm, Indonesian time, now we were getting somewhere!
We landed, again a little early, but what a faff everything else was!!!
Passport Control – I had pre-bought our visas and as we went to passport control there was a window where I saw people buying their visas. However, when we got to the control point it took an absolute age to get through, and we were 4th in the queue. So, people who had not bought their visa on line, or had not gone to the window to buy one were allowed to buy it there. So, they had to answer the million questions that I did, and then they had to rummage around looking for money to pay for it!
So, the people who had done the right thing were really put out! Actually, he also wanted my flight ticket which I had left in the plane rubbish bag, I mean I had my seat and I was there, where else had I come from?
Next, our bags were waiting for us, then I passed through into customs in front of Wendy, but a Customs Officer pulled Wendy and she shouted me back. Now, we had to download a QR code and fill that form in with all the exact info that they already had been given on my visa application. This then gave me my own QR code on my phone which I just showed to the customs man and he passed me through. The funny thing is that I was never asked if I had anything to declare!
Thankfully the taxi was a dodle and we were in the most luxurious hotel, it’s just perfect.
I paid for the taxi, it was over 1,000,000 rupees, which was about £60 for a return trip, which was fine by me because we did travel in style.
Its now almost 1:00 am and I cannot go into the opulence of this room tonight, remind me tomorrow and I’ll show you Avid Reader, it’s a topper!!!
Oh, I almost forgot, we are now in the Southern Hemisphere, and its summer!!!
No Travelling
Pool Day!
I forgot to mention that last night when our car got to the hotel the driver pulled behind a barrier and stopped while a guard checked our car for explosive devices under the car with a mirror on a stick. Our suitcases also had to go through an x-ray machine. It would have been rather off putting to anyone but not to two very tired travellers!
I wasn’t in bed until 2:00 am and then I was awake at 3:30 am, so I put my gear on and went out running. Thankfully I found a cycle lane for all of the run but I still had to dodge motor scooters coming from the opposite direction.
Jeepers there is a lot of poverty out there, people sleeping alongside their little carts where they hope to sell things from. It was dark when I set off but it was getting light by 5:00 am.
The cry to prayers were clearly loud as the morning was starting.
I got back to the hotel and I had lost 5 pounds in weight from simply sweating, I was absolutely dripping with it!
In the bedroom I got out of my gear and jumped into my trunks and rode the lift down to the pool, which is outside on the ground floor.
The pool really is a pleasant area with some nice shade from trees, and there’s a bar too.
The temperature of the water was just what I needed to soak my tired body; I must have said this before but I would love to live in a country where I could have a small outdoor pool to dip in after my run.
I got back to the bedroom and Wendy hopped into the shower and dried her hair and then we went down for breakfast, and what a delight was on offer.
There was an amazing selection of everything possible, and I mean everything.
There was a drinks selection of some interesting drink mixes and I tried several, the apple, kiwi and spinach drink was interesting.
For breakfast I had a fried egg, some delightful mushrooms, beef bacon, (and it actually was) and some lovely home-made sausage, it was very tasty.
I took Wendy down to the pool after breakfast and we decided to go for a short walk outside and then laze around the pool all day, we felt like we could do with a day off, so we took one.
Outside the confines of the hotel was a whole world of motor scooter and motor car madness. It probably didn’t help that it was rush hour. The road was utter carnage and we had to dodge and take our life in our hands when crossing roads. As when I was running, the air was thick with two-stroke petrol smells and it wasn’t pleasant. Talk about the green movement in the UK, we might as well waste our time if the millions upon millions of Indonesians are carrying on like this. I can’t blame them; we should actually help them.
I have a very good friend who is a top professor, David Lane, and he assures me technology will resolve the global climate issue, I can’t recall what he told me as it was some years ago, it might have been something around nano technology. But whatever it is, I have more faith in David Lane than I have with any politician I have ever come across!
We bought some small bottles of coke for drinking with rum, and I bought an ice lolly from a lady in a small shack, I think she was pleased with our custom. I think the purchase cost us around 30,000 rupees!
Back at the hotel we changed into our swimwear and headed down to read our books and relax by the pool.
It was lovely at the pool, it was quiet and warm. I pulled my sun bed out into the sun and Wendy hid under a brolley. After about 90 minutes the heavens opened and it chucked it down so we sat under cover in the bar area and watched the rain come down.
Within 30 minutes we were back in the sunshine and as it’s Friday we had a beer each and it was delightful.
I larupped myself in sun lotion as you cannot be too careful with the strength of the sun in Equatorial areas, especially on the top of my head!
I had a good old read and I was very relaxed, however at 2:00 pm the heavens really opened and we even had a good session of thunder and lightning.
We decided to give up and go back to the room where we sat for a while listening to the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show, I also checked us in for tomorrow’s flight to Pontianak.
It was still raining so I decided to have a nice luxurious bath and I loved it, I even finished my book, and then I had a nap, it was lovely.
When the weather improved, we took a walk around the block, it was really interesting, there were expensive and prosperous homes with people living out of shopping trollies at the end of their drive.
Back at the apartment and we changed into evening clothes and went down to the pool for supper, and what a smashing night we had.
We had a litre of beer tower and a half and half pizza, Indonesia meat special and seafood, it was perfectly cooked and after we finished the beer we ended the night with a glass of white wine each, it was a real Friday night treat.
We had Whitney Houston Singing. “And I will always love you”, as the local Iman made his call to prayer, I’m sorry to say that Whitney edged him out!
And then it rained and as we left our lovely waiting staff walked us both to the door with an umbrella each, what lovely kids they were.
Tomorrow, we head north on a Garuda Flight and onto yet another hotel, I do hope it’s as good as these last two have been because we are there for ten nights!
24 Miles by Limousine
393 Nautical Miles by Air
10 Miles by Limousine
Latitude: 0o 02’ 10’’ South
I had a reasonable sleep but I was woken by some selfish bugger walking down the corridor at 3:30 am, if I could have got out of bed fast enough, I would have given them what for.
I got up and made a quiet cup of tea and drank it on the sofa while I looked out of the window. By the time I was ready to leave for the gym I could hear the first calls to prayer.
I went to run in the gym because I didn’t fancy going out and inhaling all those moped fumes.
I had the gym to myself and I listened to Sara Cox with her All-Request Friday show, I like Sara as she’s always good for a laugh.
I’m sure there was either something wrong with my Nike running app or the treadmill because I ran at my normal speed and it must have taken me 10 minutes longer to run my 8 miles. Again, I had a very good dab on by the time I had done.
Wendy was up and showered when I got back to the room and so we went down to breakfast.
The breakfast was an utter delight, yet again. It was perfect, there is just such a cracking selection. I had an Indonesian breakfast of noodles, stir fried beef and spicy chicken, it was delicious. Wendy wondered how I can eat such food at breakfast, as she tucked into her jammy croissant, its simple, I just ran 8 miles and I am starving.
Back at the room and Wendy packed the suitcases while I did a few admin chores, and then at 9:00 am we went down to the pool to read our books until it was time to get collected for the airport for our last leg.
I must admit to being a little nervous about this leg of the journey. I kept wondering whether I had chosen the best place to finish my challenge? Or should I have gone to South America instead?
It was nice down at the pool, we had about 90 minutes there and I read my new book, a Jeffery Archer, “Nothing Ventured”, which I immediately got into.
We had such a nice evening last night and the chef and bar staff were so nice and friendly that I gave them a 100,000-rupee tip. The lad I gave it to was amazed, and he asked me if I was sure. I said of course, but it’s for you all, “He said, of course, of course”.
Now I know what your thinking, I’m far too generous, well not when it only came to £5.11.
I know, this currency is driving me nuts!!! Thankfully I have my exchange app that tells me as soon as I enter the details in rupee, what I have spent in pounds!
Our friendly barman came over to wish us a very safe journey, he bowed and clasped his hands when he addressed me, and then Wendy.
Our taxi collected us at 10:45 am and as we stood waiting while he drove over to us, I could see the sky getting blacker and blacker.
He looked an oldish chap and his English was barely passable.
He asked how we were when he set off and after we both told him we were fine he told us he was not good as his mother is in hospital with cancer.
I thought nice try mate.
But he did continue all the way, every now and then, that he sits with her at night and his sister does it during the day. He asked if we get free health in the UK and then he told us they had to pay, and so far it has cost 2 million rupees, (£120).
A short while after we set off the heavens opened and it banged it down, it was so heavy that we had to crawl along for most of the way. I had already decided to give him 10,000 rupees, (50p), anyway before he started his story.
As we arrived at the airport it was now thundering and lightning and it was pandemonium at the drop off point as people were getting soaked getting out of their taxis. However, our mate, backed into a spot and went backwards and forwards so we could get out under cover, so I added another 5,000 rupees. His total tip of 15,000 rupees cost me 77p, and do you know he was over the moon with it.
I still wonder if it’s a wheeze?
Getting airside at the airport was a dodle and we were in the domestic hall in no time at all.
It’s a big lounge and we walked its entire length and there was not one single bar selling alcohol, Wendy was gutted as she hates flying on an empty stomach!
Just as we boarded the plane the heavens opened again and we had a right downpour.
The flight was 30 minutes late but that was fine, and we got a very nice fish and noodle meal, but alas no wine for Wendy.
We flew over the city of Pontianak on our approach and the views were stunning, our location is to the right of the fork in the river, I need to cross the river to get to the Equator Monument, or I can run north on my side and find it with my phone’s app
The airport was very quiet and everything from that point on clicked.
While waiting for the suitcases I managed to snaffle a taxi for £6.00, the bags were first off and the taxi had us at the hotel just after dark. We seem to have been upgraded to a double deluxe room with a small fridge freezer. We can’t drink the tap water but we have a water station in the corridor where we can fill our bottles safely.
The Wi-Fi seems ok and the room is very comfortable. We have a balcony but the door will only open a few inches and then its restricted, which is fair enough as the balcony has very low guard rails.
As Wendy unpacked, I went to explore and I found utter madness out there, but at least it was safe madness. I also found out how I can cross the river by ferry so that I don’t have to run over the bridges.
I am hoping to do a trial run tomorrow, but only up to the equator, not over it.
At the hotel I am 2 minutes and 10 seconds of latitude south of the Equator, I can almost feel it!
One last thing!
I have never seen it before but they have splash guards on the urinals at the airport, why didn’t I think of it, it certainly saves your shoes and trousers from fellas who have high water pressure!
No Travelling
Wine!
We went to bed late last night, around 10:00 pm, but I woke at 1:30 am, poured myself a rum and coke and sat in the very large shower, on a massive towel and read my book for a good 40 minutes.
I then went back to bed and slept like a baby where when I woke at 5:00 am I was surprised to find that it was bright as day outside.
I was hoping to catch the ferry that operates just south of where the river divides, the hotel manager told me yesterday that it doesn’t start until 7:00 am, so I had time to spare. I want to go over to the other side of the river as there is an equator memorial park over there and that’s where I want to cross the equator tomorrow, so I wanted to recce it beforehand.
I could cross the equator on my side of the river but I would be doing it directly outside of a fish processing centre and for me that doesn’t quite give it the sense of occasion that I believe my efforts deserve.
So, I hung around the bedroom until around 6:30 am.
I ran towards the river which is two roads back from our hotel and I was amazed to find an excellent promenade that people were walking up and down. The sun was out, the sky was almost clear and it was a stinking hot sunny morning, and there really were a lot of people about.
I ran down to the ferry and found it tied up and not looking like it was going anywhere. However, a fleet of small skiffs were crossing the river, back and forth bringing foot passengers over.
The system seemed to operate this way, one man would be on the quayside and he would take your money and he would then point out his boat to you when it was on this side of the river.
I had no clue how much it cost but the lowest note I had was 2,000 rupee, (10 pence) but he would not accept it, he said he had no change. I said just take the money, that’s fine, but he walked away.
Just then another skiff was just about to pull off and he was empty so I just jumped in and we rode across. It was a brilliant ride, but boy do they sail very low with very little freeboard. In fact the river often drenched the bow.
As we reached the other side we bounced to a stop against the river bank and I gave him the 2,000 note and he seemed delighted.
With me across on the north bank I ran further north on the main road. This road was nothing less than utter chaos, with thousands of mopeds, cars and vans all fighting for the road, the road which I also had to run on.
But as I was on mission, on it I ran.
I checked my running app before and after we crossed the river and the return crossing would be 0.12 of a mile which I would have to deduct from my finishing mileage.
I got to the 3-mile point and I checked my latitude coordinates by an app I found for this very reason. I was 13 seconds south of the equator.
I ran on and I kept checking my coordinates and I managed to stop at precisely 1 second south of the equator as I didn’t want to cross it until tomorrow. The app is only accurate to about 6 metres, but I know I hadn’t crossed because I could see the entrance to the memorial in front of me, about 50 metres away.
I stopped at this point, I had a drink and I set off back.
I got back to the skiffs and one was almost full, the quayside guy came to me and as I only had a 10,000 rupee note I gave him it. I also saw that he had a wad of notes in his hand so I held my hand out for change, he gave me 7,000 rupees back, so I was charged 3,000 rupees for this crossing, (15 pence).
Well, what a laugh we had, the skiff was full to bursting and as we seem to be the only Europeans in this city everyone was amazed that a very sweaty one out running would get on their skiff and they all took my photo, one man even videoed me!
One man told everyone I was an Americano, and I put him straight, I am not Americano, I’m English, I said, he laughed and asked for a selfie with me like I was someone from Love Island, whatever that is.
We laughed and joked in separate languages all of the crossing, there were some little girls on the skiff too and they loved the theatre of it.
I left the skiff and my new found friends and I ran back all along the river path and past my turn off so that I could get my mileage in.
The heat was almost unbearable but I made it.
I had lost 5 pounds on this run, despite taking ¾ of a litre of frozen water with me!
But I was ecstatic, I had found my route to the equator, I was overjoyed!
After my cool down I did a lap of the pool and then changed into some smart clothes for breakfast.
We were a little late for breakfast and it looked like the locusts had visited, but I did get a hearty feed of local food.
Back in the room and after a cup of tea I did ablutions and then we took a walk on a mission to find Wendy some bloody wine.
Jeepers it was hot, Wendy didn’t like it one bit!
Wendy had found a place called, “House of Sababay” but we could not find it where we thought it was.
We walked on and on and the city was busy, it was actually mad out there.
We walked almost 2 miles and then I sat outside KFC and pinched their Wi-Fi, and I found an accurate location for the wine shop.
I forgot to say on my return run I ran in to some kind of rave, the city centre was mobbed and I struggled to get through. So, as we wanted to walk back up to where we needed to be, we were going to return along the river path, but we had to get through the mob again and it turns out it was some kind of political rally.
After a lot of toing and froing where we thought the wine shop was, we still could not find it. I asked a young lad where it was and he said its on the first floor of the hotel, and he pointed it out to me.
Wendy was beside herself, we actually found it and we bought two bottles of nice white wine, at £15 a bottle and 4 large bottles of Heineken for me, which cost £5 each.
Now this might seem a little expensive and it is because the Indonesian Government put a massive tax on alcohol, but it’s a darn sight cheaper then the £50 a bottle of wine they sell in the hotel, and the ten-pound pint of beer!
It started to rain so we high tailed it back to our bedroom where I enjoyed a full pint of chilled lager and Wendy sipped a glass of very nice white wine, she was very happy!
From there we went down to the pool and sat and read our books, I even went up to the room and made myself a cup of coffee which I brought back down to drink while I read my book.
It gets very dark, very suddenly after sunset at the equator so at 5:20 pm we went up to our room, Wendy showered and then when she had finished, I showered. I came out of the shower and into an immediate nighttime, it was pitch black outside!
We went down to the hotel restaurant for supper where Wendy ordered for us both, two traditional Indonesian meals, one seafood noodles for me, and a beef rice for herself.
They were both rather nice, but they were a bit functional as we couldn’t get a glass of wine. They do room service so I think that’s the way to go, having said that the meal only came to 12,3420 rupee which was £6.31.
After a walk around the block in the drizzle Wendy is now watching Strictly Dancing via a VPN which she can access free of charge if she watches 4 adverts.
Me, I am just getting myself ready for the big push tomorrow and as I do so it is absolutely bouncing down with rain outside, its almost biblical!
No Travelling
The Equator
I had a full sleep last night, but the problem is I can’t stop reading my book so I don’t turn in early enough. It was 11:30 pm when I turned my light off.
I had finally, after years and years, persuaded Wendy to use ear plugs so she can have a more peaceful sleep, and she did.
I heard the call to prayer at 4:20 am and got up and made a cup of tea. I then did a little banking and then got myself ready for today’s run.
I left the bedroom at 5:30 am and I got down to the ferry point where the Skiffs operate from. I thought that with it being Monday morning they would be running by now to get people to work, however there wasn’t a Skiff to be seen, thankfully I caught the car ferry.
The cost of the ferry was 3,000 rupees so I gave the young man in the ticket box 2 x 2,000 rupee notes and I am sure he gave me 15,000 rupees back.
There was only one car on the ferry and two scooters going north bound, so we had plenty of room to roam around.
As soon as I got off the ferry I ran along the madness that is the main road and I got to the equator while I was on my last mile of my running challenge, everything had finally fallen into place!
I spent a little time in the Monument Park and it was quite nice. There is a monument structure inside a building that has a very large replica of it on the buildings roof. There is a zig-zag line on a path that represents the two sides of the equator and there is a large globe bang on the equator.
I took a few pics and then ran a little further north, just to make me feel a little at home.
I then set off back to catch the ferry.
Thankfully the weather was overcast, but I still had a good sweat on.
When I got back to the ferry terminal it was utter chaos, it was mobbed with scooters and trucks. I calmly walked past them all and bought my ticket and walked, nearly to the front of the line.
The car deck was mobbed when we set sail.
Health and Safety doesn’t seem to be a concept in Pontianak as people were smoking very close to 45-gallon drums of navel fuel and hardly anyone stopped their engine, so there were about 400 mopeds all spewing horrible fumes out. Thankfully I could get a breeze if I hung my head over the ships side.
After the ferry docked, I ran straight back to the hotel where Wendy surprised me by jumping out on me at the finish line. I was absolutely drenched in sweat and ready for my breakfast.
When I was back in my bedroom, I was presented with a lovely engraved medal that I will wear with pride, from the Shepherd section of my family.
The medal has the following inscription:
Side One – “Equator Run Challenge 24,901 Miles”
Side Two – “David Gill Completed 2023”
I love it, it’s perfect!!!
After a quick swim in the pool, I took a leisurely breakfast with Wendy and I also snook a small rum and coke in with me, just to celebrate mind.
After breakfast we took a taxi back to the Equator Monument so that Wendy could see what it is all about.
The taxi driver was a smashing young man who spoke no English, but we did manage to talk via Google Translate.
Jeepers the road was busy with cars and mopeds, we had to take the long way round which resulted us in going over 2 bridges and they were both mobbed with mopeds.
We enjoyed our time at the equator monument and we browsed the souvenir shops.
I bought a raw coconut from a street trader and it was delicious, it’s strange how the inside of a large coconut husk is somewhat chilled.
From there we went over to another shop where I bought a souvenir T-shirt and strangely a fridge magnet.
As we were leaving a man in an official uniform asked us to follow him back to his office where he printed off and gave us a certificate of visitation to the equator monument!
We walked the 2 miles back to the river crossing point and the sun was out and by the end my shirt was wet through with sweat!
Jeepers the road was busy. And there were some very dodgy roadside smells emanating from somewhere.
We got to the ferry terminal but as the boat was on the south bank we took a Skiff across the river, Wendy loved it.
It was now well into the afternoon and so we walked back to the hotel, calling in at our new off licence for a bottle of sparkling wine.
We chilled in our room as we were both buggered from walking in the heat, we were going to sit at the pool and read our books but it had started to drizzle so we didn’t bother.
At 5:00 pm I placed a room service order for:
The food came at 5:30 pm and I thought it was bloody lovely, despite it giving me a very hot mouth, Wendy was a little disappointed, (she doesn’t like meat on the bone), but she did like the duck that I managed to get off the bone for her, the fussy bugger!
I think that’s it for today, its now gone 6:00 pm and its dark out so I think I’ll settle down with my book and relax, but before I go here are a few factoids about the equator:
No Travelling
Resting!
We were in bed by 8:30 pm but I woke 4 hours later, poured myself a drink and read my book for an hour. I then woke at 6:30 am, so I guess I did get a decent night’s sleep, albeit split.
Today I have changed my running routine, I only did 6 miles! Wendy has been on at me for a few years now, she’s worried about my heart and that I shouldn’t go so far, and I think it’s now time to slow down a little too so that I can go a little longer, in the longer term.
I ran down the river walkway which is two miles long from the hotel and then I ran another mile in town, on a road out of town, I won’t do that again.
There are so many scooters on the road, I’ve said it before, but you can taste the two-stroke oil in the air, along with the exhaust fumes, I wonder what the life expectancy is for someone living close by to these roads.
I got back to the hotel, jumped into the shower and we went down for a lazy breakfast.
I had an amazing breakfast too, salmon in a creamy sauce on a bed of rice, Wendy had bread, jam and toast.
I also had some very nice tropical fruit too.
While I got my food Wendy later told me that she had been speaking to the food hall manager, who was very nice.
After tea in our room, we went down to the pool to read out books.
Now let me tell you something of this hotel.
We have a very nice room, the bathroom is massive, with a huge shower, it does have a glass sink though, which is rather bizarre.
The bedroom is lovely, we have a fridge freezer where I can freeze my running water bottle, and we have very chilled fresh water on the landing directly outside our room, which is great.
We have a smashing pool, but no sun loungers.
On the first day I went to reception and told them I only booked this hotel because it had a pool with sun loungers. It seems that as we have no Europeans ever staying, no one uses the sunbeds so they have been removed. However, fair do’s to the manager he got us two wooden, reclining chairs and a table for our sole use. However as most of the female guests use the pool fully dressed for religious purposes, Wendy doesn’t feel comfortable in her swim wear, me I couldn’t care less, they do what they want, I do what I want, end of chat!
So that’s one drawback for Wendy.
Another is that she has seen flags for one side in the recent conflict and as we are the only Europeans in town we might be under threat. That might be the case, but we do keep a low profile and the hotel has some level of security. Again, I’m fine, I know we are a novelty by the local population and some people are amazed to see us, you can tell by their expressions. But most are very friendly, but I know in places of poverty there will be some who might wish to cause us harm. I am very alert to that and I also know no one will help me if push comes to shove.
However, I have worked in coal mines, on the coal face, I have boxed in the roughest gym in Britan and I have been in a few worldwide scrapes before and managed to come out of them smelling of roses, so I am quite comfortable in our surroundings, Wend just needs to chill a bit with her wine by the pool. Actually, I did persuade her to take some down to the pool today, and she was fine!
I finished my book around 1:00 pm and we took a walk along the riverside. Two little school girls were in awe of us and could not stop staring at us as we fell in step with them. They had such cute faces; they were adorable and silly at the same time.
The houses around the river have river water around them. I cannot explain the level of rubbish that has been left there over the years, its actually turned the stagnant water into a substance not dissimilar to molasses, it is utterly disgusting, and families have their homes on stilts directly above it.
We got back to the hotel and then went back down to the pool where we were informed by Wendys new friend, the restaurant manager, that our chairs were needed for a photo shoot, we were given suitable alternatives mind.
I was reading my book and Wendy started to patrol the area where we sit, its behind a small hedge which separates us from the pool.
Apparently, some local women in bathing suits were cavorting with men as part of this promotion, this gave her the right hump. “I don’t feel that I can wear my swim suit but look at them, they have men ogling them!”
She is completely illogical, will I ever understand women?
A young man came and spoke with us, he told us he is a tour guide and can help us, he wanted my number and I gave him it, but not the right one, well I had had enough of being nice.
After about 30 minutes Wendy went up to the room leaving me with matey who would not take enough for an answer.
However, as I have something in the pipeline for the coming days, I needed to be a little devious.
I have something going on with the security guards and matey came over as I had accidently taken his specs, and he had tried to call me on my wrong number, oops! I know, I’m a right wally.
Anyway, he heard the guards chatting with me and got a little humpy because I had not included him, it was actually quite funny, well me and the guards thought so.
For supper I nipped to KFC and got some very nice chicken and chips, but thinking I might have language issues I typed my requirements out on Google translate on my phone only for the young lady who served me to ask, “Is that with chips or rice?”
On the way back from KFC I stopped and bought a local delicacy from a street trader, it cost 10,000 rupees, which was 60p.
Supper in the room was actually quite nice, the local delicacy was delicious although the KFC ketchup was a little spicy.
Keep tuned for my upcoming scam Avid Reader, I’m pretty sure it will come off, and I think it will be exciting!!!
No Travelling
Capers!!!
For the first time, I slept all night and I woke at 5:20 am.
What a lovely morning sky we had from our room, it was tremendous.
I mentioned last night about the amount of rubbish strewn in the river and around homes, well its absolutely disgusting and it does really make me mad. If you follow environmental matters, you’ll see that the developing countries, especially those at sea level, blame us, the first world for their plight of rising sea levels. Well excuse me, they don’t help themselves. I won’t eat any locally caught seafood from around here because everything goes into the river. I see people washing their clothes and themselves in the river in the morning, the same water all that nasty stuff is floating around in. I’ll try to get some pics, but it’s the same sad story that we saw in St Lucia in 2019!
I went running on my new six-mile routine and the sun was boiling, it was a stonker.
How I ever ran that 8 miles up to the Equator on that first morning I will never know, it must have been pure excited energy because this sun saps the life out of you.
As I run along it came to me what it was!
I have been in the Tropics for over a year of my life, both Cancer and Capricorn, but the thing is they have blustery trade winds, most likely the same winds that sea clippers used to power along the trade routes between Great Britain and both the East and West Indies. However, I believe we are in what sailors call the Doldrums, and just now a little Googling has just proved that fact, here it is:
“Known to sailors around the world as the doldrums which is a belt around the Earth extending approximately five degrees north and south of the equator. Because the air circulates in an upward direction, there is often little surface wind in this region. That is why sailors well know that the area can becalm sailing ships for weeks. And that’s why they call it the doldrums.”
And that Avid Reader is why there is very little breeze and consequently why I am absolutely dripping in sweat when I get back to the hotel. Every morning I have to immediately strip out of my dripping vests and rinse then in the bathroom sink and hang them out to dry.
I then shower and after that I drink about 50 litres of water and fruit juice. Wendy didn’t bring her running gear, and it’s a good job she didn’t, she would die in this heat!
After my shower we went down for breakfast and I had a fried egg and bread and Wendy had a first for her, a full plate of fried rice and very nice tasting chicken katsu, and she said it was bloody lovely.
She might actually start eating like that at home, main meal to start and then drop off from there. Well, Mr Motivator used to swear by it, breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper!
After a cup of tea in the bedroom we spent all morning by the pool reading our books. I was pestered a few times by my new friend, the travel guru, by WhatsApp, asking me how he could help me today.
Oh, I forgot to mention I also woke to a torrent of donations today and I am now over £1,200 raised.
At some point in the morning Wendy had to go up to the room to get some air con relief, I stayed put as I am gripped with my book!
I joined Wendy after another half hour with my book, and I had a beer reading by the window, Wendy had a glass of wine reading her book on the bed.
I went back down to the pool and Wendy said she would join me.
I was right into my book and forgot about the time. It then came to me that Wendy hadn’t come down, I sent her a message, did you fall asleep, “Yes” was the reply!
Wendy did eventually join me and after a while we walked down to the shop to buy some wine, and we were very welcome because we spent almost 3,000,000 rupees there!
It was now 4:30 pm by the time we got back to the pool where I sat poolside with my legs dangling in the water while reading my book, and that’s where I stayed until it was dark and the mossies came out.
It looks like the capers that I mentioned yesterday might well be pulled off. Mind you I did have a 40-minute WhatsApp exchange with a local company and I am still not certain what I think I have agreed to, I’ll have to wait until tomorrow with baited breath.
I did have to request the assistance of a trusted family member, to avoid phone roaming charges, to make the caper get half way off the ground.
Supper was a cocktail of street food, we had a super, duper burger which we shared from a young woman and then a local thingy which was cooked by a man with six fingers on one hand. As soon as I saw the hand I thought about a close family member, I even bagged a pic and although you can only see his five fingers, I can confirm that he did have a thumb too, thankfully his food was a delight! In total tonight’s food bill came to 40,000 rupees, which is actually £2.04!!!
And that’s it for tonight, I have to get back to my Jeffery Archer book, I am half way through it and I cannot put it down. I am gutted that I didn’t buy the other two follow up books, so I will wait until I get home to get them. Never mind I do have another five books to get through!
See you tomorrow Avid Reader when hopefully we will be fully engrossed with the caper, or not as the case might be!
93 Miles
North!
Latitude: 0o 53’ 56’’ North
To start here are some Indonesia facts:
Cause of lower life expectancy:
And that’s just a few of the reasons!
You will see from the photographs that a lot of people live in squalid and dirty conditions. I know it’s a very poor country but the conditions they live in could be improved by themselves. I have seen families wash their whole bodies and their clothes in this river water. In fact one fella has his daily bath right at the side of this filth.
I also see men fishing along the river, lord knows what the state is of the fish they catch as the river is filthy!
I was 25 years old when I was on Operation Raleigh in Australia and I served under three Majors of the Australian Army for a month at a time, and due to my age and capability at working I got to know each of them pretty well. I asked one of them, I can’t remember who, what was the biggest threat facing Australia. Indonesia was the immediate answer, “David, there are millions upon millions of them and they live in absolute squaller. Theres 20 million of us and we have a vast country with reserves of gold and coal, one day they will come”, interesting eh?
This morning I woke at 4:00 am and I could not get back to sleep so I got up and made tea, Wendy joined me not long after. I didn’t wake her, she said she’d been tossing and turning all night.
I went out running just after daybreak before the sun was up, and it didn’t help much with the heat as it was still roasting hot.
I couldn’t believe it, the line dancers were all ready up and at it and they all too had a good lather on.
Breakfast was lovely, I had thick noodles with beef and it was really tasty, Wendy had the noodles but with prawns in batter, she liked hers too. She is now fully on board with dinner at breakfast, I think she might just change her habits at home.
Yesterday it took me an age to arrange a taxi to take us up the road for our caper, I tried 3 companies and 2 never got back to me. At the last minute I got one, although it was a little shaky as the use of the English language over WhatsApp was very difficult.
Then this morning, a driver who had a different logo on his account told me he was picking me up. Me thinking that he was from another company told him no, I was sorted, it took an age of toing and froing to find that he had been called in by the original company, I have no idea why.
I did intend to go to the city of Singkawang as it is supposed to have a very good beach with some amazing sunsets. I say supposed because it never is as described in Indonesia.
It is 90 odd miles and I was going to hire a car but it is utter madness on these roads, and the journey takes about 3+ hours so I thought we might has well have a few days R&R there in a hotel. They aren’t dangerous drivers, quite the opposite, they look out for each other, but it is a very different way of driving.
Our man did indeed call and collect us on time and we had a decent drive up here, although the single carriageway road was just as bad as the A9, and it was busy. The driver was very nice but he spoke only a tiny bit of English.
As we approached the hotel, he asked me to check WhatsApp and he tethered my phone to his so I could check the message. His boss asked me to pay him half and also did we need him to stay and drive us around. Paying half, well that’s fine as then I know he’s coming back, but the him waiting for us wasn’t what I asked for.
Jeepers we had another 20 minutes session on Google Translate because he genuinely thought he was here to drive us as we please for the next two days!
Anyway, even when I thought that the penny had dropped, he still sent me a message just to double check!
Our hotel is nice, the room is lovely but we have no view, we are looking at a solid wall through massive windows!
Apparently, it’s a garden view!
I did ask to change rooms for a view but I was told that if we did that we would be downgraded to a lower standard room, so we left it has it is, its dark at 5:00 pm anyway.
After settling in we took a walk about and we found the hotel is part of a huge shopping centre which pleases Wendy no end.
Wendy bought some seaweed crisps the other day and we opened them after settling in, jeepers they are the most disgusting crisps I have ever put in my mouth, and she wants to take some home for the girls, poor things!
At around 4:30 pm we went up to the pool and claimed our complementary drink, watermelon juice, so I nipped back to the room smartish for some vodka and it actually was very nice.
We sat with our books as night fell and then about 32 Imans gave the call to prayer, it was amazing, it was like they were competing with each other.
We took supper from room service at 6:40 pm, Wendy had a local dish, Nasi Goreng Barelo, with chicken, and I asked for a double burger, as advertised as a November / December Special in the lift. I had a little difficulty ordering on the bedroom phone, especially the double burger so I was worried that I might not get what I expected.
Room service came with the food and it was all delightful.
However, the young lad could not work out the bill so I had to run him down to reception and sort it there, it came to 22,000 rupees, (£11.30), I gave them 25,000 rupees, (£12,72), and to give the change to the young lad. In fairness lots of these kids have never been in school so there understanding of things isn’t so good, I just hope he got the change because I was off smartish back for my burger!
No Travelling
The Beach!!!
I had a much better sleep last night; Wendy went to sleep at around 8:30 pm and I tried to struggle on reading my book but at 9:15 pm I was exhausted and I had to give in. I must have been asleep in seconds.
I woke at just gone 5:00 am and I knew that was it for sleep so I sneaked out of bed a made a cup of tea.
I went out running and the sun was well and truly up and the next six miles was totally brutal.
I was pouring sweat after two miles and then I had to stop every mile after just to allow the sweat to wet me through and cool me more.
I found a track that took me deep in to the country. I went passed some pretty basic shacks where machetes were hanging on the porch. The track took me down to the coast and the South China Sea.
The sea looked lovely and the coast too, but there was no beach, it was just muddy with mangroves a little further up the coast.
I can see why the rivers are so dirty looking, the soil is almost bright red on the island.
After leaving the beach I did indeed come across a man with a big machete walking down the track, thankfully he wasn’t hostile.
As I ran back along the track I saw a woman who had a large trestle covered with fine mesh as a kind of table top. She was filling it completely with small sprat like fish. The fish were laid out mouth to tail and there were thousands of them, she must have been baking them in the sun.
I actually found another road back, through a village where some men had another table outdoors and this one was filled with raw prawns, again there were loads of them, all piled up.
Then I must have got close to the city because I came across a roadside market where meat was laid out on tables, again on the roadside, in the sunshine, and people were buying it. There were several meat stalls, some with raw chicken out in the sun. There were also some fish stalls with some quite nice looking and good-sized fish, but there wasn’t one chunk of ice in attempt to keep it all cool.
I got back to the hotel and I was shattered, the heat had really taken its toll on me, not to worry I know that I have a good recovery rate and as soon as I was out of my dripping running gear, I could feel myself getting back together.
We had a nice breakfast in the breakfast room and it was reasonably busy. There seems to be a large Tiwan group of people, we met some in the lift yesterday and the old fella with them told me he loves Scottish Whisky.
After breakfast we dressed for a beach day and went down to reception to order a taxi to take us the 10 miles we needed to go.
Bad idea, we were informed that taxis only go between Singkawang and Pontianak, if we want a short distance we need the local app on our phone, which is in Indonesian and quite a faff to use.
The lad on reception then told me he would ask a friend to help, then he said his mum would be at our beck and call all day for 2,500,000 rupees which I declined, not because of the cost, I didn’t want anyone put out.
So, I had to take drastic action, I called our on-call taxi driver, who it turns out is staying at a local hotel for our convenience!
It just gets better and better!
He took us to the beach and parked up for almost 3 hours while we sunned and walked.
The beach was stunning!
We were worried because as we drove out it chucked it down with rain, but as we arrived the sun came out and it was lovely, stunning in fact!
First up we walked the length of the beach to some deserted theme park, which looked completely out of place.
Then after walking back, we settled down and enjoyed the solitude of having the beach to ourselves.
Sadly, behind us there were relics of times gone by and rubbish littered everywhere, it was horrid.
A man set up stall behind us and with no one to serve he just sat there.
Wendy said we should buy some thing from him, so we did.
We bought two hot sausages which he placed in a plastic bag and then covered with spicy sauce. I gave him a 100,000 rupee note, (£5.00) and he started giving me it back, Wendy completely read the situation wrong and said, “You haven’t given him enough”. “Wend keep quiet, he says it’s far too much but he deserves it.”
And he did, he most likely sits on this beach with very few people passing and needs to make a few Bob for his family, so let him earn a little extra from us, and its only a fiver so its all relative, to him mainly!
He was delighted!
Do you know when we sat down on our beach towel, between us we dropped a sausage in the sand. I washed it off with bottled water and I was going to put it back in the plastic bag to coat it with sauce. But as fast as lightning the fella was over with two more in a bag!
He took the old one off me and gave it to a stray, mingy cat who later tried to beg some of Wendy’s sausage, hard luck kitty, Wendy Gill does not like cats.
We left the beach at our allotted collection time of 2:00 pm and Wendy bought four little dresses from a beach trader, again we paid over the odds for them.
We left the beach just in time because as we were driven back, we were in a monsoon downpour, it absolutely chucked it down!
As we got back to the hotel our driver didn’t want paying for his service, which confirmed that we had him for the whole weekend, as required. I gave him 100,000 rupees and he wrote me a message on Google translate, “Misters, you are far too kind to me!”
We took an early supper in a Korean cook your own meal restaurant, in the shopping mall.
I liked it but Wendy wasn’t over keen, I thought it was good fun and quite enjoyable. I was stuffed anyway; and the final bill came to only £18.00!!!
No Travelling
A City Walk!
Wendy had a Facetime chat with her Mum yesterday and Mum found it funny that Wendy was in her jarmies as it was just gone 5:00 pm.
I suppose I ought to explain how the day works in the middle of the planet.
First though, we all know that we in the UK have 4 seasons as does North America, Northern Europe, China and Russia. Maybe in the southern hemisphere the very south of Australia and New Zealand do too. I know New Zealand does because I spent a winter there many years ago and it was freezing in the morning, but temperatures did get to around 15 degrees during the day, so not quite like us.
The seasons gradually drop off as you reach North Africa and when you are in the tropics there are only two seasons, and they are on the whole wet and dry.
However, there is only an hour’s time difference between the two seasons, it gets dark around 6:00 pm in the summer and about 5:30 pm in winter, and there is the same half hour in the morning too.
To combat the very high temperatures people often rise just before sunrise as that’s the coolest part of the day and that’s when most things get done. As a visitor you tend to fall into line, especially as we don’t have the distractions of TV of an evening, so we are quite often in bed by 9:00 pm.
At the equator though there is no time difference, sunset and sunrise are almost at the same time throughout the year, and there is no season, it’s just on the whole wet or dry all day long.
Also directly on the equator, twice a year, during the autumnal and spring equinox the sun is directly over had and therefore no shadow is cast, here in Pontianak they have a very specific festival to celebrate those two days.
Jeepers did it rain last night, all night too, well until we went to bed.
I looked out and it was bucketing down, cats, dogs and even kangaroos. The poor kids on the scooters were getting drenched, even when they were trying to put their all-in-one piece waterproofs on.
This morning I ran to the city of Singkawang and it was utter madness. The street side stalls selling meat and fish were all laid out, in the morning heat.
It wasn’t overly sunny but it was very humid after last night’s downfall, but the street was busy with buyers, and I have to say some of that meat and fish looked pretty tasty.
I got back to the hotel and after a quick shower we both had egg on toast for breakfast, the egg is cooked fresh for you and they were both very nice.
I had my traditional cuppa in the bedroom after which we walked back into the city, and it was an eye opener for Wendy.
Thankfully the street butchers and fishmongers had gone, so they must have sold their wares and gone home, there was still a whiff of fish in the air mind as we passed by.
The city was bedlam, it was utter madness of motor scooters and cars flying all over the show. The shops are equally disjointed, they are just such a mess, how anyone knows what’s for sale and what’s utter rubbish is anyone’s guess.
There is, historically, a very high Chinese influence on the city and that is clearly seen in the buildings and culture of the place.
I had already run through the market place in the morning and it was just as mad when I took Wendy there. I gave her the opportunity to mingle amongst the stalls but she politely declined, it was at this point I said, Have you had enough?”, “Yes”, was her reply.
We walked back to the hotel a different way, and this road actually had a pavement.
We thought we were walking across a drive, but it was actually freshly laid concrete, both of us, with both feet. There wasn’t a barrier up or any signage and thankfully we managed to hop out.
I bet some fella later that morning cursed us to death, but in fairness how were we to know?
Here’s something I learned about the city, human trafficking occurs often in Singkawang, based upon the town's mail order illegal bride business. Most of the men who travel to Singkawang looking for young women to marry are from Taiwan, China and Singapore.
These men arrive and get in touch with brokers, these brokers then approach families with suitably aged daughters and generally offer these parents about 6 million rupees (about £305) for each girl.
It is a fact that each contract includes a time period clause and most of these marriages are contractually bound for 2 to 4 years, some for even shorter periods of time. It is also common for these relationships to not be legally bound marriages.
I found this out on Wikipedia but there is no mention of why there are time scales, but the sceptic in me thinks that these must be child brides and when they have reached a certain age, the man wants a much younger model. Apparently, it’s a crime, but as we haven’t seen many police around, I guess it’s still a thriving industry.
How desperate must you be to sell your daughter?
We got back to the hotel and then went to the roof top pool where we sat and read our books for about 3 to 4 hours.
The sky blackened and it did indeed rain a little but the rain mostly fell over the city and in the hills. Boy did the sky look angry; it was a fantastic scene of every dark blue colour. It was still roasting hot mind!
We left the pool at 4:00 pm and bought some bottled water in the supermarket and I even bought two large cans of chilled Heineken beer and Wendy got a nice-looking bar of nutty chocolate, and the entire bill only came to £6.00.
We got back to the bedroom and showered and then Wendy said, “I want something tasty for my supper, I want to sit here and eat it with my wine, and I can’t be bothered to get off my backside to go get it”.
So, I guess that’s my orders then!
Actually, I did quite well, I got Wendy a meat feast pizza and me a KFC meal, from the shopping centre, thankfully I managed to meet all of the expectations.
Its now gone 6:00 pm and its now very dark outside, but not raining, yet.
Its now time for a good read of my book and then off to bed as its moving day tomorrow, back to Pontianak for two more nights before we end back in Dubai at Copp 28 where I am a guest speaker, alongside Air Miles Angus!!!
93 Miles
Health and Safety!!!
I went out running this morning, I was going to go along the route I found to the coast but as it was hot and sunny and there is no shade along that route, I just followed the road to the city and kept on that. The reason I did was that there was a fair amount of shade from the buildings as the sun wasn’t too high in the sky.
As I ran down along the road, I marvelled at the things I saw, with regards to a total lack of health and safety.
One was a building site, I watched some men, builders, I hope, make a concrete stairway up to the first floor of a new building, first of all they were all wearing flip-flops and no personal protective equipment whatsoever, not even a hard hat.
They made shuttering for the outside steps to the first floor on day one, and on day two they poured concrete into the shuttering by hand using a bucket chain of about 10 men.
They did not put one piece of reinforced steal into that staircase.
Concrete is fantastic in compression but not in tension, so if there is any movement apart from compression then that staircase structure would almost very quickly fail, like in an earth quake.
Oh, I forgot to mention, Indonesia is the most dangerous place on the Pacific Ring of Fire, from a volcano and earthquake perspective.
Then I passed the fish and meat market where fresh meat and fish, I am supposing it is fresh here, is sold in the morning sunshine. There isn’t one item under chilled conditions and certainly not one using a probe to determine the temperature of the produce.
They sell petrol from plastic containers on the roadside, in the most dangerous of circumstances, its utter madness!!!
I could go on, but you get the picture.
I got back to the hotel just before 7:30 am and I had to sit outdoors to cool off because it’s a right shock to the system to walk into an air-conditioned room when I am saturated with sweat.
We both had an Indonesian breakfast, I had thin noodles with steamed veg and chicken and Wendy had the rice, veg and fish, it was lovely.
Our very efficient taxi driver sent me a message saying that he was on his way, half an hour early and thankfully we were now used to his early timings so we were ready for him.
I do believe that for £150 he has not only driven over 180 miles in a time of over 7 hours, but he has been at our beck and call all that time, staying in, what he called, a cheap hotel while doing so. Jeepers it costs us £30 just to get from Inverness to home, a total distance of no more than 9 miles!
As we travelled, we passed through some terrible downpours and in some areas there was lots of flooding.
Back to health and safety for a second, as we drove on Wendy and I both saw out of the car window, a very pretty young woman of about 20 years old brushing her teeth. Her house was built directly on the river and she was dangling her legs off the porch and into the river while using the mucky river water to brush her teeth, jeepers it doesn’t bare thinking about.
No wonder we have had to have inoculations for beriberi, yellow fever, typhoid and rabies before we arrived in the country!
Just as we arrived on the outskirts of the city, we came across a group of people at traffic lights hustling for money for Palestine which gave Wendy the worries.
We got back to the hotel and after sorting our taxi driver out with payment and a request for collection for the airport on Tuesday we were back in our bedroom.
As soon as we had dropped our bags we set off for a nice riverside walk to take a look at the Cathedral.
As we walk around people stare at us, some give us good wishes, some are amazed, little girls are the best, they just wonder who on earth we are. But no matter what, we always seem to be the centre of everyone’s world.
We got to the cathedral and the first thing I noticed was that it has an under-cathedral carpark, which was a first for me!
Pontianak's dramatic domed cathedral was opened in 2015, replacing the earlier 1908 church deemed not large enough to accommodate the city's Catholic congregation. While obviously European in design, with its St Peter's–inspired dome, Corinthian columns and fine stained-glass windows, the architecture also incorporates Dayak influences, totems and motifs.
It is obviously very new but it is still very tasteful.
We sat at the rear of the cathedral on a pew and an old lady came talking to us. She told us she spoke English which she did, to a certain extent. She told us she had been coming to the church for 40 years and that her husband was coming soon.
Now here’s where it gets a bit strange, her husband’s mother and her mother are sisters?
Work that one out Avid Reader!!!
She also told Wendy to be careful walking around town, and then she did a stabbing motion onto her neck, and then when we didn’t understand her, she did the same to Wendy’s neck. You should have seen the panic on Wendys face when she did that, it was priceless.
We did a little wondering around the cathedral, and our new friend often popped up and finally at the Christmas tree she waved us goodbye.
We walked back to the hotel and we were going to spend the last hour by the pool but the sky suddenly turned black and by the time we were in the bedroom all hell broke loose with a tremendous thunder storm.
I read my book while Wendy caught up on the latest Strictly Dancing episode and at 6:00 pm I stupidly walked out in my vest and shorts in search of supper, it was still chucking it down!!!
I knew that I had seen a Pizza Hut along the road, when we were here on our first night and sure enough, I found it.
So, for £13.00 I got a double whopper, with salad and walked it home.
Jeepers I had bought too much, but I guess there is tomorrow night and it has all fitted into the fridge.
It was absolutely manic out there tonight as there is a function on at a nearby hotel. To park, there are men who find you a slot, then they back you out onto the busy road when you want to leave, it costs 2,000 rupees a pop, but it means your safe getting back out into the traffic.
Its all a bit gangster style and it does seem like a racket because it is actually free parking, but I guess it works for them.
I really liked walking in the rain, it was roasting hot and it was a bit like being in the shower, and I soon dried off when I got back.
I think I might have overeaten; I am stuffed!!!
No Travelling
Last Day
I was awake at 4:50 am, and I had a very good sleep with just waking up once for a drink of water.
I did my last run in Pontianak by going along the river and then, for old times sake I ran on the road out of town dodging a dual carriageway of motor scooters and their nasty fumes.
Again, it was very hot and yet again I was dripping in sweat.
Because Wendy adores the air conditioning I have to hide in the bathroom, where it’s a little warmer and then get out of my running gear and I immediately jump in the shower, so I don’t get anymore of a chill than I already have.
I then rinse and wring out my gear and hang it on the washing line that is conveniently fitted in the long shower. Its just about dry by the time I need it again.
Tonight though I am going to have to do a treadmill run as we have an early airport departure tomorrow and then we are flying all day long, two flights, one to Jakarta and then after a 7 hour wait, we fly back to Dubai.
There are so many trip hazards around this place that there is no way that I am running in the dark.
I pushed the boat out for breakfast, I had a starter of fancy soup. Then I had a very nice plate of thin noodles and steamed veg with fish in a light batter, and a couple of pieces of mild curried chicken. I did have a dessert, but it tasted disgusting and even by my low standards I could not stomach it, so I finished with coffee.
After my traditional cup of tea in our bedroom we were sat out on our VIP deckchairs by the pool which we had entirely to ourselves.
Jeepers it was hot, there were the odd clouds around, thankfully, which gave a little respite, but apart from that it was perfect. I had two hundred pages of my book to finish and I was so gripped with it that I just had to finish it.
It was that hot that I decided to go and buy a beer from the bar, Wendy fancied one too.
I was a bit concerned about the price, but it was ok, it was within range.
I tried to use the vast amount of low denomination notes that I have in my wallet to make payment, I have a massive amount, however I didn’t have enough as the price for the two beers was 180,000 rupees.
The young woman who served me would not let me take the beers myself, she had to load them on a tray and then bring them out five minutes later, I have no idea what it was about but I was thirsty by the time she came.
I read some more and it was that hot that I needed a dip in the pool, and just to show just how hot it was, Wendy Gill even joined me.
Thankfully she can just keep the water under her chin, standing on her tippy toes.
The water was an utter delight, it just cooled us nicely.
I finished my book at around 2:00 pm and it was a thriller right to the end!
It clouded over at 3;00 pm so we went upstairs, got changed and walked to our favourite off licence and bought some wine for our suitcases so we have enough stock for when we get to Dubai tomorrow night.
We got back just in time as the heavens opened and we had a massive downpour.
With nothing else to do, as we have an early start and a full day of travel tomorrow, I went down to the fitness centre and did tomorrows run.
I say fitness centre, loosely, there are two treadmills, one bike and a multi gym in the corridor to the pool, and there is no aircon to keep you cool.
By mile 3 I was dripping wet, my shorts were soaking and I had to use my water bottle down my back just to keep me alive.
Through sheer determination I managed my six miles, I was goosed.
It was still banging down with rain so I went out to the pool, I stripped down to my underpants and did a few lengths in the lovely cooling pool water. The last time I swam in an outdoor pool setting during a downpour was in the thermal pools at Lightning Ridge in Australia, I loved it then and I did again today, it was really nice.
I dried off and went up to the room and I had a shave to save time in the morning and then after a shower I put on my freshly rinsed running shorts, my waterproof jacket and my flipflops and went out in search of supper.
I went to my mate with the extra finger and bought two of his doughy meat things. It was still banging down with rain and all of the street traders looked thoroughly fed up, I guess trade was affected by the rain.
The food came to 20,000 rupees, about £2.00, but I gave him 100,000 and told him I didn’t need change, he looked a little bemused, but the poor fella has been sat there all day long and he deserved a little tonic!
When I got back to the hotel I was drenched, I was soaking wet. The jacket was a wash out and I had to strip off in the bathroom while Wendy got the food ready.
The food was bloody lovely, my mate had also mixed some liquids in a small plastic bag and told me to squirt them into the parcel, which we did and it made them just that little bit spicy.
I wish I could bring some back, they are very interesting and very, very tasty.
And that’s it for now Avid Reader, the call to prayers is louder than ever tonight, maybe they have to increase volume in the rain.
It is still raining actually, but that’s us done for the day, our taxi is booked for 6:00 am so it will be a 4:30 am rise, which won’t be a problem.
We have the short flight over to Jakarta at 8:40 am and then the 7 hour wait until our flight to Dubai. Apparently Terminal 2 has a bar at Jakarta airport, Wendy Gill is desperate that we fly from Terminal 2, I’ll let you know how it goes in tomorrow’s copy Avid Reader, but as there are 3 Terminals it’s a one in two chance, (Terminal 3 is domestic flights, so the odds are even!)
9 Miles by Taxi
393 Nautical Miles by Air
4,072 Nautical Miles by Air
20 Miles by Limousine
Latitude: 25o 05’ 09’’ North
The 35th Floor
I woke at 4:20 am and Wendy was already awake, we had 10 minutes before the alarm went off, so I stopped it and put the kettle on.
After tea and a slice of cold pizza Wendy showered while I got my gear together. After my turn in the shower we did the final bits of packing and weighed the cases and they were both fine and underweight.
I knew we had to be ready at least a full 30 minutes before the taxi arrived because so far he had been at least 20 minutes early on each occasion.
With everything packed and after a last Womble we rode the lift down to reception and handed the keys over.
We sat on the comfy sofa and sure enough with 20 minutes to go the security guard announced our taxi was here. I looked out of the window and it wasn’t the car of our very dear friend, it was someone else. The taxi couldn’t have been for anyone else as there wasn’t another sole in reception, so it was a little sadness that I helped put the suitcases in the back of the car, I wouldn’t see my mate again!
The driver pulled out of the hotel road, which was a cross street that ran between two main roads. It was total bedlam on the main road as there must have been two thousand scooters and their riders just milling about, and parked very badly blocking one full lane of the dual carriageway and encroaching on the other. The driver drove along beeping his horn for everyone to get out of the way and had they not moved I’m sure he would have had them!
The drive to the airport took about 15 minutes and we were there just after the time we should have been collected from the hotel, but at least we were there.
For some reason unknown I could not check in online for either of today’s flights so I just thought that we would get the tickets at the bag drop desk.
Check in didn’t open until 6:40 am so I was first in the queue when it did.
The fella at check in was fine and he saw that we were going onwards to Dubai and he told me that we would have to collect our suitcases at Jakarta and book them in with Emirates, which I thought we would have to anyway.
Then he jabbered on and I could barely understand him and told us we had to wait 30 minutes and to go and sit down. I asked him what the problem was and he yattered again and said something about stand by. I told him we had bought our tickets in March but he insisted we leave and go sit down.
We moved away and sat down and I wrote a message for him on Google translate telling him that we had bought our tickets and we hadn’t had a problem coming from Jakarta. I went back and showed him, he nodded and then wrote me something which I took back and translated.
Well, what a load of old nonsense he wrote. Anyway 30 minutes later he did come over with our tickets and as he had put our bags behind the desk he said he would send them on.
We got through to departures and the flight took off 3 minutes early and actually it was rather pleasant with a nice beef breakfast meal.
On arrival I wasn’t going to get off the plane until the last minute as we had 7 hours to wait, but suddenly Wendy chipped up, “Are you coming?” and she scarpered, I grabbed my bag and left too, then I remembered I had left my hat so I had to wait for everyone to leave until I could go back and get it.
Wendy was waiting at the top of the ramp and she told me two women had got to the top with their hand luggage and that they turned into little buggies and they sat on them and drove off.
Sure enough, they were at the carousel, but the flaw with them is that once you have your big bags you can’t ride them any longer. Personally, I think it’s a faff too far!
We had 3 hours to wait before we could check in and we managed to while the time away without much fuss. However, I had to have a stern word with Wendy Gill in the check in queue as she was getting herself all worked up as it took an age. It doesn’t matter how inefficient the service is, there is no point in upsetting yourself, you just have to go with it, and that’s that.
The check in lady asked me if I was going to Cop 28, she must have read my blog, but I told her I was only joking.
Getting through security and immigration was a sinch and as soon as my nose sniffed out a bar, with beer, that was me, nicely settled. Wendy was now as happy as Larry as she had a million rupees to spend as she liked, and she did.
She bought four presents for four little girls and something nice for a friend’s birthday and she spent the lot, there wasn’t a rupee left, not one.
The flight boarded slightly late but it wasn’t much and soon we were heading north and over Sumatra, which I thought we might have avoided with yet another volcano erupting, and soon we were heading over the Indian Ocean.
The food came out pretty smartish and its smell made me ravenous hungry, I was starving!
But we were in the seats where you are the last to get your meal, I was almost eating my fingers by the time the tray was handed over to me.
But when it did come it was delicious, I had chicken and Wendy had beef, and both were extremely tasty. We had white wine, of course we did, and we got a top up of generous preportions when the steward was taking the trolly back.
A young woman travelling alone had the window seat and I had the aisle, Wendy sat between us, she was a nice young woman who lived in Switzerland.
Darkness was now upon us and we all settled down doing our own thing, I read my book and Wendy watched a film.
I did watch a film in the end, The Wrath of Becky, it was funny!
We landed at 10:30 pm and we were soon whisked away to our hotel which is quite close to the Marina, I think.
What a surprise we had, because of Copp 28 they have a 97% occupancy and we have been given a penthouse suite on the 35th floor. It’s taken me ten minutes to turn off 5 TV’s and all the lights in the many bedrooms, I’ll post some pics tomorrow, but for now its very nearly night night!
No Travelling
I forgot to mention that last night we were met after arrivals by our transport, one chap found us and then passed us onto another chap who took us out to the car park and then he sent for our car. I never saw our driver as the second chap packed the cases in the boot and we just jumped in the back of the car.
The driver was a nice chap and he talked about all the sights we passed on our drive to the hotel. We got to the hotel and it was utter madness as about 4 hotel staff jumped us and started to take the cases, open doors and just generally lardy-dah us.
I wanted to give the driver a tip but I didn’t recognise him amongst the melee. However he being a smart cookie could see me looking for him and he came up and whispered in my ear, “I am your driver sir.”
He held his hand out to shake my hand so that I could give him the tip discreetly, he was of the understanding that I could not possibly tip all these hotel chaps. As he grasped the money he gave me a knowing wink, and I gave him one back.
We were late out of bed by our recent standard, 7:20 am.
I was dressed and out running asap and I got lost.
There are that many building works that roads and paths are closed off.
I came to a dead end with a large metal fence, it was large on the other side but not my side, and I could see where I wanted to go. It was too far to jump, about 8 feet, so I lowered my self down and carried on. It was clear that I was in the grounds of another hotel.
Within minutes a large guard, and I mean large, he was massive, pulled me up. “What are you doing sir”, he asked me in my running gear. “I’m out running and I think I got lost” was my useless reply.
He asked me if I was a guest and when I said no, he got a little shirty, until I told him I was at the Grosvener Hotel, then he happily pointed out where to go.
I was OK from there on in and soon I was mingling with the influencer set again.
It was all very nice, but also very superficial. I like to say good morning to people as I go, I chat to everyone. But even the guards and the road sweepers would not look at me or talk to me as I said good morning.
I got to the end of the resort and along the coast I could see 5 or 6 oil refineries spewing smoke out into the atmosphere, so much for Cop 28!!!
I’ve now run or walked along the coastline of Dubai and its about 15 miles in length and it seems to start just after the airport and runs along the coast where massive development is taking place. There are some pretty large skyscrapers all around our hotel but there are many more under construction on the tiny bits of land that has been left.
Breakfast was a delight, an utter delight with actual freshly squeezed orange juice. I had a traditional breakfast with lovely scrambled eggs. I had turkey bacon, but there was real pork bacon which we saw too late on a secret non-Muslim out of the way place, never mind!
We spent a smashing 2 and a bit hours by a really nice pool, it was great to have some end of trip sunshine and read our books on a proper sun lounger. No sooner had we settled on our bed than a very nice man appeared with a bottle of orange juice, a bottle of water for us each and a glass full of ice, how very decadent!
I had a last swim in the pool and after another good while we took ourselves up to our room for a shower and then we had a really lovely afternoon walk all around what we now know is an island.
I walked Wendy down to the beach, which was really busy with people. It was nice and hot so we took an expensive beer in a beachside bar, it was well worth it to have a last drink of 2023 in the sunshine.
We walked over the foot bridge to another small resort island and its from there where Wendy saw what she thought was a walkway around the back of the island. At this point we didn’t know we were on an island.
I checked on my Strava App mapping and sure enough it looked like we could walk all the way back to our hotel via a pedestrian walkway, so that’s what we did, and I am so glad we did.
The walk was stunning, we saw yet many more Dubai Skyscrapers and we also saw another side of the city, a much more sedate one, but in the middle of all these tall buildings.
As we walked, we came across a very high and very long zip line where people were Whoop-Whooping as they flew overhead, it looked brilliant. I have to say though that it seemed that the women who flew screamed much louder than the men!
We got back to the hotel just as the sunset at turned 5:00 pm. We had had a really nice walk of just over 5 miles and it was well worth the effort. In the five nights, and 3 full days we have had in Dubai, I don’t think we could really have done anymore to experience what the city has to offer. I’m not sure that I will ever come back, as I have already said I think it’s a little too superficial for me, and possibly it’s been made a little fake for me with all the influencers who are reported to come just to post from here, and from what we have seen people do with their posing, in the little time we have been here, it really is a very big thing.
Back at the hotel and we both took a refreshing shower, my third of the day. I just had to do it, I wore the hotels complementary dressing gown, well it was very thick and fleecy. Jeepers they must have some big buggers at this hotel because it almost buried me.
Its now gone 6:30 pm and we are just about to order room service for tonight’s supper, we have a 3:00 am alarm call for our early flight in the morning, so tomorrow’s copy will feature tonight’s supper, I do hope its tasty!
3,157 Nautical Miles by Air
Glasgow to Millerhill
63 Miles
Back to Blighty!
As we got back to the hotel after our walk yesterday afternoon Wendy asked at reception if it would be alright for us to take our evening meal in our room. Apparently, guests on half board aren’t normally allowed to have room service but as we had an exceptionally early flight the young lady who Wendy was chatting to said that she would arrange it and that we should just order from the room service menu which is a little more expensive, but that we could only take a meal up to 150 UAE dirhams, around £32.50 each.
That wasn’t a problem, I ordered a Thi Green Curry and Wendy asked for a seafood pizza. Wendy rang the order in and we were told that it would be delivered in around 30 minutes.
I had been working at the lounge table so I cleared it and I was just about to set it with plates and cutlery when the doorbell rang.
Wendy answered the door, and I could hear her talking to someone, and then she said, “You had better bring it in then.”
Jeepers, a young fella wheeled in a ready set dinner table which he rolled into the lounge. He lifted two flaps up to make a perfectly round dinner table. All we had to do was place two chairs around it and dinner was served.
The young man was as happy as Larry with his tip and he told us he would be back in one hour to remove the table.
My curry was delicious, I loved it, it had loads of chicken and it was just the right type of spicy that I tend to like, a little kick but not a burner.
Wendy liked her pizza too which had very tasty seafood on it.
After dinner I packed the table up and placed it in the hallway close to the apartment door and sure enough an hour later the lad was back to take everything away.
After dinner, it was now around 7:00 pm so we sat and watched a little Sky News and Boris was giving his evidence to the Covid inquiry.
He looked very uncomfortable with his situation and to be honest he actually appeared quite rough.
I thought he was completely out of his depth and that he struggled with answers.
One set of questions dealt with how he had worked with the devolved UK Governments, one question in particular was that Nicola Sturgeon had complained that he had not worked closely enough with her. He waffled and waffled and said eventually that he thought he had worked close enough but maybe he could have done better.
He should have said that the woman looks to make any situation bad and will say anything to make it look like the UK Government is letting the people of Scotland down, that’s she’s a person who can never be satisfied and no matter what you do or say she will always complain.
I could have done a better job of it than Boris did.
We went to bed at 8:00 pm and turned the lights off and drank the last of our wine while looking at the amazing Dubai night scene.
Just before I bedded down the phone rang at 8:30 pm and it was a female staff member who wanted to ask me questions about our stay at the hotel, I was glad it wasn’t 10 minutes later or she would have woken me up!
I actually slept quite well and I was away as soon as my head hit the pillow.
I had set two phone alarms for 3:00 am as we were to be collected at 4:20 am by our car, I had also arranged for a last-minute wakeup call at 3:30 am just to be double sure.
I needn’t have worried as I woke at exactly 2:50 am and Wendy followed a minute later.
I need at least an hour in the morning these days to drink tea and get myself prepared for the day.
We left the room at 4:05 am and as I was handing the keys into reception when one of the bell boys came and told me that the car was waiting outside.
The drive to the airport was without incident and we were dropped off just before 5:00 am.
I had already checked in online and as there was a queue at the staffed bag drop, we opted to drop our suitcases at the self-service area.
The first time we had ever done this was when it first came in a few years ago and we were flying with Easyjet from Gatwick Airport, and we made a right pig’s ear of it. Thankfully today it is much easier and we breezed through the process.
After passing through security, we had a very urgent mission, to spend 320 dirhams in duty free. Boy it did take some doing, but we got there in the end, needless to say I will be smelling really nice for some months to come, as will Wendy.
The flight boarded about an hour before take off and as we sat in our seat, we had some last minute fun.
A local lady had come on the plane with a full wheelie bin bag as her carry-on bag, it was enormous and the cabin crew had to mess around shoving stuff around other overhead lockers just to accommodate her. Actually, it should have not been allowed, it should have been in the hold, the lad next to me was worried it was going to fall on him as it took 3 stewardesses to manhandle it into a locker.
The flight was good, I watched 3 films, Mission Impossible, The Equalizer 3 and The One Ranger. I never did one bit of reading, I was shattered!
Wend wasn’t that struck on the service given by Emirates, we were given a small sandwich for breakfast and then nothing until two hours before the end of the flight when we got a decent enough meal. But I was again starving by the time it came.
Thankfully we collected our bags easy enough and the service bus was waiting for us at the bus stop so that we were collecting the car in record time.
It chucked it down with rain almost all the way across the central belt as we drove over to Millerhill, it was pouring down.
As soon as we reached the house I climbed into my running gear and did my milage, it was hard going mind, in the freezing cold rain!
Its now 6:00 pm and I have to admit I am almost dead on my legs. Robyn has made a chicken curry and I’m really looking forward to it.
I think I’ll be in bed early tonight as I need to get over jetlag before it ruins the weekend.
No Travelling
Hot Chocolate
I slept well last night, I was dead on my legs when I went to bed, but as it was 9:00 pm I thought that I might be up in the middle of the night. I did wake around 1:00 am but I willed myself back to sleep and eventually I did drop off again.
We woke at around 7:15 am when Violet woke, and not many minutes later Rose stirred. We had them both in bed for about 5 minutes but it was clear that both girls wanted their breakfasts so Wendy and me headed downstairs for breakfast.
Robyn joined us as breakfast was underway. I had made a boob with Rose’s Weetabix, I didn’t now she liked it heated up and I heard her telling her nanny, “Pops has made it cold Nanny.”
Before I went running Robyn had told me that the temporary footpath out of the village that has been put down due to long running roadworks is always flooded and Rose gets her feet wet when walking along the path.
As I went this way on my run, I could see exactly what she means. Even running and being able to jump over the puddles didn’t help, there was just varying levels of depth. I could see it wouldn’t be easy for little legs to keep their little feet dry.
When I worked on Fire Stations in Barnsley I used to work on building sites with my mate Ross Buckly on our days off, and we used to lay tarmac. Laying tarmac is easy, but the difference between a well laid path and a poor one is care and pride, that’s all it takes, and I could see that absolutely no care had been taken, let along any thought, in the laying of this path.
As I have dropped my daily mileage to six miles a day I can now run in areas I couldn’t before. Today I ran through Dalkeith Park, which is a very large country park with a very nice large country house. I ran down the main path which is over a mile long and I saw a deer, a squirrel and a large buzzard.
As I got back to the village the road workers were laying some more tarmac in the new road. I walked through the traffic cones and over to the man who looked most likely to be the foreman.
He told me that I can’t walk through the roadworks, but I was very polite and I explained the problem to him and fair enough he said, “OK, I’ll sort it out.”
I left it at that and I hoped that he would do something, the way he readily accepted the problem seemed to me that I wasn’t the only one to have mentioned it.
I got back to the house and Wendy was out with the girls for a walk.
I showered and got changed and then I had the first banana smoothie that I have had in over two weeks, it was a delight, and as Rose was now back home, I shared some with her and she loved it too.
I dropped Robyn at the train station as she was going to Dundee to have a night away with her friend and by the time I got back everyone was having lunch. After lunch Wendy and I took the girls for a walk around Musselburgh beach.
It took us a while to get to Musselburgh because there are roadworks blocking easy access to the town so we had to take a long-winded detour.
It was nice down on the promenade, the weather was reasonable and we had a very nice walk.
After about 2 miles Rose was getting tired so she ended up on my shoulders while Wendy pushed Violet in her pushchair.
We had hoped to find a café open along the High Street but we couldn’t find one. However, I did know of one down by the harbour so we tried that.
Thankfully it was open and the lady owner was lovely. Rose and I had a hot chocolate each, Wendy had a cup of tea and we each had a small cake. The lady made sure that Rose’s hot chocolate wasn’t too hot for her and she put some marshmallows on top of it. My hot chocolate was very nice and hot and the cakes were very nice too.
We did a little shopping at Tesco’s where both girls rode in a double chaired trolley and they were as good as gold, despite both now being very tired.
I went back to the house via a different route and thankfully it didn’t take as long.
As we drove past the roadworks I could see that the temporary footpath had indeed been re-laid and it looked much better, see politeness sometimes does work.
I cooked supper, GF tagliatelle with chicken, mushrooms and broccoli in a Chinese sauce and even though I say it myself it was rather tasty.
After supper I washed up the dishes and Wendy and Alex bathed the girls and put them to bed.
Its now almost 7:00 pm and I hope to be in bed early tonight.
Tomorrow, when Robyn gets home, around lunchtime, we will head home and get ready for Christmas, which is going to be very busy because everyone is coming home!
178 Miles
Home!!!
I slept quite well last night, but I was woken up at 5:00 am by someone sliding over me and then standing still at the side of the bed. “What are you doing”, I asked Wendy, “I thought I heard Rose”, was her answer. However, Rose was fast asleep, and as I wasn’t I got up, made tea, took Wendy a cup and then put my running gear on and ran towards Musselburgh.
But since I last ran through the roadworks on Thursday afternoon, going past all of the tarmac gang they have put up Herris Fencing. I climbed the first lot but when I came across the second lot I gave up and then I ran up to the Hospital at Little France and then turned around.
The reason that my mind swung into action at 5:00 am was that we were going to go and watch Rose at her football class at the local fitness centre at 8:30 am and I was going to run after that. But as I was wide awake, I thought I would go before, and I am glad I did because it was raining when I would have gone.
I got back at around 7:20 am and shared my smoothie with Rose again and she loved it, we must have cheers’d glasses about 5 times before we finished.
After breakfast I did a few things while waiting for Alex to go and collect Robyn and then go to referee a football match, rather him than me because it was chucking down by the time we left for home.
Robyn arrived and we had a five-minute handover and then left for the drive north.
It absolutely banged it down with rain all the way up the M90 and then the A9 and it only stopped when we got to Inverness.
The house was cold when we got home but it soon warmed up as we unpacked the car.
I then opened my parcels and post and I found a fantastic new medal from Jenn and her family, it is stunning.
Supper was by the fire, it was very uncomplicated, French bread with a nice prawn cocktail, olives and very nice pate.
And that is the end of this fantastic adventure to the Equator.
That was one very carefully planned trip, I had to carefully select the location, we then had to have a massive vaccination programme so that we were safe from all sorts of equatorial diseases, and I even had to have 3 major rabies injections!
But, for me it was well worth it, not only did I get to finish my running challenge by crossing the equator but I also got to spend ten nights living on the equator. I saw and felt the effects of the hottest part of the planet, the place which is closest to the sun. I saw the fascinating weather patterns of extreme heat and sunshine one minute and then torrential downpours for hours on end the next. I saw lots of very nice welcoming people; I saw extremes of poverty. I think we were also a sight of amazement for many of the local population as we seem to have been the only Europeans that I saw for the whole ten days we were there.
I loved the amazing local food that we had, in particular the breakfasts and the food from the local street traders.
I like to think that we were kind and helped as many local people as we could by using their services and sometimes by paying more than required.
I have also worried about how emerging economies are challenging the earth’s resources, probably like the developed nations did in the 17th century, and what the consequences might be, especially for my little girls.
I marvelled at the statistics that I came across by studying the equator, but I think I have also one to introduce myself, and its food for thought, here it is:
If the north and south pole are the furthest places from the sun on earth, and often have temperatures of minus 40 degrees centigrade, and the equator, which is the closest part of the earth to the sun, and has regularly temperatures of over 30 degrees centigrade every day of the year.
If the earth is 93,000,000 miles from the sun, which is a very long way.
If the radius of the earth at the equator is 3,963 miles.
Then the difference in temperature on the earth, on average, is around 70 degrees, just imagine what it would be if the earth was a couple of 100 miles either side of its current location. It would most likely mean that life on earth, as we know it would not exist.
I find that utterly fascinating!!
And it makes me wonder how truly amazing nature is.
And all this knowledge and understanding comes from travel and the thoughts that it makes me wonder upon.
I love it, so until next time Avid Reader, I do hope that you have enjoyed this incredible adventure!
I don’t have many photos from today, so I will also post some of my favourites from this adventure!
3 Miles
Nippy!!!
Jeepers it was cold when I woke today, we had recorded our first minus temperature on the Gill outdoor thermometer and as I popped my head out of the back door, I could see the car full of frost, as if it had spent the night in a deep freezer.
I had not put it in the garage overnight for a specific reason. I had taken all the security devices off the caravan so I needed to use the car to block the entrance to the drive, well you can never be too careful, even in Kirkhill.
More about the caravan later!
I decided to go out running before first light, I knew I would be alright in the dark because I know the route to the Lovat Bridge which spans the Beauly River, like the back of my hand.
Jeepers though it was very icy. I should have remembered that we had some sleet last night and that, coupled with the low temperatures, made the roads something just like an Alaskan rural road.
I managed to get to Lovat Bridge without falling down, in fact my trainers gripped the ice pretty well.
By the time I got to the bridge the sky was just seeing the first light of dawn, and by the time I was back, at just a little before 9:00 am it was almost light. I do hate Highland winter mornings!
Wendy had already done her 30 minutes on her cross trainer and was ready for the day by the time I got back.
After breakfast it was all hands-on deck getting the caravan ready for our new years adventure.
Cathy, in the Autumn, had suggested that we take our caravans to Beauly Holiday Park as there was going to be several functions on for the new year celebrations. Colin, Donalds brother was also keen to join us with him and his wife, Piff, with their motorhome.
There wasn’t any rush as we couldn’t take our camp pitch until 1:30 pm.
After everything had been readied I sat back and started to watch a film on Amazon Prime.
At around 11:45 Wendy came and told me that she had received a text message from Cathy telling her that they were on site with all their gear unpacked and their awning up.
I checked my email reservation and it clearly said that you could only take your pitch at 1:30 pm, unless you had booked and paid for an early arrival time, which I didn’t think we had.
With everything packed, we closed the house down for a few days and left for the site at 1:00 pm. As its only 3 miles from home we were there at 1:15pm.
I know the owner and he allowed us on our pitch which is bang next to Donald and Cathy.
Cathy was out visiting her Dad, but Donald told us that as they arrived at 11:00 am they had to pay an additional fee for them to be allowed to access their pitch and an additional £3.00 per night for the awning.
It was still very cold but there wasn’t any wind and thankfully no rain.
As I started to set about levelling the van and getting the water and electrical supplies connected, Donald came and told me that he had the heater going in the caravan, his ice maker working, his beer keg chilling, the water heater on and a heater blowing out in the awning.
I had the electric on smartish and while I was sorting the water supply out Wendy, who was in the caravan, yelled out that the power had gone off. I checked the external fuse box but I didn’t have any problems, then it transpired that our row of six caravans were all without power. Apparently, our feeder breaker had gone. I couldn’t help but wonder if Donald had overloaded the district circuit board.
Wendy helped me get the awning on the caravan and as I pegged it down Wendy nipped to Beauly Village as we needed some cash for the coming days.
Power was finally restored about 20 minutes later when Alan, the owner, came back from somewhere off site just to sort the problem out.
Within the hour we were nicely settled in the van with the heating on.
I had put the fan heater on, and a small modern, low energy heater on to remove the chill from inside the caravan.
As the caravan warmed, I turned the main fan heater off and then put on the caravans heating and hot water.
As Cathy had returned to the site, we were joined by her and Donald who came in for a drink.
As we sat chatting, I noticed that the fridge had no power, its easy to spot because lots of lights flash. I got it going again but then minutes later it went off again, so I reset it, again.
It went off again and Donald said that he thought it might be because we are running low on power as it had happened to his fridge today too.
I told him that I wasn’t using much power at that time, only to discover that Wendy had plugged in the big fan heater again.
Wendy Gill has been caravaning with me for over 30 years and she still has no concept of power usage, and its limitations in a caravan. As soon as I stopped the fan heater the fridge worked fine, again!
I have never known the fridge to ever been affected in this way before, but then I have always been very careful about using the right amount of power for the supply I have on site.
Colin arrived and him and Piff soon had their motor home settled on site so we all gathered in Donald’s bitterly cold awning for a supper of Coronation chicken as pre-cooked by Wendy and heated up in the slow cooker.
Thankfully I had brought my three bar Calor Gas Super-Ser heater and with that going the awning soon warmed up.
At 7:15pm I walked down to the bar and I saw that the band had arrived and that seats were filling up. Its only a small bar so I phoned Wendy and told her to get everyone ready or we wouldn’t get a seat.
An hour later, after 3 ladies had to arrange themselves there weren’t any seats left.
Thankfully we managed to nab the Chess table and then scrounge around for 4 chairs, Donald and Colin stood.
I was looking forward to seeing and listening to the Black Isle Peas, I thought that they were a tribute band and that they would sing, “Shut Up”, and “Where is the Love”, but all we got was noise and something that I think was country music. In fairness they sounded fine, the music was good and so was their singing, I just didn’t know any of the songs that they were singing, and they were just too loud for such a small place, Wendy didn’t like them either.
At 9:30pm we left for the night, Wendy wasn’t feeling good so we got back to the caravan and while she settled down, I filed tonight’s copy and settled down with the last of the Amazon film that I had started earlier.
The caravan is now very nice and toasty, just the way I like it, even though its -2 outside!!!
No Travelling
New Years Eve!
I slept nicely through the night but I was woken at around 6:20 am by someone fidgeting next to me so I got up and made tea.
For a snack I had some coronation chicken leftovers, straight from the fridge, it was lovely.
It wasn’t icy this morning so I wasn’t slipping and sliding about on my run.
Today I ran through Beauly Village and back and completed my running year where I have completed 3,002.11 miles at an average daily rate of 8.22 miles. This will be the last time I complete over 3,000 miles per year.
The most amazing stat though is the weight loss and gain.
I weigh myself before I go and then after I get back, I do this so that I know just how much water I need to drink afterwards, which I mostly do during the rest of the morning. Now I am running only 6 miles a day I usually lose about 3 lbs a run, but on a warm day when I was running 8 miles a day I could easily loose about 7 lbs a day. So, I always had to be careful on those days and make sure that I got plenty of water back into me.
This year I have lost and gained 1,393.1 lbs which is 99.51 stones, which is the equivalent of just over 9 me’s
Finally, when I was running 8 miles, I would typically burn around 1,200 calories, I haven’t checked how much I am burning at 6 miles per day, I’ll make finding that out my new years resolution.
After a lovely banana smoothie, I jumped into the shower only to be greeted, halfway through the wash cycle, with absolutely freezing water, I think Wendy must have had a longer shower than she let on.
Just before 11:00 am, while having a coffee, I filled two hip flasks with rum and coke for a walk along the river with Donald, Cathy, Colin and Piff.
One of my flasks is a treasured item, my friend Leonie Govan bought me it for a retirement gift, its a lovely design. Leonie was the first HR Manager we employed in H&I Fire Brigade and I have been on some cracking field trips with her. Obviously it was always some aspect of employee difficulty whenever she tagged along, but we would get up to quite a lot of fun too. One case was when we were in Stornoway, after a night drinking and playing pool in the Clachan Bar we got back to our guest house to find we were locked out. Unperturbed we giggled away as we threw stones up to a stranger’s bedroom window as he was the only one with a light on, thankfully he saw the funny side of our predicament and opened the front door for us.
Once assembled our group went for a lovely walk along the very famous Beauly River. Thankfully, which we all appreciated, the weather was smashing, there was no wind or rain.
We chatted and laughed as we walked along, and we mixed and matched as we went, sometimes it was me, Cathy and Piff, then Wendy and Donald and finally the ladies left us and Donald, Colin and me walked along together.
We walked right to the top of the river where the weir is and then we headed back along the road to the camp site.
Unusually the ladies beat us back and then we all assembled in Donald and Cathies awning with my Calor Super Ser banging out heat, for some homemade lentil soup, with crusty bread, it was lovely.
And that’s where we stayed for the next 3 hours.
First up the fellas had a beer from Donalds beer pump while the ladies had a glass of wine each. The men then moved onto wine and finally we had a rum each before we all went back to our respective caravans / motorhomes for a nap.
I was looking forward to a two-hour nap, but by the time we were settled it was only just about an hours rest we got.
I had set my alarm and I was straight out of bed when it sounded, Wendy did nothing but moan and I had to give her a stern telling off to eventually get her out of bed, I think if I had left her she would still be there for the night!
We managed to have supper in Donalds awning, and it was lovely and then we headed down to the bar for an evening’s karaoke.
To be fair there wasn’t much singing talent there, but we did get two little sisters who looked rather cute.
One fella did do quite well on Spandau Ballet songs and we all applauded nicely.
It’s now gone midnight and I wish everyone a Happy New Year, thankfully we made it to 2024, despite an evening with Donald Anderson!
No Travelling
New Years Day
I slept quite well last night but I was disturbed again by my fidgety friend and I had to get up and make tea at 7:20 am.
I took my time getting ready this morning as I could see that the car was covered in ice and I wanted to be able to see where I was running so as not to slip and get an injury.
It was 9:00 am when I went out and it was a glorious morning, very cold but without any wind and with a lovely morning sky.
I ran towards Cabrich, along the cycle path that we have now had about ten years which used to take you to the main junction with the Kirkhill backroad, however this has only just very recently been extended and it now takes you all the way up to the back roads that lead to Cabrich, its far safer now for runners and cyclists.
Jeepers Cabrich is cold, the homes down there are shielded by the large hills that separate us from Loch Ness and the Great Glen, the hills are well over 1,000 feet high and therefore prevent the winter sun from ever gracing the area down on the Cabrich side of the hill in winter. I think its deep into February before they physically see the sun.
I got back to the caravan just after 10:00 am and Wendy told me that she had spoken to Cathy who is in the caravan next to us and she told Wendy that Donald was still in bed and suffering with a hangover.
I got out of my sweaty running gear and sat at the front of the caravan in my shorts. Cathy came over chatting through the open window after first enquiring if I was decent.
Cathy said that Donald was now out of bed and she invited us over for some breakfast which we duly accepted.
Cathy made some lovely scrambled eggs which we had with smoked salmon and toast, it was an utter delight. Wendy had taken over some prosecco which we had with orange juice as a kind of poor mans bucks fizz, it was all rather nice.
After breakfast I sent our friend, Jenn Latham, a message asking if she was up to visitors. Jenn lives in Beauly village so it would be a nice walk over to her house which is about 1.5 miles away from the campground.
The weather was absolutely stunning, it was like a very nice summers day, but with rather colder temperatures.
I emptied the toilet cassette just before my shower and got chatting to the Tony Hadley tribute fella from last night’s karaoke. I told him that he was a good singer and should go professional, he laughed and said, “I do like to sing, but I’m not that good”.
After showering we sat in the front of the caravan which was now bathed in warm sunshine and we both read our books.
Cathy and Donald had gone to visit her dad who is in a care home in Inverness and we had agreed to meet up and walk to Jenns for 2:00 pm. However true to form they were late returning!
We actually set off to walk to Jenns at 1:50 pm but as we passed Colins Motorhome he called us in for a drink, and as bad luck would have it, Donald and Cathy turned up, late, as usual. Donald had been drinking prosecco with Jimmy while he knocked a few whisky drams back in the care home. Fair play, how could I complain when a man in his 90’s was boozing with his son in law on New Years Day?
We walked to Jenns house, Donald had a rucksack with bottles of wine in that he had just grabbed and the bottles were almost falling out until I sorted him out.
What a lovely afternoon we had with Jenn and David, it was lovely. We watched the young darts phenomenon on TV while chatting along.
To top off my afternoon Ciara and her boyfriend Ross came home. I have to declare an interest here Avid Reader, I adore Ciara Latham, she is so adorable. Wendy childminded her elder sister Niamh from an early age, and she is a toot too, but we had Ciara from birth and I just loved her to death. I have known her all of her life and to get a hug and kiss from her was just so lovely, so much so that just before we left, I shouted up to her, as she was upstairs getting ready for an evening out, just so that I could get a goodnight kiss, which was yet another delight! The thing is she knew what she was going to get and she duly came down, how lucky am I?
Walking back to the campsite was a danger, there are no street lights, the road has a 60 mph speed limit and there is barely enough room to walk single file, but thankfully we managed it.
As we got back to the site, we nipped into the bar for a glass of wine with the owner Alan, and we spent an hour in his company and ended up having a double rum each too.
Wendy and Cathy left to get supper ready and after another 30 minutes we were duly called back for a lovely meal in Donalds van.
Donald being Donald had used every electrically appliance going in helping Cathy finish the supper preparation and it had tripped the fuse. So, it was my job to problem solve the issue as the fridge was yet again beeping through low power availability. Thankfully I had it sorted double quick?
After supper Wendy and I went back to our caravan, she did some bimbling while I filed tonight’s copy.
Jeepers it is cold outside; we have a very clear night sky and below zero temperatures.
I am not sure if I will go running in the morning, or I just might shy away for a morning and hit the treadmill when I get back home!
3 Miles
Home!
I slept fine again last night and thankfully my fidgety friend didn’t bother me either, that’s because she pinched the open side of the bed so she could slide out when she needed to without disturbing me.
It was spitting when I woke up but I was getting dressed in my running gear and I did fully intend to go out. However, Wendy had a problem with the shower water flow and by the time I had sorted that out the rain was much harder, and bearing in mind we had to be off site by midday, I thought that it might be a rush to get everything packed, so I decided to go on the treadmill when I got home.
So, after a coffee we packed everything up and said our goodbyes to Donald and Cathy and to Colin and Piff and we were home before you could say, “Happy New Year!”
I had the caravan on the drive in no time at all and then we started the long process of unpacking. Taking the caravan out in winter is such a hassle as you have to take much more stuff, heaters, clothing, hot food, its just a pain when it comes to unpacking.
And of course, the awning is wet through too so we just chucked that into the boot and then spread it out undercover in the hope that it will dry in the coming days.
After all that I pulled on the rest of my running gear and then watched the crapyist film I have ever seen while I did my six miles on the treadmill. I still have ten minutes to go to the end of the film and it will be purgatory to watch it but I guess I have to do it.
After my shower we pulled on our walking shoes and after a quick shop in Lidl we parked the car at the canal and went for a walk.
There was method in this madness, we walked along the canal and then along the south shore of the Beauly Firth and then into town through Merkinich where we stopped for a very nice pint of Theakston’s Old Peculiar in the Innes Bar, Wendy, our designated driver had a lemon and lime.
We got back home just as it got dark and we are now about to light the fire and tuck into some Christmas / New Year leftover tapas as we still have heaps of food leftover.
Happy New Year Avid Reader!!!
178 Miles
Off Again!!!
I slept in latish this morning, not getting out of bed until gone 7:30 am.
Yesterday had been a really wet day, in fact it was the wettest day I have seen in over 25 years of living in the Highlands of Scotland, and I worked for over 4 years on the Isle of Skye on the west coast which was wet most of the time.
The rain was that bad that our village was cut off from Inverness on its main route by very deep floodwater.
Thankfully the rain had stopped and it did appear to be a nice morning although it was only 3 degrees outside.
After a slice of toast, I pulled on my running gear and went out.
I was keen to go and run around Reelig Glen, which is known locally as The Fairy Glen. I wanted to go to the Glen to see the affect yesterday’s rainfall would have on the waterfalls and small rivers that feed into the main river which comes from the higher farmlands of the surrounding area.
The water catchment area is huge and has moorland which rises well over 1,000 feet.
I got to the bottom of the main road and sure enough there were two stranded cars and one van that had been driven into the flood water where they had stalled and been abandoned. The water had now receded and one car was being loaded onto a recovery vehicle as I ran past.
Jeepers the wind was wild and it soon clouded over and there was hail in the air.
The glen is just 3 miles from home and I was safely inside the tight woodland and out of the worst of the wind. The trail is just one mile in length and it is quite challenging as a running route as it goes up some very steep hills.
The views along the path are truly stunning and its my belief that this is the most beautiful one mile walk on planet earth, and if you’re a true avid reader you will know from my travels that I have been to some really amazing places!
The water coming off the hills was fantastic; it was roaring down the main waterfall and making a thunderous noise while doing so. The main river which is often just a meandering stream was in full flow and would have made a very challenging canoe course.
I ran back home through the grounds of Achnagairn House which featured on last weeks episode of The Apprentice.
I got back and after a cool down I had my morning smoothie, but instead of adding some double cream I tipped in the last dregs of Devon custard which was left over from the weekend. Jeepers it was tasty going down!
After a shave and a shower, I had to pack the car which took some doing because snow has been forecast from Thursday onwards for the north of England, which is just when we will be driving south.
If you’re reading this outside the UK you may not know that the UK grinds to a halt whenever the country has any snow covering which is more than one centimetre in depth.
To this end I have in the cars boot:
This is just not for this Thursday but also for the return journey home in a couple of weeks.
The A9 between Perth and Inverness, a distance of over 100 miles, is almost over 1,000 feet above sea level for its entire length and consequently is often subjected to heavy snowfall. There was a really bad snowstorm just after Christmas where a long line of traffic was trapped at its highest point at The Pass of Drumochter
The Pass of Drumochter, meaning simply 'high ridge' in Gaelic, is the main mountain pass between the northern and southern central Scottish Highlands. The A9 road passes through here, as does the Highland Main Line, the railway between Inverness and the south of Scotland. There are snow gates at Dalnacardoch lower down the A9. Owing to its height Drumochter Pass is regularly closed by winter snowstorms. The snow gates are necessary to stop foolish drivers attempting to cross the pass and getting stuck in snowdrifts!
Actually it happens often.
I was surprised at how much floodwater there was at Kingussie, which is about 40 miles south of Inverness. The River Spey had burst its banks, very badly!
The drive down the A9 to Perth today was easy with very light traffic and we were soon heading down the M90 which is the motorway between Perth and Edinburgh.
We cross the Firth of Forth by the Queensferry Bridge. The bridge although stunning in design is actually a bit of a gaff prone bridge. The bridges structural steel cables often ice over in winter and during the subsequent thaw large chunks of ice fall onto the passing traffic below and the bridge has had to be closed a few times due to this. The detour then has you driving all the way along to the Kingcardine Bridge which adds an additional 36 miles to your journey.
We were pulling up on the drive at Alex and Robyn’s house just before 4 pm, it had taken us 3.5 hours to cover the 178 mile distance.
Supper was a really lovely affair with Robyn producing a stupendous tapas meal which included a prawn ring that we had brought down from home after having forgotten to get it out of the freezer for its inclusion in one of our many Christmas time meals.
It was soon bathtime for the little girls of the house and I nipped down to Tesco to fill the car with fuel and get a few items, and I got back just in time to wish the girls good night.
With both tots settled in bed mum and dad nipped off for a mixed yoga session at their local sports centre, I think they might also have a session in the sauna, well they have ready-made babysitters, why not???
No Travelling
The Pips!!!
I didn’t have such a good nights sleep last night but I didn’t feel too bad when I eventually got up at 6:45 am.
I had a nice slice of toast with a hot cup of tea and I was pleased to see that it was dry outside but I was slightly dismayed to see that the temperature was just above freezing at 1 degree centigrade.
The road to Musselburgh was closed the last time I ran in Millerhill and it was nice to see that the construction team had now moved on to a traffic light system of traffic control with a small pedestrian path through the roadworks.
I listened to my mate Owain Win Evans on BBC Radio 2 as I ran along. Owain does the 4:00 am to 6:30 am very early shift and I listen to him on the BBC sounds catch up service. BBC Sounds is a fantastic service and you can even download a programme if you don’t have Wi-Fi when you want to listen to it.
The show is all about facts and figures and today Owain told us that it is the 100th anniversary of the BBC Pips.
Here’s some Pip info:
The Greenwich Time Signal (GTS), popularly known as the pips, is a series of six short tones (or "pips") broadcast at one-second intervals by many BBC Radio Stations. The pips were introduced in 1924 and have been generated by the BBC since 1990 to mark the precise start of each hour. Their utility in calibration is diminishing as digital broadcasting entails time lags. The purpose was to enable ships chronometers in distant ports to be calibrated to ensure accurate determination of longitude.
Actually, it is a shame that digital services now prevent actual live coverage. Many years ago, before Sky Satellite and BBC Digital services, I used to watch test match cricket on the TV with the sound turned down and the commentary on BBC Radio Test Match Special. It was perfectly matched and it was thrilling. Now if I try it the commentary is at least two balls in front of the picture on TV.
I got down to the River Esk in Musselburgh, which is one mile short of my old running route which used to take me to the harbour, and I sat on a bench. Not long after I had taken my seat a large white swan siddled up to me in the hope that I had some titbits, sadly for the swan I had nothing to offer.
I got back to the house a little after 9:30 am and I had a delightful banana smoothie. The best smoothies are the ones that I make with slightly green bananas, they have a very smooth taste to them.
It was an easy day around the house for the rest of the morning, Wendy was minding Violet, Alex was upstairs home working and Robyn took on the task of clearing the shed out. They have just obtained a second under worktop freezer and it needed to be fitted in amongst all the stuff that they have accumulated. Actually, she did a very good job of it, she had some stuff for Gumtree, some stuff for dumping and I obtained a two-man tent which I will take home for camping out in the garden with the girls when they get a little older.
I did some accommodation booking for our up and coming North United States road trip. This is going to be a belter, I have only 13 states to complete and we are starting off in Boston in mid-March and covering all of New England and Delaware before setting off for Virginia and then straight up to the far north of Michigan before heading westwards to the Pacific coast. Our final State will be Alaska where I have a couple of exciting adventures planned!
At 1:30 pm we loaded ourselves into the car and picked Rose up early from nursery and we then went to the David Lloyd Fitness Centre where Robyn and Alex are family members.
While Wendy sat and watched us through the observation window, Robyn, Rose, Violet and me had splish-splash fun in the small pools. Violet loved it and so did Rose, they are both very confident in the water.
After a good 30 minutes of water fun Robyn took the girls one at a time to get changed and handed over to Nanny while Robyn gave me a view of the other Spar features.
Through a door at the opposite side of the pool is the Spar section and I have to say its an impressive facility. Our first stop was a massive jacuzzi which had its entire surface covered with bubbles. The water was so warm and pleasant I could have stayed in all day long.
After ten minutes we had a short session in the sauna which really did for me because the heat made me feel very, very sleepy.
We got back to the house just after 4:00 pm and while my phone was charging, I got myself ready for tomorrows run tonight.
We have at least a five-hour drive to Mansfield tomorrow and that’s without a stop. Then on top of that I have been bombarded both online and on the TV news about snowmageddon tomorrow for the north of England, right bang where we are driving.
So to get off to an early start I did tomorrows run tonight, which is completely allowable under my own private rules.
Tonight I went along the top road in the direction of Edinburgh. This is a main route out of the city to the City Bypass and the A1 and it was as busy as could be, well it was just gone 5:00 pm and the rush hour was in full flow!
My legs were absolutely shattered when I set off, which I put down to the swimming and the sauna. Thankfully though after the first couple of miles they eased off and I had a pretty good run both in and out.
By the time I got back it was just about 6:00 pm and dinner had just been finished by what looked like a very hungry gang.
Thankfully there was a nice portion of cheesy pasta, bacon and pork waiting for me, which I immediately scoffed.
The girl’s were out of the bath by 7:00 pm and I think that I might just have a nice soaking dip before I hit the sack nice and early tonight, in anticipation of a long day on the road!
280 Miles
Snowmageddon
I had a much better nights sleep last night and I woke at 5:50 am and got up so that I could catch the morning news during my breakfast. I also thought that I needed to check on the weather both on today’s route and in the local area too.
We were still on course for snow on our journey according to the TV and although it was nice and dry outside, it was -4 degrees.
After breakfast I gave Violet her breakfast, which was good fun. I loved dishing her food into her very eager mouth. That baby as a constant smile on her face, even when she’s suffering from a cold, like she is just now.
After saying our goodbyes, we set off for our drive south at around 8:15 am.
The road was quiet and we got around Newcastle without hindrance.
We made such good progress that we stopped for a look around the Angel of the North.
It’s been a few years since we last called in and it was nice to see her.
I had to wait until a film crew moved on before I could get a photograph of her. It was something to do with the Postcode Lottery and they even had the cheek to ask Wendy to stay out of their shot!
While all this was going on I had a look around and I found that an impromptu shrine has grown up in a small wood at the bottom of the Angel. What a disgusting mess it looks, apparently, it’s a shrine to deceased loved ones, but its not very well kept. In fact it all looks a little tawdry to me!
Here are some Angel facts:
After our brief stop we carried on south and I was surprised that the SatNav took us down the A1, through the roadworks adjacent to the M62 and over the M18 to the M1.
The snow started just as we entered North Yorkshire and it started to get a little thicker as we drove south.
We had delays at the roadworks near the M62 and then some more at the M18 junction with the M1.
Our first stop was in Sutton-in-Ashfield at just after 1:30 pm where we bagged our first Wetherspoons Bar of the day, the Picture House.
By now the snow had turned to slush as it so often does when a warm front from the south west meets cold air from the north, and the pavements were tricky and messy to navigate.
We parked in Morrisons carpark and there was a small shopping centre next door where there were three amazing sculptures, here’s what we later found out about them:
“Harold Larwood and the Bodyline Series
Outside Kirkby in Ashfield library are 3 bronze cricketer statues which re-create a scene from the infamous 1932-33 cricketing Bodyline Series.
The bowler is Harold Larwood MBE, the batsman is the Australian cricketer Sir Donald Bradman and the cricketer fielding is William Voce. The statues were installed to celebrate the Kirkby area’s unique contribution to English cricket.
There is a bronze plaque next to each of the cricketers, with the following quotations:
Sir Donald Bradman
"Undoubtedly body-line was a reaction against the dominance of the bat over the ball... But it was the wrong remedy. Killing the patient is not the way to cure his disease"
Harold Larwood
"Down the mine I dreamed of cricket; I bowled imaginary balls in the dark; I sent the stumps spinning and heard them rattling in the tunnels. No mishap was going to stop me from bowling in the real game, especially this one."
William Voce
"We're not a bad side ... and if we don't beat you, we'll knock your bloody blocks off."
The statues were created by renowned bronze sculptors David Annand (Voce and Bradman) and Neale Andrew (Harold Larwood).
The artwork incorporates a ‘wicket ‘area between the batsman and bowler and lettering carved into the stonework to commemorate the Bodyline Series. The diagonal lines of the stone paving illustrate the line of the ball of Bodyline bowling.”
It was a brilliant find!!!
The bar was nice and welcoming and after a drink we headed to our next bag, The Regency in Kirby-in-Ashfield. Strangely both bars had previously been Cinemas in days long gone by.
Again, this bar was quite welcoming, and it was very pleasantly warm.
Back in the car, we were four miles from our Travelodge and we were parked up, checked in, bags dropped and exploring Mansfield by 3:45 pm.
The slush was still a nuisance but we found the town to be a very agreeable Northern market town with a mainly pedestrian town centre. With the weather being what it was we were likely not seeing the town at its best, but it did have a nice homely feel to it.
After trawling the streets, we called into the last of our Wetherspoon bags, The Stag and Pheasent where we had our supper, and what a delight it was.
I had a very nice chicken pasta, and Wendy had a spicy meat feast pizza with a portion of chips.
The place was that nice that we stayed and had an additional small glass of wine.
While walking around town I was interested to see a very high railway viaduct running directly over the town centre.
Built in 1875, Mansfield Viaduct is a prime example of Victorian engineering, sweeping through and above the town, carried by 15 huge arches of rough-hewn stone.
The Grade II listed landmark, which is 240 metres long and 25 metres high, dominates the town’s skyline. At night, all 15 arches, spanning Church Street and Market Street, are floodlit, which turns it into a real local attraction.
What another excellent find, I think it makes the town somewhat unique and very interesting!
At 7:30 pm, with Wendy nodding in bed I grabbed my coat and walked, as far as I could the entire viaduct, and what a stunning construction it is, it was well worth coming to Mansfield just to find it!
210 Miles
Motorway Madness
I slept well last night and I could have got out of bed at 5:30 am but I forced myself to sleep for another hour. I wished I hadn’t because I had the maddest of mad dreams. I have completely forgotten now but they did seem very real for about ten minutes after I had woken up.
I was up in time for the 7:00 am news and I had a nice cup of tea along with a breakfast bar.
It occurred to me last night exactly what town I was in and after a little Googling I found out exactly where my planned running route would take me.
It had been raining overnight, which was a good thing because all of the slush from yesterday’s snow had gone.
I ran along a dual carriageway and then out of town, I was looking for a road called Berry Hill Lane and I found it at just after 1.5 miles and then I located my objective bang on 2 miles.
It was the headquarters buildings of the Union of Democratic Miners which was formed at the end of the 1984 / 1985 mining dispute.
The headquarters building I believe was originally the old National Union of Mineworkers Union and it used to be on TV on a nightly basis at the beginning of the 1984 national coal mining strike.
I’m not going to go into it all, but I was involved in the dispute.
The reason for their prominence in the strike was because there was no national ballot of one man one vote, for or against a national strike. Consequently Nottinghamshire miners did not immediately come out on strike when they were picketed by Yorkshire Miners.
Things got very nasty very quickly and a lot of violence against the working miners occurred.
The Notts miners got organised and had their own county wide ballot on whether to join the strike or not and the outcome was that they would not go out on strike. The ballot was an overwhelming majority vote against joining the strike and from then to the very end of the strike the vast majority of Notts coal miners continued to work and the county kept producing thousands of tonnes of coal per day.
At the end of the strike the Notts miners broke away from the NUM and formed their own union and the building that I had found became their headquarters.
After a good look around the building I ran a further mile and then returned by the same route.
The weather had now turned very mizzle like and I was glad to get back to the hotel.
After my shave and shower we took a walk into town to go to the butcher’s shop to get grandad some pork pies. As the butcher had a note on the window which we saw last night saying that he only takes cash I got £30.00 out of a cash point.
We got to the butchers and we bought 3 large pork pies for £12 and as we hope to have a barbeque on Saturday, I was going to buy 7 large pork chops, some pork belly slices and then some burgers. Just as I was placing my order it came to me that I only had £18 left, so I had to be cagey with my purchase, much to the amusement of the lady teller who completely mixed up what I said and made a bit of a pig’s ear of my purchase. Anyway, I did get 6 chops and two pork belly slices and with the 3 pork pies the bill came to £26.50, so thankfully we had enough cash.
With the car packed we headed off and I was interested to see where the SatNav would take us, would it be the M1 or the A1, it was the M1.
The road was fine, but it was raining really hard so I kept my speed down to 63ish miles per hour, some cars were going considerably faster and they were weaving in and out of traffic like idiots.
We scoffed a quarter of pork pie each, mine being covered in lashings of brown sauce, it was an utter delight but I ended up covered in crumbs for the rest of the journey.
At one point of the drive, as we entered the north of the south, we found the north bound carriageway completely closed to traffic. There had been a very bad accident at around 5:00 am and the road was still closed at that time.
There were further delays on the northbound side, one which I measured at just over 3 miles, but thankfully we kept going.
At about 6 miles from the M25 junction the SatNav very suddenly told me to get off and from there we found ourselves in north London and crossing the Thames by the Blackwall Tunnel.
The traffic at this point was congested but the delay wasn’t too bad.
Out from the tunnel and the speed increased and we were soon heading towards the Isle of Sheppey
Wendy nipped into the Morrisons store for some wine and soon after we were nicely settled in at Grannies.
I fancied a pint of nice ale so I walked down to the nearby Micro Pub, The Heritage where I had a very nice pint of dark real ale, it was bloody lovely.
Back at grannies and I had a light supper of pork pie and piccalilli, brie cheese, crisps, French bread and English mustard and it was a little treat.
Grandad is hoping to be able to watch Notts County v Gillingham, his favourite team playing his local team in a division 2 game. Apparently, its on YouTube, I do hope that I can find it for him!
No Travelling
BBQ Disaster!
I had another good nights sleep and woke at 6:30 am but with sleeping on an airbed I didn’t want to get up as it would have woken Wendy, so I just laid there until 7:00 am.
I say an airbed, but it’s quite a well-designed airbed, it has a headboard and is well off the floor, it even has an internal electric air pump. Granny has it so that when she isn’t hosting, she can collapse it and make more room in the bedroom. Its just perfect for the job.
It was a fairly nice clear and mild morning with very little breeze.
Today would be the first time I have run a six-mile route on the Island and I thought I had it cracked. I ran up to Minster and then down the cliffs where I ran into a Parkrun. Actually, its not a park run as it only goes up and down the Leas, but it is a registered Parkrun with all the safeguarding that is assured in a Parkrun event.
For more info follow this link:
home | The Leas parkrun, Minster | The Leas parkrun, Minster
The run is 5 kilometres long and I have accidently joined the Locke Park Parkrun before and both that and the Leas Parkrun have officials at the finish line to guide you through their contraflow so that you can claim your official time. Every time it happens I get strange looks as I just run past them. Surely other people not taking park in the Parkrun do it as well because on non Parkrun days I often see other people jogging along.
I thought I had my distance cracked by cutting off from the sea wall and returning through what’s called Marine Town. Marine Town is a residential area consisting of mainly terraced housing to the west of the town centre. By the time I got back to the house I had done almost 7 miles, I’ll try to shave it a little shorter when I next run it.
I got back to the house and had myself a lovely smoothie and just before my shower I took a look at grannies’ toilet as she told me that it had been leaking on the floor for some time.
The toilet cistern is enclosed in a purpose-built cabinet and when I took the lid off, I immediately saw what the problem was. The cistern is manufactured from hard plastic and it should have a small entry door fitted to it. The door had fallen off and was on the floor of the cabinet. Consequently, when the cistern was flushed water coming out of the outlet pipe was splashing out from where the door should have been.
I detail all this for a very good reason, and the reason is that whenever I need any repair of work at my house I try to do it all myself. The plumber who put grannie’s toilet in hadn’t been bothered to put the cable from the flush handle through the designated hole instead they put it in the easiest position for themselves. Therefore, the little door could not be seated properly and had fallen off as a result. I cut a small hole in the door and refitted it and seated it properly and its now fine. Wendy mopped up the water as best she could and I left the top off for it to eventually dry out.
I then attempted to change a rear light bulb in the car but was thwarted as I need a special screw head which I have in my shed at home, but unfortunately not in my tool kit.
At around 1:30 pm Alex, Robyn and the girls arrived.
Not long after Robyn and her mob arrived when Lily, Michael and Joy came along too. It was nice because Joy is 2 years old like Rose and they got along like a house on fire.
As Alex, granddad and me were watching the Scotland rugby match in the kitchen, Michael came and joined us.
I lit the barbeque at half time and by halfway through the second half of the rugby I started to cook the pork that we bought in Mansfield.
Grandads barbeque cannot be adjusted, temperature wise, so it was a big mistake of me to take my eye off the ball by being distracted indoors.
I knew I was pushing it but when I took Rose out with me as she wanted to see me cooking, the entire barbie was alight in flames. Rose loved the drama but I was worried I was going to set fire to grandads nicely plastic covered outdoor seating area.
Thankfully I got things under control and I did manage to scrape a fair bit of the burnt areas away with a very sharp nice. Actually, it didn’t take half bad with a little dose of ketchup and English mustard.
I was just dishing up when Alex told me about a TMO decisions that was imminent, and the rest is history as they say.
After gulping my supper down and saying my goodbyes I walked about ¾ of a mile along the road to watch the England game in a nearby pub, the Harps Inn.
The pub is a very large establishment with a completely open plan area which consists of an open tap room with a pool table, a darts board and a large wall mounted TV.
The rest is all restaurant area with one little open snug where a large family gathering was taking place for a 9-year-olds birthday, I knew this because of the balloons.
During the match a couple of men were vaping, not close to me but they still gave me the hump and I was going to pull them but I thought I would check with Google. And I’m glad I did check because vaping in an English pub is a legal activity, its disgusting and it smells, but it’s completely legal. I think a change in the law is needed in this respect.
During the second half some fellas were having a game of doubles at the pool table. Their language was absolutely disgusting, and there were children sat not far away. They were shouting the most disgusting language and they again gave me the right hump. Now I’m no shrinking violet when it comes to language, after all I was a coal miner. But there’s a time and a place, not in public and certainly not in front of woman and children. The bar staff did nothing about it and it could very clearly be heard, jeepers they were shouting at the top of their voices.
Thankfully, by the tightest of margins, England beat Wales, but it was a very tense last ten minutes, but at least I walked home a very happy man!
No Travelling
Sunday Roast!
We both woke up and were wide awake at 6:00 am this morning and it was already getting light outside. We lingered in bed until 6:30 am when I got up and made tea and toast for me and tea for Wendy which we had in bed.
I opened the front door and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t raining. My weather app had a temperature of 7 degrees and it was supposed to be raining, heavily!
Wendy got dressed for running first and went straight out, as I wear a lot more clothing it takes me ten minutes longer. As I was filling my water bottle from the outside tap I then found out that the rain had come, and it was pouring down.
I had my tracky bottoms on and in rain, when they get wet they start to fall down. I gave it ten minutes and the rain had slowed a little but it was still coming down.
That’s when I thought, “Bugger it!”, and went out as I was. I was going to change into shorts but I decided to be frivolous and go as I was.
I got to Queenborough Corner and would you believe the rain had stopped and it was quite a pleasant morning.
I got to Queenborough Creek, which was at low tide and all the boats were settled in the mud. I took a photo and as I turned around I saw an amazing tribute bench.
I just made up the word tribute bench as I have no idea what I should call them, but its where family members put out a bench in recognition of their deceased family members.
I might have mentioned before that the run along the Leas is littered with them, and some of them are quite tacky.
But not this one, this one was a very good production, it was just a simple bench with no trinkets, artificial flowers or long rotten flowers, it is dedicated to Thomas James Allsworth!
I got back to the house and after my cool down I had a most delightful banana smoothie.
I then completed my morning routine by brushing my teeth, shaving and finally showering.
I did some home admin work and checked all of the details for tomorrow’s trip to France. There is so much to double check these days, what with advanced passenger details now a intercountry requirement and Airbnb instructions I like to be fully prepared before I even load up the car.
What to do for dinner today was the main concern for Wendy Gill this morning, but I told her I would have everything in hand as I had a plan.
As I was digging out the cooking utensils that I would need for today’s dining extravaganza, I actually spent most of this time rummaging around the kitchen equipment that is currently under cover outside, so I didn’t see Poppy and her six month old son, Luca, arrive.
He’s a smashing little fella and he is granny and grandads first great grandson.
As there was still a small leak on the toilet I needed to obtain some mastic to finally seal the job once and for all. Thankfully granddad had a mastic gun in his shed so all I needed was a tube of the stuff.
So I set off with several tasks to perform:
I decided on a small beef roasting joint, roast potatoes, Brussel sprouts, carrots and Yorkshire puddings. Sadly, I had to concede to shop bought frozen Yorkshire puddings as the kitchen being what it currently is I would have had some real hassle making my own puds, but I guess needs must and all that.
I got everything I needed at Tesco’s, Morrisons and finally Home Bargains.
I got back to a lounge full of mums, dads and babies as Robyn and her gang had arrived and so had Lily and hers too. So with Luca still present that meant the granny had 4 of her great grandchildren to adore.
I hung around the lounge for about 20 minutes and I saw the older girls having a tea party and then get themselves dressed up in a range of fancy dress costumes ranging from a fairy princess to Eeyore the donkey.
I asked Alex if he fancied a drink at the Micro pub and he thought it an excellent idea, it was a shame but the two other dads declined our invitation.
The bar had only one customer so we had the full attention of the bar maid who allowed me to sample my beer before I made a choice. Alex asked for, and this is a strange one, a pint of Pina Colada cider. Well I never, and do you know what, it tasted exactly how a pina colada would taste.
We chatted with the barmaid and took a glass of red wine each before we headed back home.
I set about the task of making Sunday dinner while everyone else was still enjoying the girl’s antics in the lounge, however both Lily and Poppy had left by now and it was just Robyn and her girls still left holding the fort.
Actually, I enjoyed the challenge of making a full roast dinner under wartime conditions and everything seemed to go according to plan.
During cooking I asked granny and grandad if they knew of Thomas James Allsworth, the fellow with the bench dedicated to him and they did, apparently he owned a factory on the island, granny remembered this and I found it too on a Google search as well.
Alex, Robyn and the girls left just as dinner was in mid production and they were away to have an evening meal with Lily, Michael and Joy at their hotel.
I continued with dinner production and I did a fair bit of moving around as I had nowhere to put anything, but I have to admit, as, in fairness, everyone else did admit, I had pulled off a blinder, dinner was a quadruple delight!
Washing up and putting everything back where it should be was a bit of a challenge, but by 6:30 pm we had everything turned around.
I’m just about to silicon the toilet cistern and then its early to bed for me tonight as I have a short break on the continent starting tomorrow!
Halfway to The Channel Tunnel – 47 Miles
Channel Tunnel – 32 Miles
Calais to Camiers - 35 Miles
France!!!
I woke with my alarm at 5:50 am, but I had been wide awake at 4:30 am and I was just dozing.
I was straight out of bed and had the kettle and the toaster on in minutes.
I took my tea and toast in bed and then dressed for running and out I went on the dot of 7:00 am and it was very nicely light. As I ran up towards Minster I could see the morning sun starting to rise as there was a beautiful red sky.
I ran over the cliffs again but I was more careful on the slippery paths, I just didn’t fancy going over the edge.
I got back to the house and sat down on granny’s bench by the front door and despite it being a lovely bright start to the day, it started to rain. Thankfully it didn’t last long and soon enough the sky cleared.
I had forgot to get bananas while I was out shopping yesterday so for breakfast, I had pork pie and Branston pickle. It was the very last 1/8th of pie and I thought what the eck!
Actually, with a nice cup of hot tea it was a little Monday treat.
I got showered by 9:30 am and soon the car was packed and after saying goodbye to granny and grandad we were soon heading along the A249 towards Maidstone where we picked up the M20, which then took us all the way to the Channel Tunnel.
Originally, we didn’t have any plans to visit France again after our summer caravan tour but after the debacle on the French side of the Channel Tunnel on the 31st July, when we were coming home, I received a £250 complementary travel voucher so I put it to good use whilst visiting granny in Kent.
Check in was a doddle, in fact has we had time we set off early and as soon as my car registration brought up my booking, I was offered a train 1 hour and 20 minutes early, with, get this, boarding in 1 minute.
We were on the train in no time and as I settled in my seat just as we set off Wendy Gill made a most unpleasant smell in the car, she had started to varnish her nails. Wow, what a pong it made, I was almost high on the fumes. It was so bad that I had to leave the car and stand outside in the train carriageway. She did apologise, “I didn’t think it would be that bad” was her excuse, but she carried on non the less!
The Channel Tunnel is amazing as you now have a 3G mobile signal all the way through, so I could listen to the Jeremey Vine Radio Show much to Wendys dismay, well she did varnish her nails!
As soon as we were off the train, we were heading south for 35 miles to our destination, a small Commune called Camiers which is just around a 40-minute drive from Calais.
We now have 3 nights at a lovely Airbnb apartment and we are really close to the beach. Check in was a doddle as the host sent some really accurate instructions on how to find and get into the apartment.
And, it’s a little cracker too, its small but it’s well equipped and cosy, and very nicely located.
After we had packed and settled in, we took a long walk on the very beautiful beach. The tide had been very high but it had just turned so we could walk along a most beautiful sandy and solid beach.
The sun was beaming in the sky, there was only a very slight breeze and it was 11 degrees centigrade. I had my parka coat on and I was very nicely warm.
The beach went on and on and has we were walking in a northerly direction we came across what I think was a German WWII pillbox which was part of the Atlantikwall.
The Atlantikwall was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticipated Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe from the United Kingdom, during World War II.
I climbed inside and looked out through the main hole which pointed northwards along the beach. However, in a higher section, that I had to scramble into, because the external metal ladder had corroded away, I found a circular hole in the roof that gave stunning views out over the English Channel, how on earth did they miss the Normandy Armada?
After our beech walk, we jumped into the car and drove to the nearby Intermarche where we bought enough supplies to last 3 weeks let alone 3 days. Well, the fruit and veg looks so fresh in French supermarkets, the meat too.
We decided on a little tapa of French bread, olives, anchovies, fish balls, brie cheese and crunchy pate for supper.
Before supper though I just had to have a couple of glasses of very nice white wine in a small café close to the beach, jeepers the wine was lovely.
Supper was an utter delight and the apartment is perfect, the village is nice, the beach extensive and nearby towns also very interesting, it looks like it’s going to be a very nice few days on the continent!
No Travelling
I slept really well last night, however I did hear Wendy squeal at around 4:30 as she was going to the bathroom. The apartments front door opens into a tiny hall where the bath room door is facing you. On this door is a full-length mirror and it did give me a fright when I saw myself in it as I first opened the door when we first arrived. Well Wendy caught sight of herself in this mirror in the low light and scared herself silly, hence the squeal.
We slept with the shutters closed last night and it was brilliant. We have electrical shutters on the kitchen and main room windows and they make the room totally dark when they are closed.
We woke at 7:00 am and it was just getting light outside.
For some reason I cannot download BBC Sounds on the old phone I am using for running, but I can on my main phone, which is strange because I use the same VPN on both phones. I have to use my old phone for listening to music because I left my ear buds at home and traditional ear phones won’t work on an i-Phone 8. Anyway, I overcame this difficulty by blue toothing my old phone to my main phone and then listening to Owain Win Evans as a live broadcast, and it worked a treat. I just love modern technology!
I ran a full three miles along the beach this morning and there was still loads of beach left when I came to my three mile turnaround point.
I also came across some more Pill Box’s; they seem to have a distance of 2 kilometres between them.
The scourge of beach running is the small drainage rivers you have to cross, you may be able to jump a few but not many were jumpable today. I had to just take the plunge and get my feet wet, it was just like the Highland Cross, you try to keep dry but sooner or later you just have to put up running with wet feet.
As I came back to the village there were about a half dozen sand yachts enjoying the slight breeze. The beach here is famous for sand yachting and there is a local club where visitors are encouraged to come and have a go, here’s what their website says:
“The area is ideal for the practice of sand yachting. The club welcomes you to one of the most beautiful sites on the Opal Coast, all year round.
At your disposal, a friendly team, efficient equipment and a breathtaking spot. Between the Bay of Canche and Equihen, there are 15 km’s of playground.
I got back to the apartment and as I suspected the water here in Camiers is just as hard as it is on Sheppey. Try as I might I could not get a lather when I was shaving.
Just as I was about to jump into the shower Wendy said, “Good luck with the smallest shower in the world”.
Jeepers it was a tight squeeze, I only just fitted in!
After a cup of coffee, we set off to explore the nearby coastal town, Le Touquet.
Le Touquet was only 9 miles away and is a vastly bigger place then the small village we are staying at. It took a while to park because for some reason none of the car park machines would accept any of my credit cards, so we ended up parking on a residential street.
Again, the beach is massive and although the tide was fairly well out some people were kite surfing.
First up we walked along the prom and it was a little chilly with the breeze but nothing really to get upset about. We were amazed at the number of high-rise apartments that all had their shutters closed. Surely the residents aren’t sat in the dark with the lights on, they must have been holiday homes or holiday lets.
When we got to the end of the prom we turned inland and we found a very pleasant town with a very nice range of shops. I bought a bottle of mango juice from a delicatessen which I think will go very nicely with a drop of vodka.
We strolled around this lovely little town and it was very pleasant, in all we walked over 4 miles and we got a very nice feel of the place. Jeepers there were some very impressive residential homes and there were a lot with very nice thatched roofs.
For a town of its size there weren’t many people out and about, thereby giving more credence to my thoughts about many apartments being linked to holidays
Despite the beach and the nice town though I still like the village we are staying, its just such a nice little place.
After a good couple of hours in the town we walked back to the car and drove the short distance to the small town of Etaples.
Etaples is at the point where the River Canche meets the sea estuary and is a small quiet place.
It didn’t take long to cover the streets and after stopping off at a supermarket we got back in the car and carried on.
The next stop was an accidental find, it was a war cemetery we passed on our outward route.
During the First World War, the area around Etaples was the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals.
The cemetery contains 10,771 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, the earliest dating from May 1915. 35 of these burials are unidentified.
Hospitals were again stationed at Etaples during the Second World War and the cemetery was used for burials from January 1940 until the evacuation at the end of May 1940. After the war, a number of graves were brought into the cemetery from other French burial grounds. Of the 119 Second World War burials, 38 are unidentified.
The cemetery at Etaples is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in France.
We strolled around the graves and it was a very sobering occasion, all those poor young men killed and the misery and sorrow it caused for their families. It made me think that any world leader considering starting a war, or thinking about a nice little invasion, they should be made to visit a war cemetery and if that doesn’t put them off doing so, then we really are all doomed!
At 5:30 pm we walked over to the café for a glass of wine and it was rather nice, but it had started to rain by the time we walked back to the apartment.
I was cooking a very nice piece of sausage while listening to BBC radio 2 when the news broke that Steve Wright had died, Sara Cox did brilliantly following on and starting her show, but poor Bobby Prior was in bits reading her travel report, Steve used to call her, “The Bobbster” for as many years as I can remember, I was gutted as Bobby nearly had me bawling!
Supper was a very nice, end of tapas, tapas but with a couple of pieces of sliced pork which I took with a very nice red wine Ju that I made by mixing hot red wine with HP Brown sauce and English Mustard, what a winning combination it was.
The washing ups now done, its now almost 7:00 pm here, 6:00 pm in the UK and I think I’ll sit back and listen to Sara Cox who is doing a sterling job despite her heartbreak!
No Travelling
Valentines Day!
I went out for a short walk last night. I went down to the beach and in the darkness, I listened to the roar of the sea has it rolled in along the sand, it was quite nice. Looking out toward Blighty I could not see a thing, there weren’t any lights visible. But looking north I could clearly see the lights of Boulonge and to the south, the lights of Le Touquet.
Walking back the village was as quiet as a morgue, not a soul was out walking or even driving.
I got back to the apartment and we sat and listened to the Jo Whiley Radio show and then went to bed and fell asleep listing to the jazz show.
During the last years of my fire service career, I had a Ford S-Max car and above my head, in the middle, was a dropdown spectacle holder.
Driving to work 14th February one year, I was almost at the office when I got a text message from my daughter, Robyn, who was at University in Aberdeen. I was sat at the traffic lights so I read the text and it said, “Open your glasses holder”, which I did and to my delight a little note and a small chocolate sweet dropped out. The note said, “Happy Valentines”, I still have the note.
Well bugger me if she did not get me again when I was with her this weekend. After we arrived in France, when we were just unpacking the car at the apartment, I put on my parka coat. I put my car keys in my pocket and as I did so I noticed something in the pocket. I couldn’t fathom what it was by feeling it so I pulled it out of my pocket and found out that it was a small bunch of chocolate coins. I knew exactly where they had come from, I got a message this morning to tell me to share them with her mum!
The weather this morning wasn’t good, it was raining and overcast, it didn’t look good out and that did for Wendy, she wasn’t going out running in that.
I did but I gave the beach a miss instead I ran through to the next village and got wet through. Thankfully the rain had slowed down by the time I got back.
I had a lovely banana smoothie when I got back and then a nice shower and then soon we were heading north to the town of Boulogne.
I have been to Boulogne before and I remember it as a vibrant and cosmopolitan town and I was interested how it would be today.
The weather was still a little bleak, there were periods of rain, mizzle and then it would stop for a while and start again.
We were lucky to get a parking spot on a road within the walled area of the town. Jeepers the street was tight and Wendy had to get out as I needed to park very tight to a buildings wall. Just as I was getting my coat on an elderly lady parked behind me. I could hear her coming along as she was scraping her right-hand side tyres against the pavement. Well she struggled to reverse the car and it eventually got left with about a foot more then my car sticking out, so at least she gave me some protection. I chuckled to see that her right-hand wing mirror had been taken off!
We stopped in the Cathedral first up and my first impression was that it was very, very cold inside. It was a nice enough building and it did have a magnificent domed roof. Wendy was strolling along and I was stopped by a dishevelled looking man of African appearance. He reeled off a statement in French and I told him that I didn’t speak French. He switched to English and asked me to give him £10. He had a nasty look about him but I told him I didn’t have any money. He said again give me £10 and then I looked into is face fully and said no, he walked off in a bit of an angry state and was chuntering. I saw him a little later tap up a couple who were looking at the dome.
I didn’t remember from my previous visit, which was many years ago, that Boulogne had a walled section, but sure enough it has. Its not big mind, we walked all along the wall top, along the Charles Dickens footpath and that was just less than a mile all the way around.
The path that runs to the top of the ramparts and offers a bucolic place for a walk, as well as a popular view of the city, also reflects the evolution of the fortifications in the 16th century. It is now a very popular place for people and tourists to walk, and has been redeveloped and now bears the name of "Promenade Charles Dickens", a reference to the link between the city and the 19th century English writer who spent three summers in Boulogne between 1854 and 1856.
The rain was on and off again but thankfully it wasn’t windy or cold.
We made our way down to the port area where the River Liane meets the sea.
We walked along the dock path and found our way to the beach. The walk must have been a mile long and I saw no boats or ferries crossing and the docks across the water all looked to be rundown and not operating.
I remember from a visit to Folkstone in 2016 that the ferries from that port had now stopped sailing because there just wasn’t the demand anymore after the channel tunnel had opened.
The town was really then rundown and I was wondering if that was the same for Boulogne?
We walked back in to the town centre and we stopped for a rest and a glass of wine in a lovely little café bar. Wendy had a glass of white wine and I had a lovely glass of red.
While there I Googled the ferry situation and I was right, passenger and car ferries no longer operate between Kent and Boulogne. Sadley, like Folkstone the ports demise is also reflected in so much that Boulogne is now very run down.
After our drink we walked back to the car and headed back to the apartment.
At 5:30 pm we walked across to the café where we have been having a daily glass of wine, but the place was locked tight, maybe they have a Valentine date tonight.
Never mind I cooked a delightful steak supper with a prawn’s cocktail, with a guess what’s on the shelf sauce, which turned out to be a very nice caviar type thing that seemed to work perfectly.
We do have pudd from the local baker but I am guessing that might be tomorrows breakfast!
Back to Blighty tomorrow!
Camiers to The Channel Tunnel, via Calais – 44 Miles
Channel Tunnel – 32 Miles
Channel Tunnel to Halfway, via Folkstone & Dover - 63 Miles
Back to Blighty!
We watched a Micky Flanagan show last night, jeepers I nearly split my sides. I nearly died with laughter; he was that funny. His language is pretty choice, but it is all in context.
I had to use the VPN set to the USA so that I could use Netflix USA, how smart was that then?
I was up at 6:30 am and didn’t mess about getting ready, I had tea and a part of an almond croissant which I then had another part as it was just so yummy. I was dressed smartish and out by 7:15 am.
I was getting going because we had to vacate the apartment by 10:00 am, well actually that wasn’t strictly true because our host did send a cryptic message last night implying we could leave a little later, but I just wanted to make sure I was ready.
I ran along the road again as it was still quite dark and I got back at around 8:45 am.
I finished the almond croissant with more tea and then had my very unsoapy shave and finally a shower.
Wendy had put my running gear in for a wash and it was still going by the time I was dressed. That was fine as it was only just approaching 10:00 am.
She had a little difficulty getting the machine door open, it’s been like it all the time, and she thought that she had put the machine on an empty cycle, but it started a full programme all over again. Jeepers she was cross with herself, I had to tell her to calm herself down 4 or 5 times because it was just an accident, and she meant well anyway.
I used this time to take the bags down to the car, set the SatNav and then take the rubbish to the dump point.
Now here’s the thing, Bradley, my son and his family live on a brand new, modern housing estate and there are some new flats there too where they have a communal bin. When the wind gets up, because some people are lazy and leave the bin lid up, litter gets blown all over the place, it was the same when Robyn had her flat in Aberdeen. The place was constantly scruffy looking.
The French however, in these circumstances, have rubbish points where you put your waste, and all your recycling down a chute which obviously goes underground. I don’t know how they unload the rubbish but the area around them are all perfectly clean.
I got back to the apartment and the machine was still going, and Wendy was still cross with herself, so we took a walk to the beach. It was a cracking day and it was rather warm, at 13 degrees.
We walked back and the machine was still going.
I did a little photo management on my phone and then the machine went onto its rinse cycle.
About 15 minutes later the machine was on its spin cycle.
I had been down to the car to do something and when I got back Wendy said its finished but I can’t get the door open, but I haven’t touched the buttons! I gave the door handle a little tug and it wasn’t moving, with the time fast approaching 11:00 am I gave it an almighty pull and it opened, phew!
We were soon in the car heading north to the Channel Tunnel.
The roads were very quiet and we were pulling into the carpark at Euro City shopping centre at around midday.
We stopped at the first shop, a children’s clothing store, and bought four garments for our four granddaughters.
We meandered around the centre with my main intention to buy some cheaper whiskey. I was gob smacked when the price in the supermarket was much more than at home, it was a real turn up for the books, but then I thought that I seemed to remember something about an EU whisky tax!
We called in to Calais to get grandad a baguette for him to have with the cheese we were bringing him back. I also bought a mango drink from a supermarket, I was very interested in it because it had nice chunks of mango in it. It was lovely, every gulp I took I got a nice bite of mango with it.
I could not believe the weather, the temperature was 19 degrees, the sun was out and it was very warm. I was walking around with my jumper sleeves rolled up, it was a really nice day and its only 15th February, deep winter!!!
We got to the tunnel and managed to get a train an hour earlier than our allocated time and after parking up we took a walk to the duty-free shop.
I bought a litre of rum for £13, which was a good bargain but again the whiskey was far more expensive than at home.
We boarded the train at exactly 3:00 pm, European time.
The train set off at exactly 3:18 pm, bang on time.
I have to say though that the train was bumping all over the place, I mean it was really bumpy. I was trying to use my laptop and my fingers were all over the place.
We arrived bang on time too, and after disembarking we drove 8 miles to Folkestone so that we could bag the local Wetherspoon. We found it easily and had a swift half before moving onto Dover where after another 8 miles we bagged the bar there too. I’ve pretty much bagged all of Kent now, well The Man of Kent part anyway!
As we drove along the coastal road between the two towns the road gets very high along the white cliffs and we could clearly see the French coast, jeepers it did look close and I could see how someone might be tempted to hop into a dingy to get across.
We got to grannies at 5:30 pm and I gave grandad his cheese and the French bread, he was delighted and had a nice helping for his supper, as I did too!
No Travelling
Busy Day!
I didn’t have such a good sleep last night waking up at 4:30 am and not really getting back to sleep for another 45 minutes. I eventually got up at 5:50 am and made tea for me and Wendy and jammy toast just for me.
Wendy went out running first and then I was out by exactly 7:00 am.
My intention was to run down to Queenborough, along the coastal path and up Sheerness High Street and back to grannies in the shortest distance possible so that I would be keeping to my 6 miles daily limit.
The weather was fine, there had been a little mizzle but that had cleared and it was a really mild morning.
I got back to grannies with my mileage at 6.39 miles so I had shaved 0.14 of a mile from the last time I ran this route, and it will not go any lower unless I run through someone’s garden.
When I got back grandad gave me the bad news that the washing machine wasn’t working and that Wendy was going to ask me to mend it. It didn’t take long, I had my tool box with me and my mains tester so I was going to be safe. It didn’t take me long to find the fault, a 3 amp fuse had been left in the extension cable and this had blown. Thankfully being a good scout, I keep some spare fuses in my tool box.
I had to have a slice of toast again with my morning cuppa as I had forgotten to get any bananas.
Granny wanted a UBS double socket fitting in the bedroom, as she is very IT minded these days. I said I could do that so after my shower we all jumped into the car and headed down to B&M, that trusted DIY store where you can get almost anything.
While granny and the posse were browsing the store I nipped to the electrical section and managed to snaffle the last double USB socket in white.
After granny had had a nice browse and had selected a few items to buy, we headed back to the car but as I saw a Poundland store I nipped in while everyone climbed in the car.
I found what I needed in seconds and made a good purchase.
The car is going for its MOT on Monday 26th and there seems to be a temperamental rear light that keeps giving an intermittent fault. The trouble was I needed a torx screw head which I have at home, but not in my tool box.
Torx screwdrivers have become increasingly popular as they have a distinctive 6-point star shaped head which mates perfectly with an appropriately sized screw head. The unique torx design means that there is less likelihood that the screw head will be stripped or the screwdriver damaged, the trouble is finding a torx screwdriver isn’t so easy, but thankfully I managed to get what I needed.
We got back to the house and I set about fitting the new socket and I had it all wired up in next to know time but sadly the back box which the electrical socket fits into was not deep enough to take the thicker USB unit, which was a real bummer as I now needed to find a spacer to make it fit.
We had a 12:00 noon appointment at the recycle centre as there was still some old kitchen unit items and cardboard from the new kitchen that needed disposing of. I had booked the car in last night, as it’s a requirement of Sheerness Council. The council website said that we could only take two black bin liners of stuff and anymore would require us to pay £7.50 per additional bag.
We threw caution to the wind and filled the car almost to the top.
Before we went, I googled an electrical supply shop in the hope of finding a spacer for the USB socket and I found one on the High Street, and as we were ten minutes early for the recycle centre I called in to but the lady sales assistant had no idea what I wanted, which wasn’t very good for an electrical shop. Two other hardware stores that sell electrical items didn’t know what I wanted either, I thought that I might need to go off the island to Wickes, on a Friday afternoon, which isn’t a good idea.
As it was after midday by the time I got back to the car we went straight to the recycle centre and emptied the car without any hassle whatsoever. Actually, there were three council workers on site, stood together chatting and they never did a thing, apart from chat amongst themselves. Maybe a time and motion study wouldn’t go amiss at this site.
Just before we left the site I googled looking for any other electrical stores and as look would have it I found one not far away.
I parked up and went inside the shop where I was met by the jolliest young woman you would ever like to meet behind a counter and she knew exactly what I wanted and had her hand on it in a minute, she was such a bright and cheerful young woman, she was a treat.
We got back to grannies and I had the socket sorted out and looking ship shape and Bristol fashion pretty smartish.
After a coffee I did another google search, “How do I change a rear light bulb in a 2017 Skoda Yeti”, I didn’t believe it, there was a YouTube programme that told me, within 3 minutes, exactly how to do it. Had I not done so I would have been very wary of doing it because after I had taken the two torx screws out I had to lever the large light cluster away from two suction caps.
I was dead chuffed by the time the light cluster was back in place.
I did a little admin in the kitchen and then we loaded the car with granny and her posse again and headed for a pub called, “The Heights of Alma”.
I haven’t been in this pub in over 30 years. Ian, Wendys youngest brother had a terraced house on Alma Street and I went in there with him a few times.
Alma Street is a residential street of terraced housing and the pub is at the far end of it.
The pub is very deceptive in relation to its size, it’s a Tardis, its small on the outside but large inside, with a large beer garden too!
Grandad and me had a pint of real ale and granny and Wendy had a glass of wine, the beer was really nice.
We got chatting to the barmaid and I clicked on her soft Geordie accent which she confirmed but she told me that has she had lived on the island for seven years she had had to soften it. We also chatted about the bar food as we are thinking of coming down for a late lunch tomorrow.
The pub has a full kitchen set up in a shed in the beer garden, its quite good actually, a really bright idea. The pub is a traditional back street pub that was never intended to serve food so was built without a kitchen, so the idea of it being placed in a shed was a terrific one.
The Battle of Alma, (September 20, 1854), victory by the British and the French in the Crimean War that left the Russian naval base of Sevastopol vulnerable and endangered the entire Russian position in the war. It is generally considered the first battle of the Crimean War.
It was a disaster in the making but it was pulled back by the bravery, or stupidity, of a British Commander who climbed the heights above Alma and fired down on the Russians, read the full story here:
Battle of Alma | Summary | Britannica
Supper was a delight made by granny, beef stew with mushrooms, peas and onion and we had it with mash, Brussel sprouts and carrots.
It was lovely!
Sarah came round with her son’s dog, Jeana and she was a lovely little dog, but sadly she wasn’t keen on Brussel sprouts!
No Travelling
Canterbury
I had a better nights sleep last night and woke, with my alarm at 6:00 am, it was a little cooler this morning at 7 degrees but thankfully it wasn’t raining.
I had my tea and toast and then got dressed for running. Wendy didn’t bother because a plumber was coming at some point early morning to fit the sink in the kitchen and the water will be turned off, most likely when we needed it to shower, but I was going to risk it.
I ran over the cliffs making sure that I was past the Leas before this morning’s park run started. I changed my route and ran down Broadway and I got my mileage down to just 6.14 miles.
By the time I got back the plumber had been but had to go to Sittingbourne to collect a part so I had time to have a smoothie, a cup of tea, shave, shower and brush my teeth without any worries.
The plumber did turn up but started fitting the sink first so I never saw any interruption to the water supply. I chatted with the plumber, he might have been a little younger than me and he was quite a nice fella, Kevin the Plumber. He told me that plumbing work had been so scarce recently that he had had to take work labouring on building sites, but that had also tailed off because sites were being mothballed because no one was buying the new houses. I told him he should seek work in Edinburgh because they are building like mad around the Millerhill area.
At around 10:30 am we drove to Canterbury, the famous Cathedral City. We had visited in 2016, while doing a tour of the south and south east with the caravan but we never went into the roads surrounding the Cathedral as you had to pay to even look at it.
The main reason to go to the city though was to bag the two Wetherspoons Bar there as that would be all the bars bagged in the south eastern area of Kent.
The drive over was just 30 miles and we were there without any problems. The problem started when we looked for somewhere to park. Jeepers Canterbury must be the hardest place to find to park in the UK, we could not find one for about 20 minutes.
Thankfully we did find one, it was busy but I did find one spot that I managed to squeeze into, I was getting in that spot come what may!
We parked close to the river and it was a little baffling as it appeared that there were two rivers, but I think it’s the way that the river is managed, or has been managed over many years so that it is not affected by tidal conditions.
The River Stour is the second longest river in Kent. It originates as the Great Stour in Lenham and flows towards and through Canterbury and then on towards the sea at Pegwell Bay. There is a Right of Navigation on the river from Canterbury to the sea. After two weirs above Fordwich, the river becomes tidal.
As soon as we entered the city, we came straight across a Wetherspoons bar, so it was immediately bagged, it was called the West Gate. It was a really old building with low ceilings, it was quite dark too, but it was busy with early diners.
We entered the walled city and found that there were some really lovely looking properties along the river side and at one point I saw what I thought was a ducking stool in the distance, here’s what I found out about it:
Canterbury’s ducking stool is most likely a late Victorian or Edwardian mock up and not the original item. Canterbury’s stool can be seen from the bridge over the Stour at the Old Weavers’ House in Canterbury’s High Street, which is from where I saw it!
We had a really good walk around the city and we came to the Cathedral and found that the area around the outside of the cathedral was free to enter. There was a sign saying entrance is free from January to March, so we entered, freely.
The Cathedral is under extensive remedial work on the outside, the place is having a dam good clean and most of it has been done and there is scaffolding only over the main entrance area now. We were going to go inside but on seeing the price, £17 each, we thought better of it. That would have been £34 for both of us, that’s a dam good night out!!!
We found the very nice and very considerate Kent War Horse, which is a simple sculpture that commemorates the many thousands of horses killed in the first world war, who most likely passed through Kent on their way to France.
We bagged the second Wetherspoons bar, which was more of a traditional pub before walking back to the car and driving home.
Sadly, the city wasn’t as historic as we thought it ought to be, and it isn’t a patch on York, but then again I would say that, but Wendy agreed with me.
As we drove over the Sheppey Crossing going back onto the island we saw a fire that looked like it was on the Isle of Grain, which is across the Medway from Sheerness Docks.
We got back to grannies house at around 2:30 pm and at 3:20 pm we loaded everyone into the car and drove into town, for granny to get money from a cash point and then to have supper in the pub, The Heights of Alma.
As soon as we got into town we could see the fire was much bigger and the smoke was blowing over the estuary.
I pulled into Tesco for granny to use the cash point and while she did so I walked up to the seawall to look at the fire as many locals were.
The fire appeared to be a metal recycling plant as I could see the Fire Service’s hydraulic platform pouring water onto it from above. That will be one bugger of a fire to put out because when metal gets burning it produces lots and lots of heat.
Supper was an utter delight; it really was a very nice granny treat.
Granny had a chicken burger, grandad had the lamb shank, Wendy had a cheese burger and I had a full rack of ribs.
Jeepers it was really hot and tasty and I was clarted with bbq sauce after I had finished it.
The pub has a cat that just pleases itself and it sat on a bar stool quite happily all the time we were in the pub.
Back home we just chilled out, the posse watching some rubbish on TV while I listened to Liza Tarbuck on BBC Radio 2.
Tomorrow we head north!
368 Miles
Spaghetti Junction
I was in bed early last night and I was up nice and early today, waking at 5:30 am.
I was up and I checked my weather app to see what the temperature was like and it was a nice mild 12 degrees, with no mention of rain.
So after breakfast I dressed in my tracksuit bottoms and it was only when grandad went out the back door that I heard the rain lashing down. I was sat in the chair at the back door and Wendy came into say goodbye, she was dressed for running and was about to leave.
I said to her, “You do know it’s raining, don’t you?” “No”, she said and put her head out of the back door. She said, “That will do me”, she then went and got undressed and showered and that was the extent of Wendy Gill’s exercise regime for today. She doesn’t like running in bad weather, Wendy!
I changed into my shorts and went out and although it was heavy to start with, the rain soon petered out, jeepers though there were an awful lot of puddles about.
I ran through Queenborough and along the coastal path through the port and as I went I passed the four or five wind turbines that are in the port area, what a racket they were making in the stiff breeze, I thought a jumbo jet was overhead, the noise was that loud!
I carried on to Sheerness and I went over to the sea wall to look at yesterday’s fire, it was worse than yesterday.
It has been confirmed that it is a metal fire at a recycling plant on the island, and I can’t fathom the fire brigade’s tactics.
Metal is very difficult to ignite but when it does get going here’s what happens:
Metal fires often burn at more than 3,000 degrees C. That's hot enough to disassemble water into its component parts. One of those parts is hydrogen gas, which is not only flammable but explosive. In other words, putting water on these fires can be like literally feeding them more fuel.
So when it comes to a metal-based fire, you should never use water to fight the fire. Similar to class C fires, water will only cause the flames to grow and spread.
Now putting water on a small metal fire, especially an alloy like magnesium, will cause an explosion, so I cannot understand why the fire service were putting water on it yesterday, it’s a massive mound of metal and will take ages to burn out. This morning’s rain is most likely what caused it to burn more fiercely.
What they should be doing is breaking the pile up and removing the unburnt metal until all they have left is what’s burning. I can only think of two reasons why they aren’t:
1. It would cost money for the use of a bulldozer.
2. With a metal mountain the size of this, I would think they already have a bulldozer on site, so reason number 2, which is the more likely, is that with Health and Safety now ruining everything in the sensible world, the fire service would not want to be responsible for an untrained non service person to be inside the inner zone, (the fire area).
I got back home and I had a very leisurely smoothie, a cup of tea and a nice shower. I packed the car and we left at around 11:10 am.
As we were heading north west, the Sat Nav took us around the M25 along the clockwise direction via Heathrow airport and then onto the M40. We had a few minor hold ups but nothing serious.
We did come across something that I have never seen before on any motorway. The emergency signs dropped us to 20 mph and said, “On Coming Vehicle”. Everyone slowed down, but they also bunched up. I stayed back, I kept enough space around me so that I could see someone coming at me and have enough room to get out of their way. This went on for about 20 miles and we never encountered anything, in fact Wendy noticed that the signs on the opposite carriageway had the same sign on their matrix, so people lost interest and sped up again.
I wanted to see Spaghetti Junction from a low level so I googled it but I couldn’t find any info on a good vantage point. I did however come across a newspaper article where people spoke about the good and bad points of living in its shadow, and one named a street. I set my SatNav for Copeley Hill, Birmingham and we duly arrived.
Because the junction covers such a large area, I only got a snapshot of it, but it was good enough, and the next time I pass I will try to find another low-level spot to look at it.
Three miles from the Junction we stopped and bagged a Wetherspoons Bar in Handsworth, Birmingham. Now this was the scene of serious rioting some years ago and I must admit it was a very scruffy looking place, thankfully the bar was OK.
As we got our drinks I watched the start of the Old Firm Game, Women’s match, where my sun in law, Alex, was referring today’s game. I was as proud as punch when I saw him walk the teams out. From what I saw he did a sterling job. I saw what I thought looked like a nasty tackle just before half time and he was right there and had a clear view of it. I thought it was a yellow card, but on looking at the replay it was just a barge, a shove off the ball and Alex got it spot on with just a caution.
After Wendy had done a little shopping, we set off again and we made good progress around some usual traffic hotspots, and we did make good progress.
We got into our Travelodge by around 7:00 pm and after I had travelled the area for bananas, we were soon enjoying the lovely company of my cousins in a Wetherspoons Bar on Blackpool Promenade.
We had a lovely evening and time flew by.
We are now back in the hotel, which is rather nice as it’s been refurbished. We are almost on the sea front. Our view is of the south pier with the pleasure beech not far away!
No Travelling
Walking
I had wanted to sleep until late today but I heard howling wind and driving rain against the window at 5:30 am, which woke me, Wendy wasn’t long after. The wind seems to come driving from the sea, this hits our bedroom window head on which in turn wakes me up.
I’ll be wearing ear plugs tonight.
The rain was relentless but I put the radio on and had a cup of tea and a breakfast bar and I messed around a little on my laptop and then got dressed.
I looked out of the window at 7:00 am and the rain had stopped, but I kept my running shorts on just in case it returned.
Wendy even got dressed and went out running before me.
I went out at 7:30 am and I ran straight north along the famous and very nice Blackpool Promenade. The wind was cold against my legs and it was a little blowy, but at least it was coming in from the sea so it shouldn’t be hitting me head on in either direction, going out or coming back.
I ran well passed the north pier before I hit my turnaround point, where I sat for a while and drank some water.
The sky was now a beautiful blue colour and apart from the breeze it had the makings of a very nice day.
I got back to the hotel and Wendy was not in the room, she had been to the shop looking to buy a padded envelope so we could send presents bought from France for two of our granddaughters. She came back empty handed just as I was cooling down.
I had a smashing thick banana smoothie and some more tea before undertaking ablutions.
We were going to take the car to the post office which is up near the north pier but if we had left our street parking spot we might not have got it back on our return because there weren’t any spare spots already available.
The problem is that the hotel car park is £8 per over night stay, so for 3 nights that would be £24 in total. The street parking is free and there are no restrictions, you can only park on one side of the street, hence that’s why parking spaces are quite scarce.
We decided to leave the car where it was and take the clothes with us in case we came across a post office.
As we were not due to meet Ann, Phil and Marjori until 11:00 am in the bar for coffee, we took a walk along the south pier.
Its not the most beautiful pier we have visited in the British Isles, in fact we both agreed its one of the worst. The reason being is that there are just too many fairground rides, there are so many its actually difficult to get to the piers railings to have a look at the views.
At 11:00 am we met everyone in the bar and we had a very nice chat over a good cup of hot coffee.
It was decided that we would walk northbound and see how we got on.
As we got to the Lifeboat Station I went inside to take a photo of the lifeboats as my granddaughter Rose is really interested in them. I got 3 nice photos and sent them on, she loved them.
We got to the north pier and as we were quite close to the main post office we walked up to send the items off.
Inside the post office Wendy found and addressed a jiffy bag and we joined the queue for the till.
As the teller was dealing with us, her colleague from the money section came behind and spoke down to her, “When are you giving me the cash” she said. Our teller replied, “I have already given it to you”, there then ensued a heated argument all the time we were still being processed, it was rather unpleasant.
We rejoined with everyone and as we had walked a fair way, we walked to a nearby pub for some substance and respite.
Actually, it was rather nice just sitting down and chilling out.
After coming back from the toilet, I found that Marjori had gone to catch a bus home as she had a delivery at home to check on.
Leaving just the four of us, we left the bar and walked all the way back down to the south shore and then we carried on another mile to Ann and Phils apartment.
As we walked, I could feel that the wind had something of a nip about it, and by now the blue sky had been replaced by high cloud, thankfully rain wasn’t threatening.
We got to the apartment now having walked at least 7 miles, and I am sure Phil on checking an app said we had walked over 20,000 steps.
We enjoyed another coffee and spent the afternoon chatting and Marjori rejoined us as she lives in the same apartment block having safely taken custody of a new microwave oven!
Around 6:00 pm Ann and Phil retired to the kitchen and produced an amazing beef bourguignon. Phil had cooked it in his air fryer, and it really was an utter delight which we had with mash and some very tasty cabbage, again which was cooked in the air fryer.
You’ll know Avid Reader that I like to listen to Owain Win Evens on his morning radio show and that he is a massive advocate of the air fryer. I think we must be the only people in the UK without an air fryer, even grandad Bryan has one.
At around 8:00 pm, and being suitably stuffed we walked back to our hotel but not before calling in at my favourite corner shop for a bag of ice for the cook box and a pint of milk.
Its now 9:45 pm and I am now dog tired, I might give myself 30 mins R&R with The Lincoln Lawyer before calling it a night, with my earplugs fully in place of course.
Good Night Avid Reader!!!
No Travelling
Picanha Steak
I had a much better sleep last night; I turned in at 10:30 pm and slept until around 6:00 am.
I was pleased that it was dry when I looked out of the window and today, I was very happy to wear my tracksuit bottoms. Its funny, I have never owned a tracksuit in my life but I always call them tracky bottoms, I suppose I should call them jogging bottoms.
Wendy went out again and I followed soon after. I went south towards St Anns and I bumped into Wendy who was on her return trip. The wind was light and coming from the south and the sky was reasonably clear.
I got quite close to St Anns Pier, which I have run to before, and I sat on the sand at the foot of some large dunes and drank my water. As I sat there a very nasty looking American XL Bully type dog came right up to me. The dog wanted a stroke and I did give it a stroke but I never took my eyes off its face, constantly looking at its expression. Now I don’t know what an American XL dog looks like, but in my opinion, this was a dog that could turn nasty and really should have had a muzzle on and be on a lead, I never did see an owner.
The wind had picked up when I returned and it was quite fierce when I got back to the hotel.
I had my breakfast and did a few admin duties before showering and getting dressed for the day.
We walked over to the bar where we had arranged to meet up with Ann and her gang and we sat and chatted over coffee. Jeepers we did have some laughs, with lost ear plugs being an amusing one. The best one was where Phil and I were talking about rugby and Marjorie said, “I heard from Vincent recently, he’s a mate of Farrel”. Chitter chatter centred on where Vincent was living, whether he was alive or not and there were some laughs in with that. But with me thinking we were talking about the Farrel rugby dynasty, either Andy or Owen, I asked Marjorie which one was a mate of Vincent only to be told by Phil that Marjorie had completely taken us off tangent and Vincent, nor the Farrel who Marjorie knew had anything to do with rugby.
Then this led on to Phil knowing Vincent from the boys Brigade and then being taught how to march by a man with a, “Gammy leg”, who almost led them round in circles. Jeepers we could have been there chatting all day long.
We hopped into Phils car and we were greeted to yet more merriment when the three ladies in the back of the car all tried to get their seat belts on. You had to have been there but I’m sure, Avid Reader, you can imagine the too-ing and fro-ing that went on until they were settled.
Our first stop was at a butchers shop as endorsed by our local company, where I went in and bought 3 nice looking pork pies, a pound of wild hog sausage and two very nice looking Picanha steaks. As I had never heard of this cut of beef I asked the butcher and he carefully explained, and here is what it is:
“Traditionally called Picanha in Brazil and other Latin American countries, this prized cut of meat holds ample amounts of flavour and has a texture similar to sirloin steaks.
They look yummy and I can’t wait to cook them when I get home!
Our next stop was at Lytham Hall which is a stunning old country house in some really beautiful grounds. The house and gardens are open to the public and we had a really nice walk around. The trees were obviously bare as it is currently still winter, although it was a very comfortable 11 degrees, but the lake and the flowers made for a very pleasant walk.
We arrived back at the house where we looked at the garden shop and then the antique centre where Wendy had her eye on two very nice wooden chairs for her summer house.
We got back to the car and after a short drive we took a walk around the small but really nice town of Lytham where we had a drink in a local bar.
Wendy and I then shared a very tasty pork pie from another nice butchers shop. As always, I was prepared for this titbit with a sachet of ketchup in my pocket. What a tasty pie it was, it was delicious as it was freshly warm from being baked only this morning.
Rain cut our stroll short and soon we were very comfortable at Ann and Phils apartment.
Ann and Phil disappeared into the kitchen and started to prepare supper and not long after we were joined by two of Anns grandchildren, a boy of 11 and a girl of 6. We also met their mum and she was very nice but she left us for a while to go and collect her husband from work.
What a laugh we had with the children, a 200-piece jigsaw had been brought along and Marjorie, Wendy, me and the children all had a dip in putting the jigsaw together. Well talk about too many cooks. Marjorie was taking my light; someone was putting the wrong pieces in the wrong place and someone was hiding bits so they could take the glory at the end. I loved it, but I soon disappeared when the buffet was served and Phils home made corned beef pie was produced, it was exceedingly tasty.
We had a really lovely spread laid out and then to cap it all off I was introduced to pecan and cream roulade. Jeepers this was so nice I had a slice and a half!
We were rejoined by Anns daughter and her husband who I later chatted with about Barnsley and Liverpool Football clubs.
Just before we left, we were joined by Anns eldest granddaughter who is a very beautiful 19-year-old young woman.
Marjorie and Ann are my half cousins who descend from my grandfather. When we were joined by this young lady, while I was chatting to her, I watched Wendy and I saw her looking at this young lady and I could see the cogs turning in her mind.
After saying our goodbyes and we had set off back to the hotel I told Wendy I could see her studying this young lady and I told her I knew why. It is uncanny, Ann has my mothers colouring and she does look quite a lot like her. However, this young lady had a most striking resemblance to how my mum looked when she was young, its just amazing as I can see my granddads features running right through her, and she is a really lovely young woman too, so she really must be family!
Tomorrow is home time, bad weather is predicted for the morning and if it really is bad, I think we will pack the car as soon as we are ready and make our way home, where I’ll go for my run in the Highlands, or if the weather is still bad, I’ll run on my treadmill in the safety of my shed!
382 Miles
The Antique Shop!
After I had filed last night’s copy, I watched a bit of TV on my laptop with Wendy, Death in Paradise actually, and she then settled down for the night while I watched an episode of the Lincoln Lawyer.
Just as she went to sleep Wendy said, “I know we’ll leave early in the morning because of the bad weather, but if we don’t, I would really like to go and get those two chairs from the Antique Shop”.
I thought, maybe the weather won’t be so bad in the morning and I can then go out running and then after we call in at Lytham House and get them.
I woke at 6:15 am and looked outside and I found the weather to be absolutely horrendous. It was wild with wind and there was driving rain. It hadn’t smashed against our window as it did a couple of nights ago, that was because the wind was coming from the south now.
I had a cup of tea and a breakfast bar and then got dressed in my running gear, but not my tracky bottoms as today was the day for my legs to get wet!
Wendy tried to hide her elation but I did ask her to contact the responsible person so we know that the antique shop will be open today.
I went out at 7:30 am, Wendy obviously stayed inside, and I ran northwards along the lower promenade and the wind and rain were behind me.
The tide was coming in and the sea did appear a little grumpy but it wasn’t anywhere close to wetting me.
When I turned around, I had the full force of the wind and rain directly in front of me and at some points I was almost driven backwards.
I ran up to the road and crossed it thinking I might get some shelter off the large buildings, I didn’t!
I have to admit to finding it all very enjoyable, it was me against the elements and I did eventually win, although it was only a very little win.
By the time I had got back to the hotel Wendy had most of the bags packed and had arranged to meet a lady who would open the shop early for us, but only if we could meet her at 10:10 am. Jeepers, it was now 9:00 am and I had to have my smoothie, tea and a shower, it was shaving day too but that had to be given a bye!
I managed it with no time to spare and after collecting the required money from a Coop outlet on the way to the hall, we made it and we were bang on time.
As I tried to ready the car so we could accommodate two wooden chairs along with all of our bags, Wendy went to seal the deal.
I was just ready when Wendy returned carrying one chair and another, younger lady carrying another chair.
I didn’t speak much with the lady but she appeared to be very nice, and after I had them safely stowed, she wished us a safe journey.
As we drove off Wendy said, “The poor lady is trying to juggle her life at the moment has her husband has terminal cancer”. That kind of puts a long drive in horrible conditions into some perspective.
Soon enough we were on the M55 heading eastwards to the M6.
Heading then north and the weather was no better, in fact it was worse, driving rain and poor visibility. Even so, some idiot drivers were passing me at stupid speeds without any lights on, what numptys!
I stuck to a steady 65 mph.
I started drinking coffee just has we joined the M6 and I had completely finished the flask, and a pork pie before we had travelled 100 miles.
The pie was from the shop which everyone recommended yesterday and it was a real treat. I used three sachets of brown sauce on my pie and it was bloody lovely.
We made good time and soon we were crossing the border into Scotland.
We did have to take a detour off the motorway as there had been an accident at 6:30 am this morning and the road was still not clear. We were so lucky because the distance between the junctions could not have been more than 4 miles.
Back on the M74 and soon we were heading eastwards on the M73.
I had decided to take a break about halfway and I chose Sterling as there was a Wetherspoon Bar there which I needed to bag, and it wasn’t too far from the motorway.
We were soon parked up in town, not far from the bar and we were soon drinking in a very nice pub which is just inside the town centre, thankfully the weather had now improved but it was still very windy!
We took a little walk around town afterwards but not too far as we wanted to get some provisions and fuel from a nearby Tesco.
As I had parked close to an impressive looking statue, I went down to take a good look at it before we left town. I was bemused as his sabre was missing and there was what appeared to be duct tape around his wrist.
Here’s what I later found:
“A statue of Rob Roy McGregor has had the blade of its sword stolen for the second time in four years. The 10ft high statue of the outlaw, near the Albert Halls, Stirling, had the bronze blade welded in place after the first one was stolen and Stirling Council officials fear there may be damage to the statue because the repair had been so well made”.
Is any statue sacred in Scotland?
Back on the road after shopping and we were home by just gone 6:00 pm.
The A9 had been a dream and we were in Inverness in just over 2 hours.
It must have taken me almost 45 minutes to unpack the car and help Wendy put everything away, but soon we were eating a nice knock up tapas in front of the fire while I was watching some kind of ruckus about voting in the House of Commons, apparently the SNP are outraged, now there’s a surprise, tell me when they’re not outraged?
And that’s another adventure completed, it’s been a lovely trip, in Millerhill, Mansfield, Kent, France and finally in Blackpool.
Watch out for the next adventure which should start in 19 days’ time, and this trip will be a good old proper road trip!
179 Miles
USA 2024
I didn’t mention in my last report that as we drove north up the M6, on the high ground around the Shap area, I saw, on the opposite carriage way, about 20 to 30 cars all on the hard shoulder, one after the other.
They were all in a line with people milling about. Then I saw an AA engineer changing a tyre on one car and then I saw that they all had flat tyres. I was just thinking that a truck must have shed something like tacks when Wendy spotted the police trying to cone off a massive hole that had appeared in the slow lane, it was huge.
The poor buggers who had hit it had instantly damaged their tyres and must have had the fright of their lives after hitting that at 70 mph. Jeepers I bet claims.com will make a killing bringing in the compensation!
Now onto today’s report!
I was up and out of bed by 6:00 am with Wendy soon following and I was out running at exactly 7:00 am.
Today I ran around Cabrich which in winter is what I call the coldest place on earth. I might have mentioned this before but between December and February the Highland ground that separates our side from the Great Glen casts a huge shadow over Cabrich and the sun never gets higher than the hill. It gets pretty cold down there too I might add.
James Fraser-Lee was passing in his works van as he was laying a patio locally, and we had a good natter for five minutes. He had his two spaniel dogs with him in the van, they go to work with James almost every day of the week and are two very well-behaved dogs.
On the homeward stretch I ran through the grounds of Achnagairn House. This is a large old stately home which is just outside Kirkhill Village. Its mainly used for corporate events and weddings, in fact the very first episode of this years BBC production, “The Apprentice” was shot there.
I have been to a few functions there and it’s a pretty impressive house inside, although I wouldn’t want to have to pay for a wedding there as it is very expensive.
When I got back, Wendy went around the village looking for the post man as she thought that he had a parcel for her, actually he should have had a parcel for her. He doesn’t deliver to our road until around 2:00 pm and as we were hoping to leave at 11:00 am we would have missed him.
The parcel is a present for Wendys birthday from Robyn, it’s a pair of sandals. I had asked, via an online Post Office portal for them to be left in the garage, inside the tumble dryer if we weren’t in but that made a right mess of things.
The Postman didn’t have the parcel, it was still at the sorting office in Inverness but with it closing at 10:00 am for the day, Wendy only had 30 minutes to get there to collect them. She got there at 10:00 am on the dot and it was closed, bugger, she wasn’t happy.
With Wendy back, I was ready to pack the car and soon after, at just gone 11:00 am, we set off.
First I had to call in at the General Post Office as I needed to get an International Driving Permit for driving in the United States. I have never obtained one before but seemingly I should have.
I parked in the town’s Tesco and walked the half mile to the Post Office.
There is a dedicated travel desk which was lit up, but there was no one present. I asked the next teller if the post was staffed and he told me that the lady was on her break, he then asked me what I wanted. I told him, an International Driving Permit for driving in the United States. He told me to join the queue and ask the teller for one when my time came.
There were five people in the queue before me and it took me 20 minutes to get to my turn and I ended up with the same teller.
I told him what I wanted again and he said, “I’m so sorry mate, we’ve run out, it’s just come to me, I know and I made you queue too”.
On hearing this I have to admit to an utterance of a swear word.
He told me to go to the Post Office at Merkinch as he knows they have them.
So off I set, out of my way, to be told there that they are no longer allowed to issue them because the General Post Office is too close by. By now I’m getting really grumpy.
Thankfully the very helpful Post Lady told me to go to the Tesco Post Office at Inshes and they would have one, and thankfully they had. However, I did have to obtain a passport photo which cost me £10 and then £5.50 for the actual licence, driving in The States is turning into a dear do!
Thankfully we were heading down the A9 to Millerhill at midday and as the traffic was pretty favourable, we were pulling onto the drive at Alex and Robyn’s house at exactly 3:00 pm.
After a quick chat with the girls I unpacked the very heavily loaded car, (I had brought a lot of tools down to help build a home office for them when we get back from the States).
I then nipped down to Tesco to get a few items, one of which being some beef burgers for my supper. Robyn had made some prawn cakes for supper but I did fancy a burger tonight.
Being a good Yorkshireman I scanned the sell by date reduced section and grabbed two hot spicy beef burgers, or so I thought I had.
When I started to cook them at the house Wendy saw that they were indeed plant based.
Actually, they weren’t too bad, but I did supplement them with a very nice prawn fish cake, much to everyone’s merriment.
With readymade babysitters on hand, Alex took Robyn out to Edinburgh for supper and after our meal, I washed the dishes while Wendy bathed the girls.
With the kitchen tidy I went up to help out.
I dressed Violet for bed, she was as good as gold, apart from being a little wriggly, and then I gave her her bottle and off to sleep she went. Wendy and Rose had a story and soon after Rose was fast on as well.
Bus – 6 Miles
Tram – 7 Miles
Memory Lane!
Before I detail todays occurring’s I thought that I might explain the forthcoming adventure in a little detail so you’ll have an idea of what’s coming up.
This trip is to complete my stateside tour of the United States of America by completing a visit to each and every State.
My obsession with State bagging began on my first trip to the southern hemisphere when I visited my uncle and his family in New Zealand in 1983, I was 21 years old. On this trip I had a one week stop over in Hawaii on my way out and a two-week stopover on my return. I loved it and I loved the American way of life, although traveling alone I pretty quickly understood that this part of the United States was a haven for bad guys.
My next trip was with 3 mates from Barnsley in 1986 where we flew over on one of the first ever £99 one-way Virgin Airline tickets. I remember Johnnie Fingers of The Boom Town Rats being on this flight, I’m not sure if they had a first-class section, but if they did Johnnie wasn’t flying it as he was with the rest of us in economy.
On this adventure we had got a special internal flight ticket which allowed us multiple flights within the US.
First up we spent time in New York City and then Long Island where one of the treats was when we went up to the observation deck in the South Tower of the Twin Towers.
Next, we travelled to a small island off the Washington State coast where we visited a friend, Deb Harley, from Barnsley who was working on a youth project in the community of Friday Harbour on San Juan Island.
From there we took in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Death Valley, Dallas and Miami, it was a brilliant trip.
Next, in 1991, with Wendy and two kids under two years old, we flew to Vancouver where after a week we borrowed my friends VW Campervan and drove down the Pacific Coast to a small Californian town called Pascadero, to again, visit our friend Deb Harley who had now settled down as a Green Card Holder. On this trip we passed through Washington State, Oregon and into California again where on our return north we came inland and took in the mountains of Yosemite National Park.
My last trip Stateside, before the trips in 2018 and 2019 which are detailed in this diary, is where I was taken for my 50th birthday for a weekend in New York where we met up with our friends, the Latham’s. What a party we had in Queens one night, it was David Latham’s brother Michael’s 50th birthday too and we had one almighty party, lord knows how we navigated the subway back to The New Yorker Hotel.
On this trip we will start off in Boston, moving onto Cape Cod before then bagging all of the states in New England and Delaware.
From Delaware we head west to Virginia and then north through the middle of Michigan taking in a good number of the Great Lakes before moving into Wisconsin and Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana and Idaho, then flying North to Alaska.
I was in bed well before 10:00 pm last night so I wasn’t surprised that I woke just before 5:00 am.
As I had to check-in for our flights online at 8:15 am, I thought that if I get up and move smartish I could get my run completed, and get showered with about 30 minutes to spare.
I ran down into Musselburgh and the weather was quite good. I sat by the river and took a water break before heading back over the Electric Bridge and then back over the foot bridge.
The foot bridge is quite interesting as its rather old.
I believe the bridge was first built on that site in the 1500’s supposing this to have been subsequently damaged or destroyed, as might have occurred, for example, in 1548, when Musselburgh was burned by the English. It is believed that the bridge was rebuilt in its current materials sometime in the 1600’s.
I was indeed back home in time to check in for our flights and with that done Robyn, Wendy the girls and me took a mile walk to a local church hall for some rather nice coffee. Both girls were a treat to be with and Violet nodded off almost as soon as we started back.
After the girls had had some lunch and a little play with their Mum and Nanny, we took a walk along the lane to see the ponies and to get a toot from the horn of a passing train, which we duly got.
After a detour to the new community centre, we headed back to the house where I did my final packing and with 5 minutes to go, we said our goodbyes and walked the 50 metres to the bus stop.
We used our over 60’s bus pass on the bus and about 40 minutes later we were walking along Princess Street and to the nearest tram stop, which wasn’t far, thankfully.
The tram was interesting, but it was busy.
I haven’t been on the tram before and I have to say I was quite impressed because from the city centre we were at the airport in a little over 30 minutes, all for the cost of £7.50 each!
It was a short walk to our hotel and after dropping our baggage in our room we walked back to the airport to scope out where our baggage drop will be, at 6:00 am in the morning.
Satisfied we knew where we needed to be in the morning we bought a prawn pasta salad and a pack of chicken wraps, both £1.00 each from the M&S airport shops reduced area, jeepers I can sniff a bargain out!
It will be an early night tonight, maybe 8:00 pm as we need to be up for 4:00 am when breakfast opens.
Everything as gone to plan so far today, lets hope tomorrow works out exactly the same, I do hope so!
Edinburgh Airport to Dublin Airport – 211 Miles
Dublin Airport to Boston Airport – 3001 Miles
Boston Airport to The Hotel – 17 Miles
We slept well last night, I was the last to turn in at 8:30 pm and I woke just a little after 3:00 am.
Wendy was awake before I got out of bed and soon we were down having breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Thankfully they opened at 4:00 am but there was hardly anyone around.
I had a simple ham toastie and a cup of rather nice hot black tea.
Back in the bedroom and after finishing with our bath kits we packed up and headed out. I was a little concerned because I couldn’t find my leather hat, but I was mindful I might have packed it in my big bag, and I wasn’t going to go through that again at this late stage.
Check in at the airport was a doddle, well apart from the non-smiling check in lady. It never ceases to amaze me that the most unfriendly people seem to end up at the very front of house, do they do management appraisals at all?
I have to admit that security was a bit of a faff, especially as I had my big coat with me. Travelling to a, possibly, colder climate in the spring required that I take two coats, one for very bad weather and one for just bad weather. The small one was in my checked bag and I had my big parka on, try getting all your pockets empty, your laptop and phone out, your belt and shoes off and see if you don’t leave your passport behind.
I knew what I had done as soon as I saw the very nice lady from security checking a passport photo against the assembled crowd. Actually, she refused to give it to me, giving it to Wendy instead. She told Wendy that I had already proved that I couldn’t be trusted. But as she said it with a smile Wendy gave it straight back to me to go into my zippy big coat pocket.
I bought two litres of rum passing through duty free, well at £13.00 a litre it would have been silly not to have. The trouble was though, my carry-on bag now weighed around 14 kilos!
Never mind I’m pretty relaxed about plane rules and regulations these days!
With just under two and a half hours before our take off time we relaxed with a drink in Wetherspoons, I had just one pint and Wendy had a white wine spritzer.
Actually, it was quite relaxing sitting there just whiling the time away, watching people come and go.
We had to board via the ground apron for our first flight to Dublin and it was raining, it was also a slow board too as there was only one door, the rear one, we could use. The other rear door would you believe was being used for loading excess baggage that didn’t fit in to the hold.
The flight was nice enough, it was late taking off so we were a little late landing, but I thought we would make it in time for me to have a pint of Irish Guinness in an airport bar.
Wrong again Mr Gill!
We had to board a bus to take us to the terminal building, and that seemed to drive for miles and miles, who knew an airport could have so much roadway.
The US Customs was a very big bind as there was a very slowly moving queue that must have gone around 8 sets of barriers. This took at least 40 minutes and we didn’t get through before our gate had closed.
I went through alright but for some reason unknown Wendy had to submit finger prints for both hands. She got in a kerfuffle with both her thumbs and the poor teller had to hold her hands for her.
We got to the gate just as the last passengers were boarding!
Actually, we didn’t because they were still tannoying for passengers to identify themselves if they were aboard. I was guessing that some people must have been held up at customs as this flight was 30 minutes late in departing.
The plane was ok, but you should have seen Wendy’s face when she realised that you have to buy wine, it was a picture.
As soon as we were in the air, I put on the Oppenheimer movie, well it had just won six Oscars so it must be flavour of the month.
Jeepers, it was over 3 hours in length and just dragged on and on. I took a break for lunch and I even took a break for my own sanity after another hours’ worth of it.
Lunch was nice enough, but would you believe they mixed the chicken and rice with the pasta and beef. We both had the, now, chicken with pasta and it was rather tasty.
I finished the film but I don’t think its as good as it was made out to be, oh the atom bomb work was interesting, not just the politics of it all.
I also watched Expendables 4, but the less said about that the better.
We landed really early at 2:15 pm and we were soon on the bus to the car hire centre.
We did have a bit of a wait there but I’m really pleased with the car, it’s a cracker, although I am too tired to have looked what make and model it is.
The SatNav would not work, I had no idea why, but it let me down.
Never mind, as my brother Michael always says, “Where there’s a Gill there’s a way”
I set my phone onto mobile data, at a cost of £6.00 per 24 hours and used google maps to get us:
Actually, it’s not that easy to find a route out from the airport due to toll tunnels, however I did some Googling recently and I found some dude who as written a blog about how to beat Boston City Hall, and his help was very much appreciated.
It takes a while to get used to the left-hand drive car, but it makes it a little easier with it being automatic drive.
The road out to our hotel was busy but Wendy did really well interpreting the map.
We made it to the hotel and were checked in to a nice enough room, I say nice enough, it is really nice actually but there does seem to be a lot of blue-collar workers here, and its pet friendly, we’ve already met a bull dog in a lift, so it might be a little noisy.
Having settled in I went over to a supermarket for some supper and then we settled down, it was only just gone 6:00 pm but Wendy was buggered, well it was 10:00 pm in the UK and we had been up since 3:00 am.
Thankfully I have sorted the SatNav, well I hope I have. As I file tonight’s copy, I am downloading a new United States Map and it’s just gone 83% downloaded, hopefully that’s it.
Tomorrow, we aim to catch a train into the city, we are about 1 mile from the station and they do have a park and ride so it should be a cinch!
Last word – The SatNav update map has been a huge success!
No travelling
Cheers!!!
We had a really good night’s sleep last night, the bed was very comfy and the hotel was very quiet. Wendy went to bed at 8:00 pm and I went at 8:30 pm and we both were awake by 5:00 am.
I made tea and sat looking through our big window at the morning traffic, it wasn’t very busy but it was still quite early.
I went out running, there wasn’t much to see, it was dark, but it did get light by about 6:30 am. I ran through what I believe to be a massive industrial estate. I came across the interstate, the one which we had come out on yesterday and it was very busy with early morning commuters heading to Boston.
I got back and soon realised my big mistake from yesterday’s shopping trip, I hadn’t bought milk. No problem I nipped over to the very nicely stocked supermarket across the road.
My next problem was that the blender that I brought from home struggled to blend my banana smoothie because it operates on 240 volts in the UK, but they only supply 110 volts in the USA. Its funny, I never noticed a problem when I brought one over in 2019. Maybe that had a wider operating voltage, like my laptop and iPhone. I was picking out lumps of unblended ice as I drank it.
That’s one good point of hotels in the US, most have an ice machine on each bedroom floor.
At 9:15 am we took the short drive to the park and ride and took a very comfortable train directly into Boston City Centre, and what a fantastic day we had.
Our main aim today was to follow The Freedom Trail.
The Freedom Trail is a 2.45 mile tour which follows a red brick line which bisects the city and takes in very interesting sites associated with the American Revolution.
The Freedom Trail passes by 17 locations significant to the history of the United States. It winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston, to the Old North Church in the North End and the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown.
Obviously, the train station was at the wrong end of the trail so we had to pick our way downtown and to the start of the trail which is at a stunning park called Boston Common.
We got to the start and saw a MacDonalds Café where we nipped in to have a coffee but more importantly bag their Wi-Fi.
The Wi-Fi was needed to identify the location of Cheers, the bar which had its staring role in the 1980’s comedy show.
Jeepers we were in luck, the bar was just a little further along from the park.
So, before we started the trail we walked through the park and bagged one of the most famous bars in the world, Cheers.
Actually, the only area of the bar that is used in the show is the steps and the front entrance, in fact the bar used to be called The Bull & Finch pub and inside bares no resemblance to the TV bar. The bar does however have a set up of the TV set on an upper floor which features life-size cut outs of some of the characters.
Inside the bar was busy with customers eating but a couple kindly gave us their bar stools as they were about to leave.
For a drink I ordered a pint and a half of Boston Lager, I nearly fell through the floor at the price, someone’s cashing nicely in!!!
We strolled back through another park, The Public Park which is adjacent to Boston Common and has a very beautiful lake in its centre.
Before we set off on the trail Wendy bought a Christmas tree decoration from the Visitor Centre where the trail starts.
After the Common our first stop on the trail was at The Massachusetts State House which is a stunning building with a gold leaf dome on its roof.
Then, in order we passed:
Park Street Church – Used as a place by ministers who preached fire and brimstone!
The Granary Burying Ground – All five of the Boston Massacres victims are buried here.
Kings Chapel and Burying Ground – Built in 1754 this was the first proper cemetery in Boston.
Boston Latin School – The school of Benjamin Franklin.
Old Corner Bookstore – Built in 1718, it is the oldest bookstore in the US.
Old South Meeting House – The site of mass meetings leading to the American Revolution.
Old State House – The Seat of Power in Colonial Boston, built in 1713.
Boston Massacre Site – 5th March 1770 some locals started to goad a soldier by throwing rocks and stones at him. A crowd grew and more soldiers supported their mate. Things turned ugly and someone unknown shouted, “Fire”, and one soldier fired his gun, followed by others. At the end five people had been killed. This was used as propaganda by the Colonists and much distrust between the British and the Colonists was born.
Faneuil Hall – The home of free speech, Americas first public meeting venue, built in 1741.
Paul Rever House – Built around 1680, this was the home of an important man of the American Revolution.
Old North Church – A signal was placed at the top of the steeple, one light for a British attack from the land and two lights if the attack came from the sea, this was arranged by Paul Rever.
Copp’s Hill Burying Ground – The British based their cannons at this site during the battle of Bunker Hill.
USS Constitution – Launched in 1797 this is one of the first vessels of the new American Navy.
Bunker Hill – The site of a major battle where on 3 occasions the superior British Forces attached the fledgling Colonial army. Twice they were repelled, on the 3rd attempt the Colonists retreated and lost the hill, however it was at a massive cost for the British who lost half their army winning that battle. One colonial officer later said that they would willingly give up another hill for the price the British had paid!
We did wander off the trail a couple of times to take in downtown Boston and Boston Harbour but we did stick to the route from start to finish and after we had concluded on Bunker Hill, we walked the short distance back to the train station and took the train back to the hotel.
It would be impossible to tell the full story of what we have seen and have learned on this day trip. We had a brilliant time and the weather was just perfect, I even took my jacket off in the 16-degree heat. In all we had walked 10.39 miles.
Back at the hotel we called in at the supermarket for a packet of rice, as we have a microwave oven in the room. We had the remains of last nights roast chicken and rice, jeepers it was tasty.
Its now 7:30 pm and we are both shattered, Wendy is showered and in her jim-jams and as soon as I have filed tonight’s copy, its bath time for David, I’m in need of a good soak!
No Travelling
Nahant!
I did indeed have a very nice bath last night, and I felt much better for it afterwards.
Wendy was asleep again by 8:00 pm, she had actually nodded off on the bed when I got out of the bath and I had to wake her to get into bed.
I was a little later as I just had to watch the Apprentice on BBC 1. Jeepers to say they have been selected on intelligence and other business qualities, it doesn’t say much about the rest of us!
I woke this morning to rain, that did Wendy, who I thought I had persuaded to come out running with me. By the time I was dressed it was bouncing down and Wendy wished me luck from the comfort of her warm bed as I went out.
Thankfully the rain soon stopped and I remained relatively dry.
I didn’t mention the Boston Tea Party in yesterdays copy, the dock wasn’t on the Freedom Trail so we never looked at it, but I was taught about it in school.
The North American Colonial occupants were harshly treated by taxes from their British rulers, and things started going wrong with dissatisfaction building in the 1700’s. Things came to a head when a large tax was imposed on leaf tea which was imported from China and as a protest a shipment of tea was tipped into Boston harbour by disgruntled Colonists, this became known as the Boston Tea Party.
When you think about it though, the Colonists of 1770 had no real association with Great Britan as some of their forefathers had left that land long ago in 1620. They were very likely third generation Americans in all but name.
Its funny though that with all the history we read about on the trail yesterday there was no recognition of the effects that the settlers had had on the indigenous population!
After breakfast we jumped in the car and headed to the nearby Target store, (kind of Woolworths, if anyone remembers), and bought some items to make our life on the road for the next ten weeks a little easier.
Our requirements were:
We managed to get items 1 to 3.
From there we drove around 18 miles to the coastal community of Nahant.
Nahant is situated on a peninsula consisting of two near-islands (known as "Little Nahant" and "Big Nahant" respectively) connected to the mainland by a narrow sandy isthmus.
The drive there was nice enough, through small towns and then countryside. The roads however were horrible, for the first 10 miles I was dodging potholes of gargantuan proportions, Donald certainly didn’t make America Great Again, not as far as roads are concerned.
We drove over the causeway and onto the island and then we drove right to the very end where the coastline was wild and rugged. We wanted to park but there was nowhere where roadside parking was allowed. I could see the point, the population is around 3,000 people and they have stunning beaches and I can bet the place is mobbed on a hot summers day.
With absolutely nowhere to park we headed back and thankfully I came across a police officer doing admin in his car, on his computer. I asked him where I could park and he told me that the only parking is at the bays at the island end of the causeway. He did also say not to worry about the 30-minute parking as it’s only in the summer we have a problem, when its mobbed! I was right.
We drove back to the causeway and parked up and took a lovely walk.
The weather was overcast, a little cold at 7 degrees but it wasn’t raining and we had the right clothing with us.
Jeepers I can see why its busy in summer, the beaches were stunning, in 30 degrees and blue sky’s it must be paradise.
We had a good walk, just around 4.5 miles.
If anyone has seen the Silvester Stallone film, “Copland”, this is the place, with its proximity to Boston, this is as close as it could get.
The housing stock was fabulous, I don’t like to take too many photographs of homes, but I just had to bag a few here, what a lovely community it was. People wished us well as we passed them, in a very sincere way.
We walked for about 1 hour and 40 minutes and thoroughly enjoyed it.
After getting back to the car we drove to the nearby town of Lynn where if Nahant is paradise, Lynn is dodge city.
First up we went in to the Doller Shop, a kind of everything goes shop where I got a hat and a laundry bag for my running gear, so all shopping requirements had been obtained!
We then took a walk around the town and we found a smashing little Mexican Café where we had a coffee each.
The woman who served us must have been in her 40’s, she was Mexican and very nice.
With the coffee she brought us a bowl of nachos and some very nice dip. I asked her how to pronounce Nahant, but she said that she didn’t know as she wasn’t local.
I asked her where she was from and she told me Chelsea.
I was gobsmacked, Chelsea is very close to Boston airport, about 40 miles away. I asked her how long it took her to drive to work, she told me she takes 3 buses and it takes 2 hours. She said that she caught her first bus at 7:00 am to be at the café for 9:00 am today, and she does this everyday, and then she has to go home.
The poor woman must be desperate for this job so I gave a 300 % tip when I paid before we left. Well, if a nasty Tory donor can waste £10,000,000 on those numpties, I can make a desperate woman smile for some part of her morning.
The nachos were delicious by the way, homemade!
We were back at the hotel by around 4:00 pm, we were going to go out for supper but everywhere we looked locally wasn’t right for us so I nipped over to the supermarket for hotel tapas and boy was it tasty.
Its now gone 6:00 pm and I am typing copy while listening to Vernon Kaye on BBC Sounds, from his morning show today, and I am now getting that Friday feeling.
It will be another very early night tonight as tomorrow is moving day, tomorrow we go south and east, very east actually, Cape Cod here we come!!!
131 Miles
Cape Cod
We watched Goggle Box online last night via my free VPN and then we were both in bed by 9:00 pm for yet another good night’s rest, waking up at just before 5:00 am.
I must admit I had reservations about this hotel, I was cautious on first impressions, but it was fine. The room was lovely and warm, clean and tidy, but there just seemed to be a lot of workers in work gear and I suspect that some people actually live in.
I went out running on my regular route to the Interstate, jeepers it was cold, but nicely clear.
I used the windscreen wipers for the first time yesterday and they were very badly worn, in fact the passengers side had the rubber hanging off. The oil needs changing too so after downloading the Skype App so that I can make international calls, I called the rental company.
I told the very nice helpful lady that I wasn’t happy, whoever serviced this car before we took it should have done a thorough check before letting me have it. I told her that for a car to be leased for 62 days going coast to coast I shouldn’t have to be getting things sorted out two days into the hire. She fully agreed and sent me a voucher for servicing, I just had to find a Firestone Garage enroute to Cape Cod.
Thankfully I did, in some small town called Higham, about 33 miles south of our last location.
When I got back from my run, I asked the very nice lad on reception if he would print the voucher for me and he was very happy to help. I emailed him the voucher and he printed it off for me for collection ten minutes later.
After breakfast and a shower, we packed up all our gear, packed the car and off we set. I also sat the little Ice Cream Duck that my Granddaughters Rose and Violet brought me back from Gran Canaria on the dash board of the car so that he could enjoy the ride today!
It was a stunning day with very bright sunshine.
We took the Interstate south and we drove directly through Boston, it was brilliant. The route took us over its very famous bridge, The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge which is one of the widest cable-stayed bridges in the world and is named after the civil rights activist Lenny Zakim and the American Colonists who fought the British in the battle of Bunker Hill.
The road then went underground for about 3 miles on a winding and twisting road which was a little unnerving as the drivers who were used to it were weaving in and out of traffic.
We got to the garage at a little before 10:00 am and I was looked after by a very friendly man who said that it might take 90 minutes to 2 hours to do.
With nothing else to do we took a nice stroll around in the sunshine with Wendy wishing she hadn’t put on her big coat; me I even took off my jumper! We took a coffee in MacDonalds and Wendy was not impressed with the cookie she got; in fairness it was very doughy!
I checked our next hotel and as we have a full kitchen Wendy asked me if I would cook her supper tomorrow night for her birthday instead of taking her out. To this end before we went back to the garage we called into a large supermarket and bought the items Wendy would like for her birthday supper.
We got back to the garage and I was told the oil change had been completed, one wiper had been changed, but sadly they had to send out for another wiper which was on its way.
We sat in the waiting room and I took a walk and bought a very nice sandwich from a deli next door, I shared it with Wendy and it was a lovely treat.
I checked our distance to Provincetown and I was astounded that the Goggleator had come up with this, “You are 39 miles from Provincetown but you need to drive 103 miles to arrive there”, there was also a little map to explain.
The wiper was fitted at exactly the 3-hour mark and I thanked the very nice mechanic and we were soon on our way.
The road down to the peninsular was a dream and we were there in no time at all, then we had 24 miles of stunning countryside as we drove along the narrow spit of land that leads to Provincetown.
I have wanted to visit Cape Cod since I saw Tony Sibson fight Marvin Hagler here in 1983. Tony Sibson had the heart of a true Englishman but he was not in Hagler’s league and try has hard as he did, with his face bloodied and battered, the ref stopped the fight in the 6th round. If I remember correctly this is the fight where Marvin Hagler first used his switching technique, maybe he pinched the idea from Rocky Balboa?
Follow this link to see six minutes of absolutely seamless switching by Marvin and the bravery of Tony Sibson.
We got to our hotel at exactly 3:00 pm and we paid an additional $50 for a front room view with a beautiful veranda.
With the sun shining and in the warmth of 16-degree sunshine Wendy Gill was soon out and sipping wine in a sunchair.
We took a short walk along a stunning beach to the town and saw some beautiful beach side houses, all mostly empty and closed for the winter, second homes to the rich and powerful most likely.
Jeepers this is a nice place and we hope to explore it more tomorrow, but if the weather isn’t great we can go sight-seeing in the car for a while and then relax inside the solarium and maybe take a dip in the very nicely heated pool.
Its early copy tonight as I hope to find the England v France game on TV, I know its all over and done with now in UK land and I hope that my good friend Margaret, who lives at Dalcross, but who is as English as me, already knows the final score and that she’s celebrating with a small dram, but not too much Margaret, you know it goes to your head!!!
No Travelling
Birthday Girl
Did any one spot my silly mistake yesterday? I’m not at Providence, that’s our next stop, I was getting a little ahead of myself.
We are in what’s called New England and it is a northeastern region of the United States comprising the states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. It's known for its Colonial past as it’s where the first settlers from England made there homes.
It’s interesting when you’re driving around because there are so many towns named after English places. I’ve seen Wakefield, Plymouth, Worchester, Barnstable and Yarmouth to name but a few.
It was a little over cast when I set off running but that didn’t spoil my admiring the amazing town that Provincetown is, it really is an amazing little place.
I met Wendy, who was running for the first time since we got here, on the high Street, and we both agreed what a lovely place it is. There are quite a few cafes, restaurants, shops and art galleries, and the buildings are just so quaint.
Its Wendys birthday today, 17th March, St Patricks day. We don’t bother with that, it’s a birthday day for the Gill family but if you saw the Boston TV here today you would think that you’d woke up on the Emerald Isle, they seem to be St Patrick crazy!!!
After breakfast we took the car to try to make our way to the tip of Cape Cod, I knew there wasn’t a road but I thought we would get so far.
It was raining now and quite overcast but we didn’t mind. We parked the car at the outskirts of town and I saw the causeway. I knew we could get to the other side but I didn’t know we had to walk the causeway to do so, so we did.
The Causeway took 24 years to build and is a little over one mile in length.
Here’s some local info we didn’t know about until we got back:
“The hike across the Causeway is surprisingly challenging because you’ll be walking across boulders the entire time. You’ll have to watch your footing as you travel, and keep in mind that there isn’t any shade, so you’ll want to dress accordingly.
Enjoy the views as you walk along the causeway because you’ll see Provincetown in an entirely different way. You can observe the entire harbour once you get out there, in addition to beaches, marshes, and lighthouses. This hike isn’t something to take with your kids, but you’ll surely get a lot out of it if you go with a spouse or friends”.
We thought we could walk to the tip from the other side, but when we got there the sand was far too deep, there wasn’t a recognised footpath and we didn’t know the terrain, so satisfied with our efforts we strolled around a little, saw the Atlantic Ocean and walked back. This walk was 2.70 miles long.
The Causeway was built in 1911 to prevent shifting dunes from creating a beach and destroying nearby marshland. It has done its job ever since, as the marsh is still a valuable ecosystem for local wildlife.
On the way back to drop the car off at the hotel I called into a small artisan shop for a few things and picked up one massive blueberry muffin which we shared.
The hotel has free coffee on demand and it is delicious, so I had my muffin with hot coffee and it was an utter treat!
After the coffee break, we put our coats back on and walked into Provincetown.
The weather had improved, the rain had stopped and the sun came out, it was lovely.
The walk into town before we got to the shops was 2 miles, but it was an interesting walk.
Provincetown is famous because it is the first place on the American continent that the Pilgrims set foot on land. They had intended to sail down coast, but it was November in 1620 and the coastal storms forced them to seek shelter which they found in Provincetown Harbour, in the safety of the spit of Cape Cod. They set foot on land in Provincetown when they came ashore on 11th November 1620.
We found Provincetown to be a vibrant and lovely town, some shops and bars were open but most are closed until May, but the atmosphere was still busy.
There is a very large gay community in the town, it’s been a popular place for gay people since the start of the 20th Century, although I only saw lots of older gay men strolling about happily enjoying the spring sunshine.
We strolled and strolled clocking up more mileage, and it was very nice.
There is a monument to the Pilgrims, its massive and can be seen for miles around, and you can go up to the top where the views of Cape Cod are stunning. Sadly, it doesn’t open until May!!!
The Pilgrim Monument was built between 1907 and 1910 to commemorate the first landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims in Provincetown on November 11, 1620. The tower is 252 feet, 7.5 inches tall and rises 350 feet above sea level, it really is stunning!!!
We stopped for a drink in Brians bar, I had a beer and Wendy had birthday wine. It was a cracking little bar and thankfully Brian didn’t charge Cheers prices.
After a very good walk and look around the town we walked back and completed yet another 6.80 miles, so that’s 15.60 miles for me for the day, I needed a bath.
I did indeed fancy a bath but not until I had cooked Wendys supper.
The meal she had chosen was a very nice large sirloin steak, cooked rare, which we shared, a very fancy seafood salad which had huge lumps of lobster, a very very fancy French salad, mushrooms stuffed with crab meat, black olives and finally I had a tomato.
It was an utter delight and Wendy loved it.
I washed up!
After such an energetic day I had a stonking bath, I filled it right up, took a glass of wine with me and I listened to BBC Radio 2.
For the last hour I have been trying to download a VPN for my laptop, I wanted to get a programme for Wendy to watch on BBC iPlayer, I have downloaded one that was rubbish now I am trying to buy an Express VPN, it’s taking an age.
I might never get to watch the rugby!
No Travelling
Disaster!!!
We had to watch Death in Paradise on my iPhone last night because I could not get a VPN for my laptop unless I sign up for a year. Actually, it wasn’t that bad, it was just smaller than normally.
It was a little over cast when I went running this morning, and it was dark.
I was worried that the USA might put the clocks forward sometime soon as that would give us an extra hour of darkness in the morning, and to be honest I have got used to going to bed and getting up early. I don’t have to worry as the States have already put their clocks forward, they did it on 10th March, so this year I will not lose an hour of my life! I did wonder why we currently have only a 4-hour time difference with the UK, when the east coast is usually 5 hours later than us at home.
I ran along the coast road in the opposite direction of Provincetown and it was an eye opener. The beach along there is beautiful and homes and chalets back right up to it. I know this because most are boarded up and are closed for the winter so I snook a peak.
While I was out, I saw a large shark warning sign, Great White Sharks swim in these waters, that’s me definitely sticking to the pool.
I got back to the hotel and after breakfast Wendy went and put some washing on at the hotels laundry room. It costs $3.00 for a wash and $3.00 for drying, which is much cheaper than when we do it in the UK, the washing machine was much bigger too.
I took the opportunity to use the indoor pool and I’m really glad I did because it’s a topper.
What I really liked about it was the water was actually warm. There was no shivering when I got in and it was quite soothing as I did some lengths of the pool.
I must have done about 30 lengths and called it a day.
After getting changed I grabbed a coffee from reception to take to the room.
Wendy was just going back to the laundry and I sat at the table drinking coffee and looking at maps on my laptop.
That’s when I had a terribly terrible accident!!!
I caught the coffee cup with my little finger and spread the whole contents over the laptop keyboard, it immediately shut down.
I grabbed it quick sticks and turned it over. I then carefully wiped it down and put it on one side.
I quickly Googled a remedy.
The answer was let it dry overnight and see how it goes.
I opened it, placed it on its side and placed it on the sideboard near the fan heater, and held my breath.
Thankfully if the worst came to the worst I had done a full back up recently.
With Wendy back we set off in the car for a look at an area of Cape Cod a little closer to the mainland.
Our first port of call was to Dennis Port which was 40 miles away.
We drove out on the only road in and out of the peninsula and it’s the road we will take when we leave for Providence tomorrow.
We arrived in Dennis Port and apart from housing and a stunning beach, there was nothing else there.
So we proceeded a little further west and headed to the large town of Hyannis.
We stopped off at Yarmouth and got a few items from a supermarket before taking a stroll around the few shops there. To finish we took a coffee in MacDonalds before carrying on!
We got to Hyannis and parked at the top of Main Street and walked its entire length. There were some really nice shops and bars but some shops were closed as were a lot of bars. They all had signs in the window saying, “See you in May”
Main Street was exactly 1 mile in length and we walked both sides and then took the car to the town beach where we took a stroll.
The ferries for Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard leave from Hyannis and we could see one on the horizon, but the islands were too far away to be seen.
We were going to take a day trip to one but the ferry prices were just too stupid to consider it.
Back in the car we drove 30 miles back down the peninsula to a small town called Chatham.
What a stunning little town Chatham was!
We walked along its Main Street and saw some really interesting shops, and lots of very nice clothing shops too.
The housing was out of this world, it really was amazing.
We left Main Street and strolled down Shore Street and straight onto a really stonking beach, it was stunning.
If you live in Chatham then you’re one of the luckiest people alive, it really is that nice.
All of the places visited today are all on the south side of Cape Cod and we saw that it is unprotected from the North Atlantic Ocean.
We drove back to the apartment and stopped to look at the beach I stopped at this morning, to see it in all its beauty in the afternoon sunshine.
Boy I do like a nice beach!
We got back to the hotel and it was rather warm in the bedroom.
I set my laptop up on the table and fired it up.
It took 2 seconds and then she started up!
I tested everything and it was all working, well everything apart from the space bar.
While Wendy cooked some very strange sausages in a frying pan in an inch of boiling water, I tapped out tonight’s copy on my old iPhone 6 as it is much bigger than my iPhone 8.
Supper was a delight and after I finished it, I emailed my copy to my laptop and I pasted it into my MS Word document and would you believe, the space bar is now working!!!
Phew, have I dodged a bullet?
As I have said tomorrow is moving day and more exploration of this area of The United States which they call New England, I feel quite at home!
121 Miles
Shooting Star!
Thankfully the laptop doesn’t seem to have suffered any permanent damage and is working just fine.
I set an alarm for 5:00 am this morning, not thinking that we would need it, but we did. I was up and about not long after and Wendy followed soon after.
I had a peep outside; it was dry and it looked like it was going to be a lovely bright morning.
I was dressed for running and I set off at exactly 6:00 am and the sky was just turning dark blue. I was looking skywards at the time and I saw a magnificent shooting star travel through the sky. It was a brilliant white blaze and it was visible for about 4 seconds, it really was an amazing site.
The sky soon became a very light colour and then I saw a very beautiful sunrise, right out of the sea, directly in front of me. It must be one of the few places on the east coast of the United States that you can see the sun rise out of the sea.
I got back to the hotel just after Wendy who had waited for it to get a little lighter before she went out.
We had had our breakfast and we were all packed for the off by 8:45 which is exceptionally good for us two!
The weather was brilliant, clear skies, but very cold, under 3 degrees.
We drove all the way to Providence without any hassle, the Sat Nav worked a treat and we got off the Interstate about 1 mile from our AirBnB.
Ice Cream Duck sat upfront and loved the journey, it wasn’t a very exciting drive as the landscape didn’t change much, but he got very excited when we went over the big steel bridge over the River Taunton.
We actually arrived 2.5 hours early, see that’s what an early start does for you!
But after finding our house we took a drive and after some faffing we found a 2 hour parking spot, but I wasn’t too sure if it was free or to be paid for.
As we had 2 hours to kill we walked around the city and as its quite small we covered most of it in the time we had.
Its another clean and tidy city but we did see a few mad people who were openly shouting at themselves. There were a few shady characters around too, they needed an eye keeping on them.
As we walked, I saw a traffic warden who was just about to write a ticket for a car. I stopped and asked him about my parking, was it free or not? Its hard to tell he said, I’m quite lax, if they aren’t parking in a dangerous area or causing a nuisance I don’t really worry about time.
He then asked me where I was from, so I told him, “So you’re English”, was his reply, “My wife is from Peterborough”. Well, we got on like a house on fire, especially as we told him that we had swum in the Lido last summer.
On leaving he said, “Hey buddy, you take my number and if you do get a ticket, give me a call, I know a lot of people”. What a great bloke Mike Butler is, by the way, the driver of the car he was writing the ticket out for came back and he told her off and then told her that I had saved her the ticket by talking to him!
We walked and walked and we came to the very beautiful Rhode Island State Building, and yes, it is another corker.
I saw a big tent in the grounds of the State building and it was clear that a TV or film production was in town, there were signs for extras and signs for crew. I stopped and asked one fella what the production was and he told me it’s the Ally McBeal. I said, Ally McBeal, wasn’t that a TV series”. He said, “I’m not sure, I never heard about it”.
We carried on walking, the sun was out but it was bitter cold, I think that there might be snow in the air.
There are some tall buildings in the city but not too many.
I had to go to the toilet and the only place I could find was in the bus station. There were only two toilets but the place was mobbed with unseemly men and no one was needing the toilet, they were all lingering, I put my shields on full alert!
Back out on the street and we headed back to the car and back to our new home.
Colin let us in and he showed us how to operate the front door lock, jeepers it is very hi-tech, even Tom Cruise couldn’t get in.
Colin is a smashing old fella, he’s English from London but has lived here since he was in his 30’s, and he must now be in his late 70’s.
The house is lovely, it was built in 1870, but thankfully it does have electricity.
Before settling in we took the car and found a supermarket for some bread. The supermarket, as luck would have it was close to a liquor store where we enrolled on their frequent customer programme and got 3 free bottles of wine.
Back at the house and while I coloured my State Map, because that’s Rhode Island now bagged, Wendy knocked up a very tasty supper sandwich.
After supper we took a very nice walk around the area.
We are only one mile from the city centre and we are very close to a main road called Broadway. We walked up Broadway and then crossed one block and then walked down another main street. On the second main street we spotted a very nice-looking Mexican Restaurant which we think we might frequent tomorrow night.
This is a really nice area, its safe and very tidy, the buildings are all, again, very very nice.
I’m now sat in the dining room of this delightful apartment filing tonight’s copy and I just goggled Ally McBeal in Providence, it turns out it’s a film called Ella McCay.
The cast includes “Barbie” actress Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson and Albert Brooks. I do like Woody Harrelson; I might just have to go and watch it when it comes out!
No Travelling
Mexican Night!
I was late up this morning, it was 5:20 am when I woke.
I nipped to the kitchen to make my breakfast and there was a young man sat at the table. We both said good morning and I made my tea and toast and then took Wendy a cup of tea in bed and sat at the table and chatted with the young man.
He is Moroccan but lives in East London, he is leaving for Boston Airport later today to go back.
I told him that I had been to Morrocco, Tangiers and Ceuta, I corrected myself by saying that the Spanish claim to have Ceuta as part of Spain, and he said something that I have always thought, I might actually have it detailed in this blog. He said, “The Spanish are hypocrites, because they take our land and claim its their country but complain that the UK has Gibraltar.
He was a nice young man and it was nice to chat with him. He told me that he had a car and a few hours to waste and that he hasn’t had time to go into the city, so I told him where he could park, free of charge.
Wendy didn’t go running, I did, I went down to the city and along the river. It was quite nice, cold, but dry.
I passed a tent set up on waste ground behind the fire station, someone was sleeping rough but they had made the best of it with a wood burning stove and solar panels set up.
I got back to the house and I took my breakfast in the kitchen while Wendy took her toast back to the bedroom.
After my shower we walked down into the city with a couple of aims.
The first was to find the river walk, which was easy, we just had to go in the opposite direction that I ran earlier on.
The walk into the city is exactly one mile so we were there in no time at all.
The river walk was pretty nice, the City Board have done a great job making it a focal point of the city. The river is called several different names at different locations, in the city its simply called The Providence River. This is because the river that goes through the city is made from the confluence of several rivers all with very long Native American names
The river is a tidal river and it flows for about 8 miles. There are no dams along its length although the Fox Point Hurricane Barrier is located south of downtown to protect the city from damaging tidal floods, probably it’s like how the Thames Barrier is supposed to work.
The weather was bright and very sunny and we had decided to go with our light jackets which was a very good move as we were suddenly very warm with the sunshine.
It did get a little blowy along the river but we were still quite warm.
From the river we walked the short distance to Benefit Street which is a street where some of the oldest homes in the city are. Jeepers this was a very nice area as there were some really lovely and large looking homes. The street was lined with trees too, but these were bare as no buds have appeared yet. In fact the daffodils aren’t even out of the ground fully, let alone have their flowers out.
From Benefit Street we went back downtown and walked almost every street finishing off at the large “Providence Shopping Centre”.
Providence is a very small city, there are tall buildings sure enough but it is very small in size, I would say it’s not much bigger than Inverness.
The shopping centre was large, on 3 floors with a Macy store but we weren’t too fussed about buying anything so we just strolled about.
Having walked for just over 5 miles we headed back to the house so that we could have some sustenance.
I had a ham sarnie and Wendy had a donut kind of bar, I even managed to brew coffee in Colins fancy machine.
While we were in the dining room, Colin popped in and told us to make the most of the weather as its going to get colder tomorrow. Its moving day tomorrow, I don’t fancy driving on snowy roads, there has been snow close by, but thankfully that was at some higher altitudes.
Colin, who both I and Wendy know that Colin is an accomplished photographer told us that he had done a shoot this morning with some cats and that they were very difficult to keep in one place, for the shoot.
After resting we took another walk, for two reasons, to check a Mexican Restaurant which we have our eye on for supper, and to check out an interesting building we caught sight of last night.
The restaurant looks good, the building is massive, it’s called Cranston Street Armoury and was built in 1907, for more info check this website:
Cranston Street Armory - Wikipedia
As we got there, we could see that the building was being used for, get this, accommodation for the film shoot from yesterday’s copy.
We carried on walking and would you believe we came across, get this, again, a film shoot in a restaurant. I wanted to go in and become an extra but Wendy said I wouldn’t get past security.
Walking along Wendy said something about Colin shooting cats, the penny dropped, I had to explain to her that shooting is an expression Americans use when taking photographs, he wasn’t literally shooting cats Wend!
As we got close to the apartment, we took a beer in a nice bar just around the corner from the house and it was quite nice, the barmaid was lovely and even let me into the bars private Wi-Fi so I could show Wendy who Gary Sinise is, (apparently, she had never heard of him).
We chilled listening to BBC sounds in the lounge before heading out for our Mexican supper!
I liked the Mexican food, I had steak tips with rice with a bean sauce, and tortillas, Wendy had shrimp enchiladas. I was going to ask for a doggy bag because I couldn’t finish mine but then Wendy ate most of mine and left her shrimp. I finished mine and Wendy’s shrimp and now I am stuffed to high heaven and its 7:30 pm.
Now I’ll need at least 3 hours of digestion before I even dare get in bed, and a 12-mile run tomorrow to shift the bloody stuff!
132 Miles
Freezing Cold!!!
I had another cracking sleep last night, waking up at 5:00 am on the dot.
Before I went out running, I checked the temperature on my weather app, it was -2 degrees, I thought I would get a second opinion and so I checked Google, that said -3 degrees. I thought, “Well if its cold at least it won’t be windy”. How wrong I was, it was blowing a gale.
The cold hit me as soon as I went outside, as I only have shorts with me, my legs felt it first, and then my hands.
I got down to the river and the wind really was howling.
I went along the route that we walked yesterday and I ran past where we went up to Benefit Street. It was really interesting, I went passed Fox Point Hurricane Barrier and then I came to a point where another larger river joined Providence River. The water here was very turbulent and it must have been hard to cross before bridges were built.
As I ran I found a little red duck, who has now been introduced to ice cream duck and it seems they have become instant friends.
I was that cold by now that when I turned around it turned out to be a battle for survival, my hands were blue with the cold. I have never known such a severe cold and very strong wind.
My hands were that cold that I could barely operate the fancy door look that Colin has on the front door.
Jeepers I was glad to be inside and get dressed.
After breakfast I did a bit of route checking as I needed to find somewhere to stay over for an hour or so as we can’t check into our next hotel in York until 3:00 pm.
At just gone 10:00 am we said goodbye to Colin who has been a most excellent AirBnB Host. We then set off to the seaside town of Hampton Beach which I had hoped was in the State of New Hampshire. I had selected this place because it had a National Park actually on a beach.
The drive north was a doddle, the Interstate got busy around Boston but after that it was a breeze. We got off the Interstate at the town of Hampton and then drove about five miles to an amazing beach resort town.
We parked on the massive beach side car park and set off for a walk all along the front of the resort.
Double jeepers it was cold, and the wind was double blowy. I have, again, taught Wendy how to roughly calculate Fahrenheit into Centigrade by removing 30 and then halving what’s left. I test her occasionally and I think she’s got it again. I tried her with 34Of and she correctly answered 2 degrees centigrade. It might have been 2 degrees but the windchill was more like -10 degrees centigrade.
Before we set off walking I nipped across the road to take some photos of the beach, it was a stunner, but I wasn’t hanging around.
I might have already said this, because we say it a lot to ourselves, we swithered with what over coat to bring, big or little. We eventually decided on both, today we did have both on and we were so glad that we did, we needed them. In fact, at one point, I had my hoodie up, my black jacket hood up, my parka hood up, and my beanie cap under all that, and I was just about right.
We stopped at the very end of the resort at the only café / bar open and we had a very nice coffee each, and we shared a pistachio muffin, which was a delight.
The café was a good old American one and apart from us there were only two other customers, but thank goodness the owner opened today as we really needed a warming drink.
Hamilton Beach as been designated a State Park, it really is so beautiful. However the resort was dead, all the hotels were closed and most of the homes we saw had been closed since Christmas, we know this because they still had Christmas decorations up!
To get back to the car we walked down the inner main street and then we set off for our hotel in York, in the State of Maine.
Again, the drive was good and we were soon checked into our very nice hotel at just gone 2:00 pm, an hour earlier then we were allowed to.
This is a very nice hotel but we have just a basic room with a small fridge / freezer, we do however get a hearty breakfast in the morning.
After checking in we took a look at the supermarket which is about 200 metres from our hotel.
Now this is a well-stocked supermarket, it is massive, and they had a hot shelf with hot southern fried chicken which we intended to have for supper with bread that we need to eat smartish.
We didn’t buy anything just now as we were off to explore the Maine Coastline.
First we went to the beach at York which was yet another stunning beach. Sadly though with the wind being what it was I only got on the beach long enough to take a photograph.
We then drove about six miles along the coastal road to the coastal town of Ogunquit, which we found has the most stunning beach that I have ever seen in my life, and believe me I have seen some beaches.
This beach is amazing and the photographs I took do not do it anything like justice. For this one Wendy stayed in the car and I ran about a quarter of a mile down to the ocean to take in the full beauty of this beach.
Running in a parka must have made me look like a madman but needs must and I just had to be warm against that wind.
On this drive we drove through some absolutely stunning townships where Wendy had constant jaw drop at the most amazing homes we saw, and there were a lot of them too.
Our last beach of the day was at York Harbour, it was small but just as beautiful as the others we had seen today.
We collected our chicken supper from the supermarket and ate it in our room before heading over the road for a rather expensive $15.00 beer.
It’s now 7:30 pm and I don’t think it will be long before we are in bed because we have an interesting day tomorrow, we are visiting the, apparently, beautiful city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
That’s two more States bagged and coloured in on my map, I’m down to single figures now, just 9 States to go!
Good Night Avid Reader!!!
No Travelling
Winter Storm Ronnie
I woke at 4:12 am and I could not nod off, but then I had been in bed since 9:30 pm and I had had almost 7 hours of solid sleep.
I nipped down to the breakfast room first thing to get Wendy some milk for her tea and I nipped outside to check on the weather and I found it was still freezing and still very windy.
While I was getting dressed, I watched the weather channel and it’s expected that we should get snow in the coming days. There is a winter storm that’s coming from the mid-west, it’s called Winter Storm Ronnie and its already blanketed Chicago and its even got as far south as Atlantic City which is much further south than us, and its on the east coast too.
I was ready for the cold wind today, I had four sweat shirts on and my jim jam bottoms, they look like tracky bottoms so no one would have noticed any different, even Wendy agreed.
I ran down to York Harbour, its my very nice friend Lind McD’s birthday today, she’s one of Margarets daughters and I wanted to get her a special photograph for her birthday. I had just missed sunrise but the one I did get was a cracker anyway.
Before I detail anymore about today, I want to write about life on the road in the USA.
We took breakfast in the breakfast room in the hotel and it wasn’t too bad. I had a muffin with burgers and scrambled egg followed by a small yogurt.
At around 9:30 am we drove the short distance over the River Piscataqua to re-enter New Hampshire so we could visit the small City of Portsmouth.
We parked the car in a multi storey carpark that I had found online and off we set for a good morning’s exploration.
I was immediately taken in by this lovely clean city which had some amazing brick buildings. The weather was very cold but at least it was bright sunshine and we were very well wrapped up.
First up we walked all over the downtown area and then we called into a very nice café where we had a coffee each. The staff were great, Wendy went to buy a cookie for later and had to hand over my wallet to the poor girl because Wendy doesn’t know a dime from a nickel. While the poor girl was sorting the money out, she tried her best to sell me a cookie too, but I declined.
Back on the street and we walked down to a small park that is on the shore of the river. There is a very big steel lifting bridge at this point which takes you back over to Maine. As we were in the park it lifted for a small vessel which we watched come through.
As we were walking through the park the bridge, which had now closed and was open to traffic must have closed again soon after because an almighty bulk carrier came through. Jeepers it was that big we thought it might not make it.
In the park we walked over a causeway out into the river and onto Four Tree Island. The island is littered with shelters and bbq’s for people to use, most likely on some far-off sunny day. The place was just perfect for it.
We left the park and headed over a bridge, this time to a larger island in the river, this was Peirce Island. This was a reasonably large island with an open-air swimming pool which was thankfully closed to public swimming. It was from this area that we saw a very nice house on a very small private island.
After a walk around Strawberry Banke, where the original settlers’ houses are still in use, we then walked over the Memorial Bridge, this is the large lifting bridge, just so that we could put our toes back into Maine State.
The current bridge was opened in 2013, replacing a bridge of similar design that existed from 1923 to 2012. A large overhead plaque carried over from the original reads "Memorial to the Sailors and Soldiers of New Hampshire who gave their lives in the World War 1917–1919."
Our last job in Portsmouth was to go to a ladies clothing shop called 20 Below, everything was $19.99, (There wasn’t a sport shop or a man’s shop in town).
We were, or rather I was looking for some lady’s leggings that would fit me. The elderly lady owner was brilliant, she found some for me after I explained that I was from the UK and had not anticipated this cold weather and that I needed them as running trousers.
We arrived back at the car after completing a six mile walk around this very beautiful city.
We were back for 2:30 pm and after a break in our bedroom we took a ride over to the supermarket to get some rolls for supper tonight. Sadly, when we got back to the room Wendy discovered that she had bought sweet bread rolls, so we had to get the car out again and head back over.
By the time we had faffed about it was almost 4:00 pm so we settled into our room and watched the news, oh and I tried my new running bottoms on and they are just perfect, in fact I’m wearing them now, they are so comfy.
I feel sorry for Princess Kate, after seeing her tell the world her story. It’s a shame that the media wouldn’t leave her in peace. Jeepers I thought the USA was a republic, they have kicked the backside out of her story, or lack of it every day since we have been here. No doubt they’ve gone into meltdown today.
Its moving day tomorrow, thankfully we are only going 60 miles up the road to Portland.
I had a message from our nephew Ellis who lives in Minneapolis this morning asking if we had snow as they had 5 inches overnight. We haven’t got any yet but after just seeing the weather on TV, it’s coming our way.
Now that’s a worry because our next destination after Portland is in Vermont where I believe we have to traverse some very high mountains, thankfully that’s not until Monday, hopefully Winter Storm Ronnie will be heading towards the UK by then!
At around 7:00 pm I felt the need to stretch my legs so I went out for a walk, Wendy was in her jim jams and that’s how she was staying!
I found a nice housing estate across the road and I walked the streets, but as it started to get dark, and with there being no street lights I thought like an Englishman, that some idiot with a semi-automatic might shoot first and then feel rather silly afterwards, so I went back and watched something on Netflix!
68 Miles
Snow!
I got out of bed at 5:00 am and I immediately looked out of the window and saw it snowing, heavily.
I thought, “Bugger it”, made tea and got dressed in two pairs of running bottoms and 4 sweat shirts and off I went.
Thankfully the wind had dropped!
It was about 2 inches deep and I was the first one out and about but it wasn’t slippery so I was alright.
By the time it was light the snow ploughs emerged and it seemed that anyone with a utility vehicle had attached a snow plough to their car and were out and about clearing the roads.
When I was running back I was a little worried as the foot prints that I had made going out had almost filled in. But I needn’t worry about the roads because the ploughs just kept coming and coming, someone had even cleared the hotel car park.
As soon as I was out of my wet clothes Wendy had them in the washing machine, the laundry is just outside our bedroom so that was easy and it only cost $1.50 for a large wash and $1.30 for the tumble dryer.
Breakfast was the exact same again, burgers, scrambled eggs and today I had them on a bagel.
It took me ten minutes to clear the snow from the car, thankfully the car hire company provided a fancy brush for the snow. They seem to be in common use as I saw another chap using his.
With the bags packed into the car we checked out at 9:45 am and before we set off I filled the car with fuel from the filling station at the nearby supermarket.
I’ve mentioned that the roads in the village had been cleared, well they had, sadly though the ploughing did not extend to the wider Highway, it was terrible.
The Sat Nav for some reason took us almost all the way on the Highway to Freeport, which is 15 miles north of the city of Portland. The Interstate runs parallel to the Highway but the Sat Nav didn’t budge, she wanted us on the Highway. It cannot have been because she had detected some issue on the Interstate because my phone is not connected to the 3G network.
The snow kept coming, there wasn’t any large flakes it was very small ice like crystals, but there were lots coming down, and the road was getting worse. After only 10 miles I was getting a little worried as the road was completely covered. Actually, the photos don’t show the situation, the roads look ok in print but I can assure you they were very slippery.
We never saw a snow plough on our carriageway, we saw the odd one on the south bound carriageway. However the car parks in the towns we drove through were being cleared constantly, supermarkets, stores, car dealers and all other car parks were being cleared by a car with a plough attached.
The road was that bad I took a chance on joining the Interstate, which was a bad move. The Interstate was worse than the Highway, it was shocking and I left it at the first junction I came to.
We carried on at around 30 to 40 mph, sometimes we were down as low as 15 mph, but thankfully we kept going.
The temperature on the car thermometer was 20 degrees f, and we found that my old fire ground calculation doesn’t work for negative figures. If you take 30 off 28, you get -2. But if you then half -2 you get -1, but it was actually around -4.
The roads were at their worst when we got closer to our destination and I was shattered from the concentration I had to do because the road was that bad. Also my neck and back were sore because I had to grip the wheel firmly and keep it in someone else’s tyre tracks.
I was really relieved when we were down to just 4 miles to go, and then not long after we arrived in the very nice-looking town of Freeport.
We drove down main street but we could not find our hotel so Wendy nipped into the post office and an old fella put her straight.
We are a little out of town but its fine, we have a nice-looking BBQ restaurant a short walk away.
It was still snowing, hard.
Originally, we were going to stop off in Portland and then carry on after a few hours, but we didn’t because of the weather, I thought it best to get here. Consequently we were 3 hours early and our room wasn’t ready.
We set off for a walk into town but it was too snowy so we nipped into a nearby brewery where we ordered a beer each. The measurements in the USA aren’t in pints, they are in ounces. Thinking a 10-ounce glass was a pint, I asked for a 10-ounce for me and a 5-ounce for Wendy. When they were poured the glasses were tiny, mine wasn’t even a half, Wendy’s wasn’t even a wine glass.
After leaving the brewery, even though the snow was still coming down the roads were being cleared constantly, so with 2 hours still to kill we drove the short distance into town.
After a mooch around we drove back to the hotel and checked in. During check in I asked the lady why the roads were so bad. She told me that at this time of year they are very slack, in winter they are great, the roads are always safe because they flood them with ploughs, but now they know that it will be gone tomorrow they don’t bother so much.
As we saw two cars stranded on our carriageway, who’s drivers had obviously made mistakes, and that we saw a very nasty accident on the opposite carriageway, maybe they ought to be a little better prepared, even in spring.
Our room is very nice and I couldn’t believe my luck when I found the England v Brazil football was on US TV.
We took supper in the BBQ restaurant; it was very nice and there was too much so we brought a doggy bag back. Actually, we brought more food back than we ate, but it was nice and at least we have tomorrow’s supper in the fridge already.
It was raining when we walked back, hopefully the snow will get washed away tonight and we can carry on our adventure without any more disruption!!!
No Travelling
Electricity???
I have an app on my phone that gives me a night clock. Its brilliant, it fills the whole screen and I can see it in the dark even if its across the room like it was last night.
I woke in the night and looked to see what time it was and the phone was off, I was just getting out of bed and Wendy, who must have woken before me said, “The clocks not on”.
I got up and checked my phone I had 100% power but the charging light wasn’t on.
I checked a lamp, it didn’t work, I checked the main lights and they didn’t work. I could see from under the door that the landing lights were on but I wasn’t bothered in investigating further, it was 2:00 am and I went back to bed with my phone next to me on the floor.
I woke at 5:20 am and we still didn’t have power in our room.
I went downstairs to see the night porter and he told me all of the power is off, in town and all around. The rain last night had turned to ice when the temperature suddenly dropped, bringing power lines down.
The landing lights were powered by a back up generator, but only the lights nothing else.
With nothing else to do I went back to the room and put my running gear on and went out.
Wendy was fine, the room was still warm so everything was ok.
Jeepers it was cold out, it was -6 degrees centigrade.
Thankfully the Highway has a very generous cycle lane which was clear in places and not in others.
The roads were in a shocking state, they had been cleared but they were still icy, for some reason they don’t use grit on the roads.
Coming back I came across a post box that had been left open and the wind had blown the snow in, there were letters inside too, there was a small parcel that had dropped out but I couldn’t prize it out from the snow to put it back in.
I got back to the hotel and the power was still off.
There was nothing else but to have a cold strip wash, in the dark, in the bathroom. Thankfully I am the type of person who can just get along with things.
I did an internet search on the power situation and I found that there was a massive outage, it was the same situation in many towns throughout Maine and even New Hampshire. I eventually found out the situation in Freeport and the towns power was currently been assessed.
Find out about the power situation via this link:
List of Electricity Outages - CMP (cmpco.com)
We decided to go to the city of Portland which was 14 miles to the south, I had seen from the Highway that the Interstate was now clear.
We got down to the car and it was frozen solid and it took me 30 minutes to get her road ready.
While I did so Wendy spoke with a friendly woman who was on a fishing trip, she lives in northern Maine, close to the border with Canada and she comes down to Freeport about 3 times a year and she said that the weather has never been so bad in late March.
Thankfully the Interstate was fully open and safe to drive and we were in Portland within 25 minutes.
I parked in the first place I found, it was $10 for two hours, I didn’t fancy driving around ice covered streets in the hire car so for me it was worth it. Also 2 hours walking in -6 degrees c was enough for anyone.
I’ve said it before but thank goodness we brought both large and small coats.
We found Portland to be a largish but only a one High Street City, there was a port area which we managed to get to but it was hard moving about. The City workers had done their best to get the pavements clear but there was still a lot of ice around.
There were some really nice brick and stone buildings and quite a few interesting statues hanging around street corners.
Having not even had a cup of tea so far we did look to get a coffee but every place we found had a massive queue waiting outside. We weren’t really that bothered for coffee so we didn’t join any of the queues.
We got back to the car with 15 minutes left on the parking and then drove down to a road that overlooks the Ocean. The views were stunning but I guess an i-Phone doesn’t do the view any justice.
Back at the hotel and guess what, the power was still out.
I nipped up to the filling station at the top of the road for a coffee, they were the only station in operation because they had their own generator.
Back at the hotel, while drinking my coffee I found that the town was still being assessed by the power company, I bet its going to be off another night, thankfully the hotel is still warmish!
We had a bit of a rest in the room and after we took a short drive north to the small town of Brunswick. My friend Bridget told me to go and visit the place as she spent a year working at the college.
Just before we left, I asked the lad on reception if they were making any plans to light our rooms in case the power didn’t come back on. I might as well have been speaking Spanish, it took me three goes for him to simply say, “No we’re not!” I told him I’d look after myself then.
Brunswick was nice, it had just one main street and no power so most shops were closed. I had an idea, we needed candles! We found a department store open, operating on emergency lighting and a very helpful young man said they did have some but that they were Yahrzeit Memorial Candles and he took us to the aisle that had them. He then took me to get some matches too, what a smashing young fella, we bought 4 candles, not fork handles.
Back out on the streets and we found Bridget’s college and had a nice walk around the grounds.
Going back to the car we found one resourceful chocolate shop keeper open so we went in and bought a box of chocolates, she was lovely too and very grateful for our custom.
We got back at a little before 4:00 pm and would you believe the power was on. Wendy had supper warmed up quick sticks and we ate the lovely leftovers from last night, it was an utter delight.
It’s now almost 5:30 pm and I’m posting tonight’s copy early in case the power goes off again. There are still hundreds of thousands of homes still not reconnected so you never know what might happen. But if it does fear not Avid Reader, I have the heater on now blasting heat into the room, and we have a spare double bed so we can also pinch the duvet if needed!
230 Miles
The Green Mountains
It was -5 when I went out this morning but there had been no more snow and the pavements had been cleared all the way into and beyond town, so that’s where I ran to.
A school bus stopped for me to cross the road and I slipped on the only patch of snow there was. I was running a bit too fast trying not to hold the bus up. School buses are like God in the US, cars have to stop for them to pull out and you’re not even allowed to overtake them, even when they stop at a bus stop.
I went up in the air and at one point my body was parallel to the floor. Thankfully I landed in the snow, I picked myself up smartish and looked at the bus driver who gave me a big thumbs up. It must have been my graceful landing getting 10 out of 10!
While I was out I saw 20, maybe 30 power trucks setting off from various hotels, we even had three crews staying in our hotel. I wish I could have shook every one of their hands.
There were loads of school closures flashing up on morning TV news.
The biggest item on the TV news today was Princess Catherine, they are absolute bonkers about her over here.
The morning was really nice, but still very cold. Having packed the car up we were ready for the off at 9:40 am.
We headed down the Interstate and just as we approached Portland, we found out why the Sat Nav didn’t bring us up the Interstate on Saturday, it’s a Toll Road.
I have set the Sat Nav to avoid Toll Roads, it’s not that I am being mean, its just that the visitor to the States cannot pay. You have to have a transponder in the car, which we have, that works out the tolls and takes it from your account. The problem we have is that to hire the transponder for use it costs us $8.00 a day just for the hire, we then have the toll fees on top of that. Like the Dartford Crossing, you can no longer pay cash, there’s not even a way to pay online! If I get a Toll fee it goes to the car hire company, along with a fine for nonpayment, and then the car hire company add their admin fee for processing it for me. I got stung in Miami and it cost an arm and a leg.
Anyway, the scenery is much better on the back roads.
For the first 100 miles we followed back roads going through some really lovely looking towns. Every now and then we would come across a crew of electric company workers who were repairing the overhead lines.
At one point we came to a closed road, there was a barrier but no detour. I had no idea where we were, we have a map but its not detailed for the smaller roads. As I had no idea which way to go, I went around the barrier, my thinking was that I could ask a worker which way to go.
Driving on we came across 3 crews working on the power and each time they waved me through, with a smile too!
I stopped for fuel and I was served by a lady who was fascinated by my accent, she loved it. I told her that I was from Yorkshire, in England, she didn’t seem to know where that was, England I mean!
With just over 100 miles completed we took Interstate 93 through New Hampshire.
Jeepers this road was almost empty and we went through 80 odd miles of frozen forests.
In the distance we could see that we were approaching mountains. I wasn’t worried as I had already researched this, the highest mountain pass would be no higher than 2,500 feet, the height of the Cairngorm Mountain Car Park. Had it been under the weather conditions we had on the coastal Highway on Saturday I would have been very much concerned.
We entered Vermont just after we passed the town of Lebanon and we carried on the Interstate for about another 30 miles.
We left the interstate and drove again on back roads which led us to the village of Bethel. We stopped at Bethel to stretch our legs and maybe get a bite to eat.
Bethel wasn’t big, maybe 200 metres long, but there were some interesting buildings and a delightful café where we had a most delicious beef sandwich, with coffee.
Carrying on and we did indeed cross the Green Mountains, and we saw some stunning countryside. We stopped at one view point and I got out and the air felt really nice and clean, it was cold mind but it did taste fresh.
We arrived at Brandon Inn, our hotel for the next few nights at 3:15 pm.
The hotel is very old, it was actually used as a field hospital in the Civil War, and we were checked in by a nice young woman who took us up to our room in the lift.
The lift is amazing, it’s the oldest lift in the State of Vermont.
Only staff members can operate the lift because they have to use antiquated operating equipment, and they have to guess when to stop it on the floor. We used it twice and we had a foot deep drop each time to get out of the lift, I guess the young woman is new to using it.
After dropping our bags we took a nice afternoon walk around town, its lovely, its small town America at its best!
There is a bar next to the hotel and after having walked around town we called in for a glass of wine, it was a great decision.
We were the only customers and me and the owner got on like a house on fire. The owner has his own distillery and he gave me a shot of his delicious moonshine, it was a delight, it was smooth and harsh at the same time, I’ll be back tomorrow.
We have some bully beef in the cool box that passes sell by date today so we had a very nice sandwich in our room, but tomorrow I hope to go and visit my new mate in his bar for one of his, so he says, “Very tasty beef stakes!”
He also told me that our hotel is haunted, but I guessed that myself anyway.
It’s gone 7:40 pm and I am sat in our very nice bedroom and I have just seen an amazing sunset over the Green Mountains, it was a cracker!!!
I’ll tell you about my concerns about the Total Eclipse tomorrow, if I think on!!!
Total Eclipse!
I ran into the foothills of the Green Mountains this morning, the air was very cold but unbelievably fresh.
Here’s some info on the Green Mountains:
The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont and are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately 250 miles from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Quebec, Canada.
Now onto the Eclipse
On Monday April 8th, Akron, Ohio will experience a total solar eclipse. The last total solar eclipse in Ohio was in 1806 and after April’s will not happen again until 2099.
It is just pure coincidence that we will be staying at an AirBnB in Akron which is an area where the total eclipse will be fully visible, cloud cover permitting. The eclipse will last for almost 3 minutes and starts just after 3:00 pm.
We drive to Lansing that day which is 255 miles away, one of our longest drives, but we don’t mind hanging around to see the eclipse. Actually we can even go a little further north and still see it, I’m actually thinking of a small place called Norwalk, in Ohio, but there seems to be nothing planned for it there. Norwalk is about 70 miles from Akron but it is bang on the centre line of the eclipse, and it is in our intended direction.
My worry, which was born yesterday, speaking to my new mate in the bar, is that Brandon too will experience the total eclipse and that they are having a massive total eclipse party over the preceding weekend. The Main Street will be closed and its going to be one big massive shindig! Our current hotel is doing something too and they have a big promotion for rooms for out of towners.
Remembering back when Liverpool got awarded the Eurovision Song Contest, lots of hotels cancelled their current bookings for that period and then put the rooms out again for an extortionate price. As we are only having the one night in Akron, the night before the eclipse, I’m conscious that might be a temptation for our host too. There’s nothing we can do about it, but it pays to be aware, just in case. I’ll not tell Wendy, she might worry unnecessarily!
We had the worst of breakfasts this morning, it was just iced doughnuts, breakfast bars or kids cereals, there wasn’t even an healthy option. Never mind, we’d be hungry for supper later.
Our first chore today was to visit the thrift shop in Brandon, we missed it yesterday as it closes at 2:00 pm. I wanted a nice mug for my morning tea, which I got, and Wendy quite liked an easter bunny plate.
Next we took a ride about 6 miles north to Lake Dunmore, which is a smallish lake of about 3 miles long and a mile wide.
We drove down the western side but we couldn’t get to see it properly as there were no parking spots. The road ran down the lake but there were holiday homes preventing access. However, going along the east side, we came into a State Park area where we could park and walk the shore. It was lovely, the sun was out and it was very peaceful, I bet it’s a different story in summer!
Branbury State Park is located on the eastern shore of Lake Dunmore at the base of Mt. Moosalamoo. The Green Mountain National Forest is its neighbour to the east. Historically, the 69-acre park operated as a farm at the turn of the century, then as a guest house, summer boy's camp and private beach and picnic area. In 1945, it became Branbury (Brandon-Salisbury) State Park. The 1000-foot natural sandy beach, clean, clear Lake Dunmore, and the large open grassy areas make the area very popular for swimming, sunning, or picnicking. See what I mean about summer?
Back at the hotel we had a coffee before setting off to the small city of Rutland which is 16 miles to the south.
The drive there was stunning!
Rutland was no bigger than Inverness but it was interesting with some good-looking buildings for me to marvel at. It is famous for one thing, it has a sculpture trail which we tried to follow. The city council have provided some notice boards with maps on, but the way they have been fitted does not correspond to the, “You are here now”, so it was a right faff working out which way to walk.
The weather has been nice today and we have even got up to 12 degrees centigrade, the snow however is still deep and lingering.
We got back to the hotel in time to facetime Eleanor and Lois and then we had a laze in the room while deciding what we might have for supper tonight as it was our intention to go back to yesterday’s bar for a treat.
Earlier I had thought to give the car the once over under the bonnet, check the levels and tyres and I cannot believe, two weeks into a ten week trip its looking like 4 new tyres are needed. I’ll have to get them checked anyway!
Tomorrow is moving day, we are off to Connecticut which is just over 200 miles further south.
I have downloaded two Radio 2 shows, Owain Wyn Evens and Vernon Kay for the trip. It’s great because I can play them through the car radio via Bluetooth.
Supper was a true delight, I had a lovely steak, with a salad and moonshine sauce, Wendy had chicken strips and fries. We had wine and a shot each, mine was moonshine, of course, and Wendy had a lemon typey shot.
I played pool with a local, and I had to get to know local rules, which were far removed from what I know. I lost, to a better player, although it is the first time I have played pool in varifocal specs.
All in all, it has been a cracking day, and the icing on the cake was when the barmaid on wishing us good night said, “You’ve only been here two nights and your already locals!”
214 Miles
The Quinnipiac River
It was a warmer morning today, at 3 degrees centigrade, the same as at home in Kirkhill, according to my weather app.
Before we went out last night I asked the girl who checked us in if they were going to be busy on the eclipse weekend, she told me that the hotel is booked solid, every bedroom has been sold.
There was a really good atmosphere in the bar last night. A young man and woman came in and sat at the bar and the fella says, “This good old Ginny man loves Moonshine so give me a shot of your best stuff”. The barmaid says, “Here try this, made right here in the bar”.
He took a sip, and then another and he says, “God dam that is very good Moonshine, you’ve got this quite right”. A fella asks him where he’s from and he says, “I’m from Virginia and we make our Moonshine too but this is pretty dam good stuff”. The way the conversation went was just like I expected cowboys used to speak.
The weather was a bit mizzily here today and I ran around the town and I must have covered most of it by now. I am hoping we leave the snow behind when we leave today, even I’m sick of it.
Yet another rubbish breakfast, the only good thing is that the milk is half milk half cream and its bloody lovely, I could drink gallons of it. It’s a shame I’ve not been having my smoothie, I thought I was getting a good old Stateside breakfast too.
Just before we asked for help with the lift I nipped to the bar and took a photo of a bottle of Moonshine through the window, I was going to nip down to the liquor store and get myself a bottle.
While I was doing this Wendy was taking all our stuff to the lift so that I could load it in when we arrived on our floor.
Back in reception I asked the reception lady to help me with the lift which she did. She asked me what floor and I said floor 2.
What a wally I was, floor 2 in the States is their floor 3. So when we stopped and there was no stuff there I realised my mistake and apologised. The lady told me not to worry, she is from Argentina and they mark floors like we do, ground, 1st, 2nd and so on.
So she took it up one more floor, but overshot that and we ended up on the top floor.
Eventually we got to the 2nd floor where Wendy was waiting and she said, “Are you having problems?”
I explained while I loaded the lift and then the lady invited Wendy into the lift. “No thank you, I’ll take the stairs”.
I told the lady that the lift scares her, she replied, “Yes. We get that a lot!”
With my bottle of Moonshine safely tucked in the car we set off, following the route that we took to Rutland yesterday.
It started to rain, heavy!
For the first 70 miles we followed a highway through the mountains, but without having to go through any mountain high level passes, which I was pleased about.
We saw some really beautiful scenery and some cracking small towns.
Just after 70 miles we took the Interstate which took us all the way to New Haven.
Not long after taking the Interstate we started descending, and at about 110 miles of travel we finally left the snow behind.
The road got busy as we went past a few cities but nothing troublesome and we were parked up at our AirBnB at 2:15 pm.
As the room wasn’t yet ready we took a walk down to the Quinnipiac River where I asked a couple of fellas to kindly directed us to a nearby supermarket, which they did.
The supermarket was another large one and we had supper selected in no time, it had to be a microwave meal as apart from a fridge and a kettle that’s all we have.
We must be in a Spanish section of the city as that is all we heard as we passed by people. This was confirmed when we were walking through the High School kids as they left for the day.
We checked into our small but rather nice room which is the entire ground floor, under the owner’s house. Paul met us and gave us some advice about getting into the city tomorrow and where to walk this afternoon.
Settled in, Wendy made supper, which was a mish-mash of two different microwave suppers, I quite liked mine, Wendy wasn’t so keen, but she did accept that she had dined rather well last night.
At 4:45 pm we took an afternoon walk over the nearby bridge and into a riverside park where we found that we could do a circular walk of about 3 miles, coming back over another road bridge downriver.
It was a pleasant walk but the river doesn’t look too inviting, apparently its good for fishing but I did read that it used to be a sewer a few years ago. It’s supposed to be cleaner now but swimming is strongly discouraged.
The climate is definitely different here, the daffodils are out and there are buds on the trees. It was 14 degrees centigrade when we first entered the city but dropped to around 10 when we arrived at the house. But at least its not freezing and there is no snow.
We are on the east side of the river and Paul told us that we are about 2 to 3 miles from downtown. We will most likely take the car and find a carpark so we can roam around the city.
I just checked my bottle of Moonshine and I see that its batch number 1 from the 2020 brew, that must be a massive coincidence, I wished I had not opened it, it might be worth a small fortune in years to come!
That would be hard to resist mind, you only need a tiny tipple because its rocket fuel, but it is a real proper delight!!!
We are now in Connecticut, that’s another State coloured in on my map tonight, seven more to go!!!
No Travelling
Yale!
Connecticut is the 3rd smallest US State, Rhode Island, where we have already been is the smallest and Delaware is the 2nd smallest, which is our next State to bag.
Connecticut is only 70 miles in length and 110 miles wide.
Wendy asked me to get her running kit out of the car last night as she was going to go out today, but when I looked outdoors at 5:00 am, it was chucking it down with rain and that did for Wendy.
It didn’t look like day light was coming at 6:00 am so I waited a little longer and when it was very slightly light I ran two miles down one road and straight into the city. I found myself very quickly amongst the very beautiful buildings of Yale University. It reminded me of Cambridge, although I couldn’t really appreciate the view as it was only half light.
The city looked nice enough so I was excited to be going back for the day a little later on.
I ran back via another two-mile road and I was amazed when I came across a very long queue of people who were stood outside in the rain with their umbrellas up. They were lined up outside a church building and some of them had shopping trollies with them. It was 7:30 am and I can only assume that it was either a breakfast club or a food bank of some sort.
I got back to the house before 8:00 am and Wendy was up and showered.
I was doing a few chores on my computer when I heard our host playing his guitar and singing songs upstairs.
The rain continued outside so I did a little work looking for accommodation. We have accommodation booked up to where we see our nephew and his wife in Minnesota, which takes us up to 20th April. From this point we drive directly along the Northern States. I have one place booked, at Yellowstone National Park because I thought that rooms might be a little harder to get in that area when the weather improves.
Today I found two places, both in North Dakota, now I need to find three in Montana, three in Idaho and two in Washington, Alaska is already booked up.
At around 10:00 am just as we were leaving, Paul, our host was crossing the road and asked if we wanted to borrow an umbrella, thankfully we took him up on his offer.
As we drove into town we passed the church where the queue was much longer now, and that was almost 3 hours after I had first seen it.
We used a secure carpark close to the city and walked in.
From what we understand New Haven is famous for two things:
Pizza - New Haven–style pizza is a style of thin-crust, coal-fired Neapolitan pizza. Locally known as apizza, it originated in 1925 at the Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and is now served in many other pizza restaurants in the area, most notably Sally's Apizza and Modern Apizza. Paul told us we should visit Sally’s if we get a chance, Wendy’s eyes lit up as she adores pizza.
Yale University - Is a private Ivy League research university. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution.
The University is made up of 14 colleges and they have 3 campuses and occupy 520 buildings which accommodate 14,776 students.
Yale University to the City of New Haven is exceptionally good business and is a major employer.
Our first port of call was to browse around the university buildings, if it had been a nice spring day we could have walked around them all day long as they are absolutely beautifully built.
From the University we found the shopping district and walked around that and then we took a stroll in the historic quarter which we found just to be old and not very well-maintained residential properties.
As we walked along, we came across several wood fired apizza restaurants, one in particular had a huge pile of wood outside the building and it looked to me like it had a very big oven, or someone needed to start chopping some logs. I could also see the ovens were lit because a huge amount of smoke was coming out of the chimney, even though they didn’t open until 3:00 pm.
We wanted to take a walk to a place called City Point, which appeared on my mapping app to be a local view point across the Sound of Long Island.
We walked and walked and it continued to pour down, Wendy flagged a bit so I looked at my mapping app and saw that we could backtrack a couple of blocks and take a short cut back to the car, where once we had the car we could drive up to the point.
At the point, there was a wooded pier of about 100 metres in length which we walked out into the Sound. We could not see Long Island from this point but I am certain that I could see the skyscrapers of Manhatton, they were where they should be and they did look like it. The photograph isn’t brilliant as its on maximum focus and is blighted by the rain and poor visibility.
We then drove back to the house where after a warming coffee a decision was made to take an early supper in a local restaurant not 100 metres from the house.
We walked down to the restaurant at 3:30 pm and we had a really lovely time.
The two waitresses were brilliant, very professional and friendly, one of the owners came over and welcomed us and chatted with us.
The food was stunning, I had chicken with pasta in an absolutely delightful sauce, Wendy had a bbq chicken pizza which she loved. Both meals were steaming hot and had been very freshly cooked, they were a real delight.
There was a table of women close by and boy could they chat, and they were very loud, but thankfully that didn’t detract from a very nice dining experience.
Its still raining outside but that’s OK, we have a very cosy room and tomorrow is moving day where we will spend the easter weekend in, hopefully, a sunny Philadelphia!
212 Miles
Happy Easter!!!
I slept well until 3:00 am then I woke for some reason and then I must have nodded back off because I then had 2 hours of stupid madcap dreams, I was exhausted when I woke at 5:00 am.
It wasn’t raining this morning so Wendy did indeed go out running. It was quite a nice safe neighbourhood that we were staying in so she felt comfortable going out on her own.
I did a nice circuit around the river but the wind was fierce and cold at times, we were back down to 5 degrees centigrade. Thankfully we’ve moved further south today. I was a little apprehensive as we were driving past New York and when I set the Sat Nav up for the address yesterday the map looks like it’s taking us directly through it.
I thought that we might have to get off the Interstate a few times because there are quite a few sections that have tolls on them.
I thought that we might be taking Interstate 95, which is a very long road. Interstate 95 is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick, its 1,957 miles long.
I was back on my smoothie yesterday and I had another one today, then after showering we decamped and before heading out from New Haven we called in at a massive Walmart Supermarket which I had spotted while running, it was just a mile from our house.
Walmart was indeed massive and we got everything we needed and after fuelling the car we set off and we were immediately on Interstate 95, for only 15 miles, and then the Sat Nav took us on to the Merritt Parkway.
I have to correct the record, passing City Point on the Interstate, when I thought I saw Manhattan yesterday it was just some tall scaffold towers, on the Connecticut mainland. In my defence the visibility was terrible and they did look like it!
The road to start with was fine and we made good progress.
New York is where the fun started.
We were back on 95 and we entered the Bronx, but only at high level, we couldn’t see anything down below. We did have some good views of Manhattan mind.
There were that many junctions all at the same place at several locations that it was hard to keep track of following my road, I managed it, but it was a struggle. Wendy was beside herself with panic, she’s not a good passenger at the best of times and I did hear the odd, “Oh dear god, watch that idiot and we are going to die,” several times.
Once we were away from New York and into New Jersey we were fine.
We stopped at a MacDonald’s, for our CWW, that’s Coffee, Wi-Fi and wee-wee!
Back on the road again and the final run into Philadelphia was on Interstate 95 and it dropped us less than a mile from our apartment.
The apartment is really nice, but it has minimum equipment, especially cooking wise, but we’ll manage.
I have parked the car on the opposite side of the road, there are no signed restrictions and the road is chock a block with cars. There is a 2-hour limit on our side of the road, so I asked the host via AirBnB messaging, she hadn’t a clue, why would she?
Thankfully some workmen were working on a nearby building and I asked them. The young man was really good and explained about the restriction on our side but agreed we should be ok where the car is parked. I know the American authorities are very keen on towing away!!!
After settling in we took a walk, I knew where to go to see some parts of the city because Philadelphia uses the good old USA grid system. We are on 9th street, so we find an Avenue to walk down and we tick off the streets as we go.
We walked all the way to the Arts Centre and the weather was just perfect, well apart from a stiff breeze. We had encountered 60-degree Fahrenheit, 15 degree C, when we approached the city so that was pleasing.
As we left New Haven, the trees were still bare but we found that in Philadelphia the trees not only had a good dose of blossom, some also had leaves coming through.
We saw what appeared to be an incident on a bridge, we couldn’t see what it was but the emergency services were there in high numbers. Speculation was rife among onlookers but you couldn’t see whatever was happening.
This is a large city and it is going to take some walking so we need our rest tonight.
Back at the apartment, I cooked supper, it was chicken and rice in a creamy mushroom sauce, it wasn’t my finest work but it was passable. Well I did have only one tiny not, non-stick pan to use.
I’m watching the news while I file copy and it seems there is a bad storm over the western side of the country, there is lots of rain coming down but at over 5,000 feet elevation, which is not too high in the Rocky Mountains, it’s causing severe disruption. I do hope it’s not coming here.
Philadelphia is a very historic city, I’m pretty sure in the early days of the United States that it was the capital city. The city is also famous for the Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich, I just have to find one of those tomorrow!!!
No Travelling
The Rocky Steps
I forgot to say at the time but when we were in New Haven, walking near the bus station, I saw a man doing something I have never seen before. The fella was smoking a cigarette in his left hand and drawing on a vape in his right hand. I watched him do it, he took one puff from one and then another puff on the other, how very bizarre!!!
I woke at 5:20 am and because there’s no toaster in the apartment I put the hob on full and toasted half a roll, it was done within a minute and I enjoyed it with Vegemite, it was delicious. Wendy didn’t think it would work but as soon as she saw the result she had me take her one in bed with her tea.
She then said to me, “Did you hear that car alarm, it’s been going all night. I’m worried it might be our car”, “Why didn’t you wake me then Wend, I could have looked to see?”
Thankfully its not even on our street, its 2 blocks away.
I was out in my running gear at daybreak, it was a stunning morning with a growing clear blue sky.
Last night we took a walk to the famous Philadelphia Museum of Art, this is where the steps are that Sylvester Stallone ran up in the film Rocky. We walked there last night just so I knew where to go today.
Last night it was mobbed with people running up and down and there was the most massive, but very orderly queue of people wanting to have their photo taken with the Rocky Statue.
Today I ran up on my own with no one else around and I ran all the way around the Museum and then back down. I took a selfie with the Rocky statue and by now people were starting to come and visit, it was 7:15 am.
I also thought that I had run along the Delaware River, the views were lovely in the morning sunshine. Theres a very good path along the river and there were a lot of other runners down there. There were even quite a few serious rowers out training on the river too.
To get my milage in I had to run back up the steps again and around the Museum one more time, by now the sun was well and truly up and it looked like it was going to be a very nice day.
I only had one banana for my morning smoothie because today we hoped to go and find the very famous Philly Cheese and Steak Sandwich!
We set off at exactly 10:00 am and our first port of call was at the Italian Market which was on our same street but it required a walk across town.
Rocky ran through the Italian Market on his last run in the first film, Rocky, with kids chasing behind him, and today it was just how it was in the film, a street lined with all kinds of markets. There was even a couple of 45-gallon drums on fire to help keep the store keepers warm.
From there we walked to the church where Rocky married Adrian, this was a bit of a hike but it was well worth it. It looks a little tired these days but I guess it was 45 years ago when Rocky 2 was made.
The sun was out and it was a really nice morning, actually we had discussed what to wear before we went out, I went with a t-shirt and my light jacket, Wendy went for a jumper and light jacket, I think I won out because we mostly carried our jackets around.
Our next location was a 2.5-mile walk, and it was a change of tack away from Rocky, we were going to visit the Liberty Bell.
The Liberty Bell was ordered in 1751 from the Whitechapel Foundry in London. That bell cracked on the first test ring. Local metalworkers melted that bell down and cast a new one in Philadelphia. It's this bell that would ring to call lawmakers to their meetings and the townspeople together to hear the reading of the news. Its nothing to do with the Revolution but it is associated with liberty and freedom which are the founding principles of the US Constitution.
The bell was interesting and it means a lot to US citizens but to me it was just a bell with a crack in it.
We had now walked over 7 miles and we were in need of refreshments and thankfully we found a bar which did food just as we entered the skyscraper part of downtown.
We both ordered a beer and a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich and it was delightful, the beer was good too. The bread was called hoggie and it was lovely, in fact it was all rather tasty, the bar was very nice too.
We then toured the tall buildings and there were some pretty impressive ones. We had now formed the opinion that we really like Philadelphia, well apart from the litter that seemed to scourge the residential area.
After the tall buildings we walked down to the river, what I thought was the Delaware River is really the Schuylkill River and its in the opposite direction to the Delaware River, what a wally!!! But it was just as nice none the less, and it gives us something to do tomorrow.
Having now walked around 11 miles we headed slowly back to the apartment.
We got back at just before the 13-mile mark on my tracking app, Wendy went in to the apartment while I went looking for an off licence as I was desperate for an ice-cold beer.
I tried 4 small shops and they were all owned by people whose religion didn’t allow them to be around alcohol, what a bummer. In desperation I went into a taco restaurant that had a bar and asked if I could just have a beer. I could have kissed the waitress who said, “Of course you can sir”.
I got back to the apartment having walked 14.02 miles, that’s over 20 miles on foot for the day, jeepers I wish this apartment had a bath, maybe I’ll take a long hot shower.
It has been a cracking day mind, Philadelphia is a stunning city and we have one more day of exploring, we are going to need some small-town USA soon to help with recovery!!!
No Travelling
The Benjamin Franklin Bridge
I’ve had feedback from Avid Readers who want a little more information on the Philly cheesesteak sandwich. I mispronounced the bread yesterday, its actually called hoagie bread which is a skinny white Italian loaf typically measuring nine or 12 or 24 inches long and about three inches wide.
The Philly Cheesesteak is made with tender ribeye steak, melted gooey provolone, and caramelized onions hugged by a toasted garlic butter hoagie roll. The steak is either thinly sliced or minced.
Provolone is an Italian cheese. It is an aged pasta filata cheese originating in Campania near Vesuvius, where it is still produced in pear, sausage, or cone shapes 10 to 15 cm long.
I had mine with a little ketchup and it was delicious, it did however make us extremely thirsty not long after eating it.
The last thing I said to Wendy last night was put some ear plugs in and you’ll sleep well, did she listen?
I put mine in and slept like a baby waking at 5 to 5 am. Wendy was awake and she said that she had had a terrible night’s sleep, the two dogs upstairs had been padding around the floor most of the night, people were chatting outside the window at one point and then the police were around with their flashing lights. I was oblivious to it all!
This is a lovely apartment and its location is perfect, but its sound insulation is terrible.
This morning I did run to the River Delaware, jeepers it’s a wide river. I saw the sunrise from under the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and it was a corker.
I found the way to walk over the bridge and hopefully we will walk over to New Jersey sometime today, but first we wanted to go and find the Cira Green high rise garden.
We set off again at bang on 10:00 am and I used Google mapping to get us there. Yesterday I turned my phone onto 3G service, I did this because we were looking for several locations and I needed to use mapping to get there. You can set mapping off with Wi-Fi but its only good for one location, so we needed 3G yesterday, but not today.
The route took us one block towards the north and we had a good view of the tall buildings and as one of the buildings has a glass point at the top that looks like they could be rooms, I stopped to ask two security guards who were on duty at some building if they were indeed rooms.
He said, “Do you mean the cell phone or the USB drive.” I must have looked puzzled because he said, “We call them that because that’s how they look.” And do you know we never thought about it, but the tallest building does look like a mobile phone and the 2nd tallest looks like a USB drive.
He didn’t know if the top of the Cell Phone has accommodation but I did a Google later and found that they are called The Comcast Technology Centre and the Comcast Centre respectively. They are called that because Comcast, a technology company leases most of the two buildings, however a hotel is at the top of the Cell phone building, but we still don’t know if it is the pointy bit or not!
Eventually we found Cira Green, this is a garden at the top of a car park just across the Schuylkill River. The building has 12 floors and the roof is a nice small garden with good views across the city. The lift was out so we had to walk up the stairway to get to the top, we were the only two up there. It was a great find and it was free of charge.
From there we followed the river walk back to the Art’s Centre where people were still running the Rocky Steps and there was a nice lengthy queue for the Rocky Statue.
Our next mission was to walk across the city so that we could walk over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, but after calling in at the Supermarket for some bread rolls for supper, we called into the apartment for a leg rest as it was on our way to the bridge, so far we had walked just over 7 miles.
It was a lovely day so I changed into shorts for the first time this year!
Jeepers I thought the decision to put my shorts on was worryingly wrong when we set off as a few clouds had gathered, but I needn’t have worried as the sun soon came out.
We were soon at the Benjamin Franklin Bridge as it starts a fair distance from the river side.
I checked my app so that I could measure the distance across the bridge.
It’s a big bridge and its high too, spanning the wide River Delaware, joining Pennsylvania to New Jersey.
The walk was steady and it was a slow and easy climb, the wind was behind our backs and it was warm so we carried our coats. When we got to the end where we pedestrians came off the bridge, I measured it had been a distance of 1.51 miles, the vehicles carried on for a little longer, we came down a stairway to ground level.
Wendy was pooped so we nipped into the town of Camdon and I looked for a bar where we could grab a drink, while Wendy rested on a wall, but sadly there was nothing to be found.
We decided to walk back but this time the wind was directly in our face and when we got to the apex of the bridge it was gusting quite badly.
We got over ok and walked through a busy park and then back to the apartment where I checked my distance and found that that was another 13 miles of walking.
Supper tonight is going to be boiled sausage that gets finished off in the frying pan, we have had it before and it tastes better than it looks.
Its almost 5:00 pm and that’s us for the night, its moving day tomorrow, Delaware here we come!!!
We have had a fantastic time in Philadelphia and I would encourage anyone to visit it, we have walked over 30 miles in an evening and two days and I have run 12 miles so far too, and its been well worth the effort. We haven’t seen everything there is to see but we have very much made best of the time we have had!
146 Miles
Passing Time
Before I start todays copy I want to detail a few Benjamin Franklin Bridge stats as I didn’t have time yesterday:
Wendy was in bed by 8:30 pm last night and indeed she did use ear plugs, I went around 9:30 pm and woke for the bathroom at 2:00 am, I just got back in bed and I could hear the squeakiest door on the planet being open and shut, and then two men trying to whisper. Jeepers it was like they were in the room, I did nod back off mind.
I woke at 5:00 am got out silently and closed the bedroom door. I made tea and toast and because I had brought all my running gear in the lounge I dressed in there and went out at 6:15 am and Wendy was still asleep in bed.
I ran up to the small river and it started to rain on the way back.
I got back at 7:40 am and Wendy was up and showered, she hadn’t woken until 6:45 am, and she never heard a thing all night, ear plugs really do work!
It was chucking it down when I packed the car but I had managed to get the car closer to the apartment by parking it in the two-hour zone.
We left the apartment at 9:30 am in pouring rain and we were going just 3.5 miles to my last viewpoint in Philadelphia, Rockys house.
There is a website that gives you the addresses of some of the notable locations in the film, along with some local info. Because the original film was very low budget they only paid the house owner $50 for some outside shots. I guess it was 1976 and that was 48 years ago but when they returned 3 years later to film Rocky 2, with the original film being so successful the owner asked for, and got $500!
The advice was to be sensitive about visiting the area, and I could see why, what a dump. What I thought was Rocky’s house was in a shocking state so I didn’t fancy hanging about there, so I took a shot of a neighbour’s place, but it is the same design.
I did want to go to Adrians pet shop, which is still open but the advice was that things had gotten quite rough there now and it advised extreme caution, so I gave that a miss.
I filled the car with fuel just after our visit to the Rock, jeepers this is a down and out area. I had to prepay and the cashier was in a secure booth where I passed her my payment card. There was a scruffy man stood at my side and as she took my card he said to me, “Pump your gas sir?” I must admit to not having my wits about me and thinking he was just being helpful I said, “No thanks”, he thanked me and as I turned to walk away, he said something else to me, which I didn’t catch. However, a milli second later I saw that my flies were down, its an old man thing, and then it came to me in an instant. This lad stands there all day, in the rain in the hope that someone will tip him to fill their vehicle. When I had finished filling the car, I walked over to him and I looked into his eyes, he was the age of my sons . The poor lad was absolutely as scruffy as anyone could ever be, his clothes were in a shocking state. I only had a $5.00 note in my wallet or I would have given him more. I said, “This is for telling me about my flies.” He took it with such gratitude that a moment passed between us and I felt so sad for him, but his eyes lit up with hope. We see a lot of desperate people here, walking traffic lights asking for cash. I don’t think they have the social support that we have at home and its heartbreaking to see. He gave me a hearty wave when we left the filling station, I just wished I could have helped him more.
Heading off now and we took Interstate 95 south for a good few miles before we moved over onto a regular Highway.
With a check in time of 5:00 pm at our AirBnB we had time to kill so we called in to the most beautiful little colonial town called New Castle. This was the original State Capital of the first State of the United States which we had recently entered, which is Delaware, the last State I needed to bag on the Eastern Seaboard.
This little place was a delight, but it was still banging down with rain. We had actually stopped at a Dollar Shop, (Kind of B&M) and bought a large umbrella enroute as we are sure to need one for the next few weeks.
Apparently, Delaware was the first State to declare itself as a State and took their own Independence from not only Great Britain but from the county of Pennsylvania as well.
After a good nosy around New Castle we hit the road again, heading for the now State Capital, Dover.
Just before we reached Dover we pulled into a MacDonalds for some lunch, the thought was if we are passing time we might as well grab a bite to eat in doing so.
We both had a Mac-Chicken something and they were actually hot and tasty.
After I had ordered food and logged on to the Wi-Fi I received a message from our new host saying the rental was ready and we could check in when we liked, it was 2:00 pm.
We then drove the short distance to Dover, parked up and found the smallest State Capital that we have ever come across, its High Street was even shorter than Sheerness High Street. It was clean and tidy mind, but very few shops were open due to it being Easter Monday.
We were just about to leave Dover when Wendy spotted a self-service laundry, which we were badly in need of.
We had to buy a top up card and put credit on it, it was all rather confusing but the lady supervisor was a real big help and sorted us out, she even offered to swap the washing into a tumble dryer because we needed to go to the supermarket.
I bought her a chocolate cake doughnut for her help and she was ever so grateful, she was a really lovely woman. As we waited for the dryer to finish, I sat with my laptop close by her station and started todays copy, passing time. I heard a little psst and I looked up and she mouthed the words, “Thank you”, it was really sweet!
With the washing done we set off again at 4:00 pm but with 50 miles left to go we weren’t going to get to the rental until gone 5:00 pm anyway, but at least I have clean pants!
We got to our new home at around 5:15 pm, and what a cracker it is, its an add on home at the side of our host’s main house. We are in the countryside, with lots of space and woodland all around us.
I picked this location because I want to explore the Delaware coast, it looks a little like the Outer Banks of North Carolina where top Avid Readers will remember us visiting on our 2018 expedition.
Its now gone 7:00 pm and we have finally moved in and got things sorted out, we are here for three nights where hopefully we will recharge our batteries.
No Travelling
The Outer Banks?
I slept like a log last night, this apartment is perfect, although we are connected to the house by a locked door I never heard a sound from anything.
It was drizzling when we both went out running. This place is very nice and very safe, its also very flat, which suits me down to the ground.
I came across a very nice housing estate and then came to a small pier which is on an inlet of the Indian River Bay, this, on looking at a map is protected by an outer bank, which we hoped to explore later today.
I had my smoothie watching the weather channel and the weather in the states appears to be upside down. It is snowing in the central northern states and Maine. There were tornado warnings in Louisville and there were large hail stones somewhere else.
Wendy took her morning tea on the porch, it’s a lovely big porch with a dining table, where we hope to take at least one evening meal. The porch looks directly at a small woodland which is about 10 metres away and she was watching the birds, she saw a Northern Cardinal and a Red Bellied Woodpecker, she was dead chuffed.
The rain had dropped to a drizzle by the time I had got back from running but I was just about to jump in the shower when I heard an almighty noise, I looked out of the window and would you believe we were having a hailstone shower too, thankfully it was only small hail.
We set off for our tour by heading to the southern tip of the Outer Bank, its not called that but I call it that, so I know what I am talking about.
The first destination was at Bethany Beach which is a small resort. Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we arrived. We parked the car and walked to the beach and boy was it stunning. I would love to have seen it in the summer with crowds of people enjoying the sunshine. But as I always said during my 4-year posting on the Isle of Skye when I was the Fire Service District Officer, “You can’t let the weather put you off doing stuff.”
The temperature was 9 degrees centigrade and there was a slight breeze, but we walked for about a mile and a half along the beach with our big coats on, I loved it.
For me there is something very soothing about walking along an ocean beach. The waves were crashing on the beach and it was perfect.
I believe that the surf is good enough for surfing but it was a little lumpy today and there wasn’t anyone out.
On the way back we found a board walk and it was lined with small shops and cafes. We fancied a coffee so we nipped in one and we had nice coffee and we shared a lovely chocolate muffin.
We got back to the resort and took a little walk around. As usual we found most places closed but it really did have the feel of the Outer Banks of North Carolina with its seafood restaurants.
From there I set the Sat Nav for Dewey Beach which is another resort on the northern tip of the Outer Bank.
As we drove along the road we came to a bridge which crosses the area where the sea flows into the lagoon which is created by the sand bank. Luckily there was a decent car park there so I pulled in and took a look at the beach there. It was a really interesting thing to see, the beach to the south went on for mile after mile but just a few hundred yards to the North I could see the sea crashing into the inlet and flooding the lagoon, Wendy stayed in the car.
I think I have detailed before that I download BBC Radio 2 programmes to listen to while we are on the road, yesterday we started listening to a Good Friday special called The Battle of the Pirates”. It was Tony Blackburn and Johnny Walker talking about their experiences and playing music from when they were DJs on Radio Caroline, which was a so-called Pirate Radio station which was first aired exactly 50 years ago. I suppose it’s our age but boy were they funny, they played off each other like seasoned comedians. We finished the last 30 mins of the show while out today.
After crossing the bridge, I called in another car park to again look at the beach and it still went on for miles and miles, still lovely golden sand.
We got to the resort town of Dewey Beach and again I took another look at the beach, and again it still went on and on.
Delaware claims to have the best beaches in the whole of USA, I saw over 10 miles of it today and I have to say that claim does seem to have some merit.
It was raining again now so we drove to the small town of Millsboro where I managed to buy some half cream & half milk which is the best that passes for single cream in these parts.
We arrived back at the house at 3:00 pm and knocked off for a relaxing afternoon. If its not nice outside this is the best AirBnB we have come across so far to be able to while away an afternoon.
At 4:00 pm with the rain pouring outside I prepared and cooked an utter delight of a steak supper, with creamy mushrooms and salad. I had everything I needed at hand and we were even able to set a very nice table.
The food was lovely!
I had tried to get Wendy to set the table under the porch but I couldn’t persuade her, so we ate at the very nice dinner table.
I think it will be an early night tonight, it’s been a very nice and easy day.
We can’t complain about the rain as we had two wonderful days in Philadelphia, and anyway I have another adventure planned for tomorrow and even if it is raining again, I have the right ingredients in for another nice supper, and hopefully I can get to eat it outside under the porch!
No Travelling
Furthest South!!!
We had a nice evening last night, chilling out in this lovely apartment. I tried to watch some US telly but its just as bad as we have at home.
I did some googling about US affairs, first I tried to find how much unemployment benefit is. I found that its not a federal function to provide any benefits, each State is to set its own rate. There was a federal website that listed each State and you had to click on a link to go to your own State, I clicked on 3 links for three different States and each one went to a website that told me that this link is broken. So I am no wiser has to how much anyone would get.
I did find out the tax brackets and they are very interesting, here are the rates for a single person:
Rate Earnings
10% $0.00 to $11,000
12% $11,001 to $44,725
22% $44,726 to $95,375
24% $95,376 to 182,100
32% $182,101 to $231,250
35% $23,1251 to $578,125
37% £57,8126 or more
Jeepers there is no higher rate and even the poorest people pay tax at 10%. If I remember right in the UK you don’t pay any tax for the first £12,000.
There must be an age limit from where you start to pay tax or kids with paper rounds would be paying 10%.
As I have said before the fuel is much cheaper than ours too so they are not raising as much tax as we do through fuel duty. Bear in mind though that there is no National Health Service in the USA, its private health care paid for by health insurance, and that’s only for up to a certain amount.
We both went out running this morning, it was very overcast, misty almost.
Wendy went 5 minutes before me and I could barely see her and she was only a few hundred yards in front of me.
The eclipse frenzy is building up, its always on the news and they are still unsure if it will be clear of clouds on Mondy. Wendy came out with a cracker the other day, “Will it still get dark if its cloudy?” Wendy, “Think about what you’ve just said” was my reply. It was a very blonde moment!
We left for Ocean City at around 9:30 am and we were parked up at just gone 10:00 am, in a free to use carpark, you don’t come across many of those here.
Ocean City is just over the border in the State of Maryland and its on yet another Outer Bank.
It was misty when we got there, in fact we struggled to see more than 100 metres.
It struck me with its similarities to Blackpool and it is a very popular tourist resort as well.
First job was to get a photo of me paddling in the North Atlantic Ocean as we leave the Eastern Seaboard tomorrow and head inland.
Jeepers that water was cold, it was like I had my feet in ice water. But being a smart fella, I took an empty 2 litre coke bottle full of warm water to rinse and warm my feet, and a towel to dry them too, so the agony was short lived.
After leaving the beach we walked the board walk to its most southerly point which has now become our furthest south for this adventure.
We had reached 38 degrees, 19 minutes and 31 seconds North. You wouldn’t have thought it today but we are actually further south than Madrid, a whole 2 degrees actually.
The end of the boardwalk at this point is at the point where the sea enters the lagoon and there is a further 15 miles of Outer Bank that meets up with Bethany Beach which we travelled yesterday.
Another similarity with Blackpool is that Ocean City has a public pier which we walked on, well at least halfway because the rest was closed for the season.
Confirmation that Ocean City is twinned with Blackpool was when I came across Ripley’s Believe it or Not, another Blackpool attraction that I have visited when I was there with my Mother 50 years ago!!!
We knew that Ocean City had a long boardwalk so we decided to walk it, not knowing how long it was.
It was a nice enough temperature, around 12 degrees and the mist did start to clear a little.
We stopped for a coffee after about 1.5 miles. I ordered two black coffees and a chocolate chip muffin and the lad who served me asked me where I was from, when I told him he was very pleased with himself as he comes from Romania and had been to England. I said do you know Blackpool, he said “Yes, I do and we seem to have its weather today”.
Having had some sustenance we carried on walking and the shops and nick-nack shops were replaced by hotels and rental units, all closed.
We came to the end and found that the boardwalk was 2.25 miles long, something similar to Blackpool’s promenade.
We walked back to the car and then drove along the thin strip of land that is formed of sand between the ocean and the lagoon. It was 15 miles long and it had hotels and formed a resort for about 12 of those miles.
I stopped at exactly the halfway point to go and look at the beach like I did yesterday and again it was a wall-to-wall beautiful beach.
We set off back to the apartment and after filling the car for tomorrows drive we arrived back at around 3:15 pm and we decided to call it a day.
After a short rest I seasoned some chicken thighs and put them in the oven, and Wendy prepped a salad and the ingredients, for my famous creamy mushroom sauce. I enjoyed a nice cold beer.
Drinking my beer I watched the weather channel, as it’s the only one worth watching and found that we are currently under a tornado watch, and that everywhere we are heading over the coming weeks is suffering severe weather of one form or another.
Its going to be an interesting time!
214 Miles
Chocolate Avenue
Even I was in bed and fast asleep by 9:00 pm last night and I slept right through until 4:50 am when I woke up.
I looked outside and it wasn’t raining and it did appear to be clear too, had the dreaded mist gone?
I went running at just before 6:00 am and it was just getting light and it indeed was a very nice clear morning.
I saw the sun rise at 06:58 am and it was rather nice to see as we haven’t seen the sun since Sunday in Philadelphia.
Today we move north and west, we were heading to Hershey, home to the famous chocolate bar.
We set off at 9:30 am to clear blue skies and it was nice to see the apartment looking good in the sunshine. It’s a shame but we never got to eat on the porch outside with the wildlife all around us.
For the first 90 miles of the journey, we used single carriageway roads and they were fine as we passed through some nice-looking towns and villages.
The State Line between Delaware and Maryland wasn’t particularly well posted and Wendy only caught sight of it briefly. Passing this State Line meant that we had also passed the Eastern Edge of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Soon after we joined an Interstate and we came to the biggest bridge that we have encountered since we arrived, it was The Chesapeake Bay Bridge and it spans the Chesapeake Bay area.
Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and the state of Delaware. It is on a small section of this Bay where the bridge at Baltimore collapsed last week.
As we crossed the bridge I could see some very large vessels looking like they were heading our way. As there are two bridges, which are apart by a noticeable distance I could see the supports around the other bridge as they met with the water, and they didn’t look like they had any kind of protection as didn’t the bridge in Baltimore!
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is locally called the Bay Bridge, and its even signposted as such.
Here are some bridge Stats:
Shortly after crossing the bridge, we called in to a Mac’D to satisfy our usual requirements and we were brought our coffee by a lovely young man who came back later to chat. He was born in India but came here when he was 8. He still hasn’t been granted a Green Card and he can’t go out of the country for fear of not getting back in.
We chatted about his interest in England and of his and his families love of cricket. I told him that Sachin Tendulkar used to play for Yorkshire and I asked him if he had ever heard of Sir Geoffery, sadly he hadn’t.
There was another reason I wanted to go to Mac’D’s, I was a little concerned that the Sat Nav, which was taking us in the direction of Baltimore, might be heading for a bridge that is no longer there. As my mobile data is not switched on on my phone the Sat Nav cannot update with local traffic news, actually I don’t even know if it does in the US. I wanted to put my phone on permanent mapping so that I could follow our progress and when we set off again it worked a treat.
I needn’t have worried, we went as far as the outskirts of Baltimore and then we took an Interstate that bypassed the city and swung us up in a northly direction.
Pretty soon we were crossing another State Line, this time it was the Maryland and Pennsylvania State Line and this time it was the Northern section of the Mason-Dixon Line.
The Mason-Dixon Line is a demarcation line separating 4 US States, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It was a border dispute that had been going on for almost 100 years and Charles Mason, from near Stroud in Gloucestershire and Jeremiah Dixon, from Cockfield, near Bishop Auckland resolved it.
It took them four years to complete their work, from1763 to 1767.
We arrived at Hershey at about 2:30 pm and quickly checked into this nice clean and very traditional US Motel.
As soon as we were in the motel we drove the short distance downtown and parked the car and took a look around.
Theres not much to it apart from the impact that the Chocolate Giant Hershey as on the town.
So far we have seen:
We have also seen the street names, Coco Avenue for instance, we are even staying on Chocolate Avenue.
There’s not much to the town, it actually looks like it has had a recent make over with lots of new shops. The fire station however is the most beautiful I have seen anywhere in the world, it’s a real treat to see.
We stopped in a fancy market and bought two expensive buns.
The town is very clean and tidy and the residential houses look very nice indeed.
After a quick pop into a supermarket to buy a hot roast chicken we nipped back to the motel for supper. The weather in town had been warm and sunny.
However, on going out for a walk after supper, it was drizzling and cold, we lasted about a mile before walking back and jumping into our jim jams after getting out of our wet clothes.
Here’s a little snippet about the founder of Hershey Chocolate:
“Milton Hershey made his mark as a successful confectioner, philanthropist and innovator. But Milton was by no means an overnight success story, nor did his achievements come without their hardships.
In fact, his first two candy companies were met with failure. It wasn’t until his third business that Milton’s hard work and talent paid off. From then on, Milton prospered as a successful businessman and generous humanitarian that improved the lives of thousands.”
You can read the full storey by using this link, I would encourage you to read it, he seems to have been a wonderful man!!!
Milton Hershey | The Hershey Company
88 Miles
The Gettysburg Address
When we were out walking last night we must have come across a half dozen dentist surgery’s along the road. Running into town this morning I again came over so many dentists it wasn’t worth counting them, there were loads. Is it by any chance then that the number of dentists in Hershey is anything to do with the massive chocolate factory that’s here?
Today I ran all the way across town, from one side and out of the other, in a straight line. I came across 3 massive Hersey Chocolate factories. I did a quick Google search when I got back and found that locally they employ 21,000 people. That is an amazing number of people who have benefited from Mr Hershey’s dream.
We had a piece of Hershey Chocolate last night, the one I bought from the Supermarket. Wendy was the first to spit it out and then she said, “It tastes of vomit!”, as soon as she said that I could taste it too, it was disgusting, so mine went in the bin too, along with the rest of the bar.
It must be some kind of collective dismissal, the company employs so many people that they have to pretend to like it, kind of the emperor is in the altogether.
Also, last night we watched some TV and they had the United States version of Dragons Den, it’s called The Shark Tank over here. They are a little more aggressive than our dragons and one in particular was a really nasty fella.
Just before we checked out of the room I took a photo of the bedspread, Wendy loved it, I must admit that it is the nicest bedspread I have ever seen in a hotel bedroom, let alone a motel.
We left Hershey at 9:45 am and travelled through the Blue Mountains, they aren’t very high mountains but they are quite pretty. As we travelled, we passed through one of those Barn Bridges that are famous for this area, Wendy was quite excited.
Our first point of call was the small town of Gettysburg, the scene of the fiercest battle of the American Civil War, it lasted 3 days, from 1st July to 3rd July 1863.
The Battle of Gettysburg marked the turning point of the Civil War. With more than 50,000 estimated casualties, the three-day engagement was the bloodiest single battle of the conflict.
After a string of victories in Virginia, Confederate territory, General Lee (Confederate), wanted to win ground in the North, above the Mason-Dixon line.
The two forces engaged in Gettysburg, there were 94,000 Union and 72,000 Confederate soldiers.
On the third day of battle General Lee attacked the Union lines thinking they were ready to fall. This daring strategy ultimately proves a disastrous sacrifice for the Confederates, with casualties approaching 60 percent. Repulsed by close-range Union rifle and artillery fire, the Confederates retreat. Lee withdraws his army from Gettysburg late on the rainy afternoon of July 4th and trudges back to Virginia, with severely reduced ranks of wasted and battle-scarred men.
The town is really nice and there are memorials to the fallen all over the town.
After the battle President Lincoln came to the town in November of that year to dedicate part of the battlefield as a war grave for the fallen, this is where he made his famous Gettysburg address.
I have detailed the entire address at the bottom of todays copy so that Avid Readers can chose to read it if they so wish.
From Gettysburg we drove a further 20 miles to the town of Waynesboro to visit our lovely friend Jackie, Jackie was an AirBnB guest of ours in 2017.
I have visited Jackie’s parents home before, it was a beautiful house, however 2 years ago it succumbed to a very serious fire and Jackies parents were lucky to get out, however the house was severely damaged.
The house is now being restored and by pure luck they are renting a friends house which is literally next door to their house.
We took a walk over and Jackie and her Mum showed us around, there is still a lot of work to be done but now it’s moving forward.
After checking into our nice Motel we drove back to Jackie’s so she could take us for a walk around her town.
Waynesboro is another very nice Pennsylvanian town which seems to be on the up with new bars and cafes opening up. Jackie took us to a lovely new bar which is owned by people she knows. The beer was quite nice, I had 13 ounces of a nice dark Irish ale, it was rather tasty.
Jackie introduced us to some of her friends and it was nice to chat with them.
Walking back to Jackies house we arranged to meet Jackie and her mum and dad at a restaurant which is quite close to our hotel, where we would have supper together.
The restaurant was called the Hidden Key, and it was a little gem, they even had their own brewery.
We all selected our supper choice, I had shrimp tacos and the rest had fancy burgers. Beer selections were made and I had a very nice IPA.
The food was an utter delight, but the company was even better, Jackie settled the bill as a treat for visiting her, she is such a sweetie!!!
We chatted and chatted and Jay, Jackies father told me stories of the Civil War and other interesting facts about Pennsylvania.
We said our goodbyes and said that we should come back in two year’s time for a house warming party when they finally get back into their home and settled back in.
It’s been a really interesting and lovely day, tomorrow we head west to West Virginia and after a night there we head north into Ohio and a date with a solar eclipse, hopefully.
I have tried and tried but as of yet I still haven’t found any eclipse safety glasses.
The Gettysburg Address:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
156 Miles
West Virginia
I went out running through the small town of Greencastle this morning and I saw an amazing morning sky, but it was freezing cold, but at least it was dry.
I got back and Wendy wanted to put a wash on so I went down to the laundry with her to help her out. The washing machine took only quarters which we didn’t have, however the laundry did have a machine that changed dollar notes into quarters but I failed at the first hurdle because it ripped the first dollar in half.
The Indian lad on the front desk was next to useless so I ended up knocking it a bit and I managed to get it working, I never got my half dollar back though.
We had the motel breakfast which we took in the small seating area in reception. It wasn’t fantastic but we made do, I had microwave porridge which was volcanic hot and at the second attempt I made a waffle which I had with maple syrup. Finally, I finished off with a slice of toast which I put vegemite on. The orange juice was disgusting but the apple juice was a little better.
We had tea from our own kettle, in the bedroom.
We left the hotel at 9:40 am and drove the short distance to take a walk around the very small town of Greencastle. Greencastle is really nice, it has some interesting shops and again its very clean.
It has a very sad place in United States History though, Greencastle was where the first Union Soldier was killed on Union land, Corporal William Rihl was only 21 years old.
After covering all of Greencastle town centre in about 30 minutes we set off on the Interstate for our next destination, Morgantown in Western Virginia.
Within about 5 miles we were in the State of Maryland where we stayed for a long time before we came to the West Virginian State Line.
Not long into our journey and we started to climb into the hills, the roads got very winding and we went up hills and then we came down them. Jeepers the hills, coming down were like being on a child’s slide. Having an automatic with only one very low, lower gear doesn’t help either. When I have my car, at home, on cruise control when I go down hill it somehow knows how to retard the speed, not by breaking but by using the gears, I don’t know how it works but it does. This automatic hire car when in cruise control just speeds up when we go down hill and there is nothing else I can do other than use the brakes.
These hills were sometimes 3 to 4 miles long, and steep, had I used the brakes I would have burnt them out. I just had to roll with it and sometimes when we hit a bend at the bottom we just had to hold on tight, it wasn’t fun!
To break the journey up we stopped in the last large town in Maryland’s thin section which is miles away from anywhere else. The town was called Cumberland and the thinnest point of Maryland at this area is just 8 miles.
It was cold when we parked the car and we walked to the Historic Downtown area, and it did look really nice however all of the town’s roads had been dug up for redevelopment. It was a real spoiler for the shops and traders because no one was about, the streets were empty.
We walked to the canal, the C&O Canal which is 184.5 miles long and which connects Washington, DC and ends in Cumberland. The canal was built between 1828 and 1850 but by the time it was complete the railway had already been established so the canal wasn’t used as much as anticipated.
After checking out the canal we had a coffee and I had the thinnest cheeseburger in the world at Cumberland’s MacD.
As we walked towards MacD’s I had a bit of a funny turn, I felt very weak and shaky.
I ordered a cheeseburger and while I was eating it my hands were shaking uncontrollably. After a few minutes of having eaten the burger I felt fine again and I told Wendy about it. She thought that maybe I needed sugar, I said it was the opposite I had had too much sugar at breakfast, which I think I had because the microwave porridge and the waffle were both very sweet.
We carried on again on the interstate and continued with the ups and downs but we arrived safely in Morgantown bang on 2:00 pm.
We checked in to our basement Airbnb and took the car to town. Jeepers this place is hilly, and there are very few pavements.
We parked the car and walked around a very small city, in no time at all.
It is actually very nice with some good-looking bars. It is actually very nice with some good-looking bars. It also has a secret sky high tram system that can only accommodate 15 people per car. The cars run on wheels which are trapped in a concrete track, it looked very cute!
We found the river though and we walked along that for at least a mile and a half. There is a network of paths that runs for over 29 miles along the main river, The Monongahela River and about 13 miles along a tributary river, Deckers Creak.
When we got back to the city we drove to Aldi where we bought a few items, one of which was a nice pork fillet for tomorrow, it only cost $3.00!!!
Our Airbnb is below someone’s house, it’s not great from a fire safety point of view and I will have to tell them in my review. Don’t worry though I already have my action plan ready just in case.
Tomorrow, we head north and west to Akron, Ohio for one night before we head to Lansing the State Capital of Michigan, for a 2 night stop over.
Wendy has had the map fully open tonight and has mapped out her route so she knows where she’s going. Wendy is plotting our course on the map, she did that on the last US road trip in 2019, it was a work of art, but she left it in the hire car when we handed it back, the dafty!!!
West Virgina is another State bagged, I have updated the sketch and I now have only 4 more States of the lower 48 to do, and they are all in a nice line at the far north of the country.
226 Miles
Happy Days!
Jeepers what a start to the day!
I woke at 4:50 am and snook out of the bedroom and put the kettle on, Wendy came out at 5:00 am asking for tea in bed.
Bearing in mind we are under someone’s house floor I quietly got dressed and snook out at 6:00.
Now I am really enjoying the car we have, it’s a Chevrolet Equinox and its perfect to drive and it has lots of cool functions like auto opening and closing boot. It does have one massive drawback and that is that when you double lock the car to set the alarm, the horn sounds. It gets me every time. Sometimes for no reason when I get out of the car the horn sounds twice, for no bloody reason!
This morning I could see the sky was clear, even though it was barely light.
I intended to drive down close to the town, park up and run the river path.
I got in the car, started the engine and went to clear the dew off the windscreen with the wipers when I realised it was ice.
I got my trusty and very fancy scraper and got out of the car, the horn sounded twice!!!
The street is empty and quiet and I am directly parked outside our hosts bedroom window and its 6:00 am. Why does the horn have to do that, its ridiculous. I did ask a man about it recently and the function is on most US cars.
Thankfully I got down to the river and did my run, in the mist.
I couldn’t believe the wildlife down there, I saw hundreds of rabbits, I saw deer, in fact several deer walked out right in front of me and posed for a photograph. I also saw quite a few of Wendy’s favourite bird, the red cardinal.
I ran a cracking pace today, I actually did a mile in 8:46 which is unheard of these days!!
I got back to the house which was in brilliant sunshine, however our hosts car was still frozen in ice!
I only had a cup of tea on my return because today we drove 21 miles to the west to a fancy café called DJ’s 50’s & 60’s Diner, it was like something from the 70’s show, Happy Days!
I was talking with Jackie the other day and I told her I wanted to have breakfast in a traditional diner. When she was at home she did some Googling and found me one, it was out of our way by about 40 miles, 20 there and 20 back, but I just had to go and I am so glad we did go.
We were waited on by an older lady, Vera, and she was just so sweet.
I had bacon and eggs, with toast and Wendy had a ham omelette.
Both meals were delicious, my eggs were the best I have had in years, thick creamy and plentiful yokes, and the bacon was extra crispy. Wendy’s omelette was stuffed with ham and she loved it.
I finished with a rather nice mild coffee, all in all it was a delightful dining experience!
We got back on the road around 11:00 am and the drive was much less hairy than the day before. The roads were fairly quiet and we had a good mix of Interstate and country roads. Again we passed through some really nice looking towns and it was a rather relaxing drive.
We stopped for our coffee stop somewhere, but we have no idea where other than we were 90 miles from our destination. The sun was as bright as ever, this is the first sunshine we have had since Philadelphia last Sunday, lets hope it keeps up for the eclipse tomorrow.
We crossed the Ohio River and soon we were bearing down on the small town of Akron where we will spend the night, above a working theatre.
We got to Akron at 2:30 pm and we had 30 minutes to wait before check in so we nipped to a few shops. I bought a pack of beer from a liquor store and I asked the very nice lady who served me where I could buy eclipse glasses. She very kindly wrote an address of somewhere down for me. It was a couple of miles away but we drove over.
Just my luck the girl had sold the last set of them to the man who passed me when I walked in, never mind our host told us that they have 500 pairs to give away at 10:00 am tomorrow at the local library.
At around 3:15 pm we checked in, we used a lock box to collect 2 keys, 1 to enter the theatre and then 1 to get into the apartment, and jeepers it is a stunner, I would like to live here.
We have a fully equipped kitchen, a washer and a tumble dryer, a very relaxing lounge and a very comfortable bed, the only drawback is that the bathroom is between the bedroom and the corridor, so if someone needs the bathroom then the person in the bedroom is trapped!!!
I found an Aldi about a mile away so while Wendy cooked supper I nipped and bought some tomatoes to go with my supper.
Just before supper was ready I nipped out to find the library so I am out of the blocks as soon as I can in the morning, if there’s a queue though I don’t think I’ll bother.
The communities we have come across who will have the total eclipse seem to be divided into, “Couldn’t care less” to “Wildly excited about it.” I know what bunch I’m with, I just hope its reasonably clear so we can see some of it.
We have walked around Akron Town Centre, there’s not much, just a high street and a few shops. Apparently its known for its production of rubber tyres, I don’t know about that but on my way to Aldi I saw the biggest Amazon warehouse that I have ever seen in my life, it is ultra bigger than big!
Its going to be an early night tonight as I need to be up before the crack of dawn as we have to be out of the apartment by 10:00 am, which is fine by me because I think we need to get on the road sharpish as they are either going to be very busy, or very quiet. The trouble is we won’t know until we set off tomorrow!
Akron to Norwalk - 70
Norwalk to Lansing - 185 Miles
Rose the Birthday Girl & The Total Eclipse
We took a stroll last night and discovered that we are not actually in Akron, or that we are not near the city centre, we are in a suburb about 4 miles from the city. Silly me, I thought with us staying above a theatre we would be close to the city. I found out because before we went out, I googled our location, and I saw my mistake because the google picture had skyscrapers in it, then the penny dropped.
It wasn’t a problem because we wouldn’t have had much time to explore it anyway as we only have a one night stop over.
The walk was nice, the sun was still out and it was quite warm still and we got to stay one night in this amazing apartment.
I took a bath when I got back and I nearly scolded myself the water was so hot. The bath was lovely mind!
I was woken at 4:43 am this morning with a scam call by some bugger from Liverpool.
It was raining outside but I wasn’t worried about eclipse cloud cover because the weather show, which as been pretty accurate so far said that it was going to rain this morning, but that it would clear with some very high cloud.
I went out running in the dark and I got about a mile out of the city, but I could see the tall buildings in the distance.
It was light by the time I got back and the rain had stopped and there was indeed some high cloud.
Wendy made use of the washing machine and washed my running gear.
We were ready to leave at 9:15 am but we had to wait until the library opened at 10:00 am, so we went for a short walk getting back to the apartment for 9:45 am.
We waited outside the library doors at almost 10:00 and a scruffy looking man said hello and then walked over and asked me for a dollar as he is homeless and hasn’t eaten. I told him to give me a minute and I thought bugger it I should be able to help out on eclipse day.
The doors opened and there was about ten of us waiting for glasses and we were 2nd in line. There was a bit of a do when we were told they didn’t have them, especially as there was a big sign saying they had.
While the who-har was going on I gave the scruffy man $5.00 and it made his day, I thought he was going to hug me!
Thankfully some glasses were found and we grabbed a pair each.
The sky had started to clear and by the time we were on the road we had clear blue skies.
Before we left for the 70-mile drive to Norwalk we took a short drive into the city just to give it the once over. It was a small but nice city with just the odd tall building, they weren’t sky scrapers but they were high rise.
We headed off to Norwalk which I had found would be on the dead centre line of the eclipse and where we were guaranteed a good viewing, cloud dependent of course. It was also on our route to our next destination.
The drive was quite nice as we spent most of the time going on single carriageway roads passing through small communities
Wendy had seen on the news that farmers were charging $50 per car to park on a field to view the eclipse. As we drove, we actually saw signs stating just that. Wendy was quite put out at their profiteering.
We arrived in Norwalk at exactly noon and I parked the car in a 2-hour city roadside parking bay. We had spotted a 3-hour free carpark a little further back but if we parked there now we would have been about half an hour short.
We took a walk-in town and people were setting themselves up for the event and there was a good party atmosphere, all very good natured. There were street stalls selling all kinds of knock up eclipse memorabilia.
There was a car park where people had set up and there were some free spaces so I asked a group if we had to pay to park and they said no, it’s free all day.
One of the ladies said “Go get your car and I’ll stand on a spot for you, I’ll not let anyone have it honey”. Sure enough when I pulled in Wendy and her were guarding the perfect spot and so we settled down.
Nicely parked I went and thanked the lady and I had a good chat with their group and they were very welcoming. We then took a walk with the intention to eat in a bar or restaurant, but they were all a bit dark and dingy so we called into a supermarket and bought a portion of hot meatloaf and a couple of chicken wraps.
We got back to the car and laid my parka on the ground and after changing into lighter clothing we sat down and enjoyed the food, the meat loaf was exceedingly tasty.
At 1:57 pm I saw the first small section of the moon move in front of the sun through my solar glasses.
There were some really serious dudes in the car park with large telescopes set up and there were lots of excited chitter chat as the moon moved across the sun.
It gradually started to get dark, really slowly like a very long summer dusk.
However, I couldn’t get any early shots as my phone was too sensitive to what light there was, and it still showed the sun as a large bright circle.
The moon creeped across the sun slowly filling it in. The glasses were brilliant, you could see it all in exact detail. My phone wasn’t picking anything up though, it just appeared to be the sun as normal on any photos I took.
The light around us became darker and darker and the birds did indeed chirp their collective good nights.
And then it happened, the moon fully covered the sun, it was amazing, and we could take our safety glasses off and look at it with our naked eyes, it was stunning, we could clearly see the corona.
The crowd cheered and whooped at the totality; it was really good.
Then we all settled into quietness for a short while and I noticed the birds had stopped singing. I took my eye away from the eclipse and looked at the streets around me and they were really an eerie creepy kind of dark colour.
The stars came out, it was stunning!!
Then people started to chatter, quietly mind.
After about 3 mins of totality the sun sparkled from one corner and it lit the sky up. Its technically called the diamond ring because that is exactly what it looked like.
And then just like that the light suddenly increased, it was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen and experienced in my life.
We took a few minutes to let what we had seen sink in, but with a 180-mile drive north we soon jumped in the car and headed off for Lansing, the State Capital of Michigan.
The traffic back was horrendous, it was a mixture of three things, a coach fire, roadworks and the sheer number of people on the road, we were 1 hour and 50 minutes later than we should have been getting to our new AirBnB, never mind it was well worth it!
Today has been a very special day for two reasons, 1, the total eclipse of course but the other, a more important one, it was my granddaughter Rose’s 3rd birthday, and from the photographs I have seen she had her own very special day as well.
Footnote – The photographs published here are from serious photographers from Norwalk who took the photographs today and have kindly allowed them to be copied. I am very grateful for this as the event was beyond the capabilities of my usually reliable i-Phone.
No Travelling
The Snake Incident!
Warning – This report contains a photo of a baby snake!
I forgot to say that we passed the Eastern Continental Divide on the way to Morgantown the other day. This is where all the rivers from this point run to the eastern side of the country.
One more thing on yesterdays eclipse, the width that you will see a total eclipse on earth is 115 miles, anywhere outside this area you will only see a partial eclipse. I have seen a very good partial eclipse when I was working on the Isle of Skye and now having seen a total eclipse, there is only way to see it properly and that’s totally, it is amazing.
We were a little miffed last night when we checked into our AirBnB as we have to share a bathroom and more important there is a wandering cat, this wasn’t in the listing when I booked it!
I don’t like sharing a bathroom with anyone, and I know Wendy’s unease around cats.
That said, when I got back from running the house was empty and we have the place to ourselves and Wendy said our house mate went out just after me.
I ran out along a smashing housing estate today and I ran into a family of four huge deer just crossing the road and nipping through someone’s back garden.
I also saw some squirrels and oddly they seemed to be a cross breed, half red and half grey.
I also exchanged a good morning with a young man with slicked black hair, he had a short black leather jacket on. He must have a matter transporter as I saw the very same man just after I had gone past the 2-mile point. I knew it was him as he looked just like the alien villain from Superman II, not Terrance Stamp, the other fella, he was a spit for him.
Jeepers there was a very nice warm feel about the weather this morning, it looked like T-shirt weather.
I was interviewed by the Barnsley Chronicle when I got back to the house, over my role as Roving Reporter for The Barnsley Bird yesterday, it looks like I’ll be headline news! They even asked for a photograph of Wendy.
I had my morning smoothie and we headed to downtown Lansing where we managed to park the car in a non-tow-away-zone. Jeepers for a country so large its hard to find somewhere to park.
We walked over 6 good miles around town and along the Grand River. The sun was out and I was indeed in a T-shirt and I was wearing shorts, it was a little breezy but at 23 degrees it was such a tonic. Its crazy how about two weeks ago I was digging the car out of the snow.
Lansing is a smashing little city, it is very small with only one tall building. The State Building though is really beautiful, it looked stunning in the morning sunshine.
Oddly though there were few people about and even fewer vehicles on the road.
We walked all around the downtown area then we crossed the bridge to another district where we found a nice bar where we had a beer each and rested our feet.
From there we walked the river walk all the way to the Historic District.
The Historic District was lovely, it was made up of old industrial buildings which were now cute little shops. We walked all over the place taking the buildings in.
We walked back to the downtown area via the opposite riverside and again it was quite nice.
The river looked a lot fresher than many other US rivers that I have seen over the years and there were men actually fishing along the river side.
The sun was beating down now and I had a wee dab on. We tried to walk to the main river, (Two rivers join to form a larger river), but the trees were far too thick to see it properly and we were too pooped to go look from another location.
We got back to the house at 3:00 pm and I washed the windscreen of the car as it was coated with bugs, yes it really is getting that warm, while Wendy packed a picnic.
I had googled, “A good picnic park in Lansing”, and it came up with Crego Park, and it was only 4 miles away.
Crego Park, apparently, is a 200-acre park offering quiet water sports like fishing, canoeing, kayaking. It also connects to the Lansing River Trail.
It was a cracking find, it was just perfect in the afternoon sunshine.
There was even a spare picnic table, which was lucky because the place filled up soon after we had settled down.
We ate some pork leftovers from Sunday night, some fancy bean salad, rocket, tomatoes and a slice of bread. I was starving and it was just perfect, sat there in the sunshine at the side of a beautiful lake.
After clearing the table we took a walk around the shore and then we took the river trail which was a wide tarmac path into the woods, which leads to a river side trail.
Enroute to the river Wendy did a little jump in the air and hopped around a little and said did you see that?
I hadn’t seen anything apart from her dance routine.
“Look, look at that, it’s a snake, watch it, it moves fast.”
I did look, and it was indeed a snake, it was a tiny baby snake, most likely not long hatched. It was brown and didn’t have any colouring, but it sure gave Wendy Gill the scare of her life.
It’s now gone 8:00 pm and I am sat at the bedroom window with the window fully open listening to the birds chirrup their bedtime routine and its rather nice.
The thing about a road trip holiday is that it is continual excitement, you drive to a place that you have picked for whatever reason one day, you explore it the next, and maybe one more day, and you’re excited about that too, and then your excited about your next destination. It’s a never-ending cycle of excitement.
It’s moving day tomorrow, tomorrow we drive straight up the middle of the State of Michigan to spend 3 days in Mackinaw City. This is a long detour that we really didn’t need to be taking, as it’s a State that was bagged some years ago now. The thing is though is that Mackinaw City is supposed to be stunning, and the icing on the cake will be served if I get to visit Mackinaw Island, which I do intend to do!
237 Miles
Mackinac Straits
Our host is a Russian national, while I was working on yesterdays post Wendy was on the bed, bimbling on her i-Pad and suddenly said, “Look at this, I’ve started to get adverts in Russian on my feed, I bet our host is a spy!”
This morning I was just back from my run when the strange man staying in the house was coming down the stairs. I said hello to him and I learnt that he is a Chinese national.
I told Wendy when I got back in the bedroom and she said, “I bet he’s a spy too, it’s a spy network, I should tell the authorities.”
The strange man is only small but when I woke up at 5:00 am this morning, I took my earplugs out and I heard some exceptionally loud snoring coming from his bedroom. Wendy was awake so I asked her if she could hear him. She said, “He’s been at it all night.”
This morning Wendy came running with me as it was barely light when we went out. She left me after the first mile and a half and went to look for a track that our host told us about.
The sky was clear and I saw a stunning sunrise, and it looked like it was going to be another nice day.
I was just about to jump in the shower when the bloody cat jumped out of the linen cupboard nearly giving me a heart attack. I hadn’t noticed the cupboard door slightly open, and anyway who would think there’d be a cat snuggled down on top of the bath towels in a guest house? It got short shrift!
We were on the road at 9:40 am, with about a 230-mile trip.
We were going to Mackinac City which is at the top of the Lower Michigan Peninsula and the drive would take us straight up the middle of the peninsula.
I chose to stop at a small town called Harrison, which was 90 miles into the trip, I picked Harrison because it was my grandad’s surname.
Harrison was a nice little township, it obviously serves the remote farming community because every second shop sold something to do with farming, and there was a massive tractor showroom.
We had coffee in MacD’s where two elderly ladies were running the front counter. They were both lovely, and enthusiastic. It’s the first time anyone in any MacDonalds that someone from the company has come and asked me if I like my coffee.
We called into a large thrift shop and bought two folding chairs for $10, they were $15 each in a local store so we got a bargain.
It was a religious thrift shop, most likely evangelical as a man, not dressed in anything religious, was sat with an elderly lady at a table next to the till. He said do you want me to pray for you and she said yes. He gripped her arm and went into a right old fire and brimstone rant. I was stood a foot from them in the queue. It went on that long that when he had finished the lady said, “I think I need to take a minute now.” All this went on while I was in the queue, I was there that long because a woman before me bought half the shop up.
We spent an hour in Harrison before driving 20 miles up the road where we detoured again to visit Houghton Lake, and what a cracker it was, it was massive.
The lake is approximately 10 miles long north to south, and about 5.5 miles at its widest point. Houghton Lake has 30 miles of total shoreline and its waters cover 20,044 acres. Despite its size the lake is no more than 15 feet deep at its widest point and on average only 9 feet deep, and not much further away is another lake of around the same size.
Back in the car and with about 60 miles to go I pulled off the road again and visited the larger town of Gaylord.
Now this was a cracking ski resort town with some really quirky shops. It had a really friendly feel to it and we were made very welcome by the barmaid in a local bar.
As soon as she knew we were English on tour she pumped me for details of our trip and loved the story. When I told her about the snow in Maine, she told us that the town had a major snowstorm in the winter and that it had snowed that much even the gritters were stranded and had to be left stuck on the road and the drivers rescued. The police fined anyone daft enough to go out onto the highway too. I would love to have seen that!
For the last 60 miles of the Highway it was like being on the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territories of Australia, miles upon miles of vast forests with no one around, we almost had the road to ourselves.
We checked into our hotel and were given a cracking room on the 1st floor with stunning views of The Mackinaw Straits. The straits separate the Great Lakes of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and the water is crystal clear.
Mackinac City is called by two names, Mackinac and Mackinaw. Because the original name is pronounced Mackinaw the English settlers started writing the name in the way it is pronounced. All over the place there are both versions of the name for different companies.
We took a stroll around after check in, it’s not that big, actually it’s more of a village than a city. Most shops are closed until May, but we found a stonking grill where we stuffed ourselves silly with food.
The plateful was too much to eat, but not enough for a doggy bag, so we ate it all and now we are both bursting.
Michigan State is separated by The Mackinaw Straits, the lower side, where we are, is known as the Lower Peninsula and the other side is known as the Upper peninsula. The Straits are 4 miles wide and the gap is spanned by the Mackinac Bridge.
Tomorrow will be a day of exploration, I’m excited already!!!
No Travelling
Mackinac Island
I woke at 5:20 am, Wendy was fast asleep, I put the kettle on, made a marmalade sandwich drank my tea and then started to get ready to go out, thankfully it wasn’t raining.
Wendy woke and told me that I had given the snoring man a run for his money through the night. I must have been snoring and I know why, its because I went to bed on a full stomach.
I’m not normally a snorer but if I sleep on my back I know I do, I know it because I’ve even woken myself up on my back by snoring.
I went out at 6:30 am and Wendy wasn’t long behind me, it was just getting light.
I could see the Bridge colourfully lit up in the darkness, it looked quite nice.
On my way back I saw a house had one Christmas tree in the window downstairs and one Christmas tree in a bedroom window and that one actually had its lights on. I stopped and took a picture, putting my life at risk because if someone lights a Christmas tree in their house in April, they must be nuts, mustn’t they?
After a quick shower we went over to the dining room and had the best provided breakfast we have had on this trip. There was a good selection of breads to toast, bacon, boiled eggs, very nice porridge, good tasting juice, cereals, cereal bars, muffins and pastries. Sadly, there was one item I needed that wasn’t there, which really did surprise me, it was ketchup! I had to have my toasted bagel and bacon sandwich without it. I’ll take my own bottle over tomorrow!
Yesterday Wendy checked the weather forecast for the next few days and it was supposed to be rain for 2 to 3 days. So, seeing as it wasn’t raining now, we brought our plans a day forward and decided to try to visit Mackinac Island today. I say try because its still a winter ferry timetable and getting info on it isn’t easy. We were going to scope it all out today for tomorrow’s trip, so now we were flying blind and trying to work it out on the hoof!
Driving over the bridge was an experience, there were roadworks underway so it was two way traffic along one duel carriageway while the work was carried out on the other duel carriageway. The section of road which we were on was metal grating and I could feel the wheels slipping on the surface, it was a little unnerving.
Thankfully the ferry was running and we bought a day return for $44 each, that was $88, which I thought was a little steep, but I really wanted to go.
A visit to Mackinac Island was a major visit on this trip for me. I first heard of the island when Mike Pence, when he was Vice President, caused a major upset amongst the island population when he took 8 SUV cars and his entourage on to the island to travel one mile to a Republican Conference at the Grand Hotel.
Cars have been banned from the island for over 100 years and the only way around is either bicycle, horse carriage or on foot.
The ferry was busy, which surprised us as most of the island would be closed.
We sat in a part of the ship with four other people, a local lady older than us, a younger woman who was going back for her summer season job, and an older American man and his Far East Asian wife.
Nothing was said between us until I went out to take a photograph.
When I got back it was non stop chitter chat and the old local lady held court, she told us:
That the lake usually freezes over in winter and the only way on or off the island is by snow mobile, but the lake hasn’t frozen over since 2019.
That the population is around 530 people but that increases massively during the summer months.
That they have drunk from a spring on the coast since she was a little girl but now it’s not considered safe.
The American man told us he loves the UK as he flew a Tiger Moth historical plane from Redhill in Surrey many years ago, and that him and his son came over to the island last summer and they could not move for tourists, so he brought his wife back now, when it was quiet.
The weather was coldish, about 7 degrees centigrade and it had started to drizzle but that didn’t bother us.
The island has a circular road that is 8 miles in length, but we walked all around the town centre first. We marvelled at the horse and carts that were constantly running building supplies from the dock to buildings that were under renovation. We were also amazed at the number of bikes around, and the ingenious ways in which people had made baskets and trailers for them. We took a drink in the only bar open, it was very busy.
From the town we walked along one coastal side to find the Arch Rock. This was a hike along the road and then a walk up 207 steps to get up to the arch, thankfully it was worth it.
We walked back into town and walked a round a little more and then at 3:00 pm we went for an early supper in the pub.
Jeepers it was good tucker, I had the Lumberjack sandwich, which was rump steak slices in a hoagie, with all the trimmings. Wendy had a beef burger topped with pulled brisket.
The bar was almost empty as most of the day visitors had gone back on the 3:00 pm ferry.
This time we didn’t eat all our meal so at around 3:45 pm we set off with a doggy bag in the back pack, for a nice stroll along the other shoreline.
The drizzle had stopped and it was a rather pleasant walk.
The ferry was packed coming back at 5:30 pm as a lot of tradesmen were going back home for the weekend.
Its now 8:00 pm and we are back in our cosy hotel room, shattered having walked 9 miles along the roads of the island, however it’s been a really interesting day and I am really glad we did visit the island.
Theres one thing that continues to astound me and that is the size of the Great Lakes, they are massive. I have to tell myself constantly that I am on a lake and not at the ocean because everywhere you walk there are miles upon miles of water with no sight of land in front of you.
Tomorrow we are having an easy day, maybe just strolling around our side of the bridge!
No Travelling
Another Bloody Storm!!!
Before I go into today’s activities, I want to detail a few facts about the area of Michigan we are in, so here we go:
The Great Lakes:
Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, and it’s our next destination.
The Great Lakes are the largest freshwater system in the world - The five Great Lakes - Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario - span a total surface area of 94,600 square miles and are all connected by a variety of lakes and rivers, making them the largest freshwater system in the world.
More than 20% of all the worlds freshwater is in The Great Lakes.
The Empire State Building would sink beneath the surface of Lake Superior as it is so deep.
Only one percent of the water in the Great Lakes system is replenished each year; the remaining 99 percent is a one-time gift from the melting glaciers.
The Mackinac Bridge
The Total Length of the bridge is 5 miles.
The height of the towers above the water is 552 feet.
The total weight of the bridge is 1,024,500 Tons.
The bridge took over 3 years to build and opened to traffic in 1957.
The bridge is the fifth-longest suspension bridge in the world and the third longest in the United States.
Mackinac Island
The population of the Island is 590 people.
The Island has 1,400 bikes for rent.
600 horses come to work on Mackinac Island each year.
At 660 feet, The Grand Hotel’s Front Porch is the world’s largest, and is visible as you approach the Island from Lake Huron.
Mackinac Island is 3.776 square miles in size.
A one-night stay at the Grand Hotel in June 2024 for 2 adults for bed and breakfast costs £780.00.
Jeepers it was pouring down with rain when I went out running, and there was a howling wind. I had to do one of my empty head runs, this is where I just close my mind and listen to my music and put everything out of my head, and it works every time, I didn’t even stop for a drink. I did stop at the five-mile point to take a few photos of the Lake, it was a little wild out there. For the first two miles the shore was filled with large hotels, all mostly closed, the last mile was occupied by campsites. Tourism is big business at the great lakes.
I got back and jumped straight into the bath to warm my legs and Wendy took all my wet gear to the laundrette.
Breakfast was another little treat and I remembered to take some ketchup sachets with me as well, for my bacon toastie.
I have had my eye on the oil level in the car’s engines for a few days now and it seems to be losing oil as its now down to the bottom mark on the dipstick. I have been in touch with Thrifty Car Hire but as usual they never get back.
At around 10:00 am we got into the car and after filling with fuel and putting some oil in the engine we drove around 40 miles to the south west to the coastal town of Petosky. We need to stock up on good Aldi chocolate as it’s the only decent stuff we have come across.
We also needed a few other things and we got to explore another Michigan town.
It was still pouring rain as we passed through several small towns.
We also passed some more large lakes. This area might be famous for the Great Lakes but there is a very large amount of decent, other large sized lakes. By large I mean you can barely see the other side of them.
We got to Aldi and the rain was still lashing down and after we had grabbed what we needed, Wendy said, “I don’t fancy a walk in this.”
Just as we approached Petosky I saw that there was a small car park directly overlooking Lake Michigan so I parked there and went out to see the waves crashing. Jeepers the wind was now up even more and the waves were bashing over a small footpath, the Lake was wild!
Driving back I stopped to grab a photo of two large lakes, Crooked Lake and Lake Paradise. As big as they were, there are two much bigger ones a little further south, it is unreal just how much freshwater is around this part.
We also took a 20-minute dash around downtown Petosky and we found a charming town centre with some really interesting shops, but it was far too wet and blowy to really take a good look around.
Back at the hotel and I took the opportunity of the bad weather to go for a swim in the hotel pool, even Wendy joined me.
Actually, it was rather nice, the pool was warm and we enjoyed a nice relaxing swim. Wendy must have been with me for about 40 minutes and then headed back to the room. I did a few more lengths and as the couple using the jacuzzi had left I jumped in that for another 10 minutes, jeepers the water was nicely hot.
After showering at the room we took the car into the shopping area in the hope we might find Wendy some fudge. Mackinac Island is famous for producing fudge and apparently, they use over 10 tons of Michigan sugar per week in fudge production. Wendy was a little dismayed that no one was open to buy some yesterday, but thankfully one shop had opened here today.
So with a block of chocolate pecan fudge now in her possession, she is a nice happier woman.
Before coming back to the hotel, I drove to the shore to see the waves crashing around the bridge, it was wild out there. In fact, the waves were good enough to surf on, thank goodness we went to Mackinac Island yesterday!!!
There as been a big storm hitting Pennsylvania and New York State, massive flooding has occurred and we are getting the cyclonic aftermath of that. It’s been bad here, but it’s been worse over there.
But already on the weather channel we are told to expect a heatwave in the coming days, it’s been no warmer than 7 degrees centigrade today.
Back in the room and we ate the doggy bags from yesterday for supper and my steak sandwich was just as nice cold as it was hot, so was Wendys burger and pulled brisket.
Tomorrow is moving day and I am looking forward to seeing Lake Superior.
If the weather doesn’t improve by the morning at least I have scoped the fitness centre out, it as 3 treadmills and I can use it any time of day, I might just be in there at 6:30 am in the morning, hopefully not!
174 Miles
Lake Superior
I ran out of copy with my facts and figures to tell you about a most extraordinary thing we saw yesterday when we were just leaving the Aldi store at Petosky. It was absolutely chucking down with rain and the wind was horrendous. We were traveling down a very busy two-lane Highway but still in the town area, where I was just about to turn right and go into the downtown area. There, on a grassy bank that was right at the side of the Highway were 3 people, 1 very elderly man, 1 elderly’iIsh woman and a much younger woman, and they were on their knees and praying together, in a line. It was most bizarre; the traffic was whizzing past them and they barely had any wet weather protection.
I have no idea what they were about, Wendy who only saw them briefly, thought it might be some act of penance, but whatever they were up to it certainly wasn’t good for their health.
We later watched a film, it was a romcom and it was quite good, it was called Falling Inn Love.
Afterwards though looking out on the balcony, it was still quite breezy and still cold, but the late-night sky was beautiful. It had stopped raining and the sky was amazing and the lake was a beautiful turquoise blue.
We woke to a dark but lightening sky and by the time we both went out running it was light.
It was cold at 4 degrees centigrade and there was a nippy wind but it wasn’t raining and I saw a terrific sunrise from the Straits of Mackinac.
We had another lovely breakfast, I told the chef that it was the best breakfast we have had so far on this trip and she was dead chuffed.
We checked out at 10:00 am and I was given a small bar of chocolate fudge for being a kind guest, it was eaten not long after we got over the Mackinac Bridge, and it was delicious.
The drive over to Marquette was, for the first 60 miles, along the north shore of Lake Michigan and we saw some stunning sights.
We then drove over the middle of the upper peninsula and came out at a small town called Munising, where we stopped for a coffee and a stroll. For the first time ever, we stopped at a café that was not a MacD’s, it was Hardees, and it was just as good.
They have a Philly Beef cheesecake burger and it looked delicious. I asked the lad who served me if it came as good as it looked, and he looked me in the eye and assured me that it did. I might need to find one when I am hungry.
We also walked the main street but there wasn’t very much to it, but we did get our first sighting of Lake Superior, and it looked absolutely beautiful.
From Munising we drove along the south shore of Lake Superior and the beaches were amazing. I have seen some cracking beaches during my travels and these beaches were as good as any of them. The sun was out, it wasn’t overly warm but they were stunning none the less.
We were checked into our very nice hotel room at 2:30 pm by a really lovely woman who was happy to engage in a little chitter chat. We have a two-night stay and we are about a mile from downtown and quite close to the shore.
After settling in with a brie and biscuit snack, washed down with a small white wine, we walked down to the shore for a jaunt into town.
It had become over cast and there was a little drizzle but it soon fizzled out.
We walked along the shore and saw some lovely beaches; it would be nice to be here in the heat of summer and relax with a good book down there.
We walked for just over two miles following the shore and then we came to the towns main street.
I believe that Marquette is a University Town and that seemed to be borne out by the large number of student types we saw.
The town is really nice with some really interesting shops and buildings. It’s a little hilly in town but the shore path is all on the level.
As we walked along Main Street I saw an interesting little bar which we ducked into, and I am really glad we did.
There was only one barmaid working the busy bar and she was really nice, but she was a ballsy girl because while she was serving me, she grabbed some young-looking kids and would not let them in until they had satisfied her that they were over 21.
It would be fair to say that we had a little language difficulty, which I think is caused by the shock that some Brit has spoken to them, Wendy thinks different of course, like they can’t understand me.
The beers we got were 7% and I must admit I could feel it warming me up as it went down.
Just as we were about to leave, I went to the toilet and when I came back there was a large group of families, who I guess were new in town.
The barmaid was telling them that the under 21’s would have to sit at the bar so that she could keep her eye on them in case anyone tried to buy them a sneaky drink.
There was some dissatisfaction amongst the group but this was quickly settled by a couple of local fellows telling them it’s the State law in Michigan, and then one fella told them, “You go to”, and then he named several bars and told them that they would get the same short shrift there as well.
One old fella started to chat to me, while I was drinking my beer, about the golf which was on telly, but we both agreed that although we admired the skill, it wasn’t either of our most favourite sports. He was a nice fella and gave me a friendly back slap as we left.
We walked the short distance back to the hotel where Wendy made a delicious supper of smoked salmon, cream cheese, spinach, brie and tomato, along with brown sliced bread, it was delicious.
Its Saturday night and we are now hearing the news about the state of affairs in the Middle East, don’t those buggers ever get fed up of killing each other, its Saturday night for goodness sake!!!
No Travelling
A Lovely Sunday!
I was thinking last night, what is the combined length of the Great Lakes shoreline? This morning I Googled it and the answer is 9,402 miles. Now that seems like a good middle distance running challenge.
I have already completed 885.72 miles beyond the equator which has taken me ??? days, so I only have to go another 8,156.28 miles which should take 1,360 days or around 3.7 years.
I’ll see how it goes, but instead of coming back to finish somewhere around the Great Lakes, I think I would do it at the Lake District instead!
We both didn’t have a very good nights sleep for some reason last night, I don’t know why because it was very quiet and I never heard a sound.
Thankfully it was a bright clear morning and I saw a beautiful sunrise from Lake Superior.
I went running along the western shore and Wendy went along the eastern shore. I came to a park but I didn’t get to the end of it as I had reached my three miles limit.
Back at the hotel and after showering we went down for breakfast and it was a beauty. There was nicely crisp bacon and scrambled eggs, porridge, waffles, various types of bread and some lovely looking pastries. It was all delicious, washed down with very tasty orange juice.
After breakfast we drove up to the park where I ran and we did a lovely circular walk of around 3 miles through the woods and along the shore line of a very nice peninsula.
As we walked in the woods we could hear a woodpecker at work, but it was much louder and deeper than woodpeckers at home, he sounded more like a jackhammer going.
As we neared the end of the walk a young man was walking towards us and he had a large cowboy hat on and a long riding coat, like the ones cowboys wore. He was wrapped up tightly with a large belt.
On seeing him Wendy whispered, rather naughtily, “Where’s he left his horse?”.
As we passed him he said, “Good morning”, and I replied, “Howdy”. I have no idea where that came from, I guess Wendy planted it in my mind. I looked at her and she burst out laughing, I mean who says howdy to a man dressed as a cowboy?
We are in the land of the U-P’s (pronounced you-pees), its stands for Upper Peninsula’s. They even call them selves it. Back at the hotel I went to reception for a coffee and got chatting to the nice lady who checked us in yesterday and she told me we have to go and eat a pasty, she said, “Us YP’s love them.
Actually, we were looking for a pasty yesterday, apparently there are mines around here and miners from Cornwall came over and brought their traditional meal with them and it seems to have stuck and become a traditional staple around these parts.
After my coffee we jumped into the car and drove a couple of miles to a shop that’s sells pasties. The nice lady told me where to go and she was right, they do look rather tasty so we were going to have them for our supper tonight. Driving back though they did smell rather nice and they were still warm and we had to stop ourselves snaffling them up.
After parking the car we dressed warmly and walked into town. Our first mission was to check out the Cathedral and the other rather nice-looking building close by.
The Cathedral was really nice inside, it wasn’t as elaborate as some cathedrals we have seen on our travels but it was rather nice and functional inside.
I took the opportunity to light a candle for my little girls, and the one on the way, whoever they are, and I sat down and read from a scripture book that I found on a pew, funnily enough it was the story of Adam and Eve, a snake and an apple tree.
The other building was a rather attractive courthouse, although I guess not many people who pass through as customers might think so.
We then took a walk down to the Old Lower Harbour Dock; the sun was out and it was very strong but the breeze still had a bite to it.
The Old Harbour Dock is a massive structure from the past where iron ore used to be loaded on to huge giant ore carrying ships. Trains full of ore would ride along the top of the structure and they would tip their loads down chutes and onto the waiting vessels.
Constructed in the late 19th century, the Lower Harbor Ore Dock was part of a network of docks that facilitated the transportation of iron ore from the mines of Michigan's Upper Peninsula to steel mills across the Great Lakes region. At its peak, Marquette was one of the largest shipping ports for iron ore in the United States, and the ore dock played a crucial role in this trade. Today, it’s the perfect spot for a classic Marquette photo-op.
We saw a few graduates have their photographs taken in town and there was a young woman having her photo taken at the Dock, by her mother and boy did she do some posing, well I guess she’d earnt it.
This dock is no longer in use, but there is one at the park where we walked this morning and there was a train load sat on top of the structure waiting for the next ship so it could unload.
From the Dock we walked back into town and found a smashing bar where we were just going to have a drink. However, the food coming out looked delicious so I thought I would order a nibble, forgetting that the Americans can’t do a nibble so we shared a massive portion of loaded chips with a delicious pulled pork and cheese topping, it was an utter delight. It looks like the pasties will have to wait until tomorrow’s suppertime!
While walking home we walked the long breakwater down in the bay and it was just perfect.
From the breakwater we headed back to the hotel where I nipped to the filling station next door to get a large can of beer as I was now roasting hot having walked back in my warm clothing in baking sunshine.
Tomorrow is moving day and it will be our last day at the Great Lakes, I am going to miss them actually, I absolutely love them, they are almost indescribable, they are huge and very inviting, they’re very mysterious too. If I was going to settle in the USA, it would be by the side of one of these Great Lakes!
For more info on the Old Docks, take this link, its very interesting, Grandad Bryan would like it:
The Ore Docks In Marquette, Michigan | The Presque Isle Dock (travelmarquette.com)
248 Miles
Stunning Sunrise
There are two minimum wages in the United States, the Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, which hasn’t been changed since 2009, and the minimum tipping wage, which is $2.13 per hour.
The Federal minimum wage has been raised in some but not all States, the rate in Alabama is the same as the Federal rate, $7.25, but the minimum rate in Alaska is $11.73, and in California it is $16.00.
The thing that gets me is the tipping wage.
I go into a restaurant to buy a meal, or a beer and the price, compared to the cost of living is almost, if not a little more than what I would pay in the UK. Its certainly not any cheaper than I would expect to pay, especially as I am expected to make a significant contribution of around 20% of the cost of my meal or drink in the form of a tip.
I should, or rather everyone should not tip.
If the minimum hourly rate of $7.25 is not achieved in a working day from tips, the employer must make up the difference, so I say we should just do that, and then only tip if the service is to an acceptable standard and the employee gets a little extra.
When we were in the busy bar on Saturday afternoon, I tipped $1.00 for a $7.00 round of drinks. If everyone gave that sole barmaid a dollar tip then she would be quid’s in at the end of the day.
Every bill we have received tells us what amount we should tip for a 15% and 20% rate, what cheeky buggers.
Also, you’ll see from yesterday’s photograph of our receipt from yesterday’s meal, that they give a 3.5% reduction if you pay cash. That’s another sly scam as they don’t pass on the full 5% saving that they are making by you paying cash. Also, cash is easier to wash under the table and not declare to the tax man.
What a way to run a country, no wonder it’s the land of the rich!!!
We were in bed and asleep by 9:30 pm last night and I had a cracking nights sleep and I was wide awake at 4:30 am.
I slid out of bed and got the kettle on and it was a full 30 minutes before Wendy woke and made her tea.
We both went out running and we both saw a truly beautiful sunrise, it was amazing.
Breakfast was an utter delight again!
We left the hotel at 10:23 am and we were soon climbing uphill along a Highway.
We soon levelled off at 1,500 feet where we stayed for most of the journey and we could see lots of mounds of snow that was very slowly melting. They must have had some amount of snow in these parts over recent weeks.
Pretty soon we were on a very quiet highway with only the occasional car over taking me. Everyone seems to speed badly in the States, I stick to the speed limit as there might be a tracker in the car keeping tabs on me which could be used against me in the event of an accident. I say might because that’s what the rental agreement says. Also crossing the North American continent, I don’t want to thrash the car into a breakdown.
As we drove on we came to what looked like a frozen lake so I stopped for a look. The lake wasn’t fully frozen but the outer edge at the far side, out of the suns heat, was solid ice for a fair way across the water.
I like to stop for my coffee but there were no signs of any MacD’s, in fact for a good while there wasn’t anything at all, period!
Finally we came to a small settlement and I spotted what looked like a café and in we went.
It was one of those places where everyone spots a stranger. It was mostly older people out for lunch but they all stopped eating to take us in.
Actually, the coffee was quite nice and as an added bonus we got to use their Wi-Fi.
Back on the road and we came across a few more settlements and then with about 20 miles to go to the Wisconsin State border we entered the Central Time Zone. This left two large towns in Michigan in a different time zone to the rest of the State, how bizarre!
My Sat Nav clock also changed at the same time.
Here’s why the State has two time zones:
Michigan adopted Central Standard Time throughout the State effective from September 18, 1885. In 1915, Detroit changed to Eastern time, followed by most of the rest of the state in 1931, however Dickinson, Gogebic, Iron and Menominee counties all border Wisconsin, which is in the Central Time Zone. So those four Michigan counties opted to be in that hour-earlier time zone to stay in sync with their Wisconsin neighbours. Like I said, how bizarre.
We crossed into Wisconsin at a small town called Ironwood.
We got close to Lake Superior again for a short while, I got out to have a look and I saw that the lake was brown here, most likely because the soil is a very deep red.
Carrying on we went through a Native American Reservation; it was called Bad River Reservation.
I do know a few things about reservations, mainly that they are heavily into casinos. Casinos run by Native Americans occupy a special place in the overall casino and gambling industry; because Indian reservations are considered independent nations, gambling is mostly unrestricted. Gaming is also a major source of desperately needed revenue for tribes struggling economically.
Only tribal members can buy land on a reservation, and thankfully the house prices are much cheaper than in other areas.
However, 78% of Native Americans live off-reservation, and 72% live in urban or suburban environments, so their old way of life is being lost!
After the reservation we carried on passing through small towns until arriving at our hotel which is about 5 miles from downtown Superior.
After nipping into Superior, which we found to be very industrialised with only one main street, we went back to the hotel for our Pasty supper. The pasty was a delight, I loved it, there was a lot of thin cut potato but it was rather tasty.
I have been in touch with our Nephew, Ellis and we are all set to meet up on Wednesday by calling in when we pass on our way to our next place, an AirBnB at Big Lake, Minnesota.
No Travelling
Duluth
They are very good at sign posting historical facts in public places in the United States. When we first landed in New England we learnt about the Pilgrim Fathers and the American Revolution. When we moved in to Pennsylvania we learnt about the American Civil War. In Mackinac we started to learn about the trappers and the fur trade and of the pioneers who started to move out westwards in the early nineteenth century. I wonder what’s next, will it be the Wild West?
Today is our last day in the Great Lakes area and we have had an amazing time.
I was doing a little research last night about the connections within the Great Lakes structure and I came across this fantastic website which clearly and simply explains the interaction with all of the lakes. Do you know a drop of rainwater falling in to the west side of Lake Superior takes 200 years to make its way through to the Atlantic Ocean!
Check this site out for some very interesting reading:
Are the Great Lakes connected? | Great Lakes Guide
We watched Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway last night in the hope of staying awake beyond 9:00 pm new time which would be 10:00 pm old time. We did this thinking that it wouldn’t be light until around 7:00 am and that we ought to sleep in a little longer.
That didn’t work because some bloody scammer from Liverpool tried to call me at 5:00 am.
I did nod off again and I was really surprised to see that when I woke at 6:00 am it was daylight outside. Wendy was surprised too, I guess we both got that one wrong!
Wendy went out running, there is a very good path at the rear of the hotel, its brilliant, It goes the whole width of Wisconsin State along Lake Superior. It is 61.8 miles in length, I ran along it too, its brilliant.
Before we went down for breakfast I told Wendy that we might find out that we have been spoiled these last few morning with the lovely breakfasts we have been getting. However, we needn’t worry, although there wasn’t any bacon or eggs, it was still pretty good nonetheless!
We went out to explore Duluth at around 10:30 am and soon we were crossing over yet another State line Bridge and out of Wisconsin and into Minnesota, that’s now another state bagged, only 3 to go out of the Lower 48, and 4 left overall.
We parked up and the first thing we noticed was the wind, it was wild and blowing directly from the lake.
We wrapped up and walked over what is called the Aerial Lift Bridge. This bridge crosses the gap, it’s called the canal, that allows vessels into the larger inner harbour. We stood in the middle of the bridge and looked down the canal and the waves were rolling up and into the inner harbour. The waves must have been between 2 to 3 metres in height.
We then walked along the very nice board walk which extends about 16 miles going along the west side of Lake Superior. We only walked about a mile so that we had made it to the very west point of the Great Lakes.
From there we walked into downtown Duluth where, thankfully the wind was a little easier on us.
Duluth is quite nice and they have their world-famous Skywalk. The Skywalk is an over ground tunnel like system that keeps people out of the freezing weather when moving about town.
“The Downtown Waterfront is weatherproof when you want it to be, thanks to 3.5 miles of Skywalk that allows pedestrians to travel all across downtown in climate-controlled comfort. It even crosses I35 to deliver you right to the DECC and Canal Park.”
After walking all around the downtown area we walked back to the car and took a walk around the inner harbour area where I saw a very large vessel along the dock side. Actually, coming over the State bridge we did see a very large tanker in the port, so the Great Lakes does have some very large ships on its waters.
Back at the car we then drove along the long spit of land that acts as a barrier in front of both Duluth and Superior, it only has a small opening to let the ships in.
The spit from the bridge to the end of the road is 4.7 miles long. You could walk further along the beach, but not today on such a windy day.
It was here that I managed to get Wendy to take a photo of me paddling in the lake, I am over 2,000 miles away from it, but I was still connected by water to the North Atlantic Ocean.
We drove over another very high bridge going back as we were heading to a supermarket for some provisions for the next few days. This was a really high bridge and it was like flying in the sky. There was an artic lorry in front of me and it was rocking badly in the wind. I did think at one point he was going to topple over.
After shopping we were back at the hotel for 3:00 pm where after a period of lounging around we walked 10 yards from our hotel to the very nice bar / diner, Gronk’s, next door.
Jeepers we did have a good feed, I had:
The Kegger - OK, so it goes like this...Our cute little and delicious burger patty snuggled down nicely on a fresh bakery bun. Theeennn here comes, the cheddar and pepper jack and the American and finally the Swiss cheese. Take a bite and POW! Out of nowhere you get hit right in the rib cage. Served with a side of Irish gravy (ketchup). This is one Extreme Cheese Burger!! I paid an extra $4.00 for Bison Meat, it was a delight. Wendy had a straight cheese burger.
I had a beer and while I was drinking it I saw there was a disc in the bottom of the glass. I was looking at it when the barmaid shouted to me, “Don’t poke it.” So I didn’t, but I did look after I had finished it. The disc comes out and there is a hole at the bottom of the glass.
I asked the barmaid what it was about and she showed me.
They don’t pour the beer in the traditional manner; they sit the glass on a rubber seal and then the beer is injected in from the bottom and the glass fills upwards. It is brilliant and you get a perfect pint every time.
This was a great little place; it had all sorts of interesting things to read.
I saw a poem about a ship lost on the Lake and I Googled it. I have written enough today but this is one very interesting story. Follow the link to read about the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest ship to be sunk on the Great Lakes. This is one that Grandad Bryan will definitely want to read about:
SS Edmund Fitzgerald - Wikipedia
167 Miles
Ellis and Hannah
There was heavy driving rain when we ran across to the bar yesterday afternoon, it was the same coming back and it was even heavier rain and higher wind when I got up this morning.
I wrapped myself up and went out running and it was fine. I never stopped, I just kept going there and back. I went along the track and I only saw one person, a lady walking her dog. The worst bit was running over the high-level bridge that only has a mesh fence and the wind was howling through it.
We are in what’s called The Mid-West, which as defined by the Federal Government, comprises the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
We moved into Minnesota today as we are still in the Mid-West, in fact we will still be in the Mid-West even when we get into North Dakota. Personally, I would say that North Dakota is the start of the west but nothing is straight forward in the United States.
I Googled the midway point between York, Maine and Seattle, Washington and it came up with this:
The closest major city that is roughly halfway is Minneapolis. The total driving distance from Maine to Seattle is 3,224 miles. Each person would then have to drive about 1,612 miles to meet in the middle, so far we have driven 3,035 miles and we are about 46 miles from Minneapolis! So technically we are at the halfway point, however we will be going almost to the south of Idaho which will put more miles on the clock.
Just before we went down to breakfast, we decided to find a laundrette as we have a pile of washing to do so I quickly found a place which wasn’t too far away.
Drinking my morning tea in the bedroom I was watching the very interesting weather channel and it seems strange that while it’s blowing a gale and pouring rain here, that the central States are having a record heatwave, and for April records are being broken!
At 10:00 am we set off for the laundrette and found it easily enough. It was an expensive wash at $8.00, but we needed the wash and it was a bad day for drying too so after the wash we popped the clothes in to the tumble dryer, at $3.00 a pop, and then we nipped down to a Mac’D about 100 yards down the road.
This was an interesting Mac’D, almost every table was taken up by a pensioner group all sipping coffee. It must be their meeting point, and why not, its a good idea, it wasn’t busy so no one was being put out and they were having a good chitter chat.
With the washing dry we set off for the small community of Foley, Minnesota, where Ellis lives with his wife Hannah.
It was still chucking down with rain but the wind had thankfully abated. I say thankfully because we went over the high-rise bridge that we used yesterday, to my relief, and Wendy’s it wasn’t has hairy as yesterday.
The first 70 miles we did on the Interstate, but the rest we did on back road and Highways. Thankfully after 100 miles the rain stopped and the temperature climbed into the 10 degrees.
We arrived at the house in Foley at 1:45 pm and we were met by Ellis and Hannah, it was really lovely to see them. When I met Ellis he said something like, “I can’t believe this, I am meeting you in the United States”.
We met Hannah’s mum, Lynn and her little nephew, Rowan, who was a little shy.
I loved the house; it is so deceptively large and very welcoming. The views from the lounge are really good. Apparently, the wildlife is very interesting, I would love to see a beaver there, maybe even a gopher, but not so much a big brown bear, although Ellis hasn’t seen one either.
Lynn made us very welcome with an abundance of cakes which I had with coffee. Wendy had to nip to the car to get a kettle so that Ellis could make her a none microwave cup of tea.
We had a good old natter about this and that and then made plans for the coming days.
We got a tour of Hannah and Ellis’s quarters where they are down below and they have a smashing little self-contained place with a nice French window with nice views.
So, with our plans made we set off for the 25 miles drive to our AirBnB in Big Lake, where we followed Lynn as she had to go in that direction too.
We are 25 miles away because Foley is a very rural area and I could not find any accommodation in that area, this is the nearest I could find.
Our Host is a lovely lady, we are on a small holding with goats and chickens and an adorable dog called Bo-Bo. The place we have is a cosy little house that has been built in a large garage. It is very comfortable with a small kitchen that has everything we need to cook a nice meal. There is one big downside, no smoke detectors, but we have large windows, and the shower is in the kitchen, yes you read that right, the shower and bath is in the kitchen.
After settling in we took the short drive to Big Lake City, (I’ve said this before, and I have now researched it, the term City in the USA is a very loose definition), just to take a look at our surroundings.
There are two largeish lakes here but there isn’t any access around them as the homes that circle it have taken all the space.
We saw a liquor store and we were going to stock up on wine but I got ID’d by the Gestapo of ID, and she would not accept my UK driving licence which clearly as my birthdate on it.
I was going to argue with her as it’s been accepted in everyplace that I have needed to use it before, but Wendy wasn’t up for it. So, at 62 years old I had to accept that I couldn’t prove my age and accepted defeat and left empty handed.
We cooked a supper of Pork Fillet in a garlic and cream sauce, with my creamy mushrooms and fried rice, it was a delight, an utter delight actually.
The weather has thankfully improved so hopefully we will have a nicer day together tomorrow.
No Travelling
What a Lovley Day!!!
I slept nicely last night and I woke at 5:10 am after not being disturbed by Scouse Scammers, actually I took my phone off vibrate so I wouldn’t have been disturbed anyway.
Thankfully there was no driving rain this morning, it was 7 degrees and only slightly overcast outside.
I ran in the direction of Big Lake City but I didn’t get there as its 5 miles away.
I ran along the main road but it has a very wide shoulder so I was well away from the traffic.
I got back to the house and I had my first smoothie for a long time. I had it with half and half milk, its supposed to be half milk and half cream but I’m a little sceptical as it’s seems quite thin.
At 9:30 am I sent Ellis a message that we were setting off, we were off to explore the, seemingly, nicest city in the United States, Minneapolis.
We drove to collect Hannah and Ellis who were going to be our guides for todays visit.
We managed to get them for around 10:15 am and they were both ready and we were on our way within 2 minutes.
It was a 66-mile drive and it flew by, as we drove on we chatted about life and other things in the United States and its nice to see that Ellis has so easily fitted in to a completely different way of life.
What struck me as we drove along was how flat the countryside was, there wasn’t any hills in sight. The area is just over 1,000 feet in elevation and it gets darn cold in winter.
The drive was very interesting because the closer we got to Minneapolis, the busier the road got, which always happens in large cities, but the thing is the traffic kept moving and it was all rather polite with no signs of any kind of bad road behaviour.
We got off the Interstate and the Sat Nav dropped us exactly where our first visit was.
Thankfully we happened upon a decent car park that wasn’t very far from where we wanted to be.
We were looking for the Foshay Building which Wendy had found in our 2018 travel guide, it was a tall building with a public viewing platform at the top.
It was hard to find the building from the description on the ground because all we knew was the name of the building and that it was built in Art Decco style.
I asked a security guard in one building I thought it might be, but it wasn’t that building and he didn’t think there were any tall buildings that allowed the public up, in his own words, “Because of the crazies.”
However, he did point us in the right direction when Wendy told him the name of the building.
It was funny when we entered this first building as the entrance was a revolving door and three people, local to the building I guess because they entered the revolving door that fast in front of us, we had to step back in fear of being trapped in the mechanism. It was spinning like something out of Benny Hill.
We did find the correct building who did allow visits to the top floor of the building which in this case was the 30th floor. I was given an access card by the receptionist and I was to use it in the lift for it to get us to the top.
However, it seems that someone had called the lift, unbeknown to us, on the 22nd floor before I had keyed the floor in.
As we rose quickly up it became apparent one of us wasn’t comfortable hurtling skywards and was even more mortified when someone joined on the 22nd floor and took us straight back to the bottom.
Thankfully we did get to the top and the views of the city were stunning. We could see all the tall buildings around us, and through the gaps between them we could see the land stretching flatly into the district.
We did two tours of the top floor but as we were on an outside viewing platform, with a strong cold wind, we called time on the adventure and headed back down to street level.
We set off in the direction of the river, The Mighty Mississippi River, but it quickly became apparent that maybe it was a little too far to walk.
I did like the look of Minneapolis, it was a very clean city but it was very, very quiet. I guess that the tall buildings were all office accommodation and that everyone was hard at work.
We walked around for a few blocks and then decided to drive to the river where we parked on a large island where we took a little walk about.
The weather had improved a little and the sun was out. We strolled along one bank of the Mississippi and it was quite impressive because the water was actually quite clean.
With our two main attractions completed we jumped in the car for a 6 miles drive to The Mall of America which is considered to be the largest shopping mall in the western world.
Jeepers it was large, it even had a theme park in the middle of the place.
Having walked around to get a flavour of the place we took a coffee in a small shop and then we drove for the last of today’s activities, supper at Willys on the Water, much to the amusement of Ellis who sniggered every time he said the word Willy, and he seemed to want to say it a lot!
Willys had been recommended by our host and it was just perfect. It was like a sports bar come diner, and the food was delicious. Set at the very side of Big Lake it would have been perfect for a sunny summer evening, but not tonight, the wind was too cold.
Inside three of us had a different burger and Wendy had a tuna dish. Everything was perfect, delicious and very nicely served.
With our belly’s stuffed we dropped Hannah and Ellis back at their home and drove back to our house.
Our little place is quite unique and apart from the shower in the kitchen it has a few other peculiarities.
There is a hot air system that blows warm air through vents which are maybe located in not the best locations.
Just as it kicked in, and boy does it blow when it does, Wendy had just taken a visit to the toilet and I heard her exclaim in surprise when the blower got her in the bathroom.
Tomorrow, weather permitting, we hope to do what Hannah calls a hike in the country, Wendy is hoping that this loosely translates to a nice leisurely walk!
No Travelling
Snow!!!
Yesterday evening, I went back to the Liquor Store where I wasn’t allowed to buy wine the day before because I couldn’t prove my age, despite me having my driving licence which has my date of birth on it.
As we walked over to the store I told Wendy that if it was a different person at the check-out I would try to use my driving licence and if that wasn’t good enough I would use my passport as I had that with me too.
It was indeed a different lady on the check out and when we went to make our purchase, she bagged our goods up and asked me for my ID and I gave her my driving licence. First she looked at the photo and then turned it over and I pointed out my date of birth and she then gave me it back and said, “Thanks that’s perfect”, and we concluded the transaction and we walked out with our goods.
Now Wendy’s point yesterday was that there is a clear sign at the till that said that IDs must be properly registered in a State format. Now that’s where the lady yesterday fell down, she could not waver from a single instruction to take into account my unique situation.
The law does not discriminate in the United States, a foreign national as long as they meet the age requirements can buy alcohol and as where we do not have an address in the United States then we have to prove our evidence of age in another format. The lady yesterday did not grasp that, but the lady today had the ability to be able to think through a situation and utilise and accept an appropriate method that still complied with US law. You would be surprised that this happens quite a lot in the UK, people are scared to use their own initiative and need to be instructed before feeling comfortable with changing the rules themselves.
I was up bang on 5:00 am this morning and after checking my weather app I found out that the temperature was -1 degree centigrade. That did for Wendy who remained tucked up in bed.
After a cup of tea and a slice of vegemite on toast I got wrapped up and went outside, there was snow flurries!
I ran a different route today, I went deep into small rural USA and it was quite interesting because I found a whole community of nice housing on a large estate deep into the countryside about a mile from the main road. I was there just in time for the school bus and I saw all the kids trudging along like it was a Monday morning and not a Friday morning.
Jeepers the wind had picked up by the time I got back to the house and my hands were freezing. I actually soaked my hands in a sink of hot water to warm them up, I have never had to do that before. But then I have lost my gloves, I sat on them on the floor in Brandon while having a drink stop and I forgot to pick them up. I was too late when I realised the next day as we were 200 miles away, but I never thought I would need them by now.
After my breakfast smoothie we drove about 9 miles to a place called Monticello, actually we went there yesterday with Hannah and Ellis and Hannah found my pronunciation of the name quite amusing, I said it how it is, not how it is locally.
After a bit of shopping at Walmart we drove over to see Ellis and Hannah where I had a delightful cup of coffee. We met Hannahs sister, Madaline, who is also very nice.
Over hot drinks we chatted with Lynn, Hannah’s Mum, about quite a few things British, namely the differences between our use of the English language. Ellis was giving his interpretation on some things but he held fast on one thing that’s not going to change for him, from memory I think its pasta. Apparently, all pasta is called noodles in the US, I’m not sure of that myself but I guess if that’s what you have always known it as then you’re not going to think it’s wrong like we do!
We left after an hour, we were going to go for a walk out but it is absolutely freezing cold and with the wind it feels about 10 below!
We drove back to our house and I called in at a Prairie Safari where there is a 7-mile dust track that winds you around looking at different aspects of the countryside. The main reason I went there was we knew that there is a Golden Eagles nest in a small lake and there is a viewing platform with a telescope so that you can look at the nest from afar.
Thankfully this was the first item we found on the trail and after looking at the nest, that looked pretty vacant actually, we called time on the rest of the tour and went back to get warm and do a few admin items. I have one more hotel to book for this trip, I have found one I like but I need to wait until I have three more nights with Hotels.com to qualify for two free nights, which I should get at the end of April, so let’s hope it isn’t fully booked by then!
At around 3:00 pm we took a ride around the nearest lake to use Eagle Lake. Again there was housing all around the lake apart from one small boat launch facility at the opposite end. Jeepers it was still very cold so we went back to the house to start dinner as Ellis and Hannah were coming over.
But before I started dinner I just had to go out and feed our hosts 3 goats. Our Host had left some goat biscuits for us and they lapped them up, my fingers were sticky with slava, thankfully I did remember to wash them before I started with dinner.
At 5:00 pm Hannah and Ellis were dropped off at the house by Lynn and after they had surveyed the interesting bath and kitchen set up they nipped off to feed our Hosts goats and to also ask our Host to help me restore power which had tripped because I had the oven and 1 hob ring on.
Thankfully supper was a success and we enjoyed a good hour around the table chitter-chattering.
At around 7:00 pm I suddenly remembered that I wanted to see the town of Foley where Hannah lives, I want to go home with as a complete a picture of Ellis’s new life as possible.
To that end we all jumped in the car and our first port of call was an interesting, if not wacky collection of madcap road art. There was an interesting collection of strange things there, ranging from Space Aliens, Big Foot and other strange creations. Actually it was well worth a look at closer but as darkness was approaching we had to move on.
I like the look of Foley town centre; it has a wild west feel to it but it does look a rather safe place and I can certainly think of a much worse place to live.
Finally, I saw the Court House where Hannah and Ellis married, so that was the icing on the cake and my trip to Foly had been a major success.
We only had to say goodbye to Lynn and Maddie and her two young boys left.
This has been a brilliant little excursion as we have seen Ellis in his new life with his new family and its particularly pleasing because they are all genuinely lovely people and have instantly accepted Ellis as a valued member of the family.
We got home just before nightfall and I tackled the washing up while Wendy tidied the food away and then wiped the dishes.
Its moving day tomorrow, I have loved my time in Foley, it’s been a very memorable experience and I look forward to hearing all the baby news in the coming months, roll on October 5th, and not just because its my birthday!!!
217 Miles
More Bloody Snow!!!
I woke at exactly 5:00 am this morning and I sneaked out of bed and in to the kitchen where I had laid all my running gear out last night. I closed the door and put my ear phones in and listened to Radio 2 while I made my breakfast. I was extra quiet and I thought I was quite successful.
I was sat on the cool box eating my toast when I thought I could hear voices coming through the heating ducting. I turned my music off and listened again. There was someone definitely talking in the ducting.
I went to the kitchen door and opened it carefully and I found Wendy sat up in bed chatting away to Rose on her i-Pad. All my stealth had been a complete waste of time!
I opened the curtains at about 5:45 am and I was stunned to see a very good dusting of snow, even the car had a good covering.
I cannot believe this weather, we are at the same latitude as the south of Milan in Italy and its still -3 through the night on 20th April, and we are actually nearer the start of summer than the start of Spring!
I went running westwards along the main road and saw very few cars, maybe everyone saw the snow and turned over and stayed in bed.
I used the last of the cream that I used for the mushroom sauce yesterday in my smoothie and it was delicious, not very healthy mind.
We left the house at 10:00 am exactly and we passed over the Mississippi River about 6 miles later in the town of Monticello and I said goodbye to the old girl because I won’t be seeing her again on this trip. We were heading north west to Fargo in North Dakota and then we go directly west through another two States, Montana and Idaho before finishing in Washington.
We entered the Interstate almost directly after leaving Monticello and that’s where we stayed all the way up to Fargo.
We did stop for fuel and a coffee at a place called Sauk Centre but we didn’t get any further from sitting at Handley’s, sat at a table drinking coffee.
Back on the Interstate the clouds that had bothered us for the last week had dissipated and we were under clear blue skies, although the temperature was still only 4 degrees C.
As we couldn’t check into our new place until 4:00 pm we had planned a laundry stop in a small town called Fergus Falls which would leave us with around 50 miles left to travel.
We pulled on to the laundry carpark at 1:00 pm and I thought it was closed but it was just the light reflecting off the windows making it look dark inside.
I got chatting to a young African man who was sporting a Man City football shirt and he told me that the match they were currently playing against Chelsea was still 0 – 0.
He told me that he was a massive Man City supporter and he asked me who my team was, however he hadn’t heard of Barnsley until today!
With the washing on we took a short drive downtown and as we liked the look of it we decided to go and take a walk around when the washing was finished.
The town was really nice, with the washing all packed away we parked on Main Street and took a walk around spending about 30 minutes there. There was just the one street. But it was quite nice with interesting shops and a lovely clean but rather cold looking river running behind it.
We did look for the falls but we couldn’t find any and I’m going to leave it at that, it’ll be a forever mystery.
Minnesota State is known as the State with 10,000 lakes and I can attest to that because we must have passed every one of them as we drove along the Interstate. Some of them weren’t much to look at but not many, and most were utterly stunning,
We were back on the road at 2:45 pm and we arrived at our really nice apartment at 3:40 pm, 20 minutes early but we got in without a problem, and we liked what we had, pictures tomorrow Avid Reader.
After unpacking we took a walk downtown, and our apartment is bang in the centre of it.
Jeepers I like Fargo, the sun was bright in the sky, it was pushing 10 degrees C and there were bars everywhere. This place feels like the start of the Wild, Wild West and I do really like it.
Again, there’s only one main street with a few offshoots but it is really nice with some cracking buildings, and a brand-new fire station.
We walked around in the sunshine and covered about 2 miles. Just as we were nearing the apartment I saw a Smoke House diner. I thought, “This might be nice for a Sunday dinner”, so we went in to take a look, and we liked it.
Sadly, they don’t open on Sunday so we sat at the bar with a drink and checked the menu over, and then decided we would have an hour at the apartment as we weren’t hungry yet and then go back.
And we did go back and the food was lovely, although I was disappointed as they had run out of brisket. I had 3 meat portions and 2 sides, as did Wendy. Mine consisted of pulled pork, two sticky ribs and dark chicken with coleslaw and spicy beans, and Wendy had the pulled pork, 2 dry ribs and chicken fingers and her sides were tater tots and cheesy mac. There were some extras too and a free portion of corn bread each.
I had to leave a good portion as I was stuffed and so did Wendy, so that’s another meal in the fridge for a later day.
We walked the short distance to the apartment and the sky was a lovely blue and it looked like we had missed a good sunset.
There seemed to be a large number of well-behaved young people going around the town, I guess to them it’s the closest place to a major town for a good night out, for the country youngsters that is!
No Travelling
Sunshine, and its Warm!!!
I had a good nights sleep and I was surprised when I woke at 6:20 am but then I had been late to bed last night.
I had to go down to the car to get some juice and I found a really lovely morning.
We can’t really gauge the weather from the apartment because we look out on to a quadrant and the building is pretty high and we are only on the first floor and we can barely see the sky.
But that’s ok as we are really happy with the apartment. It’s in an apartment block with about a dozen others on this floor and we think they are all in use for AirBnB.
The place is really quiet and its very cosy inside with a separate bedroom. Quite often AirBnB apartments are bedsits but it’s a huge boost when I can get up and not have to sneak around making my breakfast.
The apartment has interesting heating too, we have seen it before, its enclosed pipework that runs around the walls like skirting board and it must be filled with hot water as it heats the place up pretty quickly. The good thing is that it heats the house all equally.
One other cool thing is the digital door entrance. You need a 5 number code to enter the door and if you forget to lock it it automatically locks its self after 4 minutes.
We both went out running, I ran out of town for a mile or so through some lovely residential housing and then I came back and crossed the bridge which took me back into the State of Minnesota. I ran around a park there and I came across a large group of wild turkeys just pleasing themselves, they were massive.
I got back and went out looking for an open store to buy some bananas as I only had one for my smoothie. I went out in my running gear as I was cooling down, I followed the plan from the apartment which the host has kindly posted but I couldn’t find it so I went back. I took another look at the plan and got out of my gear and put shorts and a sweatshirt on.
I got it wrong again and I was about to give up when a lady, about my age, walked around the corner. She was with her daughter, about my Robyn’s age, and I asked her if she knew where the shop was. The lady told me that they were out of towners too but her daughter asked me what the store was called and she found it on her phone.
It was next to the place they were going for breakfast and they asked if I would like to walk with them which I did. They were both lovely, asking me where I was from and what I was doing in Fargo. The daughter told me things about Fargo that she had learnt and the mother told me her mum was from Liverpool.
It was really nice chatting with them, but the store was closed, I should have looked more carefully at the plan in the apartment because it clearly says not open until 10:00 am on Sunday.
I said my goodbyes to my two new friends and they wished me safe travels.
Back at the apartment I had a one banana smoothie and a slice of toast with peanut butter and jam on it, actually it was delicious.
We took a walk to the store that was now open with us needing bananas, butter, sugar and bread. However, all we came away with was 2 bananas at $1.00 each. One tub of “I can’t Believe its not Butter” was $6.99, and we didn’t bother looking for bread and there was no sugar. Safe to say we won’t be going back there anytime soon, we’ll find Aldi in the morning before we leave.
Our first action was to walk over the bridge across The Red River back into Minnesota to take a look at the City of Moorhead. Moorhead and Fargo are two cities from two different States who sit almost side by side but across the Red River.
The Red River actually flows north to the Hudson Bay in Canada.
Moorhead is a little spread out and to be fair it’s not a patch on Fargo, but I did buy some running shoes from a sports shop. It was a very expensive shop but I nabbed some nice Nike trainers from the sale rail. They might not look great but they are very, very comfortable.
We walked back over another bridge, The Veterans Bridge which has some stone plaques with interesting facts on them, here’s a few of them:
The sun was out and it was wall to wall sunshine, I walked around in a T-shirt and it was perfect.
We walked down to the River where people were fishing near the rapids and it was all rather nice.
After walking over 7 miles in the beautiful sunshine we stopped in a bar for a refreshing beer where after we went back to the apartment where Wendy dished up a lovely meal from the leftovers we had with Ellis and Hannah, and it really was an utter delight.
While I washed up Wendy nodded off on the settee, well she had been for a long run this morning and then another long walk. She deserved the rest so I caught up with BBC International News and it was nice to see that despite a war in almost every corner of the world the Earth continues to turn.
At 4:00 pm, with Wendy refreshed we took a lovely walk down 4th Street which runs parallel to the river, where there were some stunning houses, and then we walked back by the river. I had my shorts and new trainers on and the weather was just perfect.
We must have walked another 4 more miles, but it was well worth it.
Tomorrow, we go west, we drive exactly 200 miles directly west in a straight line along Interstate 94, I’m looking forward to it.
Fargo as been a cracking place to stay, I’ve loved it!
210 Miles
The Great Plains
Before we get into today, as we seem to be visiting a lot of places which call themselves a city, here is how a city is defined in the United States:
Typical working definitions for small-city populations start at around 100,000 people. Common population definitions for an urban area (city or town) range between 1,500 and 50,000 people, with most U.S. states using a minimum between 1,500 and 5,000 inhabitants. Some jurisdictions set no such minima! What a load of old nonsense, so any size community can call itself a city!
Some of the places we have been to, which call themselves a city, have been no bigger than Kirkhill, the village where we live. City seems to be a terminology in the US which has lost all meaning!
I was in bed by 9:30 pm last night, Wendy was fast asleep having gone at 9:00 pm. I slept soundly and woke at 5:20 am. We slept with the window open last night and as I took my ear plugs out I heard the morning train blowing its horn. Jeepers they last forever and they must wake the whole town up, its ridiculous really.
I went running along the Dakota side of the Red River, Wendy stayed in today and just got up as I was leaving the apartment.
It was nice to be running in a positive temperature, for the first time in a few weeks the temperature was above freezing level.
I was excited as today we started to cross the Great Plains, also known as the Prairies. We have crossed them before, in Kansas and Colorado and they might be considered flat and boring, but I just love them, they remind me of cowboy films which I saw when I was a boy.
The Great Plains are about 500 miles wide, starting at the eastward side of and at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and extend about 2,000 miles north to south and they extend into Canada. They were home to vast herds of Bison, but unfortunately they were hunted to almost extinction by the frontier folks when they moved westwards in the 1800’s.
I must admit to having a liking for a Bison burger mind!
We left the apartment at 9:30 am on the dot and after a shopping excursion we were on Interstate 94 not long after.
This road, apart from one little wiggle is almost a straight line. Thankfully the speed limit on most of the road was 75 mph and we made some good progress. We had the road to ourselves when we left the city area and only the odd car passed us, actually we were passed, when I was doing the speed limit, by a hearse with a coffin onboard. The driver was speeding as they glided past me and sped off into the distance.
We had planned to stop at the small town of Jamestown which was roundabout half way to our destination. The clouds from the morning had cleared and it was nice and sunny, but jeepers was it windy!!
We stopped in downtown Jamestown and there wasn’t much there apart from farm and gun shops. It was a one street town with the odd bar and shop, we didn’t hang around as we were looking for the biggest Buffalo in the world.
Sure enough we found it, just on the way out of town.
She was impressive, built by the Chamber of Commerce in 1959 in an attempt to get people to stop by and maybe drive into town and spend a dollar or two. We did just that, I filled the car with fuel and we bought coffee in MacD’s.
She is 26 feet high, 46 feet long and 14 feet wide.
She weighs 60 tons and is made of concrete covering over steel girder frame.
Another famous female who hails from Jamestown, North Dekota is Norma Deloris Egstrom, known professionally as Peggy Lee. Peggy was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress whose career spanned seven decades, she died in 2002 aged 81 years.
Back on the road and we did indeed climb a little higher in elevation and by the time we got to Bismarck we were at 1,644 feet and there was the odd hill around.
Our destination was the small town of Mandan which is just a little further west of Bismarck and we crossed the Missouri River just has we entered Mandan, she looked divine with a slightly turquoise tinge.
We found our AirBnB house easily enough and we love it. It’s a detached house and its over 100 years old, which is pretty old for a building out west. It is warm and cosy, but the wind was even wilder here when we unpacked the car.
After settling in we took a drive to see the Missouri River properly and she looked pretty impressive, I think she might just be my most favourite river in the United States, and it was always mentioned in Cowboy films.
We tried to find downtown Bismarck but we didn’t manage it, it was only a token effort mind.
As Bismarck is the state capital, we did find the State Building out on its own within its own large grounds. The building is a 21-story Art Deco tower, and it is the tallest habitable building in the state.
I also found yet another buffalo statue in the State Building grounds, they do seem to be pretty popular around these parts.
We drove back to the house where Wendy made supper from the leftovers from our Saturday night Smoke House feed, I supplemented mine with a tin of cowboy beans in Bourbon and Brown sugar, they were delicious!
I’ll post some indoor pictures of the house tomorrow but as a taster I’ll post you a picture of our screen porch which sits at the front of the house, it’s a bit windy in there just now but I bet it’s a real treat to sit out in it on a warm summer night.
Addendum – Its now gone 8:00 pm and I’ve just had a lovely shower and I’m now going to cover myself in something called, “Advanced Repair.” It’s clinically proven to moisturize very dry skin in 5 days. I have now had almost 6 weeks of very hard water and my skin is dropping off me, and I’m hitching like a man on death row!
No Travelling
What a Brilliant and Interesting Day!!!
The house where we are staying was built in 1917 but had fallen in to disrepair before our host bought it and repaired it back to habitable status. He also built a smaller house at the bottom of the garden where he lives with his family.
We have a large kitchen with a traditional American fridge / freezer and a large cooker. The kitchen has everything you need to cook anything really, there’s even a food processor. Its an open kitchen with a nice sized dining room where Wendy Gill has her eye on the solid square dining table which appears to open out to form a larger table.
There is a small lounge which the main bedroom is just off and a nice sized bathroom with a bath and a great over bath shower.
The neighbourhood is quite nice, in fact the whole town of Mandan seems quite good too.
I had a lovely sleep and woke at 5:10 am.
I was out last night looking at a stunning full moon and a few wisps of clouds seemed to be developing but by this morning they had gone.
Wendy got dressed and went out running and minutes later I went too.
I ran all down the main street of Mandan and I was surprised that I didn’t reach the end until the two-mile mark. I ran another half mile and then came back to a bridge that goes over a river and at 3 miles I sat and had a water stop.
About 400 yards away there was a large goods train, it was stood but it sounded the loudest horn I have ever heard and the driver did it three times. They then moved the train very slowly about 10 yards and then stopped. The noise must have been heard in peoples houses and it was only 7:00 am, it nearly deafened me.
I got back to the apartment and had my smoothie and showered and then our host, Jerod, popped in to welcome us and he opened up the rest of the building for us to see. Wow, its stunning, there’s a cool basement and a smashing first floor.
He rents out the areas that people need, we only needed the basic, so that’s what we got.
We had a really good chat with Jerod, he’s a really nice bloke, we told him about todays plans but he even messaged me to make sure we were having a good day later on.
First up we went looking for the downtown area, we didn’t expect much as our travel guide said as much. We weren’t disappointed, there were two small roads connected by two streets and there wasn’t much to it. We spent most of our downtown time in a large thrift shop, but we didn’t buy anything.
Next, we went to the State Capital Building to join a tour, but we were 90 minutes early so we went into the State Heritage Centre to pass the time, and I am so glad we did.
Jeepers what did I learn in there:
The centre was completely free of charge and we could have spent all day in there.
We walked back over to the State building at around 12:50 pm where we went through security and met with our tour guide, Bob.
Bob asked if we minded joining a class of 42 Grade 5 school kids as they had the 1:00 pm tour booked. Grade 5 is 10 to 11 years old, we held our breath and said we were happy to do so, and do you know, it actually made the occasion even more special.
Bob was brilliant, he had the kids listening and interested, the teachers kept on top of them as we learned such a lot of information, too much actually.
We were so lucky, The State Governors Press Secretary’s daughter was a pupil in the group and we got a very special visit to the State Governors Office, we even got to go in the Supreme Court, wow, and her dad took over the tour at that point and gave us some really interesting insider info!
The Governor wasn’t in his office today, you’ll never guess, he was visiting an inter-ballistic missile base up north today!
The kids left us after the Governors Office and then Bob took us, just us, to the 18th floor and he gave us a personal tour of the viewing platform. Bob was a cracking man and he was a font of detail. He gave us a very special tour, one I’ll never forget. Jeepers though he did remind me of Uisdean MacLennan!
After the tour we drove across town to have one last look at the Missouri River.
She was looking stunning in the afternoon sunshine. We parked in an area where fishermen, I never saw a woman, put their boats into the river. There were boats coming and going all of the time. We are definitely in hunting territory.
We got back to the house at around 4:00 pm and took a walk to a local bar for a pint of American beer as a nod to St Georges Day. The bar wasn’t the best but at least the beer was decent.
Back at home I started to cook some steak for supper that we bought yesterday, jeepers it was tough, its now 7:00 pm, it’s been on an hour and its still as tough as old boots.
Jerod popped round as supper was cooking and we had another good chat. He does remind me of Negan from the Walking Dead, hopefully he doesn’t have his murderous tendencies or we might not make it out of town alive!
We eventually had supper, and it was actually not so bad, I had cooked it to within an inch of its life mind!
Tomorrow is moving day, we head further west and into Montana, my 48th State.
201 Miles
44 Miles - The Theodore Roosevelt National Park
An Amazing Day!
Something else I also found out at the Heritage Centre yesterday. There used to be millions of Bison roaming the Great Plains before the Europeans came here. The Native Americans used to eat them, but they also looked after them and managed them.
However when the Pioneers came west they devastated the herds with their guns, some even used early machine guns on them. It got so bad that there were only 100 left and the government in North Dakota passed a law to protect them. Now they are protected and they live safely on Indian Reservations and their numbers have now recovered to a half a million. You can still eat them mind, so I’m looking forwards to finding a nice fat steak.
It was cold this morning when I got up, it was 0 degrees outside.
Wendy stayed in as she had a bout of cramp in her calf in the night. Cramp in your calf is quite sore when it happens, but it also leaves a pain that can last for up to 2 days.
I went out and I saw the moon set and then the sun rise 10 minutes later, I don’t think I have ever seen that before.
It was a rubbish run today. I wanted to run along the riverside but the path run out after a mile so I came back and went in the opposite direction and that ran out at 1.5 miles so I just bimbled around the streets until I got my 6 miles in. It wasn’t much warmer by the time I got back and I had seen quite a few gardens covered in frost.
I had my smoothie and got showered and we were packed and on the Interstate by 9:30 am as we were in for a busy day.
As yesterday we travelled in an almost straight line in the west ward direction. The countryside was similar to yesterday, Prairie Grass and the odd hill, however our elevation was gradually getting higher.
At exactly 60 miles we entered Mountain Time and gained yet another hour, so we are now 7 hours behind the UK. Again, as in Michigan this left a good portion of North Dakota in a different time zone to the rest of the State.
At around 90 miles the landscape dramatically changed and we were really in Cowboy land. We were in an area of, what I can only call, deeply cratered ground. The sun was shining brightly and it was also getting hotter. This all happened when our elevation peaked at 2,800 feet.
At 135 miles we pulled off the Interstate and entered the small town of Medora, for one specific reason, to drive around The Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
The park normally has a large circular road, which thankfully is all tarred. It is normally about 36 miles in distance, however a 6 miles section towards the end of the circuit had been badly damaged and is currently closed so all you can do now is drive to the 22-mile point, turn around and return the same way.
The views were stunning and the wild life we saw was truly amazing, and they were all in their natural environment, and they were all wild!
Here’s what we saw, in order:
Prairie Dogs – These are amazing little creatures that are about the same size as a Meerkat and they actually stand on their hind feet just like a Meerkat does. They live in tunnels and just scurry around on the surface playing and eating the grass. They hide in their holes and poke their heads out and when the coast is clear, off they go. There were loads of them all running around in the sunshine. I watched one keep poking his head up and when he saw me he squeaked at me. I could have watched them all day.
Bison – I never thought I would get as close to wild Bison as I did, I was sceptical I would actually see them, but they were everywhere. What majestic beasts they are, they really are amazing to see.
Wild Horses – These usually went in around in packs of three or four. They never took any notice of me and they might even have let me stroke them, they were the freest horses I have ever seen. They seemed so happy in their environment too.
A Wolf – I saw him first; he was just prowling an area where the Prairie Dogs were living. He was as calm as you like and walked directly in front of the car. There is some debate about him being a Coyote, but I believe that there is some ginger in its coat and this animal was purely wolf looking.
The drive was amazing, we saw some stunning landscape and stopped often to take some pics.
We spent just under 2 hours there and it was well worth the $30 entrance fee.
Back on the road and we stopped for a coffee in the small town of Beach, which is named after a US Army Captain, Warren C. Beach.
The café we were in was just so wild west, and the owner was a lovely woman who was a bit of a laugh too.
Back on the Interstate and we entered Montana State soon after leaving Beach.
We got to Glendive our one-night stop at around 2:30 pm, (bearing in mind we gained an hour enroute) and soon settled into our very nice hotel.
After unpacking we took a drive into town to check out our surroundings. Its nice enough and it was really hot and sunny. The residential areas are quite nice but the town’s main street is blighted by the railway station as it seems to be serving massive freight trains. There are a few bars, which also double as Casinos, a gun shop and some other small stores.
We took a beer in a bar and then got back to the hotel at 5:30 pm where Wendy heated up a meal we cooked last night. Pork belly, creamy noodles, salad and cowboy beans, it was a real treat.
I’m filing copy just now at 7:00 pm, I am going to shower and moisturise and then maybe take a little walk as the sun goes down, however I have no idea when that might be!